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Pro-Life Times: September 2004
LETHAL INJECTION AHEAD OF US
by ANTONIA TULLY
A group of leading doctors, lawyers and clergymen have issued a stark warning that the Mental Capacity Bill, now before Parliament, sets up a "pathway by which routine lethal injection will inevitably become desirable". The letter published in The Catholic Herald on 16 July exposes the true nature of the Bill, which claims to promote "patient autonomy" but in reality turns medical practice "upside down".
The Bill would make life-threatening living wills (both written and verbal) legally binding, which means that a doctor would be guilty of a criminal offence if he did not bring about the death of a patient. "Treatment" for incapacitated people includes food and fluids given through a tube. The Catholic Herald letter cites the case of a patient who is unable to swallow following a stroke, "Doctors and nurses could be forced to stand back and let a non-dying patient die of dehydration." Such patients are likely to "suffer greatly".
In a recent case, Leslie Burke, a disabled man, won a the High Court ruling to ensure that he would receive treatment as he dies, including assisted nutrition and hydration. This led The Times newspaper to call for doctors to be able to help their patients "die comfortably, rather than having to refuse artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) and so starve themselves to a painful end."
Commenting on The Times' statement, John Smeaton, national director of SPUC said, "Here we have a national newspaper actually calling for doctors to be able to give patients a lethal injection, because soon people will not tolerate the excruciating death of starvation and dehydration."
As far back as 1984 Dr Helgha Kuhse, then president of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies said "[If] we can get people to accept the removal of all treatment and care - especially the removal of food and fluids - they will see what a painful way this is to die, and then, in the patient's best interests, they will accept the lethal injection."
Father Timothy Finigan, founder of the movement of Roman Catholic priests, the Association of Priests for the Gospel of Life, has said, "Outright opposition to the Bill is not the politically naive resort of 'halo-polishers' but the only realistic course of action open to us now, to prevent 2004 becoming the year that euthanasia was legalised in our country."
A baby in your pocket
Many people in Croatia had a baby in their pockets or their purses when a special edition coin was minted with an unborn baby on it.
The 25 kuna coin is worth just over £2, but a culture which puts an unborn baby on a coin is priceless.
Comment
Alison Davis is disabled by spina bifida, hydrocephalus, emphysema and osteoporosis and uses a wheelchair full-time. She is National Coordinator of No Less Human, a group within SPUC for disabled people, their families and carers. She is also Founder and Chair of Enable (Working in India) which supports disabled children from poor families in South India. Enable can be contacted at: 35 Stileham Bank, Milborne, Blandford, Dorset DT11 0LE or http://www.enable-india.org.uk/
I am genuinely terrified of euthanasia becoming legal.
I am disabled and experience severe pain which morphine cannot fully control. Nineteen years ago I wanted to die, and tried to kill myself several times. If Lord Joffe's euthanasia Bill had been the law then I would have been killed. The Bill suggests that there should be a 14-day "waiting period" for euthanasia. I wanted to die for 10 years.
I am alive today because I went to India to visit some disabled children at a new project there. I fell in love with them all, and ended up founding a charity called Enable (Working in India) to support them. The children loved me, called me "Mummy" and made me realise the value of my own life as well as theirs. Many of them are very disabled and can only crawl in the dust but they saved my life, not in spite of their own suffering but because of it.
"My" children taught me to choose life over death, and love over desperation.
THOUGHT
The famous disabled Israeli violinist Itzhak Perlman has said, "Sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left."
It is equally the task of pro-lifers to help suffering people find and use the "music" they still have left.
Where were you in 2004?
by John Smeaton, National Director, SPUC
It has been a busy summer for SPUC. The publication of 3D images of unborn babies as young as 12 weeks has re-ignited the debate over Britain's abortion law, and SPUC's campaign against the Mental Capacity Bill continues.
The Mental Capacity Bill is due to receive its second reading after the summer recess. As I have already mentioned to SPUC members:
· Senior doctors, lawyers and bioethicists as well as a number of other pro-life and disability rights groups agree that the Mental Capacity Bill will enshrine in law euthanasia by neglect. We are not alone in our concern about this Bill.
· It has been argued that there are good things in the Bill that will help the mentally incapacitated and that we should therefore support it. SPUC strongly disagrees with this. If the Abortion Act of 1967 had included improved care for pregnant women, it would still have been wrong to support the Bill at second reading.
