Letters

Kudos for corporate watch

Thank you for the corporate watch update in the August edition. Perhaps we had read of companies supporting embryonic stem cell research in secular newspapers but it didn't make an impression. However, as a result of your article, we asked for a refund of our donation from the Muscular Dystrophy Association (and returned their receipt with a Campaign Life Coalition pamphlet on Stem Cell Research) and stopped volunteering for the Cancer Society. Maybe if all who help the causes mentioned in your article would cancel their aid and notify them why, including the pamphlets, we would have an impact.

Judy and Peter Johnson
Toronto, Ont.

The tear-drop baby

I have just read Garry Apperloo's letter in the October issue of The Interim, in which he worries about the pictures of the six-week developing child. He feels the pictures do harm to the pro-life movement. Perhaps many people do not know that this picture of an ectopic pregnancy was taken years ago by Dr. Paul E. Rockwell. This doctor explained that "this baby was the result of an ectopic pregnancy, with no chance of survival." He also said that "years ago, while giving an anesthetic for a ruptured tubal pregnancy ... I was handed what I believed to be the smallest human being ever seen. The embryo sac was intact and transparent. Within the sac was a tiny (one-third inch) human male swimming extremely vigorously in the amniotic fluid, while attached to the umbilical cord."

In the early 1970s, many pro-life people thought that by just showing the humanity of the developing child in the womb, abortion would decrease. History showed otherwise. I firmly agree with Dr. David Reardon's views that informing women of the harm of abortion, and educating people about post-abortion issues, are the key to ending abortion with compassion. I am encouraged when I read about the Silent No More movement in the U.S., which is just now starting in Canada.

Barbara Gommerman,
Winnipeg, Man.

The church and embryo adoption

In the article on Kitty Cleveland and her sad plight, Tony Gosgnach says that Kitty and her husband "made an effort to adopt and implant three embryos that were kept in storage after being conceived by another woman." Regarding the morality of the situation, he says, "the Catholic church has not officially expressed itself on the matter of embryo adoption, and theologians have various views on the subject." Theologians have "various views" on virtually every aspect of the Christian faith, and though it may be true that the term "embryo adoption" does not occur in any Vatican document, the church has addressed the question of surrogate motherhood (in which a woman carries in pregnancy an embryo implanted in her uterus and who is genetically a stranger to the embryo because it has been obtained through the union of the gametes of donors). In the 1987 instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and the Dignity of Procreation, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, speaking on behalf of the Pope and the church, answers the question, "Is surrogate motherhood licit?" with a negative moral judgment: "For it is contrary to the unity of marriage and to the dignity of the procreation of the human person." In order to be licit, any attempt at procreation must respect both the unitive and procreative aspects of sexual intercourse.

Kitty "has not discounted another attempt to adopt embryos." I would ask that she please reconsider, since such a process is contrary to God's will and cannot bring her true happiness. Towards the end of the article, she provides a wonderful prayer for those who are struggling with infertility, "Be it done unto me according to thy word."

Patrick Supeene
Medicine Hat, Alta.

Kudos for curriculum

Last March, you sent to me a curriculum supplement for the schools, and I want you to know that I was highly impressed with the content, the clear explanation of the issues, as well as the thought-provoking questions, which no doubt opened a wide field for debate among the students. My compliments to all who contribute to this marvellous and much-needed supplement. To you and to all the staff who make The Interim such a terrific pro-life newspaper, my thanks and appreciation for your commitment, dedication and difficult and hard work. May God bless you all.