file: /pub/resources/text/ProLife.News/1993: PLN-0325.TXT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Life Communications - Volume 3, No. 25 December, 1993 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This newsletter is intended to provide articles and news information to those interested in Pro-Life issues. All submissions should be sent to the editor, Steve or the assistant editor Sean ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) FACE Passes The US House of Representatives, following earlier Senate approval, approved the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act on the 18th of November that (once signed into law), makes it a federal crime to blockade or damage health care clinics, or to attack or threaten abortionists or anyone seeking an abortion. Under the new measure, people who are in the way (or merely praying in front of a clinic) could be prosecuted as felons. Proponents claim that the measure protects "health care providers" [read: abortionists] and "clinics" [abortuaries], as well as "prospective patients" [women seeking abortions], and cite violence as the main issue of the bill. Clinton was expected to sign the bill into law just before the American holiday of Thanksgiving (25 November). Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. proposed an amendment to the bill which would have exempted from federal prosecution protestors who engage in blockades, arguing that the First Amendment protects this kind of action. His comment was that the legislation "would be a shame to civil rights laws." Rep. Thomas DeLay, R-Texas, proposed an amendment that was accepted: parents of minors who seek to prevent their child from obtaining an abortion are exempted from prosecution. Under the house measure, a violator could face one year in jail and up to $100,000 in fines, with any subsequent violation carrying three years in jail and up to $250,000 in fines. Crimes that result in bodily injury could be punishable by up to 10 years in prison and, if the victim dies, life in prison. A spokesman from Operation Rescue commented that its members will continue to block access to women's clinics and go to prison, even if FACE passes and makes their actions felonies. [Editor's Note: Despite the claims of the proponents of this law to curb violence, the rejection of an amendment to exclude peaceful, non-violent demonstrators from federal prosecution clearly shows that the FACE is *not* about dealing with violence. Rather, it is aimed at repressing dissent against abortion by assigning felony status to most actions of pro-life advocates that occur near abortion clinics, no matter how peacefully they may be. In this sense, FACE clearly shows the ascendency of the _Politically Correct_ agenda: those protesting politically correct activities receive misdemeanor crimes, whereas pro-lifers (the non-politically correct)? Well, they are now felons.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) The Brady Bill Passes We're not sure how many pro-lifers noticed, but at the end of November, the U.S. Congress finally approved the Brady Bill, which imposes a mandatory five-day waiting period to purchase handguns. Some might say, how does this relate to abortion? Well, in the United States, the right for citizens to bear arms is explicitly guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Observe the following in the passage of the Brady Bill: a five-day waiting period to exercise a right _explicitly_ guaranteed is acceptable, whereas a one-day waiting period to exercise a right hidden in the "penumbra" (the "right" to an abortion) was (until recently) considered an undue burden (and there are those in Congress and on the Supreme Court who still consider it so). One wonders what abortion proponents would think about a five-day waiting period. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Across the Pond: Germany Catholic Archbishop Takes a Stand for Life According to an Executive News Service report, German Archbishop Johannes Dyba ordered Catholic advice centers in his diocese to stop issuing certificates proving that women had sought pre-abortion counseling. This decision was based upon the need to show clear opposition to the abortion reform law. Evidently, such certificates are required under the recent German abortion reform law for women to obtain abortions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) On the National Front (US) *Washington DC* The Clinton Administration and the American Medical Association are reportedly supporting a move sponsored by the National Organization of Women (NOW) to invoke the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) against Randall Terry, Operation Rescue, and other groups that organize blockades of abortion clinics. The UPI Reports that the NOW case, presented in conjunction with two abortion clinics is reportedly to be heard by the Supreme Court on December 8th. Previously, several lower court rulings have refused to allow the invocation of RICO, which was designed to help combat organized crime. Under RICO, the defendants would be subject to stringent fines, prison sentences and seizure of property. *Mississippi*: The US Supreme Court rejected what was called "an onerous restriction" in the Mississippi abortion law that requires unmarried girls to get both parents' consent or a judge's permission to obtain an abortion. The law was initially enacted in 1986, but has been tied up in court for the intervening nine years. Apparently the law went into effect in July. A similar 1990 law enacted in Minnesota was struck down because it had no