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The Human Toll of Prostitution
Published in The Washington Times, March 16, 2008
By Jonathan Imbody, Christian Medical Association, Ashburn, VA
The Washington Times editors hit the mark in an editorial on the Eliot Spitzer scandal by acknowledging that "clients (or 'johns' in the street vernacular) are often ignored by prosecutors in prostitution cases" ("The Spitzer Scandal," Tuesday).
Imagine a hit-and-run accident where the driver is freed and the passenger imprisoned. Or a tax-evasion scheme where the mob boss gets off while his accountant takes the rap. Such analogies only hint at the degree of injustice in cases where prostituted women solely bear the brunt of penalty for the exploitation of the men who use and abuse them. |
CMDA Physicians Say New HHS Civil Rights Regulation Will Protect Patients and Medical Access
2008 | Dr. David Stevens, CEO of the 16,000-member Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org) today said that a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulation implementing over 35 years of civil rights laws governing healthcare will “protect patients and patient access to physicians who adhere to life-affirming ethical standards.”
“By protecting physicians and other healthcare professionals who still adhere to the Hippocratic Oath, the Judeo-Christian Scriptures and other objective standards of medical ethics, this regulation serves to protect patients who want access to conscientious and compassionate care from life-affirming physicians,” Dr. Stevens said. “These objective standards have for millennia formed the foundation of patient care and protection, and this regulation insures that physicians and others won’t be run out of the profession for upholding those standards.”
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Christian Medical Association: "Dolly" cloner Wilmut finally gets it
2007 | Bristol, TN, November 19, 2007--Dr. David Stevens, CEO of the 15,000-member Christian Medical Association, today said that Dolly the sheep cloner Ian Wilmut's decision to back off human cloning and instead pursue ethical adult stem cell research validates what adult stem cell research advocates have been saying for years.
Dr. Stevens said, "We're heartened to hear that Ian Wilmut has finally come to realize that human cloning is not a viable path to curing patients, and that adult stem cells are the key to real hope and help for patients. Pro-life advocates for years have been pointing out many of the practical problems that finally led Mr. Wilmut to just say 'no' to human cloning as a source for embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are difficult to establish and maintain; their differentiation to the type of cells desired is tough to control; it's hard to get a pure culture; they form tumors and are genetically unstable and often functionally abnormal. |
AIDS FUNDING IS SENSIBLE POLICY
Published by the Houston Chronicle, August 9, 2005
By Jonathan Imbody, Senior Policy Analyst, Christian Medical Association
In its Aug. 7 editorial, "Bully pulpit," the Chronicle ignores the obvious by labeling as "ideological bullying" a U.S. requirement that recipients of certain federal grants to fight sex trafficking and AIDS must indicate that they oppose prostitution--"the last thing effective AIDS organizations need," the editorial asserted.
I just delivered a letter from over 100 organizations and 50 physicians and feminists to the President in support of this sound and sensible policy based on medical evidence.` |
Christian Medical Association Lauds Anti-Prostitution Pledge Ruling
Washington,DC, February 28, 2007— The Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org) today lauded a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that the U.S. government may enforce a policy that groups receiving certain federal grants to fight AIDS and human trafficking must declare that they will not promote prostitution.
The CMA last year had authored a joint letter to President Bush, signed by over 100 women's, health and policy organizations, and personally delivered to the President's Domestic Policy Advisor, urging him to protect victims of sexual trafficking by upholding the policy.
"As healthcare professionals, we recognize the harm that prostitution inflicts on its victims," noted CMA CEO David Stevens, M.D. "That harm is made even more horrific when a woman or child is prostituted and enslaved. We know from the research that prostitution spreads AIDS and accounts for much of human trafficking worldwide |
Fetal Pain Bill Defeated
LA Times/San Francisco Chronicle. December 7, 2006
House Republicans opposed to abortion rights failed Wednesday in their bid to pass a controversial measure that would have required women seeking abortions to be informed that some fetuses feel pain. The bill received majority support, 250-162. But that fell short of the two-thirds majority vote required under rules that limited debate.
