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1. Adult Stem Cells From Human Cord Successful - May 28, 2007
Adult Stem Cells From Human Cord Umbilical Cord Blood Successfully Engineered to Make Insulin
GALVESTON, Texas, May 28, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a fundamental discovery that someday may help cure type 1 diabetes by allowing people to grow their own insulin-producing cells for a damaged or defective pancreas, medical researchers at the University of Texas have reported that they have engineered adult stem cells derived from human umbilical cord blood to produce insulin.
The researchers announced their laboratory finding, which caps nearly four years of research, in the June 2007 issue of the medical journal Cell Proliferation, posted online this week. Their paper calls it "the first demonstration that human umbilical cord blood-derived stem cells can be engineered" to synthesize insulin.
"This discovery tells us that we have the potential to produce insulin from adult stem cells to help people with diabetes," said Dr. Randall J. Urban, senior author of the paper, professor and chair of internal medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and director of UTMB's Nelda C. and Lutcher H. J. Stark Diabetes Center. Stressing that the reported discovery is extremely basic research, Urban cautioned: "It doesn't prove that we're going to be able to do this in people - it's just the first step up the rung of the ladder."
The lead author of the paper, UTMB professor of internal medicine/endocrinology
Larry Denner, said that by working with adult stem cells rather than embryonic
stem cells, doctors practicing
so-called regenerative medicine eventually might be able to extract stem cells
from an individual's blood, then grow them in the laboratory to large numbers
and tweak them so that they are directed to create a needed organ. In this way,
he said, physicians might avoid the usual pitfall involved in transplanting
cells or organs from other people - organ rejection, which requires organ recipients
to take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives.
Huge numbers of stem cells are thought to be required to create new organs. Researchers might remove thousands of donor cells from an individual and grow them in the laboratory into billions of cells, Denner explained. Then, for a person with type 1 diabetes, researchers might engineer these cells to become islets of Langerhans, the cellular masses that produce the hormone insulin, which allows the body to utilize sugar, synthesize proteins and store neutral fats, or lipids. "But we're a long way from that," Denner warned.
Denner said this research, which reflects a fruitful collaboration with co-authors Drs. Colin McGuckin and Nico Forraz at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in the United Kingdom, used human umbilical cord blood because it is an especially rich source of fresh adult stem cells and is easily available from donors undergoing Caesarian section deliveries in UTMB hospitals.
2. Amnesty International Unveils Policy On Abortion - June 13, 2007
HUMAN rights organization Amnesty International has adopted a broader sexual and reproductive health policy that calls on states to ensure that women have access to safe abortion care under certain circumstances.
The agency took this step following two years of consultations with health and human rights experts, and Amnesty International's 2.2 million members in 74 countries.
A press statement from a non-governmental organization IPAS Nigeria, which was made available to Vanguard, the process grew out of its Campaign to Stop Violence against Women, which has been cementing human rights violations against women that may lead to unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortions.
Speaking on the new development, IPAS Policy Director Charlotte Smith said that his organization welcomes Amnesty's new position.
He said: "This is an important step from an outspoken advocate for human rights. "Every year, 19 million women with no better option will seek an unsafe abortion, causing nearly 70,000 preventable deaths and hospitalizing approximately 5 million women
"The policy recognizes that
women are unfairly penalized for exercising their basic human rights".
In its new policy, Amnesty calls on nations to repeal laws that allow women
to be charged, imprisoned or otherwise subjected to criminal penalties for seeking
or having an abortion, ensure that any woman who suffers complications from
an abortion will have access to the medical services she needs, whether she
obtained the abortion legally or illegally.
Other are; to ensure access to abortion services to any woman who becomes pregnant as the result of rape, sexual assault, or incest, or where a pregnancy poses a risk to a woman's life or a grave risk to her health".
It could be recalled that the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, and the Platform for Action of the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing each called on nations to make abortion safe and accessible where the procedure is legal. Only a handful of countries ban abortion entirely without exception; most permit abortions under at least some circumstances, such as to protect a woman's life or health. However, even if they meet the conditions for legal abortion, women may not be able to find safe abortion care.
By Chinyere Amalu
See my blog at: http://dispel-the-illusion.blogspot.com/
3. Assisted Suicide Seen As Safety Net - June 7, 2007
Comment:
The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition recognizes that people will sometimes consider
euthanasia or assisted suicide when the concept is introduced to them or when
they are experiencing "profound existential distress".
The facts that we need to recognize from this study is that of the 379 palliative
care patients who were studied, only 22 seriously considered intentionally dying
and of the 22 people, 12 felt that they were a burden to their family or a drain
on health care, 4 felt that assisted suicide was a compassionate choice, 3 expressed
a need for autonomy, and the others were either concerned about the possibility
of experiencing painful systems in the future or felt that their life was complete
already.
University of Manitoba psychiatrist Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov, a palliative care
researcher who was involved in the study, said patients who say they are a burden
to others are often in "profound existential distress."
Since we know that the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide directly
threatens the lives of our most vulnerable citizens at the most vulnerable time
of their life, and since we know that the primary reason people desire "mercy
killing" is "profound existential distress". Therefore we reiterate
that euthanasia and assisted suicide must remain illegal and enforced by the
law in order to protect vulnerable people who need to receive excellent care
and not killing.
At the same time, legislators in California have once again recognized that
it is not possible to protect vulnerable people with safeguards. California
legislators have rejected the legalization of assisted suicide four times in
the past eight years.
Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Joanne Laucius, The Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, June 07, 2007
A study of 379 Canadian palliative care patients - including about 100 in Ottawa -- has found that while many approve of euthanasia or doctor-assisted suicide in theory, few would choose it for themselves at the time they were interviewed.
The study adds to the growing body of research that suggests the desire to die and the will to live fluctuates among the terminally ill.
In Canada, voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide remain Criminal Code offences. Almost two-thirds of the cancer patients in the study led by Dr. Keith Wilson, a psychologist at the Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre, said they believed euthanasia and/or physician-assisted suicide should be legalized.
The study, published in the current edition of Health Psychology, was conducted in eight cities between May 2001 and March 2003.
About 40 per cent of the patients said they would consider asking for either type of hastened death in the future if it were legal. Many cited anticipating intolerable pain as one of the main reasons they might make such a request. But none of these patients would have asked for hastened death at the time of their interview.
Meanwhile, 36 patients said if physician-hastened death were available, they would already have asked for it. Again, these patients did not want to end their lives at the time they were interviewed.
In effect, the patients had changed their minds about suicide, said Dr. Wilson, who is also a researcher at the Ottawa Health Research Institute and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa.
Only six per cent, or 22 of the cancer patients, said they would request a hastened death right away if they could. And it wasn't because they were in greater pain or closer to death than the patients who rejected the idea.
"These were not people in their last hours of life," said Dr. Wilson.
For the patients who said they would die right away if they could, the issues were more complicated than pain alone. Twelve of the group of 22 said they felt they were a burden to their family or a drain on health care.
Some said they had a good life with no fear of death. Four said having access to physician-assisted suicide would be compassionate. Three spoke of the autonomy of being able to choose how and when they died.
The researchers did follow-up interviews with 17 patients from the group of 22 who said they would request hastened death. Only one patient said she would no longer request it.
Another patient also changed his mind, but later went back to his original position.
Dr. Wilson said the study points to the need to support patients and their families so they don't feel they have to take their own lives to avoid becoming a burden.
University of Manitoba psychiatrist Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov, a palliative care researcher who was involved in the study, said patients who say they are a burden to others are often in "profound existential distress."
"To feel a burden to others can mean that someone senses their life serves no ongoing purpose and has no continued sense of meaning," he said.
"That is why palliative care researchers are so interested in this area. Finding ways of enhancing or bolstering meaning and purpose could offer one way of addressing suffering seen all too often at the end of life."
Religious affiliation appeared to play a role in whether the patients favoured legalizing hastened death. Almost 89 per cent of the patients who said they had no religious affiliation said they were in favour of legalization, followed by about 65 per cent of the Protestant patients, about 54 per cent who reported their religion as "other" and about 51 per cent of the Roman Catholics.
