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The Court of Appeal on 8th April 2003 overturned a ban on the HFEA issuing a licence for human tissue typing following pre-implantation genetic diagnosis in order to treat 4 year-old thalassaemia sufferer Zaim Hashmi. The House of Lords later confirmed the decision. "Josephine Quintavalle of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, the group that brought the original legal challenge, insisted that 'designing another child as a therapeutic commodity, as a tissue bank, is definitely not an ethical cure.'" (SPUC News, 8 Apr. 03). |
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Oregon Cuts Health Benefits for the Poor |
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Douglas K. Schmidt, aged 36, or Portland, Oregon, apparently suffered a massive seizure about eight days after his supply of anti-seizure medication ran out (Associated Press, March 10 03). He was taken to hospital unconscious and in a critical condition. Jean Thorne, director of the Oregon Dept. of Human Services, called Schmidt's hospitalisation "a tragic circumstance", "but as we cut back the safety net, we're going to see similar cases..... 8,500 people lost pharmaceutical coverage when the medically needy program was cut. But beyond that we have another 100,000 who are going to lose their coverage on July 1: that's the date the Oregon Health Plan eliminates coverage for the working poor. And there's close to 500,000 people in Oregon without any coverage at all." What is still provided free? Drugs for assisted suicide. |
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Abortion and Mortality Rate |
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"A study published in the latest issue of the Southern Medical Journal reveals that women who have abortions are at significantly higher risk of death than women who give birth," Labour Life Group News reported, Winter 2002/3, quoting the Elliott Institute from Pro-Life Infonet
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. "This finding contradicts the widely accepted opinion that abortion is safer than childbirth. "Researchers examined death records linked to Medicare payments for births and abortions for approximately 173,000 low-income Californian women...... During the eight-year period studied, women who aborted had a 154 % higher risk of death from suicide, an 82% higher risk of death from accidents, and a 44% higher risk from natural causes." |
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New Zealand
The NZ Parliament has thrown out a bill to legalise assisted suicide, www.nzoom.com reports (SPUC News, 31 July 03). Peter Brown's Death with Dignity Bill fell by a narrow vote of 60-57 with one abstention, though supported by the Prime Minister, Helen Clark. Dr. Philip Nitschke, known widely as Dr. Death, previously visited the Central Coast to support Fred Thompson, who has admitted smothering his wife, aged 62, who suffered from multiple sclerosis.
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Islands at Risk
Local pro-lifers are battling Voluntary Euthanasia Society-inspired initiatives in Guernsey and in the Isle of Man, where postcard campaigns modelled on "Justice 4 Diane" (Diane Pretty) are being carried out.
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London "Choose Life" Rally
The Daily Telegraph (30 June 03) reported: "Thousands of pro-life supporters met in central London yesterday to protest against embryo experimentation, euthanasia and abortion. The Choose Life rally was organised in response to the Patient (Assisted Dying) Bill. Speakers also expressed their concern over 'designer babies' and listened to a requiem for the unborn."
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Waking from coma
"A crash victim has woken up after 19 years in a coma and his first words were 'Mom', 'Pepsi' and 'milk'," the Daily Record reported on 10 July 03. Terri Wallis, now 39, regained consciousness at a nursing home in Arkansas.
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American Medical Association
"The AMA House of Delegates debated whether to oppose US Attorney General Ashcroft's ruling that the federal Controlled Substances Act forbids prescribing or dispensing controlled substances for use in assisted suicide." (Nightingale Alliance e-letter, 19 June 03). "Rather than opposing Ashcroft's ruling, however, the AMA instead simply affirmed that the Controlled Substances Act should not be used to restrict the appropriate use of drugs for pain management."
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Northern Ireland pro-life "major victory"
(Irish Independent, 8 July 03).A High Court judge on 7 July 03 dismissed a bid to introduce termination guidelines in Northern Ireland. The Family Planning Association will appeal against the judgment.
