Better Off Dead?

ChelseaAbortion, Disabled, Euthanasia, Personal, Suffering5 Comments

twinsC Health has two columns debating the topic of Euthanasia. In opposition is broadcaster and columnist Michael Coren and in support is Dr. Gifford-Jones. The main focus of Do They Deserve to be Born is on a set of twins, now six months old, conjoined at the head (note: these are not the twins pictured on your right, I couldn’t find a picture of the twins from the story).

Michael Coren’s opposition editorial is well done, rightfully proclaiming:

No civilized person or society, however, considers expense and practicality to be more important than goodness and humanity. If it did, it would immediately wipe out, for example, drug addicts, the homeless and people with AIDS.

Tatiana and Krista will be loved and, important this, will love back. They will smile, laugh, cry, be sad and happy, sometimes frightened, sometimes excited. Just be. Which is quite enough. And God forgive anyone who awards themselves the right to decide who may be and who may not.

The supporting author’s claims, however, are very troublesome and often downright insulting. First he ridicules the belief that all life is sacred:

Reports claim that Felicia Hogan-Simms was advised by doctors that her pregnancy could be terminated, but she refused. I assume that she considers life of any kind sacred, and abortion never an option.

This is where it gets a little personal for me:

What a tragic life awaits the twins. For as long as they live they will be unable to care for themselves or lead a normal active life…

They will never walk, joined at the head in such an abnormal position. Physically they are destined for ill health, lying on their backs forever. They will become obese and develop the myriad of diseases that accompany this problem. Their lives will be a living hell.

This should be a wakeup call for us to prevent unimaginable future cruelty of this kind…I would ask this question. Is there anyone among us who would want to be born this way or willing to trade places with these conjoined twins?

As a paraplegic I not longer have any feeling or voluntary movement below my chest. My daily meroutine includes managing bodily functions in a way that would make most people cringe. I am confronted with new limits and challenges every day whether its needing something out of my reach or being unable to reach my destination due to inaccessibility. And lets not forget the wheelchair. Much like Dr. Gifford-Jones claims of the twins, I too have been pointed out as someone whose quality of life has been diminished as a result of my injury and have actually been told by another individual that they would kill themselves if they were in my position. I don’t know a single person who would want to trade places with me. But but does that mean that I would be better off dead?

And who is this man to decide whose life is a living hell? These children, as Coren points out, will be infinitely blessed with the love of their family and will be able to love them back. Likewise, my life, though accompanied by many trials and sufferings, is one great blessing after another. Sure, sick and disabled people must endure sometimes tragic suffering, but that does not diminish our value as human beings. And whose to say that our sufferings are greater than those enduring some interior anguish hidden from the eyes of the world?

Even in the midst of the extreme suffering there are rays of hope and happiness. And if there are not there’s no need to worry for something greater awaits us – a place where every tear will be wiped away and mourning, crying and pain will be no more (Rev. 21: 3-4). This is the good news of human suffering – while on earth our suffering is inevitable and we should never violate human dignity and the sacredness of life to avoid it – it will not last!

In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 1:6-7)

If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.(Mt. 16:24-25)

But here’s the kicker:

Hogan-Simms should not have been allowed to make the ultimate decision. I have in the past always cast a jaundiced eye on committee decisions, but I like to believe in this instance an ethics committee would have seen the logic of terminating this pregnancy.

So much for “freedom of choice”. THIS should be a wake up call for everyone! This is what advocates of so called “futile care” are after. Patients should no longer be able to make informed decisions about their own health care. Rather, an “ethics committee” should make the decision for them and then force them to comply. We have witnessed this most recently in Texas with Baby Emilio. Now this doctor (and I’m sure he’s not alone) thinks that we should also be able to force women to have abortions (think China). After all, knowingly allowing a child to live with disease and serious disability is cruel and unusual and should never be permitted even if the family is willing to love and care for her.

It saddens me to no end that people can view any life unworthy to be lived. As beings made in the image and likeness of God our lives have meaning independent of our abilities and usefulness. Therefore all life is precious and worthy to be preserved.

ALSO CHECK OUT:
No Pain, No Gain (my post on another blog)

The Battle of the Ballot Initiatives

Chelsea2008 Election, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, PoliticsLeave a Comment

Sometimes I wish we would have done this in Missouri last year. Language has been approved in Florida for competing constitutional amendments regarding stem cell research.

