Congratulations to James Sherley for helping stall funding for embryonic stem cell research

Last week a US court granted a temporary injunction which halts US federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The team which obtained the injunction was led by Dr James Sherley, a stem cell expert and a colleague of SPUC. Most interestingly in the ruling was the judge's statement that

"It is not certain whether ESC research will result in new and successful treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease."

This statement, and the ruling itself, is a refreshing victory for innocent human life and true ethical science.

Daniel Blackman, who researches international affairs for SPUC, has written the following summary of the case:

"Dr. James L. Sherley is a biological engineer at Boston Biomedical Research Institute. In October 2009 Dr Sherley and Dr Theresa Deisher, together with a legal team consisting of: Advocates International , Alliance Defense Fund, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Nightlight Christian Adoptions, and the Christian Medical Association, brought a case against, the US Department of Health and Human Services and the National Insititutes of Health ‘Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research’ (July 2009). The National Institutes of Health (NIH), is a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research. The head of the Department of Health is Kathleen Sebelius.

"The Guidelines came about because on March 9, 2009, President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13505, overturning the virtual ban on embryonic stem cell research put in place by the Balanced Budget Downpayment Act (Dickey-Wicker Amendment 1994), which stated no federal funds would be used for creation, experimentation, and destruction of human embryos. In 2001, former president George W. Bush allowed federal funds to be used to fund research on human embryonic stem cells that was deemed to be non-destructive. With President Obama’s executive order, president Bush’s exception for destructive embryonic research was overruled.

"However, the case failed in 2009 on its first attempt. Dr. Sherley and team then successfully appealed. Dr. Sherley’s case argued that the Guidelines were unconstitutional. They contravended the Dickey-Wicker amendment and the exemption put in place by president Bush. The key argument put forward by Dr. Sherley and the legal team is this: extracting and experimenting on embryonic stem cells cannot be separated from the destruction of embryonic stem cells. As such, all embryonic stem cell research is destructive. This would mean that no federal funds should be used for any embryonic stem cell research.

"On August 23rd 2010, Royce C. Lamberth, Chief Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, approved the case against the guidelines. This means that all funding of embryonic stem cell research has for the time being been stopped. The injunction has forced the National Institutes of Health to freeze funding for about 50 embryonic stem cell research proposals. Also included are 22 proposals in line for a total of $54 million in funding.

"On 27th August 2010, Sebelius and her legal team submitted a plea to appeal. They have also submitted an emergency plea to stay (hold-off) the ban on funding. They argue that the Dickey-Wicker amendment can be interpreted in other ways, that embryonic stem cell research will result in cures for all sorts of diseases, that the work of many researchers has been disrupted, that public interest is not being served by banning funding for this research and the list goes on.

"This case is very important. A legal team of experts are taking the Department of Health to court. If Sebelius is successful, government funding for embryonic stem cell research will continue and increase, as seen from the numbers above.

"However, if Dr. Sherley and team are successful, the executive order of Obama, and the guidelines, will be defunct. However, Dr. Sherley will be doing even more. If successful, the federal funding on embryonic stem cell research permitted by George W. Bush in 2001 will also be stopped. This is due to the key argument that you cannot separate the extraction and research on embryonic stem cells from the destruction of the embryo."

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Catholic officials' heads are kept, deliberately, buried in the sand

On Sunday, Vincent Nichols, the archbishop of Westminster, was asked by Andrew Marr of the BBC:

"Do you share that sort of vision that Britain is a particularly Godless and indeed sort of death culture society, extremely secular by modern standards?"

Archbishop Nichols replied:

"Well it's not how I would describe our society at all actually. I think our society is characterised as much by generosity and by genuine concern one for another, and I think religious faith is taken quite seriously by probably a majority of people in this country."

I can't think of anyone, Catholic or non-Catholic, religious or non-believer, who believes that

"religious faith is taken quite seriously by probably a majority of people in this country".

And with 570 babies killed daily in Britain and with well over two million embryos discarded, or frozen, or selectively aborted, or miscarried or used in destructive experiments since the birth of the first IVF child was born over thirty years ago, how can the archbishop blithely dismiss the culture of death without having his head kept, deliberately, buried in the sand?
 
The archbishop's view was mirrored perfectly by Dr Austen Ivereigh on the BBC's Today programme on Saturday morning. Dr Ivereigh is a former deputy editor of The Tablet, the anti-life/anti-family house journal of British liberal Catholic dissent, and former public affairs director to Cormac Cardinal Murphy O'Connor, archbishop emeritus of Westminster. Dr Ivereigh is currently the co-founder, with Jack Valero, of Catholic Voices. Dr Ivereigh told Today that:

• Britain is not "a very, very secular society"
• "we can find the balance" between gay people's right in law to adopt children and "freedom of religion"

This is the same Dr Ivereigh who in 2005 wrote to The Catholic Herald claiming that:

"[T]here is no Catholic school in Britain, joint or otherwise, in which Catholic children are being taught less than the Catholic faith in its integrity."