Donald Babey, executive director of the 3,000-member Dying With Dignity Canada, said the fact that so many of the study participants changed their minds about dying doesn't surprise him.
In Oregon, it is legal for doctors to prescribe an oral drug that brings death. But of the approximately 30,000 people who died in Oregon last year, only 36 opted for this physician-assisted death.
Legal physician-assisted death helps to reduce anxiety over anticipated pain and suffering, said Mr. Babey. In Oregon, of the people who request and fill the prescription for the drug, only 60 per cent actually take it.
"What they want is the security of knowing it is there," he said. "When you're in control of your pain and suffering, you can handle it more. If you have it in your fridge or in your nightstand, then you are in control."
Dr. Wilson's study is one of the largest of its kind, and one of the few that has asked terminally ill patients who have expressed an interest in hastened death whether they would want it at the time of the interview.
But he points out that doctors approached only a small portion of the patients qualified for the study. This may have skewed the results - patients very close to death or very ill may have been more likely to want a hastened death, for example.
As a psychologist, Dr. Wilson is fascinated by the fact even the anticipation of pain in the future causes fear. He is embarking on another study on the fear of pain.
As for the public policy implications of the research, Dr. Wilson said these issues have to be put before philosophers, ethicists and religious leaders, and not medical investigators.
"You can't address public policy through survey questions."
© The Ottawa Citizen 2007
4. Balancing Work, Leisure
And Family - June 6, 2007
By Diane Marshall
Time is a scarce commodity in our culture. As Christians, we are challenged to examine our attitudes towards the way we balance work, leisure and family time, and to remember God's call to honour the Sabbath.
According to research done by Canada's Vanier Institute on the Family, and according to the experience of millions of people, the demands of the workplace are a serious threat to the life of contemporary families. As therapists, whether we are involved with individuals struggling with vocational options, couples seeking to juggle career and marriage, parents struggling to balance time with children and the insatiable demands of their employment, or mid-life couples dealing with the prospects and uncertainties of retirement, we see the steady encroachment of the world of work on the time, energy, and commitments of family life.
Until the Industrial Revolution, family life was enmeshed with work life. Early hunter-gatherer societies, and later agricultural societies, had divisions of labour which allowed for the care and nurture of children. Extended family networks were always a part of the raising of children and of the caring for the sick, the weak, and the elderly. The Industrial Revolution, which has spread throughout the world since the 18th century, has forced people to leave the village in order to seek work in larger urban centres.
Today we read of the "depersonalization" and the "alienation" of people living in cities of all sizes throughout the world. Such urbanization has undermined the traditional kinship groups, which nurtured human life at all, stages, and today fewer families live in neighbourhoods where children are known to all and where they are able to play freely and safely. Shift work and the breakdown of marriages have further eroded the foundations of neighbourhoods as relatively stable communities.
In Canada, the post-World War II "single breadwinner" families have become - of necessity - dual wage earning families in order to meet the basic expenses of housing, transportation, and the requirements of urban living. Working mothers feel that their most difficult challenge is time away from their families. Most report the wish for flextime and the opportunity to work from home. Time stress is shown in the fact that hard-won laws limiting the basic work week to 35 hours is history; the Ontario provincial government a few years ago extended the permissible work week to 60 hours. What effect will this action have on already beleaguered families?
The demands of the workplace, the attractions of our consumer society, and the breakdown of the extended family have all placed enormous burdens on the shoulders of parents. As work increasingly defines the parameters of self, family, and even friendship, more and more Canadians report fatigue, stress-related illnesses, and a lack of time available to spend with children. We therapists used to be able to take it for granted that families would eat several meals a week together. Today family mealtimes are an increasingly rare phenomenon.
Recently, when counselling a family whose mother was seriously ill, I asked the children (whose ages ranged from 10 to 18) if they could develop a roster of chores in order to help their Mom in her recovery. The father said he couldn't be home until at least 7:30 pm. The older teens had after-school activities and part-time jobs. The younger children played sports, then came home and watched TV. All of the children needed some time to do homework. Initially, no one was willing to make adjustments to help fill the organizational vacuum left by the mother's illness. Incidentally, the mother also carried a full-time job, as well as being the main home organizer! Eventually, this family made the changes needed to help the mother recuperate: the father made changes at work to come home for dinner, the older children spent more time coaching their younger siblings with homework, and the family reorganized itself in creative ways to pull together as a team.
"Family time" is so often eaten away by the demands of work, school, extra-curricular activities, television, peer groups, and so on. Quiet moments to connect with one another, to play, to encourage and listen to each other's experiences, to invite friends over, to converse about what each member is learning, are becoming rare.
Intergenerational times with grandparents, for instance, are disappearing due to our highly mobile culture. The Friday evening Shabbat meal, the Sunday dinner, and special events such as birthday celebrations are family traditions, which keep alive the threads of connection and the bonds of intimacy. As with times of worship, these are intentional gatherings, which - if they are to survive - must be given a high priority, since no longer do they "just happen."
Our society's health is linked to the health of the family. But relationships take time and need to be cultivated and nurtured. As such, they require a certain amount of leisure. As a culture, we are currently challenged to re-examine the priorities of work, leisure, and family. We need to reclaim the habit - the commandment - of a weekly day of rest. Then, perhaps, we therapists - when consulted during occasions of family distress - won't have such difficulty in aiding families to find time to spend together, helping one another.
Diane Marshall, M.Ed., RMFT is with the Institute of Family Living (IFL), Toronto, and is a regular contributor to canadianchristianity.com.
IFL is a multi-disciplinary, cross-cultural team of professional therapists and physicians. Guided by Christian and Jewish faith traditions, they offer psychotherapy, assessment, and consultation to individuals, couples, families, and human service agencies. www.ifl.on.ca
May 18/2007
Comments
Priorities are definitely something we all need to take more seriously when
we are in a two-person income family with kids.
Recently I went back to work full time after a 3 year break to settle my family in BC after having moved from Ontario. It became increasingly more apparent during this 3year break that on one income we could run a home but we definitely could not empower our kids to pursue any interests. I have now been working for a year and it has been a joy! as I look back to what we did right, here is what I noticed:
I became and am still working at being a student of my kids and husband. I seek to understand who they are and what their needs are.
I also became and still am working at being a student of myself. Because if I can love myself then I can give to others in my life. Part of loving myself is remembering my creator and allowing Him to speak into my life daily, because He knows all about me and what's best for me.
I also realized somthing, and keep it at the fore front of my mind; my real job(which I won't get paid for in $'s) is being a mom and a homemaker. A full time job in itself and one that I chose when I had my kids! On the other hand the work that I do for $'s is my hobby. So as I learn about myself I make sure I'm doing work that is aligned in my area of strength and giftedness and style of work. This then does not take anything away from me except time (40 hours a week while my kids are at school or busy)and I still have something to give to my family.
Finally I've slowly taught and am continuing daily to teach my family how to actually be a family by being involved in each other's lives. I have learned that involvement instead of observation breeds commitment and love.....and ownership instead of compliance breeds involvement. so really ownership breeds commitment!
We have 3 healthy, beautiful and intelligent young girls (14,12 and 10)who don't have it all together yet but who love being a part of our family and are encountering other kids in their lives that they can help be healthy.
Priorities. We need to live by what is important to us not by what is screaming at us.
5. Bella, Almost Too Good To Be True - May 14, 2007
Dear Colleague,
Director Alejandro Monteverde's new film, Bella is a movie that is going to be much talked about in pro-life, pro-family circles. This film has swept even the secular film world off its feet. Major producers however, are still hesitant to support anything that is not "mainstream." Please do what you can to promote this film and its pro-life message.
Steven W. Mosher, President
Bella: Almost too Good to Be True - by Colin Mason
"If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." This line, spoken by Mexican actor Eduardo Verstegui, opens the movie Bella, one of the most phenomenal films I have ever had the privilege to experience. The film is touring colleges right now to work up interest in its theatrical run, and I was able to screen it with about 200 students from Christendom College. The experience was deeply rewarding to me, not only as a long-time film buff, but as a pro-life Catholic as well.