One amendment, sponsored by Floridians for Stem Cell Research and Cures, Inc., would require the state Legislature to appropriate $20 million a year for 10 years on grants for embryonic stem cell research. There would be a prohibition on using the embryos for reproductive cloning, that is, to make a baby. And they could only be used if the donors had consented and hadn’t been paid to provide the embryos, other than to compensate them for what it costs to actually donate the cells, under the proposal.

The grants would have to go to nonprofit academic and other research institutions in Florida and the winners of the grant money would be chosen based on a peer review process. All of that is included in the proposed amendment.

The amendment to ban state spending on embryonic stem cell research, sponsored by Citizens for Science and Ethics, Inc., is so simple and short that no one argued against it when the Supreme Court held arguments on whether the ballot language was fair.

The proposed change simply reads: “No revenue of the state shall be spent on experimentation that involves the destruction of a live human embryo.”…

Backers of each amendment need more than 610,000 signatures to get the measures on the ballot.

The initiative to ban state spending on the research has more than 86,000 verified signatures.

The proposal to require the state to spend money on the research has more than 68,000 signatures verified.

It will be interesting to see what happens when and if they get on the ballot. Last year voters in Florida passed an amendment which requires 60 percent of voters to approve any amendments to the state’s Constitution.

The Infant Leaped in Her Womb!

ChelseaPrayer, Religion, Right to LifeLeave a Comment

VisitationHappy feast of the Visitation! This account of the Blessed Virgin visiting her cousin Elizabeth is is one of my favorites in scripture. I love it because the life of the unborn child is so clearly illustrated.

During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness;
behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.
The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him.
He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.
He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.
The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy,
according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
~Lk. 1:39-55

Rudy’s Position Bad for Republicans/Conservatives

Chelsea2008 Election, Abortion, PoliticsLeave a Comment

Rudy GiulianiFrom National Review Online, by Ramesh Ponnuru (emphasis added):

In a way, Giuliani’s nomination would cause more trouble for the pro-life cause than his election would. The pro-life cause can survive without a pro-life president: It emerged from the Clinton years stronger than it had been at their beginning. But it will find it harder to survive without a pro-life party. And that would be the meaning of his nomination, even if most Republican congressmen and governors remained pro-life, and even if the party platform, left unread and unheeded, continued to offer solidarity to the unborn. America has been a presidential nation, politically, for almost a century now. The parties are, in the public mind, their leaders; and those leaders are their presidential nominees.

The most specific polls on abortion policy ask respondents whether they think abortion should be banned altogether, banned with exceptions when the pregnancy threatens the mother’s life or resulted from rape, or allowed. Such polls consistently find that the people who want to ban abortion altogether and the people who want to ban it with rare exceptions add up to a majority of Americans. If Giuliani wins the Republican nomination, that majority will have no representation at the level of presidential politics. We will instead have a contest between a candidate who believes that taxpayers should fund abortion through the federal government and one who believes they should do it through state governments.

In 1973, the Supreme Court tried to declare an end to the state-by-state debate on abortion by setting abortion policy nationally. The New York Times, the next day, reported on the decision as a “historic resolution” of the abortion controversy. Before that day, supporters of legal abortion had claimed that their policy was necessary for women’s equality, or population control, or the promotion of liberty. On that day, however, they acquired the most powerful arrow in their quiver: the assertion that abortion policy was a settled matter, an assertion that had the strong support of the country’s journalistic, financial, and legal elites. The principal reason that the question has not been closed is that over the last 30 years the Republican party has stood — shakily at times, it is true, but always officially — against this elite consensus...

Now would be a strange moment in our politics for Republicans to abandon the pro-life cause, or even to weaken their commitment to it. The party is in serious trouble these days, for all kinds of reasons — but its pro-life position is not one of them. The public has been moving in a pro-life direction. In this season of Republican discontent, for the first time ever, a few polls show more Americans identifying themselves as pro-life than pro-choice. The 2006 elections went badly for pro-lifers: But pro-lifers, as a group, did better than Republicans, as a group. In the tightest races, the Democrats were far more likely to emphasize their economic liberalism than their social liberalism; and in a few of the tight races the Democrats won by running an out-and-out social conservative...

His nomination would, however, set back causes that most Republicans have rightly considered important, and for that very reason could weaken conservatism generally. That is reason enough to reject him.

