Learning the Life Issues

A Pro-Life Resource manual for use in Catholic Secondary schools

Action Life Ottawa 309-376 Churchill Avenue N. Ottawa, On, K1Z 5C3

Dear Reader: This manual covering the topics of abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research and personhood is intended for high school teachers, youth group leaders and church groups.

Action Life is an educational pro-life organization founded in Ottawa in 1971. We operate a speakers bureau, a lending library and provide other educational and research material. Educational aids such as brochures, books, videocassettes are available to the public free of charge. Our speakers have been making presentations in Catholic high schools for over thirty years. If you wish to obtain additional copies of this manual or to request a speaker to address your class, please call the office at 798-4494. You may visit our website at www.actionlife.org.

We hope that you will find this resource manual a useful tool in teaching the life issues.

Table of contents of contents Table Page Prenatal development................................................................. 6 6 Prenataldevelopment.................................................................. When does human life begin............................................................ 4 When.does.human.life.begin........................................................... 4 Abortion Abortion In defence of human life................................................................ 15 In.defence.of.human.life..............................................................15 Questions and answers................................................................... 17 Questions.and.answers.................................................................17 Profile Tasha Danvers-Smith............................................................ 22 Profile Tasha Danvers-Smith...........................................................22 History of abortion law................................................................... 25 History.of.abortion.law................................................................25 Abortion statistics......................................................................... 27 Abortion - Physical complications...................................................... 29 Abortion.statistics......................................................................27 Abortion - Physical complications....................................................29 Personhood Persons day................................................................................. 31 Personhood Personhood denied........................................................................ 32 Persons.day..............................................................................31 History of personhood discrimination.................................................. 33

Personhood.denied.....................................................................32 History of personhood discrimination. ..............................................33 .

Stem cell research Questions research 38 Stem celland answers.................................................................... Adult stem cells successes................................................................ 41 Questions.and.answers.................................................................38 Adult.stem.cells.successes. ...........................................................41 .

Learning the Life Issues

Catholic Secondary schools
Working to build a community of love and respect for human life from conception to natural death through education.

Assisted suicide and euthanasia Questions and answers..................................................................... 43 Questions.and.answers.................................................................43 Profile of Mark Pickup...................................................................... 47 Profile of Mark Pickup..................................................................47 A disabled mans perspective A Pro-Life Resource manual for use in A disabled mans perspective..

Assisted suicide and euthanasia

Action Life Ottawa 309-376 Churchill Avenue N. Ottawa, On, K1Z 5C3

When ?
does life begin

Life begins at conception

I have learned from my earliest medical education

that human life begins at the time of conception. I submit that human life is present throughout this entire sequence from conception to adulthood and any interruption at any point constitutes a termination of a human life.

Dr. Jrome Lejeune, genetics professor at the University of Descartes in Paris ( discoverer of the Down Syndrome chromosome )

Grade 9: Milestones of early life _____________________________________________________________________________ Expectations: To understand the stages of development of the unborn. To familiarize students with various research tools to find important facts surrounding pre-natal life and abortion.

_______________________________

ilestones of Early Life Our first nine months of life must have been the most eventful we have ever experienced. Here are the major milestones of that life before birth - the chapter in your own biography. Conception: The fathers sperm penetrates the mothers egg. Genetic instructions from both parents interact to begin a new and unique individual - no bigger than a grain of sugar. Your sex is already determined as is the colour of your eyes, your hair and your skin.

1st Day:

The first cell divides into two, the two into four, and so on.

1 Week: The new individual burrows into the wall of the womb. 2 Weeks: Mothers menstrual period is suppressed by a hormone produced by her child.

3 Weeks: Heart is forming. Eyes begin to develop. Foundations of brain, spinal cord and nervous system are laid. 4 Weeks: Heart starts to beat around the 21st to 24th day. Beats steadily at 25 days. Muscles are developing along the future spine. Tiny arm and leg buds are forming. 5 Weeks: Child has grown 10,000 times to 6-7 mm (1/4) long. Brain has human proportions. Blood flows in veins ( but stays separate from mothers blood). Pituitary gland in brain is forming. Mouth, ears and nose are taking shape.
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7 weeks from conception

6 Weeks:

Hearts energy output is 20 percent of adults. Skeleton is formed. Brain coordinates movement of muscles and organs. Reflex responses have begun. Penis is forming in boys. (Mother misses second period). Brain waves can be recorded. Tiny fingers appear, followed days later by toes. Spontaneous movements have begun. Buds of milk teeth have appeared. Lips are sensitive to touch. Ears may resemble family pattern. Child is well proportioned. Is a small scale baby, 3cm (1 and 1/8 inch) long and weighing a gram. Every organ is present. Heart beats sturdily. Stomach produces digestive juices. Liver makes blood cells. Kidneys begin to function. Taste buds are forming. Fingerprints are being engraved. Eyes, lids and palms of hands are sensitive to touch. Baby is also referred to as fetus, a Latin word, meaning young one or offspring. 8 weeks after conception Child can hiccup and turn its head. Fingernails are now forming. Body is sensitive to touch. Child squints, swallows amniotic fluid, puckers up brow and frowns. Can move its arms. Baby can grasp an object placed in its hand. Can urinate. Now about 6.35cm (2 inches) long and weighs 14.17 g ( oz). Vigorous activity shows distinct individuality. By the end of the month, child can kick, turn feet, curl and fan toes, make a fist, move thumbs. Bend wrists, open mouth and press lips tightly together. Breathing is practiced. Face is prettier, facial features may resemble parents. Movements are graceful, reflexes vigorous. Vocal chords are formed (but without air, baby cannot cry). Sex organs are apparent. Thumb sucking occurs. 4 Months: Child can grasp with hands, swim and turn somersaults.

7 Weeks: 8 Weeks:

9 Weeks: 10 Weeks:

11 Weeks: 3 Months:

4-5 Months: Mother first feels babys movements

20 weeks after conception

5 Months: Sleeping habits appear, but a slammed door will provoke activity. Child responds to sounds in frequencies too high or low for adults to hear. 6 Months: Fine hair grows on eyebrows and head. Eyelash fringe appears. Weight is about 640g (22oz), height 23cm (9). Babies born at this age can survive.

7 Months: Eyes and teeth are present. Eyelids open and close, eyes look around. Hands grip strongly. Mothers voice is heard and recognized.

20 weeks after conception

8 Months: Weight increases by 1kg. (over 2lbs) and babys quarters get cramped. 9 Months: Child triggers labour and birth occurs, usually 255-275 days after conception. Of 45 generations of cell divisions before adulthood, 41 have taken place. Four more will come during the rest of childhood and adolescence. Activities for Students

Using the internet and various magazines and newspapers, complete the following research. 1. Create a pictorial journey of the life of the child within the womb to correspond with the facts given in Milestones of Early Life. A) Estimate the actual size of the child at each stage of development. B) Describe the physical attributes of the unborn child at 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months and birth.

2. Abortion takes the life of the child still in the womb. Where would you go to research the following information: A) How many abortions are performed in Canada each year? B) When was abortion first legalized in Canada? C) What does the Catholic Church say about abortion?

Helpful Hints 1. 2. Familiarize yourself with the various tools for finding information. Life magazine has beautiful images of prenatal life as do many scientific and university websites. A) Statistics Canada will have information on the number of abortions. Pay attention to the fact that some regions dont report their numbers. Look back at past statistics and add in an estimated number of abortions for that particular area. How many abortions have there been since 1969?
20 weeks after conception

B) view the website: www.justthefacts.org. For beautiful images of life before birth. C) Dont forget the Catechism of the Catholic Church or the Vatican Website at www.vatican.va.

Source: Flanagan, Geraldine Lux. The first nine months of life. New York: Simon Schuster, c1962. Flanagan, G. Beginning Life. Firefly Books, 1996. A babys first months. National right to Life Education Committee. www.nrlc.org. Lennart Nilsson. A child is born. 5th edition. Dell Publishing, 1993, c1990. Human Development Resource Council Inc. What they never told you about the facts of life, 2005, c1989.

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Who says life begins at conception?

At the moment the sperm cell of the human male meets the ovum of the female and the union results in a fertilized ovum (zygote) a new life has begun.... (Considine, Douglas (ed.). Van Nostrands Scientific Encyclopedia. 5th edition. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1976, p.943) Zygote: This cell results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being. Moore, Keith L. and Persaud, T.V.N. The Developing Human, 6th ed.; W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, 1998, p.2) The development of a human being begins with fertilization, a process by which two highly specialized cells, the spermatozoon from the male and the oocyte from the female, unite to give rise to a new organism, the zygote. (Langman, Jan. Medical Embryology. 3rd edition. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1975, p.3. ... The time of fertilization represents the starting point in the life history, or ontogeny, of the individual. (Carlson, Bruce M. Pattens Foundation of Embryology. 6th edition. New York: Mc Graw-Hill, 1996, p.3). Overwhelmingly, embryology textbooks agree that fertilization/conception marks the beginning of a new human life. By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception. - Dr. Hymie Gordon, Chairman of the Department of Genetics at the Mayo Clinic. Each individual has a very neat beginning at the moment of conception. - Prof. Micheline Matthews-Roth, Harvard University Medical School. I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception. I submit that human life is present throughout this entire sequence from conception to adulthood and any interruption at any point constitutes a termination of a human life. - Dr. Jrome Lejeune, genetics professor at the University of Descartes in Paris (discoverer of the Down Syndrome chromosome).

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One incredible photo!

