Thursday, November 26, 2009

Lifeissues.net Newsletter #451

Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.LifeIssues.net)

Dear Friends for Life,

(tiny baby survives): In Pittsburgh, tiny Taylor Rideout was born at 26 weeks gestation, being half the weight of a normal 26 week baby. She tipped the scales at 12.5 ounces or 350 grams. She has survived to go home with her parents. This extraordinary baby's survival was largely due to her maturity of being 26 weeks.

(premature survival news): Dr. K. Marsal in Sweden has published interesting information regarding age and birth weight of premature babies. He reports that 10% of babies born at 22 weeks survived one year, 53% of babies at 23 weeks survived at one year, and 85% of those born at 26 weeks survived. Age and maturity are much more important factors predicting survival than is weight alone.

(europe – more deaths than births): By 2015, European Union reports that there will be more indigenous deaths than births. It is quite likely however that continuing immigration by Moslems will fill that gap and more.

God Bless,
Jerry Novotny, OMI

(Quote) When women are threatened to abort, up to 80 percent feel guilt, regret, loss and depression afterward, especially if the coercion violated their conscience. They subsequently have shorter relationships, more divorces, live in poverty, repeat abortions, experience substance abuse and many more risk factors. [3Dec2006, LifeNews.com, "MI Anti-Coercion Bill"]

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Lifeissues.net NEWSLETTER #451

November 29, 2009

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(TABLE OF CONTENTS):

1. On Guard Against the Gardasil Juggernaut

2. Dear Congressman Kennedy

3. Study: 20 Percent of Women Using Abortion Drug Face Medical Complications

4. Euthanasia -- Broken Memories, Broken Bonds

5. Children and Porn: Always a Bad Combination

6. The Divorce Divide - A National Embarrassment

7. You're teaching my child what?

8. When Pregnancy Goes Awry: Ectopic Pregnancies

9. The Greatest Grassroots Movement of Our Times

10. On the Demise of Fatherhood - A Review

11. Holy See: Underdevelopment caused by irresponsible politicians, not by overpopulation

12. One in four is Muslim, study says

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(FOCUS ON ASIA): "Mannar, the drama of 2 thousand widows with no means to survive" - Many have lost their husbands in war. Marginalized by society, they have no work and receive no government aid. The children can not go to school, girls have no dowry to be delivered to future husbands. In their heart but one wish: "to start living again." http://new.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=16863&geo=2&size=A

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ITEM #1. On Guard Against the Gardasil Juggernaut

No one likes the feeling that something has been shoved down his or her throat.  Merck, the pharmaceutical giant is looking like a bully in how it thrust Gardasil, the first genital human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, on the US market.

View full article at Ruth Institute:
http://www.ruthblog.org/?p=559&tr=y&auid=5574606&tr=y&auid=5578569

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ITEM #2. Dear Congressman Kennedy

For the moment I'd like to set aside the discussion of health care reform, as important and relevant as it is, and focus on one statement contained in your letter of October 29, 2009, in which you write, "The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic." That sentence certainly caught my attention and deserves a public response, lest it go unchallenged and lead others to believe it's true. And it raises an important question: What does it mean to be a Catholic?

"The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic." Well, in fact, Congressman, in a way it does. Although I wouldn't choose those particular words, when someone rejects the teachings of the Church, especially on a grave matter, a life-and-death issue like abortion, it certainly does diminish their ecclesial communion, their unity with the Church. This principle is based on the Sacred Scripture and Tradition of the Church and is made more explicit in recent documents.

View full article at Rhode Island Catholic:
http://www.thericatholic.com/opinion/detail.html?sub_id=2632

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ITEM #3. Study: 20 Percent of Women Using Abortion Drug Face Medical Complications

Planned Parenthood says "Our monitoring shows that mifepristone medication abortion continues to be a safe abortion option." The distributor of Mifeprex (the trade name for RU 486) says that "Mifeprex is 92-95% effective for safely ending early pregnancy." But a new study from Finland says that 20% of the women using the abortion pill suffer at least one significant complication. Nearly 4% reported two or more complications or "adverse events."

View full article at LifeNews.com:
http://www.lifenews.com/int1377.html

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ITEM #4. Euthanasia -- Broken Memories, Broken Bonds

Most people fear the process of dying, which involves radical dependency, a sense of powerlessness, and sometimes significant pain as well. Pain management is a serious, if not central obligation for health care professionals and for all who care for the dying. Although we may never choose directly to cause death by using high doses of pain medication, such medicines may be given to dying persons, even if the successively higher doses required for effective pain remediation may indirectly end up shortening their life. Good hospice or palliative care diligently seeks to provide effective, but not excessive, pain medication.

View full article at The Pilot:
http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11094

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ITEM #5. Children and Porn: Always a Bad Combination

People who think porn is no big deal are wrong. Parents who think their children are not exposed to it should think again... This year's White Ribbons Against Pornography (WRAP) Week has officially begun. WRAP Week raises awareness about the dangers of pornography and educates the public about how pornography viewing becomes addictive. Sadly, many people think pornography is harmless and no big deal; the evidence tells a different story.

