Pro-Life Times: January 2004

Parliamentary committee upholds right to be killed

A parliamentary report on the government's draft Mental Incapacity Bill - which would legalise euthanasia 'by neglect' - has endorsed a right to be killed.

The parliamentary joint committee on the Bill has claimed that "the State has a secondary obligation to protect life, but an individual can choose not to uphold that right." The report also states that, because the "right [to take decisions that could end life] is recognised in law for those who are capable of making such decisions", "it is right that the Bill should provide for those who wish to do so to have the legal means to have that decision respected should they become incapable."

Anthony Ozimic, SPUC political secretary, said, "The committee has copied Diane Pretty's claim - that suicide is a person's free choice and therefore the government should ensure that those incapable of killing themselves have a right to be killed. However, international human rights law holds that the State has a primary - not secondary - duty to protect life, and British law holds that consent to homicide is no defence for murder.

"Although the overwhelming majority of the 1,200 written submissions the committee received were opposed to both euthanasia and the Bill, the committee had been stacked with members who were likely to support the Bill and with close links to organisations lobbying in favour of the Bill."

Although the Bill was not in the Queen's Speech - which announces the bills the government plans to introduce during the new parliamentary year - a new draft or delayed Bill is possible. Because the danger of widespread euthanasia in Britain is still very real, SPUC will be holding a mass lobby of Parliament against euthanasia on 26 & 27 April 2004. For more information please call 020 7222 5845 or email political@spuc.org.uk.

SPUC has been attacked for its campaign against the Bill - supporters even being described as "naïve and gullible". SPUC national director John Smeaton retorted, "To anyone who thinks that we should not oppose the introduction of the Mental Incapacity Bill because it allegedly has some good in it, all I can say is this: would it have been right not to oppose the introduction of the Abortion Act if it had included good parts giving child benefit and housing rights to pregnant women?"

A prize for life

Helen Price, from Wales, is this year's winner of the Robin McNair Prize, for an essay she wrote on the status of the early human embryo. The national essay competition commemorates Squadron Leader Robin McNair - a courageous fighter pilot during World War 11 and determined campaigner in the fight to protect unborn children after the war.

Mr Alistair Burt MP, parliamentary private secretary to Mr Michael Howard, presented the cash prize of £250 to Helen, 19, of Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf. He said, "As a war-hero, Squadron Leader McNair was daily encountering matters of life and death which is perhaps, why, after the war, he was so devoted to the pro-life cause."

Comment

Rt Rev Anthony Fisher OP

Did Adam have a belly button? Michelangelo's great Creation on the Sistine Chapel ceiling tells us he did. But since the rather more authoritative Book of Genesis says Adam was created as an adult there was no need.

I don't know if Adam had a navel. But I do know that the man Christians call 'the Second Adam', Jesus, did have one: for unlike the first Adam, Jesus was born of a woman. Before being born he lived for nine months inside her, drawing upon her for life, oxygen, nourishment, warmth, security. The baby we look forward to at Christmas had his umbilical cord cut that day as He was brought into the world.

When Mary fell pregnant she was unmarried, frightened, young and poor. Her boyfriend was ambivalent. Her future was uncertain. How could she contemplate going ahead with her pregnancy?

Our world often devalues pregnancy and motherhood and children. Ask any pregnant woman. China's one child policy came with criminal sanctions, but Britain's unofficial 'no child policy' is more subtle and more effective.

At Christmas, Christians celebrate a child conceived and born in far from perfect circumstances, yet whose Nativity changed the whole course of history. They celebrate his pregnant mother, too, who had the courage to say "yes" to life even in such a situation. That mother and child speak to us still: of the dignity of every human person, at every stage of life, however young or poor or frightened.

We must commit ourselves to building a country where women like Mary, when frightened in their pregnancy, are still loved and supported; a culture where babies like Jesus are saved before and after birth from the new Herods; a community where fathers like Joseph are encouraged to take responsibility as he did; a civilisation where motherhood and childhood are honoured and celebrated and protected.

Prayer

"And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive a child in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus." Luke 1:30-31

Most Rev Anthony Fisher OP, is Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney, Australia and is the President of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children in Britain. In 1985 he entered the Dominicans and was ordained a priest in Sydney on 14 September 1991.

He studied for his doctorate at the University of Oxford. While in England he worked closely with SPUC on a number of major projects.

For the past three years Bishop Fisher has been the foundation director and a Professor of Bioethics and Moral Theology in the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family. Bishop Fisher has lectured around the world and has written extensively on bioethics and morality. He has had various engagements in parish life and the pastoral care of the disabled and the dying. At 43 he is the youngest Catholic bishop in Australia.