Back in August 2006, I was attended a private screening the film's rough cut, and even then was floored by its grace, beauty, and simple depth. Apparently the audiences at the Toronto Film Festival were, too.
In September 2006, that same unfinished cut moved audiences of every political and religious persuasion, and went on to win Toronto's coveted People's Choice Award. To give an example of what an accomplishment this is, two of the many other films premiering at this festival were Babel and The Last King of Scotland, both of which were highly acclaimed works that went on to win Oscars. Thus, to see the film's vastly improved final cut at Christendom College was an experience to remember.
Director Alejandro Monteverde knows only too well
that if you want to make God laugh, you tell Him your plans.
Bella is not only an artistic triumph, but a moral and spiritual one as well. Metanoia films, the small production company responsible for the movie, states its mission as "to use film to make a positive difference in the culture and in peoples' lives." The film contains none of the titillative sensuality or violence of many of its cinematic counterparts. There is no blasphemy. It depicts the family: intact, loving, and responsible, and contrasts it with the empty loneliness of individualism and promiscuity. And it depicts abortion for the frightening, devastating, futile choice that it actually is.
How did a crowd of some of the world's most left-leaning
elitists vote Bella
the winner of the People's Choice Award?
How did a film like this do so well in Toronto? How did a crowd of some of the world's most left-leaning elitists vote it the winner of the People's Choice Award?
It would be an insult to the artistic integrity of Bella to call it a film with an agenda. The movie refuses to put forward any of the tiresome socio-political mores that plague so many "serious" films today. Simply put, there is nothing to argue with in Bella. Without pontificating or moralizing, the movie is artistically direct, viscerally powerful, and steadfastly pro-life. There is no pretentious posturing, no hyper-aware political overtones. It's just simple, and powerful, stirring basic emotions that are fundamental to the human experience. So fundamental, in fact, that audiences of all political persuasions have fallen for the film.
In the words of producer Leo Severino: "You can't argue with life." At the end of the day, there is no argument to be made against the image of the child, the idea of the tiny human being growing within a mother's body. Life is universal, no matter how many people try to reduce it to a science or a math formula. The film capitalizes on that fact, and gracefully but directly pulls us toward the inevitable truth.
But Bella needs help. American theater companies have only agreed to carry the film in a limited distribution, and only as far east as the Midwest. If they can raise enough interest in other places, interest to the point where seats in theaters are sold out, Bella can reach a much wider distribution. Similar to The Passion of The Christ before it, whether or not the film will go to more theaters will all depend upon how well it does, and how much interest there is.
Call Metanoia films. E-mail them. Let them know how important this film is to you. Organize church groups and youth groups, and get families to go see the film and promote it to their friends. Interest and excitement about this movie is key. If the response is mediocre, theaters will drop Bella quickly, before it has really had the chance to shine. It is up to us not to let that happen.
Metanoia films can be reached by phone at (310) 500-5097, or email at contact@metanoiafilms.com
Colin Mason is the Media Director at PRI.
PRI
P.O. Box 1559
Front Royal, VA 22630
USA
Phone: (540) 622-5240 Fax: (540) 622-2728
E-Mail: colin@pop.org
Media Contact: Colin Mason
(540) 622-5240, ext. 209
(c) 2007 Population Research Institute. Permission to reprint granted. Redistribute widely. Credit required.
6. Compromise Resolution On Sexual Reorientation Efforts - May 30, 2007
American Academy of Physician Assistants House of Delegates Passes Compromise Resolution on Sexual Reorientation Efforts
MEDIA ADVISORY, May 30 /Christian Newswire/ - At their annual conference Monday, the House of Delegates of the American Academy of Physician Assistants passed a resolution opposing therapies which are based on the premise that homosexuality per se represents a mental disorder that should be cured. This resolution was more conservative than an original resolution advanced by the Academy's Committee on Diversity. The original resolution would have placed the Academy in opposition to any effort to alter sexual orientation and stated: "The American Academy of Physician Assistants opposes the practice of treatments intended to alter sexual orientation."
John Fields, President-Elect, and Chairman of the Task Force on Ethics and Policy of the Fellowship of Christian Physician Assistants (FCPA), argued against the original restrictive resolution during floor debate. He noted, "We were concerned that conservatively religious patients and practitioners would experience restrictions to the care available if the original resolution had passed." He added, "We agree that homosexuality per se should not be considered a mental disorder and we certainly oppose imposition of opinions on to patients which is essentially what new resolution states. However, we pressed for a recognition of religious diversity as well but our substitute resolution was not considered."
The Fellowship of Christian Physician Assistants proposed a substitute resolution that said, "The Academy opposes the practice of treatments intended to alter aspects of sexual orientation which are performed against the patient's will or are contrary to the patient's religious beliefs, cultural identity and personal values. The American Academy of Physician Assistants likewise supports practices which recognize the right of patients to align their sexual identity and behavior with their religious beliefs, cultural identity and personal values."
The well-known and respected psychiatrist, Dr. Robert Spitzer, wrote in a letter supporting the compromise resolution submitted by the FCPA: "Health care professionals should not coerce patients into reorientation but neither should they discourage patients from bringing their sexuality into accord with their religious convictions." Dr. Spitzer went on to say, "Even though I am not religious, I do believe it to be hubris for health care professionals to use our position to promote one set of beliefs over another."
Dr. Warren Throckmorton, a noted expert in sexuality counseling and consultant to the FCPA in the preparation of their compromise language remarked: "I commend the Academy for visiting the issue of safe and ethical mental health practice. I urge the Academy to add language to their current policy in order to also insure respect for religious and viewpoint diversity." This is the challenge that lies ahead for the FCPA as they continue to be the voice for Physician Assistants of faith. Mr. Fields accepts the challenge on behalf of the Fellowship and states: "During the next year, we will continue to make the case for religious and value diversity in the Academy."
7. Fr. Paul Marx, Apostle of Life - June 15, 2007
The Apostle of Life: Father Paul Marx,
O.S.B.
Join us in celebrating the life of
our Founder and Chairman
I owe Father Marx many debts. He helped to bring me into the pro-life movement, the most important social movement in the world today. He helped to bring me to Christ and into the Catholic faith-so I owe him the debt of my soul. He taught me the link between contraception and abortion--and so I owe the gift of my children in part to him. He founded the Population Research Institute in 1989, and then in 1995 asked me to come and lead it, so I owe him the gift of my apostolate. And he continues, at 87 years of age, to pray for our work every day.
Father Marx was ordained in 1947, the year before I was born. He got his Ph.D. in Sociology from the Catholic University of America, and taught at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Then came the publication of Pope Paul VI's great encyclical, Humanae Vitae. In defending the Church's teaching in favor of Life, Father was drawn into the work that led Pope John Paul II to call him "The Apostle of Life." The International Planned Parenthood Federation had another name for this tireless advocate of the sanctity of life: They called him "public enemy number one."
You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchisadech - Psalm 101:4
Here are some of Father's accomplishments:
· Father Marx pioneered the study of Natural Family Planning (NFP) through his international symposia and seminars throughout the United States and beyond;
· Father Marx first exposed the plans of the abortion industry two years before the legalization of abortion by the U.S. Supreme Court, in his bestselling book, The Death Peddlers: War on the Unborn (1971);
· Father Paul Marx has been involved in the struggle for life internationally, visiting 91 countries around the world to promote the Culture of Life and oppose the culture of death. Everywhere he went he gave public lectures, urging local Catholics to get organized to meet this threat to themselves and their children, and distributing vast quantities of pro-life literature.
· Father Marx founded numerous pro-life organizations around the globe, such as Family Life International-Australia and Family Life International-U.K., the most effective pro-life groups in those countries.
· Father Marx did countless interviews on television and radio defending and promoting Life;
· During his "spare time," Father Marx wrote more than 15 books and many articles on the Life issues.
Father Marx was encouraged in his apostolate by several popes, including Pope Paul VI who told him on January 26, 1973, just four days after Roe vs. Wade, "You are a courageous fighter; never give up."