HT: Pro Ecclesia

New Therapies Using Stem Cells

ChelseaAdult Stem Cell Research, MiscellaneousLeave a Comment

I was perusing google news stories about stem cell research this evening and this delightful little article from the Salt Lake Tribune caught my eye. Some clips:

Adult stem cells are less versatile than embryonic stem cells – but also less controversial, easier to come by and may be marketed for new therapeutic uses in the U.S. much sooner.

In Utah, researchers are exploring whether adult stem cells can help repair damaged hearts or restore nerves’ ability to communicate.

Hope for broken hearts. Doctors already use adult stem cells in treatments in the U.S. – bone marrow transplants, for example – and are inching closer to innovative new uses.

Adult stem cells are more developed than embryonic stem cells, which are extracted from days-old embryos. Adult stem cells can be gleaned from bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, aborted fetuses and tissues throughout the body.

Studies suggest they retain some ability to transform. Such cells from bone marrow, for example, can become skeletal or cardiac muscle cells. That means they could be injected into hearts to repair tissues damaged by a heart attack or heart disease.

G. Russell Reiss, a cardiothorasic surgeon at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City, has federal approval to try injecting bone marrow stem cells into the hearts of patients with coronary artery disease. Preliminary studies have shown the cells can improve heart function after heart attacks, he said…

More Utah innovators: Michael Pulsipher, director of the Utah Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, is conducting several clinical trials to find safer ways to transplant blood and bone marrow into adults and children.

The hope is that patients who receive donated bone marrow transplants after chemotherapy would have fewer immune reactions, said Pulsipher, an assistant professor of hematology and pediatrics at the University of Utah.

And Q Therapeutics in Salt Lake City is using technology licensed from the U. to discover whether adult stem cells can restore myelin – the coating on nerves that enables them to conduct impulses between the brain and other parts of the body.

Once Q Therapeutics is able to show “proof of concept” with adult stem cells, it will begin exploring embryonic stem cells’ potential, said president and CEO Deborah Eppstein.

The company expects its cell therapy for spinal cord injuries to be in clinical development at Johns Hopkins University by the end of the year – and on the market within five to seven years.

The article goes on to its main focus – stem cells treating Batten Disease. This was apparently tested with stem cells isolated from the brain of a fetus. They didn’t say where the fetus came from, i.e. spontaneous or elective abortion, so I don’t quite know how to take that one, but the rest of the article is fabulous. It is a nice alternative to all of the anti-ASC/pro-ESC research propaganda that is in the news normally.

Related story:
From Human Cord Umbilical Cord Blood Successfully Engineered To Make Insulin

Feminist Scholar Opposed to Prenatal Testing

ChelseaAbortion, Embryo Screening, Miscellaneous1 Comment

When asked what was so troubling about routine first-trimester prenatal diagnosis, Marsha Saxton, a lecturer for University of California, Berkeley and contributer to the feminist health book Our Bodies, Ourselves said, “Unfortunately, it buys into a consumer perspective on our children.”

In this interview with California Catholic Daily she talks about a disabled student in one of her classes whose mother has had several abortions since her birth after prenatal diagnosis confirmed that those siblings would be born with the same condition. And the mother is still trying, after 20 years, to conceive a “normal” child:

Interestingly, when my other students heard the student share her story, there were tears shed by several students in the class. I think they “got it”: that prenatal testing has powerful effects beyond the immediate issues of mother and child.

So, it’s ok for a woman to assert her “right to choose” in some cases, but not in others. If abortion is a “constitutional right”, as pro-choicers claim, shouldn’t it be acceptable for a woman to choose it, whatever the reason? I suppose we should be thankful that some of them can see the need to draw the line somewhere.

In Memoriam

ChelseaPrayer, videoLeave a Comment

Today we remember those who have given their lives for the cause of freedom, the protection of their country and their fellow man.

This is a wonderful video with footage from WWII and testimony from the WWII veterans of Easy Company (my favorite part of Band of Brothers):

For all those who have lost loved ones in battle I pray, in the words of Abraham Lincoln:

that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

For our fallen soldiers:

God our Father,
Your power brings us to birth,
Your providence guides our lives,
and by Your command we return to dust.

Lord, those who die still live in Your presence,
their lives change but do not end.
I pray in hope for my family,
relatives and friends,
and for all the dead known to You alone.

In company with Christ,
Who died and now lives,
may they rejoice in Your kingdom,
where all our tears are wiped away.
Unite us together again in one family,
to sing Your praise forever and ever.

Amen.

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (Jn. 15:13)

Adventures in Politics

ChelseaPersonal, PoliticsLeave a Comment

Me and EdWell, my internship at the State Capitol has come to an end. May 18 was the last day of session. The best I can tell people when they ask me what it was like working there is that it was interesting.

