file: /pub/resources/text/ProLife.News/1992: pln-0210.txt --------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Life Communications - Volume 2, No. 10 May, 1992 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This newsletter is intended to provide articles and news information to those interested in Pro-Life Issues. Questions to readers and articles for submissions are strongly encouraged. All submissions should be sent to the editor, Steve (frezza@ee.pitt.edu). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) THE IRISH ABORTION DEBATE The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child is the best known of the groups campaigning for another referendum on abortion. A new group, claiming to be made up exclusively of young people between the ages of 18 and 25, is beginning to receive some attention. Campaigning under the name "Youth Defence" they held a big march in Dublin [on the weekend of the 26-27 April]. There were some scuffles when about 150 members of the Socialist Workers' Movement [SWM] tried to prevent the marchers crossing O'Connell Bridge. Youth Defence was upset that a SWM spokesperson was interviewed by RTE [National broadcasting authority] following these incidents but they were denied air time. The Irish Times redressed this omission somewhat by carrying a half-page article about Youth Defence on Monday. When the debate on the Maastricht Treaty opened in the Dail more than 1,000 pro-life demonstrators held a rally outside Leinster House. On Wednesday [6 May] about 200 women boarded the Sealink ferry at Dun Laoghaire and travelled to Holyhead and back. They said they were showing solidarity with the 100 Irish women whom, they claim, travel to England for an abortion each week. A report on the main evening news on Wednesday [6 May] revealed that about 100 abortions are carried out in this country each year. They aren't recorded as abortions as they are the result of surgery required to save the mother's life. A catholic priest was then interviewed and said that the Church unequivocally supported any medical treatment considered necessary to save a woman's life, even if this resulted in the death of the foetus [like when there are no alternatives for saving the child, such as in ectopic pregnancies]. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (2) THE DEFENCE OF FETAL EAGLES I saw an interesting letter, I believe in the Youngstown Vindicator, pointing out that there is legislation to protect the eggs of bald eagles, imposing hefty fines for poaching (and I think maybe even a 30 day sentence). Anyway, he goes into an entertaining spiel about how it "doesn't look like an eagle or sound like an eagle. It doesn't fly like an eagle, and has no feathers. One could even say it is only a "potential" eagle. Yet it is vigorously protected under law. He then begs for the answer: why our society protects "fetal" eagles and not humans. -Mike Vanauker ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (3) LOOKING FOR INTERNS Feminists for Life are looking for summer interns: Would you like to gain some experience and academic credits volunteering in the office of Feminists for Life? We can offer living quarters, and there is ample opportunity for part-time employment nearby. Write the national office for more info: Feminists For Life of America 811 E 47th Street, Kansas City MO 64110 (816) 753-2130 -Ron Graham ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (4) SOME NON-CHRISTIAN PRO-LIFE ORGANIZATIONS The sound of stereotypes exploding: pro-life doesn't always mean religious right. Gays Against Abortion has changed its name: Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians 1500 Massachusetts Avenue #860 Washington DC 20005 (202) 223-6697 Krishnas are thoroughly in the pro-life camp, as abortion is even forbidden in their scriptures; contact N. American Director of Communications Anuttama Dasa International Society for Krishna Consciousness 1400 Cherry St. Denver CO 80220 The one most likely to raise eyebrows is Wiccans Against Abortion. The Rev. David Brock is "an eclectic meso-pagan, basing his synthesis on late Zoroastrianism, Cabalism, and Wicca" who believes that the "karmic debt [of abortion] can be scarcely imagined." Wiccans Against Abortion c/o ULC (Brythonic) PO Box 15259 Portland OR 97215 -Ron Graham ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (5) READER RESPONSES Being here in Ithaca (not far from Buffalo), we are seeing a lot of stories on the news lately about OR's activities. I just noticed this morning that the local convenient store (close to where I live) is now carrying the daily Buffalo newspaper for $1.50 a copy...don't tell me abortion isn't on the mind of a lot of people!! We should all keep in mind these people, and regardless of our personal views should perhaps keep in mind a quote from St. Augustine (somewhat paraphrased): "Unity in the truth, freedom in all that is subject to opinion, but charity in everything." Perhaps for us, that might mean, "Unity in the truth on abortion, but freedom and respect when it comes to tactics as long as those tactics are not unjust of themselves." - Mark Viz, still here at Cornell... