Catholic Bishops Launch National Campaign to Defeat Pro-Abortion Health Care
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With the latest version of the health care reform legislation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi containing massive abortion subsidies and mandates, the nation's Catholic bishops have launched what they say is their biggest legislative campaign ever. In an extraordinary call to Catholics to prevent health care reform from being derailed by the abortion lobby, the United Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops has sent bulletin inserts to almost 19,000 Catholic churches across the country. "Health care reform should be about saving lives, not destroying them," the insert states. It urges readers to contact congressional leaders so they support efforts to "incorporate longstanding policies against abortion funding and in favor of conscience rights" in health reform legislation. "If these serious concerns are not addressed, the final bill should be opposed," it adds. The insert highlights the Stupak Amendment from Rep. Bart Stupak a pro-life Michigan Democrat, and says it "addresses essential pro-life concerns on abortion funding and conscience rights." "Help ensure that the Rule for the bill allows a vote on the amendment," the insert states. "If these serious concerns are not addressed, the final bill should be opposed." A dramatic ad of a pregnant woman notes that the Hyde Amendment, which passed in 1976, has prevented federal funds from paying for elective abortions. Yet healthcare reform bills that are advancing violate this policy. The ad message: "Tell Congress: Remove Abortion Funding and Mandates from Needed Health Care Reform." Bulletin inserts were distributed to dioceses October 29, the day Pelosi unveiled the latest pro-abortion health care bill. "The bishops want health care reform, but they recoil at any expansion of abortion," said Helen Osman, USCCB Secretary for Communications, who helped organize the campaign. "Most Americans don’t want to pay for other people’s abortions via health care either. This impasse on the road to reform of health care can be broken if Congress writes in language that assures that the Hyde Amendment law continues to guide U.S. federal spending policy."

Pro-Life Group: Fetal Tissue From Abortion Used in Neocutis Anti-Wrinkle Cream
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The pro-life group Children of God for Life announced last week that Neocutis, a bio-pharmaceutical company focused on dermatology and skin care, is using tissue form the remains of babies who are victimized by abortions to produce several of their anti-aging skin creams. “It is absolutely deplorable that Neocutis would resort to exploiting the remains of a deliberately slaughtered baby for nothing other than pure vanity and financial gain, the gorup's director, Debi Vinnedge, told LifeNews.com. “There is simply no moral justification for this.” For years Children of God for Life has been a watchdog on pharmaceutical companies using aborted fetal cell lines in medical products and they have received thousands of inquiries from the public on the use of aborted fetal material in cosmetics. Until now, this was the first time they have encountered any company bold enough to put the information right on their own website and product literature. Neocutis’ key ingredient known as “Processed Skin Proteins” was developed at the University of Luasanne from the skin tissue of a 14-week gestation electively-aborted male baby donated by the University Hospital in Switzerland. Subsequently, a working cell bank was established, containing several billion cultured skin cells to produce the human growth factor needed to restore aging skin. Contact Neocutis at Neocutis Inc., 3053 Fillmore Street # 140, San Francisco CA 94123 and call 866-636-2884 or see http://www.neocutis.com

No Men or Women Needed as Artificial Sperm, Eggs Created for First Time
Palo Alto, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Human eggs and sperm have been grown in the laboratory in research which could change the face of parenthood. The research raises a number of moral and ethical concerns. These include the possibility of children being born through entirely artificial means, and men and women being sidelined from the process of making babies. Opponents argue that it is wrong to meddle with the building blocks of life and warn that the advances taking place to tackle infertility risk distorting and damaging relations between family members. The U.S. government-funded research also offers the prospect of a 'miracle pill' which staves off the menopause, allowing women to wait longer to have a child. Scientists at Stanford University in California found the right cocktail of chemicals and vitamins to coax the cells into becoming eggs and sperm. The sperm had heads and short tails and are thought to have been mature enough to fertilize an egg. The eggs were at a much earlier stage but were still much more developed than any created so far by other scientists. The double success, published in the journal Nature, raises the prospect of men and women one day 'growing' their own sperm and eggs for use in IVF treatments. The American team used stem cells taken from embryos in the first days of life but hope to repeat the process with slivers of skin. The skin cells would first be exposed to a mixture which wound back their biological clocks to embryonic stem cell state, before being transformed into sperm or eggs. Starting with a person's own skin would also mean the lab-grown sperm or eggs would not be rejected by the body. The science also raises the possibility of 'male eggs' made from men's skin and 'female sperm' from women's skin.

