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Families Really do Matter for Canada - As the family goes, so too goes the nation! |
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News Ticker provided by LifeSiteNews.Com
- Abortion Group Defends Abortion Targeting Unborn Girls – January 4, 2009
- Alert, The Decline of the Human Family – December 17, 2008
- Friday Fax – December 25, 2008
- Lifeissues.Net Newsletter #403 – December 28, 2008
- Lifeissues.Net Newsletter #404 – January 4, 2009
- Ottawa Sun – Jan. 2, 2009
- Stem Cell Therapy - Developments And Possibilities – December 17, 2008
- Toronto Star – Jan. 2, 2009
1. Abortion Group Defends Abortion Targeting Unborn Girls – January 4, 2009
By Samantha Singson?
NEW YORK – C-FAM According to a new article circulated by the abortion advocacy organization Ipas, widespread access to "safe abortion" trumps concerns over the gender imbalance stemming from "sex selective" abortion.
As sex-selective abortion overwhelmingly targets unborn girls, the article by Ipas senior research and policy advisor Bela Ganatra acknowledges that the issue divides the "reproductive rights community." Abortion advocates are "often torn between their desire to allow women to choose when and if to have children, and their own personal disagreement with the basis for that choice." Ipas, however, comes down on the side of widespread access to abortion, even if this means a female "birth dearth."
Sex-selected abortion, or "gendercide," as some feminist critics call it, is a practice whereby parents choose to terminate a pregnancy because the unborn child is not of the desired sex. It is generally carried out against baby girls. The practice has led to unnatural gender imbalances in some countries, mostly in Asia, where in some areas of China, for instance, as many as 150 boys are born for every 100 girls, creating a dramatic demographic crisis.
In response, some governments have banned sex-detection tests and outlawed sex-selected abortion. Ipas claims that as a result of these policies, "tremendous pressure emerges to control and restrict all second-trimester abortions," the time when most sex-selected abortions occur. Ipas argues that "providers, afraid of being accused of providing sex-selective abortions, may limit their services to the first trimester, even when second-trimester services are legal."
In "Maintaining Access to Safe Abortion and Reducing Sex Ratio Imbalances in Asia" published in the latest issue of Reproductive Health Matters, Ganatra prioritizes access to abortion and argues that it is necessary to address "son preference" as the root cause, rather than on policies which place restrictions on abortion. Ganatra fears that outlawing sex-selected abortion is "starting to have adverse effects on the already limited access to safe and legal second trimester abortion for reasons other than sex selection" and that the issue is being used "as a front to promote anti-choice messages."
Ganatra criticizes media campaigns like those in India that discourage sex-selected abortions for using "loaded words" that "personify the foetus," claiming that these foster an "anti-abortion climate" which threatens "the gains made in making abortion safe." Ganatra also criticizes the United Nations (UN) and some of its agencies for supporting efforts, which use terminology that condemn sex-selective abortion as murder. She blasts the UN for using terms like 'feticide' and opposing sex selection in favour of the right of unborn girls to be born," arguing that human rights only "begin at birth."
Ipas and Ganatra conclude that the use of prenatal technology and selective abortions as a "pathway through which son preference results in an imbalanced sex ratio" but dismiss efforts to combat the problem with policies that hinder access to abortion.
Demographers project that there are as many as 100 million missing baby girls because of sex-selected abortion. A 2007 initiative to tackle sex-selected abortion head-on at the UN was derailed by abortion-rights NGOs and the European Union because some European states opposed condemning abortion for any reason.
2. Alert, The Decline of the Human Family – December 17, 2008REAL Women of Canada
“Women Building a Better Society”
NGO in SPECIAL consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations
December 17, 2008
Alert
The Decline of the Human Family:
Something Must Be Done
One of the most ominous events of modern history is quietly unfolding. Social scientists and economists agree – we are headed toward a demographic count down caused by a rapidly decreasing population worldwide. This will have catastrophic social and economic consequences to us all. Its effects are already being seen in Europe. This global decline in human birthrates is the single most powerful force affecting the fate of nations and the future of society in the 21 st century.
Much of the collapse in population has been due to social engineering policies and programs which have led to high divorce rates, the rise of cohabitation, the normalization of homosexuality, families putting off procreation to pursue careers, an anti-family culture and voluntary childlessness.
