Archive for March, 2016

Mother’s Day

Pregnant Survivor of Brussels Terrorist Bombings Writes Touching Letter to Her Unborn Child

The world is reeling from the massive terrorist attacks last week in Brussels and Pakistan that killed dozens and left hundreds more wounded. But a pregnant woman who survived the Belgium attack walked away with a glimmer of hope amid the grief and destruction: Her unborn baby was safe.

The Telegraph reports the story of Sneha Mehta, 28, and her husband, Sameep, who had just arrived at the Brussels Airport last Tuesday when Islamic terrorists set off two bombs in the terminal. Terrorists also bombed the city’s metro system.

The couple said they had just walked off their flight from the United Arab Emirates when the bombs went off. Seeing the ceiling starting to fall down toward their heads, the couple rushed out of the building, according CNN. Though unharmed, the Mehtas grabbed a taxi and went to a nearby hospital to make sure their unborn baby was OK, the report states.

There on the ultrasound screen, the couple saw their 16-week unborn baby looking perfectly content sucking its thumb and moving around, according to the report. They do not know if it is a boy or girl yet.

When the couple finally got home, Sneha wrote a letter to her unborn child about her experiences on that terrible day. It reads:

“Hi Sweetheart,

“I don’t know if we already acknowledged this with you in person, but when you were 16 weeks old, mum and dad were in an explosion at Brussels Airport.

“And no matter where humanity is today, I just want to tell you that life is a wonderful thing, and the world is really full of remarkable people.

“You didn’t just give mum and dad faith and reason to live, you gave the awareness and presence of mind like never before.

“I felt more alive than I ever have, and I knew I had to protect you, so I was calm, composed and fully aware that we will survive.

“When we reached Sint-Augustinus emergency, and we saw you oblivious and sucking at your thumb at the ultrasound, and doing your general acrobatics, all the mistrust, hate and angst for the terrorist attack vaporized.

“I do hope with all my heart that you are born into a better world, and if not, then you do absolute best to make it that.

“You are absolutely precious to us, and have already been a hero today. I guess the world has sent so much love and hope your way, you owe your life to reciprocating that goodness.

“May you always be brave and healthy. We love you beyond words.

“Mum and Dad”

The expecting mother said she “knew for sure” that she would survive the attack. Her confidence came from her desire to protect her unborn baby, she said.

CNN reports the death toll from the Brussels terrorist attack is now 35, and approximately 300 others were injured. Another terrorist attack, apparently the work of the Taliban, occurred on Easter Sunday in a park in Pakistan where children and families were gathered, according to ABC News. About 70 people were killed and more than 300 others were injured, according to the report.

Amid such horrible acts of death and destruction, it is difficult to find hope for the future. But Sneha’s touching letter is a reminder that hope is renewed every time a new human life begins.

SnehaMehta

Spring Newsletter

Spring 2016 Newsletter web page top

 

Dear Friends of One More Soul,

We welcome you to our Spring newsletter page!  You’ll find that it is filled with educational information, events, services and a resource guide highlighting some of our products.  We want this newsletter to be valuable for you so please share your feedback and suggestions to help us improve.

The Holy Father’s interview on the flight to Rome on February 17/18 has generated huge attention to what the Catholic Church does and does not teach about contraception—specifically what exceptions (if any) are permitted for the use of contraception. The supposed exception for rape-threatened-nuns in Africa was mentioned by the Pope and has since been set aside as a myth.

Most commentators have expressed alarm caused by yet another confusing off-the-cuff statement that could be interpreted as inconsistent with Church teaching. My take on this is that the Holy Spirit is working through/with Pope Francis to provide a great opportunity—obligation even— for the Catholic clergy to clarify for the masses (and preferably, at Mass) what the Church (Jesus) teaches about contraception.

Our website offers many resources to assist teachers and homilists:
“Getting Beyond I Can’t” by Fathers Matthew Habiger, OSB, PhD, and Daniel McCaffrey, STD. (Order code PGBI)
Called to Give Life, A Primer on the Blessings of Children and the Harm of Contraception, by Jason Adams, includes many sample homilies and Scriptural opportunities for use during the liturgical year. (Order code BCTG)
Janet E Smith’s translation (from the Latin) of Humanae Vitae, with introductory essay, including an important 2009 correction. (Order code KHVT)

We continue to need your financial support in the form of charitable gifts. By your purchases of our resources for sharing with pastor, family, teachers and friends you will be extending the OMS reach beyond our mailing list, which is very important.