How can this possibly be the case with so many Catholic schools, at the behest of the Catholic bishops' conference of England and Wales, welcoming Connexions, a government agency which is committed to giving schoolchildren, under the age of 16, access to abortion and abortifacients without parental knowledge or permission?

Move over to The Guardian, the house journal of Britain's pro-abortion movement, and one finds Kieran Conry, bishop of Arundel and Brighton, saying:

"I think [Pope Benedict] may well be relieved to be coming to a place where, unlike some of his other recent trips, there are no big problems for him to sort out."

Even the interviewer, Peter Stanford, another Tablet stalwart, balked at that, writing:

"Well, that might be going a bit far."

All this bears out the truth of recent The Catholic Herald report that Catholic officials

"are hoping that the Pope will not further inflame anti-Catholic sentiment by speaking out against gay marriage or adoption, or abortion and divorce."

And all this makes it all the more important that the Holy Father ignores these head-in-the-sand Catholic officials and reminds the people of Britain that this country is

"the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death".

The UK, not the US, China, North Korea or any other country you care to mention, has always been the main operating base and favourite milieu of the movement for abortion, contraception and eugenics – “the culture of death” identified by John Paul II. That movement is more dangerous, and is responsible for deaths of more people, than any government in history. That movement dates back far beyond the 1967 Abortion Act and part of its origins can be found with Malthus and Galton in the 19th century. IPPF’s central office has always been London, as has Marie Stopes International's. There are many other good reasons why Britain is indeed “the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death” - and the tragic fact is that the Catholic bishops' conference of England and Wales, led by Archbishop Nichols, is co-operating with that culture rather than confronting it with the truth about the sanctity of human life. Is that why the archbishop is in denial about the death culture in Britain?

As Fr Tim Finigan aptly puts it:

“[T]he London-centred secularist elite in Britain ... relentlessly work to draw us into collaboration and compromise until we are unable any longer to speak out for the truth - or more pertinently, for the sanctity of the life of those who are the smallest and weakest of all.”

Let's pray that Pope Benedict, when he comes to Britain later this month, dares to speak out for the truth ... for the sanctity of the life of those who are smallest and weakest of all.

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Jack Valero uses Blair-style tactics on Birmingham Oratory crisis

I published a post earlier this week about The Journey, Tony Blair's memoirs, in which Blair admitted to:

"'bending and distorting' the truth as prime minister, but says a degree of manipulation and distortion are necessary to govern, and voters accept that. 'Politicians are obliged from time to time to conceal the full truth, to bend it and even distort it, where the interests of the bigger strategic goal demand it be done. Without operating with some subtlety at this level, the job would be well-nigh impossible.'"

Reading last week's Catholic Herald this morning I was struck by the mastery shown by Jack Valero (pictured), the spokesman for the Birmingham Oratory, of these Blair-style tactics in his article "The Birmingham Three protests harm the Church". Visitors will know that I have blogged a number of times about the Birmingham Oratory crisis caused by the sudden expulsion of three Oratorians from the Birmingham Oratory on the Catholic feast day of Our Lady of Fatima (May 13) this year.

Jack Valero says that the Birmingham Three campaign:

"has morphed into an attempt to drive a wedge between the so-called 'liberal' hierarchy and the 'orthodox' Oratorians by those who criticise the bishops for being too 'liberal'. As an orthodox Catholic I deplore this myth ... "

As a Catholic loyal to the magisterium of the Catholic church I deplore Jack Valero's shameful misrepresentation.

Catholic families in England and Wales are living under the yoke of a liberal hierarchy which pursues policies which are seriously harmful to the common good of Catholic families and non-Catholic families alike, for example:

• helping the government to promote abortion amongst schoolchildren under the age of consent, without parental knowledge or consent, 
• the openness of Bishop Malcolm McMahon, the current Catholic Education Service chairman, to headteachers being in same-sex unions* 
• Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster making clear his support for the prevailing government ideology on sex and relationships education, and defending the Catholic Education Service's appointment of Greg Pope, a former Labour MP with a lengthy anti-life/anti-family record
• and Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster failing to rule out the Catholic church sanctioning gay unions in the future

There's a lot more to say about Jack Valero's article but  there's no hurry. After all the Birmingham Three won't be coming back to the Birmingham Oratory "soon" as Jack Valero said on BBC radio West Midlands two months ago. No, they "are travelling the world, working as priests in good standing ... praying in monasteries, studying, writing, taking holidays, visiting friends and deepening their formation ... " as Jack now tells us in his Blair-style piece in the Catholic Herald.