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Abstinence is Out
Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer, claimed in his January 2003 Update that "Evidence does not exist to suggest that abstinence approaches are effective" in sex education (FYC Family Bulletin, Spring 2003). The Bulletin notes that "the widespread movement for abstinence education in the U.S.A. has coincided with a dramatic drop in teenage pregnancy - by 20% during the last decade of the twentieth century - but we cannot, at this stage, prove that one thing caused the other. However you would think that the authors of our Government's teenage pregnancy strategy would at least consider the possibility." Instead of that, funding of the existing "teenage pregnancy strategy" is to increase from £21m in 2002-3 to £40m in 2004-2005 (SPUC News, August 2003).
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U.N. Puzzled
"Public health officials say that they are perplexed by a paradox in the Philippines where a very low rate of condom use and a very low rate of HIV/AIDS infection appear to be going hand in hand....." (Thought you ought to know Newsletter, May 03 from BBC News.)
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"Neuro Tube Defects Reduced in Half"
(International Right to Life Newsletter, May/June 2003). "Since 1998, the Canadian Government has been requiring all flour, pasta and cornmeal products to be fortified with folic acid..... Recent studies have shown that the rate of spina bifida and anencephaly in Ontario has dropped from 16 to 8.6 cases per 10,000 pregnancies. A similar study in Nova Scotia saw a drop from 26 per 10,000 to 12.
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"How Dieting Risks Damaging your Baby"
The Times, Health Correspondent, 25 April 2003. " "Women who become pregnant while they are dieting are risking premature births and the health of their unborn children, scientists said yesterday. The modern fashion for waif-like figures over child-bearing hips is causing thousands of pre-term births every year and exposing babies to adverse health effects that can last a lifetime, research has suggested...... The danger appears to remain even if a woman stops her diet and eats normally once she realises that she is expecting a child." Professor John Challis of Toronto conducted the research, published in Science, with colleagues in New Zealand and Australia.
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Downs Vitamin trial
Nancy Valko (18 June 03) reports that the Institute of Child Health in London is conducting a trial to examine whether antioxidant supplements, such as folic acid, vitamins A, C and E, and selenium and zinc oxide, can improve a child's development. "Researchers are looking for babies under six months with Down's syndrome to take part in the trial." Further information: Down's Syndrome Association.
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Sperm donors to lose anonymity
"The (U.K.) Government is to announce a change in the law to give children of sperm donors the right to find out about their fathers," The Times reported on 27 Jan 03. "The proposed law would not affect the rights of previous donors, but only of those who choose to donate in future. It is not clear whether ending anonymity will reduce the supply of sperm."
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Euthanasia for Children
"Lawmakers in Belgium have announced plans to propose an extension to the country's euthanasia law to allow the procedure for those under the age of 18." ( www.WorldNetDaily.com , 21 June 03). Members of the new Government formed in Belgium after the 18 May 03 General Election, have laid down that every hospital must have a team of doctors prepared to apply euthanasia. (Nancy Valko, 13 June 03).
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Suicide on the Internet
The Bath Chronicle, 7 Apr 03, reported: "A grieving father has attacked websites offering advice on suicide after his teenage son trawled the interest for information on the best way to kill himself. Tim Piper, a bright A-level student, was found hanged in a wardrobe in his bedroom by his horrified mother." "..... The sick websites rate suicide in terms of ease and success rate. One such site, calling itself 'church of Euthanasia,' even tells people to 'do a good job' when they commit suicide."
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"Should a Fetus Have Rights?"
Newsweek on 9 June 03 featured stories under the headline of "Should a Fetus Have Rights? How Science is Changing the Debate." Perhaps voters are changing it too. "Anti-choice legislators dominate the House and the Senate as well as the White House, said Kate Michelman, head of NARAL Pro-Choice America (Christian Science Monitor, 6 June 03) "and that is frankly a result of pro-choice Americans not understanding how at risk their constitutional right to freedom of choice is." But when a vacancy opens up on the Supreme Court "we are ready to go into high gear." "Abortion-rights forces are getting ready for the struggle by conducting research on people the president might nominate and bracing themselves for the onslaught of attention that they hope will help their cause," the Monitor reports.
