file: /pub/resources/text/ProLife.News/1991: pln-0107.txt --------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Life Communications - Volume 1, No. 7 July, 1991 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Some Background on Planned Parenthood... ``The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can staighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.'' Margaret Sanger, Founder of Planned Parenthood. During the 1980s Planned Parenthood shifted its focus from community-based clinics to school-based clinics. Of the over one hundred school-based clinics that have opened nationwide in the last decade, NONE have been at substantially all-white schools. NONE have been at suburban middle-class schools. Virtually ALL have been at Black, minority, or ethnic schools [1] In most black communities today abortions outstrip births by as much as three-to-one.[2] Thirty-two percent of all abortions are performed on minority mothers[3]. The sterilization rate among blacks is 45% higher than among Whites[4]. Among Hispanics the rate is 30% higher[5]. As many as 42% of all American Indian women and 35% of Puerto-Rican women have been sterilized[6]. In Houston, Texas and Ft. Wayne, Indiana discount coupons, pop records and sponsored dances have been used by Planned Parenthood to lure minority women into their clinics[7]. In other cities clients are bribed with cash or prizes[8]. Black Financial Analyst William L. Davis argues, "There is no way to escape the implication. When an organization has a history of racism, when its literature is openly racist, when its goals are self-consciously racial, and when programs invariably revolve around race, it doesn't take an expert to realize that the organization is indeed racist. Really now, how can anyone believe anything about Planned Parenthood except that it is a hive of elitist bigotry, predjudice, and bias? Just because the organization has a smattering of minority staffers in key positions does nothing to dispel the plain facts."[9] [1]Carla deVries, Benjaimin Goldstein, and Linda Evankirov,``Tenn Pregnancy: Crisis Solution, and Opposition'' (Boston: Educational Software Information Group, 1987), p. 14; and Roberta Weiner, ``Teen Pregnacy: Impact on the Schools'' (Alexandria, VA: Capitol Publications, 1987). [2]U.S. Health and Human Services figures, developed by R.G. Calhoun, Univ. of Houston, 1986. [3]Allan Chase, ``The Legacy of Malthus: The Costs of the New Scientific Racism'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977), p. 411. [4]A.L.Thornton, ``U.S. Statistical Survey: A Reanalysis of the 1980 Census Figures for Population Distribution and Composition,'' from _Demographics Today_, March, 1983, p.62. [5]``Family Planning Perspectives,'' 7:3 (May-June 1975); and Elasah Drogin, "Margaret Sanger: Father of Modern Society"(New Hope, KY, CUL Publications), 1979, p.68 [6]Ibid. [7]``No Se Arriesguen: Visiten Planned Parenthood para el Control de la Natalidad," brochure coupon from Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas, distributed 1986-1987; and ``Fort Wayne Journal Gazette,'' November 5, 1987. [8]Linda Gordon, ``Woman's Body, Woman's Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America,'' (New York: Penguin, 1974) p. 399. [9]George Grant, ``Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned Parenthood,''(Brentwood,TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1988) p. 98. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (2) This is what THEY say about themselves: Planned Parenthood Federation of America 810 Seventh Avenue P.O. Box 4447 Phone: (212) 541-7800 New York, NY 10164-0359 This group calls for: * Keeping the right to a safe and legal abortion * Enacting mandated sexuality education programs at the state level to educate teenagers about the risks of unintended pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS * Beginning a major offensive to increase funding for new contraceptive research ("Something that is both needed and that will force ["pro-lifers"] to reveal their true position on contraception") Their recent mailing included the following quotes from "pro-lifers": "I don't think Christians should use birth control. You consummate your marriage as often as you like and if you have babies, you have babies." --Randall Terry, one of the men behind the current campaign to blockade health clinics and publicly harass and humiliate women. "I think contraception is disgusting -- people using each other for pleasure." --Joseph Scheidler, Director, Pro-Life Action League "We are...opposed to all forms of birth control with the exception of natural family planning [the rhythm method]" -Judie Brown, President, American Life Lobby "It's very healthy for a young girl to be deterred from promiscuity by fear of contracting a painful, incurable disease, or cervical cancer, or sterility, or the likelihood of giving birth to a dead, blind, or brain-damage baby even ten years later when she may be happily married." Phyllis Schafly, President, Eagle Forum "I