Hi, PRI:
The international welfare wing of my church, Seventh-day Adventist (ADRA), has sent me a fundraising letter touting a big “Family Planning” initiative they’re taking on in Nepal, with matching funds to come from USAID.
This makes my antennae go up! They talk about Nepalese women having lots of kids because so many children die before five, and there is no social security system in the country, but then apparently want to reduce the number of kids before the child mortality rate is reduced or Nepal institutes a S.S. system. This makes no sense.
I want to know what kind of “Family Planning” is going on in Nepal, and what the results are “on the ground.” Can you help with this?
Earl, Tennessee
You are right to he concerned. These programs violate women’s rights, often rely on abortifacient contraceptives, and make no economic sense. I will have one of my researchers contact you. In the meantime, can you ask your church to send more details? I would he curious to see their detailed defense of these programs.
Steve Mosher
Hello,
Thank you for the PRI Weekly Briefing “Hu Gets the Red Carpet, the Rest Gets Ignored.” I was able to see some of the hearings with Congressman Chris Smith. Steven Mosher spoke to a group that I belong to, Spokane College Women’s Association, last year. Harry Wu spoke at Eastern Washington University a few years ago and I was pleasantly surprised at the turnout. I continue to thank you for these written reports.
Donna Kuhn, Washington
Dear Steve,
I saw you on C-SPAN; you did very well, as always. I was impressed by Chairman-Rep. Smith. I know he is a good pro-lifer.
Keep up the good work.
Fr. Paul B. Marx, OSB Minnesota
Dear Mr. Mosher,
Thank you for all your good work over the years! I know God blesses you for it! As a supporter of several years, I thought to ask you about a couple of organizations that I’ve received solicitations from. They are “Free the Fathers” and Nora Lam’s “Chinese Ministries International.” Do you know them? Are they worthy of donations? I appreciate any information you can give me.
David Zarri, California
Dear Sirs,
I caught the tail end of the “60 Minutes” segment recently on the disproportionate number of boys being born in China. I was absolutely astonished that the interviewer was so gentle with the female Chinese spokesperson about this issue and its effects. Evidently China has a movement making having girls more economically beneficial and preferred. “60 Minutes” even referenced the thousands of out-of-country adoptions as being humane with respect to this consequence of the Draconian one child policy. It was a bizarre few minutes of viewing. By the way, as I’ve been posing for years, where does anyone think these tens of thousands of Chinese males are going when they can’t find Chinese brides?
Pat Hershwitzky, Nevada
Hi Steve:
I am involved in India and Nepal. I am interested in the problem of killing female babies in the womb. It might be better not to use percentages when discussing differences in numbers of girl and boy babies. Use gross figures, such as in each of India and China, there are 35 million more men than women of child-bearing age. That paints a better picture than using 15%.
Maranatha, Florida
PRI:
For the record: I read your wonderful — but miserably facts-loaded — Red China “Briefing” [Hu Gets the Red Carpet, the Rest Gets Ignored]. Congratulation for so much info! However, you should have given some credit for the President’s not giving Hu the top “state dinner” (as I read in the New York Post with the picture of GWB pulling at the sleeve of Hu); it was, at least, some attempt to let these Red creeps know that their actions have caused them to “lose face” with the Americans who voted for President Bush. When the Clintons were in the White House a full state dinner was given these killers!
The West’s way with Red China is as Lenin predicted: “We will sell you the rope that we will be hanged with!” That there has not been a USA and worldwide grassroots — our politicians and businesses will never do anything! — support of the Chinese people has always been a very sickening thing for me to see decade after decade.
R. Lawrence Barbuto, J.D., New York
Dear PRI,
I received a response to my letter to Walgreens protesting the firing of five pharmacists who refused to fill prescriptions for emergency contraceptives. Mr. Dave Bernauer, Chairman and CEO for the company, twice described Walgreens as a “healthcare provider” and contraceptives as a “medication” in his letter. Where contraceptives are concerned, both usages of these terms are incorrect.
Pregnancy is not an illness, it is a state of being. Physical complications may arise during the pregnancy to either mother or child, but the treatment or medication prescribed is never a contraceptive. The purpose of the emergency contraceptive is to kill one of the parties involved in the pregnancy. The intended victim is the baby.
The use of contraceptives is an elective decision made by a woman knowing full well the many side effects their use may entail. No one should be forced to accommodate someone else’s risky choices. Neither should insurance companies be mandated by law to finance contraceptives, thus forcing all its members to cooperate in their use. Much like I do not want to pay for assisted suicide and street drugs.
Since the emergency contraceptive is not dispensed as medication and has no curative powers, Walgreens is remiss in classifying it under medication. Further, because of the many complications and abuses associated with it, Walgreens cannot hide behind the phrase “health provider” when dispensing this chemical. What Walgreens wants to do is to help mothers “bury their mistakes. “ Health risks be damned.
Joan Solms, Illinois
NOTE: Pharmacists are being pressured to fill prescriptions for abortifacients. In Illinois, this is now the law. PRI supports Joan Solms telling Walgreens why this should not be so. — Steve Mosher
