ISSUES UPDATE p.8 National Empowerment Television National Empowerment Television (NET) is a new network broadcasting from Washington, D.C., and is currently available to over nine million homes, mostly those with satellite dishes, although a growing number of cable systems carry the show as well. Programs include American Life League's "Celebrate Life! "along with live interactive programs that enable viewers to speak directly with their elected and unelected leaders. Protestors may lose right to appeal For 36 members of Collegians Activated to Liberate Life (C.A.L.L.) convicted of trespassing and blocking pedestrian traffic at abortion clinics in Gary and Merrillville, IN, a judge's ruling that they must file separate appeals may halt the judicial process. Robert Henke, attorney for the C.A.L.L. members, said that the multiple filing fees and increased paperwork and mailing costs that are required to process separate appeals will add more than $6,150 to the defendants' already mounting bills. The added burden of handling the appeals separately instead of as a group may make pursuing the case "a financial and physical impossibility," said Henke, who is taking the case pro bono. When C.A.L.L.'s case came to trial, Henke had moved for separate trials for each defendant, but that motion was overruled. Now they must file separate appeals. - Elizabeth Johnson Abortifacient vaccine For about 20 years the World Health Organization has been funding research to immunologically block or end pregnancy. With rapidly advancing vaccine technology, one hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), could become easily accessible in the next few years, and attain a five-year efficacy between booster vaccinations. This vaccine induces an abortion of a developing embryo. No large-scale and long-term studies have addressed the possibility that if her immune system is repeatedly exposed to HCG, a woman could become permanently incapable of completing a pregnancy. Also, this vaccine could be abused as a tool to enforce population growth control. - Lawrence Roberge Abortion and substance abuse linked An Elliot Institute study has established a strong statistical link between abortion and subsequent drug or alcohol abuse. A national, random sample of 700 women revealed that women who had an abortion during their first pregnancy were 3.9 times more likely to engage in subsequent drug or alcohol abuse than women who had never had an abortion. Clinton must obey Congress Federal judge Stanley Sporkin ruled in March that the Clinton administration must adhere to Congressional restrictions on disbursement of $40 million in federal funds to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA). "The 1985 Kemp-Kasten law restricts U.S. funding of the UNFPA if UNFPA funds go to nations with coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization policies," reports the Rutherford Institute. Pain relief for terminal patients "Proponents of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide egregiously promote the idea that too many patients are at the mercy of new medical mechanization that forces them to linger in protracted pain while they are hooked up to tubes and other invasive technology against their will," reports the Compassionate Healthcare Network. Their April/May 1994 "CHN Facts-Brief" included a transcript of an address given by Dr. L.L. de Veber, Director of Hematology/ Oncology at Children's Hospital in London, ON, to the 12th Bishops' Workshop in Dallas, TX. "Far too often the dying patient is neglected and even though given some sympathetic psychological care may have very bad medical care. When it comes to diagnosing and treating pain in cancer patients this is particularly apparent," stated Dr. de Veber. ". . . one reason given for failing to provide pain control by doctors is the fear of addiction. This, like most of the fears of the medical and nursing profession, is mostly a myth. . . . "The nursing staff usually are concerned about respiratory depression . . . but the amounts [of narcotics] required to control pain do not produce significant respiratory depression unless the patient has some additional lung or heart problems. . . . "There is still, in many areas, scarcity of properly trained medical and nursing personnel to provide the guidance and knowledge for proper pain control." Poor women The Lincoln Filene Center of Tufts University (Somerville, MA) has presented more evidence that poverty tends to affect women more severely than men. The center conducted an 18-month study of women in greater Boston and found that women made up 56% of the area population, but 76% of poor adults; that 40% of the women working at paid jobs were earning wages below the poverty level; that the majority of those who were homeless for economic reasons were women and children; that young women who drop out of school are twice as likely as male dropouts to be poor as adults. Putting children first Americans agree that putting children first will lead to agreement on today's tough issues, according to a survey by the Family Research Council. Gary Bauer, council president, said that 93% of Americans believe children suffer when their parents divorce; 83% believe it's better for a child to be born in a two-parent family; and 84% think children are harmed by the presence of sexually explicit materials and adult entertainment in society. The survey results identify "a consensus on where this country has been going wrong and how we might work together to build a society that is friendlier to America's families and children," said Bauer. Military doctors still won't do abortions More than one year after President Clinton directed that military hospitals overseas begin performing abortions, military physicians are steadfastly refusing to participate. "Modern-day heroes" is what Captain Randy Turner, USAF, calls the doctors. Turner is president of Armed Forces for Life (an A.L.L. affiliate), P.O. Box 2304, Chantilly, VA 22021. Bubble around homes remains The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that pro-lifers can be prohibited from picketing near an abortionist's home. The court upheld New Jersey Superior Court rulings prohibiting picketing within 300 feet of the home of abortionist Elrick Murray in Howell Township and in the "immediate vicinity" of the home of abortionist Darryl Boffard in Short Hills, and instructed the lower court to define "immediate vicinity." - Voices for the Unborn RICO turnabout? The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has threatened to sue ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law if ACT-UP acts up by disrupting any more church services. ACT-UP has vocally opposed John Cardinal O'Connor of New York and James Cardinal Hickey of Washington, D.C., for their public teaching against homosexuality and for denying that condom use or distribution is an answer to the problem of AIDS. U.S. has leading Western abortion rate Among Western countries, the United States is the leader in abortions per capita, with 26.4 abortions per 1,000 women. Sweden is next, with 20.4 per 1,000. Spain was low on the list, with 5.4 per 1,000. - Our Sunday Visitor Kevorkian acquitted again On May 2, a Michigan jury acquitted Jack Kevorkian of assisting the suicide of Thomas Hyde; the jury decided that Kevorkian's primary intent was to relieve suffering, not to cause death. Hyde's was the 20th death to be connected to Kevorkian. Action Write to your Congressman and Senators: - to oppose the rationing of health care for the elderly, discrimination against babies born with birth defects, mandatory "comprehensive" sex education, and the inclusion of abortion (or abortion coverage) in any health care reform legislation. - to urge them to investigate and block the destructive, nontherapeutic human embryo experimentation now being considered by the National Institutes of Health for federal funding (see p. 31). Write: Rep. _______________________________ U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 Sen. _______________________________ U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20510 Copyright 1994 American Life League -----------------------------------------------------------------------