Summer 2005
“Meet Us in St. Louis in 2005”
All LFL Members and Friends
That’s right – St. Louis is the site for the 2005 Life Conference, November 11 – 13. Dr. Wesley Smith will give the keynote address at 7:30 p.m., “Bioethics: Creating a Caste of Disposable People.”
The national conference will continue with a full day of plenary sessions and workshops dealing with the 2005 theme, “In Life, In Death, Abide With Me.” Besides Dr. Smith, presenters will include Rev. Todd Wilken, RN Nancy Valleo, Dr. Robert Weise, Rev. Dr. James Lamb, Carl Schroeder and Ed Szeto. This is an outstanding group poised to give us the Christian perspective in this increasingly complex and distressing environment of genetic manipulation, stem cells, cloning and end-of-life decision making. This is an event no thoughtful Christian should miss.
For those who can get to St. Louis earlier in the day, the Lutheran Bioethics Conference will be occurring in the same hotel beginning with registration at 7:30 a.m. and keynote address at 9:00 a.m. In addition to some of the LFL presenters listed above, this conference will include Dr. David Menton, Dr. Nathan Jastram, David Prentice, Ph.D., Dr. Gene Edward Veith, Dr. Kevin Voss, Dr. Dean Wenthe and Dr. Beverly Yahnke.
The site for the events is the Sheraton West Port Lakeside Chalet in St. Louis. There is a substantial discount if you choose to add the Bioethics Conference to the LFL event. To complete your registration you can go to: www.lutheransforlife.org
Shiavo Autopsy Causes More Controversy
When the long awaited autopsy of Terri Shiavo’s remains was made public, her husband’s supporters and the press were quick to jump on the band wagon. They gleefully pointed out that she was, indeed, in a persistent vegetative state, she was blind, there was no way she could have recovered. This was to be expected.
What is so alarming is the response of those who didn’t want Terri to be starved to death. They cited indications that she was aware and sighted during those final weeks. But – few have pointed out that the autopsy itself was meaningless. If doesn’t matter what condition her brain was in at the time of death – she did not have to prove she could recover to be entitled to live. Nor did it matter whether her family wanted to care for her or not. She was not dying. Her heart could have survived for many years. She was a human being, created by God, who would be called home to her Father at the time He determined was right.
And now the groundwork has been laid. A “lesser” human, as determined by doctors, family, legislators, judges or hospital boards, has now been deprived of the constitutional “Right to Life.” The statement that “I wouldn’t want to live like that,” has absolutely no bearing on this or any other like case. It is not our choice. Whether we stay here to provide others with the chance to give caring, Christian love (see student essays) or to develop our own capacity for patience and faith in God’s love and plans for us, is not our choice. Nor is it the choice of anyone else to alter God’s plan for our lives.
A few years ago courts routinely denied petitioners the right to unplug life support machines of comatose patients. Lives of the severely handicapped were protected by law and even when those lives became a burden they were still protected. That protection has now been removed. The “slippery slope” is here and we’re sliding fast.
Should Government Screen Mental Health?
A piece of legislation was recently passed in Springfield that has aroused protests and fears throughout the state. It is known as the Governor’s “Strategic Plan for Building a Comprehensive Mental Health System in Illinois.”
The Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership calls screening programs a “core component” of improving mental health in their report given to the governor June 30, 2005. (Mattoon Journal Gazette, July 1, 2005) The motivation for the program is to prevent suicides and acts of violence in our schools.
Barbara Shaw, chairperson of the Mental Health Partnership, is responsible for the implementation of the plan. She told the Psychiatric Times that there is a “small but vocal minority” of people in Illinois who object to the screening. “These are the people who feel the schools have no business fussing with their children’s mental health. They also distrust psychotropic medications.”
According to State Senator Dale Righter, universal screening will not be part of the final plan in Illinois. Conservative legislators invision the program as providing a mental health screening for school identified troubled children. Details have still to be worked out.
The final draft of the recommendations submitted to the governor the end of June are found on two web sites:
www.voices4kids.org
www.ivpa.org
Questions we need answered:
1. Will universal screening be forced into our schools?
2. What action may be taken when someone is identified as “abnormal?”
3. How much control of any recommended treatment will the parents have?
4. Will parents have the right to opt out of the program?
5. What or whose definition of “mental health” will be used?
Watch your schools and school boards. Let your legislators know how you feel. Nobody wants a Columbine-type disaster – but will this plan avoid it? This is a “fix” that could become a nightmare if not controlled.
We’re New – Check us Out
Obviously, if you’re reading this, you have found Lutherans for Life of Illinois new website. Don’t miss our winning essays from the school writing contests. We will be adding articles from past Life Bulletins as time goes on. Check out the information on active LFL chapters in Illinois. We hope to have information from all chapters in the near future.
Other possible additions to the page could include CPCs around the state with their contact information. We could make a list of pro-life speakers in the area (free or expense-only) along with their areas of expertise.
Do you have other uses for this space? If you have suggestions please email them to Corrine.
