[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 115 (Wednesday, July 31, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H9457-H9458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      AMERICA IS IN NEED OF PRAYER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Dornan] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to put in that section 
of the Record we call the Extension of Remarks a beautiful, thoughtful, 
short exposition by the Reverend Joseph Wright. He is not from my 
State. It was given to me by one of the outside institutions around 
this place, the lovely Rita Warren of Massachusetts, who goes through 
all the hoops around here to get permission to have a Passion Play on 
the East Steps of our beautiful U.S. Capitol every Easter week; and I 
noticed she is starting to worry about what is happening to our 
country, vis-a-vis what Reverend Billy Graham or the Holy Father in 
Rome has said.
  So I notice that she has her Passion Play out on the steps with a 
figure of Jesus and all of his beautiful sayings as the Prince of Peace 
that can save our world. But she asked me, since she had given me this 
recitation by Reverend Wright if I could not read it on the floor of 
the House, as well as put it in.
  So for Rita Warren, I will do that, Mr. Speaker. The following is 
excerpted from a prayer in the Kansas house. This was delivered on the 
floor of the Kansas legislature, courageous Bob Dole's home State, on 
January 23 by Joe Wright of Central Christian Church, Wichita.
  We have ridiculed the absolute truth of God's word and called it 
pluralism.
  We have worshiped false gods and called it multiculturalism.
  We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyle or 
diversity.
  We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
  We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
  We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
  We have killed the pre-born and called it choice.
  We have neglected to discipline our children and have called it 
building self-esteem.
  We have abused power and called it political savvy.
  We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
  We have polluted the airwaves with profanity and pornography and 
called it freedom of expression.
  We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and 
called it enlightenment.
  We have indoctrinated our children and called it education.
  We have censored God from our public life and called it religious 
freedom.
  We have prevented our citizens from defending themselves and called 
it gun control.

[[Page H9458]]

  We have allowed violent criminals to be released to prey on society 
and called it compassion or rehabilitation.
  We have imprisoned the innocent and let the guilty go free and called 
it justice.
  Indeed America is in much need of prayer.
  And in my concluding minute, let me point out, Mr. Speaker, that the 
RU-486 pill, about to emerge on the American market, has been called by 
Thomas Grenchik, director of the archdiocesan Pro-Life Office as a 
child-pesticide. He says Clinton has another anticipated victory in his 
campaign to kill the pre-born.
  ``At the President's direction,'' Mr. Grenchik says, ``the Food and 
Drug Administration has strong-armed the use of RU-486 from its 
European owner and, as promised, will ramrod the approval of this 
child-pesticide at all costs.''
  It goes on to describe this panel of experts on July 19, way out of 
town in Gaithersburg with a 6-0 vote, two abstaining, on unleashing 
this child-pesticide.
  RU-486, also known by its generic name mifepristone, is taken first 
and causes the uterine lining to break down and slough off. Then 
misoprostol, a prostaglandin that stimulates uterine contractions, is 
taken 2 days later, a complicated procedure requiring several medical 
visits, precise drug doses, and monitoring.
  In an editorial in ``L'Osservatore Romano,'' the Vatican newspaper, 
it was condemned as an abortion pill, ``the pill of Cain, the monster 
that cynically kills one's brother''; and in this editorial, a moral 
theologian writes that the pill's anticipated approval in the United 
States is an important victory for what it termed, and this is in Rome, 
the ``abortion party'' led by the Population Council and the 
International Planned Parenthood Federation.
  So the battle goes on, Mr. Speaker, and let us hope that people go 
into this with their eyes open and that we do not have a delayed time 
bomb of the thalidomide problem here. Yes, as Reverend Joe Wright says, 
America is certainly a Nation in need of prayer.
  As Billy Graham said in our beautiful Rotunda when he received, 
unanimously from both the Senate and the House, the Congressional Gold 
Medal, America is a Nation on the brink of self-destruction.

