Cherish Life Qld is the new name for our organisation (previously known as Queensland Right to Life Association) as voted for by majority at our recent AGM prior to our conference held at the Parliamentary Annexe on Saturday 21st June 2008. The name change was one of two important motions voted on by those present.
The first motion was in regards to incorporating the organisation – a move long overdue and vital to the ongoing operation of Cherish Life Qld (the Inc. will be added to the name and logo once incorporation has occured). Before both motions were put to the vote, there was discussion and questions in regards to the pros and cons of both these motions. The vote result to incorporate was unanimous. The vote to change the name of the organisation involved some discussion as to why the name change would further enhance the role we played in Queensland and open even more doors. The vote saw a total of 33 financial members eligible to vote producing a result of 24 voting for the motion, 5 against and 5 abstained, so Cherish Life Qld Inc we now become.
“Cherish” means ‘to hold or treat as dear; to care for tenderly’ which more accurately describes how our members feel about all human life at every stage. The term “right to life” tends to portray a notion (misguided though it may be) that we only care for the baby and also portrays an impression that pro-lifers believe the terminally ill or aged should have their life prolonged beyond their natural capacity. The term “right to life” does not portray that the terminally ill and aged have a right to a natural death, a death that is not hastened by those around them whether that be medical staff or family.
So it is with confidence we step forward continuing to do the work that has been done by many tireless workers and volunteers for the past 38 years. Congratulations to you all — a strong foundation was built and we hope an even stronger path lies ahead.
- Teresa Martin |
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Cherish Life Conference 2008 |
There was an impressive lineup of speakers for our Conference on Saturday 21 July 2008. Jonathan Doyle was our first speaker of the day. He outlined the work he is doing in schools with the students bringing to them value-based relationship education encouraging them to become the best they can be. Providing accurate honest information to some 10,000 students a year, is a very positive way to impact our young people who are yearning for truth. Visit Jonathan’s website and read more www.choicez.com.au.
Our guest speakers were Bobby Schindler and Suzanne Vitadamo, the brother and sister of Terri Schiavo who was dehydrated and starved to death due to the court-approved request by her husband, Michael Schiavo. Suzanne spoke first, giving some background to the kind of family life the Schindler’s had enjoyed before the tragic events surrounding Terri’s collapse — a happy close knit family who enjoyed frequent visits and holidays with the numerous extended family members.
Bobby spoke with passion and sadness about the events that led to Terri’s death on 31 March 2005. “Terri was not dying of a terminal illness, nor was she attached to life support. She had only a simple feeding tube, something frequently used for premmie babies,” Bobby said. “We could have taken my sister anywhere — we could have taken her out here to Australia, it would have been difficult but it could have been done,” was Bobby’s statement in relation to the reality of the condition Terri was in. That condition was portrayed by the media as being far worse than was truly the case and Michael Schiavo willingly went along with that portrayal cancelling all rehabilitation and frequently prohibiting the family from seeing Terri.
The book “A Life That Matters: The Legacy of Terri Schiavo – A Lesson for Us All” written by the Schindler family covers the unfolding of Terri’s life and subsequent hastened death but nothing can truly convey the gut-wrenching and heart-shattering feelings that were experienced by this loving family. (Should you wish to purchase a copy of this book, Cherish Life Qld has some for sale for $20 plus $5 p & h). The Schindler family have started a foundation which we also urge you to support – log on to www.terrisfight.org. Our hearts go out to the Schindler family — they have endured pain that no family should have to go through.
Dr Luke McLindon was our third speaker of the afternoon. Some of you may recall that his wonderful wife, Madonna, was one of our speakers at the “Respect For Women Rally” held in February this year. Dr McLindon, along with Dr Terry Kent, has brought NaPro Technology to Queensland. NaPro stands for Natural Procreative technology — a natural non-invasive method to enhance one’s ability to conceive and sustain a pregnancy that is showing increasingly successful results. Luke explained the difference between the way NaPro Technology works i.e. with the woman’s system, as opposed to IVF which shuts down the woman’s system and restarts it using hormones and chemicals. Further information on NaPro Technology (which was originally started by Pope Paul VI Institute in America) is available on www.fertilitycare.com.au. Should you also wish to become a non-medical practitioner in this area by educating and helping people achieve and maintain a pregnancy, please contact the relevant people in your area via the website.