British Report Shows Three Down Syndrome Babies Daily Victimized by Abortions
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- A new report out of England shows three Down's syndrome babies are victims of abortion on a daily basis. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has responded to the news by proposing research on abortion for disability. John Smeaton, SPUC's national director, said: "We must find out whether pre-abortion counseling includes a warning that women are more likely to suffer psychologically if they abort a child because of his or her disability. We shall also carry out research among politicians. We'll ask them whether they support abortion on the grounds of gender or race. I hope that few of them will. We'll then ask them if they support abortion because of disability. If they do, we'll ask how they can reconcile that with opposing abortion because of the baby's sex or skin color." The research among politicians will begin with questionnaires to UK MPs but will be extended to other elected representatives. The increased likelihood of psychological problems among women who abort because of their babies' disability is described in "The psychosocial sequelae of a second-trimester termination of pregnancy for fetal abnormality" by M C A White-Van Mourik, J M Connor and M A Ferguson-Smith, published in Prenatal diagnosis in 1992.

Justices Scalia, Breyer Differ on Whether Constitution Allows Abortion Rights
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer differed on the issue of abortion last week. Scalia said his more liberal colleagues are trying to manufacture new constitutional rights that were never intended by the drafters. “The fight is about the Supreme Court inventing new rights nobody ever thought existed,” Justice Antonin Scalia said in an appearance at the University of Arizona College of Law. “Right to abortion?” he asked. “Come on. Nobody thought it violated anything in the Constitution for 200 years. It was criminal.” “They may be bad ideas,” Scalia said. “But don't tell me it’s unconstitutional.” But Justice Stephen Breyer, who shared the stage with Scalia, said his colleague was taking an overly literalistic approach to the 18th century document. He said that the changing nature of society, by necessity, requires more than looking at what Scalia called “originalism.” “You don't look to the details,” Breyer said. “You look to the value.” Scalia specifically warned that those who approach the Constitution as Breyer suggests will not always find courts expanding the definition of individual liberties. “It goes both ways,” he said. “The only thing you can be sure of is the Constitution will mean whatever the American people want it to mean today,” Scalia continued. “And that’s not what a constitution is for,” he said. “The whole purpose of a constitution is to constrain the desires of the current society.” He said there is a remedy for those who want different or broader rights: Go to the Legislature. He said those bodies are free to decide whether abortion should be legal.

Leon Kass Named 2010 Recipient of the Paul Ramsey Award From Bioethics Group
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network is pleased to announce that Dr. Leon R. Kass has been selected to receive the 2010 Paul Ramsey Award, given to those who have demonstrated exemplary achievement in the field of bioethics. Kass, the Addie Clark Harding Professor in the Committee on Social Thought and the College at the University of Chicago, is a pioneer in bioethics who has, in the spirit of Paul Ramsey, made significant contributions toward a proper understanding of the challenges we face in bioethics, to defend the dignity of human life and advance ethical biotechnology. From 2001 to 2005 he served as the chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics and has been writing and thinking about the ethical and philosophical issues raised by biomedical advances for more than thirty years. Dr. William Hurlbut, who serves on the Paul Ramsey nominating committee said, "Leon Kass is an extraordinarily constructive and courageous voice in bioethics--a treasure to our civilization. He is the intellectual epicenter of American bioethics." Paul Ramsey is regarded by many as one of the most important ethicists of the twentieth century. He was a distinguished writer on bioethics and served as Harrington Spear Pain Professor of Religion at Princeton University. His commitment to the sanctity and dignity of human life was paramount to his work.

Embryo Adoption Web Site Adds New Videos to Promote Saving Days-Old Unborn
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- To raise awareness about the relatively new process of human embryo donation and adoption, the one-stop informational web site EmbryoAdoption.org launched three new web videos. The first video, "A True Story of Embryo Donation & Adoption," reveals a compelling story of two families brought together by their common desire to become parents. Two additional videos share embryo donation and adoption testimonials from couples that struggled with infertility and found hope in the embryo donation and adoption process. "There are just so many couples that just don't know what to do with their embryos," says embryo donor Jennifer Spohr, as she tells her story in the first video. "They have many frozen [embryos] and if they don't do something, they're going to stay frozen forever." Hundreds of thousands of frozen human embryos in the United States alone remain in storage and in limbo, while couples grapple with the difficult decision of what to do with their remaining embryos after completing their family building efforts. As couples weigh their options, many learn about embryo donation through the site's fact sheets, donor testimonials, adoption stories, news archive, service providers and much more.

New York Pro-Abortion Republican Scozzafava Leaves Race, Hoffman Pro-Life
Albany, NY (LifeNews.com) -- New York special congressional election candidate Dede Scozzafava has withdrawn from the race and paved the way for pro-life third-party candidate Doug Hoffman to win the race. After her decision to withdraw, Scozzafava endorsed pro-abortion Democrat Bill Owens, but pro-life groups are still working hard for Hoffman, who is expected to pick up much of Scozzafava's support and who polls show is developing strong momentum heading into Tuesday's election. In response, Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser said the pro-life women's group continues to line up squarely behind Hoffman. "A Hoffman victory is within sight," she told LifeNews.com. The Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund is organizing an independent conservative, pro-Hoffman grassroots ground program in the district. Field staff are recruiting over 200 volunteers to staff polls on election day, canvass churches, and distribute literature, lapel stickers and yard signs across the district. The pro-life Susan B. Anthony List has spent over $125,000 in the race so far, including over $50,000 in pro-Hoffman radio ads. The group was one of the first political action committees to endorse Doug Hoffman for Congress on September 28 and it supports pro-life female candidates, as well as pro-life male candidates who run against female candidates in favor of abortion, like Scozzafava, because they don't accurate represent the interests of women and the unborn.