School governors liable over morning-after pill

Paul Tully

A school in South Devon has decided not to allow the abortion-inducing morning-after pill to be given out to its students after governors were told by a local councillor that legal responsibility rests with them in the case of a girl becoming seriously ill or dying as a result of taking this drug.

Bob Hyde, a governor at Brixham Community College, was among those pressing for clarification of the legal position. "At the first meeting we had when the school nurse, a very nice lady, gave a presentation about the morning-after pill, we could easily have agreed to it. But I had my doubts and wanted to do some research of my own," Mr Hyde told the Pro-Life Times.

The governors pressed Torbay council for legal clarification. Initially the council side-stepped the issue. Eventually, at a meeting when Mr Hyde put the case against the morning-after pill being allowed in the school, the Sexual Health Worker from Torbay council confirmed that legal responsibility rested with the governors. The governors decided unanimously not to have the morning-after pill available in the school. This decision holds for a year.

"I wonder how many other school governors know that they are liable in this way," said Mr Hyde. "My concerns were not only about the legal position. As a governor I have a duty of trust to the parents. Giving out this potentially harmful drug, without any parental consent or knowledge, flies in the face of good practice guidelines which state, among other things, that a school nurse cannot give a paracetamol to a pupil without parental consent."

Pharmacists have a right to say no

A retired lecturer in Pharmacy Law & Ethics has spoken out in support of pharmacists who refuse to supply the abortion-inducing morning-after pill. Rosemary Baker spoke to the Pro-Life Times concerning a case in which a woman complained after being refused the morning after pill twice by a pharmacist who conscientiously objects to dispensing the drug. The Asian pharmacist, at the Boots store in the High Street in Bridgenorth, Shropshire, twice refused to handle the prescription for the 28 year old mother of three because the supply was contrary to her beliefs.

Rosemary Baker said, "This pharmacist is to be congratulated for acting as she did. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Code of Ethics recognises that some pharmacists object to the supply of such products but it takes a great deal of courage to refuse to make a supply and risk antagonism from colleagues and customers. We should identify and support those pharmacies which do not supply the morning-after pill.

Mrs Baker continued, "This drug, Levonelle 2, is a huge assault on a woman's body. The new dosage recommendation is that both tablets should be taken as a single dose. This is equivalent to six week's worth of the mini pill in one go. This powerful drug is sometimes given to girls as young as twelve, even though the manufacturers of Levonelle now state that 'very limited data is available in women under 16'."

More clinics lead to more sexual infections

Amanda Logan

New research into the Government's sexual health policy has shown that in areas where contraception and abortion services are made more widely available to teenagers, rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among the young appear to rise.

Professor David Paton of Nottingham University, stated, "We are pretty sure, statistically, that the increase in clinic sessions was associated with an increase in diagnosis rates. Sexually transmitted infection diagnoses increased by about 15% between 1999 and 2001 - one tenth of this seems to be due to clinics."

Professor Paton looked at 99 health authorities in England and compared the number of teenage family planning clinic sessions with the levels of sexually transmitted disease and found a correlation between the two.

Gordon Kane, Editor of Vision for Love, a monthly newsletter promoting authentic education in human sexuality in accordance with natural law principles, said, "We welcome this research. We have always said that making contraceptive and abortion services available to teenagers promotes sexual activity and does not protect young people from the damaging consequences."

John Smeaton Column

Hope for the world

The Pro-Life Times contained exciting news for readers last year.

A report on Poland described one of the most significant pro-life developments in the world which took place between the years 1988 and 1993.

Briefly, abortion was legal on demand in Poland between 1956 to 1983. A concerted campaign by pro-life groups and the Church resulted in massive decline in the number of abortions from 1988 which paved the way for the introduction in 1993 of a most unsatisfactory, but much stricter, law on abortion.

The significant pro-life development to which I refer is not the passing of that law in 1993; rather, it is the massive decline in the number of abortions between 1988 and 1993 during which time abortion continued to be legally available on demand. There were 105,333 legal abortions in Poland in 1988; 82,137 legal abortions in 1989; 59,417 in 1990; 30,878 in 1991; 11,640 in 1992; and in 1993 there were 777 legal abortions in Poland.

Moreover, the fall in the number of legal abortions in Poland was not accompanied by large-scale illegal abortions, as claimed by the pro-abortion lobby. In fact it was accompanied by a drop in both the number of natural miscarriages and the number of deaths associated with pregnancy and childbirth.

Secondly, the fall in the number of legal abortions in Poland is most significant because it took place during a period when abortion was still legally available on demand.