And what a model he is to us. What Shakespeare is to poetry, Mozart to music, Babe Ruth to baseball, Father Paul Marx is to the pro-life movement. He possessed and displayed in his life courage, vision, and tirelessness, and an array of other virtues that enabled him to surmount obstacle after obstacle. To see how he lived his life, with every waking second devoted to the cause of life, is to see much more vividly what it means to be committed to the pro-life movement.
This is not to say that he was flawless any more than Babe Ruth was a perfect baseball player or Mozart a perfect musician. It is merely to say that, if Father Marx had not lived, such tireless devotion to the pro-life cause would hardly have been believed possible.
Father Marx, we love you.
Population Research Institute - Sign up for the Weekly Briefing Here
Media Contact: Colin Mason; E-mail: colin@pop.org; (540) 622-5240, ext. 209
(c) 2007 Population Research Institute. Permission to reprint granted. Redistribute widely. Credit required.
PRI is a 501(c)(3) educational organization. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to PRI, please go to our Donations Page. All donations (of any size) are welcomed and appreciated.
The pro-life Population Research Institute is dedicated to ending human rights
abuses committed in the name of "family planning," and to ending counter-productive
social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of "overpopulation." Find us at: www.pop.org.
PRI, PO Box 1559, Front Royal, VA 22630 USA Phone: 540-622-5240
8. Is It Our Right To Die? – Sat, July 7, 2007
By THANE BURNETT
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Burnett_Thane/2007/07/07/4320566.html
If Elizabeth MacDonald knew where her death would lead, she may not have committed suicide.
That's what her husband Eric believes, now that he's been left to deal with the mortal coils of her controversial decision.
Elizabeth, a Nova Scotia woman whose frail physical state concealed apparently very strong convictions, died June 8 at the Dignitas clinic in Zurich after a prolonged fight with multiple sclerosis. She relied on a wheelchair and, before her suicide; her affliction had begun to paralyse her throat.
The head of the Zurich clinic, Ludwig Minelli, estimates his facility, charging $7,200 a case, has helped more than 700 people – including five Canadians – end their days.
No one can recall any Canadian or British resident who has accompanied a patient to Switzerland for suicide – including a psychologist from Barrie, Ont., who took a friend more than a year ago – being criminally charged once they've returned home.
So Eric was at Elizabeth's side when the 38-year-old woman was handed enough barbiturates by clinic officials – abiding by Swiss law, which allows for many cases of assisted suicide – to die painlessly.
Diagnosed with the incurable illness eight years ago, she tried and failed to take her own life last year through a combination of sleeping pills and morphine. But the aftermath of her final, successful attempt in Switzerland has been anything but tranquil for Eric.
Earlier this week, after an RCMP investigation into whether he had somehow broken Canadian law, the retired Anglican priest finally heard that he would face no charges. But the news comes after days of worry and public scrutiny.
For Eric MacDonald, there's been barely enough time to take a breath, let alone begin to grieve his loss.
"If she had understood what (her decision) would cause, she would have had second thoughts," Eric tells Sun Media from the couple's Windsor, N.S., home. "If she had known the police would be involved, I doubt she would have carried out her intentions."
He's thankful she didn't hesitate, adding: "I'm glad she didn't know -- she really felt she had an escape.
"She said, 'You're not doing anything but taking me to Switzerland. There's no law in driving me (to the airport)."
But for some in this country – where it's an offence to counsel or aid someone in committing suicide – Elizabeth's last opinions wouldn't go unchallenged.
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Ontario-based Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, asked the RCMP to investigate the case. His group became involved after her obituary mentioned the Swiss facility.
While the RCMP have decided no charges are warranted, it's been, largely, Schadenberg and his organization who have been vilified in Halifax-area letters to the editor and even calls to their headquarters.
"Don't attack the messenger," Schadenberg now asks.
"We weren't going after her husband."
But that, he says, is how it's being portrayed.
"We made it clear – we had no idea whether charges would be laid or not," he says from his London, Ont., office.
Canadian laws are in place to protect the weak and vulnerable, he says, adding that they simply wanted to make sure Elizabeth MacDonald's rights were not violated.
He points out: "This is not a case of a woman at (a final) stage. She seemed to be more in fear of what the future (would) bring."
He doesn't believe it will lead to a trend of sick and ailing Canadians buying a one-way ticket to Switzerland, but says: "There is already an underground death culture in Canada."
Around the same time Elizabeth was in Switzerland, an Ipsos Reid survey in Canada found seven in 10 Canadians believe doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients should be legal.
Schadenberg became part of the group opposed to assisted suicide in 1999 – the same year Elizabeth was diagnosed with MS. In fact, though he won't be specific, he is around the same age as the Nova Scotia woman.
Schadenberg says he was inspired to prevent euthanasia because of his 12-year-old autistic son.
"The proper response is to care for (the weak) and not kill them," he says.
"I'm not questioning she went through a lot of pain and suffering," he says of Elizabeth. "I'm asking what we could have done for her."
Schadenberg agrees his group should have reached out to Eric while asking the RCMP to investigate.
"I never viewed him as being the enemy," he says of Eric, saying the group will ask for the same investigation if it happens again.
As for the widower, he won't abandon Elizabeth's convictions.
"When she died, she felt she was denied a right that was hers," Eric says, his daughter – one of two children – listening nearby.
The fact that his wife had to fly far from home: "Is a miscarriage of justice that should be righted in this country."
He says a lot has been said about Elizabeth by people who never knew her – or himself.
"I could no more counsel her (toward suicide) than tear off my own arm," he says.
He loved her, he explains, and beyond the public nature of her death, must now begin a long journey of missing her life.
• You can call Thane Burnett at (416) 947-2444 or e-mail at: thane.burnett@tor.sunpub.com
9. Lifeissues.net Newsletter #326 - June 3, 2007
Dear Friends for Life,
Jack Kevorkian, the face of assisted suicide in the United States, is scheduled for release from prison on June 1, 2007 and the media can't wait to begin the interviews. Kevorkian has claimed responsibility in assisting at least 130 deaths in the United States.
Jack Kevorkian is set to cash in on the deaths that made him the face of physician-assisted suicide. Reports indicate that he will receive between $50,000 and $100,000 per speech. Kevorkian, 79, was criticized even by assisted suicide supporters because of his unconventional practices. He used a machine he invented to administer fatal drugs and dropped off bodies at hospital emergency rooms or coroner's offices, or left them to be discovered in the motel rooms where he often met those who wanted his help.
William J. Smith, in his article at NRO, observes that Kevorkian appears to have pursued a three-step plan toward achieving his dream: First, popularize assisted suicide and make it seem acceptable; second, give society a utilitarian stake in assisted suicide by using the victims for organ procurement; and finally, gain permission to conduct his death experiments on the sick and disabled people he would be allowed to kill.
God bless, Marlon Castillo Ramirez, Assistant Editor
(A Quote:) "It's imperative that we know what's happening. We need to know where the verbal and ethical mine fields are, and to do this, we need to keep up to date about the deceptive words and strategies of those who are dedicated to killing others." - Rita L. Marker, Euthanasia: Killing or Caring?
Lifeissues.net Newsletter #326 - June 3, 2007
Table Of Contents:
1. The man who wants to lead a sensible debate on abortion
2. Pakistan Tells Pro-Abortion UN Committee that "Abortion is Murder"
3. Gender ideology turns women against the family, warns Honduran expert
4. Brazil's women at risk from unsafe abortions: study
5. Unborn Babies Face Emotional Stress During Pregnancy Research Shows
6. Culture of Death icon to be released from prison June 1st
7. Church in Australia considering cutting ties with Amnesty Intl. over abortion
8. Study: Umbilical cord cells could produce insulin
9. Australia Family Planning Group Misuses Cancer Drug to Cause Abortions
10. More breast cancer sufferers may be spared chemotherapy
Focus On Asia: An increasing number of Chinese families are using fertility drugs to defeat the government's one-child policy by having multiple births. A BBC journalist found that fertility drugs were cheaply available over the counter in a rural village, and that hospital records show a large number of women giving birth to twins and triplets. The need for farming-families to have more than one child to help till the land is thought to be one factor. In some provinces, such as Guanxi, there have been violent confrontations between locals and government officials over enforcement of the one-child policy. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6694135.stm
Item #1. The Man Who Wants To Lead A Sensible Debate On Abortion
Anti-abortion campaigners are ready to launch a US-style cultural war against the 40-year-old law that allows women in the UK to choose to terminate unwanted pregnancies - with politicians who are also practicing Roman Catholics as their first targets.