Grade 9: Prenatal Development

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Grade 9: Prenatal Development The commentary accompanying the photograph on the previous page was made by: Dr. Paul E. Rockwell, Director of Anesthesiology, Leonard Hospital, Troy, New York: Letter to the Editor, Albany, Times Union, 10th March 1970. The preceding award winning photograph was taken by Robert Wolfe, medical photographer at the University of Minnesota. This tiny unborn child was still alive at this moment, only 6-7 weeks after the first day of the last menstrual period: a just removed tubal ectopic pregnancy.

Visit the website: www.justthefacts.org for beautiful images of life before birth.

Note: In an ectopic pregnancy, the developing baby lodges in the fallopian tube and cannot survive in that location. The ectopic pregnancy endangers the womans life. The intervention required to save the mothers life is not an abortion.

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As a veteran photo journalist in Nashville, Tennessee, I was hired by USA Today newspaper to photograph a spina bifida corrective surgical procedure. It was to be performed on a twenty-one week old fetus in utero at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. At that time, in 1999, twenty-one weeks in utero was the earliest that the surgical team would consider for surgery. The worst possible outcome would be that the surgery would cause premature delivery, and no child born earlier than twenty-three weeks had survived. The tension could be felt in the operating room as the surgery began. A typical C-section incision was made to access the uterus, which was then lifted out and laid at the junction of the mothers thighs. The entire procedure would take place within the uterus, and no part of the child was to breach the surgical opening. During the procedure, the position of the fetus was adjusted by gently manipulating the outside of the uterus. The entire surgical procedure on the child was completed in one hour and thirteen minutes. When it was over, the surgical team breathed a sigh of relief, as did I. As a doctor asked me what speed of film I was using, out of the corner of my eye I saw the uterus shake, but no ones hands were near it. It was shaking from within. Suddenly, an entire arm thrust out of the opening, then pulled back until just a little hand was showing. The doctor reached over and lifted the hand, which reacted and squeezed the doctors finger. As if testing for strength, the doctor shook the tiny fist. Samuel held firm. I took the picture! Wow! It happened so fast that the nurse standing next to me asked, What happened? The child reached out, I said. Oh. They do that all the time, she responded. The surgical opening to the uterus was closed and the uterus was then put back into the mother and the C-section opening was closed. It was ten days before I knew if the picture was even in focus. To ensure no digital manipulation of images before they see them, USA Today requires that film be submitted unprocessed. When the photo editor finally phoned me he said, Its the most incredible picture Ive ever seen. - Michael Clancy

Wow! Amazing Photo and Story!

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Home | Story of the Photo | Mission Statement | Order a Print | E-mail Michael Clancy

http://www.michaelclancy.com copyright 2001, Michael Clancy

Reprinted with permission in Action Life News Activities ____________________________ Unborn children have been operated on while still in the womb. Research one of these incredible pre-natal surgeries and report your findings to the class. Include the following in your report: A) Age of the child. B) Medical condition that mother and / or child are suffering. C) Type of surgery that was performed. D) Effects of the surgery on the mother and the child. E) Immediate and long term results of the surgery. F) Images of the surgery.

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Grade 10: Pro-Life Apologetics _________________________________ To inform, prepare and equip students with the tools necessary to articulate the pro-life position. To allow students to know the main arguments of the pro-abortion position and understand where they fall short.

The Pro-Life Position ____________________ IN DEFENCE OF HUMAN LIFE Abortion takes the life of a defenceless human being; therefore abortion is a moral wrong. Many people are confused about abortion because they think that the issue is complex. Actually it is not. Since science proves that the unborn child is a human being, then elective abortion is clearly a moral wrong. We are called to defend ALL human life. What is the unborn? Human life is a continuum beginning at conception and ending at natural death. You did not come from a zygote, you once were a zygote. You did not evolve from a fetus, you once were a fetus. This position is both scientifically and philosophically sound. 1) The unborn human is genetically distinct from its parents. It is distinct from its mother and fully alive. Unlike sperm and ovum, the zygote possesses the active (inherent) capacity to develop itself into an embryo, fetus, infant, child and adult. All genetic material needed to drive the unborns development is there. The unborn, therefore, is not a potential human, but a human with great potential. 2) The unborn entity has human parents. The principle of biogenesis states that each living thing reproduces after its own kind. That is to say, dogs beget dogs, cats beget cats, etc. Human parents can only produce human offspring. 3) Although the unborns humanity does not depend on its level of development, its rapid growth does point to its status as a genetically complete, self-integrating organism. In fact, prenatal development is so explosive that by day 25, the unborn human has a heart that is beating and by day 43 brain wave activity can be measured on an electroencephalogram.
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The unborn differs from the newborn in four ways, none of which are relevant to its status as a human being. 1) Size: The unborn are smaller than newborns, but when has size had anything to do with the rights that people have? 2) Level of development: True, the unborn are less developed than newborns, but this too is morally irrelevant. A newborn is less developed than a toddler, a toddler less than an adolescent, an adolescent less than an adult. But we speak of all as equally human. 3) Environment: True, the unborn is located in a different place, but how does a change in location suddenly change a non-human entity into a human one. Clearly, where one is has no bearing on who one is. A child in the incubator of her mothers womb is no less a child than the one being sustained by neonatal technology. 4) Degree of dependency: If viability or independence is what makes one human then all those dependent on kidney machines, heart pace-makers, and respirators would have to be declared non-persons. There is no ethical difference between an unborn child who is plugged into and dependent upon its mother and a kidney patient who is plugged into and dependent upon a kidney machine. Adapted from Pro-Life 101 by Scott Klusendorf

Consider the following: On cigarette packages, Health Canada gives the following warning to pregnant women: WARNING - Cigarettes hurt babies. Tobacco use during pregnancy reduces the growth of babies during pregnancy. These smaller babies may not catch up in growth after birth and the risks of infant illness, disability and death are increased. Activity: Have students reflect and answer this question: Why is the unborn babys humanity recognized in some cases and ignored or denied in other cases? Canadian health care dollars pay for the destruction (by abortion) of over 100,000* unborn children annually. As a society which prides itself on its sense of equal rights, why not protect all unborn children? _______________________________________ * Statistics Canada

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The Pro-Abortion Position The Pro-Abortion Position Advocates for abortion say that a woman has the right to choose whether or not she will terminate Advocates for abortion say that a woman has the right to choose whether or not she will her pregnancy, thus ending the life of her child. child. terminate her pregnancy, thus ending the life of her 1. Every woman has the right to control her own body. 1. Every woman has the right to control her own body. Fact: Yes, but only her body, not that of her child who while developing inside her body is completely distinct from it, the only organic link between the two Fact: Yes, but only her body, not that of her child who while being the umbilical cord. Any remaining doubt about the separate developing inside her body is completely distinct from it, the only identities of the pregnant woman and her child have been put to rest organic link between the two being the umbilical cord. Any remaining with the advent of in-vitro fertilization procedures, in which the doubt about the separate identities of the pregnant woman and her earliest stages of new life take place outside the mothers body. child have been put to rest with the advent of in-vitro fertilization procedures, in which the earliest stages of new life take place outside the Williams Obstetrics, 16th Edition 1980, a standard obstetrics mothers body. textbook in medical schools throughout North America states: Happily, we have entered an era in which the fetus can be Williams Obstetrics, 16 th Edition 1980, a standard obstetrics textbook in rightfully considered and treated as our second patient...Who would medical schools throughout North America states: Happily, we have have dreamed, even a few years a ago, that we could serve the fetus entered an era in which the fetus can be rightfully considered and as physician? treated as our second patient...Who would have dreamed, even a few years ago, that we could serve the fetus as physician? Any persons rights are limited by the rights of others. A womans proclaimed right to control her own body does not include a right Any persons right are limited by the rights of others. A womans to have her unborn child killed by abortion. Her child has just as proclaimed right to control her own body does not include a right to much right to life as any other human being. have her unborn child killed by abortion. Her child has just as much right to life has any other human being. There are no other circumstances, other than abortion, in which a person is allowed to kill an innocent, defenceless human being. The exception accorded the act of abortion is unwarranted There are no other circumstances, other than abortion, in which a person is allowed to kill an and totally illogical. Abortion cures no disease. Pregnancy is not a disease. innocent, defenceless human being. The exception accorded the act of abortion is unwarranted and totally illogical. Abortion cures no disease. Pregnancy is not a disease. 2. The fetus is not really a person. The fetus is not really a person. Fact: Words such as embryo or fetus serve the same purpose as calling human beings Fact: Words such as embryo or fetus serve the same purpose as calling human beings infants, children, adolescents or adults at other stages of their lives. They are simply infants, children, adolescents or adults at other stages of their lives. They are simply scientific terms used to indicate where a person is in his or her development: in no way do they scientific terms used to indicate where a person is in his or her development: in no way do mean the unborn child is not human. they mean the unborn child is not human. Personhood does not begin at a specific point in time. It belongs to a being of human Personhood does not begin at a specific point in time. It belongs to a being of human origin origin - a being who human fatherfather and mother. A human is always a person - a being who has a has a human and mother. A human being being is always a person at every stage of life.life. at every stage of
Some advocates of abortion claim that the unborn child is a mere clump of cells. But the Some advocates of abortion claim that the unborn child is a mere clump of cells. But the scientific facts are that a living, unmistakably human organism exists from the moment the ovum scientific facts are that a living, unmistakably human organism exists from the moment the ovum

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is fertilized: it will not develop into a cat or a plant - only a human being, because it is already a human being.
isThe unborn child while still in the womb can now be viewed by ultrasound and have many fertilized: it will not develop into a cat or a plant - only a human being, because it is already a human being. its functions monitored by various sophisticated techniques. He or she can receive blood An editorial in the September 1970 issue of California Medicine, the official publication transfusions and medications and even be treated surgically.

of its functions monitored by various sophisticated techniques. He or she can receive blood transfusions and medications and even be treated surgically. The unborn child while still in the womb can now be viewed by ultrasound and have many of

of the California Medical Association, mentions the scientific fact, which everyone really An editorial in the September 1970 issue of California Medicine, the official knows that human life begins at conception and is continuous, whether publication of the California Medical Association, mentions the scientific fact, intra- or extra-uterine, until death. In the Van Nostrands Scientific which everyone really knows that human life begins at conception Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition, one can read: from a purely and is continuous, whether intra- or extra-uterine, until death. In the scientific standpoint, there is no question but that abortion Van Nostrands Scientific Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition, one can read: represents the cessation of a human life. from a purely scientific standpoint, there is no question but that Finally, personhood is not something which is awarded to Finally, personhood is not something which is awarded to you by others. you by others. Simply put, you are a person because you are a Simply put, you are a person because you are human being. a human being. 3. Abortion is basically a private matter.
3. Abortion is basically a private matter. abortion represents the cessation of a human life.

