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Pro-Life Update As the presidential primaries loom, the candidates’ positions on the Life issues must be carefully scrutinized. Maintaining a government that is supportive of promoting a Culture of Life is imperative to any society. President Bush has been instrumental in helping to pass Pro-Life legislation and appointing Supreme Court justices and other judges who do not legislate from the bench. Even small changes in government can cause a huge impact, especially as we face newer issues such as embryonic stem cell research and eugenics. We must be vigilant, for groups such as Amnesty International will now be using their legal expertise and lobbying power to promote abortion. Furthermore, when abortion is accepted as a morally legitimate medical practice, horrific medical errors inevitably occur, as is presently coming to light in Italy.
Please read this issue of the Pro-Life Update carefully to understand some of the challenges we now face and how you—an educated Pro-Lifer—can advance the Culture of Life. Please share this information with your family, friends, and church congregations. Make copies. Spread the news.
Amnesty International Supports Abortion Amnesty International (AI) has long promoted human rights across the world; internationally, they are the largest and most influential human rights group. Until this year, their position regarding abortion has always been neutral. Their previous policy stated, “AI takes no position on whether or not women have a right to choose to terminate unwanted pregnancies; there is no generally accepted right to abortion in international human rights law.”
Unfortunately, in April 2007, Amnesty International’s International Executive Committee adopted a policy, which is “to support the decriminalizationof abortion, to ensure women have access to health care when complications arise from abortion and to defend women’s access to abortion, within reasonable gestational limits, when their health or human rights are in danger.”
AI’s new support of abortion is obviously causing a divide among many of its allies. U.S. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) has reported that a human rights group that favors legalizing abortion is “the ultimate oxymoron.”
Presidential Candidates on Life Issues Although still early in the race, the presidential candidates’ views on the Life issues can be monitored. Unfortunately, none of the Democratic candidates hold Pro-Life positions. Among the Republican candidates, note the widely varying views regarding embryonic stem cell research (ESCR): John McCain fully supports ESCR, while Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney support ESCR when using “left-over” embryos from in vitro fertilization procedures. All the other Republican candidates hold Pro-Life views. To view what the candidates have said about embryonic stem cell research, Roe v. Wade, and partial-birth abortion, see the Presidential Comparison Flyer on the National Right to Life website (www.NRLC.org).
Tragic Losses with Legal Abortion As Pro-Lifers, we clearly understand that any abortion ends a tiny human life and is, of course, a great tragedy. Somehow even more disturbing is the practice of eugenic abortion, when a child is aborted purposefully because he or she is not “perfect”. In Italy, some cases have recently emerged in which “mistakes” have been made during eugenic abortions.
The British paper, The Guardian, recently reported a case in Italy in which “doctors treating a 40-year-old woman who was pregnant with twins [accidentally] aborted a healthy fetus while leaving a second, malformed one untouched.” The second baby had been diagnosed with Down syndrome. The hospital claims that the two 18-week children switched positions after the ultrasound was performed prior to the procedure. She later returned to have the Down syndrome baby aborted. The police have been asked to investigate the case.
Another report of a “mistake” came from Florence, where a baby was aborted at 22 weeks because of “suspected deformities.” However, following the abortion procedure, they discovered that he was perfectly healthy. He was then resuscitated and survived for a brief period.
These “mistakes” have prompted debates over the professionalism of doctors in Italy. However, this question completely misses the mark: the debate is not even questioning the morality of performing these eugenic abortions, and this is both extremely heartbreaking and a condemning judgment of the moral status of our civilization. Each and every child, whether deemed perfect or not, should be welcomed into Life.
The Pro-Life movement still has much work to ensure that all people throughout the world are welcomed into Life and respected. If you would like any additional information on the topics discussed above, please send me a note or log onto www.TexasRightToLife.com. If you ever have questions about any Pro-Life issues, please be sure to let me know.
Yours for Life,
Dr. Joseph M. Graham President |