judical bypass provision. *New York* (1): Population control advocate Jane Fonda recently presented a 29-page report to the United Nations, in which she attacked the Catholic Church as a "powerful vested interest" opposing contraception. The evaluation she offered for the human race was that humans are a "burgeoning species" and presented her solution for the world "population crisis": contraception backed up with "safe abortion." *New York* (2): The UPI Also reports that _Abortion Rights Mobilization_, a national group, announced that a New York laboratory had illicitly produced 100 doeses of RU-486 drug and would try to test it under a seldom-used state law. This announcement came in the wake of a _Newsweek_ announcement by Dr. Etienne-Emile Baulieu, who told the magazine that he has preliminary agreements from his ex-employer Roussel-Uclaf and its parent company Hoechst AG to set up a pharmacutical firm to manufacture and distribute RU-486 once it recieves government approval. Health Secretary Donna E. Shalala is currently reviewing the Food and Drug Administration's ban on the drug. *Michigan*: UPI Reports that Michigan's Assisted Suicide Law is currently under judical review. A judgment is expected before Jack Kevorkian goes on trial under the law on 6 Jan. Kevorkian's attorney Geoffrey Fieger made the odd comment that the right to commit suicide is similar to a woman's "constitutionally protected" right to an abortion and that it should be easier to rule on the constitutionality of the right to die than it was to decide on the right to an abortion. This was because "No one speaks for the unborn fetus... [but] When someone agrees to assisted suicide, it's the fetus speaking for itself." [ On one hand, it is hard to challenge Fieger's observation that if it's OK to kill unwanted fetuses then it's OK to kill unwanted people who don't mind. It's interesting to consider that perhaps the federal government doesn't come down harder on Kevorkian (and folks like the ACLU appear to support him) because they're scared of the contrapositive---logically, if we accept "if A then B" then we have to accept "if not-B then not-A." On the other hand, his argument brings to light an interesting double-standard: unborn humans can be considered persons when it is convenient (such as in justifying assisted suicide), and not persons when it is not so convenient (such as in opposing abortion)... some interesting semantic gymnastics performed there! Eds.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) College Coalition Forming in the Northeast The College Coalition (CC) unites pro-life college student groups in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the northeast U.S. so that the strong can help the weak. CC began as just a Massachusetts group but have since broadened to include students in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. At the moment there are twenty-three schools involved. Some of the schools (like Boston University, Mount Holyoke College, Wellesley College, and UMASS-Amherst) have have established groups; some do not. CC held its first meeting in October and decided to work on two projects: 1) Buses to the March for Life in DC. Holy Cross College usually sends one bus. Between the other colleges we should be able to send at least one more. We hope to have several and create a convoy of sorts from NE. 2) Planning a spring Spring, most likely at Boston University, on how to communicate the pro-life message to a liberal, pro-abort campus. Stand by for more details. CC has yet to hear from anyone in Maine or Vermont. Students from those states (or anywhere else) are asked to contact for more information. - Bruce Hall ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) Attorneys Who Fight for Life This is a short description of a wonderful legal resource that may be of use and interest. The Rutherford Institute (TRI), in their own words, is "...an international organization of aggressive attorneys who fight in the courts for religious liberty, family rights, and the sanctity of human life." TRI has five priority areas for its work: (1) preserving free speech in the public arena; (2) protecting the rights of churches, church schools, home schools, and other religious organizations to operate freely without improper state intrusion; (3) defending parental rights and family autonomy; (4) supporting the sanctity of human life; and (5) assisting individuals who have been oppressed for their beliefs or had their human rights violated in countries worldwide. In the pro-life arena, they have defended the rights of hundreds of pro-lifers to speak and protest against abortion. They have a number of resources available, such as the pamphlet, "A Pro-Life Manifesto: Strategy on the Abortion Issue". Apparently all of these resources are loaded with legal precedents, court cases, etc.. For example, the _Manifesto_ pamphlet is 38 pages long, and includes 55 documented references at the end of the text, many of them legal references to specific cases. For any aspiring law students out there, TRI also has an internship program for law students, as well as a multi-faceted educational program, including a daily radio program heard on over 500 stations in the U.S.. The Rutherford Institute may be contacted by mail at P.O. Box 7482, Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482, or by phone at (804) 978-3888. - Roger Dawson ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) Announcements Henry Hyde to Speak in Boston: U.S. Representative Henry Hyde (R-IL) is speaking in Boston on January 16, 1994, at the Dorothy