MPs and other elected representatives who attend Mass but have not taken a hard line against abortion will be targeted by activists who say they should be disowned by the Church.
The head of the 17,000-strong Life League said yesterday that the organization will write to every Catholic MP demanding a clear statement that they support the Church's line on abortion and all other "life" issues.
Those who fail to give a satisfactory answer face the prospect of being spied on to see if they are attending Mass.
The campaign has been inspired by yesterday's fiery sermon by the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who described abortion as an "unspeakable crime" and controversially compared it with the massacre of schoolchildren in Dunblane 12 years ago.
View full text at The Independent: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2600478.ece
Item #2. Pakistan Tells Pro-Abortion UN Committee That "Abortion Is Murder"
On Friday the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) will conclude its latest round of two-week meetings in New York, having questioned six out of the eight countries under review on their abortion laws. As in previous sessions, CEDAW Committee members used the question of maternal mortality and contraceptive prevalence to bring up the issue of abortion in Mauritania, Mozambique, Pakistan, Serbia, Sierra Leone and Syria. Notably, two delegations took the opportunity to push back.
Abortion is not mentioned in the treaty, but delegations often go along with the committees' line of questioning on abortion by providing data and answering queries on the subject during their reviews. During this round of talks, however, delegations deviated from the routine by making statements in stark contrast to the committee's argument. The delegate from Pakistan, undergoing its first review, told CEDAW that "abortion is considered murder once a fetus is conceived," and then stated that abortion was illegal in her country except to save the life of the mother.
View full text at LifeSite News: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/may/07053103.html
Item #3. Gender Ideology Turns Women Against The Family, Warns Honduran Expert
The Executive Director of the Education and Family Association of Honduras, Gracia de Villeda, warned this week that gender ideology "has led us to become enemies of the family."
In statements to CNA, Villeda said, "Gender ideology has made women turn against themselves, because it has led to scorn for maternity, which is one the characteristics and conditions inherent to our nature as women and it has led us to become enemies of the family."
In response to an impoverished understanding of love in today's world, she said, "families must work to truly teach their children to recognize that they are sold cheap love by the media and by the music they listen to." Parents must teach their children that, "true love is love that is surrender and commitment," Villeda said.
The Honduran expert, who was in Brazil for the 5th General Conference of the Latin American Bishops' Council, explained that gender ideology has led women to question the natural inclination they have to be mothers and wives, and that they have been made to feel that everything to do with children and the family "enslaves them."
View full text at CNA: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=9515
Item #4. Brazil's Women At Risk From Unsafe Abortions: Study
Some 1.2 million Brazilian women have been hospitalized in the last five years with infections, vaginal bleeding and other complications resulting from illegal abortions, said a report presented by health experts on Wednesday.
Women in Brazil's relatively poor northeast seek unsafe illegal abortions at twice the rate of women in the wealthier south, said the study, published by the International Planned Parenthood Federation, or IPPH.
Brazil prohibits abortion in most cases, but an outspoken new health minister prompted a nationwide debate several weeks ago when he said society must reconsider laws against abortion because they are hurting women.
The IPPF report, based on health ministry data, was released just weeks after Pope Benedict railed against contraception and abortion on a papal visit to Brazil.
View full text at Reuters: http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKN3041823720070531
Item #5. Unborn Babies Face Emotional Stress During Pregnancy Research Shows
New research conducted by doctors in England shows that unborn children can face emotional stress during a pregnancy as the baby's mother faces stress herself. Pro-life advocates say the study has implications for abortion as society learns more about the amazing development of children before birth.
The British Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists released the results of the study on Thursday and says that unborn babies as early as 17 weeks into pregnancy suffer from stress.
The stress results when hormones transferred from anxious mothers reach the baby through the placenta.
Researchers measure the levels of cortisol, a stress hormone in 267 pregnant women and took blood tests and amniotic fluid samples from the babies. The fluid is a good indicator of what's happening because it's mostly produced by the baby during the pregnancy.
The doctors found that when the cortisol levels rose in women a corresponding increase the in the levels in the amniotic fluid were found. The link grew stronger as the pregnancy advanced, the physicians said. - Pampa Sarkar, an OBGYN who was involved.
View full text at Life News: http://www.lifenews.com/int314.html
Item #6. Culture Of Death Icon To Be Released From Prison June 1st
Dr. Jack Kevorkian, an infamous foe of the pro-life movement, is scheduled to be released from prison on June 1st raising questions about his plans once he is back in public. The 79 year-old was sent to prison in 1999 after he was convicted of killing a patient on national television.
He was sentenced to serve 10 to 25 years for the second-degree murder of Thomas Youk, a Michigan resident who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. However, according to the rules of his sentencing, Kevorkian is now eligible for parole and will be released June 1st.
Mayer Morganroth, Kevorkian's lawyer, is quoted as saying, "the man who once bought his clothes from thrift shops, drove old cars and lived in inexpensive apartments has several offers to speak about legalizing assisted suicide for between $50,000 and $100,000."
See the full article at CNA: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=9488
Item #7. Church In Australia Considering Cutting Ties With Amnesty Intl. Over Abortion
Australia's bishops are discussing Amnesty International's new policy to advocate for the decriminalization of abortion worldwide, with the intention of presenting a unified response.
Many Christians, especially Catholics, are expected to resign from the human rights organization and perhaps establish an alternative human rights organization because of the new policy. Some expect the Church in Australia to cut its ties with Amnesty altogether.
The group has 2.2 million members and supporters worldwide, many of them are church-based, including about 72,000 in Australia. Amnesty estimates that 500 Catholic schools in Australia have member groups, as do other Christian schools. Amnesty's international executive board adopted the policy last month as part of its campaign to curb violence against women. Previously Amnesty was neutral on abortion.
Full Article at CNA: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=9508
Item #8. Study: Umbilical Cord Cells Could Produce Insulin
Stem cells taken from the umbilical cords of newborns can be engineered to produce insulin and may someday be used to treat diabetes, U.S. and British researchers reported on Friday.
They said they were able to first grow large numbers of the stem cells and then direct them to resemble the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas that are damaged in diabetes.
"This discovery tells us that we have the potential to produce insulin from adult stem cells to help people with diabetes," said Dr. Randall Urban of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, who directed the study.
Full Article at Reuters:
http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=allBreakingNews&storyID=2007-05-26T021140Z_01_N25203769_RTRIDST_0_STEMCELLS-INSULIN-UPDATE-1.XML
Item #9. Australia Family Planning Group Misuses Cancer Drug To Cause Abortions
Marie Stopes International, a British-based abortion business, announced yesterday that it will move ahead more permanently with its decision to misuse an anti-cancer drug to cause abortions. The decision comes because there is no company in Australia licensed to sell the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug.
A Cairns abortion practitioner and Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne filed applications to sell the abortion drug locally.
However, because the drug is not available on a national basis, an MSI official said Tuesday they would use methotrexate at their NSW, Queensland and West Australian facilities.
Marie Stopes' operations manager Jill Michelson said she would prefer to use RU 486, claiming it is safer, but said MSI can no longer wait on a company to sell it nationwide.
View entire text at Life News: http://www.lifenews.com/int312.html
Item #10. More Breast Cancer Sufferers May Be Spared Chemotherapy
More young women who are diagnosed with breast cancer could be spared painful doses of chemotherapy after scientists proved that a readily available drug offers an equally effective treatment.
