The Eighth Circuit has agreed to rehear en banc a challenge to a South Dakota law restricting abortion. http://www.argusleader.com/article/20111206/NEWS/312060031/Abortion-issue-appeal-gets-January-hearing The focus of the rehearing relates to a provision of the “law that requires a doctor to tell a woman seeing an abortion that she would face a higher risk of suicide by going through with the […]
Here is a link to an interesting story in the New York Times on Ohio’s fetal heartbeat bill. The article explores the divisions within the pro-life movement about the advisability of enacting this legislation. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/health/policy/fetal-heartbeat-bill-splits-anti-abortion-forces.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all Richard M.
Here are some relections from Frank Zapatka (Emeritus, American U.) on “The Other Room” by Zbigniew Herbert. Zbigniew Herbert (1924-1998) was a highly regarded Polish poet, dramatist, and essayist. Praised by Nobel Literature prize laureates, Czeslaw Milosz and Wislawa Szymborska, Herbert has been favorably compared to T.S. Eliot. Among Herbert’s dramatic works is a play in […]
Here is a LifeNews story on the Prenatal Nondiscrimintaion Act. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/29/congressional-bill-would-ban-sex-selection-race-based-abortion/ The Act, introduced by Trent Franks from Arizona, “would prohibit knowingly performing or financing sex-selection or race-based abortions.” Richard M.
Here is an encouraging article from C-Fam about a positive development in Uruguay. http://www.c-fam.org/fridayfax/volume-14/san-jose-articles-used-to-block-right-to-abortion-in-uruguay.html There has been a steady push from the abortion rights movement to claim that there is a right to abortion protected by international law. The San Jose Articles (see this post, http://uffl.org/blog/2011/10/06/san-jose-articles-presented-at-un-briefing/) refute that claim and the Articles have now been […]
Here is a link to Pope Benedict’s recent speech on stem cell research. The Pope spoke to participants at a conference organized by the Pontifical Council for Culture on this theme– Adult Stem Cells: Science and the Future of Man and Culture. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2011/november/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20111112_stem-cells_en.html While extolling the promise of scientific research, Pope Benedict emphasized the need to protect […]
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“euthanasia is heroin”
Wesley Smith uses this phrase in a post on his blog in which he discusses a proposal by Dutch euthanasia groups to create mobile euthanasia clinics. http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2011/11/17/euthanasia-is-heroin/ As Smith describes the idea:”My point was–and is–that once a culture starts mainlining mercy killing, it will always wants more.” The pattern is seen repeatedly. What starts with a seemingly modest effort soon […]
That’s the title of a recent article by Fred Barnes in the Weekly Standard. http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/hidden-persuaders_604174.html?nopager=1 The article’s subtitle is “The unheralded gains of the pro-life movement.” Barnes describes a series of positive developments: the impact of sonograms, the increasing pro-life sentiment among young people, the rapid increase in pregnancy care centers, etc. At the end of […]
Here is a link to an article in the National Right to Life News on a recent study in the Lancet. The study indicates that patients who have been diagnosed in a persisent vegetative state may be consciously aware. Here is a conclusion from the study: “These findings confirm that a population of patients exists who […]
That’s the title of a recent post by Wesley Smith. http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2011/11/09/whats-choice-got-to-do-with-dutch-euthanasia/ Smith discusses a recent incident in the Netherlands when a committee of doctors authorized the killing of a patient suffering severe dementia, even though the patient was unable to express her choice to die. This is, as Smith notes, not a new problem but the incident may focus […]