file: /pub/resources/text/ProLife.News/1993: PLN-0301.TXT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Life Communications Volume 3, No. 1 January, 1993 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This newsletter provides information commentary to those interested in Pro-Life Issues. Submissions should be sent to the editor, Steve (frezza@ee.pitt.edu). As this is the first issue of the year, Happy New Year to everyone!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) GENETIC TESTING AND ABORTION COERSION Insurance companies have been coercing pregnant women to have abortions based upon the results of genetic testing. Dr. Paul Billings, a medical geneticist and and professor at U.C. San Francisco, has compiled case histories of people who have been been discriminated against because of the results of genetic testing. Some of his findings were published in the American Journal of Human Genetics in March, and he is continuing to gather information on other cases. His research is funded by the Human Genome Project as part of the effort to resolve difficult ethical questions that have and will continue to arise with advances in genetics. Coercion of pregnant women whose test results suggest that the unborn child may be at risk for congenital defects is not unusual, according to Dr. Billings. Two cases are typical: One couple, whose son had been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, went to their HMO to have genetic testing done after finding out that the woman was pregnant. > "They went to their health maintenance organization, and they were >told that if they had the test and the fetus was shown to be affected they >would have to abort it", [Billings] says. "If they did not abort it, not >only would the HMO not pay for the test or provide health care for the >child, it would also cap the benefits for their already existing child." The couple had the baby anyway. After being threatened with legal action the HMO backed down and provided health care for the newborn child even though, tragically, it was born with cystic fibrosis. Billings cites another case where a pregnant woman was tested for spina bifida. The results showed that she was at high risk for the disease. She changed jobs during her pregnancy, and her new insurance company refused to pay for the test. Even though nine of ten women who show high risk on the test have normal pregnancies they told her that if she gave birth to a child with spina bifida that they would not provide benefits to the child. >"...the insurance companies are making these tests coercive. By using >the test results they are subtly coercing women to terminate their >pregnancies" [says Billings]. - Dean Schulze ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) FREEDOM OF CHOICE ACT HOTLINE: Remember the Mandatory Abortion on Demand (FOC) Act before congress? The National Conference of Catholic Bishops has established a FOCA Hotline. For info on the status of the FOCA and what you can do to oppose it, call toll-free 800-847-2727. If you call, don't expect just a recording! They will take your name, address and phone number. They promise to send you literature, and if desired to connect you with a coordinator in your area if you are willing to help distribute information, etc.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) YAF ESSAY CONTEST Young America's Foundation Essay Contest: Topic, "How has political cor- rectness affected your college life", based on Dinesh D'Souza's book, Illiberal Education. Prizes of $2500, $1000, $1000, and $500. While Young America's Foundation is not a typical pro-life group, they do have conservative, pro-life sympathies, and some college pro-lifer might be able to work up a winning essay based on his or her experience of opposition toward pro-lifers on their campus. Deadline Feb. 28, '93. Contact Peter Schweizer, Young America's Foundation, 110 Elden St., Herndon, VA 22070, (703) 318-9608, FAX (703) 318-9122. Young America's Foundation Scholarships: Awarded to those who have demonstrated substantial leadership in forming or leading a campus group (let's go, college pro-life leaders!). Awards of $5000 and $2000. Deadline: May 31, 1993. Write to Ron Robinson, Young America's Foundation (see address above). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) PRO-LIFE INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE Next Generation Internships: College pro-life interns work with Human Life International in Gaithersburg, MD, outside of Washington, DC. HLI is an international pro-life organization. Interns help with correspondence, doing research on abortion and population control issues, and much more. Gain great pro-life experience. Send resume and cover letter to HLI, Attn.: Bridget McKenna, 7845 Airpark Road, Suite E, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, (301) 670-7884, FAX (301) 869-7363. