Friday, February 17, 2012

Lifeissues Newsletter

Lifeissues.net: clear thinking about crucial issues

Dear Friends For Life,

There are over 600,000 embryos in frozen storage; a number increasing each year. There are also embryos in storage simply waiting for their owners to decide what they should do with them. Each year that passes without a decision increases the risk to your clinic of owners simply abandoning their embryos. At one clinic on the east coast their abandoned embryo rate is over 25%! We have the power to change this. The question is: will we remain silent or will we speak out, realizing that the embryos in frozen storage and those being abandoned is a brother and a sister? Speaking out helps people see that it is in their best interest, it's in the human interest, to protect life.

God Bless,
Jerry Novotny, OMI

(The Difference is LIFE) "If you love, you will suffer. The only way to protect yourself against suffering is to protect yourself against love - and that is the greatest suffering of all, loneliness." - Peter Kreeft
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(Due to volume of spam received, do not reply to this message but instead send all emails to jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp. Thank you!)


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Lifeissues.net Newsletter #563
February 19, 2011

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(TABLE OF CONTENTS):

1. Britain provides contraceptives to 9-year-olds
2. Spain's eugenic abortion law violates human rights of disabled
3. Obama's mandate about abortion, not birth control
4. Brutal Thai boxing bouts see boys and girls as young as SIX fighting as 'entertainment' for tourists
5. Irving Comments, on "'Personhood' misguided", Salt Lake Tribune
6. IRVING REBUTTAL to EffieIlene re Irving Comments, on "'Personhood' misguided"
7. Indonesia: Sex among teens 'on the rise'
8. India 'Most Dangerous Place in World to be Born a Girl'
9. The Catholic Tradition on the Morality of Contraception
10. Scholar punctures illusions of pro-cohabitation study
11. Radical Proposals on Organ Donation
12. 'Birth Tourists' to Hong Kong Double But 'One Child' Policy Pursues

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(Focus on Time): "Hooking Kids on Sex" -  Planned Parenthood exposes children to sexual material in order to seed a generation of sex addicts, who will become future customers for the abortion giant. ALL unveils tool to stop Planned Parenthood's pornographic assault on children. This video provides the ammunition that concerned citizens need to get Planned Parenthood out of local schools and community organizations, and is an indispensable aid in defunding the predatory organization. Warning: This video is not appropriate for children.

**Bringing Jesus to Planned Parenthood through Mary: New brochure promotes the campaign that will stop Planned Parenthood - See video

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ITEM #1: Britain provides contraceptives to 9-year-olds

7,400 British girls between 13 and 15 were given implants or hormonal injections last year. In some schools, hormonal contraceptives have been given to girls as young as nine.

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ITEM #2: Spain's eugenic abortion law violates human rights of disabled

"Any legislation that permits eugenic abortion ... is discriminatory because it treats the life of a person with a disability as less valuable," said Down Spain.

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ITEM #3: Obama's mandate about abortion, not birth control

[Question: Why is it that very very few commentators on this Obama "health care mandate" don't mention that it includes STERLIZATION as "contraception" and a subcategory of HEALTH CARE? Rarely is that part of Obama's mandate stated in the various commentaries. Why is that? All we hear about is "contraceptives". Given that the real issue is the first amendment, given that both the usual birth control pills as well as the "emergency" "contraceptives" can also be abortifacient (as acknowledged even by their manufacturers), given that an abortion mandate as a "contraceptive" is next -- but why isn't anyone talking about how sterilization, also included in Obama's mandate, is also being defined as a "contraceptive" and as "birth control"?? Sterilization is a contraceptive??? If sterilization is a "contraceptive", then what else could be defined, and used, and paid for, as a "contraceptive" or "birth control"? Need to readdress how "health care" could have ever been allowed to include the intentional killing of innocent living human beings, and get that definition changed. - DNI]

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ITEM #4: Brutal Thai boxing bouts see boys and girls as young as SIX fighting as 'entertainment' for tourists

"We are talking about little kids punching and kicking each other for money. The tourists watch the bouts and tip the fighters after they finish."

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ITEM #5: Irving Comments, on "'Personhood' misguided", Salt Lake Tribune

Comment: I don't know what they teach in zoology at Brigham Young, but in human embryology courses since 1942 the Carnegie Stages of Early Human Embryonic Development have been taught for half a century, and based on internationally documented research since the late 1880's (Wilhelm His). Not new; not a mystery; not an "opinion". The Carnegie Stages [http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/collections/hdac/Select_Stage_and_Lab_Manual.htm;  see also "The Virtual Human Embryo" at http://virtualhumanembryo.lsuhsc.edu/DREM/DREM_home.htm] are determined by 20-25 Ph.D.'s in human embryology from around the world, and updated continuously since 1942. There are now even iPhone apps [http://apps.usa.gov/embryo/] that give the accurate scientific facts: the new human being sexually reproduced begins to exist immediately at the beginning of the process of fertilization [http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/collections/hdac/stage1.pdf]. Home work is advised. -Dr. D. N. Irving, Ph.D.