Who will operate our factories and farms in the future? Who will guard the frontiers? With a greying population (a declining birthrate combined with growing longevity), who will provide support systems and otherwise care for the elderly?
The fact is, the world is in a headlong rush toward economic and social chaos. The worldwide fall of birth rates is one of the most pressing problems confronting humanity today.
We can no longer shrug it off and look the other way, while we focus on our everyday problems, which expend our energies, while ignoring the disaster that will inevitably descend on our children and grandchildren. They will be left only with the detritus of our civilization. We must, therefore, come to grips with the problem and find solutions now.
The first step in doing so is to acknowledge the looming crisis. The problem has been competently explored in a DVD entitled, “The Demographic Winter: The Decline of the Human Family.” In this DVD, worldwide scholars, economists and sociologists discuss the problem that de-population is creating for our world and make some suggestions what to do about it. This DVD should be widely distributed among our churches, service groups and our friends.
To order a copy of “Demographic Winter: Decline of the Human Family” or to view a trailer for the documentary, go to www.demographicwinter.com . Cost US $19.95. Please email them with any questions, enquiries and comments at: support@demographicwinter.com Tel: 508 405-1337.
A.08-09
3.
Friday Fax – December 25, 2008
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4. Lifeissues.Net Newsletter #403 – December 28, 2008
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)
Dear Friends for Life,
A pro-life group in Tallinn, Estonia's capitol, the Institute for the Culture of Life, has challenged that nation's public financing of abortion. For many years it has been paying 70% of the cost of every elective abortion, however, Article 16 of their Constitution states, "Everyone has the right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall arbitrarily be deprived of his or her life." This group has filed an application with the Chancellor of Justice asking that public financing of abortion be declared unconstitutional.
By vote of its Parliament, the Australian state of Victoria has decriminalized abortion. There had been about 20,000 abortions done annually under the old law, which at least technically was more restrictive. Whether or not the numbers will now increase remains to be seen. Abortion is now totally a woman's choice up to twenty-four weeks gestation but needs the consent of two doctors later than that.
God Bless you for the good work you do. Carry the love and strength you have received this Christmas into the New Year as you continue your work for God's unborn.
Jerry Novotny, OMI
Inspiring Thought – "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." – Winston Churchill
Lifeissues.Net Newsletter #403 – December 28, 2008
Table Of Contents:
1. Our IVF Journey
2. Australian "Experts" Want To Target Down Babies For Eugenic Abortion
3. The Pill: What You Might Not Know
4. Doctor Cleared Of Harming Man To Obtain Organs
5. A Search For The Meaning Of Suffering
6. South Korean Physicians Refuse To Pull Life Support From Disabled Woman, Appeal To Supreme Court
7. A Twelve-Step Program For TV Addicts
8. Anger As Pupils Get Free Condoms
9. European Court Refuses To Intervene To Save Italian "Terri Schiavo"
10. Pill Changes 'Not The Answer'
11. An Unconscionable Conscience Rule
12. Nearly 1 Billion People Hungry
Focus On Asia: "Pro-choice, anti-guilt" – Following on the idea that "people treat as human that which appears to be human," he suggested in Commentary magazine that every woman seeking to abort her foetus be made to examine a photo depicting roughly what that foetus looks like on the day in question -- an image contained in a catalogue retained for this purpose: "266 photographs in all," Wilson specified, "one for each day of embryonic or foetal development." The idea has always appealed to me for one simple reason: It ensures that the mother understands the moral dimension of what she is doing at the moment she is doing it.
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/abortion/ab0144.htm
Item #1. Our IVF Journey
A woman in Britain has told of her harrowing experience of IVF. Ms Laura Wood's treatment included pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to screen for a chromosomal problem. She and her husband saw 14 different doctors and her emotions were disrupted by large doses of hormones. Initial estimates of the likelihood of success were optimistic. Two embryos were produced, but the resulting child miscarried and Ms Wood plans to plant a tree in his or her memory. The couple are now considering adoption and donor-assisted conception. They will not have IVF again, which Ms Wood says can become addictive.
