Pro-Life News in Brief

Kevorkian Remains in Prison Despite Requests for Release

A Michigan judge rejected Jack Kevorkian's fifth request to be released from prison pending his appeal, saying on August 24 that his motion had "no merit," according to the Detroit News. Kevorkian, in his second year of a 10- to 25-year sentence for second-degree murder, then wrote a letter to the U.S. Supreme Court, asserting that physician-assisted suicide is protected under the Ninth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gives to the states rights not assigned to the federal government.

According to the Associated Press (AP), Kevorkian wrote that the amendment "would guarantee for physicians the choice to assess the validity of [a competent patient's euthanasia request] and to provide the service if medically justified." The Michigan Court of Appeals already rejected this argument even before Kevorkian's March 1999 conviction, refusing to dismiss the charges filed against him or to delay his trial.

Kevorkian's lawyer, Meyer Morganroth, filed his latest motion August 11 before Oakland County Circuit Judge Jessica Cooper, the News reported. Morganroth asserted that the 72-year-old retired pathologist looks like a "skeleton," needs to wear a sweater because he is constantly cold, and has high blood pressure, and asked that the judge release Kevorkian until his appeal is heard. If the appeals court upholds Judge Cooper's original sentence, Kevorkian would be eligible for parole in May 2007, according to the News. Kevorkian's appeal is based on " incompetent counsel" at his trial, where he represented himself.

After Judge proceeded to reject Morganroth's motion, Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Anica Letica told the AP that there is very little chance Kevorkian will succeed in his attempts to change his sentence or be released from jail early.

"I don't know how many more ways the judges can say no," Letica said.A jury found Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder March 26, 1999, in the death of 52-year-old Lou Gehrig's disease patient Thomas Youk, whose death by lethal injection was filmed by Kevorkian and later broadcast on 60 Minutes. Youk became one of an estimated 130 victims who have died with Kevorkian's help.

"He's said nobody will stop him from what he does," Letica told the AP. "He videotaped himself committing the murder. He dared us to charge him. The jury convicted him. They followed the law.

"That's pretty much the end of the story," she continued. "His appeal is pending, and his case isn't moving any faster or slower than any other appeal."

Euthanasia Opponents Protest Hemlock Society Conference

Members of disability-rights groups brought their anti- euthanasia message to the Hemlock Society-sponsored conference " Assisted Dying in the New Millennium: An International Perspective," in Boston September 1-3. The conference featured Derek Humphry, Philip Nitschke, and other euthanasia advocates from around the world.

The protesters, organized by the group Not Dead Yet, demonstrated outside the conference hotel, armed with signs and flyers and a conviction that euthanasia is wrong. They asserted that the Hemlock Society's true agenda is not merely the "right to assisted suicides" but the "broader application for people with disabilities, on infants [with diseases or disabilities] and people with dementia," said Stephen Drake, a research analyst for Not Dead Yet, according to the Boston Herald.

"We've come to Boston to call attention to the fact that we're opposed to what's going on in there," Drake told the Boston Globe. "The Hemlock Society and the people they've brought in from around the country are devoted to an agenda that says: Better dead than disabled."

Just days before the conference began, Massachusetts Citizens for Life announced its own protest against the conference's pro- euthanasia agenda: a $30,000 campaign to post advertisements proclaiming "Take My Hand, Not My Life" on buses, in subway stations, and in newspapers.
"As Massachusetts stood like a beacon for liberty against slavery in the 19th century, let Massachusetts stand as a beacon for life against euthanasia in the 21st century," said pro-life champion Dr. Mildred Jefferson at an August 28 press conference announcing the ad campaign held at the State House. "This is the last place where the cynical social-killing agenda of the death peddlers should be advocated."

At the conference, Nitschke, the Australian euthanasia advocate who has proposed various death devices and even an international death ship, displayed his latest "suicide machine," a low-oxygen tent that slowly suffocates its victim, according to the AAP. The "tent would render people unconscious in 20 minutes and dead within an hour," the AAP reported. Nitschke also spoke about the " euthanasia clinics" he conducts in Australia.

Humphry, Hemlock Society founder and author of Final Exit, a book that describes in detail procedures for suicide, spoke about the euthanasia law in Oregon, the first jurisdiction to legalize physician-assisted suicide. Conference participants also heard about the saga of Jack Kevorkian and about organizations in countries around the world that "help" people die.