Quincy Suite of the John Hancock Building (the little hancock) at 1pm. There are very few seats so come early. For more details contact Massachusetts Citizens for Life at (617) 242-4199 (voice), (617) 242-4965 (fax), (617) 242-4589 (24-hour pro-life events and news service) or write: Massachusetts Citizens for Life, The Schrafft Center, 529 Main Street, Boston, MA 02129 (we're in the Charlestown neighborhood). - Bruce Hall ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) Soon to be in Bookstores - Advance Publication Notice THE ABORTION CONTROVERSY: A READER edited by Louis P. Pojman and Francis J. Beckwith, Jones and Bartlett Series in Philosophy (Boston: Jones & Bartlett, 1994) is coming out in late December. It is an anthology on the abortion controversy containing articles by people on all sides of the issue. One editor, Louis Pojman, is pro-abortion; the other editor, Francis Beckwith, is pro-life. There is a section on abortion and the law, containing excerpts from _Roe V. Wade_ and _Casey V. Planned Parenthood_ (1992); as well as sections of fetal personhood, feminism and abortion, militancy and abortion, critiques of _Roe_, and arguments from bodily rights. Among the contributors are Laurence Tribe, Francis Beckwith, Stephen Schwarz, Bernard Nathanson, Louis Pojman, Michael Tooley, Daniel Callahan, Sidney Callahan, Baruch Brody, and Judith Jarvis Thomson. The book is highly pedagogical, containing an extensive introduction to the issue as well as sections on "for further reading" after each section and study questions after each article. Each section opens up with an introduction by the editors. It will be a paperback. The price has not yet been decided. It is ideal as a textbook for courses on moral issues, social issues, medical ethics, etc. The number for Jones & Bartlett is 1-415-851-0182. The address is 30 Granada Court Portola Valley, CA 94028-7737. - Frank Beckwith ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) From The Other Side: Request for Stories This was posted to a "Pro-Choice" mailing list that one of our readers follows: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- WRITING WANTED for book project on "MY EXPERIENCE OF ABORTION." All forms. ALL POINTS-OF-VIEW. NONfiction. No industry worker or protestor experiences please. This is a safe, hassle-free place to share your story which can be included anonymously if you prefer. Deadline: 3/1/94. Length: 1 to 20 pages. Send hardcopy manuscript and SASE to SUSAN HARRISON, P.O. Box 882, St. Cloud, MN 56302 A complete and known-to-be-working internet address may be used in lieu of SASE only. Contact: Susan Harrison [Internet: "SHarrison@CSBSJU.edu"] -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- The author's stated concept for the book: I want to give voice to some of the private musings of women who have real experience with abortion. I find them conspicuously absent from the media dialogue. Although I sense such words might be a compassionate bridge between warring factions, I remain open to all points of view and to letting myself be surprised by what I learn. The book will be whatever IT must be. I want to listen to the secrets, to the silent voices. I want all of us to be out about what we've been through and to not let the struggle muzzle us. I want the women to whom it matters to help me tell the world that maybe it just isn't all that simple. [Susan Harrison] [It would be interesting to see if given abortion trauma stories, if they would really be included, and allow the book to 'be whatever IT must be.' - Ed.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) Reader Questions: Who Supports Fetal Tissue Research? I was wondering if anyone happens to know of any sources that would show what companies/businesses/etc funded fetal tissue research. I've heard recently that McDonald's restaurants contribute to this, but I want to verify this since it was 2nd and 3rd hand information... - Thanks much for the help, Russ Neumeier ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote of the Month: "When we react bitterly to the bitter, deceitfully to the deceiving, we have allowed them to decide how we are going to act. We have, to an extent, put our lives in their hands. We have put our decisions and our happiness in their control. We have been reactors rather than actors. For me it seems very necessary that those who join the Pro-Life effort should strive to be actors, not reactors; lovers, not haters; and in all things truthful. Of course, it is not always an easy way to go. The whole Pro-Life effort is either an act of love or it is nothing." - John Powell, SJ _Abortion: The Silent Holocaust_ +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Credits: | | 1 - Based on a Friday, 19 Nov UPI report and other sources. | | 2 - Many thanks to reader Nancy Smith for her insight. | | 3 - Reported in Mrs. Judy Brown's _Communique_ v3n19is available for $13.95 | | per annum via ALL, Stafford, VA 22555 or call (703) 659-4171. | | 4 - Washington - from Wed, 24 Nov 93 UPI NewsFeature; Mississippi: from Tues| | 16 Nov AP article in _The Frederick Post_, Frederick MD p. A-3; | | New York(1), from 29 Oct. 93 _Communique_. New York(2) _New York Times_ | | Monday, 11/15/93 page A12; Michigan - 17 Nov 93 UPI Report. | |QOM- from _LIFELINE_ Newsletter of the OSM Students for Life. Many thanks to| | reader Andy Sicree and the PA Intercollegiate Federation for Life. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Anyone desiring information on specific prolife groups, literature, tapes, or help with problems is encouraged to contact the editor.