One good pro-life bill did manage to make it through. Rep. Therese Sander’s HB 1055 squeaked by on the last day. The bill places new guidelines for abortion clinics and prohibits organizations that perform abortions from teaching sex education in our schools but it almost did not make it.

Sadly though, even with a Republican and pro-life majority, other good pro-life legislation was left to die, most notably Rep. Bob Onder’s Fetal Pain bill and HJR 11.

But I enjoyed working for Rep. Emery. He’s a good guy, a committed Christian and worked on some good legislation, especially Fair Tax and Pharmacy protection.

Overall it was a good experience, but you won’t be seeing me run for office any time in the near future (though I have been told that I should).

Idol for Life

ChelseaPro LifeLeave a Comment

Congratulations to Jordin Sparks, winner of American Idol and pro-life activist! It is so encouraging to see someone so openly committed her Christian faith and building a culture of life win a competition like this. Below is a picture of her with Dr. Alveda King (the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and official spokesperson for Silent No More) at an Arizona Right to Life event where she also performed (photo from the Arizona Right to Life website). The other picture of her at some pro-life event used to be on her MySpace page (via LifeSiteNews):

Jordin Sparks and Dr. King Jordin

The 17 year old is also reportedly saving herself for marriage and signifies it by wearing a chastity ring on her left ring finger. What a great role model for our youth!


A Pro-Life American Idol: Idol Winner Jordin Sparks Known for Pro-life Advocacy from Life Site News.

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

ChelseaAmendment 2, Cloning, Politics, Stem Cell ResearchLeave a Comment

That book title, written by outspoken Liberal commentator Al Franken about conservatives, quite accurately describes Missouri’s pro-cloning biotech crowd who worked so feverishly to pass Amendment 2 last year which enshrined a right to human cloning research in the Missouri Constitution. One of the most gaping loopholes written into the amendment was a guarantee of unrestricted state funds for anyone “lawfully conducting stem cell research”. When opponents pointed this out, we were promised by supporters that it was not funding they were seeking but only the protection of ‘stem cell research’ in the state of Missouri. All we need, they told us, is the passage of Amendment 2, no money, just a constitutional right to “lawfully conduct stem cell research” and ensure that Missourians have “access to stem cell therapies and cures”.

That tune soon changed when lawmakers began debate on the ‘MOHELA’ bill (signed by Gov. Blunt today) which gives money to colleges from the sale of Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority assets. Originally a certain amount of the money was supposed to be spent on projects like the Life Science Incubators at the University of Missouri until pro-life lawmakers stripped those funds from the bill and decided that the “life sciences” money could only be used for plant and animal life science. That sent Missouri’s big biotech into a tizzy, and had them threatening, once again, that Missouri is driving away real scientific progress. Bill Neaves, president of the Stower’s Institute, said this is a “huge setback for us.” And professor of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania said that these actions are “read as warning signs throughout the scientific community to stay away from Missouri.”

Hold the phone! I thought that the passage of Amendment 2 alone, regardless of funding, meant that the scientific community would be tripping over its feet to get into Missouri. How could the denial of funding they said they didn’t need and wouldn’t ask for be a “set back” that would cripple Missouri’s biotech industry? Missouri has, enshrined in its constitution, a protected right to whatever life destroying research they want with absolutely no legislative oversight. What more do they want?

What they want is MONEY. They’re now proving what we pointed out all throughout the campaign process – human cloning research is, first and foremost, about money and lots of it. That is why they put language into the amendment that also gives them a constitutional right to unrestricted state funds. It is precisely because of this language that groups like Missouri Right to Life and the Missouri Catholic Conference still opposed the passage of MOHELA despite the apparent restrictions put in place regarding life science research. According to the amendment no laws may “prevent, restrict, obstruct, or discourage any stem cell research,” or “create disincentives.” I don’t know about you, but withdrawing funds originally slated for human life sciences (including cloning and ESC research) sure sounds like a disincentive to me and it could be challenged in court to be found unconstitutional.

I hate to say I told you so, but…on second thought, no I don’t. I (and other Amendment 2 opponents) told you this would happen. They didn’t spend $30 million on an intentionally deceiving campaign to buy a constitutional amendment for nothing.

For more on Amendment 2 and its impact on our laws and our state visit Missouri Roundtable for Life.

H/T Kansas City Catholic