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Inquiring Young Minds As some of you head back to school, or send your kids off to fill their heads with knowledge, we’d like to make mention of the many pro-life materials the NRL Educational Trust Fund has available to help with those reports on government, current events, biology, or psychology. Advances in the therapeutic use of non-controversial adult stem cells are rendering the perceived “need” for stem cells obtained from destroyed human embryos obsolete. The danger to human embryos, however, remains strong, as many researchers continue to seek state and federal funds for lethal experiments. The Educational Trust Fund offers a 30-minute DVD titled Stem Cells and Cloning. An excellent primer, this is an easy-to-follow introduction to a complex topic. The DVD discusses what stem cells are, the difference between adult and embryonic stem cells, and the wholly misleading term “therapeutic cloning.” NRLC President Dr. Wanda Franz discusses the scientific interest in stem cell research, successes with adult stem cells, and the ethical implications of destroying human embryos for some hypothetical “potential” future benefit to others. This would be a perfect introduction to this subject in biology classes, or in government classes dealing with current events ($10—no extra shipping!). Another excellent resource is Angela Franks’s Margaret Sanger’s Eugenic Legacy. Pro-life chapters or individuals might consider purchasing copies and donating them to high school, college, and/or public libraries. Best suited for college or advanced high school students, the book discusses the eugenic philosophy behind the rhetoric that guided Planned Parenthood’s founder and still guides many advocates of abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, and assisted suicide ($15). Another book that is recommended is unfortunately out of print at the moment is Women’s Health after Abortion: The Medical and Psychological Evidence, which is available on the web page of the De Veber Institute, (www.deveber.org/publications2.html). This edition was published in 2003. This book discusses a number of studies that demonstrate abortion’s detrimental health effects on women, such as increased risk of breast cancer, infertility, substance abuse, and even suicide. Particularly useful is the discussion of the methodological limitations of much previous research in this field, limitations which could easily lead to erroneous conclusions about the safety of abortion. This can really help the pro-lifer answer the ridiculous claim that abortion is “safer” for the mother than childbirth. On a smaller scale, we have a baby’s first months, with pictures of babies in utero at various stages. Brief descriptions tell the reader what’s new at each stage, but the pictures do most of the talking. These are small booklets, about the size of a CD, and may be great additions to high school biology classes dealing with human development (45 cents each, with quantity discounts). One overlooked resource librarians and educators might wish to consider is the Research Bulletin of the Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Values and Social Change. The Bulletin provides information from top researchers in their fields on the medical, psychological, and sociological aspects of abortion. Several issues are available online at http://www.abortionresearch.us/, with more to come. The most recent issue, titled “Abortion Mental Health Research: Update and Quality of Evidence,” deals with the growing body of research that indicates that women with a history of abortion are much more likely than women who have not aborted to experience a number of negative mental health outcomes, affecting not only the mother but her other children as well. The wide range of topics makes this an excellent resource for a number of classroom discussions or essay assignments. The Bulletin is generally published four times a year, and a complete list of titles is available. (Membership in the Association: $25 annually. Single copies of back issues: $1.) Of course, we have our factsheets, one-, two-, or four-page descriptions of a particular topic. These are available on our web page at http://www.nrlc.org/factsheets/, and include Reasons for Abortion ... and a Few Responses, Abortion’s Physical Complications, Abortion’s Psycho-Social Consequences, Teens and Abortion, Abortion Statistics and Trends, Planned Parenthood, The Pain of the Unborn, Deaths from RU486, and Abortion’s Impact on Minorities. These are great introductions to different aspects of abortion, and can really help jump start the class discussion. (Single copies of each are free, and you are free to make copies or download from our web page.) Not to be overlooked is our web page, where you can keep up with, among other things, a decade’s worth of NRL News at http://www.nrlc.org/news/; the online version of Abortion: Some Medical Facts at http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/; our new Communications Blog at http://nrlcomm.wordpress.com/; information about our Essay Contests (one for grades 7–9, one for grades 10–12) at http://www.nrlc.org/essaycontest/; or the basics of the development of the unborn child at http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/facts/fetaldevelopment.html. Search around; you’ll find plenty more. To obtain any of the above materials, or for information on quantity discounts, contact the Trust Fund at education@nrlc.org; (202) 626-8829; or write to 512 10th St. NW, Washington, DC 20004. Unless otherwise noted, add $3.95 shipping for orders under $20, or 20% for orders of $20 and over. |