The review of the cancer treatment regimes of thousands of women, published in the Lancet today, finds that luteinizing hormone should be offered to all 5,500 premenopausal women diagnosed each year with hormone-receptive breast cancer.
One leading breast cancer surgeon whose work was included in the study said it was the evidence they had been waiting 20 years for.
View entire text at Guardian:
http://society.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,,2082586,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=9
Get Involved:
1. Pray Daily that we all may have the courage to be God's presence in society and strongly support those who have been deemed "unworthy of life".
2. Be Informed at Lifeissues.net website: http://www.lifeissues.net.
3. Become A Missionary For Human Life: "Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia" is a project, which appeals for donations to help finance travel expenses for talks to developing countries in Asia. Fr. Jerry's series of lectures this year emphasis "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Life Issues, Trends and Challenges". For inquires about "no-cost to your group" Lectures (including travel) to anyplace in Asia: contact Fr. Jerry. To become a supportive Missionary participant for Human Life in Asia, kindly send your donations directly 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
Contact Assistant Editor:
Mr. Marlon Castillo Ramirez
Author of Book: "The Sights and Soul of Life"
E-Mail: mcr4lifeissues@gmail.com
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.
10. Lifeissues.net Newsletter #327 - June 10, 2007
Dear Friends for Life,
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) expressed alarm recently over rising cases of trade in human organs in Asia, and said globalization had increased risks of human trafficking. Bruce Reed, IOM regional representative, said trafficking in persons for sexual or labor exploitation and other purposes such as adoption, false marriage and human organ donation was the third-largest international criminal activity, behind drugs and arms smuggling.
"The profile (of those being trafficked) is constantly changing," Reed told a seminar on human trafficking in Manila. "Women and girls are being trafficked for non-sex work and cases of men and boys are also being reported in the region." Reed said many trafficking cases in Asia "end up in situations of forced begging, delinquency, adoption, false marriage, or most recently, as victims of the thriving trade in human organs".
The IOM said there could be 30 million Asians living outside their country, making them more susceptible to sexual and labor exploitation.
Trafficking for organs was on the rise in China and in many impoverished states in Southeast Asia, like Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam. Although rising, the number of those being trafficked for organs was dwarfed by those being smuggled for sex, as there was constant demand from the entertainment and hospitality industry in developed countries.
This trend cannot solely be averted by law enforcement alone. There must be cultural transformation and conversion by those who patronize and perpetuate this crime.
God bless, Marlon Castillo Ramirez, Assistant Editor
(A Quote:) "Doctors should be healers, not killers. Depressed patients need love, family, spiritual counsel, and proven pain medication, not handed what amounts to a gun to the head. Because HMOs are the controlling force for so many physicians, assisted suicide would inevitably lead to hospitals and hospices viewing patients as more expensive alive than dead." - Randy Thomasson, President of Campaign for Children and Families
Lifeissues.net Newsletter #327 - June 10, 2007
Table Of Contents:
1. European Parliament Urged To Support The Traditional Family
2. Scientists Create Embryonic Skin Cells In Mice Without Destroying Human Life
3. Biologists Make Skin Cells Work Like Stem Cells
4. Proposal Could Fine Pharmacists $500,000
5. United Nations CEDAW Committee Pushes Syria To Permit Abortion
6. Homosexual Marriage Approved By California Assembly
7. Catholic University Of Argentina: "Right To Abortion" Non-Existent
8. Poll: Abortion Morally Wrong, Assisted Suicide, Embryonic Research Okay
9. California Firm Launches National Campaign To Preserve Umbilical Cord Blood
10. British Docs: Abortion Causes Mental Health Problems, Raises Suicide Risk
Focus On Asia: A man and his wife are permitted to seek asylum after the woman underwent a forced abortion in China, the San Francisco based 9th Circuit Federal Appeals Court decided on Wednesday. Zi Zhi Tang ("Tang") and his wife Li Zhen Tang ("Li Zhen") were previously refused asylum by an Immigration Judge after the judge determined that the couple had not sufficiently proved that the abortion that Li Zhen underwent was truly "forced." (http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jun/07060704.html)
Item #1. European Parliament Urged To Support The Traditional Family
(NEW YORK - C-FAM) The Madrid-based Institute for Family Policies (IFP) has issued a report to the European Parliament warning about "the deterioration of the family panorama." Citing demographic, sociological and economic evidence from a team of experts, IFP called on EU delegations to make the family a policy priority and promote the traditional family as an institution, recognize the fundamental right of parents to educate their children and to adopt policies that support the development and well being of the family.
Entitled "The Evolution of the Family in Europe 2007," IFP presented the document with alarming indicators regarding population, birth rates, marriage and divorce rates to members of the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee, journalists and members of civil society. According to the report, a child is aborted every 25 seconds, a rate that far exceeds any other external cause of death in Europe including traffic accidents, AIDS and suicide. The number of marriages has declined by 22.3% since 1980. Divorce rates are skyrocketing with one occurring every 30 seconds. One out of every three babies born in the EU is born out of wedlock. The report also underscores the changing face of Europe with a modest population growth rate that is attributable almost exclusively to immigration, an increasing aging population and a dwindling number of youth under the age of 14.
View full text at C-Fam: http://www.c-fam.org/
Item #2. Scientists Create Embryonic Skin Cells In Mice Without Destroying Human Life
As Congress debates a bill that would force taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research that involves the destruction of human life, scientists say they have created the equivalent of embryonic stem cells using mice skin cells. If done in humans it could lead to obtaining the embryonic cells without killing days-old unborn children.
This research is preliminary and has only been established in mice so far, but it represents the kind of ethical alternative sources for
embryonic-like stem cells that pro-life advocates support.
The results of the work - done by three different independent research teams - were hailed by pro-life advocates and scientists alike. They applauded the potential ability to mimic embryonic stem cells in a non-controversial way but cautioned that there's a big questions about whether the process would work in humans.
View full text at Life News: http://www.lifenews.com/bio2130.html
Item #3. Biologists Make Skin Cells Work Like Stem Cells
In a surprising advance that could sidestep the ethical debates surrounding stem cell biology, researchers have come much closer to a major goal of regenerative medicine, the conversion of a patient's cells into specialized tissues that might replace those lost to disease.
The advance is an easy-to-use technique for reprogramming a skin cell of a mouse back to the embryonic state. Embryonic cells can be induced in the laboratory to develop into many of the body's major tissues.
If the technique can be adapted to human cells, researchers could use a patient's skin cells to generate new heart, liver or kidney cells that might be transplantable and would not be rejected by the patient's immune system. But scientists say they cannot predict when they can overcome the considerable problems in adapting the method to human cells.
View full text at New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/science/07cell.html?_r=3&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Item #4. Proposal Could Fine Pharmacists $500,000
Democrats in Congress have proposed a plan to fine pharmacies up to $500,000 if the pharmacists follow their conscience and decline to dispense abortifacient chemicals.
"Pharmacists are professionals, not vending machines," said Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America. "The FDA has been known to make mistakes in approving drugs, and doctors have made mistakes in prescribing. Pharmacists provide a line of defense to ensure that patients' lives and health are protected and can make patients aware of ethical concerns.
"Yet this bill would punish pharmacists up to $500,000 for acting on their ethical duty," she said. The new plan, called the "Access to Birth Control Act," is being pushed forward by U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.
View full text at WorldNetDaily: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56071
Item #5. United Nations CEDAW Committee Pushes Syria To Permit Abortion
Reporting for the first time to the 'committee of experts' overseeing the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the UN delegation from Syria agreed to drop objections to article 2 of the Convention.
In meetings with the delegation from Syria, Ferdous Ara Begum, the expert from Bangladesh who serves as the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs for the People's Republic of Bangladesh, noted that abortion was illegal in Syria. She said the country must implement "legal support" for women to "terminate unwanted pregnancies without penalty."
View full text at Life Site News: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jun/07060512.html
Item #6. Homosexual Marriage Approved By California Assembly
In a 42-34 vote, the State Assembly voted to pass AB 43, allowing homosexual marriage in California. After a lengthy floor debate, Democrats voted to flout the will of California voters by choosing to overturn Proposition 22, the 2000 initiative that clearly defined marriage as between one man and one woman.
