"Campaign finance reform" as presently proposed, will not give Americans more honest, less costly elections. It will take our First Amendment rights to freely speak to each other about lawmakers and candidates seeking re-election or election.

If passed, it will cost Americans dearly. Do "campaign finance reform measures" give us anything we need? We think not. Do they seek to remove a good amount of our First amendment Rights to "free speech?" Absolutely with no doubt.

If the Senate passes the McCain-Feingold bill, the House of Representatives may take it up quickly. Already over 150 House members have co-sponsored the Shays-Meehan bill (H.R. 380), which contains restrictions on free speech about politicians that are even more sweeping than those in the McCain-Feingold bill.

(For additional information on these bills, check www.nrlc.org, under "Federal Legislation; Free Speech and Campaign Finance Reform and esp. Analysis of S.27," McCain-Feingold 2001" by James Bopp, Jr.)

CRITICAL ALERT

On Monday, March 19, 2001, the U.S. Senate will begin an open, two-week debate on the McCain-Feingold "Campaign Finance Reform" Bill (S 27)

A final Senate vote on the bill is expected on or about March 30^th.

Babies may feel pain of abortion

Thousands of abortions may cause pain to the unborn child, according to doctors preparing to debate the issue of "foetal awareness." Professor Vivette Glover, a British professor of medicine is calling for all "terminations" between 17 and 24 weeks to be performed under anaesthetic. 90% of "terminations" occur before 13 weeks when most medical opinion agrees that a foetus cannot feel pain. Concern has now surfaced about abortions done during the next 11 weeks. Presently some abortions during the period of 13 to 24 weeks are done without anaesthesia.

Professor Glover of Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital, said that many questions remain about when the foetus becomes sentient. She said, "It is incredibly unlikely that the foetus could feel anything before 13 weeks because there is no linking to the brain at all. After 26 weeks it is quite probable.

"But between 17 and 26 weeks it is increasingly possible that it {the unborn child} starts to feel something and that abortions done in that period ought to use anaesthesia." Dr. Glover acknowledged the possibility that she was providing ammunition for "anti-abortionists." She said, "I am pro-choice, but no one should muddle the two. One should think about how one is doing it in the most pain-free way."

According to one study, aborted fetuses have been heard to cry from 21 weeks and some doctors believe that distress can be felt as early as 13 weeks. Others question whether the foetus can feel pain before 26 weeks. Under current British law, abortions can be done only until the 24^th week (6^th month) of pregnancy unless there are exceptional circumstances, i.e. threat to the life of the mother.

A study by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said it was not easy to define or evaluate foetal awareness of pain. The study concluded that the foetus was not "aware" of pain before development of nerve connections between two crucial areas of the developing brain, the cortex and thalamus after 26 weeks. Roger Highfield, Science Editor, Daily Telegraph, Issue 1922; 8/29/00

Shortage of women in China result of abortion

China’s shortage of women of marriage ages should warn places, including America, that have become involved in the "science of eugenics." China has a one-child forced abortion policy, strictly enforced by Beijing’s police and informers.

Men in the 20 – 44 age bracket outnumber women by about 26,000,000. By the year 2020, that figure is expected to grow at a rate of 1 million per year.

China’s pre-natal testing is mandatory with results closely monitored. In the Chinese culture, sons are, and always have been, more prized than daughters. Unborn girls are quickly removed by easily available, state-supplied abortions.

These practices mirror those of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. Although well aware of what was happening then, the world generally ignored the deadly practices. So too today, former president Bill Clinton and

US diplomats remained silent about China’s one-child policy.

Twenty-one years ago China’s one-child policy was launched. It began just after the death of Mao Tse-tung who did not approve of daughter-killing. By now, the effect of the policy is obvious.

Men plead for marriageable women in classified ads in major newspapers. One man advertised having a good apartment and salary and a Western style toilet. Some wealthy males seek mates in other countries. That is risky as the Chinese traditional culture can keep a foreign wife an unwelcome outsider, often following the example of the mother-in-law.

Most poor, unmarried men can’t travel and turn to sleazy wife-brokers. They bring women to the cities under the guise of getting them good jobs. Kidnapping groups are busy and approved by everyone concerned except the bride.

China’s Theory and Practice magazine warned that "an army of bachelors" could soon create "social perils and …factors of instability."

Undoubtedly as the number of marriage-age women continues to drop in relation to males, traditional family structure will suffer in China That may well mean vast social changes which will lead to even more dramatic changes than the present "armies of Chinese bachelors."

Clearly not the all knowing Nazis, the know-it-all Chinese nor American "genius" eugenics practitioners can fool Mother Nature no matter how brilliant they or their governments think they are.