South Dakota Catholic Bishop Says Don't Sign Petition for Embryonic Research
Pierre, SD (LifeNews.com) -- Pierre, SD (LifeNews.com) -- Former South Dakota Secretary of State David Volk wants to overturn a state law that bans the creation and destruction of human embryos for research. Volk will need to collect more than 16,000 signatures to bring the issue to a vote in the 2010 elections. Catholic Bishop Paul Swain is urging Catholics not to sign the petition. His new statement says, in part: "South Dakota has established a thoughtful and ethical approach to such research. There currently is no ban on stem cell research in South Dakota. The state does, however, prohibit embryonic stem cell research. This should not be weakened or repealed. State laws support and encourage adult stem cell research, as does the Church. Adult stem cell research has already helped thousands of human patients suffering from over 70 different conditions such as heart disease, spinal cord injuries, juvenile diabetes and many cancers. Adult stem cells, whether taken from adult tissues (like skin or bone marrow) or umbilical cord blood, have proven to be versatile and successful, and do not involve serious ethical concerns. Embryonic stem cell research always involves the destruction of human embryos, human life. Despite the fact that millions of dollars have been spent on embryonic stem cell research in other states, no cures or treatments have been discovered to date. The taking of innocent human life is a grave moral evil with which we must never cooperate or endorse. To be consistent with this Church teaching, Catholics should not circulate or sign a petition to place it on the ballot. Nor should Catholics vote for it should that effort be successful."

Steubenville University Bioethics Conference Addresses Current Pro-Life Topics
Steubenville, OH (LifeNews.com) -- With presentations ranging from discussions about current legislative battles over end-of-life decisions to the legal status of the unborn, Franciscan University of Steubenville's fall bioethics conference offered attendees a sweeping overview of current issues in bioethics. Dr. Patrick Lee, the director of the Institute of Bioethics at Franciscan University, described The Value of Human Life Conference as a response to Pope John Paul II's call for "a general mobilization of consciences and a united ethical effort to activate a great campaign in support of life. He said, "All of us here—professors, students, and others—are intellectuals, and we have an obligation to defend the weakest of our brethren." The speakers and paper presenters took up the challenge with vigor. Among many other conference speakers, Dr. Andrew Trew, a professor of bioethics at St. Mary's Seminary and John Carroll University in Cleveland, discussed "Love for Life," comparing Catholic bioethics with a secular bioethics. In a similar vein, plenary speaker Dr. Francis Beckwith, professor of philosophy and church-state studies at Baylor University, examined "Human Dignity and Its Discontents." Beckwith explained that in the internal debates among bioethicists, there exists a category of thinkers who repudiate the idea of human dignity because of two main philosophical positions: enlightenment liberalism and scientific materialism.

Chicago Catholic Church Gives Award to Pro-Abortion Illinois State Lawmaker
Chicago, IL (LifeNews.com) -- The following update comes from Matt Abbott, a pro-life writer based in Illinois: Here we go again. The Lakeview Action Coalition, reportedly a grant recipient of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, on Oct. 22 gave an award to pro-abortion Illinois State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz at the school associated with the notoriously leftist St. Clement Church. A source active in the pro-life movement said in an e-mail: 'After three weeks of phone calls to various archdiocesan offices before the event, the $65.00 per plate fundraiser for the Lakeview Action Coalition took place at St. Clement in Chicago. This is where Sara Feigenholtz received her award [named after the Rev. Gregory Dell, incidentally], despite the recent commitment from Cardinal George to support a ban on big-name pro-abort honors at Catholic churches. I am now in the investigation phase of this matter and getting the big run-around of excuses from bishops, pastors and others of how the matter got missed. So far, it sounds like Jimmy Lago [the chancellor] made the final call to go ahead with the event as he felt it would be a greater scandal to cancel the event soon before it happened. When I originally called St. Clement to verify the event taking place, no one knew anything and it did not show up on their schedule (of course)!' Frankly, the "It's too late to cancel the event now" and "We didn't know anything about it" excuses are getting very old. But, hey, this is the type of thing that occurs when we have spineless, heterodox, politically-connected bureaucrats running the show in some of the dioceses. Sadly, a pro-abortion politician being honored on parish grounds is apparently no big deal to the powers that be.

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