listen to feminists and all these radical gals -- most of them are failures. They've blown it. Some of them have been married, but they married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of these feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men -- that's their problem." -- Rev. Jerry Falwell - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (3) Remember Title X funding? The following is an excerpt from an urgent appeal issued by NOW, followed by the addresses of both NOW and Planned Parenthood: ****** The National Organization for Women has launched an EMERGENCY MOBILIZATION TO SAVE ABORTION RIGHTS that "targets two critical pieces of Federal legislation -- The Title X Pregnancy Counseling Act that requires clinics to give women COMPLETE and ACCURATE information about abortion ... and The Freedom of Choice Act that provides women in every state with the ROE v. WADE guarantee regardless of what courts or state legislatures do. Our EMERGENCY MOBILIZATION TO SAVE ABORTION RIGHTS has four key steps: FIRST, we're calling on all NOW activists to organize demonstrations, pickets and other DIRECT ACTIONS at Congressional offices around the country demanding passage of these crucial Federal bills. SECOND, we're gearing up our activists and supporters for a massive, grassroots IN-DISTRICT LOBBYING AND ACTION CAMPAIGN on Senators and members of Congress when they are home during the July break. THIRD, we're reactivating our PHONE BANKS in cities and communities all across the country to enlist help in this all-out effort from the hundreds of thousands of activists who marched and rallied for abortion rights in Washington D.C in 1989. FOURTH, We're flooding the office of House Speaker Tom Foley with POST CARDS (available from NOW) FROM VOTERS demanding that The Title X Pregnancy Counseling Act be scheduled for a vote immediately -- before the July break! Needless to say, the most appropriate response is to demand that the bill NOT be rushed. Please write! (Can someone provide me with Foley's address?) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (4) What is the World comming to? In a two day period in New York City recently, a homeless man, a train maintenance worker, and a dog were killed on the subway tracks. Ninety people telephoned the Transit Authority to express concern about the dog, but only three called about the worker, and none about the homeless man. [Star Tribune, 5/23/91:4E] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (5) The American Medical Association (AMA) Speaks: In June of 1990, the AMA called for testing of RU-486, the so-called abortion pill. The Doctors who led the drive said that "Support from the AMA's 280,000 members is a major step to counter political pressure from anti-abortion groups." In fact, the actual membership never voted on the measure. In a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) [5/15/91:2484] a letter paradoxically entitled "The Oath of the Healer" was published. The letter was penned by Louis Weinstein, MD, of the Univeristy of Arizona. He presented his 21st century version of the Hippocratic Oath in a U of A chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha (a medical honorary society) which reads in part: ``I shall always have the highest respect for human life, and remember it is wrong to terminate life in certain circumstances, permissible in some, and an act of supreme love in others.'' This section of the traditional Hippocratic Oath, which has protected society for over 2400 years reads: ``I will neither give a deadly drug to anyone if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly, I will not give to a woman an abortion remedy. But I will preserve the purity of my life and my art...'' The AMA has lost sight of this principled heritage. ``It required less than 5% of practicing physicians in America to destroy over 26,000,000 normal pregnancies. If 5% of America's physicians embrace the Euthanasia ethic, the consequences are boundless, and Hitler's holocaust numerically may come to be seen as child's play.'' Dr. Joseph Stanton, advisor to the IAETF - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (6) A letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Press: Mike VanAuker, one of our readers recently submitted the following to the Pittsburgh Press: I am writing in response to the June 19, 1991 _Pittsburgh Press_ letter to the editor by D J Plazek. In this letter Mr. Plazek made the statement, ``That means science must prove that post-conception cells are life in order for the law to forbid abortion.'' As a student of science, I would like respond to this statement. He continues his argument with: ``Science cannot prove that a pre-fetal form is a life form.'' This is contrary to what science teaches. In human reproduction biological life does not begin, it is continuous. There is _no_ period where life stops, and later starts up again. Cells come only from living cells. One leading abortion rights activist, Dr. Garrett Hardin of UCSB states it this way: ``It [life] is just passed on from one cell to another. All biologists are in agreement on that answer.''