J. Omicinski; Gennett News Service & Pro-life Infonet; 2-21-01

:-) "The time is always right to do what is right."
Dr. Martin Luther King

Ultrasound findings may not predict Down Syndrome

The Journal of the American Medical Association; 2/28/01 reported research about ultrasound test results. According to the results, Down syndrome, the condition for which ultrasound is so often used to diagnose, is poorly detected by the test. These results should startle those who have used ultrasound results as the basis of decisions about abortion or continuing a pregnancy.

Down syndrome is detected in the ultrasound test results when a "nuchal fold" is seen. That is a thickening of the skin at the back of the unborn child’s neck. The fold has been a recognized sign of Down syndrome. However, not all unborn children with Down syndrome have a nuchal fold thickening. Ultrasound also checks for other "signs", e.g. shortened bones in the leg/arm, a brain cyst or white spots seen in the bowel. Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman and University of California associates reported these signs were "not helpful in confirming or excluding the presence of Down syndrome."

The Smith-Bindman and associates research included review of 56 second-trimester ultrasound studies involving over 130,000 unborn children. They looked at markers, i.e. "soft signs". These combined with blood tests and clear structural abnormalities such as heart problems have been seen as predictors of Down syndrome. Results were:

• Using the nuchal fold, the best measure, meant between 4,545 high-risk women or 87.413 average-risk women would need to be screened to detect just one case of Down syndrome;
• The number of false-positive results, i.e. incorrect findings that a healthy baby has Down syndrome, were not reported; they were apparently frequent enough that the authors opined women would opt for more conclusive testing, e.g. amniocentesis;
• Amniocentesis would mean that for every one case of Down syndrome "identified" by this test, 79 to more than 600 women would get a false-positive diagnosis.

Dr. Charles Lockwood, NYU department of obstetrics and gynecology believes that reviewing different studies does not allow good comparisons. He said that first trimester ultrasound screening for nuchal fold thickening with a blood test, will predict Down syndrome risk.

Dr. Lockwood believes that if women have an ultra-sound, they should only go to "centers that specialize in the techniques and use the latest, most sophisticated equipment. "It is not something doctors should be doing in their offices. If you don’t have that kind of experience and expertise, and vast numbers of publications coming out of your center on this topic, you shouldn’t be doing it."

Deaths of thousands of women mourned

"We mourn the loss of thousands of women who have died of abortion-induced breast cancer since the 1973 Roe v Wade decision. Abortion is an overwhelmingly elective surgical procedure. Should women be expected to unknowingly place their lives at risk in order to achieve an elective outcome?" Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer

Mrs. Malec continued: "More than two dozen studies link this elective procedure with a deadly disease, and 13 of 14 American studies reported increased risk." The coalition, led by Mrs. Malec, is international. Its objective is to prevent breast cancer caused by induced abortion. It has been strongly urging the media to inform women that 27 of 34 worldwide studies published since 1957 have linked induced abortion with breast cancer.

Approximately 175,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year," according to Malec, and "more than 43,000 women die from this disease each year."

Cong. Dave Weldon, M.D. called abortion a "health care bomb." Joel Brind, Ph.D., president of Breast Cancer Prevention Institute conservatively estimated an additional 5,000 to 8,000 cases of breast cancer diagnosed each year because of previous abortions. He has predicted that in the year 2020 there will be an additional 40,000 to 50,000 cases of breast cancer diagnosed yearly.

Oregon suicides soar in 3^rd year of assisted suicide

In 2000, 27 people killed themselves with lethal drugs in Oregon where assisted suicide is legal. Sixty -three percent (63%) feared being a burden on friends, family or other caregivers, according to an Oregon Health Division official report. The law is supposed to be limited to those who will die within six months. In one case, a person prescribed a lethal drug during 1999 was still alive at the end of 2000, a year later. Burke Balch, J.D., Medical Ethics Department Director, National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) said:

"Particularly disturbing is that almost a third – 30% - were motivated by inadequate pain control. In modern medicine, there is no need for anyone to suffer uncontrolled pain. We should be working to improve access to existing means of pain relief, not killing those in pain."

A January, 2001 Wirthlin Worldwide poll asked:

Bush administration reviewing stem cell research

Stem cells are a type of nursery cell that can generate a range of cells in the body. Researchers hope the cells can cure diseases ranging from diabetes to paralysis.

Encouraged by the Clinton administration, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued guidelines stating that federally funded scientists could bypass a ban on destroying human embryos to work with the cells. The cells could be used only if scientists themselves did not create or destroy a human embryo to get the cells.

Bush opposes abortion. Pro-life groups have opposed the use of human stem cells from unborn children. In January Bush said he would oppose the research, but would not say whether he would act outlaw it. Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of Health & Human Services (HHS) supported the research while governor of Wisconsin.