Salt Lake Tribune Article

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ITEM #6: IRVING REBUTTAL to EffieIlene re Irving Comments, on "'Personhood' misguided"

In response to EffieIlene: Need to clarify each of your definitions, after you check out Biology 101 and those charts describing stages of development of living human organisms. (1) The question is not "life", as you have tried to frame the debate, but the LIFE OF a human being, a human organism. And the question is not when does the "fetus" start developing, but when does the LIFE OF a new human BEING/ORGANISM begin - and that question was answered over 100 years ago as I documented. The LIFE OF the sexually reproduced human embryo, who is a human being, a human organism, begins at the beginning of fertilization. That human embryo develops for 8 full weeks during what is called the "embryonic period", and then that same human being is called a "fetus" as he/she continues to develop further. The fetal period of that same human being goes from the 9th week of development to birth. (2) The question is not when the LIFE OF a mere cell that is only part of a larger whole being begins to exist, but when does the LIFE OF that whole human being or organism begin to exist. There is a critical difference between a mere cell that is "living" but that cannot continue "living" for long without being part of the larger whole living organism that exists on its own, and a whole organism that is composed of many cells which it organizes. Mere cells partake of the "life of" the whole living organism. The uni-cell human embryo formed at the beginning of fertilization, however, is both a living human organism and a cell. It is a uni-celled organism - as each of you were when you began to exist. That single-cell organism is capable of developing further into an adult human being; a mere cell is not and cannot. (3) Cell growth is caused by an organism that is living; a cancer tumor is not an organism, it is just a collection of mere cells. (4) When you buried your dead grandmother you didn't bury "life" per se, but you buried a dead human organism whose organic life was gone, leaving that organism incapable of organizing her unique collection of cells to function as a living being before, and why her body cells then decompose. (5) The ability to feel pain is not "life", but only a function of a whole organism that is alive; A heartbeat is not "life", but only a function of a whole organism that is alive; Same with breathing, brain function, movement. These are all merely FUNCTIONS of a whole living human organism that causes such functions and activities because of the kind of nature it has. That is why a "person" cannot be defined in terms of "pain", "pleasure", "consciousness", "choosing", "willing" (aka Peter Singer), since that would necessarily leave millions of living ADULT human beings out of personhood, e.g., the mentally ill, mentally retarded, stroke victims, paraplegics, the comatose, drug addicts, alcoholics, etc. - even you while you are sleeping! "Person" must be defined in terms of the human nature something has, not in terms of the later functions and activities actually caused by and dependent on that very human nature. Otherwise we define even all those adult human beings out of all human rights. So when you figure out how to define "LIFE" per se let me know; meantime stick to the real question, "When does a new human being/organism begin to live, to exist?". As long as the term "person" is properly defined in a bill, then that bill should be supported.
 
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EffieIlene

The question is not when does the fetus start developing - the question is when does life begin.

Does cell growth equal life? If so, than a cancer tumor is alive.

Does that fact that something is a unique collection of human cells equal life? If so, than when we buried my dead grandmother we buried life.

Is the ability to feel pain life? Than what about those who are born with CIPA?

Is a heartbeat life? Is breathing life? Is brain function life? Is movement life?

What is life and how do we define it?

These are the areas that are open for debate. These are the questions that the charts you reference don't answer.

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Salt Lake Tribune Article

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ITEM #7 Indonesia: Sex among teens 'on the rise'

Lack of proper education and easy access to pornographic websites has led to an alarming rise in sexual activity among teenagers in Surabaya, according to the former head of the diocese's Commission for Family.

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ITEM #8: India 'Most Dangerous Place in World to be Born a Girl'

India is the most dangerous place in the world to be born a girl, with girls almost twice as likely as boys to die before reaching the age of five, according to new UN figures. The report, which analyses differences between male and female child mortality rates over the last 40 years, reveals that from 2000 to 2010 there were 56 deaths of boys aged one to five for every 100 deaths of girls. Indian campaigners for the rights of girls said the figures reflected widespread discrimination against girls, ranging from neglect to abuse and killing of unwanted female infants.

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ITEM #9: The Catholic Tradition on the Morality of Contraception

There are pressing reasons why a Catholic should know the history of the Church's doctrine on contraception. In Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul appeals to the "landmarks in the human Christian vision of marriage," and to the "teaching of the Church on the regulation of birth," for declaring that artificial contraception is forbidden by divine law. To see some of these landmarks and the unbroken teaching of the Church is more than ever necessary today, when the papal pronouncement is called into question.

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ITEM #10: Scholar punctures illusions of pro-cohabitation study

A new study touting the "benefits" of cohabitation is based on deeply flawed ideas about human nature and fulfillment, according to a leading scholar on the social role of families.

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ITEM #11: Radical Proposals on Organ Donation

The British Medical Association (BMA) has published a report laying out options to increase the supply of organs for transplant. Some of the options considered are highly controversial, including the keeping of patients alive solely in order to harvest their organs, taking hearts from newborn babies, and retrieving organs from high-risk donors. Hearts could also be taken from recently deceased patients and restarted in ...

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ITEM #12: 'Birth Tourists' to Hong Kong Double But 'One Child' Policy Pursues

The number of pregnant Chinese "birth-tourists" travelling to Hong Kong to have their children has more than doubled in the past 12 months, according to latest figures released last week. Hong Kong's public hospital chiefs say the number of mainlanders taking advantage of superior medical care and generous benefits in the former British colony has jumped by 108 per cent year-on-year. Last month, under pressure ...

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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. Access to all prior Newsletters is located in the Archives on main page.

2. 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

3. 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 is centered 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@shirt.ocn.ne.jp]

["Due to volume of spam received, we're asking you not to reply to this message but instead send all correspondence to jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp. Thank you! Editor"]

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Websites by Editor:

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

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

HIV/AIDS Site: http://capcha.org

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

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