They also watched a "Right to Die Film Festival," featuring movies and videos on assisted suicide.
In contrast to these topics, speakers at the Massachusetts Citizens for Life press conference stressed the need for respecting the sanctity of life and the right of the disabled and elderly to live.

"I've been down and I've been depressed and in my mind, wished it would end, but never would I have considered doing it myself or asking a doctor," said Mary Drahos, who is confined to a wheelchair from multiple sclerosis and bouts of stomach cancer, according to the Herald.

"Overall," she affirmed, "life is good. We don't understand that life is a gift, that it shouldn't be treated as trash."

Study Acknowledges Post-Abortion Syndrome

A study in the Archives of General Psychiatry confirmed assertions that pro-life researchers have been making for years: some women suffer from a post-traumatic stress disorder known as post-abortion syndrome (PAS) after having abortions.

The study, authored by a team led by Dr. Brenda Major and appearing in the August 2000 issue of the journal, diagnosed PAS in 1.4% of 442 women who were interviewed four times, once before the abortion and one hour, one month, and two years after the abortion. These women reported symptoms such as persistent dreams or flashbacks to the abortion, difficulty falling asleep, and avoidance of thoughts about the abortion that lasted more than one month.

"Even at the low rate identified in this study, the impact is tremendous," said Dr. Vincent Rue, in a press release from the Elliot Institute, a post-abortion research and education organization. "With 40 million abortions since 1972, this would translate into 560,000 cases of PAS."

Other women in the study reported less-severe symptoms that clearly demonstrated negative effects of abortion. Twenty percent experienced clinical depression. According to the study's authors, "Across time, relief and positive emotions declined and negative emotions increased."
In addition, 31% said that if they could make the decision again, they would not have chosen abortion or were undecided. " Since ambivalence is a good predictor of post-abortion problems," Rue said, "it is likely that many of these women are having post- abortion symptoms that simply fall short of full-blown PAS."

The researchers originally approached 1,043 women who were at a clinic to have abortions, and 882 agreed to participate in the study. However, only 442 of those who initially agreed were followed for the complete two-year study. The study authors admit that the "high attrition rate raises concerns about whether the final sample was representative of the initial group." Although they conclude that their results are valid, other researchers are more cautious.

Research has found that women who are most likely to experience negative post-abortion reactions are also least likely to participate in post-abortion research."

In addition to psychological problems, 17% of the women in the study reported physical complications after the abortion, such as excessive bleeding or pelvic infections.

Dwarfism Not a Reason for Abortion, Australian Government Minister Admits

Responding to a senator's blunt questions about the pro-abortion Liberal Party's position on abortion for nonfatal disabilities such as dwarfism, Australian Government Minister John Herron personally condemned such abortions as well as those done late in pregnancy.

However, Herron (Liberal-Queensland) said during the August 28 Senate session that the ruling Liberal Party's position on abortion remains unchanged - - that "it is up to a decision between the person concerned and the doctor involved in that process."

Senator Brian Harradine (Independent-Tasmania) questioned Herron, who was acting as the representative to the Minister for Health and Aged Care, about the government response to the January abortion of a 32-week-old unborn baby with dwarfism in a Melbourne hospital. The abortion, for which three doctors were briefly suspended but quickly reinstated to their jobs, created heated controversy in the country (see NRL News, August 2000, p. 12).

Harradine asked Herron if the government would support Medicare payments for such an abortion, if it considered dwarfism a valid reason for abortion, and if the incident demonstrated the need for more information about abortions that take place in Australia. According to the official transcript of the Senate session, Herron first answered with the straight party line, "At present the government supports the general principle that the decision in relation to abortion is for the person concerned and their medical advisers."

Herron then added that his personal opposition is well known, and that he would ask Health Minister Michael Wooldridge for a further response.

However, Harradine was not satisfied with this answer. "We are talking about a matter of major public policy," he said. "We are talking about a little child who was aborted almost at term for suspected dwarfism. I am simply asking the government to tell the Senate whether the abortion of a near-term baby because of suspected dwarfism is appropriate--yes or no?"

After initially repeating the government's position, Herron, a surgeon, gave an honest, personal answer, clearly rejecting such an abortion. "Certainly, dwarfism-- speaking now from a medical point of view--is not in itself a pathological entity which would warrant an abortion, and certainly not a late-term abortion," Herron said. "There is virtually no medical indication-- in fact, I doubt if there is one--for a late-term abortion in any case. As Senator Harradine knows, at 32 weeks it is a viable baby. The introduction of abortion in that particular case is untenable."