             Actions To Market Abortion Pill Are Denounced

       The archdiocesan pro-life director denounced this week's 
     government actions that would soon put the abortion-inducing 
     pill RU-486 on the American market.
       Thomas Grenchik, director of the archdiocesan Pro-Life 
     Office, said that President Clinton ``has another anticipated 
     victory in his campaign to kill'' the unborn. ``At the 
     president's direction, the Food and Drug Administration has 
     strong-armed the use of RU-486 from its European owner and, 
     as promised, will ramrod the approval of this child-pesticide 
     at all costs.''
       A panel of scientific experts recommended July 19 that the 
     FDA here in Washington allow the controversial abortion-
     inducing pill to be marketed in the United States.
       Following a public hearing in Gaithersburg, the FDA's 
     Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee voted 6-0 that 
     the benefits of the RU-486/misoprostol regimen for 
     terminating early pregnancies outweigh its risks. Two members 
     of the panel abstained.
       RU-486, also known by its generic name mifepristone, is 
     taken first and causes the uterine lining to break down and 
     slough off. Misoprostol, a prostaglandin that stimulates 
     uterine contractions, is taken two days later. The procedure 
     requires several medical visits, precise drug dosage and 
     monitoring.
       An editorial in the July 22 issue of L'Osservatore Romano, 
     the Vatican newspaper, condemned the abortion pill as ``the 
     pill of Cain, the monster that cynically kills one's 
     brother.''
       The editorial, signed by Father Gino Concetti, a moral 
     theologian, said the pill's anticipated approval in the 
     United States was an important victory for what it termed the 
     ``abortion party'' led by the Population Council and the 
     International Planned Parenthood Federation.
       At the hearing, the Population Council, a New-York based 
     research organization that holds the U.S. patent rights to 
     RU-486, presented clinical data from two French trials 
     involving 2,480 women and preliminary safety data from U.S. 
     trials involving 2,100 women.
       More than 30 individuals also testified during the open 
     portion of the meeting.
       The French data showed the medical abortion procedure to be 
     95 percent effective. However, panelists also heard that 
     women participating in the clinical trials experienced 
     painful contractions of the uterus as well as nausea, 
     vomiting, diarrhea, pelvic pain and spasm, and headache.
       In some cases where the chemical combination failed to 
     produce an abortion, women then had surgical abortions; 
     others completed their pregnancies and delivered babies with 
     deformities.
       According to an FDA statement after the panel decision, ``a 
     very small percentage of patients in the clinical trials 
     required hospitalizations, surgical treatment or 
     transfusions.''
       Dr. Mark Louviere, a Waterloo, Iowa, emergency room 
     physician who said he is a supporter of legalized abortion, 
     told FDA panelists that he treated a participant in the 
     Planned Parenthood of Iowa trial who lost more than half of 
     her blood volume and nearly died.
       ``I am concerned that all of the true complications of RU-
     486 are not being reported to both the media and to the 
     FDA,'' he said, adding that he also fears the use of RU-486 
     ``by physicians without appropriate follow-up.''
       ``The FDA approval process is moving at an unheard-of-pace 
     to approve this deadly drug combination, leaving many 
     concerns about safety unresolved,'' said Wanda Franz, a 
     developmental psychologist at West Virginia University and 
     president of the National Right to Life Committee, in a 
     statement from the group's Washington office.
       ``Respect for human life and women's health, not developing 
     human `pesticides,' should be at the center of the FDA's 
     concern when advancing new drugs,' said Judie Brown, 
     president of the American Life League, in a statement from 
     the organization's headquarters in Stafford, VA.
       RU-486 was developed by the French company Roussel Uclaf, 
     and has been taken by more than 200,000 European women since 
     1989. In 1994, Roussel Uclaf signed over U.S. rights to the 
     Population Council, which filed the FDA application in March.
       In deciding on drug applications, the federal agency 
     usually has followed the recommendations of its advisory 
     committees. If RU-486 is approved by the FDA, the drug would 
     be sold by Advances in Health Technology, a company set up 
     for that purpose last year, and could be available in the 
     United States next year.

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