View full article at Times Online:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/features/article5307161.ece
Item #2. Australian "Experts" Want To Target Down Babies For Eugenic Abortion
Can you imagine if "the experts" suggested that genetic tests be done on all pregnant women to screen for supposedly undesirable racial characteristics or a propensity for homosexuality (if that could be done), with the goal of vastly reducing the number of babies born with those traits? There would a clarion outcry.
Well, that is precisely what is happening in Australia; only the targets are unborn babies with Down syndrome, people that "the experts" want very much to cull from society by preventing most from ever being born.
View full article at LifeSiteNews.com: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08121914.html
Item #3. The Pill: What You Might Not Know
A new pilot program in London will make the birth control pill available next month, through pharmacists, without a prescription. It's a big shift from December 1955, when scientists made the first presentation that progesterone can stop women from ovulating, and many states had laws banning the use of contraception. Despite nearly 50 years of access to the pill, some women are clueless about side effects that doctors might not bother sharing, and some that are just being discovered.
View article at ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=6484342
Item #4. Doctor Cleared Of Harming Man To Obtain Organs
Comment: I really feel sorry for Mr. Navarro's mom and the medical professionals who put their jobs on the line to report what they saw in this case. The public is at risk when whistle-blower health care providers see cases dismissed because of sympathetic juries and media: "the jury issued a statement with its verdict saying the case illustrated a "desperate need" for clear policy on cardiac death donations." It's easier to just keep quiet or cover up medical mistakes or malpractice. – Nancy Valko, RN
View full article at NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/health/19doctor.html?_r=1&ref=us&pagewanted=print
Item #5. A Search For The Meaning Of Suffering
Summary: The experience of human suffering takes many forms; however, it is something that all of us have in common. The amount of suffering that a person can handle will vary greatly from person to person. There are people who can deal with, what would appear to the rest of us, as a great amount of suffering and continue to persevere while others seem to fall apart at the slightest amount of suffering.
To learn more see LifeIssues.net:
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/gro/gro_17sufferingmeaning.html
Item #6. South Korean Physicians Refuse To Pull Life Support From Disabled Woman, Appeal To Supreme Court
Doctors in South Korea are appealing against a court order to stop giving food and drink to a 75-year-old woman in a coma who is not dying. Kim Ok-kyung's family asked that all support should be withdrawn at Severance Hospital, Seoul, saying her existence was painful and meaningless.
See the full article at Mail Online: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08121906.html
Item #7. A Twelve-Step Program For TV Addicts
With its unrelenting emphasis on violence, sexual license, glamour, frivolity and the unrelenting search for the amassing of wealth and ephemeral pleasures, we could say that it certainly is one of the major proponents of the "culture of death" that Pope John Paul II refers to. What can we do to control, if not eliminate, our addiction to the "plug-in drug"?
Full article at CatholicCity: http://www.catholicity.com/mccloskey/tvaddicts.htm
Item #8. Anger As Pupils Get Free Condoms
Birth control and pregnancy tests are being offered to 11-year-olds in schools in England without parental knowledge. Morning-after pills are being given to children in Wiltshire, which has a high rate of sexually transmitted infection. The Life organisation said it was irresponsible. Evidence suggested such moves did not cut pregnancy or abortion.
Full Article at thisisbristol.co.uk:
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/wdp/news/Anger-pupils-free-condoms/article-566191-detail/article.html
Item #9. European Court Refuses To Intervene To Save Italian "Terri Schiavo"
The European Court of Human Rights has refused to hear an appeal concerning the semi-conscious woman in Italy whose father wants her to die from dehydration. Judges said they would not hear the matter because the Italian pro-life organisations bringing the case were not linked to Ms Eluana Englaro. Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro of Human Life International, Rome, claimed the court, in Strasbourg, France, was biased towards allowing euthanasia. He said: "[The judges] do not hold in high esteem the life of the handicapped. They take a utilitarian position – that people like Eluana Englaro are 'useless mouths'. [That] their life has no social value." The Italian government should issue a decree to save her.
View entire text at LifeSiteNews.com: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08122302.html
Item #10. Pill Changes 'Not The Answer'
The UK family doctors' body says prescription-free birth control pills will not cut teenage pregnancy because girls forget to take them. Dr Sarah Jarvis, women's health spokeswoman for the Royal College of General Practitioners, recommends implants and coils instead. Hormonal birth control, including pills, implants and coils, can cause early abortion.