Fact: Not really. Abortion involves more than a woman and her doctor. Even more directly and intimately involved is a third human being: the mothers unborn child; the doctors Fact: Not really. Abortion involves more than a woman and her doctor. Even more directly and intimately involved is a third human being: the mothers unborn child; the doctors unborn unborn patient. And the father? Presently, he has no say in the fate of his offspring.
patient. And the father? Presently, he has no say in the fate of his offspring. Abortion has broad consequences for the whole of society. How can we pretend that the very acceptance of the large scale killing of innocent defenceless human beings through abortion acceptance of the large scale killing of innocent defenceless human beings through abortion does not foster the creation of a psychological climate favourable to the development of does not foster the creation of a psychological climate favourable to the development of other other forms of violence which are becoming a characteristic trait of our times (child abuse, forms of violence which are becoming a characteristic trait of our times (child abuse, infanticide and physician assisted death)? The most current statistics for Canada record the infanticide and physician assisted death)? The most current statistics for Canada record the death of 103,768 unborn babies by induced abortion. Privacy is important but do we allow death of 103,768 unborn babies by induced abortion. Privacy is important but do we allow parents to abuse their children as long as they do so in the privacy of their own home? parents to abuse their children as long as they do so in the privacy of their own home?

Abortion has broad consequences for the whole of society. How can we pretend that the very

4. You cannot impose your morality on others.

Some people who oppose abortion do so on religious grounds but Some people who oppose abortion do so on religious the right to life is the first and most important right of all. Religion grounds but the right to life is the first and most important didnt discover when human life begins, science did. Opposing abortion isright of all. Religion didnt discover when human life can be not a religious issue but a matter of human rights. Actions judged objectively right or wrong. That is the very basis of law. This is begins, science did. Opposing abortion is not a religious why issue but a matter of human rights. Actions can be judged we have laws against stealing, abuse, murder and so on.

4. You cannot impose your morality on others.

objectively right or wrong. That is the very basis of law. This is why we have laws against stealing, abuse, murder and so on.
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5.

Every child should be a wanted child.

This slogan is not as loving as it sounds as it reduces children to objects with a right to exist only if someone wants them more than they desire other things. It also fails to take into 5. Every child should be a wanted child. account the fact that the feelings of a woman toward her pregnancy during the early months This slogan is not as loving as it sounds as it reduces children differ markedly from what they will be at later stages of her to objects with a right to exist only if someone wants them more than pregnancy or after the birth of her child. they desire other things. It also fails to take into account the fact that the feelings of a woman toward her pregnancy during the early On the other hand, while there may be parents who do not want months differ markedly from what they will be at later stages of her children, there really are no unwanted children: witness the pregnancy or after the birth of her child. countless and often desperate couples who have to wait years before they are able to adopt a child. Human life has an intrinsic On the other hand, while there may be parents who do not want value which has nothing to do with the fact that this tiny human children, there really are no unwanted children: witness the may or may not be wanted. The idea that the unwanted may be countless and often desperate couples who have to wait years before they are able to adopt a eliminated is a most dangerous concept. Once we accept the child. Human life has an intrinsic value which has nothing to do with the fact that this tiny ethic that every child must be wanted before it can live, our society may also decide that every human may or may not be wanted. The idea that the unwanted may be eliminated is a most grandparent or every mentally or physically handicapped person should also be wanted in dangerous concept. Once we accept the ethic that every child must be wanted before it can live, order that they may be permitted to continue living. Ask yourself, when people such as the our society may also decide that every grandparent or every mentally or physically handicapped homeless are unwanted may we kill them? person should also be wanted in order that they may be permitted to continue living. Ask yourself, when people such as the homeless are unwanted may we kill them? 6. What about rape?
6. Rape is an abhorrent, violent crime. The woman who has been raped has undergone a terrible What about rape? trauma and her well-being is very much our concern. Abortion cannot change the fact that the woman was raped and it certainly cannot heal the pain. Women pregnant from rape have Rape is an abhorrent, violent crime. The woman who has been raped has undergone a terrible reported negative attitudes to the pregnancy from those around them and often abortion is trauma and her well-being is very much our concern. Abortion cannot change the fact that the presented to the rape victim as the best solution. In almost all cases where the mother has woman was raped and it certainly cannot heal the pain. Women pregnant from rape have given birth to the child, it has evoked over time feelings of reported negative attitudes to the pregnancy from those around them and often abortion is acceptance of the pregnancy, helping to bring healing to what presented to the rape victim as the best solution. In almost all cases where the mother has given birth to the child, it has evoked over time feelings of acceptance of the pregnancy, helping to began as a horrible and violent experience.* Some women bring healing to what began as a horrible and violent place the child for adoption because although they can accept experience.* Some women place the child for adoption the pregnancy, they cannot accept the child or believe it best if because although they can accept the pregnancy, they cannot someone else raises the child. Others decide to raise the baby. accept the child or believe it best if someone else raises the child. Others decide to raise the baby. People who were conceived in rape, like Rebecca Kiessling, are saddened that people think abortion should be permitted People who were conceived in rape, like Rebecca Kiessling, in cases of rape. Rebecca is not responsible for the crime of are saddened that people think abortion should be permitted in her father. Was her life then not worth protecting just as much cases of rape. Rebecca is not responsible for the crime of her as anyone elses? Rebecca has been upset by those who have Rebecca Kiessling father. Was her life then not worth protecting just as much told her that she should be dead. Rebecca is the mother of four as anyone elses? Rebecca has been upset by those who have told children and a former lawyer. Read Rebeccas story online at: her that she should be dead. Rebecca is the mother of four children and a www.rebeccakiessling.com. former lawyer. Read Rebeccas story online at: www.rebeccakiessling.com. Can Can a horrible act of violence (rape) on an innocent woman be redeemed by performing another a horrible act of violence (rape) on an innocent woman be redeemed by performing another act of violence on an innocent person (abortion)? Can you think of any other instance where we act of violence on an innocent person (abortion)? Can you think of any other instance where we would kill one innocent human being for the benefit of another? The child conceived in rape would kill one innocent human being for the benefit of another? The child conceived in rape
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rape is not the aggressor, the rapist is. It is the rapist who must be punished for his crime not the woman and the unborn child. Compassionate assistance, loving care and long-term counselling are available to the victim. Let us be concerned for the life, welfare and future of both the woman and her child. * Dr. David C. Reardon, Julie Makimaa, Amy Sobie. Victims and Victors: Speaking out about their pregnancies, abortions and children resulting from sexual assault. Acorn Books, 2000.

Other concerns raised by pro-abortion advocates: If abortion is illegal, women will die from back alley abortions: A) In Canada in 1969, the year abortion was legalized, there were 11 cases of maternal death caused by illegal abortion as recorded in government statistics, yet the media reported deaths were in the thousands. B) Dr. Bernard Nathanson, former abortionist who fought to legalize abortion in the United States had this to say :How many deaths were we talking about when abortion was illegal? It was always 5,000 to 10,000 deaths a year. I confess that I knew the figures were totally false...It was a useful figure, widely accepted, why go out of our way to correct it with honest statistics. Bernard Nathanson, M.D., Aborting America. (New York: Doubleday, 1979), p.193. C) According to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, there were 39 women who died from illegal abortions in 1972, the year before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion , in comparison to the false figures used by Dr. Nathanson and others. D) Women have died from legal abortions. Is the death of a woman from a legal abortion less tragic than a death from an illegal abortion? E) In 1960, abortions were still illegal in the United States. In the July 1960 edition of the American Journal of Public Health, an article by Dr. Mary Calderone, then medical director of Planned parenthood, stated: 90% of illegal abortions are still being done by physicians. Call them what you will, abortionist or anything else, they still are physicians, trained as such; ...They must do a pretty good job if the death rate is as low as it is... Abortion whether therapeutic or illegal, is no longer dangerous, because it is being done well by physicians. Abortions are done to preserve the physical health of the mother. Response: Dr. Henry Morgentaler, an abortionist, has written that medicine has over the last few years made so much progress that it is now possible for a very sick woman to complete a pregnancy and give birth in spite of serious illness. When the mothers life is in danger as in the case of an ectopic pregnancy, in which the child cannot survive in the fallopian tube, the intervention required is not an abortion.