The Mental Capacity Bill not only authorises euthanasia by neglcct, it forms part of a movement towards active euthanasia. In a recent letter to the Daily Telegraph, Dr Jacqueline Laing, senior lecturer in law at London Metropolitan University, wrote that the Bill "seriously disempowers and endangers those with incapacity." Our children and grandchildren will ask, "Where were you in 2004?"
It is not too late to write to your MP to make your views known. For an information pack on the Mental Capacity Bill, please contact SPUC's London office at: 0207 222 5845.
CLONING TO CURE DIABETES QUESTIONED BY ETHICS GROUP
by Antonia Tully
Suggestions that the first licence for human cloning will help research into diabetes have been challenged by a UK ethics group.
Elliott Cannell of Comment on Reproductive Ethics (CORE) has questioned the licence recently granted by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to scientists at Newcastle University. In the run up to this high profile move, a cure for diabetes was highlighted as one of the benefits of allowing researchers to clone human embryos, although diabetes was not specifically mentioned when the licence was given.
"I am currently compiling a database of all the projects researching treatments and cures for diabetes. Much of the most positive-looking research uses adult stem cells anddoes not involve the destruction of human embryos," said Mr Cannell.
Leaders in the field of research into diabetes are the team at Massachusetts General Hospital USA. They made a major breakthrough when the research team injected diabetic mice with adult stem cells taken from the spleen. This permanently restored the insulin secreting function of the pancreas of each mouse. The results were published in November 2003. Human trials have not begun yet, but the team are predicting a cure for Type 1 diabetes within 3-5 years once this happens.
Irish GPs under pressure to offer abortion
by AMANDA LOGAN
Republic of Ireland are being put under pressure to offer abortions to women facing crisis pregnancies. A document funded by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency and published in collaboration with the Irish College of General Practitioners, promotes abortion-inducing emergency "contraception" and abortion as the way GPs should treat such patients. The guidelines have been condemned as an attack on pro-life doctors.
Dr Rita O'Connor told the Pro-Life Times, "As a practising counsellor to women with crisis pregnancies, I was shocked to learn that the Crisis Pregnancy Agency is sponsoring these proposed guidelines on counselling. These guidelines contradict the Crisis Pregnancy Agency's own strategy which states their intention of reducing the numbers of women with a crisis pregnancy who opt for abortion and of making other options more attractive.
"These proposed guidelines imply that no consideration be given to the unborn life afforded protection under the Irish Constitution and by the Medical Council, both of which consider abortion unethical. These guidelines infer that doctors wishing to give the woman such information would be unsympathetic, unprofessional and even uncharitable."
Schoolgirls keep morning-after pill secret
by staff reporter
Schoolgirls in Worcestershire will be getting the morning-after pill without the consent of their parents. "All of us need some secrets from our parents," said Jenny Kimberlee, an employee of the South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust, defending the decision. West Midlands spokesperson for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, Veronica Lowe said, " As a teacher I am not allowed to give a child an aspirin. I'd be breaking the law if I helped a child to use an asthma inhaler. Yet a child can be given a powerful, hormonal drug at school without her parents' knowledge."
Professor David Paton of Nottingham University has repeatedly argued that such schemes do not reduce either the number of teenage pregnancies or the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
Recent figures from the Health Protection Agency showed that 708,083 people had a sexually transmitted disease diagnosed in 2003. Chlamydia rates have increased by 140% in six years. Young people are most at risk, with 10% of people between 16-24 being possible carriers of the disease.
NEWS IN BRIEF
· AUSTRALIA - An Australian hospital that provides compulsory counselling for women seeking abortion has found that over a quarter of women change their mind about the abortion after counselling. The finding has prompted calls for steps to be taken to ensure that all women receive counselling and information about alternatives to abortion.
· BRITAIN - The Royal College of Nursing has said that it will reconsider its opposition to euthanasia after receiving letters and emails from euthanasia supporters. The RCN came under pressure to change its stance last year when Karen Sanders, chair of the RCN's ethics committee, supported Lord Joffe's Assisted Dying bill.
· USA - A study conducted by Oregon Health and Science University researchers has found a deterioration in the quality of palliative care since euthanasia was legalised. Dr Erik Fromme, who led the research, said, "What this study did for me was to contrast our view of things with what's actually happening." He added that the results "are not necessarily what people wanted to hear."