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY January 22 is the anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1973 decisions legalizing abortion on demand for the full nine months of pregnancy. This year, as has been the case every year starting in 1974, there will be a March For Life in Washington, D.C. This year it is particularly important for pro-lifers to participate because for the first time in years there will be an administration that is actively hostile to the pro-life movement. January 22 is a Friday this year, so many marchers will be able to stay over in Washington without taking more than one day off from work or school. The March for Life Education & Defense Fund is having a one day convention on Saturday. American Collegians for Life also is having a conference Saturday and Sunday. I intend to attend the March for Life Convention. It is possible that some people reading this will be participating in the March and will stay over for at least part of the weekend. It has occurred to me that this could provide an opportunity for some of us to meet face to face. Science fiction fans who are on the net frequently have @ parties at science fiction conventions. I have no intention of giving a room party by myself, but we might select a corner of a lobby with some chairs or some other suitable area and post a few signs with an @ and a time and place. TO avoid mixups, I will volunteer to be a clearinghouse. If you plan to be in Washington on Friday night and would be interested is such a meeting, let me know. If you have any suggestions, information (or have a room you are willing/able to volunteer), let me know. I will collect the information and tell everyone who responded what the consensus seems to be. I also will post a final announcement to the newsletter for anyone who might be interested but didn't see this posting or didn't get a chance to respond. One problem is that the March for Life convention is in the Hyatt Regency Hotel while the ACL conference is in the Marriott. Therefore, if you plan to attend, please tell me where you will be staying. It seems reasonable to meet where most people are. Please contact me at -Marty Helgesen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) READER COMMENTS on the special issue on Sex Education (v2n19s) Some comments come immediately to mind: SIECUS and CPO, and to a lesser extent, Planned Parenthood, seem to be much less extreme in the things they say to the general public as opposed to what they want said to captive school audiences. Broader publicity for abstinence programs tends to moderate what they say to the public. PP even has its own "abstinence" program, Reducing the Risk, which tells kids it's better not to have sex, but then shows them how to obtain and use contraceptives. Pretty gross, but less gross than a lot of other things they've been involved in. The results from this program, by the way, are pretty miniscule--they failed to get "sexually active" kids to use contraceptives any more than they otherwise would have. Second, it is no surprise that Planned Parenthood refused "to be interviewed" for an Insight article. A good journalist will find other ways of getting views of their administrators. For example, I phoned Laurie Zabin, who is on the board of Planned Parenthood, and talked to her about a contraceptive- distribution program she oversaw in Baltimore. I just acted like I was interested in the program because of its glowing reports in the literature, and wanted to find out if any more programs like that were in operation or planned. I managed to get quite a bit of information without revealing anything about my affiliation. Third, there seems to be absolutely no evidence that distribution of condoms or any other contraceptives in school has ever been associated with a decrease in the rate of pregnancy or disease transmission. It is incredible that school administrations would continue to adopt these programs in light of their ineffectiveness. Maybe the administrators are not being told; we need to point this out as much as we can. (Just today, I sent information packets to a North Carolina study commission on school-based clinics that said just that.) The article could have played up the Weed study more. Weed's experience and expertise are as good as anyone in the field of sex education. His comparative evaluation of the three sex-ed programs is probably the first such comparative evaluation that has ever been published. He told me that preliminary results indicated that the more strongly abstinence-oriented Sex Respect had more of an impact on behavior than the milder Values and Choices. That is certainly a significant finding, since in comparing independent studies of other programs, we are always, to some extent, comparing apples and oranges. It is true that federal funding for abstinence-based programs is almost invisible. Also, the funding continues to hang by a thread. Every year for the past 3 or so, a House committee has excised all funding, only to see it restored on the floor. Most Democrats are evidently against such programs; I have no idea how they would justify this in view of the programs' success. For some reason, the article completely ignored the effect of state law. Several states, including Illinois, Indiana, South Dakota, and California, have laws that mandate that all sex-education programs be abstinence-based. I don't see that the laws are having any great effect. In Indiana, for example, I'm told that to get rid of "illegal" programs, you have to challenge them in court, one by one. There ought to be a better way, perhaps civil