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Some people say Im personally opposed to abortion, but it should be up to the mother to decide. Response: Why are you personally opposed to abortion? If it is not wrong, if it does not take the life of an unborn child, why be opposed at all? Women should be able to have as many as they want. It is illogical to recognize the taking of an innocent human life, claim to be opposed and support its legality. Would you say Im personally opposed to child abuse or slavery, but it should be up to the individual to decide, a mother or father should be free to abuse their child if they want to?

Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -

for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture - is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights is not defended with maximum determination.
Pope John Paul II, Christifideles Laici (On the Vocation and the Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and the World), no. 38

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Grade 10: Story of Tasha Danvers-Smith ___________________________________________________________________________ Expectations For students to see the hope and joy that comes from doing what is right despite the costs.

Students should consider the effects of a right action that can bring joy even in the midst of suffering. ___________________________________ UK Athlete Gives Up Olympic Hope for Unexpected Child One of Britains brightest Olympic hopes, the 400 metres hurdler Tasha Danvers-Smith, spoke of both her joy and devastation after an unplanned pregnancy that has dashed her chances of an Olympic medal at Athens. The newly-married south London athlete, who now lives in Los Angeles admitted that she was so shocked that she even briefly considered an abortion, before deciding she could not terminate the pregnancy. I had high hopes. I Tasha Danvers-Smith thought I had a good chance of getting a medal, if not a gold one. So it was quite devastating for me to find out I was pregnant she said. But now I feel so happy, added the 26year old athlete, who married her American coach Darrell Smith, 33, in November. Now 10 weeks pregnant, Mrs Danvers-Smith, from Camberwell, South London, who was ranked sixth in the world last year, said all her hopes had been centered on the 2004 Olympics. I was in the shape of my life. I was more focused than ever before, she said. Then things didnt quite feel right. I was feeling tired all the time, feeling flat for no reason. Pregnancy never occurred to her because her life cycle seemed normal, she said and she suffered no morning sickness. I was still training for my life. The timing could not have been worse. If I had run at Athens it would have meant greater financial security, more recognition. There is nothing negative that can happen when you have a shot at an Olympic medal. I cannot lie, I considered an abortion. On the one hand you look at the situation and say, I can have a baby and incur more costs, more problems. We dont even have a house yet; we are still staying with Darrells parents. And I am the major breadwinner. When my body is my business, 22 then if Im not functioning, there is no business.
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Tasha Danvers-Smith

So the thought did cross our minds as an option. But this line from the Scriptures kept coming into my head: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?. For me the whole world was the Olympics. At the same time, I felt I would be losing my soul. It just wouldnt fit well. It would be a forced decision. I would have forced myself to do something I didnt want to do. Even though as much as I would love to go to the Olympics and everything, it would be something that wouldnt make me happy at all. Even the thought of it depressed me. I cried thinking about it as I tried to convince myself this is what I should do because it wasnt the right time, and we didnt have the finances. It just made me so upset. So then I knew. For me, it was not going to be an option. And as soon as I decided that I felt so happy. Even though I knew it was going to be a struggle financially and that I am sacrificing my medal hopes. Her son Jaden Wayde Smith was born December 8, 2004

Reprinted from: Life Issues Connector, Life Issues Institute Newsletter, Cincinnati Ohio, 2004. ______________________________________________________________________________ Questions for Students 1. Research the lives of people that have made sacrifices for a just cause. What did they do? Were they successful? 2. Consider a time in your life when you made the right decision, even though it was very difficult and it caused you to suffer. How did you know that it was in fact the right one? 3. Consider a time when you made the wrong decision, but it was the easier choice at that time. How did you feel? What were the consequences if any? Would you have done things differently given a second chance? 4. Who are the role models in your life and why do you look to them as an example or an inspiration?

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Unborn child twenty weeks from conception

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Abortion Law in Canada With the passage of the Omnibus Bill C-150 on May 14, 1969, the Criminal Code of Canada was amended to allow abortions done in a hospital by a physician if a panel of three doctors (a Therapeutic Abortion Committee) judged that continuation of the pregnancy would or would be likely to endanger a womans life or health. The word health was never defined. It was subsequently given unlimited interpretation including emotional and socio-economic health of the mother*. This law opened the door to abortion on demand. The 1969 law (Section 251 of the Criminal Code) set no time limits on the gestational period at which induced abortions could be performed. It was illegal to perform the procedure in a clinic setting. Dr. Henry Morgentaler challenged the law by opening abortion clinics in Qubec in the 1970's and later in Toronto and Winnipeg in 1982. No obligation exists for either doctors or hospitals to participate in abortion. On January 28, 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down section 251 of the Criminal Code in a split decision. The January 28th decision marked the end of a legal battle which began in November 1984 when a jury acquitted Henry Morgentaler, Leslie Smoling and Robert Scott on charges of procuring illegal abortions at 85 Harbord Street, Toronto. The acquittal was appealed by the Crown and in 1985 a new trial was ordered on the same charges. Morgentalers lawyer, Morris Manning appealed the decision and appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada in October 1986. In the 1988 Morgentaler decision unlike the Roe v. Wade 1973 ruling in the United states, the Court does not find a constitutional right to abortion. Section 251 of the Criminal Code was struck down for procedural reasons. The Court found that since some women did not have access to Therapeutic Abortion Committees in their area, the delay caused by the process for procuring an abortion threatened a womans bodily security. Read the ruling at: http://www.canlii.org/ca/cas/scc/1988/1988scc.2html. The Supreme Court said it was up to Parliament to enact a new law on abortion. In fact, Canada can have a law restricting abortion. At present, there is still no law on abortion in Canada and in the absence of any legislation, abortion is legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy, up until the moment of delivery for no reason or any reason at all. There is no age limit and no parental consent is required to obtain an abortion. Quick Facts for Canada ____________________________________ There is no constitutional right or charter right to abortion in Canada. 3 million abortions since 1969. 300 abortions a day. Over 100,000 abortions annually. No law since 1988. Abortion is legal throughout all nine months.

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Induced abortions continue to be most common among women in their twenties. 53% of women obtaining an abortion in 2003 were in their twenties. The leading cause of death in Canada is induced abortion...over 100,000 abortions are performed annually = 100,000 unborn babies dead by abortion. The number of repeat abortions that is a second, third or fourth abortion for the same person continues to rise. Repeat abortions increased from 35.2% in 2002 to 38.3 % in 2003. 25.2% of women undergoing abortion in 2003 had had one previous abortion. Badgley report 1977- Committee on the operation of the Abortion Law. In 1975, a survey was commissioned by the Privy Council to determine and report upon whether the procedure provided in the Criminal Code for obtaining therapeutic abortions is operating equitably across Canada.... Appointed to this Committee on the Operation of the Abortion law on September 29, 1975 were Robin Badgley, chairman, Dr. Marion Powell, an abortion advocate, and lawyer Denyse Fortin Caron. In January 1977, the committee issued its report. Here are some highlights: Abortions for health reasons * ...in terms of their physical health, most women who had abortions in Canadian Hospitals were considered by their physicians to be in good physical health...Many physicians whom the Committee met on its visits to hospitals across Canada openly acknowledged that their diagnoses for mental health were given for purposes of expediency and could not be considered as a valid assessment of an abortion patients mental health. P. 211-212 In other words, most women were in good health so reasons of mental health were falsely attributed to obtain abortions. How many deaths from illegal abortions prior to 1969? The number of deaths of women in Canada resulting from attempted self-induced or criminal (illegal**) abortions which averaged 12.3 each year between 1958 and 1969... P.29 ** word illegal is our addition. The Bagdley report mentions that on average, there were about 12 deaths a year from illegal abortion each year in the time period 1958-1969. Further evidence that deaths from illegal abortions were not in the thousands each year as claimed by abortions advocates.

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CANADIAN ABORTION STATISTICS FOR 2003

Ten provinces, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and some American States reported to CIHI that there were 103,768 abortions performed on Canadian women in the year 2003. The number of induced abortions recorded for every 100 live births was 31.0% . ANNUAL THERAPEUTIC ABORTIONS AND ABORTION RATES FOR CANADIAN WOMEN FROM 1970 - 2003 AS REPORTED BY STATISTICS CANADA AND THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH INFORMATION (CIHI) * Number
Year Hospital events Clinic events From U.S.A. Total Hospital events

Rate per 100 live births

Clinic events From U.S.A. Total

______________________________________________________________________________ _______
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 11,152 30.923 38,853 43,201 48,136 49,311 54,478 57,564 62,290 65,043 65,751 65,053 66,254 61,750 62,247 62,712 63,462 63,585 66,137 70,705 71,092 70,277 70,408 72,434 71,630 70,549 74,579 71,845 68,290 63,832 63,535 61,227 58,254 56,089 --------2,618 3,629 4,704 4,207 4,506 3,635 3,571 3,706 3,498 3,681 4,617 7,059 20,236 23,343 31,151 31,508 34,287 35,650 36,877 39,681 41,933 41,799 41,919 45,016 46,748 47,679 6,309 6,573 5,501 4,299 4,394 4,234 2,300 1,802 1,073 1,644 2,651 4,311 3,983 3,631 2,798 2,612 2,757 1,939 1,551 1,573 1,439 526 461 338 459 301 293 297 231 215 175 152 149 11,152 37,232 45,426 48,702 52,435 53,705 58,712 59,864 66,710 69,745 72,099 71,911 75,071 69,368 69,449 69,216 69,572 70,023 72,693 79,315 92,901 95,059 102,085 104,403 106,255 106,658 111,757 111,819 110,520 105,862 105,669 106,418 105,154 103,768 3.0 8.5 11.2 12.6 13.7 13.7 15.1 15.9 17.4 17.8 17.7 17.5 17.8 16.5 16.5 16.7 17.0 17.2 17.6 18.0 17.5 17.5 17.7 18.7 18.6 18.7 --------0.7 1.0 1.3 1.1 1.2 1.0 0.9 1.0 0.9 1.0 1.2 1.8 5.0 5.8 7.8 8.1 8.9 9.4 1.7 1.9 1.6 1.2 1.2 1.2 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.4 0.7 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 3.0 10.2 13.1 14.2 14.9 14.9 16.3 16.5 18.6 19.1 19.4 19.3 20.2 18.6 18.4 18.4 18.6 18.9 19.3 20.2 22.9 23.6 25.6 26.9 27.6 28.6 30.5 32.0 32.2 31.3 32.2 31.9 32.1 31.0

