file: /pub/resources/text/ProLife.News/1992: pln-0214.txt --------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Life Communications - Volume 2, No. 14 September, 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) IS DEVELOPMENT IN THE WOMB IRRELAVENT? Dr. Alan Keyes, Republican Nominee for the US Senate in Maryland on abortion in America: Its become increasingly clear to me that we are dealing with the same issue here that we had to deal with with respect to slavery and civil rights. What do we mean by our doctrine of equality? Do we really mean that all human beings are created equal or not? And if we do, what are the implications of that? It's essentially the same question that Lincoln put to the country when he was agonizing over the slavery question. We have to be very careful how we answer this question, because if we lose our commitment to that basic doctrine of human equality in principle, then of course our whole way of life falls to pieces; and the whole notion that people should govern themselves and have elections and vote and participate and that they have rights and that the government can't violate those rights - from that all the way over to the question whether one being can own another just because they happen to be in some respects superior them - all of these questions hinge on this doctrine. I hope that we have reached the conclusion in America that one human being cannot under any circumstances own another, cannot therefore dispose of another human being as property or according to his/her will rather than with respect to their individual human nature and human rights. Having reached that conclusion, which is what I think the Civil War and the civil rights movement were all about, the only question we face when dealing with abortion is: Are we in fact dealing with a human being? Is the life in the womb to be regarded as and treated as human life? And if we are dealing with a human being, then there are certain basic rights that all human beings have, and that all of us have to respect. I can't just go around killing people because it is convenient or if I don't it will be a tragedy. Otherwise I think we get back to the position which we were in during the nineteenth century. A lot of people made this argument: 'Well, abolishing slavery will be very inconvenient - it will destroy the way of life in the South, it will cause suffering, the slaves will suffer.' It's the same kind of argument you hear about the unborn children. 'Well, we wouldn't want to have these people around. If we free these folks, they won't be able to take care of themselves, so you have to have slavery.' Those kind of arguments really have nothing to do with the main issue, which is: Are we dealing with human beings, and what does that involve in terms of our obligation to respect basic rights? I know there are some folks who say you can't decide that question except on a religious basis. We can't know when that life in the womb becomes a human life. I read an article recently where the author was arguing that the fetus is only _potentially human_. Well, excuse me; in many, many respects, _all_ of us are only potentially human. I haven't finished my development yet; have you? If therefore you can disregard basic human rights because a given entity has not fulfilled its human potential, the same thing would apply to the child the minute it comes out of the womb. The same thing would apply to any number of human beings that I know would not fulfill somebody's criteria of what it really means to be human. And I think that it's not an exaggeration to say that when you start reasoning that way, before you know it you're off with the Nazis talking about the master race and the unfit lives. I think folks who make the argument that "I'm against abortion... or I think this issue is wrong... or I'm pro-life BUT...", they don't understand the nature of this issue. You see, it is not possible to understand the nature of this issue and then change your mind about it. Because if you've thought it through, and I've tried to think it through as carefully as I can, then it would be like changing my mind about whether or not all human beings are created equal, and as a black person I can't change my mind about this. The moment I change my mind about this, there are a lot of people - David Duke, other folks- who I'm sure are waiting in the wings, who would love to see me picking cotton or doing whatever they think I aught to be doing. And I am not about to give them the opportunity to put me back where they think I belong just because I've abandoned the doctrine of equality. In what respect can we say that all human beings are created equal? From the minute you begin to think of it in concrete terms, the conclusion is that in almost no respect whatsoever are all human beings equal. And that's why I think the doctrine of equality does not assert that human beings are equal in anything - in intelligence, in physical ability, in independence, in self-reliance. That's not what it's about; we're not equal in those things. So when you make the determination of who qualifies as a human being, you can't introduce any criterion that is going to be a basis for that kind of unequal distinction. So what does this mean? It means basically that if your mother and father were human, you're human. That's what it means. It's very simple, very straightforward. Now what does this mean? It means that the whole debate over development in the womb is irrelevant. It has nothing to do with it. Are we saying that there's some doubt about the humanity of the parents? Because if there isn't, then I think that for anything else you point to, its development or its viability, it becomes as Lincoln said: if somebody comes along and says "I'm more human than you because I'm more intelligent than you; intelligence is the criterion we'll use," or "independence is the criteria we'll use," then any time you come across somebody who's less independent or less intelligent, we'll be able to say that `those are inferior people, we don't have to respect their rights.' If we're going to reintroduce the notion that we make that kind of distinction and that it then has the ultimate consequence - I can take your life if I consider that you're in an inferior position - then we have turned back the clock on everything we've tried to accomplish in the last hundred and fifty years. How could I change my mind about this? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (2) RU-486 - THE BATTLE CONTINUES Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D- Colo.) has introduced a bill that would overturn a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Ban on the abortifacient RU-496. Working with abortion activists, Berkeley social worker Leona Benten brought the illegal drug into the US on July 1, and filed suit after the pills were confiscated by the FDA. The US Supreme Court, voting 7-2, upheld the FDA ban. Schroeder's bill, which applies specifically to Benten's case, would overturn the Supreme Court's decision. This would allow Benten and millions of others to use RU-486. Schroeder is also a co-sponsor with Rep. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) of a broader bill which would overturn the entire FDA ban. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (3) ACROSS THE POND - DROWING BABIES TO DECREASE INFANT MORTALITY ''Stellen Sie 'nen Eimer hin'' Fr"uhgeborene, die weniger als 1000 g wogen, wurden in der gr"o\ssten Frauenklinik der DDR "uber Jahre hinweg ertr"ankt -- eine Praxis, die offenbar "uberall in der DDR betrieben wurde. Die T"otungen halfen, die Statistik "uber die S"auglingssterblichkeit der auf internationales Renommee bedachten DDR zu sch"onen. In at least one clinic in East Germany in Erfurt, premature babies under 1 kg were drowned in a bucket of water. These events were then registered as abortions or stillbirths. The motive was to improve infant mortality statistics, which are frequently used to compare health care in different countries. Instructions were given to place the child in the bucket before it could make a sound ... this makes it possible to claim that it was "never born alive," as, under East German law at the time, it was born alive only if it both had a beating heart and took a breath. The instructions: ''Sobald entbunden is, nabeln Sie die Kinder schnell ab. Lassen Sie die, bevor sie ihren ersten Schrei tun, in den Eimer Wasser plumpsen.'' Professor Fritz Wagner, director of the clinic defends himself against the charge of killing infants on the grounds that they were legally not alive, ``Und ein laut Gesetz totes Kind kann man nicht t"oten'' Examination of birth data in various locations in the DDR indicates that this practice was widespread but not universal. ''Es gab in der ehemaligen DDR Bezirke, wo Fr"uhgeborene mit 1000 g vorkamen, und es gab Bezirke, wo sie nicht vorkame; daran l"a\sst sich nichts deuteln," stated Ludwig Grauel, head of a neonatal clinic in East Berlin who has examined statistical material in the DDR. In other words, for whatever reason, some counties had live births of babies under 1kg, and others didn't. The motive was clearly political, according to one obstetrician at Erfurt. The purpose was to prove Socialism's superiority to Capitalism. For a long time, the DDR had the same official infant mortality rate as the BRD. - Larry L. Larmore ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (4) MARYLAND's REFERENDUM - QUESTION 6 Maryland will have a pro-abortion referendum on the upcomming September ballot. Here is an idea of what it supports: Question 6 - What it says, and what it doesn't say: ...About Parental Consent: Says NO parental consent is required. Says that the abortion doctor alone decides whether or not to notify a minor's parent. Says the abortion doctor cannot face any penalties -- not even a parent's lawsuit-- for failing to notify a parent (Section 20-103) ...About Referrals and Kickbacks: Says persons who refer abortion customers are no longer forbidden to receive monetary kickbacks from the abortion business. People can even open referral services for profit. Says the law forbidding kickbacks and referral for profit is null and void. (Sections 20-201 through 20-206) ...About Alternatives to Abortion: Says the abortion business no longer has to inform women of their alternatives. Says that the law requiring the abortion business to inform women about pregnancy support, pre-natal care, and adoption is null and void. (Section 20-211) ...About who can do abortions: Says any licensed physician can do abortions (no matter what his specialty). Says it is not necessary to report information to the state that would insure "that adequate and proper procedures are being followed". Says this reporting law is null and void. (Section 20-208) ...About where abortions can be done: Says abortions don't have to be done in hospitals--they are allowed anywhere (even a motel or shopping center). There are no requirements for medical standards, inspections, or licensing for abortion facilities. Says the law restricting abortions to hospitals is null and void. (Section 20-209 and 20-210) ...About when abortions can be done: Says abortions can be done for any reason until the baby could survive outside the womb-- the abortion doctor decides when that is. Allows abortions through all 9 months if the abortion doctor decides it is necessary. Says the abortion doctor cannot face any penalties or lawsuits for deciding to do any abortion for any reason. (Section 20-209) Supposedly, this referendum is being sold as a law that is necessary to insure the rights of women, but it sounds like it is simply a protection for the abortionist from the legal restrictions present in Maryland, and from litigation. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (5) A PRO-LIFE BBS a BBS called PARnet - they put out reports perodically. The one i have a copy of is on rescue events and results April-July. The person to contact is Judah (717) 295-1884 or write PO Box 10171 Lancaster PA 17601. They list three BBS's - 206-744-0174 10AM-Midnight EST 717-394 2889 noon-10PM EST 314-428-2889 24 hours The report will be in a file called PARNET. If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please contact Judah at the above phone/address, or leave amessage on the BBS. You can also leave a FAX by calling 1-717-295-1884 and hitting 113 during the voice message. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote of the Month: "...it's not always good to prolong someone's life, because life is not always good." -Dr. Zier Versluys, head of the Dutch Pediatric Association's Working Group on Neonatal Ethics. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A Note of Regret... The editor (me) accidently sent out the decidedly incomplete issue v2n15. Please accept my apology for the inconvenience and my thanks to those who took time to inform me of the error. - Steve +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Credits: | | 1 - From the "UFL Pro Vita", newsletter of University Faculty for | | Life, Washington DC, volume II number 2 May, 1992. | | write to: Box 2273 Georgetown University, Washington DC 20057. | | 2 - From "Washigton Watch" v3 n11, August, 1992 p.2, published by | | the Family Research Council (FRC). Write to the FRC at Suite | | 500, 700 Thirteenth St, NW, Washington DC, 20005-3960. Or call | | 1-800-232-6459. | | 3 - From "Der Spiegel", (The Mirror, for those who don't speak | | German) vol 46, n. 8, pp. 63-65, 17 Feb 1992. | | 4 - From a pamphlet "Vote Against Question 6" by the VOTE KNOW | | coalition of Maryland, inc. 7135 Minstrel Way, Suite 202, | | Columbia, MD 21045-5278. For information call (301)621-3550 or | | (410)995-6009. | |QOM- From an Associate Press run on July 30, 1992, in the Orange | | County Register, page A16. | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ Anyone desiring information on specific prolife groups, literature, tapes, or help with problems is encouraged to contact the editor.