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"Hungary's Top Court Rejects Legalising Assisted Suicide"
(Pro-Life Infonet, 29 April 03). "Hungary's constitutional court rejected a suit, saying terminally ill patients can already refuse medical care if they wish." <
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>
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Women's Life Expectancy Falls
The Guardian reported on 28 February 03: "Government statisticians yesterday overturned assumptions that people are living longer in England and Wales with the first reliable evidence of female life expectancy falling in at least ten areas." John Carvel stated: "Bafflingly, the biggest decline was in Stevenage, where the average age for women dying in 1991-93 was 82.2 years. By 1999-2001 it had fallen to 80.5 years." There were no areas where male life expectancy declined.
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HRT and Breast Cancer
Current use of HRT is associated with an increased risk of incident and fatal breast cancer; the effect is substantially greater for oestrogen-progestagen combinations than for other types of HRT. Lancet 2003; 362:419-27.
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Abortion cover-up
"Eventually, the truth about the dangers of abortion will be known. A cover-up cannot continue indefinitely. The abortion industry will one day be seen in the same light as the tobacco industry, which long denied the evidence for an association between smoking and cancer. Prestigious organisations such as the American Medical Association also supported that cover-up until it was no longer possible." - Dr. Jane M. Orient, MD, FACP, Executive Director of American Physicians and Surgeons, quoted in Endeavour Forum, August 03.
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Cancer risk rises with Pill
Recent studies suggest that long duration use of oral contraception increases the risk of cervical cancer in HPV-positive women. Lancet 2003;316: 1159-67.
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H.F.E.A. no longer enough
Pleading for time for free debate on the beginning of human life equivalent to that given to fox-hunting, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor wrote in the Sunday Telegraph on 6 July 03: "Now is the time for similarly exceptional measures to be taken to ensure that our future as human persons with inalienable rights, and God-given sanctity, is not violated. It is no longer enough for oversight of this rapidly expanding area of scientific development, much of it commercially driven, to be vested solely in an un-elected body of experts [the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority], no matter how eminent.' It is time for a constructive and informed debate at the level of the general public which is not driven by vested or commercial interest. There is a risk otherwise of wholesale intellectual and moral disengagement from issues of enormous significance for us all, as human beings."
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"Independent Medical Experts"
Camilla Cavendish (People, The Times, 25 March 03) noted that "Sixteen members of the Committee on the Safety or Medicines have declared interests with manufacturers of the MMR (mumps, measles, rubella) vaccine. These companies will be sued in the High Court in October by parents claiming that the vaccines have made their children autistic. If the claimants win, the fact that so many government advisers are paid by drug companies will be a spectacular political own goal."
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Nazi doctor loses award for science
Dr. Heinrich Gross was given the Honorary Cross for Science and Art, first class, in 1975, even though a court case was still pending (Daily Telegraph, 27 Mar 03). He had returned to work at the Spiegelgrund children's hospital in Vienna in the 1950's, where he had been accused of carrying out euthanasia killings under the Third Reich, after his conviction was overturned. Finally he was put on trial in 2000 using new evidence and on fresh charges of murdering nine disabled children. Dr. Gross, aged 87, was then ruled to be unfit to stand trial. He has at last been stripped of his medal.
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"Never forget"
"Black urns holding the remains of the children who were killed by the Nazis six decades ago were buried on Sunday as Austrians were urged to never forget the crimes committed at a city hospital" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 29 Apr 03). "Across Europe, 75,000 people, including 5,000 children, were killed by the Nazis for real or imagined mental, physical or social disabilities."