Our final speaker of the afternoon was Ray Campbell, a moral philosopher from the Queensland Bioethics Centre at Ashgrove http://bne.catholic.net.au/qbc/. Ray prefers that term as opposed to bioethicist as he feels it more accurately depicts his role and function and we couldn’t agree more. With the aim of this conference to focus on the positive things that are happening to morally and ethically enhance society (value-based relationship education instead of sex education, NaPro Technology instead of IVF), Ray spoke on a positive alternative to advanced health directives. Advanced health directives carry the danger of being misinterpreted or loosely interpreted, with only the opportunity to tick an option and no real scope to stipulate all wishes under all circumstances. The model that sits more firmly with our belief in the value of human life is a document that was put together by the Australian Catholic Bishops got together with Catholic Health Australia and produced two documents — a guide for those considering their future health care and a guide for healthcare professionals. These documents are available from the Catholic Health website http://www.cha.org.au/site.php?id=54.
The Conference ended with a question panel involving Bobby Schindler and Suzanne Vitadamo, Dr McLindon, and Ray Campbell. I am sure all those present gained a much greater awareness of the positive move forward in the areas covered by the speakers and have renewed determination to increase their activity in relation to gently and compassionately putting forward the belief in the value of all human life. As we are hoping to have had our incorporation finalised in the coming months, the requirements to fulfill our legal obligations are such that we will need to hold an AGM each year. Please watch this space for further information as the time draws near. We would like to thank all the branch members and committees who travelled some distances to attend and share with us the clever initiatives that they have put in place in their local areas and we look forward to seeing you again next year.
Teresa Martin
State President
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The average age of our committee is 37.5 years? How wonderful to have such youthful enthusiasm amongst us. |
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Book Review: A LIFE THAT MATTERS: The Legacy of Terri Schiavo - A Lesson for Us All |
This book describes how America was divided on a life and death issue in 2004-2005 with the dramatic turn of events that was to end the life of Terri Schiavo, a woman who whilst mentally and physically compromised was not braindead but merely needed the most basic of necessities to keep her alive, the same two things we all need to sustain us — food and water.
Read the tragic legal wrangling being pushed by the vested interests of Michael Schiavo, (Terri’s husband who refused to divorce her even though he had taken up with another woman and she bore his two children), and by a culture of death that was aided by those in power, and the agony experienced by Terri’s family being unable to be with her in her dying moments. Yes, this does effect you — it could one day be your daughter or son.
To order your copy call the Cherish Life office on (07) 3871 2445.
$20 plus $6 postage and packaging = $26 |
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“Stand up and be counted” Award |
We would like to congratulate Tony Fiore, Pharmacist, who is the owner of Fiore’s Pharmacy in the Centro Milton group of shops on Baroona Road, Milton. Mr Fiore has had the courage and intestinal fortitude to refuse to stock the “morning after” pill. We strongly encourage you to drop in (and shop in) his chemist store letting him know that you are there because of his stance in this matter. Well done Tony! The “Morning After” Pill (MAP ):-
- does not reduce either abortion or pregnancy rates — Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology 1/07; “Briefing Paper on the Morning-After Pill” Scottish Council on Human Bio-ethics, National Review Online 21.3.02
- use has shown to have the side effect of increasing the instance of STI’s — David Paton “Random Behavior or Rational Choice? Family Planning, Teenage Pregnancy and STIs” 4/2004; Graham Grant “Birth Control For Teens So Pregnancies Go Up By 10pc” Daily Mail, London, 1/12/03
- females who use emergency contraception use it more frequently - FDA Advisory Committee hearing 16/12/03; “Study ties ‘Morning-After’ Pill Use to Supply Ease” Reuters, 28/4/03
- there are unknown side-effects of long term use as there has been no long term study done due to the relatively recent wider general access to it — Plan B (Levonorgestrel) Emergency Contraception: Prescribing Information
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A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. The mouse was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. The mouse ran into the farmyard and yelled “There is a mousetrap in the house!”
The chicken raised her head and said, “Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me.”
The pig sympathised but said, “I am sorry, mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but I will be thinking of you.”
The cow said, “I’m sorry for you, mouse, but it’s no skin off my nose.” So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap . . . alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house — like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the doctor, and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient. But his wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbours came to sit with her around the clock.
To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer’s wife got sicker and died. So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them. The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn’t concern you, remember - when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. |
Recently in an article (“Pro-lifers make biggest noise”) in The Age (30.5.08) was the following paragraph - “The loudest voices remain the pro-lifers, who believe life begins at conception and therefore abortion means murder. They were responsible for about 80% of the submissions to the commission’s inquiry. But the commission believes they represent only about 10% of the community. “
If 80% of the responses were opposed to the decriminalisation of abortion, one would think, using logic (something the commission seems to be lacking) that it means that the majority of people who care enough about what is happening in Victoria, are opposed to the decriminalisation of abortion. What about the 80% response is hard to understand? |
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A chance to change funding for late-term abortions |
Lobby your Senators now as they prepare to vote to ban funding for abortion after 13 weeks. First parliamentary debate on Medicare funding of abortion for 29 years!