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*Induced abortions were classified as therapeutic beginning in 1969 when the first survey, the collection of legally induced abortion data was taken. Statistics Canada says "the term therapeutic remains in the title of the survey for the sake of historical consistency". As of 1995, therapeutic abortion data are collected from reporting areas within and outside the country by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). The data is then transferred to Statistics Canada for analysis and publication. The catalogue number for 2003 is 82-223-XIE, Induced Abortion Statistics 2003. Since 1970 abortion figures have been compiled for hospital abortions. In 1978 Quebec began to report some figures for clinic abortions. In 1990 the clinic figures reported related to Quebec, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia. In 1991 published clinic data included figures reported from Alberta. In 1994 clinic data included figures from New Brunswick.

An examination of the figures shows that there were 11, 152 abortions in 1970, the first year following the amendment to the Criminal Code. The numbers increased each year. By 1987, the numbers had risen to 70, 023 abortions for that year according to figures from Statistics Canada. By 2003, Statistics Canada recorded 103,768 abortions for the year. Following the Supreme Court decision in the Morgentaler case in 1988, clinics began operating in areas of Canada, other than Qubec. Prior to1988, abortions were legal only in a hospital setting if approved by an accredited Therapeutic Abortion Committee. Dr. Morgentaler had been operating an abortion clinic in Qubec since the 1970's which was against the law. He was however acquitted by juries and was able to continue his business. Later, Morgentaler, Leslie Smoling and Robert Scott began to perform abortions in a clinic in Ontario in contravention of the 1969 law which lead to their appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

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Abortion's Physical Complications Abortion's Effects: Reproductive System

Physical Damage Surgical abortion may harm a woman's reproductive system, damaging her uterus or cervix and leading to future reproductive problems. Chemical abortions (using RU486, etc.) are bloody, painful, and dangerous, and the long term effects on the body are unknown. Future Infertility Women having abortions face more than a doubled risk of future sterility. A 1995 Swedish study found 45.8 percent of women who had abortions later tested positive for organisms causing pelvic inflammatory disease, one of the leading contributors to female sterility. When a woman's first pregnancy ends in abortion, the risk of complications leading to sterility is greatly increased. Later Ectopic Pregnancy Ectopic pregnancies have been called a worldwide epidemic. A study appearing in the American Journal of Public Health in 1998 found women who had an abortion faced a 50% increased risk of having a subsequent ectopic or tubal pregnancy. The risk was nearly twice as high (90%) for women having two or more abortions. Future Prematurity Premature birth is the leading cause of infant mortality. A study from Denmark in 1999 found women were 89% more likely to have a premature birth after having an abortion. After two abortions, the risk increased to 166%. Multiple international studies support these results. Later Infant Disability Pre-term birth is associated with lower birth weight and higher rates of cerebral palsy, often leading to physical and mental disability. Abortion's Link to Breast Cancer: Pregnancy and Normal Breast Development A full term pregnancy is known to lower a woman's long term risk of breast cancer. In pregnancy, as estrogen levels elevate, immature milk glands, or lobules, begin to grow and differentiate, reaching maturity around 32 weeks. By birth, the lobules are fully formed and ready for milk production. Abortion Interrupts Breast Development Abortions, which typically occur in the first or early second trimester, interrupt the process of breast development while estrogen is still surging but before full differentiation has taken place. Thus, the risk-lowering effect of full term pregnancy is lost. Even worse, lobules interrupted in this growth stage are susceptible to replication defects, which may eventually manifest as cancers. Scientific Evidence of Abortion's Impact Out of a total of 70 studies worldwide on breast cancer and abortion, 80% have found evidence linking abortion to the development of breast cancer. A 1996 meta-analysis of all published reports on the incidence of induced abortion and breast cancer appearing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found, on average, a 30% increased risk of breast cancer following an abortion, and a 50% increase when the first pregnancy was aborted. Link to Other Cancers Abortion has been associated with higher rates of cervical and ovarian cancer. Post Abortion Syndrome Post Abortion Syndrome affects women in the years following an abortion, appearing as unexplained depression, mental flashbacks and suicidal impulses, among other symptoms. A 2003 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found women who had an abortion were 2.6 times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric problems than women who carried their babies to term. Substance abuse has also been linked to abortion in recent studies.

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Pain
Abortion is painful for 97% of women, according to Canadian and U.S. studies despite the use of local anesthesia. More than a third of women rated the pain level of abortion as intense, severe or very severe. Chemical abortions cause higher levels of pain, including severe nausea and cramping. While pain may be a side effect of surgery or the chemical abortion process, it can also indicate infection, cervical or uterine damage, or the presence of an ectopic pregnancy. With files from National Right to Life. For an analysis of studies on the effect of abortion on womens health, consult also: Womens Health after abortion: The Medical and Psychological Evidence by Elizabeth Ring-Cassidy and Ian Gentles. The deVeber Institute for Bioethics and Social Research, Toronto, c2003.

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OCTOBER 18TH 1928

PERSONS DAY IN CANADA 2006

Not a person Canadian women were not considered persons until the famous Persons Case in 1929. Prior to this women were not considered eligible for appointment to the Senate. A constitutional challenge was launched on behalf of five women: Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise C. McKinney, Irene Parlby and Emily F. Murphy. While recognizing women as human beings, the Supreme Court of Canada declared that women were not persons within the meaning of the British North America Act of 1867. This decision was appealed and judgement was rendered on October 18th, 1929 by the Privy Council in England affirming that women were indeed persons. Were women persons prior to this judgement? Of course, they were! The decision of the Privy Council only marked the moment in history when women were granted legal recognition of their personhood.

Not a person It is incredible that, in the 21st century, the child in the womb still does not have the status of personhood under the Criminal Code of Canada. In fact, according to Section 223, the unborn child is not even legally recognized as a human being until it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of the mother whether or not (a) it has breathed (b) it has an independent circulation (c) the navel string is severed. Therefore, two months, two weeks, two seconds before birth, the preborn child is considered a non-human and consequently cannot be legally recognized as a person. As a result, this child receives no protection whatsoever under criminal law. Given all the technological and scientific advances, such as ultrasound and intrauterine photography, which gives a clear picture of life before birth, is it not just as absurd in 2007 to deprive the baby awaiting birth status of personhood as it was in 1928 to deny personhood to women?

Isnt it time to update Section 223 of the Criminal Code to reflect the scientific knowledge of this century?
Action Life (Ottawa) Inc. 309-376 Churchill Ave. N., Ottawa, ON, K1Z 5C3 Tel: 798-4494 * Website: www.actionlife.org
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PERSONHOOD DENIED

Black Americans were not considered persons 200 years ago. As slaves they had absolutely no rights.

PERSONHOOD DENIED Canadian women were not fully considered persons until the famous Persons case in 1929. Prior to this, women were not eligible for appointment to the Canadian Senate.

Were they persons prior to obtaining this legal recognition?

Of course, they were!

PERSONHOOD DENIED

It is incredible that, in the 21st century, the child in the womb still does not have the status of personhood under the Criminal Code of Canada. As a result, he/she can be killed at any time, by any means, and for any reason, right up to and during his/her birth.

Is it not just as absurd in our time to deprive the baby awaiting birth status of personhood as it was to deny personhood to Canadian women and black Americans?
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Discrimination - Yesterday and Today. Yesterday Canadian Women 1876 British common law is used to uphold the notion that women are...not persons in the matter of rights and privileges. While they have the right to life they cannot inherit property or sue for damages so as to benefit their lives. Prior to 1884 B.C. Provincial law denied mothers any rights and privileges with respect to the disposition, management and education of their children. The father had sole control of a childs destiny. 1916 Defence lawyer Eardley Jackson yells at police magistrate Emily Murphy, "You have no right to be holding court. You're not even a person!" 1928 Although women are human the Supreme Court of Canada declares that women are not "persons" within the meaning of the BNA Act. Personhood and Discrimination.

Today Preborn Children 1990 The law allows a preborn child to inherit property and sue for damages, however it is denied the right to life so receives no benefit from these privileges. 1984 An Ontario Court denies a father the right and privilege to protect his preborn child from being destroyed despite his willingness to share responsibility for care and education. The mother has sole control of the child's destiny. 1983 Laura Sabia shouts at Canadians, "It's a fetus with no rights in law. It is not a person!" 1989, 1991 The Supreme Court of Canada declares that the preborn child is not a person in law and that the humanity of the preborn child is irrelevant.