View entire text at BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7797342.stm
Item #11. An Unconscionable Conscience Rule
Comment: Is it important to have ethical health-care-givers? Medicine and nursing have, until the last few decades of support for abortion and euthanasia, promoted high ethical standards as a prerequisite to serving as a doctor or nurse. Now, doctors and nurses are routinely acquitted when euthanasia or abortion malpractice cases go to court.
At first, this editorial denies there is even a problem with conscience rights: "There already exists a large body of case law that protects the religious rights of medical practitioners." (Not that refusing to help kill patients-born or unborn-is really a religious issue. Civilization itself requires that we don't kill each other.)
But then the editorial gets to its real position: "Doctors, nurses and pharmacists choose professions that put patients' rights first. If they foresee that priority becoming problematic for them, they should choose another profession." (Emphasis added).
As I've written before, there is a thin white line of ethical health-care-givers standing between patients and the culture of death. Imagine a health care system solely populated by doctors and nurses who are comfortable with killing! – Nancy Valko, RN
View entire text at stitoday.com:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/5EFA8376167A9E8E86257528007ECA87?OpenDocument
Item #12. Nearly 1 Billion People Hungry
High food prices helped push another 40 million people into hunger this year, the U.N.'s food agency said on Tuesday, raising the number of undernourished people in the world to 963 million.
A report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) that said fewer and fewer people can afford decent meals, especially in Asia and Africa, despite a fall in food prices, gave a hollow ring to pledges to cut world poverty.
"High food prices have had a devastating effect on the most vulnerable and insecure part of the world's population," Kostas Stamoulis, head of FAO's agricultural and development economics division, told a news conference presenting the report.
View entire text at International Herald Tribune:
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/12/09/europe/OUKWD-UK-HUNGER-FAO.php
You Can Change Society:
1. Be Informed: "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6. Visit Lifeissues.net Website for insights into current Life Issues www.lifeissues.net.
2. Pray Daily: for the courage to be God's presence in society and to strongly support those who are deemed "unworthy of life". "If My people who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14.
3. Become Involved: Several years ago I created a project entitled, "Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia". It is a project, which appeals for donations to help finance plane travel for lectures and seminars to developing countries in Asia. Strong focus is placed on reaching Asian Catholic Major Seminaries, Universities, Parishes, Hospitals and Family/Pro Life related groups. The lectures place emphasis on "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Life Issues Trends and Challenges". For inquires about no-cost Pro Life Talks to your group in Asia: contact Fr. Jerry at jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp . To become a supportive Missionary participant for this Asian project, kindly send your donations to: Fr. Jerry Novotny, OMI; LifeIssues.net, Editor; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072; (or transfer donation directly to ProLife bank account: Jerome Novotny, Shikoku Bank, Asakura Branch, No. 102-1-0080824).
Contact Editor: Jerry Novotny, OMI; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072; Tel/Fax: 088-843-0406; E-Mail:jerry@lifeissues.net.
Websites by Editor:
English LifeIssues Site:http://www.lifeissues.net,
Japanese LifeIssues Site:http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,
OMI Site:http://www.omijapankorea.net/index.html.
5. Lifeissues.Net Newsletter #404 – January 4, 2009
Greetings from LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net)
Dear Friends for Life,
USA – 'Parental Involvement Laws' do save innocent babies. Dr. Michael New at the University of Alabama has documented that laws requiring parental involvement prior to a teen-age daughter's abortion save lives. His study found: If the state passes a pro-life parental involvement law, the minor abortion rate drops 13%. If the law adds parental consent, the rate drops by 19%. If the law requires the involvement of two parents, rather than only one, the rate drops by 31%. The study involved 15, 16, and 17-year-old girls.
Norway – Abortion Increases Depression: Dr. W. Petersen in the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, in studying 6,000 women, age 15 to 27, concluded that "young adult women who undergo induced abortion may be at increased risk for subsequent depression."
India – The Law Commission of India has recommended the legalization of euthanasia in extreme cases. In response to this, the Catholic Bishops Conference has denounced this recommendation, stating that "legalizing euthanasia would open a Pandora's Box."