liability for school districts that have programs that are not in compliance with the law. - Ed Gehringer [Ed recently sent a copy of an article he submitted to _ALL About Issues_ concerning the effectiveness of abstinence-based sex-education programs. please ask for a copy of "AbstienceWorks"] -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- The article on sex education was shocking. The other day on the news I saw a report about a "religious" cult in France that promotes free sex. The report made the Catholic Church out to be the bad guy, saying that the Church wanted to inhibit this cult's teachings and its distribution of condoms to teenagers when teenagers wanted the condoms anyway. I fully support abstinence-based sex education. As for the subject of children's rights, I have many questions and thoughts. I grew up in a neighborhood where many children were being abused by their parents and/or in-town babysitters. I remember one child in particular who was kept on a porch all day long and not allowed to go out into the yard and often not even allowed inside. My sister, about 17 years old at the time, was aching to do something for him. I was too, but being only 11 years old, I didn't have much inkling as to what to do. In the end, my sister was dissuaded from doing much of anything for the boy, because his treatment was a private matter, not a public one. We had to respect his parents' "rights" to rule him over his right to be free from abuse him. This reminds me of the abortion issue, because our nation has placed the rights of a mother to do with her unborn child as she wishes over the most basic right of that child to continue living. If the movement for children's rights focuses on trying to prevent child abuse, I will more than consider supporting it. But if it tries to place - or rather force - immorality onto children, I cannot support it. The question is: Which of these paths is the movement traveling on? - Rose Recchia ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) READER QUESTIONS: Concerning the ACL (Followup on v2n20s:) What are the ACL offices up for election and their duties? Also, is it necessary to be a full time student to run? These are just a few questions I came up with. - Ed Lorden -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ACL was supposed to send out a copy of the election procedures by Nov. 25th, but failed to do so. In fact, to the best of my knowledge (and I'm on the ACL Board of Directors!!!) they have not yet done so (as of Dec. 23rd). Seeing this I don't know how the elections will run, but the original election procedures called for two important deadlines: Postmarked by Dec. 23rd = Nominations, Postmarked by Jan. 6th = Proxy forms Since the ACL failed to send out any info about the elections, I don't know how these deadlines can be reasonably enforced. So, if you or any one you know wants to run for office, go ahead and send in nominations as soon as possible. Offices: all candidates must be full-time college students. The elected offices are President, Executive Vice-President, Vice-President of Development Vice-President of Organizational Development, V-P of Service, V-P of Education, and V-P of Public Relations. In addition, the newly elected President will appoint a Secretary, Treasurer, and a Chairman of the Conference Committee. The ACL President, Executive Vice-President, V-P of Development, and V-P of Organizational Development, also serve as members of the ACL Board of Directors. The ACL Board of Directors has eight other non-officer members. The elections are held during the ACL Conference in Washington, DC, on Jan. 23rd, 1993. Voting is one school = one vote. If you know of any school that will not be represented at the election I encourage you to name a proxy ASAP. If you need help, feel free to contact me. (sicree@geosc.psu.edu) - Andy Sicree ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) CORRECTIONS: v2n20 [What i get for putting things together too quickly] Al D'amato (R-N.Y.) is not a new addition to the Senate, this is his second term. Also, Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) won Warren Rudman's Senate seat, and not the house as was erroneously reported. Many thanks to Sanjay Hiranandani ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote of the Month: "The 'consistency thing' -- the belief that respect for human life demands opposition to abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, and war..." Mary Meehan, _The Progressive_, 1980 +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Credits: | | 1 - "At a Price: Exploring the Mystery of Genes", by Gayle Hanson, _Insight| | on the News_, 12-28-92 and "Discrimination as a Consequence of Genetic | | Testing", P.R. Billings, M.A. Kohn, M. de Cuevas, J. Beckwith, J.S. | | Alper, and M.R. Natowicz, appearing in the American Journal of Human | | Genetics, v50, 476-82, (1992) | |QOM- As quoted from p. 24 of "Pro-Choice Bigots" by Nat Hentloff carried in | | the Nov. 30, '92 issue of _The New Republic_. Many thanks to reader | | Dean Schulze. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Anyone desiring information on specific prolife groups, literature, tapes, or help with problems is encouraged to contact the editor.