May God bless you abundantly.

Steve

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PATP

Delighted Pope, Equally Delighted Teens with Down Syndrome

http://aleteia.org/2016/02/16/watch-delighted-pope-equally-delighted-teens-with-down-syndrome/

You are hereby dared to watch this video and not smile at the clear delight His Holiness takes in greeting these two girls, and their happiness at being called to him. Hugs are exchanged, rosaries given. May these two young ladies wear those beads out; the prayers of the innocent are powerful, and people with Down syndrome — who are gifted with a huge, underappreciated capacity for love and nearly aborted into extinction — know how to pray with big, generous hearts.

Perhaps that’s why the Evil One would prefer not to see them born?

Dare I say that? Yes, I think I dare.

Peter walks — has always walked — among those whose “quality of life” seems dubious to the world, which wonders why some people are permitted to be born at all. He gives them a bit of time, a bit of “kindness therapy” and thus affirms to the world that they are indeed acceptable to God with the life they have; that the life they have is as valuable as anyone’s. Even the most beautiful and most celebrated.

In Mexico, as you can see above and here and here and here, Peter has been doing a lot of affirming.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you …

Surrogate refuses abortion demand: parents threaten to withhold payment

THOUSAND OAKS, California, December 14, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – Another surrogate carrier is fighting for the life of the child in her womb.

As LifeSiteNews reported, Melissa Cook in California is carrying triplets conceived by a Georgia man and a 20-year-old egg donor. Since all three survived and are growing in Cook’s womb, the Georgia man is threatening Cook with financial ruin if she does not abort at least one of the babies.

Now, surrogate carrier Brittneyrose Torres is being pressured to abort at least one of her triplets. She told The New York Post that the birth parents “knew from the beginning that we wouldn’t want to abort unless it was a life-and-death situation.”

Torres, 26, was initially implanted with two embryos in hopes that one of them would develop. It is the usual practice to implant more than one conceived baby because many do not survive the procedure. In Torres’s case, not only did both survive, a boy and a girl, but twinning occurred, giving Torres one girl and two twin boys.

Initially excited about triplets, the parental contractors later claimed increased risk of developmental disabilities and demanded that Torres abort the girl.

“I told her I couldn’t abort one of the children,” Torres told The Post. “I believe it will be killing this baby.” She even offered to adopt the girl, but the parental contractors refused.

“Reproductive technology has reduced each of the children in question to a commodity that can be traded, discarded, killed, or accepted, according to the whims of the parents who paid for the procedure,” Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, told LifeSiteNews.

“It is clear that such technology breeds cavalier attitudes toward children who result from such practices,” Ms. Brown concluded. “As a result, the dignity that each pre-born child possesses is too easily ignored.”

“Torres’s decision to choose life for the triplets she was asked to carry for another couple speaks volumes to what is wrong with reproductive technology, and why the Catholic Church has been wise to teach that each child has a right to be created within the context of a loving marriage between a man and a woman,” the pro-life leader told LifeSiteNews. “This is very sad, and it calls us to remember that building a culture of life begins with accepting God’s plan for the procreation of children.

“No one has a right to a child, and surely no one should have the right to instruct a third party, a surrogate mother, to kill babies that they engaged the surrogate to carry for them,” the American Life League co-founder stated. “Thankfully, Britney has chosen to ignore the instructions of her triplets’ parents, and she will carry them to term.”

In both the Torres and Cook cases, the contract signed included a provision giving the parental contractors the legal right to order an abortion. In both cases, the parental contractors are withholding payments until the surrogate carriers abort.

“I want other women not to be put in this situation,” Torres said. “They shouldn’t be forced to do something they don’t want to.”

Annunciation

Depo-Provera contraceptive increases risk of HIV infection: new study

March 8, 2016 (POP) — A new peer-reviewed study,1 conducted in collaboration with the Population Research Institute (PRI), shows that women who use Depo-Provera are significantly more likely to acquire HIV.