* The late Pope John Paul II, the great pro-life champion, taught in paragraph 97 of his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae that it is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not offer adolescents and young adults an authentic education in sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection.

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Support 40 Days for Life in the UK

Here is some information adapted from 40 Days for Life about its campaign in the UK, 22 September to 31 October:

40 Days for Life is a pro-life initiative that began in the USA. 40 Days for Life consists of:

• 40 days of prayer and fasting
• 40 days of peaceful vigil
• 40 days of community outreach

To date:

• More than 350,000 have joined together in an historic display of unity to pray and fast for an end to abortion
• More than 11,500 church congregations have participated in the 40 Days for Life campaigns
• Reports document 2,811 lives that have been spared from abortion — and those are just the ones we know about
• 35 abortion workers have quit their jobs and walked away from the abortion industry
• Six abortion facilities completely shut down following local 40 Days for Life campaigns
• Hundreds of women and men have been spared from the tragic effects of abortion, including a lifetime of regrets
• More than 850 news stories have been featured in newspapers, magazines, radio shows and TV programmes
• Many people with past abortion experiences have stepped forward to begin post-abortion healing and recovery.

As they saying goes, "actions speak louder than words". I think these actions speak very loudly indeed.

40 Days for Life is now coming to London from 22 September to 31 October. A constant vigil will be keep outside the Marie Stopes abortion clinic in central London, 24 hours a day, for 40 days.

The bottom line is this: if you

• are prolife
• care about the plight of unborn children
• care about the countless women left scarred by abortion
• want to reach out to the many men who should have been fathers
• want to do something that will save lives and change the culture of death into a culture of life

then please, commit yourself to supporting 40 Days for Life London. Sign-up, and make a weekly commitment to prayer with fellow pro-lifers at the vigil outside Marie Stopes in central London.

This isn’t just an invitation or an awareness campaign aimed at churches and pro-life organisations; it’s a personal invitation to each and every person, to prayer, fast, and act.

More information and ways to commit can be found on the 40 Days for Life London website.


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Set aside 10 minutes to watch this pro-life video

This is a wonderful pro-life production from 13 year-old Lia.  I will say no more, except, set aside 10 minutes and watch it.



Do let me know what you think of this video. Tell me, if you would, your age and occupation - and your suggestions as to how the video might be used by the pro-life movement.  I would like to share your thoughts, through this blogpost, with my visitors.

Here are some comments I've received:

The Pro-Life community is constantly growing with the maturing of new wave of dynamic young defenders of life. Lia has a gift for communication that far surpasses her 13 years. She is one of many young pro-lifers who are coming to the fore and denouncing the arbitrary killing of so many from their generation. 
 
I believe that youth from around the world should be asked to give their reflections and testimonies on the life issues like Lia does so well. The freshness and frankness of youth is a welcome addition to the social discourse on abortion and related topics. Joseph Meaney, Director of International Coordination,
Human Life International 

I think Lia has presented the arguments in a very clear manner, and what comes across is her personal conviction in the matter i.e. the video is not just a performance. The arguments are all so straightforward, common-sense, and I think this would be excellent material for use in schools - unfortunately not what our government had in mind under the rubric of sex education, but a serious approach to the most crucial ethical question of our age.
Philip Gudgeon

Brilliant video! It's so encouraging to hear young people willing to speak out in defence of the unborn, especially someone as young as Lia. Clearly, Lia is already a fantastic orator with the gift of being able to deliver the truth with courage, confidence and clarity. Lia is not afraid to stand up and be counted as a defender of the unborn, which is truly admirable, given the prevalent culture of death that surrounds us. We can all learn from Lia that no matter how old we are, we can and should stand up for what is right. I hope that many more people, young and old will be inspired by Lia to defend and protect human life from its earliest beginnings until its natural end. Anne Howard, 2nd year student, Bristol University, reading philosophy

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Tony Blair's memoirs reveal that dishonesty was the dark heart of his anti-life/anti-family premiership

Tony Blair's memoirs, entitled A Journey, have been published today and we have a copy at SPUC HQ. Here are some key points from it:

• "Politicians are obliged from time to time to conceal the full truth, to bend it and even distort it".
• On Hans Kung, the theologian and notorious dissenter from Catholic teaching on abortion, euthanasia, contraception and much else: "My Oxford friend, Pete Thomson, always sung the praises, rightly, of the inestimable Hans Kung ... a distinguished scholar and author [of] great works."
• repeated references to his support for the homosexual agenda*, such as: "Just before Christmas [2005] the Civil Partnership Act came into force ... I was really proud of that."
• On illicit affairs by politicians: "I tended to look upon such things with a fairly worldly eye".