"The arrogant majority in the California legislature have decided that they know better than the people by voting to force AB 43 on
California," declared Karen England, Executive Director of Capitol Resource Institute. "The people of California clearly decided this issue when they passed Proposition 22. It is outrageous for legislators to waste time and money debating an issue that Californians have decided."
See the full article at Christian Newswire: http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/761113332.html
Item #7. Catholic University Of Argentina: "Right To Abortion" Non-Existent
In response to proposals that would liberalize abortion laws in Buenos Aires and in other Argentinean provinces, the dean of the School of Law at the Catholic University of Argentina, Gabriel Limodio, warned this week, "The right to cause the death of one's own children does not exist."
"The Constitution and the laws of the nation protect the right to life from the moment of conception and no law that establishes the right to abortion exists. Thus any legislation that puts the life of the innocent unborn at risk is unconstitutional," Limodio said in a statement.
Full Article at CNA: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=9545
Item #8. Poll: Abortion Morally Wrong, Assisted Suicide, Embryonic Research Okay
A new poll conducted by the Gallup organization finds that Americans are split on a number of contentious pro-life issues. The survey found that Americans consider abortion morally wrong but are more comfortable with embryonic stem cell research or assisted suicide.
Of the pro-life issues in the survey, Americans were most likely to find abortion morally wrong, as 51 percent agreed with that view while just 40 percent said it was morally fine.
Full Article at Life News: http://www.lifenews.com/nat3163.html
Item #9. California Firm Launches National Campaign To Preserve Umbilical Cord Blood
The Cord Blood Registry, a blood bank in San Bruno, has launched a nationwide campaign to increase public awareness of cord-blood preservation. The blood bank is proposing the collection and storage of umbilical-cord blood for future use. Collecting cord blood takes only a few minutes, and is painless and risk-free to the baby and the mother.
"The goal of this campaign is to help expectant parents better
understand the significance of banking cord-blood stem cells," said
Stephen Grant, executive vice president and co-founder of Cord Blood Registry, in a press release.
View entire text at CNA: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=9543
Item #10. British Docs: Abortion Causes Mental Health Problems, Raises Suicide Risk
Doctors in England testifying before the British House of Commons said abortion is a serious risk to a woman's mental health and can make her six times more likely to consider committing suicide. The doctors cited medical studies backing up their assertions as they commented on a bill to make the information available to women.
Dr. Trevor Stammers, who practices at St. George's University of London and teaches medicine there, said he supported the measure to make women aware of the risks and dangers associated with abortion.
He said that in 26 years of medical practice, all of which come after Britain legalized abortion in 1967, he has seen numerous women come to him with physical or mental health problems resulting from their abortion.
View entire text at Life News: http://www.lifenews.com/int317.html
Get Involved:
1. Pray daily that we all may have the courage to be God's presence in society and strongly support those who have been deemed "unworthy of life".
2. Be informed at Lifeissues.net website: http://www.lifeissues.net.
3. Become a missionary for human life: "Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia" is a project which appeals for donations to help finance travel expenses for talks to developing countries in Asia. Fr. Jerry's series of lectures this year emphasis "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Life Issues, Trends and Challenges". For inquires about "no-cost to your group" Lectures (including travel) to anyplace in Asia: contact Fr. Jerry. To become a supportive Missionary participant for human Life in Asia, kindly send your donations directly 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
Contact Assistant Editor: Mr. Marlon Castillo Ramirez; Author of Book: "The Sights and Soul of Life"; E-Mail: mcr4lifeissues@gmail.com
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.
11. Lifeissues.net Newsletter 328 - June 17, 2007
Dear Friends for Life,
The ruling party of the Mexico City Federal District, submitted a bill on Tuesday that would make prostitution legal within Mexico City. The Mexico City government claims that these new measures would tighten-up prostitution, thereby improving the living conditions of prostitutes. In many countries, prostitution has been re-criminalized. They found that legalizing prostitution did not benefit sex-workers or improve their standard of living.
Prostitution is based on the common notion that if people are allowed to sell their bodies in so many other ways in order to earn money, then they should be allowed to sell their bodies sexually in order to earn money. Although prostitution may have existed in every human culture throughout history, it hasn't always been tolerated, either from a legal or a moral perspective. Prostitution should be considered a violation of one's sexual autonomy because sexual relations are so important, so personal, and so private that no one under any circumstances should feel that they have to sell such relations simply to earn enough money to eat and survive.
God bless, Marlon Castillo Ramirez, Assistant Editor
(A Quote:) "Let us not scare ourselves with catastrophic forecasts, or use them to defend and promote irrational interventions in human lives... Freedom, not climate, is at risk." - Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic
Lifeissues.net Newsletter #328 - June 17, 2007
Table Of Contents:
1. Infanticide, Abortion Responsible For 60 Million Girls Missing In Asia
2. Us House Democrats Seek To Support Pro-Abortion Groups Overseas
3. A More Candid Approach To Sex-Ed
4. The Flight To Costa Conception
5. Vatican Official Urges Catholic Church To Boycott Amnesty International Over Abortion
6. New Std Infection Rates "4 Times Higher Among Those Who Used Condoms During Their Last Vaginal Intercourse": Study
7. School Board Finds 'Gay Gene'
8. Bulgaria Sees 67,000 Abortions Annually As Under-population Continues
9. Minnesota Couple Refuses To Abort Children, Six Are Born
10. "Comprehensive" Sex Education Is Ineffective: Abstinence Works, Major National Study Shows
Focus On Asia: Hong Kong chief wants population rise. Hong Kong should increase its population by more than 40 per cent to 10m to match the power of New York and London as global financial centres, according to Donald Tsang, its chief executive.
"We must not allow the population to age and then shrink. We must grow in order to be competitive," Mr. Tsang said in an interview with the Financial Times. "We have the fundamentals, like New York and London, to create a global financial centre and a reasonably good living for 10m people here."
(http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7a85d72e-1a98-11dc-8bf0-000b5df10621.html).
Item #1. Infanticide, Abortion Responsible For 60 Million Girls Missing In Asia
There is a little-known battle for survival going in some parts of the world. Those at risk are baby girls, and the casualties are in the millions each year. The weapons being used against them are prenatal sex selection, abortion and female infanticide - the systematic killing of girls soon after they are born.
According to a recent United Nations population Funds (UNFPA) State of the World Population Report, these practices, combined with neglect, have resulted in at least 60 million "missing" girls in Asia, creating gender imbalances and other serious problems that experts say will have far reaching consequences for years to come.
"Twenty-five million men in China currently can't find brides because there is a shortage of women," said Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute in Washington, D.C. "The young men emigrate overseas to find brides."
The imbalances are also giving rise to a commercial sex trade; the 2005 report states that up to 800,000 people being trafficked across borders each year, and as many as 80 percent are women and girls, most of whom are exploited.
View full text at Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,281722,00.html.
Item #2. US House Democrats Seek To Support Pro-Abortion Groups Overseas
On Tuesday, the US House Appropriations Committee approved a foreign aid spending bill that would allow the federal government to give contraceptives rather than money to international groups otherwise barred from receiving US money because of their abortion policies. This provision would create an exception to the Mexico City Policy which prohibits US taxpayer money from going to groups that support abortion, even with their own money, through direct services, counseling or lobbying activities.
Representative Nita Lowey (D-New York), chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, claims the measure does not change the current federal policy which does not allow federal funding to go to groups that provide or promote abortion as a method of family planning and that it "simply allows for the provision of lifesaving contraceptives."
View full text at C-Fam: http://www.c-fam.org/.
Item #3. A More Candid Approach To Sex-Ed
The Montgomery County school board yesterday approved new lessons on sexual orientation for use in every middle and high school, introducing homosexuality and gender identity in health classes where they have not been discussed except in response to a question from a student.
