file: /pub/resources/text/ProLife.News/1991: pln-0110.txt --------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Life Communications - Volume 1, No. 13 October, 1991 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Mission Statement: This newsletter is intended to provide short articles and news information to those interested in Pro-Life Issues. It is also intended is to help improve the communication among pro-lifers, and provide a forum in which discussions can take place. It is issued at least monthly, as time and material permits. All submissions should be sent to the editor, Steve (frezza@ee.pitt.edu). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) A Lecture in Risk Assessment or A Medical School Experience [A recent comp.risks] article on the fetal tests on pregnant women brought back memories of my younger days several years ago when I was in Yale Med School. Well, it was only for a day and I was visiting friends and they took me to one class which was on pre-natal diagnosis. I remember a very practical and straight-forward professor discussing all of the possible techniques for checking out the womb and making sure everything was okay. He would carefully explain the technique and all the facts you could discern from the various bits of bio-matter you could snag from the womb. The Maternal Serum Alfa-fetoprotein test is only the beginning of their bag of tricks. It turns out that the doctors can't learn too much from this one because the fluid comes from the mother and contains only a very dilute amount of the child's bio-matter. The next step up was to get some of the chorion fiber which is essentially the boundary layer between the placenta and the uterus. All the nutrients pass through this membrane so it is rich in data. The most aggressive procedure, though, was when they poked around with a needle until they managed to find the placenta. Then they grabbed a bit of fetal blood. This, the professor explained, was a data gold mine. The rub was inserted very parenthetically at the end of each section of the lecture. He would say things like, "the amniocentesis test is the most successful, and we find we only induce miscarriages 1 to 2% of the time." (All numbers in this section are subject to bad memory fudging. They are approximate.) I remember thinking to myself, "Wow! 99% that's great!" because I think I was lead on by the can-do tenor of the lecture. About 5 minutes later I realized that "inducing miscarriages" was not the same as failing to cure cancer or a cold. It was a big deal. Statistically it was a violation of the Hippocratic oath. The patient died because the doctor was curious. And as it was the only "cure" they have for Down's Syndrome or other tri-somic babies is abortion. The tone of the lecture, though, was much worse that the attitude that you couldn't make an omlette without breaking eggs. They didn't do any of the risk analysis or any number crunching what-so-ever. The lecturer just ploughed on and his manner and diction was just saying, "We're doctors. This is what we do." -Submitted by reader Peter Wayner - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (2) IN THE NEWS... or SO BABIES ARE PORNOGRAPHIC? [In the Bay Area] Two pro-lifers were arrested two weeks ago [2nd week of September, 1991] for picketing with abortion signs (Baby David) in the streets of ALBANY (close to Berkeley), California during a street fair in that town. When Bob Powers and Steve Butler, two Pro-life activist oldtimers asked the officers what the charge was, they were told that the Police would come up with something. At the station they were told that the charge was displaying "pornographic material" to minors out on the street. Apparently pro-abortion Albany police and their attorneys didn't think twice about violating the first amendment rights of innocent citizens to protest peacefully on public streets when the protest involved a pro-life position and an issue distasteful to the merchants and pedestrians enjoying the street fair. Did you ever think that a Baby David or Baby Choice poster would be branded as pornographic material? In America? -Submitted by reader Phil Sevilla - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (3) Statistics ABORTION CONFUSION "I received some very angry mail for arguing recently that a majority of Americans do not support abortion on demand. My correspondents believe emphatically that vast majorities support the abortion "right". "A new survey by Public Opinion Strategies (POS) demonstrates why it's so easy for all of us to be confused on the issue. When pollsters asked Americans if they wanted to see Roe v. Wade overturned, 61 percent said no. But the same poll demonstrated that Americans aren't all that sure what Roe permits. "Listen to the statistics POS compiled: 9 percent of those polled favored a complete ban on abortion; 10 percent believe abortion should be legal only if the mother's life is endangered; 30 percent agree with the life- of-the-mother exception, and would also permit abortion in cases of rape and incest; 29 percent would prohibit abortions after the first trimester; 6 percent would permit abortion up until the sixth month of pregnancy and 13 percent would permit abortion on demand. "Only 19 percent of those polled agree with the legal standard established in Roe that permits abortion for ANY [ed. emph.] reason through the sixth month. [...]" So their side only has the support of 19% of the population! -Submitted by reader David Rasmussen - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (4) PRO-LIFE STUDENTS TO GATHER IN PENNSYLVANIA The Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Federation for Life (PaIFL) will be holding its annual fall convention at Carnegie Mellon University on October 18-19th. Speakers will include ex-gubernatorial candidate Peg Luksik, Dr. Chris Kahlenborn, Mary Erwin, Leah Stirling, Rita Marker, and Claire Kist, founder of the Professional Women's Network. Cost is $15 including meals, and registrations can be made by phone to Emily Colehower (215) 454-0299 or Andy SIcree (814) 466-7460. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (5) GEORGE GRANT SPEAKS George Grant, best-selling author of "Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned Parenthood" will be speaking on three occasions on 26 October in Pittsburgh. There will be a breakfast briefing "Death in the Inner City: How Abortionists Are Committing Black Genocide" from 8-10AM, and an afternoon seminar "Church Empowerment: Reclaiming the City for Christ" from 1-3PM at the Covenant Church in Wilkinsburg PA. At 6:30 in the evening, there will be a lecture/banquet on "Cultural Civil War" including a published special report on PP. This will be held at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA. For more information contact Gerald Bowyer at (412)661-2943 or Michael Bowling at (412) 322-3883. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (6) (QUESTIONS and) ANSWERS Q: How to get coppies of PP Pamplets... A: My understanding is that the PPs in our area are pretty free-wheeling when it comes to giving out pamphlets, if you ask in a non-threatening way (i.e., don't go up to them and say, "SO, where are the baby-killing pamphlets?") Say something like, "I'm having some trouble talking to my teenage kids about sex, do you have some pamphlets I could give them for a start?" I did something similar. They gave me a few, none about abortion, per se. There was a lot of talk about contraception, to be sure, but nothing I could see was "pro-sex". One pamphlet was extremely interesting though... it listed little courses a kid could take at the clinic, and one was about (get ready for this) "How to say 'no' to sex"! Will wonders never cease, eh? (OK, 'fess up, who's doing the infiltrating? :-) I suspect that if you want pamphlets about abortion, you will probably have to get a woman of childbearing age to go down there and ask for some info on it. They'd probably be suspicious if a man asked for it. Q: Are more and more doctors deciding not to do abortions? A: I know a couple of health care workers who work in a hospital affiliated with a clinic that performs abortions and the informal poll they took of the abortion doctors showed about ~80% were VERY committed to making abortion safe and available, and that the protests outside the clinic were only strengthening their resolve (sigh). - These answers were submitted by reader Dorothy Nelson - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOTE: Folks have been sending in a LOT of information. There will be another issue this month, probably in a week or so. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Quote of the month: "Tell The Truth" Chanted by somewhere between 250,000 [Media Estimates] to 800,000 [organizer estimates] people to the news media at the Rally for Life in April 1990. The film was never aired. +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Credits: | | 1- Peter Wayner, Department of Computer Science Cornell University,| | Ithaca, NY 14850 | | 3 - Quoted from an article by Mona Charen [Atlanta Constitution | | Sunday Sept 22] | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ Anyone desiring information on specific prolife groups, literature, tapes, or help with problems is encouraged to contact the editor. end v1n13