View full article at CWA:
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/17928/BLI/pornography/index.ht

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ITEM #6. The Divorce Divide - A National Embarrassment

There are few national tragedies that can match the devastating effect of the Divorce Revolution. Four decades after California launched the revolution, the impact of divorce and the break-up of marriages and families is now well documented, coast to coast. The availability of divorce without cause, so-called "no-fault" divorce, rendered every marriage less than it was before. Once impermanence became a mark of marriage in the law and in the culture, couples were required to muster a special level of marital commitment to remain married. Right before the nation's eyes, divorce redefined marriage.

See the full article at Center for a Just Scoiety:
http://www.centerforajustsociety.org/press/article.asp?nav=publications&pr=5633

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ITEM #7. You're teaching my child what?

Frankly, I wrote this new book because I was fed up. As you know, I worked for twelve years as a psychiatrist for students at the UCLA campus here in California. During that time, thousands of kids came through my office. I was alarmed at how many of them had sexually transmitted infections and concerned about students, mostly young women, whose sexual lifestyle placed them at risk for disease, emotional distress and even infertility later in life. I was frustrated to see patient after patient in similar situations, yet my hands were tied.

Article is located at CERC:
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/se0189.htm

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ITEM #8. When Pregnancy Goes Awry: Ectopic Pregnancies

The newly-minted embryo must then travel along the fallopian tube during the next few days before finally implanting into the wall of the mother's uterus.

In rare instances, the embryo will fail to reach the uterus, and will instead implant in the fallopian tube along the way, which is a very narrow tube not designed to support a pregnancy. Such "tubal pregnancies" are highly risky, because the wall of the tube can stretch only a limited amount before it will rupture from the increasing pressure of the growing fetus, possibly resulting in the death of both mother and child.

Whenever an embryo implants in the wrong place, whether in the fallopian tube or in another place like the abdomen, such a pregnancy is calleId "ectopic" (meaning "out of place").

Article can be found at CERC:
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/medical_ethics/me0140.htm

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ITEM #9. The Greatest Grassroots Movement of Our Times

After more than three decades of involvement in pro-life activities, I wish I could say that I thought the threats to respect for human life were diminishing. But one lesson we've learned is: Do not underestimate the power of the culture of death. We've learned that what was unimaginable one day can become reality the next. Today, pressures for euthanasia are building; developments in biomedicine are occurring with such speed that they have outpaced reflection on their moral implications; experiments on human embryos are fostering a mentality that treats the lives of the weak as means to the ends of the strong; and the freedoms of religion and conscience are coming under increasing threat.

View entire text at CERC:
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/abortion/ab0157.htm

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ITEM #10. On the Demise of Fatherhood - A Review

"We are now entering a brave new world, where marriage is easily dissolved before it becomes tyrannical, where parenthood is the product of choice not mere biology, where reproductive technologies allow us to have the children of our own making, and where fathers have finally earned the hard-won freedom to follow their dreams and leave their children behind."

View entire text at CERC:
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/parenting/pa0144.htm

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ITEM #11. Holy See: Underdevelopment caused by irresponsible politicians, not by overpopulation

The observer of the Holy See UN recalls Cairo Conference (1994) in which many saw the population explosion as the cause of all evils. After 15 years none of those apocalyptic predictions have come true. Man is a resource and not hindrance to development.

View entire text at AsiaNews:
http://new.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=16617

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ITEM #12. One in four is Muslim, study says

A report from an American think-tank has estimated 1.57 billion Muslims populate the world - with 60% in Asia. The report, by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, took three years to compile, with census data from 232 countries and territories. It showed that 20% of Muslims lived in the Middle East and North Africa. The data also showed that there were more Muslims in Germany than in Lebanon, and more in Russia than in Jordan and Libya together.

View entire text at BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8296200.stm

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YOU CAN CHANGE SOCIETY:

1. BE INFORMED: "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6. Visit Lifeissues.net Website for insights into current Life Issues www.lifeissues.net. All prior email Newsletters Archives are located online at http://lifeissues.net/newsletters/mojo.cgi?flavor=archive&list=lifenews&start=0

3. PRAY DAILY: for the courage to be God's presence in society and to strongly support those who are deemed "unworthy of life". "If My people who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

4. BECOME INVOLVED: Several years ago Fr. Jerry created a project entitled, "Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia". It is a project which appeals for donations to help finance plane travel for lectures and seminars to developing countries in Asia. Strong focus is placed on reaching Asian Catholic Major Seminaries, Universities, Parishes, Hospitals and Family/Pro Life related groups. The lectures place emphasis on "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Life Issues Trends and Challenges". In October, Fr. Jerry will be in Pakistan for 2 weeks. November in Malaysia.

For information about no-cost Pro Life Talks to your group in Asia: contact Fr. Jerry at jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp.

To become a supportive Missionary participant for this Asian project, kindly send your donations to:

** Fr. Jerry Novotny, OMI

** LifeIssues.net, Editor

** Akebono-cho 1-15-9

** Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072

(or transfer donation directly to ProLife bank account: Jerome Novotny, Shikoku Bank, Asakura Branch, No. 102-1-0080824)

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Contact EDITOR:

Jerry Novotny, OMI

Akebono-cho 1-15-9

Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072

[tel/fax: 088-843-0406]

[email: jerry@lifeissues.net (or) jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp]

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Websites by Editor:

English LifeIssues Site: http://www.lifeissues.net,

Japanese LifeIssues Site: http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,

OMI Site: http://www.omijapankorea.net/index.html

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