Due to funding from organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and agencies like the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Depo-Provera is the most widely used form of birth control by women in Sub-Saharan Africa where HIV prevalence remains high.

The study found that Depo-Provera and other DMPA based injectable contraceptives increased women’s risk of acquiring HIV-1 by 49% compared to those not using hormonal contraception.

Depo-Provera, a pharmaceutical brand owned by Pfizer, Inc., is a long-term injectable contraceptive that prevents pregnancy for three months.

The active ingredient in Depo-Provera, and other injectable contraceptives like Depo Sub-Q Provera 104, is a progestin known as depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA). DMPA based injectable contraceptives account for an estimated 70% of injectable contraceptives procured by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and government agencies, like the UNFPA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The study involved a meta-analysis of 23 articles from peer-reviewed journals, making this study the largest of its kind to date. The authors found consistent evidence that women using DMPA acquired the HIV-1 virus at significantly higher rates than the general population. In total, 88% of cross-sectional studies and 75% of longitudinal studies demonstrated a higher risk among DMPA users.

Joel Brind, Professor of Biology and Endocrinology at the City University of New York, Steven Condly, Research Psychologist at the U.S. Military Academy, Steven W. Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute, Anne Morse, graduate student at Pennsylvania State University, and Jennifer Kimball, Adjunct Professor of Bioethics at the Ave Maria School of Law participated in the study.

The authors also delved into possible biological explanations for why DMPA increases the risk of HIV. Researchers found a number of studies showing that DMPA weakens the body’s immune system and thins natural epithelial barriers that prevent the HIV virus from infecting women.

While study after study has demonstrated a clear and strong association between HIV and DMPA, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Gates Foundation and other interested parties involved in procuring injectable contraceptives worldwide have been less keen on the issue.

The WHO’s failure to acknowledge the associated risk has caused a controversy that has spanned political persuasions on both the left and the right.

A controversial statement released by the WHO acknowledges the evidence of an increased HIV risk. Yet, in spite of the associated risks involved, the WHO recommends that:

There are no restrictions on the use of hormonal contraceptives, including DMPA for women at high risk of HIV (MEC Category 1)

While scientists are still not certain why women who used DMPA were more likely to acquire HIV, a number of studies have found significant evidence of possible causal associations between DMPA and HIV transmission.

Huijbreghts, et al. (2013),2 for example, found in in vitro experiments that MPA decreased immune cell’s production of cytokines and chemokines essentially to the immune system and reduced the proliferation of T-cells. Others like Govender, et al. (2014),3 have shown that MPA, unlike endogenous progesterone, represses inflammatory cytokines by acting as a glucocorticoid receptor agonist.

In spite of the evidence, the WHO claims:

There is no evidence of a causal association between DMPA use and an increase in women’s risk of HIV acquisition.

It is unclear why the WHO continues to ignore the evidence of the associated risk of HIV. Some have suggested that the WHO and the U.N. are catering to some their largest donors. Up to 10% of the WHO’s annual budget is financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. DMPA injectables are often appealing for population control programs because they are not subject to “user-error” and remain effective for long periods of time.

The WHO could also be turning a blind eye to the issue in light of the recent release of Sayana Press, Pfizer’s one-time use DMPA injectable intended for self-injection, which has been strongly promoted with the support of the Gates Foundation, USAID, and others. Trial introductions of the injectable in Africa have not relied on doctors and nurses but rather largely on unlicensed community health workers for distribution. A stronger statement from the WHO on recommendations for DMPA use would necessarily hamper efforts to widely distribute the new injectable contraceptive.

Depo-Provera is also one of Pfizer’s fastest growing products by total sales, with an almost 30% increase in revenue from FY 2012-2013. In 2014, Pfizer took in over $200 million in revenues from Depo-Provera sales

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With HIV prevalence rates exceeding 20% of the adult population in some African countries, the WHO offers condoms as a solution to any possible risk associated with the use of DMPA. According to the WHO:

Women and couples at high risk of HIV acquisition considering progestogen-only injectables should also be informed about and have access to HIV preventive measures, including male and female condoms.

As Brind, et al. (2015) includes both DMPA users who reported using and not using condoms, there is reason to doubt that the recommendation—that serodiscordant and high risk couples use barrier methods such as condoms for protection against HIV-1 transmission—will be effective. As condom failure rates for pregnancy prevention are 18-21% within the first year with typical use,4 failure rates for STI prevention are likely similar.