Mr Blair also writes:

"[Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein shared] a common set of attitudes: indifference to human life; the justification of mass killing..."

At no point does Mr Blair express the slightest regret for his lengthy record of support in parliament and government for abortion, abortifacient birth control and euthanasia - in other words,

"indifference to human life; the justification of mass killing".

Indeed, Mr Blair has refused to repudiate his record. He and his wife Cherie have continued their campaign against Catholic pro-life/pro-family teaching. 

Yet of most interest is Mr Blair's wordly-wise admission that he "conceal[ed] the full truth", "ben[t] and even distort[ed] it". Here are a few key examples of that:

Teenage pregnancy
In 1998 Mr Blair's government launched its teenage pregnancy strategy, and Mr Blair himself wrote the forward to one of its key documents (Teenage Pregnancy, Social Exclusion Unit, 1999). Yet, as The Telegraph pointed out so cogently last week, that strategy was based on the falsehood that greater provision of sex education, abortion and contraception lowers teenage pregnancy rates. Well before Mr Blair was forced to retire as prime minister in 2007, it was clear that the strategy was a failure; yet the Labour government continued pumping millions of taxpayers' pounds into the strategy up to and beyond Mr Blair's departure from office.

Embryonic stem cell research
As prime minister Mr Blair made clear his ardent support for destructive embryo research [2000, 2004, 2006], speaking of his ambition that Britain will become an international centre for embryonic stem cell research. Yet over two decades of destructive embryo research, including years of embryonic stem cell research, have provided none of the cures or treatments which its advocates claimed it would.

Euthanasia by omission
In 2005 Mr Blair's government steered through parliament the Mental Capacity Act. Mr Blair himself, with the active assistance of the Catholic bishops' conference of England and Wales, successfully misled parliament and the public into believing that the Act did not entail euthanasia.

I could add many other similar examples, which readers can find referenced on this blog.

* The late Pope John Paul II, the great pro-life champion, taught in paragraph 97 of his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae that it is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not offer adolescents and young adults an authentic education in sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection.

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European bishops express renewed concern about directive on protection of animals

COMECE, the Catholic bishops' conference for Europe has spoken out again about the dangers for human embryos of a draft European directive on the protection of animals.

A draft directive on animal experimentation will be debated during the European Parliament’s plenary session on 7 September. If approved, the draft will become European Union (EU) law. The directive could result in scientists experimenting on human embryos instead of animals. Of particular concern is article 4 paragraph 1 of the draft directive. This article calls for member states to use alternatives to animal testing when avaliable. This could be interpreted to mean using human embryos instead of animals.

On 12 August, SPUC issued an international newsletter on this matter, available in 5 languages. A summary and links to the newsletter are avaliable from my previous blogpost of 12 August. Well over a thousand pro-life partners have received this newsletter through the post, as we work towards greater and more effective pro-life action at the European level.

Full details about this issue are available in the newsletter, and the SPUC website here. We have also produced an in-depth briefing on this issue, also on our website here.

COMECE, the Catholic bishops conference for Europe, has issued two press releases about animal experimentation and the threat to human life. The first, released on 6 June, can be read here. This press release also expresses concern about article 4 paragraph 1, and reminds us of the fundamental dignity of human life. The second press release, published yesterday, expresses renewed concern about this draft directive. The COMECE press release draws our attention to the Alternative Testing Strategies - Progress Report 2009, of the European Commission. This report suggests five alternatives to animal testing, each involving the experimentation upon and destruction of human embryos.

Pleasecontact the members of the European Parliament (MEPs) http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry.do?language=EN representing your area and tell them that:

• you are concerned about the draft directive entitled “The protection of animals used for scientific purposes” presented by Elizabeth Jeggle (Germany)
• the directive will be debated during the European Parliament’s plenary session on 7 September 2010
• the directive would require European Union (EU) member-states to “ensure that, wherever possible, a scientifically satisfactory method or testing strategy, not entailing the use of live animals, shall be used instead of a procedure.” (art. 4, para. 1)
• this article could result in scientists experimenting on human embryos instead of animals
• you object to experimentation on human embryos, as human embryos have a right to life and to dignity equal to all other members of the human family
• you want them to vote for four amendments which would protect human embryos and foetal tissue from being used as alternatives to animal testing (amendments 175, 176, 227 and 228 http://www.ecbr.eu/pdf/Amendments%20134-275.pdf).

Please also contact animal rights organisations in your country, explaining to them why these amendments should be passed.


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