·NORTHERN IRELAND - Left- or right-handedness could be determined in the womb. Researchers at Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, found that babies who sucked their right thumbs in utero were right-handed at or around 11 years of age. It had been thought that the preference was only established in infancy.
· AUSTRALIA - The management of a Marie Stopes clinic in Perth, Australia, have persuaded a neighbouring childcare centre to erect a two-metre wall so that women coming for abortion are not upset by the sound of children playing.
Change in the abortion law - don't be misled
John Smeaton, national director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, warns of a trap.
Lord Steel, the pioneer of the 1967 Abortion Act, called recently for a re-think of abortion law, ostensibly to ban abortions on social grounds after 12 weeks. The pro-life movement has been led into this trap before.
The revision of abortion law sparked when the 1988 Abortion (Amendment) Bill backfired and was exploited by the Government two years later to legalise abortion up to birth. One senses another attempt to trap pro-lifers.
Lord Steel is actually calling for a liberalisation of abortion law in the shape of a right to abortion on demand before 12 weeks. He writes, "I am certainly increasingly drawn to the continental experience of making early abortions (up to three months) easier - and later ones more difficult, including bringing down the upper limit to 22 weeks" (the Guardian, 6 July) and "If it's simply the decision of the mother then the limit should be 12 weeks" (BBC, July).
There is no 'right' to abortion under British law. Abortion is an offence unless the Abortion Act's conditions, which permit exceptions, are met. The Act only formally allows abortion for health reasons, albeit in general terms which are routinely flouted.
Steel admits his comments on post-12 week abortions have misled people into believing that restrictions are on the cards. He writes, "I was misreported in one Sunday paper as advocating a lower limit for "social" abortions. There should be no such distinction - proper medical care takes all social considerations into account. None of this, I suspect, will alter the numbers [of abortions]." (the Guardian, 6 July)
What he seems to say is that abortions on social grounds after 12 weeks would still be regarded as medically appropriate. This is just how the 1967 Act has been flouted, by allowing doctors to blur the line between social and medical grounds.
There is also a frenzy caused by exploitation of the remarkable new 3D ultrasound pictures and the recent Joanna Jepson court case concerning a late-term abortion of a baby with a correctable facial disability. The message the pro-abortion lobby wants the public to absorb is: "You should only want a baby if it's beautiful".
Liberal elements in the media want to persuade the pro-life public to concede a right to abortion on demand before 12 weeks in exchange for restrictions on later abortions. Some pro-lifers, weary from repeated defeats, wrongly assume that abortion law and practice can't get any worse.
This parliament is the most anti-life in British history, and the government, dominated by pro-abortion MPs, has a massive majority which is likely to survive the next general election. Tony Blair is Britain's John Kerry - a Christian claiming to be "personally opposed" to abortion whilst voting for it up to birth and advancing pro-abortion public policy at home and abroad. Tony Blair and Lord Steel's friends in the pro-abortion lobby are working hard to extend the Abortion Act to Northern Ireland and let nurses perform abortions. And most recently the Department of Health has issued guidance allowing abortions for girls under 16 to be kept secret from the parents.
Nor can opposition parties be relied upon. A Conservative government facilitated the liberalisation of the law in 1990. Dr Liam Fox, the Catholic former health spokesman and now party co-chairman, has retreated from his previous anti-abortion stance and sponsors parliamentary motions for the Family Planning Association. The Liberal Democrats have a pro-abortion policy.
Those tempted to back another amendment to the Abortion Act owe it to the most vulnerable human beings not to take up proposals such as those advocated by Lord Steel, which may well lead to even more killing by abortion. "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts".
A version of this article first appeared in The Universe.
... from the desk of Joanna Bogle
CO-OPERATION
I was invited to speak at the annual meeting of the London Region of LIFE recently. It was held at St Patrick's Church in Soho Square and was very well attended. It was a pleasure to see many old friends as well as plenty of new people. There were reports of much good work being done, with talks in schools and assistance given to women in need. At the end of my talk, I was presented with a thank-you gift: some delicious Belgian chocolates - and a new bicycle pump! As I have recently acquired a new bike (I had had the old one for almost a quarter of a century!) this was a most suitable present. Expect even more efficient pro-life work as J Bogle whizzes around energetically into the future ...