Abortion rights supporters applauded the bill's failure as they prepared for the arrival of a Democratic Congress in which such measures almost assuredly will never see the light of day. The opponents also disputed the claim by the bill's backers that fetuses 20 weeks old or more experience pain. The bill has not been a top priority for anti-abortion activists. Their movement suffered a tougher loss earlier in the fall when a measure to strengthen parental consent laws was derailed in the Senate after passing the House. The fetal pain bill was sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. |
Premature Babies Feel Pain
From News & Views, 4-20-06
Premature babies can actually feel pain and are not just displaying a reflex reaction to a stimulus, a team of doctors and scientists said. Using brain scans of tiny babies born as early as 24 weeks after conception they found that during routine procedures such as obtaining a blood sample from a heel they feel pain.
Until now, information about pain in premature babies has been limited to physical expressions such as flinching or crunching the face. But Professor Maria Fitzgerald, of University College London said it has been difficult for researchers to interpret the significance of those reactions, which can also be triggered by something like a loud noise. Using near-infrared spectroscopy, which measures blood levels and oxygenation in the brain, Fitzgerald and her team recorded activity in the brains of 18 premature babies born between 23-45 weeks from conception as nurses performed routine blood tests using a heel lance.
The scans showed pain information was being processed in the brain. Because it has been difficult to measure pain in very tiny babies, treatment to relieve it has been sub-optimal, according to Fitzgerald, who reported the findings in The Journal of Neuroscience. "Now that we have this scientific, objective measure of pain, we'll be able to assess pain-relieving! therapies much more precisely," she said.
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Experts Set the Record Straight on Abortion Pain
Published in National Right to Life News, November 2005
by Jonathan Imbody
In an often testy hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, science squared off against abortion ideology, as experts testified that babies within the womb may feel pain as early as 20 weeks into their development.
Much of the expert testimony supported the principles in the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act (HR 356), introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th-NJ) to "ensure that women seeking an abortion are fully informed regarding the pain experienced by their unborn child."
House Constitution Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Steve Chabot (R-1st-Ohio) opened the hearing by quoting President Ronald Reagan: "Medical science doctors confirm that when the lives of the unborn are snuffed out, they often feel pain, pain that is long and agonizing." Rep. Chabot noted that the bill "would apply to the approximately 15,000 - 20,000 abortions that are performed each year in the United States on unborn children who are 20 weeks or more past fertilization."
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Enforcing Tolerance: Vilification Laws and Religious Freedom in Australia
by Patrick Parkinson,
Professor of Law, University of Sydney, Australia
November 2004
1. Australia as a Multicultural Society Australia in the 21st century is a complex, multicultural society. Apart from its indigenous community, which is only about 2.4% of the population,1 Australia is a nation of migrants.
White settlement of Australia began in 1788 with the arrival of the First Fleet of convicts and settlers were from the British Isles, there has been a long history of people migrating to Australia from other parts of the world also.
Chinese came to Australia in large numbers during the Gold Rush period of the 1850s, and continued to arrive thereafter. Since the end of World War II the population of Australia has increased rapidly due to migration. |
USA: Rights of Conscience - Exactly Whose Conscience Wins?
If you were to listen to the liberal establishment, you would think there was a terrible abuse of human rights happening here in the US.
In fact, in April of last year, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich implemented an emergency rule. For what dire emergency you might ask? He ordered all Illinois pharmacies that carry contraception to have all pharmacists provide it to all patients presenting prescriptions, including the emergency contraction (the so-called “morning after” pill). Many pharmacists refused to fill these prescriptions because they believe that many oral contraceptives (in particular the “morning after” pill) are an abortifacient, and instead of preventing conception, these hormonal treatments can actually cause an early abortion after a woman is pregnant.
“Planned Parenthood is proud to stand along side the Governor…and thank him for his leadership in Illinois and in the United States to safeguard reproductive rights and to protect women's health,” said Karen Pearl, national president of Planned Parenthood.
There are many recognized rights of conscience within the realms of the medical field. For example, the right of a patient to decide what treatment is ethical and appropriate for themselves has long been recognized. And there has been a general understanding that a healthcare facility such as a hospital may determine what procedures and polices which will be implemented and encouraged, such as the case of Catholic hospitals refusing to do abortions. Also, there has been a general consensus recognizing the right of physicians to limit the treatments and procedures they provide by their training or their moral conscience. Until recently, all healthcare professionals have had the right to refuse to participate in situations or procedures that they believe to be morally wrong or harmful to the patient or others.
But no longer. Our friendly ACLU, the defender of “civil liberties,” and Planned Parenthood will stomp on your rights if they think you happen to deny someone else of what they perceive is their rights. |
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