SIU-C Campus Group Wants a Change
This spring a group of students at SIU-Carbondale became aware of an unacceptable clause in the student health insurance policy. They discovered that their policy will pay up to $500 once each academic year for an abortion. Parents and students are giving the university money to pay for a procedure that may go against everything they believe to be right or true.
If they can show proof of other insurance, students can opt out of the university coverage. However, not all of the money for the program is refunded. This gives support to a program that can result in a student having four abortions as an undergraduate at SIU without her parents being aware that this has happened.
The SIU Administration is being made aware of their complaints. Parent involvement is needed to get changes made.
U.S. Teens Speak Out for Themselves
An American Bible Study poll found American teens are in support of religious expressions in school and public life.
>> 82% of teens favored “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.
>> 72% say students should be allowed to pray in school
>> 82% said “In God We Trust” belongs on our currency.
>> 83% for singing “God Bless America” at school events
The telephone poll of 1,000 teens was conducted in June by the Synovate Market Research firm with a plus or minus error of 3%.
State and Federal Government Still Trying to get Your Tax Money for Embryonic Stem Cell Research
There are powerful forces at work trying to get out governing bodies to appropriate tax dollars to fund research private venture dollars refuse to touch. When it comes to embryonic stem cell research you will find very few private sources of funds willing to carry on the controversial work.
There are at least two reasons for this. First and foremost, the research is unethical. It requires that a human life be created through a petri-dish fertilization of a human egg. This life is allowed to develop for a few days and then the immature stem cells that have formed are harvested for laboratory experimentation. This ends the life of a very small human being with all the rights to life that any other human has. Many are simply not morally or spiritually corrupt enough to enter into this.
The other reason embryonic stem cell research goes unfunded is that there is so little chance for any return on the money in the foreseeable future – if ever. No one can point to one cure, one place, where embryonic stem cells have been used to benefit anyone. You would have a difficult time finding a successful lab experiment with animals where an actual cure has taken place. The cells are unpredictable, hard to control, and, when used, can cause tumors and unchecked cell multiplication.
Recently the focus has been on “therapeutic” cloning procedures. This is an application where the patient’s DNA is introduced into the fertilization process to eliminate the threat of rejection of the tissue that will be used from the “clone.” The Korean scientists who are in the advance guard of this work admit that any human applications are decades away. Others have admitted that embryonic stem cells have been oversold to a public longing for miracle cures for paralysis, Parkinson’s disease, etc. The truth is it will be long after this generation has passed on before anyone realistically could hope to see results from this research – even if they were to get all of the funding they are demanding. Tax dollars have no business being used for research that has so little chance for success and is so opposed by many concerned and knowledgeable people.
During the last twenty years or so adult stem cells have actually effected many cures. Recently Aastrom Biosciences, Inc., has developed and is field testing an adult stem cell treatment for severe, long bone bob-union fractures. These are Tissue Repair Cells where the patient’s bone marrow stem cells are treated with the growth stimulating compound developed by this privately funded research and then applied to the area of the fracture. The application is repeated several times and the patient’s growth of new bone tissue is recorded. Trial cases are being studied in Ann Arbor and Royal Oak, Michigan, and in Barcelona, Spain. The patient won’t experience the rejection often associated with other treatments because the stem cells have been harvested from his own body.
Other sources of adult stem cells are fat, skin, placentas, etc. Each one of us has within ourselves many adult stem cells that are used to constantly regenerate our bodies as needed. Our laboratories are learning how to coax these into becoming the types of stem cells needed for specific diseases. Two girls with spinal paralysis are walking with braces after treatment with their own stem cells. Others have had cancer remissions and cures that have lasted for years. Circulatory problems have been successfully treated. Juvenile diabetes in mice has been cured and human applications will be coming as soon as possible.
When you hear celebrities and the media pounding away at “we must keep on the cutting edge of stem cell research” – well, we are. Some who are beating the drums for federal and state funding admit that they wouldn’t put a penny of their own money into embryonic stem cell research. Don’t let your government, either federal or state, pour our tax dollars into a bottomless pit that will bring no benefits in the foreseeable future and is at the same time morally and spiritually wrong.
Word of Hope
An important function of LFL’s ministry is to serve those who have had an abortion. The devastating aftermath of an abortion can last for many years. That action of desperation that took place half a lifetime ago can still be eating away deep within someone'’ soul.
Recently while an LFL display was set up for a pastors’ convention, someone from the community was wandering through looking at the displays. She kept coming back to the one showing a woman grieving after an abortion. With tears in her eyes she admitted she had had an abortion more than thirty years ago. She was so afraid Jesus would turn her away from Heaven because of what she had done. A great weight was lifted when she heard that Jesus has been waiting for her to bring her sin to Him. The love and counseling offered by LFL’s Word of Hope is there to help.
Millions of women today have been hurt by abortion. Be open to them, tell them of the love Jesus has for them. Then for healing have them call: (888) 217-8679.