Shanghai – Disastrous Birth Rate: Since the 1990s, the average couple in Shanghai is having 0.7 children. This is even lower than the mandatory one child per family that has been enforced in China by the Chinese government for the last few decades. 2.1 children are needed to replace a country's population.
To spread the Culture of Life, your prayers and involvement are extremely necessary for the coming year (2009) in order to protect our children from the Culture of Death, especially our tiny unborn babies, to protect our young generation from recreational contraception, and to protect our senior citizens from euthanasia.
God Bless and Have a Beautiful New Year! Be assured of my daily prayers and Mass for you and the good work you are doing.
Jerry Novotny, OMI
Inspiring Thought – Abortion kills not only unborn children...
"Abortion kills not only unborn children; it destroys constitutional order and the common good, which is assured only when the life of every human being is legally protected. Aggressively pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans, and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion." – Cardinal Francis George
Lifeissues.Net Newsletter #404 – January 4, 2009
Table Of Contents:
1. Human Dignity: What Matters Most
2. Wishing You The Joy Of This Holiday Season. You Are Called!
3. "Called To Serve"
4. Abortion And Intolerance: Constants Of The Left?
5. The Dignity Of A Person
6. Harvesting Embryonic Stem Cells From Deceased Human Embryos
7. Huge Pro-Family Mass In Madrid
8. Abstinence Researcher Says New Study Bashing Virginity Pledges Is Faulty
9. Teens May Not Know Risk Factors For Infertility
10. Pro-Abortion Group Ipas Defends Sex-Selection Abortions In India
11. Mother Has Healthy Baby Boy Despite Abortion Warning By Doctor
12. Why I Am Pro-Life
Focus On Asia: "Children caught in the Gaza crossfire" – Hamdan ran weeping through the street, trying to touch the body of her slain 11-year-old brother during a funeral procession in this northern Gaza town. Just a day before, 15-year-old Hamdan's two sisters were also buried, victims of the same strike from an Israeli missile. As Israel steps up its attacks on the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated spots on earth, children are paying the price.
http://www.worldpress.org/link.cfm?http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10550283&ref=rss
Item #1. Human Dignity: What Matters Most
Two weeks ago, headlines across the world announced the release of the Vatican's official position on bioethics. Naturally, the Catholic Church's stance on the destruction of human embryos, the creation of designer babies, and the like was greeted with scorn by liberal Catholics and by many medical professionals and scientists.
But two things truly fascinate me about the release of this document. The first is its title: "Dignitas Personae" -or, in plain English: "On the Dignity of the Person." Now that's an interesting title for the Catholic Church's official teaching on bioethics. Actually, it's the perfect title because the question of human dignity is at the root of virtually every major question facing humans today. Not just bioethics, but also medicine, the economy, and the environment.
View full article at BreakPoint: http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=10772
Item #2. Wishing You The Joy Of This Holiday Season. You Are Called!
We are at a new crossroad in our nation's history. Which way we turn at this time will determine the future (or lack thereof) of the vulnerable elderly, disabled, exploitable, as well as the born and unborn. There are huge profits being made in health care by ruthless corporate manipulators who publicly tout their "concern" for the "welfare" of patients, while mainstreaming a lethal protocol of patient care denials, mistreatment, and direct intervention to involuntarily end the patient's life. Other agencies cling to the original mission to care and serve.
View full article at LifeIssues.net:
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/pan/pan_27greetingsandchange.html
Item #3. "Called To Serve"
People with a mission are not motivated by status, power, wealth or fame, even though those may come to them. They listen to a "different drummer," and travel a path "less traveled." People with a mission are leaders, though they don't need followers to be who they are. They are either respected or ridiculed, either labelled crazy or inspiring. They arouse hatred or love. And though there are moments of self-doubt and searching, they always come back to serve. No matter what they do, it is done in the spirit of service and love.
View full article at LifeIssues.net: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/pan/pan_26calledtoserve.html
Item #4. Abortion And Intolerance: Constants Of The Left?