[1] The issue is not whether these cells are a life form, but rather if they are human. They are undeniably living. Mr. Plazek questions whether these cells are human, because they do not exhibit human characteristics. He states: ``It [the fetus] doesn't even have a brain or nerve cells to feel pain.'' Besides the fact that brain waves have been detected in the unborn as early as 40 days into the pregnancy, the real crux of the argument is what is meant by the term _human_. The adjective _human_ is used to describe that which is characteristic of man as a species distinguished from other animals. Such characteristics can be divided into two classes, those which are _extrinsic_ (of human origin) or _intrinsic_ (depends on genetic constitution). The criterion proper for the discussion of abortion is the intrinsic criterion. Biology teaches that two gametes unite at conception to create an individual cell that contains a complete set of 46 chromasomes. These chromasomes distinguish the individual from both its parents and from all other species. It is clear from the genetics that from the moment of conception, the fertilized ovum (egg) is undeniably alive, and undeniably human. So when does this human cell (fertilized ovum) become a human being? Biology teaches that life is continuous, and that your life began when the nucleus of your father's sperm fused with the nucleus of your mothers ovum. A text book on cytology by Leo Schneider put it this way: ``_You_ are composed of trillions of cells now, but at one time in _your_ life _you_ were just a single cell.''(The emphasis is Schneider's.)[2] The reason that the extrinsic argument (which Mr. Plazek uses) is insufficient to define life is that it is very subjective and therefore unscientific. The best one can do to arrive at an objective definition of personhood is to have a definition which should be in accord with the usual meaning of the word. To apply to our pluralistic society, the definition must be independent of philosophy or creed, as Mr. Plazek indicates. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary defines the word ``person'' simply as an individual human being[3]. Biology irrefutably teaches that an individual human person is created at conception. Those who wish to exclude some human beings from personhood on objective grounds will therefore have to accept the burden of proof. In trying to understand why the scientific notion of when human life begins seems very clouded, pro-abortion literature should be studied. A pro-abortion journal (_California Medicine 113_) summed up the pro-abortion stance quite clearly: "The result [separating abortion from the idea of killing] has been a curious avoidance of scientific fact, which everyone really knows, that human life begins at conception. The very considerable semantic gymnastics which are required to rationalize abortion as anything but taking a human life would be ludicrous if they were not often put forth under socially impeccable auspices. It is suggested that this schizophrenic sort of subterfuge is necessary because, while a new ethic is being accepted, the old one has not yet been rejected."[4] The point is that the abortion supporters admit to twisting the scientific facts to make abortion acceptable to society. Mr. Plazek states that ``abortion can't rationally be illegal.'' From a scientific standpoint, abortion can't rationally be _legal_. Michael VanAuker UPitt Engineering `92 Footnotes: [1] G. Hardin,L. Schneider, _You and your cells_, Harcourt, Brace, and World, inc. 1964. [2] ``Abortion Vs. the Right to Life: The evil of Mandatory Motherhood,'' _Psychology Today_ Vol. 8 No. 6 p. 42. [4] Editorial, _California Medicine 113_ Vol. 67, Sept. 1970. [3] _Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged_, G. & C. Merriam, 1965. (I'm taking votes as to who thinks it will be printed) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Quote of the month: ``If the physician presumes to take into consideration in his work whether a life has value or not, the consequences are boundless and the physician becomes the most dangerous man in the state.'' Dr. Christoph Hufeland (1762-1836) Sumbissions for "Quote of the month" are dearly sought. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | Credits: | | | | The information in article (1) came from the pamphlet, ``Planned | | Un-Parenthood'' distributed by _Next Generation_, "an active | | coalitionof college students seeking to cultivate and preserve | | morality oncampuses nationwide" $5/year | | 7845-E Airpark Road Gaithersburg, MD 20879 | | | | The Quote of the Month, and articles (4) and (5) are taken from the | | International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force Update [IEATF Update, | | May-June 1991] $25/year | | The Human Life Center, Univ. of Steubenville, Steubenville, OH 43952| ----------------------------------------------------------------------- end v1n7