GOOD WORK
A set of offices adjoining St Patrick's is the home of the NAPRO clinic, where advice and help is given on fertility problems and on natural methods of family planning. Many couples have been helped here, and many people given useful and practical advice for the years ahead.
There have been huge developments in the understanding of our fertility over the past few decades, and it seems a pity that more people do not know about the basic information which could help them to understand their own health, and the awesome way in which our bodies work.
Nicole Syed, who runs the NAPRO clinic, is available to give talks and presentations - and having heard one recently at a day conference for engaged couples, I most warmly recommend her. Her work also needs funds - a useful cause for a pro-life group, church, or women's organisation to take up. She can be reached at 21a Soho Square London W1, 020 7437 0892
DON'T FORGET
The "Choose Life" London gathering takes place on Sunday October 10th. There will be a team of young speakers, and a walk through London with balloons, music, and donkey-cart rides for children. All the main pro-life groups in Britain are represented at this event. Be there!! For details send sae to CHOOSE LIFE, 27 Walpole St London SW3 4QS.
MUSIC
The "Requiem for the Innocents" which was launched last year at London's Methodist Central Hall is now available on CD. This is moving and beautiful music, sung by a superb choir - and profits from the CDs go to the pro-life cause. Contact: REQUIEM CD 18 Chelsea Square London SW3 6LF.
US Election
John Kerry backed by pro-abortion organisations
by Joe Kingston
In an unprecedented move presidential candidate John Kerry has been endorsed by America's leading pro-abortion organisation. Gloria Feldt of Planned Parenthood Action addressed the Democratic party convention, when Mr Kerry was nominated as the Democratic candidate. She proclaimed that there was a "war on women's choice". "We must win this war and we must win it now," she told Kerry's supporters. She upheld John Kerry as the man who would champion abortion rights in America.
Paul Tully, general secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children said, "US voters face a stark choice. George Bush, who has introduced new pro-life policies and laws, and John Kerry, who consistently campaigns for the abortion lobby. This is a critical election which will have repercussions either for or against the protection of unborn children and vulnerable people world wide."
Among the pro-life benefits of Mr Bush's presidency is the sea-change he has brought about at the United Nations. Under George Bush no wording which would advance abortion as a human right has gone into any world consensus document. The US delegation under Bill Clinton pushed a relentless pro-abortion agenda. By including certain pro-abortion phrases and concepts in UN documents, these can be argued in courts around the world to make abortion legal, due to its becoming customary international law.
Mr Bush cut off US funding from groups like the International Planned Parenthood Federation, which perform and promote abortion overseas. He also de-funded the UNFPA which has assisted in coercive "reproductive health" programmes overseas, in particular the forced abortion regime in China.
Mr Kerry has stated, "As president ... I will restore full U.S. funding to the UN Population Fund and reassert America's leadership in the fight for reproductive health and choice."
"If John Kerry is elected all these pro-life gains under George Bush will be lost at a stroke," said Peter Smith - chief administrative officer for SPUC and the International Right to Life Federation at the UN.
Blair funds abortion on demand in Nepal
by staff reporter
Tony Blair's government has revealed that it funded a new law in Nepal allowing abortion on demand in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
The Department for International Development's newly-published position paper on "sexual and reproductive health and rights" stated that it "provided financial and technical support in implementing" the 2002 amendment to Nepal's constitution by "developing policies, implementation strategies, protocols and curricula for safe abortion services".
The new law also allows later abortions on the grounds of risk to the mother's physical and mental health, rape, incest or foetal disability.
The government also worked to support the new law with its "partners" in Nepal, such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the world's leading pro-abortion organisation, which has been campaigning in Nepal for legalised abortion for 20 years. In March, the government promised an extra £1.5 million per year to IPPF to help make up for President Bush's ban on IPPF funding. John Kerry, the American presidential candidate, has vowed to restore IPPF's funding on his first day in office if elected.
Anthony Ozimic, SPUC political secretary, commented, "Millions of Nepalese women don't have access to safe water and can't read or write, yet the Blair government and its pro-abortion allies give priority to killing their unborn children. In the run-up to the next general election, British voters should challenge Labour MPs to call upon Tony Blair to stop bankrolling such callous interference in the laws of other sovereign nations."
