A few studies concluded that EASI with oxytocin is a better method of induction than prostaglandin E2 gel whereas a few others observed that EASI efficiency similar to that of prostaglandin compounds. We planned a comparative study of oxytocin and prostaglandin E2 gel in induction of labour in high risk pregnant women from Tamil Nadu from a tertiary care health centre. This study was a prospect...

I n the past 15 years, American bishops—acting at times alone, at other times in state conferences, or as members of a committee of the U.S. Conference of Cathol ic Bishops—have issued more than 15 pastoral s ta tements concern ing the care of people approaching death. Some of these statements were written in regard to specific people. For example, local bishops made statements regarding the ca...

Part I showed that the number of ways to place q nonattacking queens or similar chess pieces on an n× n square chessboard is a quasipolynomial function of n. We prove the previously empirically observed period of the bishops quasipolynomial, which is exactly 2 for three or more bishops. The proof depends on signed graphs and the Ehrhart theory of inside-out polytopes.

Part I showed that the number of ways to place q nonattacking queens or similar chess pieces on an n× n square chessboard is a quasipolynomial function of n. We prove the previously empirically observed period of the bishops quasipolynomial, which is exactly 2 for three or more bishops. The proof depends on signed graphs and the Ehrhart theory of inside-out polytopes.

Skene and Parker are demonstrably mistaken in suggesting that the amicus role of Catholic bishops in three cases has been concerned with "developing" the law. In contrast with Skene and Parker's freestanding conception of legal principle, the Catholic understanding of law's rational moral foundations has permitted Catholic bishops to defend longstanding legal principle as well as defending the ...

I am Richard M. Doerflinger, Deputy Director of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. I also serve as Adjunct Fellow in Bioethics and Public Policy at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. On behalf of the bishops’ conference I want to thank this subcommittee for asking us to present our views on cloning and embryonic stem cell (ES...

In 1994, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops revised the "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services." A goal of the Directives is to maintain the moral integrity of Catholic health care institutions and to address controversies in bioethics and health care. The Directives represent a shift to an exclusively principle-based approach to moral reason. This shift th...

PRINCIPLE OF COOPERATION The November-December 2002 issue included several articles on the principle of cooperation. Discussion of the principle contributes to the realization of one measure of success of our current strategic plan: "Our voice has contributed proactively and positively to church positions on one or more key ethical issues." As we know, application of the principle has not alway...