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2003 Award for Singer
"Peter Singer, the professor of bioethics at Princeton University who argues in favour of killing disabled babies up to 28 days after birth, has been awarded the World Technology Network's 2003 Award for Ethics." (LifeSite, 14 July). The awards, announced at the Seminar in late June, honour individuals and corporations form 20 technology-related sectors selected by their peers as innovators.
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"Do Not Resuscitate" or anything else
"The presence of a DNR order may affect physicians' willingness to order a variety of treatments not related to cardio-pulmonary resuscitation" (The Effect of Do Not Resuscitate Orders, Beach, Morrison, J.A.M.Geriatr.Soc. 50:2057-2061, 2002). The authors state: "Patients with DNR orders may choose to forego other life-prolonging treatments, but physicians should elicit additional information about patients' treatment goals to inform these decisions."
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Pro-Life Victory in U.S. Supreme Court by Ann Scheidler
"The National Organisation for Women (NOW) and two abortion clinics, representing the class of all abortion providers in the United States, had sued Joseph Scheidler, National Director of the Pro-Life Action League, along with Andrew Scholberg, Timothy Murphy, Randall Terry, and Operation Rescue under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisation Act (RICO). "The RICO law was passed in 1970 specifically to go after organised crime and drug dealers. "..... On April 20 1998 a jury found the pro-life defendants guilty of extortion and racketeering....."" Judge David Coar issued a nationwide injunction against pro-life activists, and ordered the dependants to pay $87,000, which is automatically tripled under the RICO law. "On February 26th 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the pro-life demonstrators were not guilty of extortion or racketeering, even in cases where they were successful in closing down, temporarily, a reproductive health facility..... "The vast majority of secular media hailed the Supreme Court decision as a victory for the First Amendment - that guarantee in the U.S. Constitution that everyone in America is entitled to express his or her opinions without risking arrest or retribution from the Government." From Humanae Vitae House newsletter, Easter 2003.
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"Lust for Life"
Mrs. Cherie Blair has lent her support to an IPPF initiative, "Lust for Life," by hosting a private reception at 10 Downing Street for the organisation which hopes to raise £100,000. Mrs. Nuala Scarisbrick, of LIFE, commented: "There is no life in the IPPF's campaign, only death..... IPPF is behind China's one-child policy." (Catholic Herald, 1 Aug 03).
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"Free IVF service will cost £100m"
Infertile women aged 23-30 will be offered three cycles of treatment, in proposals announced by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. (Daily Telegraph, 23 Aug. 03).
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British Medical Schools
The Times, 17 Feb 03, reported that British medical schools have started to restrict the number of Muslim students because they refuse to learn about abortion. SPUC News reported Dr. A. Majid Katme, Muslim Co-ordinator, as commenting: "The reported discrimination against pro-life Muslim medical students and doctors is outrageous..... 40 years ago the British medical establishment espoused strongly pro-life values, but today it has fallen to the Muslim and Christian students, who share a belief in the sanctity of human life, to repair the damage done by 35 years of legal abortion."
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Victims Never Asked for Death
A French nurse, Christine Malèvre, was sentenced on 31 Jan 03 to 10 years in prison for causing the deaths of six hospital patients. She was also permanently banned from working as a nurse. Previously a heroine of the right-to-die movement, and author of a book called "My Confession", Ms Malèvre, aged 33, lost public sympathy when relatives of her victims testified that they had never asked for death. One of the murdered patients had just bought a car and was planning to move house.