The Polish experience gives the whole world hope. We can begin to save lives in Britain too, even with our terrible abortion law in force and even with the threat of euthanasia by omission being legalised through the government's draft Mental Incapacity Bill. Let's never give up on changing the minds of our fellow-citizens - and stopping abortion and euthanasia - through our commitment to pro-life educational campaigns, in addition to our unceasing work on the political front. Join with us in our educational work now! Contact me on johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk for further information.

News In Brief

· DENMARK - Fears have been expressed that a psychopath who murdered his baby daughters could have fathered hundreds of children through sperm donations. Heine Nielsen, who is now serving life imprisonment, is thought to have made 520 donations to a Danish sperm bank which supplies 40 countries. One expert urged women who believed themselves to be pregnant with his children to have abortions in case they had Nielsen's genes.

· BELFAST & DUBLIN - The dangers of birth control to women and unborn children are the subject of a leaflet jointly published by the European Life Network (ELN) of Dublin and the Northern Ireland division of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. The leaflet describes how a large number of birth control drugs and devices can kill young embryos by stopping them from implanting in the womb. It also points out that birth control pills and other hormonal methods increase women's risk of cancer, high blood pressure, heart attacks, blood clots and strokes.

· SOUTH AFRICA - South Africa has made moves to further extend its liberal abortion laws with the tabling of a draft Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill. The new legislation would permit nurses to carry out abortions and allow any health facility with a 24-hour maternity service to perform first trimester abortions.

· BRITAIN - A baby girl who survived after her twin died in an ectopic pregnancy is celebrating her first birthday. Freya Stafford was given a one in 50,000 chance of survival, but was born healthy weighing 7lbs 4 ounces. John Smeaton, SPUC's national director said: "This is a beautiful story about human survival. So much for the pro-abortion argument that the early human embryo is not viable."

· USA - A woman who was thought to be in a persistent vegetative state following a stroke but who then recovered, has spoken about her ordeal in a television interview. Kate Adamson, who was in fact conscious though unable to communicate, had her feeding tube removed for eight days, which she describes as 'sheer torture'. Ms Adamson was even operated on without adequate anaesthetic.

Diary of a peaceful death

In May 2003 Jack Smeaton, a staunch and active pro-lifer died peacefully. His son John, national director of SPUC, kept a diary of the events leading up to his father's death. Fortunately for Mr Smeaton, John and his sister Freda, with the support of their sisters and brother, were able to stand up to the medical staff in the hospital and insist that their father was not left to starve to death. Fortunately too, John was able to get advice and support from a pro-life doctor friend who is very senior in his profession. Jack Smeaton was an ordinary man in an ordinary hospital who could so easily have died in very different and painful circustances.

Wednesday, May 21

Freda telephoned me at about 5.15 p.m. to tell me about a discussion she had just had with a registrar in the medical team looking after dad, (not the doctor in charge of his case). Freda told me that she had found what the doctor had to say "disturbing".

This doctor said that the major stroke suffered by dad on May 13 had worsened his dementia. The scan showed that a very large area of dad's brain had been damaged, which only added to damage done by previous strokes. If dad was fed via a nasogastric tube he might have aspirations causing fluid to go into his lungs and other complications. Dad may get bedsores, chest infections and bladder inflections. If dad was fed his quality of life would be poor.

Freda pointed out our family's objection to a decision, on quality of life grounds, not to feed dad. Dad would die, she said, if he was not fed. The doctor agreed, saying that he would gradually deteriorate and slip away. Freda pointed out how actively dad had opposed and feared such practices when he was well.

I telephoned the doctor at about 6.00 p.m. I told him that any suggestion that dad should not be fed because of his foreseen quality of life was completely unacceptable, and that our lawyers would be unhappy too.

Thursday, May 22

The following morning I discussed the doctor's comments with a very senior doctor friend of mine who has charge of patients like dad every week of the year.

My doctor friend said that it was, in his view, not unreasonable to try to fit a nasogastric tube. He told me that the risk to dad of having the tube fitted was minimal.

My doctor friend said that it would be normal practice to insert the nasogastric tube by 7 to 10 days following the stroke and that he personally would generally do so by about the 4th day.

Later that day at 11.30 a.m. I arrived at the hospital, visited dad briefly, and then met with Dr Simons (not his real name). He told me that he was under no legal obligation to feed dad. I could have any number of brothers or sisters insisting that dad be fed, and he would not have to comply. There had been various legal cases and much written about cases such as dad's. There was no right or wrong. It was a moral minefield.

I said that I was aware of the trend of legal judgements in this area. However, our family was interested in what was right for our father, not the state of the law which was being determined by judges. It was not right that our father be starved because he had dementia or because he had a projected poor quality of life.