Right now the Spanish congress, dominated by Zapatero's party, is debating a liberalization of Spain's abortion laws. Abortion is supposedly legal only for cases of rape, "foetal defect," and danger to the mother's physical or psychological health. In the case of rape and foetal defect the law allows abortions between 12 and 22 first weeks of pregnancy. For the "health" exception, however, there are no time limits.
View full article at LifeIssues.net:
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/mos/mos_137abortionintolerance.html
Item #5. The Dignity Of A Person
A new Vatican document warned that certain recent developments in stem-cell research, gene therapy and embryonic experimentation violate moral principles and reflect an attempt by man to "take the place of his Creator".
To learn more see Catholic News: http://www.catholic.org.sg/cn/wordpress/?p=3662
Item #6. Harvesting Embryonic Stem Cells From Deceased Human Embryos
The retrieval of cells from deceased human embryos would enable scientists to obtain genuine embryonic stem cells for use in their efforts to cure various diseases that they believe could be alleviated if wider access to these cells were made available. Most importantly, harvesting cells from deceased human embryos overcomes the central moral objection to this line of research, namely, that it requires the destruction of living human embryos.
See the full article at LifeIssues.net: http://lifeissues.net/writers/cond/cond_04harvestingesc1.html
Item #7. Huge Pro-Family Mass In Madrid
Hundreds of thousands attended an outdoor Mass in Madrid in a demonstration of support for Catholic teaching on abortion, marriage, and family life. Twenty-eight members of the hierarchy, led by Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, were among the concelebrants. Pope Benedict addressed the crowd by video.
Full article at Catholic Culture:
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=1513
Item #8. Abstinence Researcher Says New Study Bashing Virginity Pledges Is Faulty
A leading researcher into the effectiveness of abstinence education says his own research using the same data shows quite different results from a new study that bashes the quality of virginity pledges. Robert Rector, a senior research fellow on domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, questions the new study from Johns Hopkins University.
Full Article at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/nat4687.html
Item #9. Teens May Not Know Risk Factors For Infertility
Many high school students in Canada are ignorant of the consequences of sexually transmitted infections, according to a survey described in Fertility and Sterility. Almost 95% of some 600 respondents did not know that ailments such as Chlamydia and gonorrhoea could cause infertility. Poorer students knew less about the subject than the economically better off.
View entire text at Reuters Health:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKTRE4BS58L20081229
Item #10. Pro-Abortion Group Ipas Defends Sex-Selection Abortions In India
According to a new article circulated by the abortion advocacy organization Ipas, widespread access to "safe abortion" trumps concerns over the gender imbalance stemming from "sex selective" abortion. As sex-selective abortion overwhelmingly targets unborn girls, the article by Ipas senior research and policy advisor Bela Ganatra acknowledges that the issue divides the "reproductive rights community." Abortion advocates are "often torn between their desire to allow women to choose when and if to have children, and their own personal disagreement with the basis for that choice."
Ipas, however, comes down on the side of widespread access to abortion, even if this means a female "birth dearth." Sex-selected abortion, or "gendercide," as some feminist critics call it, is a practice whereby parents choose to terminate a pregnancy because the unborn child is not of the desired sex. It is generally carried out against baby girls. The practice has led to unnatural gender imbalances in some countries, mostly in Asia, where in some areas of China, for instance, as many as 150 boys are born for every 100 girls, creating a dramatic demographic crisis.
View entire text at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/int1037.html
Item #11. Mother Has Healthy Baby Boy Despite Abortion Warning By Doctor
Gaynor Purdy was warned her first child could have a fatal chromosome defect and a life threatening heart condition.
But she rejected two suggestions to terminate the pregnancy and she and her husband Lee are celebrating life with their "perfect" ten-month-old son.
Mrs Purdy, 28, a quality control inspector, said: "We refused to give up on him, and decided throughout the pregnancy that as long as he was fighting, we would continue fighting with him."
The couple from Scunthorpe, Lincs, were delighted when they discovered they had conceived shortly before their first wedding anniversary.
Four months into the pregnancy doctors told them that part of their unborn child's heart was narrow and underdeveloped and would mean open heart surgery if the baby was born.
They were warned the condition could worsen and around Christmas last year, an immediate termination should be considered.