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From WorldNet Daily, 22 Aug 03 The Florida Supreme Court on 22 Aug. 03 rejected an appeal that would save the life of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, a woman with brain damage whose continued existence has been at the centre of an intense legal battle. "The Attorney for Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, told WorldNet Daily the Schindlers are completely devastated by this development and are not accepting phone calls." "Terri's medical records were recently unsealed and the findings are alarming," Life News reported on 2 July 03. A volunteer helping the family said: "It was found that a heart attack did not cause Terri's collapse as everyone was led to believe. Rather, according to one physician, Terri may have been a strangulation victim." Excerpts from a videotape of Terri were shown on a television programme last May. Even the presenter "seemed to be surprised by the vastly different real pictures of Terri from the media portrayal of a 'vegetable' in a 'coma'," commented Nancy Valko. A large number of disability rights groups have been supporting the Schindlers' fight for their daughter, including Not Dead Yet and the National Council on Independent Living. The Rev. Mrs. Cooper-Dowda said, "In 1985 my situation was much like Terri's. The hospital staff and my (ex) husband had written me off as being as good as dead, as someone who would never regain any kind of 'meaningful' function. Since then, I've earned a Master's degree and had a son. Having a son would have surprised them, too, since those same physicians had earlier pronounced me sterile." Court arguments have centred on the likelihood of Terri's condition improving, and her alleged past wishes. But as Nancy Valko commented, this is not the point. The question is whether society has the right to kill innocent people if they are disabled. |
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"Smokers to be faced with lurid images" "Cigarette packs could soon carry lurid images of cancer-ravaged organs if European authorities follow expert advice" (Aberdonian Press and Journal, 4 Aug 03). "A new report shows that regularly updated graphic images combined with health messages may be the most effective way to get through to smokers." |
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Screening Conference Disrupted |
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People with Down's Syndrome Disrupt Screening Conference (from Disability Tribune, July 2003) "On May 19th a group of people with Down's Syndrome and their supporters disrupted the International Down Syndrome Screening Conference at Regents College in London. This is the first time people with Down's Syndrome have made such a protest and is a major new step in the debate about genetics, eugenics and the rights of disabled people. As a result of the protest, the conference organisers allowed Anya Souza to speak from the platform. Ms Souza, who is a trustee of the Down Syndrome Association, told the doctors that she opposes Down's Syndrome screening and that people with Down's Syndrome are people, not medical problems. Her spech was warmly applauded by the conference delegates. "I can't get rid of my Down's Syndrome," said Anya, "but you can't get rid of my happiness." The conference organisers are likely to ensure a full debate next year with proper representation of disabled people with learning difficulties. |
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"A leading transplant surgeon called for the sale of human organs in Britain to be legalised and regulated," the Guernsey Press reported on 20 May 03. "Professor Nadey Hakim, president of the Royal Society of Medicine's transplant committee, said he believed a controlled trade in organs would cut so-called "transplant tourism", where patients travel abroad for operations which are illegal in the U.K. "Last summer, the American Medical Association's House of Delegates voted to encourage organ procurement organisations to begin studying the use of financial incentives to improve donation rates." (Medical Ethics Advisor, March 03). Mr. Gregory Crespi, a lawyer, discussed "Organ futures". "Most people would be willing to sign up for an organ futures contract that would pay their estate approximately $150,000 for their organs if they are able to be harvested." However, "Italy is to legislate against the sale of human organs after police apprehended three Ukrainian women who auctioned an unborn baby whose organs night have been used for transplant" (SPUC News, from Daily Telegraph 18 May 03). "The gang accepted 350,000 for the child and the authorities are investigating people who expressed an interest in using his or her body parts. The child was born 10 days ago and handed to undercover officers." |
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"On 15th May 2003 the House of Lords by a majority ruled on the BBC's appeal against an earlier ruling by Laws L.J. that its refusal to transmit a 2001 General Election broadcast by the Pro-Life Alliance containing images of abortion infringed the European Convention on Human Rights." (Newsletter of the Association of Lawyers for the Defence of the Unborn, Spring 2003). "Allowing the appeal, the Law Lords held that restrictions on the transmission of offensive material applied to election broadcasts and that the BBC could not be faulted." (R. (Pro-Life Alliance) v. BBC, House of Lords, Lords Nicholas, Hoffman, Millet, Scott and Walker.) " A 27 year-old woman who had an abortion using the RU486 abortion pill and then found the aborted child's body in a jar is planning to sue the hospital where the abortion took place" (Image News, Nov. 2002). Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow, had labelled the jar with her name. |
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