Author: Richard Myers

Wesley Smith has an interesting post entitled “Mothers Refusing Prenatal Testing to Protect Babies with Down.” http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2010/09/19/mothers-refusing-prenatal-testing-to-protect-babies-with-down/ Smith’s post focuses on a recent article in the New York Times by Amy Julia Becker on “Why Prenatal Testing Harms as Much as it Helps.” http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/deciding-not-to-screen-for-down-syndrome/ Becker’s reflection is particularly poignant. She talks about how prenatal testing is often […]

Courtesy of the Culture of Life Foundation, here is an analysis of the litigation involving the Obama Administration’s policy with regard to funding embryonic stem cell research. http://culture-of-life.org//content/view/657/1/ Richard M.

Here is a link to the Neuhaus Colloquium’s statement on the Obama Administration and the treatment of human embryos. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2010/09/1591 The statement is the effort of a group of scientists and intellectuals who were inspired by the life and example of the late Father Richard John Neuhaus. Richard M.

Here is a link to an upcoming conference at Princeton. http://uchv.princeton.edu/Life_Choice/ The conference, which is entitled “Open Hearts, Open Minds, and Fair Minded Words: A Conference on Life & Choice in the Abortion Debate,” will be held at Princeton on October 15-16, 2010. The conference features well known speakers with a range of views on the underlying […]

Here is Wesley Smith’s commentary on a recent murder/suicide in Montana and the efforts of Compassion and Choices” to use the incident to promote “aid in dying.”   http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2010/09/04/compassion-and-choices-uses-murdersuicide-to-advertise-doctor-prescribed-death-in-montana/ An 81 year old man shot his 81 year old wife (who had cerebral palsy) and then set their house on fire and then shot himself. According to the […]

Missouri’s new law requiring informed consent (in more detail than had been required) prior to an abortion went into effect on August 28.http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2010/09/02/missouri-abortion-landscape-changes-new-law/  Here is Wesley Smith’s commentary. http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2010/09/02/new-missouri-law-requires-informed-consent-about-fetal-humanity-before-abortion/  Richard M.

I just saw the schedule for the 2010 Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture. The Symposium, which will be held October 28-30, will address the topic of “Human Dignity and the Future of Health Care.” The line-up of speakers looks quite impresive. See http://www.baylor.edu/ifl/index.php?id=75356 Richard M.

On August 17, 2010, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that a guardian for a mentally disabled person is not permitted to refuse life-saving  medical treatment when the disabled person is not suffering from an end-stage medical condition or is not permanently unconscious. Here is a link to the opinion. http://oldsite.alliancedefensefund.org/userdocs/HockenberryOpinion.pdf The Court found that Pennsylvania […]

The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”  (H.R. 5939) was introduced by Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL) in late July 2010. http://chrissmith.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=201572 The Act would permanently ban taxpayer funding of abortion. Here is information about a letter supporting the bill written by Cardinal DiNardo, who is the Archbishop of Gaveston/Houston and the Chariman of the Committee […]

On Tuesday, August 24, voters in Alaska approved a law requring parental notice 48 hours before a teenager under age 18 has an abortion. Here is report from the National Right to Life Committee, http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Aug10/nv082510.html , and one from LifeNews.com, http://www.lifenews.com/state5372.html Richard M.