On 3/6/01 he told CNN that it "holds tremendous promise." But Thompson said federal law might require researchers to use alternatives to unborn children, such as stem cells taken from adults. "I would like to see the continuation of research being done, and there are many ways to do that," Thompson said.

He also said that the Bush administration would decide by summer whether to let research using cells from aborted unborn children continue. Thompson told a Senate hearing that independent reviews were under way to determine whether the research can proceed in light of a law barring the use of federal dollars for stem-cell research using unborn children. Thompson said he'd appoint a panel of government researchers to advise him on the scientific issues involved in stem cell research, including whether it could be done without using cells from destroyed embryos "I'm going to have a group of nationally known scientists from NIH review the question of stem cell research. They're going to look at the whole range of issues, scientifically, morally and what other ways that this research could be done. Is there another way? All those things are going to be taken into consideration."… "I will be making a decision based upon those reviews," Secretary Thompson told a Senate hearing on budget and Medicare issues. "I do not know whether you have to destroy an embryo in order to get the stem cells to do the research," he added. "Those are questions the scientists are going to have to answer, and that's why this review is so important." Thompson said an independent review would be completed in the next few months, and a White House decision should come in the "spring or early summer." Reuters; March 6, 2001 on Pro-life Infonet; 3/7/01

STEM CELL ACTION ALERT

President Bush and Secretary Thompson both need to know of disapproval of research using aborted babies.

• "Research" using aborted babies will increase demands for killing unborn children.
• Ethical stem cell treatments already successfully use adult cells and cells from the umbilical cords of living infants.
• "Research" using body tissues of babies aborted for the research is wrong, unconscionable and should not be done.

Abortion: the loneliest decision

C.T. Gent wrote the following in the March issue of Gear

"There are women who go through abortion with grit teeth, and then it’s over, and they’re glad – or at least that’s what they tell you, and if you’re a male, they really won’t tell you much.

It is probably the loneliest decision they’ll ever make. No one talks about abortion in glowing terms. It is not something women – at least not the women I’ve known – tend to be proud of, and society certainly does not hold up the aborted fetus as the paradigm of good works….

I was 21 years old and she was 25 and we were surviving on salted spaghetti. We had lived together before, and it was not good….

She was 10 weeks pregnant when we found out… Two days later she went for a sonogram, kept the printout – a radar smudge, fetus already with arms and eyes and a heart beating…She wanted her child, but everyone was against her – me, her parents, her friends, the abortion counselor with the big oak desk and red carpet. She never stood up and said it: I want my child.

In the cab home {after the abortion}, we said nothing and sat at opposite sides of the car…I asked her if she was all right. She told me to go away.

After that, there was no more dialogue for many months, for she was mourning….

It was the end of something between us – on her side it had killed off trust and a lot of hope, and on my side, all I felt was her resentment and bitterness and it pushed me away." Washington Times; 2/13/01 on Pro-Life Infonet; 3/06/01

Dr. Seuss’s widow angered over pro-life materials

The widow of Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as children’s writer Dr. Seuss, is "very disturbed" that her husband’s work was featured prominently on a pro-life poster distributed in Ottawa Roman Catholic churches. Mrs. Geisel’s lawyer said she would write to Ottawa’s Catholic archdiocese and an Ottawa pro-life group, protesting their use of a sentence from one of Dr. Seuss’s children’s books, Horton Hears a Who.

The archdiocese had sent out copies of a color poster showing a tiny six- to eight-week-old unborn child under a quotation from the book: "A person’s a person, no matter how small." It was included in material encouraging people to oppose government abortion funding.

The attorney said Mrs. Geisel "is very disturbed about this thing. We are not affiliated or sponsoring this activity in any way." Pro-Life Infonet; January 27, 2001

"Campaign Finance Reform" bills THEY OFFER NO MEANINGFUL REFORMS

Oratorical contest

High school Juniors and Seniors are invited to participate in the oratoricals. First contests are held locally, with one participant sent to compete at the state level. There, the person will be identified to represent New York at the National Oratorical Contest on June 30, 2001 in Charlotte, North Carolina^.

Contestants are asked to research, write and then present a 5 – 7 minute speech on Abortion or Euthanasia or Infanticide. Local winner will receive all expenses paid for the trip to compete in Albany on May 12^th. Winner of the state contest will receive a cash prize and all expenses paid for the trip to the National competition on June 30th.

For more information and contest application forms, call Pat at the RARTL office at 716-621-4690.

Baking for Pro-Life Support

In October, well before Sanctity of Life Sunday, January 21^st, unnamed (their wish) bakers begin baking and freezing. By January 21^st the quantity they’ve baked and frozen + donated baked items from others make a magnificent display at St. Jerome Church in East Rochester.

