Dear Friends for Life,
A new "emergency contraceptive pill," NorLevo has been approved for Canadian use. Like other similar drugs it acts to harden the lining of the uterus and prevent a one-week-old living embryo from implanting. Therefore, it is an abortive agent.
A United Nations Report clearly shows a rapidly aging world population. The U. N. Department of Economics and Social Affairs has published its "World Population Aging 2009" report. It includes:
* The current aging is without any parallel in history. By 2045 the number of persons over 60 is expected to exceed those under age 15. In more developed regions where aging is advanced, this situation was already reached in 1998.
* Today the median age for the world is 28 years, with half the world's population above that age and half above it. By mid-century the median age will likely reach 38 years.
* Aging is affecting nearly all the countries of the world, due to reductions in fertility that have become almost universal.
* Aging will have a major impact on economic growth, savings, investment, labor markets, and taxation.
* Because fertility levels are unlikely to rise again to the high levels of the past, population aging is irreversible and the young populations that were common until recently are likely to become rare during the Twenty-first Century.
* Worldwide there are currently about nine persons of working age to support older persons. By 2050 this will drop to four, with serious implications for pension schemes. The current economic crisis has also brought about sharp reductions in the value of pension funds.
God Bless,
Jerry Novotny, OMI
(Quote) "When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn." --Harriet Beecher Stowe
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Lifeissues.net NEWSLETTER #470
April 18, 2010
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(TABLE OF CONTENTS):
1. What About Abortion in Cases of Rape and Incest? Women and Sexual Assault
2. Pediatricians warn educators not to promote being 'gay'
3. The shock of the old: Welcome to the elderly age
4. New Global Study Shows Maternal Mortality Significantly Lower Than Previously Thought/Policy Implications Worry Abortion Advocates
5. Catholic pro-life leader demands protection for abused, pregnant girls
6. Getting Serious About Pornography
7. USCCB survey shows parents concerned about youth access to unwholesome media
8. The Pill Turns 50: Medicine That Makes You Sick
9. The frozen-embryo dilemma
10. The shock of the old: Welcome to the elderly age
11. How Red States Reduce the Abortion Rate: A Response to Andrew Koppelman
12. Internet Pornography: Practical means of avoiding the near occasion of this sin
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(FOCUS ON ASIA): "Asia's fragile families lead to parent-child suicides" - Feelings of isolation unite all cases: "parents feel there is no friend or relative able or trustworthy enough to care for the children". The extremely low birthrates of these societies combined with their materialistic pressures appear to set the scene for this tragic isolation and the increased fragility of the family. http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/moy/moy_15asiafamilies.html
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ITEM #1. What About Abortion in Cases of Rape and Incest? Women and Sexual Assault
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Many people, including those whose mission is to help women and girls who are victims of sexual assault and abuse, believe abortion is the best solution if a pregnancy occurs. Yet our research shows that most women who become pregnant through sexual assault don't want abortion, and say abortion only compounds their trauma.
View full article at LifeNews.com:
http://www.lifenews.com/nat6223.html
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ITEM #2. Pediatricians warn educators not to promote being 'gay'
A professional organization for pediatricians has dispatched letters to thousands of school superintendents across the United States with a warning that promoting - or "affirming" - the homosexual lifestyle to young children can damage them.
View full article at WorldNetDaily:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=137709
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ITEM #3. The shock of the old: Welcome to the elderly age
This is partly because Japanese people live longest: men can expect to reach 79 and women 86. It is also partly because the Japanese have almost given up having babies: the fertility rate is just 1.2 children per woman, far lower than the 2.1 needed to maintain a steady population. The rest of the world is following Japan's example. In 19 countries, from Singapore to Iceland, people have a life expectancy of about 80 years. Of all the people in human history who ever reached the age of 65, half are alive now. Meanwhile, women around the world have half as many children as their mothers. And if Japan is the model, their daughters may have half as many as they do.