Even a brief overview of history reveals that its darkest moments have occurred when people failed to recognize other human beings as persons and, therefore, as equals. This denial of personhood to particular members or classes within the human family is traditionally associated with attempts to deprive them of their fundamental rights and privileges. Who would deny that it is flagrant discrimination to arbitrarily strip certain human beings of the right to be deemed persons? Take, for instance... Discrimination in recent history. In North America, Native Americans were considered non-persons, referred to as savages, in order to provide justification for the appropriation of their land. We see this again in the slavery issue, when slaves were considered to be property, to be disposed of or used as the slave owner wished. When the injustice of this was taken to court, the Dred Scott decision was handed down. It recognized that the slaves were indeed human beings, but denied that they were persons. Yet it was this "personhood" upon which their legal rights depended. During the Third Reich, the personhood of an entire group was questioned. Sociologist Irving Louis Horowitz summed up the plight of Jews in that era by saying, "The Jew as a national question; the Jew as a cultural question; the Jew as an economic question, never a person."1 In May 1923, Adolph Hitler asserted, "The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but not human."2 According to Ernst Fraenkel, a German legal scholar, the Reichsgericht, the highest court in Germany, was instrumental in depriving Jewish people of their legal rights. "The Reichsgericht refused to recognize Jews living in Germany as persons in the legal sense."3
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Discrimination in Canada. Canada too has been historically guilty of discrimination; discrimination which in hindsight is recognized as oppressive and arbitrary. Canadian women were not considered persons until October 18th, 1929 when the "Five Persons," Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise C. McKinney, Irene Parlby and Emily F. Murphy, finally won a judgement in the famous Persons Case. This decision obtained for Canadian women legal recognition of their personhood. Emily Murphy, a police magistrate, had constantly heard in her court that, "women are persons in matters of pain and penalties, but not persons in matters of rights and privileges."4 As examples, Mabel French of New Brunswick5 and Annie Langstaff of Quebec6 could not practise as barristers because they were not persons. A defence lawyer once yelled at Emily Murphy, "You're not even a person! You have no right to be holding court."7 In 1928, a constitutional reference was launched on behalf of the five women. The question considered was, "Does the word 'person' in section 24 of the British North American Act (BNA), 1867, include females...? The decision handed down by the Supreme Court of Canada was unanimously answered in the negative. Women were not persons within the meaning of the Act.8 This decision was appealed and on October 18th, 1929, the Privy Council in England declared, "The word person' in Section 24 of the BNA Act,1867 includes members of either sex. "9 Modern Discrimination. In their efforts to depersonalize the human being in the womb, feminists like Michele Landsberg refer to "fertilized eggs" and "to the cult of worship of fertilized eggs."10 A statement of Concerned Citizens for Choice holds that "a pregnant woman has a group of cells growing within her body."11 Mary Anne Warren, a feminist philosopher, speaks of the preborn child as "an entity far below the threshold of personhood."12 Doris Anderson and the National Advisory Council on the Status of Women lobbied vigorously to have the new Charter of Rights omit the preborn child. In 1980 the Status of Women attempted to have the wording of the Constitution changed so that the Charter could not be interpreted as applying to preborn children.13 The Canadian Abortion Rights Action League (CARAL) argued that under the Criminal Code a fetus does not become a person until it is born. And Laura Sabia, like the defence lawyer of yesteryear, bellows, "It's a fetus with no right in law. It is not a person.'' 14 The advent of modern medical technology demonstrates how specious these arguments are. In vitro fertilization has allowed us to witness with our own eyes the beginning of human life. During "out of the womb" surgery, legally the preborn baby becomes a person; yet when the child is returned to the womb it loses its legal personhood. Such legal fiction is intolerable. The past tyranny of some men against women's legitimate rights in order to maintain power for their own convenience has given way to tyranny by some women over the child in the womb for much the same reasons. These women choose to regard the preborn baby as undeserving of personhood - to do so would, of course, interfere with permissive abortion. "Legally, a fetus doesn't have rights" claims Judy Rebick, then of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women. "I don't think you can talk about rights when you're talking about an entity that isn't an independent being.''15

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Others refuse to grant personhood to the preborn because they wish to maintain the status quo, much like the Supreme Court of Canada did when it reaffirmed that women were not persons. Had it not been for the enlightened and progressive thinking of the Privy Council, the status quo would have won the day. Today, there exists a deliberate refusal to recognize the child in the womb as a person despite certain knowledge that it is a human being, the youngest member of the human family. Even though a preborn child can sue for damages suffered while in utero (under civil law) it has been consistently refused the right to live (under criminal law) that it needs in order to exercise its rights. In Daigle v. Tremblay, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that "a fetus is treated as a person only where it is necessary to do so in order to protect its interests after it is born. "16 Why? The Court did not explain. In 1991, the Supreme Court carried this legal absurdity to greater lengths when it declared in the "Midwives' Case" that a nine-month-old baby in the process of birth (its head had emerged from the birth canal) was not a person within the meaning of the Criminal Code. This decision was hailed by radical feminists. Were women not persons until the Privy Council declared them to be so? Of course not; they were always persons. Society simply refused to grant them legal recognition. Is the child in the womb a person? Of course! Yet once again personhood is being used as a device to create a class of human beings who may be discriminated against and thereby deprived of their fundamental rights; in this case, the most fundamental of rights, the right to life. Conclusion. In deciding the "Persons Case" the Privy Council explained: "The exclusion of women from all public office is a relic of days more barbarous than ours, and to those who ask why the word person should not include females, the obvious answer is, why should it not?9 Denying personhood to the preborn child places us in a time of barbarism. To those who ask why human rights should not be granted to the preborn, the obvious answer is, why not? The court transcript of the Privy Council's decision in the "Persons Case" reads in part, "The Constitution is a living tree capable of growth and expansion within its natural limits."9 The Canadian Constitution must grow with human understanding. Our knowledge of the preborn human person has grown to the point that we can no longer refuse to graft these persons upon the living tree described by the Privy Council in 1929.

References. 1.Irving Louis Horowitz, Book Review of Judenat: The Jewish Councils in Eastern Europe Under Nazi Occupation, Commonweal, April 13,1973, p. 139. 2.C.C. Aronsfeld, `The Nazi Design Was Extermination, Not Emigration," Patterns of Prejudice 9, May-June 1975:22. 3.Ernst Fraenkel, The Dual State; A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship, trans. E.A. Shils with Edith Lowenstein and Klaus Knorr (New York; Oxford University Press, 1941), p. 95.

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4.Grant MacEwan...and mighty women too, (Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1975), p. 133. 5.(1905) 37, N.B.R. 359, at 371, Re Mabel French (1912)1 WWR 488 (B.C.C.A.) and S.B. 1912, 0. 18. 6.(1915)470.S.C. 131,at 142. Affirmed at (1915) 16Q.K.B. 11. 7.Isabel Bassett, The Parlous Rebellion, (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1975), p. 165. 8.C.J.C. Anglin, Reference as to the meaning of the word `Persons' in Sec. 24 of the BNA Act, 1867, (1928), 5.CR. 276-304. 9.Edwards v AG. Canada, (1930), Appeal Cases, 124-143. 10.Michele Landsberg, Toronto Star, May 17, 1983. 11.Concerned Citizens for Choice on Abortion, A Woman's Choice - A Strategy for the Abortion Rights Movement, Feb. 1982, p. 47. 12.Mary Anne Warren, Commentary on "Can the Fetus Be an Organ Farm?", Hastings Center Report, October 1978, p. 23. 13.Doris Anderson, Globe and Mail, Nov. 15, 1980. 14.Laura Sabia, Toronto Sun, May 17,1983. 15.Globe & Mail, April 29,1991. 16.Daigle v. Tremblay, p. 29. Acknowledgment: cAlliance Action, 1992.

Personhood
Look at examples throughout history where governments and societies have not properly understood what a human person is: Dred Scott Case Canadian Supreme Court Decision, Winnipeg Child and Family Services Case , 1997 At certain times in history, the word person was defined in a limited way to exclude groups of people. Those excluded were deemed non-persons and were denied certain human rights. Human rights are inalienable and fundamental. The right to life is the most basic right of all. Without the right to life no other rights can exist. In the case of slavery in America the right to own property was placed above the right to freedom of Black Americans. In the abortion issue, Canadian courts argued that the right to privacy and security of the mother was more fundamental than the right to life of her child. The right to life however always comes before matters of personal choice or privacy, just as freedom comes before ownership rights.

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In the eyes of the law...the slave is not a person.

Virginia Supreme Court Decision, 1858.

An indian is not a person within the meaning of the Constitution.

George Canfield, American Law Review, 1881.

The statutory word person did not in these circumstances include women.
British Voting Rights case, 1909.

The Reichsgericht itself refused to recognize Jews...as persons in the legal sense.
German supreme Court Decision, 1936.

The law of Canada does not recognize the unborn child as a legal person possessing rights.
Canadian Supreme Court Winnipeg Child and Family Services Case, 1997.

Sometimes the most important lessons take the longest to learn.

Activities for research: 1. What was the basis in law for enslaving Black Americans? 2. What was the basis in law for not allowing women to hold a seat in the Canadian Senate? 3. What section of the Criminal Code of Canada deals with the status and humanity of the child in the womb? What does it say? Write a short essay using the following ideas: Personhood does not begin: It belongs to all human beings. The definition of person must be grounded in nature not opinion. What happens in a society where some rights are declared arbitrary and are subject to the whims of elected representatives, judges or ethicists?