Now add the customers. They like what they see and buy heartily. Others, perhaps being good about diet, do not purchase but make donations to the Rochester Area Right to Life Committee, Inc. Education Fund.

Our gratitude and cheers for the many people whose efforts made this a most successful event. We thank the bakers, sellers, customers and donors.

In Memoriam David Miller Rev. Edward Zimmer

In Prayer Sue DiCesare George W. Green Betsy Larson Robert Roeding Mary Studier

National Right to Life News (NRL News) - Test it!

This publication is viewed as the publication of record for the pro-life movement. Recognizing that its 400,000 circulation should double, NRL News has made an offer. A free copy of the NRL News will be sent to each person whose name and address is sent to:   National Right to Life; 419 7^th St. NW; Suite 500; Washington, DC 20004

Include your own name on the list you send. A donation of $1.00 per name sent is also requested.  Read the issue you receive; then make a decision about becoming a subscriber.

:-Y "Success seems to be a matter of hanging on after others let go." William Feather Y-:

Medicaid abortion funding

Federal tax dollars can be used to fund abortion. Thanks to the Hyde Amendment to the Health and Human Services Annual Budget an average of no more than several hundred are funded for "life of the mother" or rape/ incest. Any additional abortion funding is up to the states.

New York state has been generous in its use of state tax dollars for Medicaid abortion funding. Each year all governors since Rockefeller have included multi-millions of dollars for abortions. Supposedly the abortions are done "for the life of the mother" but the abortionists need only submit a signed claim for their payment and nothing else.

As this is written, we have no information about the amount of abortion funding in Pataki’s 2001-02 Proposed Budget. We’ve also heard nothing about the probable pro-life responses. Usually, in the Assembly an amendment is presented to have the abortion money in the budget used for something positive rather than abortion. In the Senate, the approach has been more direct in a bill opposing Medicaid abortion funding.

Abortion funding has steadily grown despite efforts to stop it. For the 2001-02 Budget, in conscience, outreach should be done to our legislators.

1. Identify your NY State Senator and Assemblymember (call your County Board of Elections if unsure)
2. Visit at the local office, write a letter, call, or e-mail by April 1^st.
3. Briefly but clearly state your opposition to abortion and having to pay for it.
4. Encourage family members, friends and members of groups to which you belong to take this action.

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IN A NUTSHELL

"Campaign finance reform" bills First action of this year will occur in the US Senate with debate on the McCain-Feingold bill S 27 beginning March 19th and a vote expected by April 1st. Should it pass, the House will then consider the same ideas as presented to the House in the Shays-Meehan bill HR 380. In September, 1999, an earlier version of the HR 380 passed easily in the House. Unless the McCain-Feingold bill is defeated in the US Senate, we can expect the even more severe Shays-Meehan bill being much more difficult to defeat. Details =:-) If "campaign finance reform" passes, you’ll know nothing about candidates seeking election

Funding stem cell research Research about stem cells used as a cure for diseases has been occurring. Destroying human embryos to obtain the cells must be vigorously opposed. Adult cells and cells from umbilical cords of living infants have proven satisfactory Details:   Background + Action Suggestions

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Suggested Prayers

Please become a prayer partner by spending 5-10 minutes daily in prayer about life issues. We hope this partnership will fill 24 hours of each day to have a prayer shield over the area. Please join in the following suggested weekly prayer themes that

April 1 - Each handicapped and aged receive from us love of each of them for the unique person each is
April 8 – We cherish life as we celebrate holy days and a holy week
April 15 - We take time with the dying to reassure them of the love of our Creator
April 22 - We do all we can to help troubled women bring their babies to birth
April 29 – Research that destroys life is not permitted
May 6 - New college graduates use their educations to achieve honorable success
May 13 – We remember all mothers with gratitude and prayer
May 20 – The beauty of the Spring season remind us of the wonder of its creation
May 27 – We remember those who lost their lives seeking to protect the lives and liberties of their sisters and brothers

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Want to do a RARTL MEMORIAL/HONOR TRIBUTE? You are most welcome to remember a deceased loved one by making a memorial contribution to the Rochester Area Right to Life Committee Education Fund. Your tax-deductible contribution can also commemorate birthdays, new arrivals, or other special occasions.

A card in your name will be sent to the family/person you designate. The contribution amount is confidential.

Would you like a subscription to this newsletter?

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Life-Lines
Official Publication: Rochester Area Right to Life Committee, Inc. Education Fund
A non-profit organization
675 Ling Road, Suite 3 -      Rochester, New York 14612 -       (716) 621-4690
Fax: (716) 621-6966 e-mail: alleblanc@compuserve.com       www.righttoliferoch.org
Please feel free to copy/distribute and include mention of LIFE-LINES and its sources in copied materials.

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