View entire text at telegraph.co.uk:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/4045097/Mother-has-healthy-baby-boy-despite-abortion-warning-by-doctor.html
Item #12. Why I Am Pro-Life
Most Canadians would also agree that an unborn child in the ninth month of gestation, moments away from delivery, should not be eligible for an elective abortion. However, regardless of the fact that this would be an extremely poor bioethical choice, it is in fact legal. As such, Canada has far greater protections for human kidneys than we do for human foetuses.
View entire text at National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=1121520
You Can Change Society:
1. Be Informed: "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6. Visit Lifeissues.net Website for insights into current Life Issues www.lifeissues.net.
2. Pray Daily: for the courage to be God's presence in society and to strongly support those who are deemed "unworthy of life". "If My people who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14.
3. Become Involved: Several years ago I created a project entitled, "Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia". It is a project, which appeals for donations to help finance plane travel for lectures and seminars to developing countries in Asia. Strong focus is placed on reaching Asian Catholic Major Seminaries, Universities, Parishes, Hospitals and Family/Pro Life related groups. The lectures place emphasis on "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Life Issues Trends and Challenges". For inquires about no-cost Pro Life Talks to your group in Asia: contact Fr. Jerry at jerry@shirt.ocn.ne.jp. To become a supportive Missionary participant for this Asian project, kindly send your donations to: Fr. Jerry Novotny, OMI; LifeIssues.net, Editor; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072; (or transfer donation directly to ProLife bank account: Jerome Novotny, Shikoku Bank, Asakura Branch, No. 102-1-0080824).
Contact Editor: Jerry Novotny, OMI; Akebono-cho 1-15-9; Kochi City, Japan, 780-8072; Tel/Fax: 088-843-0406; E-Mail: jerry@lifeissues.net.
Websites by Editor:
English LifeIssues Site: http://www.lifeissues.net,
Japanese LifeIssues Site: http://www.japan-lifeissues.net,
OMI Site: http://www.omijapankorea.net/index.html.
6. The Ottawa Sun – Jan. 2, 2009
Letter:
One of the issues with most Canadian politicians is that it is never a good time for them to debate abortion. Twenty years ago the Supreme Court of Canada said it was up to Parliament to decide when and how to protect a foetus. Twenty years later, we have strident pro-choicers claiming the status quo is acceptable, simply because of political inaction. Furthermore, we can and frequently do debate more than one issue simultaneously. Economic concerns, for example, will not go away; neither will international foreign policy concerns. Simply saying, "now is not the time" forces many who are concerned for women's health and welfare to ask this: If not now, then when?
Andrea Mrozek
Manager Of Research And Communications
Institute Of Marriage And Family Canada
7. Stem Cell Therapy - Developments And Possibilities – December 17, 2008
NO. 57 |
December 17, 2008 |
The eReview provides analysis on public policy relating to Canadian families and marriage.
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Stem cell therapy: developments and possibilities By Derek Miedema, Researcher, Institute of Marriage and Family Canada There have been a number of developments in the medical use of stem cells recently. A scan of newspaper articles over the last six months reveals scientists around the world are making progress towards using stem cells to regenerate tissue. These developments are extremely exciting. At the same time, exciting science taken in the wrong direction can also cause medical harm. The goal of the promising new stem cell therapies is to heal: personalized treatments for a failing heart, a broken pancreas, or a severed spine, “transplants” that would not be rejected because the donor is the very individual under treatment. This involves a process by which your ordinary skin cells are transformed into stem cells, and then inserted back into your body. Some recent examples include scientists in California, who were able to build prostates in mice using prostate stem cells from mice. [1] Researchers at the Mayo Clinic were able to grow new heart tissue in a mouse to heal a coronary problem using heart stem cells. [2] Scientists from Japan have teamed up with colleagues in Toronto to use induced Pluripotent stem cells (iPS) to target cystic fibrosis. [3] In yet another case, researchers in Dallas, Texas are working toward using spinal cord stem cells to heal spinal cord injuries. [4] Australian researchers hope to be able to create human organs by growing stem cells around a biodegradable scaffold in the shape of the desired organ. This hope is based on their success growing arteries, ureters and pieces of bladder tissue inside laboratory animals. [5] Not one of these developments uses embryonic stem cells, and for a very practical reason—there is a market for the successes that non-embryonic stem cell research has brought, where success with embryonic research is, to date, non-existent. According to Professor Silviu Itescu, Director of Transplantation Immunology at Columbia University Medical Center: “While embryonic stem cells have undoubted potential, clinical therapies are years, if not decades, away. If you want to get a product to market, adult stem cells are the way to go.”