Senator Guy Barnett (Liberal, Tasmania) moved in the Senate on June 18 2008 to formally end Medicare funding of late term and second trimester abortions. The motion is expected to be debated in the spring sitting of Federal Parliament this year, and put to a conscience vote probably in early September.
Item 16525 of the Health Insurance (General Medical Service Table) Regulations 2007 provides for a Medicare “service fee” of $267 to be paid for the Management of second trimester labour, with or without induction, for intrauterine fetal death, gross fetal abnormality or life threatening maternal disease. The second trimester covers from 14 to 26 weeks of pregnancy, but recent medical advances have led to an improvement in foetal viability so that infants born as early as 21 weeks have survived. Foetal surgery has been successfully performed on unborn babies as early as 21 weeks of pregnancy.
Senator Barnett said questions he and other Senators have asked for the past several years in Estimates Committee have made it clear that: - “Management of second trimester labour” is being interpreted to cover both partial birth abortion, as well as prostaglandin induction of labour in which many babies are actually delivered alive and simply left to die. [Partial birth abortion was banned by the United States Congress five years ago. The ban was subsequently upheld by the US Supreme Court.]
- “Gross foetal abnormality” is being interpreted by medical practitioners to include quite trivial, correctable disabilities such as a missing finger and cleft palate as well as common disabilities such as Down syndrome and spina bifida. Funding abortions for foetal disability contradicts our commitment to the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of disability.
- “Life threatening maternal disease” is being interpreted by medical practitioners to cover abortions for purely psycho-social reasons, effectively, abortion on request. The latest Medicare statistics reveal that since 1994 the Australian taxpayer has paid abortionists about $1.7 million to perform over 10,000 second trimester and late term abortions. In 2007 the Australian taxpayer paid over $157,250 for 790 procedures under Item 16525. Senator Barnett told the Senate: “I am moving this motion as a matter of conscience. If I do nothing funding will continue, and I cannot continue to support Medicare regulations that allow funding of second trimester and late term abortions to continue unchecked.”
As a small number of procedures involving the management of second trimester labour for intrauterine death may be paid for under Item 16525, Senator Barnett said he would ask the Health Minister, Ms Nicola Roxon, to introduce a new Medicare item to deal solely with the management of second trimester labour for intrauterine death. If this disallowance motion is passed by the Senate, it will stop Medicare funding of abortion after 13 weeks. The motion does not need to be approved by the House of Representatives. Please lobby your 12 Senators from Queensland, whose contact details appear below — by letter, phone call, email or in person — to inform and educate them on this issue and urge them to vote in favour of Senator Barnett’s motion.
You can inform yourself further on the issue through a Briefing Paper on Medicare Funding of Second Trimester and Late Term Abortions which is on Senator Barnett’s website — www.guybarnett.com.au If you do not have access to the internet, the Cherish Life Queensland office will mail a copy to you on request. In this briefing paper, Senator Barnett cites the national research from the 2006 report What Australians Really Think About Abortion, which was instigated by Queensland Right to Life, showing that 67% of Australians are opposed to Medicare funding of abortions performed in the second trimester and only 13.9% of Australians support the current arrangements.
This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restrict Medicare funding of abortion — and by doing so send a message to society that abortion is not in the interests of the woman, her unborn child, her family and the wider community. Let us act urgently to contact our Senators and encourage our friends and family to do the same.
Some Senators are emailable only via the “Online Contact Form” — this means you will need to go to the website http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/senators/homepages/state.asp?state=qld then click on the Senator you wish to email, then click on the “Online Contact Form” (abbreviated below to ‘OCF’).
Toll free numbers listed below available only in Queensland.