He asked me if I realised that dad, if he died, would die because of his underlying condition caused by the stroke and not for any other reason. I said that that was not necessarily the case: if dad was not fed, the cause of his death might be starvation.

I pointed out that in the landmark legal judgement, the 1993 Bland case, in which tube-feeding was withdrawn from a patient in persistent vegetative state (PVS), it had been argued by those in favour of withdrawing tube-feeding that Tony Bland's subsequent death would have been caused by the original accident which caused Tony Bland's PVS. However, one of the Law Lords in the Bland case had said, "What is being said in this case is that he should be starved to death, based on an assessment of his quality of life". The suggestion that dad should not be fed could be traced back to that judgement: a judgement which, however wrong it was, the Law Lords had said could only be applied to cases like Tony Bland's.

I told him that I was aware that the British Medical Association (BMA) had issued guidance which indicated that in Britain doctors were taking the law into their own hands by withdrawing food and fluids when elderly patients suffer from profound and irreversible dementia or have suffered a stroke which has left them similarly irreversibly brain damaged.

Dr Simons insisted that this was a very complex ethical area. I said that the situation regarding dad was simple: he should not be starved because of a quality of life assessment. I also pointed out that dad had actually lobbied Parliament over many years on this very issue. Dad had feared being subjected to exactly what was being proposed.

I told him about my discussion with a very senior doctor (referred to above) who constantly manages cases like dad's.

From this point onwards in the discussion, Dr Simons could hardly have been more obliging. He said that of course there was absolutely no problem about fitting a nasogastric tube. He would do it at 1 p.m.

Dr Simons told me that with any other patient with dementia who had suffered a stroke and who did not have family members indicating to the contrary, he would not feed that patient. I said that I was pleased about the position he was adopting about dad but dismayed to hear about the other patients in dad's condition.

Dr Simons came back at 1.30 p.m. and tried to insert the tube. Dad resisted volubly and energetically shouting 'No'. Dad was obviously fearful for whatever reason. Dr Simons tried a few times, failing each time and I told him that I trusted his judgement completely in not persisting.

Then Dr Simons got confirmation that dad could have a peg inserted by Monday next, at the latest. I signed a consent form.

I left the hospital with Dr Simons saying to me that he had to admit that starvation was not "treatment" for stroke patients.

Friday, May 23

Dr Simons contacted Freda in the early afternoon to tell her that it was not possible to insert a peg today as he had hoped. In the meantime, on a temporary basis, he would provide dad with peripheral feeding through a vein to get a few calories into him.

I went to see dad later that evening at around 10 p.m. I was pleased to find that the intravenous peripheral feeding had been inserted. Dad greeted me with our "thumbs up" greeting. He tried several times to speak to me - but it was very indistinct. I read cards and said prayers and he appeared to understand what was being said. When I left him he pulled gently at my chin in a casual, affectionate adieu.

Saturday, 24th May Dad was not so alert when Freda visited him today.

Sunday, 25th May

No change.

Monday, 26th May

Dad was quite poorly today. Freda asked for a nurse to look at dad because his breathing was laboured. Freda learned today that dad was getting antibiotics, probably for his congestion. When I visited with Teresa, my daughter, late in the evening he seemed very poorly.

Tuesday, 27th May

Dad acknowledged Freda today and waved goodbye when she left. He put his hand up to his ear to try to hear what she was saying. He tried to speak but the sound he makes is indecipherable.

Wednesday, 28th May

Dad had a peg fitted today and appeared a little uncomfortable during the day. When I saw him in the evening, however, he was sleeping peacefully.

Thursday, 29th May

Dad was peaceful today and seemed to be sleeping.

Friday, 30th May

Dad died peacefully at 5.30 a.m.

From the desk of Joanna Bogle

MORE PEOPLE MEANS MORE WEALTH For years the world has had a view of India as an overpopulated country with little hope of achieving economic prosperity unless it slashed its population. Abortion and forced sterilisations were among the means that were used.

Today, a different economic story: India's boom is the talk of the financial world. Information technology has taken off there as nowhere else - even in Britain we are beginning to use Indian companies for telesales and other work. An item in The Times Business News, 2nd Dec 2003, gives this analysis: "Until recently, China and India's populations were seen as obstacles to development, causes of poverty and reasons for businessmen to give them a wide berth. What, then, has changed?"

"The answer is that Asia has embraced capitalism and globalisation. If Asian countries can harness their enormous population to the dynamism of free enterprise, the efficiency of market competition and technological opportunities afforded by world trade, they will create wealth on a scale never seen before."