[6] The incredible potential of adult and iPS cells to heal and restore the human body has not stopped other scientists from exploring embryonic stem cell therapies which are, in Dr. Itescu’s words, “years, if not decades away.” Future developments from embryonic stem cell research include making human embryos from skin cells. Davor Solter, developmental biologist at the Institute of Medical Biology (IMB) in Singapore discusses this possibility in a recent issue of Nature magazine: “It will be possible to make iPS cells from skin cells, to make germ [sperm and egg] cells from these, and then combine them to make human embryos. It means every person regardless of age will be able to have children: newborn children could have children and 100-year olds could have children. It could easily happen in the next 30 years.” [7] This type of development highlights the limitless nature of scientific discovery. Since stem cells are able to change into various different body cells, “[s]eemingly, the sky is the limit and any disease can, theoretically, one day be cured.” [8] The question remains whether the effects of pregnancy on a 100-year-old woman will be detrimental for that woman’s health, or for her newborn child. The tremendous capacity of stem cells to heal could simultaneously lead to complications – including physical harm – in the absence of ethical considerations. Once again, good ethics, good science and good treatments go hand in hand. [9] Endnotes [1] Agence France Presse. (October 22, 2008). Scientists grow mouse prostate from a single cell. [2] U.S. Newswire (September 11, 2008) Stem Cell Regeneration Repairs Congenital Heart Defect. [3] Crawford, T. (October 16, 2008) Toronto-Kyoto research project offers new hope for cystic fibrosis patients. Canwest News Service [4] Pr Newswire US. (2008). Spine Surgeons at Pine Creek Medical Center Take the Lead in Utilizing Stem Cell Technologies in Surgical Procedures. [5] O’Neill, G. (2004) News: Using stem cells to grow organs organically. Australian Life Scientist. Retrieved December 11, 2008 from http://www.biotechnews.com.au/index.php/id;701122089;fp;4;fpid;5555 [6] McDonald, K. (2007) AusBiotech special: Boning up on mesenchymal stem cells. Australian Life Scientist. Retrieved December 11, 2008 from http://www.biotechnews.com.au/index.php/id;1629883137;fp;4194304;fpid;1 [7] Pearson, H. (2008) Making Babies: The Next 30 Years. Nature 454, 260-262. [8]Giesbrecht, G. (Spring/Summer 2006) When Does It All Begin? IMFC Review, 20-22. Retrieved October 20, 2008 at http://www.imfcanada.org/article_files/When_does_it_all_begin.pdf [9] In an online response to a previous IMFC piece, Dr. Margaret Somerville, founding director at the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, made the point that good science and good ethics are inseparable. The piece, Advances in Stem Cell Research, can be retrieved online at http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/advances_in_stem_cell_research/ Permission is granted to reprint or broadcast this information with appropriate attribution to the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada |
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8. The Toronto Star – Jan. 2, 2009
Letter: Debate is just beginning
Leave abortion alone Editorial, Dec. 30
Abortion advocates, politicians sympathetic to abortion and a biased media would have us believe the debate over silent genocide is over because the majority have accepted it. Dead wrong! We never had a comprehensive and intelligent debate and recent polls prove the majority of Canadians have never accepted it. The real debate is only beginning.
Rod Bruinooge, Conservative MP for Winnipeg South and new chair of the pro- life parliamentary caucus, is to be commended for having the courage of his convictions in defending the rights of the unborn, a conviction that millions of Canadians with a conscience share. We can't have it both ways in this country. We cannot call ourselves a nation that champions human rights and at the same time continue to be distinguished as a country with virtually no restrictions on abortion.
We protest the killing of baby seals (and rightfully so) yet remain silent while 100,000 unborn children are aborted every year. A new generation of Canadians with a collective conscience will demand the state reverse this evil law and governments who prefer to look the other way will be forced to listen.
Gerald Hall
Nanoose Bay, BC
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