Facts of Life Email: April 27, 2006

Sorry we've missed you, some technical problems kept us from keeping up our weekly broadcasts!

CURRENT LIFE ISSUES:

u Figures from the Food and Drug Administration already paint a grim picture of the abortion drug RU 486 and how safe it is for women to use. But the numbers may be underreported -- making a risky abortion drug even riskier and causing potentially thousands of complications. Despite the FDA's announcement on Monday that the death of one of two recent women thought to have died from using the abortion drug was unrelated, six women have died and more than 850 have experienced medical problems after taking the abortion pills. But Dr. Randall O'Bannon, director of research and education for National Right to Life, says those numbers are probably much higher. He says the manufacturer of the drug, Danco Laboratories "plays with the numbers" and claims of widespread use and safety of the abortion drug "doesn't seem to be true on either side." Follow this story on our news pages to learn more.

u In addition to fighting human cloning and taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research, pro-life members of Congress are putting together another piece of legislation that would seek to ban harvesting fetal tissue from human embryos for research experiments. The bill has not yet been drafted but the proposal would make sure scientists could not use tissue from human embryos that have reached a certain age. Lawmakers haven't yet agreed on the age for the bill, but Rep. David Weldon, a Florida doctor and Republican who is expected to be a main sponsor, has suggested 14 days. The need from the bill arises because measures that allow human cloning for research purposes typically say that human embryos must be destroyed after 14 days because such measures don't allow human cloning for reproduction. As a result, scientists engaging in human cloning must destroy such unborn children and use them in experiments. Learn more about cloning, tissue harvesting, and stem cell research!

u "The founder of the Swiss suicide facilitating organization Dignitas is just about done with pretense. The Sunday Times Magazine reported that Dignitas' founder, Ludwig Minelli, plans to create sort of a Starbucks for suicide: a chain of death centers 'to end the lives of people with illnesses and mental conditions such as chronic depression.' Minelli believes that all suicidal people should be given information about the best way to kill themselves, and, according to the Times story, 'if they choose to die, they should be helped to do it properly.' Dignitas admits to having assisted the suicides of many people who were not terminally ill. As Minelli put it, 'We never say no.' The story about Minelli illuminates a deep ideological belief within the euthanasia movement: that we own our bodies, and thus, determining the time, manner, and method of our own deaths, for whatever reason, is a basic human right. That is certainly how one of the other superstars of the international euthanasia movement, the Australian physician Phillip Nitschke, sees it. Nitschke travels the world presenting how-to-commit-suicide clinics."(Wesley J. Smith) Read the complete article!

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WHAT'S HAPPENING AT CPLC:

u Christine Tomaszewski is the CA Representative to the National Right to Life Youth Oratory Contest! The state finals featured six excellent student speakers from all over California, double the participation since last year! The judges had a full challenge in deciding a winner and the scores were all very close. Christine's speech on adult vs. embryonic stem cell research prevailed and we are excited about her being our delegate to the National Contest in Nashville this June! 

JOIN THE ADVENTURE!
CPLC has a variety of educational resources for you to share with your community. Learn more about all the current issues and how to get involved!

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"The difference between what I do and euthanasia is that palliative care does whatever is necessary to alleviate the suffering while euthanasia is focused on eliminating the sufferer."
Dr. Ira Byock

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California ProLife Council (CPLC) www.californiaprolife.org is the largest statewide organization in California solely dedicated to pro-life issues. CPLC is a non-sectarian, non-partisan, non-profit grassroots organization of pro-life groups and individuals in California dedicated to protecting and fostering the most basic value of our society-respect for LIFE itself. We seek to educate our community in regard to abortion, euthanasia, and infanticide, to identify and organize the pro-life population of the state into an effective team, and to restore respect for human life to public policy. California ProLife Council is the California affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee, Inc. www.nrlc.org

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