In other words, a big population is an asset, not a liability. There is still considerable poverty in India and she is still a target for population controllers. But technology and not abortion seems to be the way in which India can flourish. Next time somebody tells you the solution to hunger is abortion, show them this. And watch India. By the time I am old, India will be a wealthy world power.

CHERIE BLAIR CHALLENGED OVER ABORTION IN AFRICA

A Nigerian friend has written to Mrs Cherie Blair, following the news, reported in the Pro-Life Times that Cherie had launched a fund-raising campaign for the International Planned Parenthood Federation, through sales of condoms which it is claimed will help stop AIDS. My friend, a nurse, says in her letter, "It occurs to me that you may be unaware of the degree to which the IPPF supports abortion worldwide, and especially in Africa, where it is wholly contrary to people's deepest beliefs about the value of children ... Whatever your personal beliefs about abortion, it is unfair to impose it as a policy, via an international agency enjoying the immense support of your name and status - on people who truly do oppose it and wish their unborn to be given legal protection." Her letter goes on to question whether condoms will erase AIDS, "I have many times booked pregnant women into hospital who say that the pregnancy is unwanted and the result of a split condom. If people are sent the message that use of a condom will enable them to engage in sexual activity without transmitting diseases, the AIDS situation will most certainly worsen." My friend has promised to inform me of Cherie's reply.

MEANWHILE ......

If you thought that "Childline" was simply a group helping abused children, think again. The two "sources of help" listed on its website under "Teenage Pregnancy" are the Brook Advisory Centres (which offer abortions) and the Family Planning Association (ditto). Childline claims that its approach is that "options and choices are made within the young person's control". In which case, can it please list at least one group which offers practical alternatives to abortion?

Bad dreams of an abortion doctor

Amanda Logan

A New York City abortionist, who has been doing late abortions for longer than almost anyone else in the United States, has confessed that he used to have bad dreams about unborn babies clinging to the walls of the womb with their tiny fingernails. That was at the beginning of Dr William Rashbaum's career in abortions. Now at 76 he still does not sleep well the nights before his operating days.

In an in-depth interview in the Boston Phoenix Rashbaum agrees that the procedure for late abortions is "gruesome". The article describes how Rashbaum "readily yells at the top of his lungs at residents working with forceps inside a woman's uterus, where he can't see what they're doing, to make sure that they are as nervous as he is."

A former trainee recalls Rashbaum performing a late abortion. "He intently leant in closely and methodically pulled piece after piece of the foetuses out of the mother's uterus ignoring the attending staff's whispers of horror - 'It's twins. It's twins'."

Paul Tully, general secretary of SPUC said, "Although Dr Rashbaum claims he loves his work and clearly sees himself as a great champion of women's rights, it's hard to see how he can truly be peace at with himself."

Irish government ignores bishops' plea against embryo research

Pat Buckley

The Irish government has ignored the pleas of the Irish Catholic bishops and of pro-life groups not to fund embryo research through the European Union. Mary Harney the deputy prime minister, failed on two occasions to oppose EU funding of such research. If the EU proceeds with the funding, following the lifting of the moratorium at the end of 2003, Irish taxpayers' money will be used for embryo research. This is in direct conflict with the Irish pro-life constitution.

The publicly stated position of the Irish government during the recent EU negotiations was one of acceptance that embryo research is illegal in Ireland. However, they were willing to vote in favour of it in countries where such research is legal.

However, the government stance has been contradicted by Mary Harney, when she stated that embryonic stem cell research may be legal in Ireland in certain circumstances provided that the embryos were not sourced in Ireland. MEP Dana Rosemary Scallon has said Mary Harney's comments are misleading and untrue, "The government have publicly stated, in the EU institutions and in Ireland, that such research is not possible in Ireland. Now the deputy prime minister is stating the opposite. It is time that the Government clarified its agenda on this issue."

Ethics code on abortion change in Ireland?

Recent news-paper reports suggest that the Ethics Committee of the Medical Council in Ireland is considering change in their ethics code to remove abortion from the category of "professional misconduct". Abortion is illegal in Ireland under the pro-life constitution, as is embryo research.

In a separate move, Irish deputy prime minister Mary Harney, whilst addressing the issue of embryo research, said recently in the Irish Senate, "I have set up a sub-committee to review the ethical code that governs doctors and consultants. The guidelines on stem cells are part of that review."

Irish pro-life groups have reacted furiously to this news and public opinion is already stacking up against the suggestion.

"These really are outrageous and very worrying moves," said Pat Buckley of the European Life Network in Ireland. "This is yet another attempt to undermine our pro-life constitution."