View full article at New Scientist:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627550.100-the-shock-of-the-old-welcome-to-the-elderly-age.html?full=true
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ITEM #4. New Global Study Shows Maternal Mortality Significantly Lower Than Previously Thought/Policy Implications Worry Abortion Advocates
A new study out this week by the leading British medical journal shows maternal mortality rates have been significantly overestimated by United Nations (UN) agencies. The Lancet reports that maternal deaths worldwide in 2008 totaled 342,900 rather than the 500,000+ used by the World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in recent years. The study finds both that the numbers from WHO and UNICEF were faulty due to a lack of proper reporting and also imprecise statistical modeling. But The Lancet study also finds progress has been made in preventing pregnant women from dying.
View full article at C-FAM:
http://www.c-fam.org/publications/id.1610/pub_detail.asp
Read the New Study at The Lancet:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)60518-1/fulltext
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ITEM #5. Catholic pro-life leader demands protection for abused, pregnant girls
Christine de Vollmer began by explaining the need to "powerfully raise our voices so that people do not fall prey to this malicious information. We are obviously in the midst of a campaign to legalize 'therapeutic abortion' in cases where the life of the mother is 'at risk.' We know that this step always leads to the legalization of all abortions."
View full article at CNA:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/catholic_pro-life_leader_demands_protection_for_abused_pregnant_girls/
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ITEM #6. Getting Serious About Pornography
Earlier this month, the Witherspoon Institute released a report examining "The Social Costs of Pornography," signed by more than 50 scholars representing a wide array of professions, academic disciplines, and political views. The report details the considerable social costs that pornography exacts upon men, women, and children.
View full article at NRO:
http://article.nationalreview.com/429884/getting-serious-about-pornography/anonymous?page=1
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ITEM #7. USCCB survey shows parents concerned about youth access to unwholesome media
A survey of parents sponsored by the U.S. bishops find they are deeply concerned about content in media and want help from the media industry and government to control children's access to it.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) study, "Parents' Hopes & Concerns About the Impact of Media on their Children," was commissioned in response to a notice of inquiry by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Over 80 percent of parents say they want to be able to control access to content that depicts violence, sex, illegal drug use, alcohol abuse and profane language, the USCCB reports. Illegal drug use and alcohol abuse are special concerns, though they are not considered by many ratings and parental control system.
Article is located at CNA:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/usccb_survey_shows_parents_concerned_about_youth_access_to_unwholesome_media/
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ITEM #8. The Pill Turns 50: Medicine That Makes You Sick
The contraceptive pill was sold as the scientific panacea for ultimate sexual liberation. Its real-time effect has been a form of "lobotomy" of reason and good judgement, both of users and prescribers.
Article can be found at CERC:
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/medical_ethics/me0147.htm
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ITEM #9. The frozen-embryo dilemma
Thanks to the in vitro providers, we have hundreds of thousands of embryos in the deep freeze now. So now, what do we do with them?
View entire two files at Washington Times:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/06/wetzstein-extra-embryos-pose-dilemma/
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ITEM #10. The shock of the old: Welcome to the elderly age
In one generation, Japan has gone from being the youngest developed country to the oldest.
View entire text at New Scientis:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627550.100-the-shock-of-the-old-welcome-to-the-elderly-age.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=science-in-society
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ITEM #11. How Red States Reduce the Abortion Rate: A Response to Andrew Koppelman
Data from both the Centers for Disease Control and the Alan Guttmacher clearly indicate that abortion rates are significantly lower in red states than in blue states.
View entire text at Public Discourse:
http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2010/04/1250
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ITEM #12. Internet Pornography: Practical means of avoiding the near occasion of this sin
What are means of purifying the mind of pornographic images?
View entire text at CERC
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/se0200.htm
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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". The project appeals for donations to help finance plane travel for lectures and seminars to developing countries in Asia. Strong focus centers 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".
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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