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Stem cell research

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Expectations

For students to know about the difference between adult and embryonic stem cells. Students should learn about the very real successes of adult stem cell research and treatments. Students should consider the ethics of good medicine and appreciate why medical advances that occur at the expense of others is unethical.

WHAT IS A STEM CELL?

A stem cell is a master cell capable of becoming another cell type in the body such as skin, muscle, heart or nerve cell. These cells make up the organs of the body. There is much confusion surrounding the area of stem cell research, and clarity and morality must be brought to bear when discussing the two types of research, embryonic and adult stem cell research.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research - Is It Ethical?

Human Embryonic Stem Cell research is Unacceptable Life begins at conception the human embryo is a human life Removal of stem cells kills the embryo Obtaining and researching stem cells from a human embryo is unethical and immoral. Research on stem cells from the adult human being, from the placenta and the umbilical cord is harmless and is to be (1) encouraged

THE HUMAN EMBRYO - A HUMAN BEING

Living human embryos must be destroyed in the process of taking their stem cells, hence the killing of a human life at its earliest stage for the sake of scientific experimentation. It is never acceptable to intentionally kill an innocent human being, no matter how small. It is a scientific fact that human life begins at conception/ fertilization not a faith position or belief.(2) Science reveals to us that the human embryo has from the moment of fertilization the complete genetic makeup of a new human life distinct from
mother or father. A human embryo is not a potential human being. It is a human being. Our society has become so accustomed to the taking of human life through abortion and euthanasia that the killing of human embryos for research is but one more step down the slippery slope of the culture of death. We must remember that we are stewards, not masters of human life. Scripture tells us that every individual from the very beginning is part of Gods plan ; Truly, You formed my inmost being : You knit me in my mothers womb. I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made : Wonderful are your works - Psalm 139:

Myth: Embryonic stem cells are the most effective for treating diseases Reality: In fact, theyre not. Embryonic stem cells have not helped a single human patient Myth: Embryonic stem cells are the most effective for treating diseases Reality: In fact, theyre not. Embryonic stem cells have not helped a single human patient or shown any or shown any therapeutic benefit. However, adult stem cells and other ethical alternatives therapeutic benefit. However, adult stem cells and other ethical alternatives have already helped thousands of have already helped thousands of patients. New clinical uses are being discovered almost patients. New clinical uses are being discovered almost weekly around the world. weekly around the world.

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What of surplus embryos?

Some say that embryos left in cold storage after an in-vitro fertilization procedure will be destroyed anyway, so why not use them for research? Terminally ill patients will die as well, may we kill them for scientific research? An evil action is never justified by some promised good that might result from it. Use stem cells? Yes, but we need not destroy human life to do so.

ADULT STEM CELL RESEARCH - ETHICAL ALTERNATIVE Adult stem cell research does not require the destruction of a human embryo. These stem cells can be found in adult blood, bone marrow, nerve tissue, umbilical cords, placentas, fat and skin to name a few. Adult stem cells offer great hope. Since they are taken from the patient for his own use, adult stem cells are not prone to immune rejection. Medical treatments with adult stem cell research are plentiful and have produced significant results. They have proven benefits in clinical trials for: Multiple sclerosis, lupus, juvenile and other rheumatoid arthritis, stroke, immunodeficiencies, anemia, Epstein Barr virus, cancer treatments in combination with . chemotherapy and or/ radiation, leukemias, ovarian cancer, brain tumours, testicular cancer, etc., blood and liver diseases, cardiac repair and too many more to mention
The baby who gave her mother the gift of life
Patrizia Durante learned she was suffering from leukemia when she was 26 weeks pregnant with her daughter Victoria. It was terrifying, she recounted to the media. I was afraid for the baby. I was afraid of dying and not being there for my daughter. It was very difficult and stressful for my family. While Patrizia was still pregnant she was treated with moderate doses of chemotherapy. The treatments were not successful. Doctors decided to deliver the baby prematurely so they could treat Patrizia with higher doses of chemotherapy drugs. On Sept. 2, 2001, Victoria was born two months ahead of time, weighing 31/2 pounds. While waiting for a bone marrow transplant, Patrizia became severely ill . Victorias umbilical cord blood had been frozen in liquid nitrogen and oncologist, Dr. Laneuville decided to transplant the stem cells from the cord blood into Patrizias body. What is circulating in Patrizia veins now is actually her babys blood. Stem cells derived from Victorias umbilical cord helped treat her mothers cancer. Mrs. Durante, now in complete remission counts herself as a leukemia survivor. Were elated Dr. Laneuville told The Post This is the best case scenario we could possible have imagined...From a doctors point of view, the chances are shes cured. The gift of life from an ethical source of stem cells - stem cells from umbilical cord blood. No embryos were harmed by this procedure. She saved her mommy, Durante told CTV News. Shes a little miracle. Thats why we named her Victoria Angel. Shes my little angel. In Mrs. Durantes words I gave my daughter life and then she gave mine back.
(1) Manitoba Physicians for Life (2)Canadian Physicians for Life

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Current Clinical Use of Adult Stem Cells to Help Human Patients Proponents of embryonic stem cell research have created a false impression that these cells have a proven therapeutic use. In fact the embryonic cells have never helped a single human patient; any claim that they may someday do so is guesswork. Adult stem cells have proven benefits, and new uses are constantly being found: Autoimmune diseases Multiple Sclerosis Lupus Juvenile and other Rheumatoid Arthritis Crohns Disease Scleroderma Anemia /Blood conditions Sickle cell Anemia Aplastic Anemia Epstein- Barr Infection Fanconis Anemia Red cell aplasia Thalassemia Major Cancer treatment (in combination with chemotherapy and/or radiation) Brain tumors Retinoblastoma Ovarian cancer Solid tumors Testicular cancer Multiple myeloma, Leukemias Breast cancer Neuroblastoma Non-Hodgkins lymphoma Renal cell carcinoma Cardiac repair after heart attack (clinical trials announced Spring 2001) Immunodeficiencies, including a new treatment for severe combined immune deficiency (when used with gene therapy) Corneal damage (full vision restored in most patients treated in clinical trials)

Cartilage and bone damage Neural Degenerative Disease Parkinsons Disease Stroke Other metabolic disorders Osteogenesis imperfecta

List of Conditions for which Embryonic Stem Cells have helped Human Patients: There is no list. These cells have never helped a human patient.
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Marcus Grompe, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics, Oregon Health Sciences University B an expert in cell transplantation to repair damaged livers says, "there is no evidence of therapeutic benefit from embryonic stem cells." Bert Vogelstein, Professor of Oncology and Pathology at John Hopkins University and Chairman of the Institute of Medicines committee studying stem cell research described all claims of therapeutic benefit from embryonic stem cells as "conjectural." Right to Life News Canada B winter 2004 edition Questions 1. What are the two main types of stem cells? 2. Research some of the successful treatments achieved through the use of adult stem cells. 3. Have there been any successful therapies using embryonic stem cells? 4. Find other news stories dealing with a patient benefitting through the use of adult stem cell applications. List one having taken place here in Ottawa at the Ottawa Hospital in the treatment of patients with multiple sclerosis. www.ottawahospital.on.ca/about/reports/ar05-06.epdf www.ohri.ca/corporate/ohri_ar_04-05_e.pdf Helpful Hint Two excellent sources of information on stem cell research are: www.stemcellresearch.org www.nccb.org (National Conference of Catholic Bishops-United States)

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ASSISTED SUICIDE AND EUTHANASIA

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What is meant by assisted suicide? Assisted suicide is a self-induced death where the means ( drugs or other devices) which cause such a death are provided by a second agent. It could be a doctor or another individual. Although a legal distinction is made between euthanasia and assisted suicide, there is no ethical difference. It remains a criminal act to counsel, aid or abet a suicide because historically it was recognized that those who consider suicide are especially vulnerable to those who could take advantage of them. It was also recognized that it was impossible to enforce any kind of limited assisted suicide and euthanasia, without opening the door to all kinds of abuse. What is euthanasia? Euthanasia means acting or failing to act in such a way as to cause the death of another human being, where the primary intention is to kill, supposedly for his or her own good. No matter what the reason or method, killing is killing. Euthanasia and assisted suicide is saying: We think you would be better off dead.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide advocates present the practice of having someone assist in the death of another as an exercise in compassion. They present killing as an act of mercy hence the term mercy killing. It is however no kindness or mercy to kill the suffering individual. Compassion does not seek to eliminate the sufferer. For ages, our society has recognized that a request for death was a cry for help.