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Prolife News, Vol. 2, No. 9, contained the following smear of Planned Parenthood: "Planned Parenthood is known to be the nations greatest advocate of the evil of abortion, and it is probably the nation's foremost facilitator of teenage fornication with its clinics and provocative sex-education programs. Is there a worse organization in the country? ... It seems that one of our jobs in practical pro-life work is to help responsible people in corporations to understand that PP is even more notorious than the KKK." I realize that it is an article of faith within the pro-life movement to regard PP as Evil Incarnate, and I find myself a bit uncomfortable defending them. I have two objections to this post: a general one I have aired before, and a specific one. First, let me again say that this sort of demagoguery does us no good and much harm. It makes no converts, repels the undecided, and ultimately does little more than make supporters feel good about themselves and their cause. But is there any _truth_ in comparing PP to the KKK? I am (vaguely) aware of the views on eugenics held by Margaret Singer (sp?) and the other early founders of PP, but I haven't seen any evidence that this is still the guiding philosophy of PP. Further, this quote tars with a very broad brush--I suspect that not all PP clinics are the same in approach or philosphy. (Indeed, I have been told by my sister-in-law, who is ardently pro-abortion, that the PP clinic where she went to school talked women _out_ of having an abortion. I would dearly loved to have this or a similar anecdote independently confirmed.) My second specific objection is referring to PP as "the nation's foremost facilitator of teenage fornication". This is ludicrous in the extreme. The only thing required to "facilitate teenage fornication" is an empty house or a car parked in a dark lot. Certainly my youthful (and ultimately useless) quest for condoms did not take me anywhere near PP--I went around the corner to Nicky's drugstore. Most teenagers don't even bother to do that. Planned Parenthood is responding to the epidemic of teen sexualtiy (in my opinion incorrectly) and may in some _small_ way may be contributing to it. But they are a small current in a much larger tide. It would be more profitable to lay the blame where it belongs: in a culture that extols and distorts human sexuality and bombards us with "smut" every minute of every day. -David Cruz-Uribe, SFO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Question: Does anyone have access to a copy of the *modern* version of the Oath of Hippocrates? -Larry L. Larmore ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (6) GOODBYES It has been a pleasure to read ProLife News. However, I am working in Washington, and my access to E-Mail thus ends. Please inform me of events in Pittsburgh or DC area. Furthermore, please place my name and address on any mailing lists for pro life lit. Much thanks and coninued success on all your work. -Miguel A. Rodriguez Jr. 4553 N. Chelsea Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Quote Of the Month: "Roe v. Wade should be overruled and the authority to resolve the competing claims of mothers and their offspring should be returned to the legislative branches of government." - Joseph W. Dellapenna, "The Historical Case Against Abortion", submitted by the Association for Public Justic to the Supreme Court as the Historical Brief to the `Webster v. Reproductive Health Services' case (1989). +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Credits: | | 1- From the 11 May issue (no. 275) of THE IRISH EMIGRANT. Requests | | to be added to the distribution list should be sent to: | | "irish-net-REQUEST@cs.cornell.edu". | | 3+4 `Shamelessly stolen' from the Summer, 1992 "SisterLife" (put | | out by Feminists for Life) | |QOM- From "Continuity" no. 13 Spring/Fall 1989, $5 per issue, write | | c/o ISI, 14 South Bryn Mawr Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010d | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ Anyone desiring information on specific prolife groups, literature, tapes, or help with problems is encouraged to contact the editor.