The Hon. Ronald Boswell
GPO Box 228
Brisbane 4000
E:
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Ph: 3001 8150
F: 3001 8151
Senator Sue Boyce
PO Box 1385
Milton Qld 4064
E: OCF
Ph: 3510 3100
F: 3510 3111
The Hon. George Brandis
GPO Box 228
Brisbane 4001
E:
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Ph: 3001 8180
F: 3001 8181
Senator Mark Furner
c/- Black Rod’s Office
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
E: OCF
Ph: (02) 6277 3500
F: (02) 6277 3000
Senator John Hogg
PO Box 615
Carina 4152
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Ph: 3843 4066
F: 3843 4077
Senator Barnaby Joyce
PO Box 628
St George 4487
E:
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Ph: 4625 1500
F: 4625 1511
Toll Free : 1300 668 135
The Hon. Joe Ludwig
PO Box 692
Beenleigh 4207
E: OCF
Ph: 3804 6022
F: 3804 6033
Toll Free: 1300 301 944
The Hon. Ian Macdonald
PO Box 2185
Townsville 4810
E: OCF
Ph: 4771 3066
F: 4771 3411
Toll Free: 1300 301 949
The Hon. Jan McLucas
PO Box 2733
Cairns 4870
Ph: 4031 6009
F: 4031 6167
E:
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The Hon Brett Mason
2166 Logan Rd
Upper Mt Gravatt 4122
E:
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Ph: 3422 1990
F: 3422 1991
Senator Claire Moore
PO Box 2246
Strathpine Qld 4500
E: OCF
PO Box 2246
Strathpine 4500
Ph: 3881 3710
F: 3881 3755
Senator Russell Trood
PO Box 4042
Forest Lake 4078
Ph: 3372 4555
F: 3372 4544
E: OCF
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World Prolife News Updates |
WA Rejects Human Cloning
Excerpt from The Catholic Weekly 28 May 2008
Western Australia has just become the first State to reject cloning legislation (18 votes to 15 in the WA Legislative Council), which was passed by Federal Parliament last year. The West’s decision to knock down the human cloning bill has set a moral example for each of these States, by preventing the creating and killing of embryonic human beings for research. The norm that should control our scientific ethics and our law is the principle of the inherent dignity of every human being, irrespective of age, size, location, stage of development, or condition of dependency. We can at least see legislators acting in the real interests of the sick, the integrity of science and public morality. Thankfully, WA legislators have seen past the usual smoke and mirrors associated with this issue to discover the strong scientific and ethical reasons for rejecting human embryonic cloning.
NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania have already passed the mirror legislation, which allow the creation of research human embryos by cloning (nuclear transfer). South Australia will soon be debating a similar bill in the lower house.
Adoption shake-up gathers support
Ellen Connolly. Excerpt from The Sunday Mail 27 April 2008 The campaign to overhaul Australia’s adoption system is gaining further momentum with the announcement of a National Adoption Awareness Week. Actor Deborra-lee Furness,spearheading the fight, said the week would be celebrated annually from next year, beginning each Mother’s Day.
Attorney-General Robery McClelland has pledged support for the initiative, which is aimed at celebrating the lives of children and highlighting the inadequacies of the current system.
She added that her priority was to reduce the six-year waiting list for inter-country adoption. Asked what was a fair and reasonable time for couples to have to wait, Furness said: “Gestation, nine months”.
Pluripotent Cells
Excerpt from BioEdge 8.5.08
The superioty of induced pluiripotent cells over embryonic stem cells is leaving scientists agog, according to a survey in the authoritative journal Nature Reports Stem Cells. Because the new cells do not post the ethical and technical challenges of working with eggs and embryos, large numbers of researchers have leapt into the field. “The enthusiasm with which the highest-tier ES cell scientists have turned to reprogramming speaks volumes,” says journalist Bruce Goldman. Human embryonic stem cells had a decade-long head start over the newer cells, but overnight this has shrunk to zero, according to the scientist who first isolated ES cells, James Thomson, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Skin cells are cheaper and better than human eggs as the raw material.
Despite the bubbling interest in iPS cells, most stem cell scientists still insist that research on embryos must not be stopped. As an editorial in New Scientist puts it, “ESCs remain the gold standard for pluripotent class, and cloning remains the gold standard for developmental reprogramming.”
So debate will continue, even if the purpose of destroying cloned embrhyos has shrunk from cures to blue sky research and drug testing. (Nature Reports Stem Cells, 1 May); New Scientist, 3 May.
China - Adult Stem Cells Restore Child’s Sight
Excerpt from: American Life League
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Two-year-old Elio Burgos, who was born blind, is now able to see, thanks to a series of adult stem-cell treatments. Elio was diagnosed with optic nerve hyperplasia, an underdeveloped optic nerve. His mother found a hospital in China that offered umbilical cord stemcell treatments that could improve her son’s sight. The Florida family flew to China so Elio could undergo the treatments. Now, fewer than three months after his treatments — a series of cell injections consisting of 10 to 15 million healthy umbilical cord stem cells — Elio’s eyesight has gone from 20/1200 to 20/200 and will hopefully continue to improve during the next seven months. “While there have been unethical and dangerous experiments done in China with destructive embryonic stem-cell research,” said Dawn Vargo, bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action, “it’s nice to see that ethical treatments that can cure patients are finally getting some attention.”
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