What about pain? We must kill the pain not the patient. Palliative care and pain specialists have at their disposal a vast array of medications to alleviate physical pain in the patient. They inform us that it is possible today to substantially relieve pain in almost all circumstances. Breakthroughs in pain management ensure that patients can be made comfortable. Suffering and pain wear many faces and require different treatments. Palliative care seeks to answer all the needs of the patient: emotional, physical and spiritual. The response to emotional distress is comfort and reassurance. The solution for depression is mental health treatment. Studies have shown that when the needs of patients are met and their fears addressed, the request for death vanishes. The choice is not as it is so often presented, one of accepting life with unrelieved pain or death by assisted suicide/euthanasia. Pain specialists acknowledge that some medical professionals are lacking in their assessment and management of pain. Some patients refuse adequate pain control due to unfounded fears of addiction. Contact your local palliative care association to learn more about the services available in your community.
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 Adequate pain relief is available. We need to improve the care of patients, not kill them. In common law, patients have always had the right to refuse treatment. The assisted suicide and euthanasia movement acknowledge that physical pain and suffering are not the main arguments for assisted suicide. Their main arguments are autonomy and selfdetermination. What if we legalize assisted suicide or euthanasia? The Netherlands tolerated euthanasia for nearly thirty years prior to legalization in 2002. The evidence then as now shows that patients were and are killed without their consent. A 1991 study conducted by the Dutch government in which physicians were granted anonymity revealed that 1/4 of physicians admitted to terminating the lives of patients without an explicit request from the patient. The safeguards of which euthanasia /assisted suicide advocates so often speak have offered no protection to the weak and vulnerable in that country. Once theses practices are accepted, the experience in Holland has clearly shown that involuntary euthanasia will follow. Groningen Hospital announced last December its guidelines for the euthanasia of infants. Evidence of other pediatric euthanasia in Holland was documented in the British medical journal The Lancet in 1997. The legislation enacted in 2002 has made euthanasia/assisted suicide available for sixteen to eighteen year old adolescents without parental approval. Twelve to sixteen year olds who request it may be euthanized if a parent or guardian gives consent.

The legalization of physician assisted-suicide and euthanasia will fundamentally alter the role of physicians. Doctors are for healing not killing. Killing is never a medical treatment Many physicians oppose such measures. The promise of greater patient autonomy is but a deadly illusion. Others may decide when you die.

What about the right to die? Terms such as right to die, choice in dying, aid in dyingare all euphemisms for euthanasia. Actually death is not a right nor a choice but a reality that none of us will escape. The right to die may become an obligation to die. The acceptance of euthanasia and assisted suicide threatens the lives of others. It is not a simple matter of individual freedom as the practice involves a second party in assisting or causing your death. Such measures further weaken respect for human life and abandon the most defenceless. The disabled and other vulnerable individuals fear these actions. Some ethicists argue that even patients with Alzheimers disease which impairs cognitive abilities are no longer persons since they lack self awareness. How can we as a society embrace killing and call it compassion? Killing is not loving. True dignity in death comes about when human life is valued and cared for until its natural end. Those who suffer need to know that they are not a burden. Let us offer love, support and embrace a culture of Life!
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Assisted suicide and euthanasia Expectations: To understand the arguments against physician assisted suicide through a real life situation. To understand how physician assisted suicide and euthanasia could affect people with disabilities. For students to grasp that there is always hope, that the triumph of the human spirit in the face of difficult challenges is one of the greatest treasures of life.

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Life is worth living. by Mark Pickup, Beaumont, Alberta Founder of Human Life Matters (www.humanlifematters.com) It is frightening to live with serious degenerative disability in the Brave New World of the 21st Century, where the sanctity of human life ethos has been replaced by the quality of life ethos. Its been a slow 22 year journey from being healthy, athletic and a contributing worker to this: Only my left arm remains unaffected by disease. In many peoples view Im excess baggage and I have been told that. With each passing year my disability becomes more pronounced. Quality of life is a moving target. What gave my life value at 25 years of age was physical capacity: I was an active, athletic husband and father. Yet today at 52 years, I am wheelchair-dependent but my life has quality. What changed ? My standards changed. Today at 52, what gives my life quality is love, not physical capacity. I love and am loved. In the early dark days of my disability, I needed to grieve my loss. In fact, at about the two to threeyear point with multiple sclerosis, my grief was so unimaginable, my sorrow so deep that my judgement was clouded. I am glad there was no one in the business of granting death wishes back in the mid-1980's. Civilized societies, by definition, do not put down or kill their most vulnerable. Societies that do, lose the right to call themselves civilized. I ask that we resist this present darkness of entertaining euthanasia and assisted suicide as a solution. Let us stop all this talk of killing and re-commit ourselves to each other, to life, to interdependence. A caring significant community has no place for euthanasia. It is committed to the promotion of good palliative care. The Right to Life is the first and highest right because all other human rights depend on it. If the Right to Life is not guaranteed and protected as the first and highest right then all other human rights become arbitrary and uncertain. Did you know that 80% of pregnancies involving a child with Downs Syndrome end in abortion? Did you know that nearly half of all pregnancies involving a child with spina bifida end in abortion? That is eugenic abortion. The world is a treacherous place for the vulnerable, the inconvenient and burdensome of which I am a part. The Terri Schiavo case marked an important watershed for North America by putting a face to the practice of killing cognitively disabled people by starvation and dehydration. Terri Schiavos life was judged by non-disabled people and judged not worth living. Why should I conclude that people will be kinder to me? How will the 21st century treat us? Give us life with dignity not death. At a time when there is increasing provincial and federal concern about rising health- care costs, its worrisome to be incurably ill with a degenerative disease. As medicine becomes more proficient at saving lives, at the same time it has increasingly abandoned a previous sanctity of life ethic for a quality of life ethic. This generation and the one before it have embraced choice and autonomy as the highest of all ideals. We must decide: Do we want autonomy and independence or do we want connection and interdependence of community? As for me, I choose the connection and interdependence of community. I do not have the right to ask another person to kill me or to help me kill myself. I do not have that right because it will compromise their individual humanity and compromise my larger responsibility to the ethos of interdependent community.
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If I opt for assisted suicide or euthanasia, it will not just affect me. It will affect my wife, my children, my grandchildren and it will affect my physician because I will ask her to step away from being a healer and become an executioner. And in a significant way, it will affect my nation by helping to entrench the notion that there is such a thing as a life unworthy to be lived. I dont have that right. I am convinced that the final arbiter of human lifes value is not physical or mental capacity. The value of a persons life cannot be subordinated to its quality. Cost of care cannot outweigh the fundamental good of protecting human life. Never confuse quality of life and the inviolable dignity of the human person: The first is a human condition while the second is a divine inheritance - an unalienable possession of every human life. I am convinced that love is the final arbiter of lifes value. Even when people are not recipients of human love - they are still loved by the author of love and life: God! After more than two decades of illness that is slowly stripping me of physical function, I have come to a conclusion. Death with dignity is not an event - it is a process. People do not generally die with any more dignity than they have lived with. Dignity is not injected into somebodys bloodstream when they are at their lowest point. I know little or nothing about most things, but after 21 years of degenerative Multiple Sclerosis, I have learned a thing or two about suffering and loss. Suffering, sorrow and loss are common to the human experience. We will all suffer at some point in our lives. It cannot be eradicated. Throughout the ages, it has been observed that suffering has the concealed power to draw the sufferer toward Christ if the sufferer allows it. Christ grants a special grace that transcends the suffering. Suffering taught me that at the heart of existence rests a heartrending and beautiful mystery. Once that mystery is glimpsed everything else becomes an irrelevance, a diversion. That mystery is the light of Christ. Many people throughout history have discovered this truth. It is in the dark nights of the soul that Christs light is most evident. That is why the sorrow of affliction and the Joy of Christ can exist simultaneously. This is all I really know: In my suffering, I have received a glimpse of the truth and it is setting me free. Not even this wheelchair can take that freedom from me. Christs light has driven back my darkness. I am finally being set free! I believe God is calling you and me to stand with an unflagging commitment of sacrificial love to every vulnerable human life from conception to natural death ( and every stage in between). That is how Christ loves us. Mark Pickup lives in Beaumont, Alberta. He is involved in advocacy for the disabled Visit www.humanlifematters.com for more articles by Mark Pickup. Mr. Pickup also writes for the Western Catholic Reporter. His column is : My glass is half full. Questions: 1. How might the legalization of assisted suicide have affected this mans life had it been legal at the time that he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis? 2. Do you agree that the potential dangers he speaks of in his article are a real threat to disabled people?
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Research
1. Research the history of euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. A) What countries have legalized euthanasia in the past and present? B) What countries have legalized physician assisted suicide? C) What have been the overall results/abuses in that society? D) Research the Groningen protocol? E) What are the current laws in Canada concerning euthanasia and physician assisted suicide? Helpful Hints: Section 241 of the Criminal Code of Canada Counselling or Aiding Suicide states: Every one who: a) counsels a person to commit suicide, or b) aids or abets a person to commit suicide, whether suicide ensues or not, is guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years. Resources available from Action Life: Dowbiggin, Ian. A concise history of euthanasia : Life, death, God and medicine. Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. Dowbiggin, Ian. A merciful end: The euthanasia movement in Modern America. Oxford University Press, 2003. Ian Dowbiggin is chair of the History Department at the University of Prince Edward Island. Smith, Wesley J. Culture of death: The assault on medical ethics in America. Encounter Books, 2000. Smith, Wesley J. Forced Exit: Euthanasia, assisted suicide and the new duty to die. Encounter Books, 2006. Pope John Paul II. Encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae. Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1995. Additional resources such as books, videos, brochures are available from the office.
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A man even if seriously ill or disabled in the exercise of his highest functions, is and always will be a man, and he will never become a vegetable or an animal. ...The loving gaze of God the Father continues to fall upon them, acknowledging them as his sons and daughters, especially in need of help. - John Paul II, Address to the Participants in the International Congress ; Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific advances and Ethical Dilemnas, March 20, 2004.

Gods love does not differentiate between the newly conceived human infant still in his or her mothers womb and the child or young person, or the adult and the elderly person. God does not distinguish between them because he sees an impression of his own image and likeness (Gn 1 : 26) in each one. - Pope Benedict XVI, Address to the 12th General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, February 27, 2006.

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The child, by reason of his 3D ultrasound - 27 weeks physical and mental gestation immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection before as well as after birth.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child.

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