Areas where HIV prevalence is high are also areas where condom use is inconsistent and has high failure rates.

A large study in Uganda5 showed inconsistent condom use failed to protect against HIV acquisition. Inconsistent users were found to contract HIV at incidence rates higher than persons who reported not using condoms at all. Even as consistent usage was found to reduce the risk, almost four times as many persons who reported using condoms used them inconsistently rather than consistently. As Uganda ranked 10th in the world for HIV prevalence among adults of reproductive age in 2013, according WHO data, adopting a policy of recommending condom usage with DMPA could have disastrous consequences.

Conversely, Niger, a country with one of the lowest contraceptive prevalence rates in the world, has one of the lowest HIV prevalence rates in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prevalence of HIV among adults of reproductive age in Niger match those in Spain and are only 0.1% higher than HIV prevalence in the U.K. According to 2012 data from the U.N. Population Division, female contraceptive prevalence in the U.K. was second only to China.

It is not likely that advising women who use DMPA to also use condoms will have much effect. Even in the United States where contraceptive prevalence and education remains high, among couples who report using dual methods of contraception, over 40% reported using condoms incorrectly and half fail to use them on a consistent basis.6 As less than one-third of South African women using hormonal contraception reported using dual methods,7 it is irresponsible to counsel women to use condoms as an effective means of protection against HIV.

For more information about PRI’s new study and the promotion of injectable contraceptive worldwide, visit https://www.pop.org/depo-provera-hiv.

1. Joel Brind, Steven J. Condly, Steven W. Mosher, Anne R. Morse, and Jennifer Kimball, “Risk of HIV infection in depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) users: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” Issues in Law & Medicine, 2015; 30(2):129-139.

2. Huijbregts, Richard P. H., E. Scott Helton, Katherine G. Michel, Steffanie Sabbaj, Holly E. Richter, Paul A. Goepfert, Zdenek Hell, “Hormonal contraception and HIV-1 infection: medroxyprogesterone acetate suppresses innate and adaptive immune mechanisms,” Endocrinology, 2013; 154(3): 1282-1295, doi: 10.1210/en.2012-1850.

3. Govender, Yashini, Chanel Avenant, Nicolette J. D. Verhoog, Roslyn M. Ray, Nicholas J. Grantham, Donita Africander, Janet P. Hapgood, “The injectable-only contraceptive medroxyprogesterone acetate, unlike norethisterone acetate and progesterone, regulates inflammatory genes in endocervical cells via the glucocorticoid receptor,” PLOS ONE, 2014; 9(5), doi:10. 1371/journal.pone.0096497.

4. Lisa B. Haddad, Chelsea B. Polis, Anandi N. Sheth, Jennifer Brown, Athena P. Kourtis, Caroline King, Rana Chakraborty, Igho Ofotokun, “Contraceptive methods and risk of HIV acquisition or female-to-male transmission,” HHS public access author manuscript, published in: Current HIV/AIDS Reports, 2014; 11(4): 447–458, doi:10.1007/s11904-014-0236-6.

5. Saifuddin Ahmed, Tom Lutalo, Maria Wawer, David Serwadda, Nelson K. Sewankambo, Fred Nalugoda, Fred Makumbi, Fred Wabwire-Mangen, Noah Kiwanuka, Godfrey Kigozi, Mohamed Kiddugavu and Ron Gray, “HIV incidence and sexually transmitted disease prevalence associated with condom use: a population study in Rakai, Uganda,” AIDS, 2001; 15:2171-2179.

6. Jenny A. Higgins, Nicole K. Smith, Stephanie A. Sanders, Vanessa Schick, Debby Herbenick, Michael Reece, Brian Dodge, J. Dennis Fortenberry, “Dual method use at last sexual encounter: a nationally representative, episode-level analysis of US men and women,” HHS public access author manuscript, published in: Contraception, 2014; 90(4): 399–406, doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2014.06.003.

7. Catherine MacPhail, Audrey Pettifor, Sophie Pascoe, Helen Rees, “Predictors of dual method use for pregnancy and HIV prevention among adolescent South African women,” Contraception, 2007; 75(5): 383-389.