Two lessons, totaling 90 minutes, will be added to health courses in grades 8 and 10 in the fall, along with a 10th-grade lesson and instructional DVD on the correct use of a condom. The curriculum revisions, while short, place Montgomery in the forefront of a movement toward more candor in teaching about homosexuality in public schools
Much of the nation is moving toward an "abstinence-only" approach to sex education, which emphasizes the advantages of confining sex to marriage. But school systems in liberal communities are heading in the opposite direction, teaching more about sexual orientation, as well as contraception and abstinence, in what is termed "comprehensive" sex education.
View full text at Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/12/AR2007061201186_pf.html.
Item #4. The Flight To Costa Conception
Many a British baby has been conceived during hot, sultry nights on the Spanish Costa Del Sol. But now there is a new trend for procreation.
British couples are flying to Spain to take advantage of Spanish fertility laws by receiving anonymously donated eggs for their in vitro-fertilization (IVF) treatment.
In the classic resort town of Marbella, I met an English couple who seemed the epitome of Brits on their hols but were guarding a secret.
View full text at BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/law_in_action/6744227.stm.
Item #5. Vatican Official Urges Catholic Church To Boycott Amnesty International Over Abortion
A leading Vatican official is calling on Catholics worldwide to boycott Amnesty International after the human rights group adopted an official position backing abortion. Catholic leaders worldwide warned that AI would likely lose tens of thousands of members because of the position and the call for a boycott would likely lead to that.
Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, issued the call in an interview with the National Catholic Register.
"I believe that, if in fact Amnesty International persists in this course of action, individuals and Catholic organizations must withdraw their support, because, in deciding to promote abortion rights, AI has betrayed its mission," Cardinal Martino said.
In the interview, he attacked the "pro-abortion pressure groups which continue their propaganda in the framework of what (the late Pope) John Paul II called 'the culture of death."
View full text at Life Site News: http://www.lifenews.com/int325.html.
Item #6. New STD Infection Rates "4 Times Higher Among Those Who Used Condoms During Their Last Vaginal Intercourse": Study
A new study reveals that a relatively new sexually transmitted disease (STD) has surpassed gonorrhea in prevalence among sexually active young adults in the United States.
The disease, Mycoplasma genitalium, was first identified back in the 1980s as the smallest known bacterium in existence. Now researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle found that 1.0 percent of the several thousand participants in their study were infected with M. genitalium, whereas gonorrhea was found in a comparatively small 0.4 percent. Chlamydia infection rates were 4.2 percent.
The researchers also found that M. genitalium's prevalence of infection, according to the study abstract, is "11 times higher among respondents who reported living with a sexual partner" and "7 times higher among Blacks."
Notably, the study also found that infection rates were "4 times higher among those who used condoms during their last vaginal intercourse."
See the full article at Christian Newswire: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jun/07061205.html.
Item #7. School Board Finds 'Gay Gene'
PFOX released this statement in response to the Montgomery County School Board's approval of a new sex education curriculum for public schools:
"According to the American Psychiatric Association, there are no replicated scientific studies supporting any specific biological cause for homosexuality. But now the Montgomery County Board of Education has done what science and medicine could not do by declaring in its newly approved curriculum that homosexuality is "innate" or inborn. The board could not produce any factual evidence for what it will now teach students - only political "pledges" and payoffs for last year's school board elections as claimed by gay rights activists.
The board has demonstrated its bias and arrogance in ignoring the March 7, 2007 Order of Maryland State Superintendent Nancy Grasmick that states that the Maryland Board of Education will render a decision in July on the legal appeal of the curriculum. PFOX, Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, and Family Leader Network had filed an appeal of the proposed curriculum, citing factual inaccuracies and violations of state and federal law. The local board's action in adopting a final curriculum without waiting for the state board's decision as to the legality of that curriculum tramples on the rights of parents and violates the intent of the Superintendent's Order.
Full Article at Christian Newswire: http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/352453399.html.
Item #8. Bulgaria Sees 67,000 Abortions Annually As Under-population Continues
Nearly 67,000 abortions are done annually in the eastern European nation of Bulgaria according to a doctor who quoted figures from the country's government. Elian Rachey said that he thinks the nation should do more to promote the use of contraception in order to reduce the high number of abortions that have decimated the population there.
Rachey said about one-third of all Bulgarian women decide what forms of contraception to use without consulting a doctor, resulting in their ineffectiveness.
Polling data from the national government finds that about 53 percent of all women said they started using contraception or birth control pills in their early 20s. Another 33 percent of women said they began using the birth control pill in their teenage years.
Full Article at Life News: http://www.lifenews.com/int324.html.
Item #9. Minnesota Couple Refuses To Abort Children, Six Are Born
For the first time in recorded history, a Minnesota couple has given birth to sextuplets. Although they were counseled by doctors to abort all but two of the children, Ryan and Brianna knew it wasn't even an option.
The new parents had been trying for a year to conceive a child, but were unable to do so naturally. "We spent over a year praying and trying on our own. Eventually we came under the care of a clinic that had succeeded in helping some of our close friends conceive."
The first attempt at using a fertility drug produced no results, but the second drug, Follistim, resulted in Brianna producing two or three eggs. "There was a 25% chance of us having twins, a 3 % chance of us having triplets and anything else was laughable."
View entire text at CNA: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=9600.
Item #10. "Comprehensive" Sex Education Is Ineffective: Abstinence Works, Major National Study Shows
A major report on teen sex education, released by Dr. Stan Weed of the Institute for Research and Evaluation in Salt Lake City, shows why abstinence is the most successful method of preventing physical and emotional complications resulting from pre-marital sexual activity. His research is based on the results of many studies that have followed the education and behavior of over 400,000 adolescents in 30 different states for 15 years (see http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007_docs/CompSexEd.pdf).
The final report, entitled "Abstinence" or "Comprehensive" Sex Education begins by pointing out the flaws in a national study on abstinence released by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. Conducted in April 2007, this previous study examined the progress of teens who participated in four different abstinence education programs. The final report indicated that abstinence education was ineffective and that young adolescents should receive "comprehensive" sex education, that is, sex-education that teaches about various sexual behaviors and "safe-sex" methods.
View entire text at Life Site News: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jun/07061304.html.
Get Involved:
1. Pray Daily that we all may have the courage to be God's presence in society and strongly support those who have been deemed "unworthy of life".
2. Be Informed at Lifeissues.net website: http://www.lifeissues.net.
3. Become A Missionary For Human Life: "Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia" is a project, which appeals for donations to help finance travel expenses for talks to developing countries in Asia. Fr. Jerry's series of lectures this year emphasis "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Life Issues, Trends and Challenges". For inquires about "no-cost to your group" Lectures (including travel) to anyplace in Asia: contact Fr. Jerry. To become a supportive Missionary participant for Human Life in Asia, kindly send your donations directly 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.
Contact Assistant Editor: Mr. Marlon Castillo Ramirez; Author of Book: "The Sights and Soul of Life"; E-Mail: mcr4lifeissues@gmail.com.
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.
12. Lifeissues.net Newsletter #330 – July 1, 2007
Dear Friends for Life,
Flying back from Indonesia after giving a series of Pro Life talks, part of me wanted to return again someday due to the Indonesian Pro Life/Pro Family dedication, their variety of rich cultures, customs and languages as well as a genuine, warm hospitality.
Indonesia has the 4th largest population in the world and the 3rd in Asia with 234,693,997 people. I was amazed to learn that it has 17,000 islands, 600 of them are inhabited by people. Because of its location, it is called the "emerald belt at the equator"
Having given 14 PowerPoint Presentations in 10-days on different aspects of "Family and Life Issues", I was amazed at the large attendances and the quality of the questions which followed each talk. The Indonesian people are definitely concerned about such Life Issues as Bioethics, Abortion, Contraceptive, PAS, the Ageing Population, etc. They are not only determined to change the course of their society, but also intent on protecting their traditional family structures.
I thank everyone for making this trip possible with your prayers and financial support. Together, let's continue building a Culture of Life among the poor in the Heart of Asia. Be assured of my daily prayers for the good work you are doing for the family and the unborn.
God Bless, Fr. Jerry
(A Quote:) "The superior position, surely, is that human beings possess equally an intrinsic dignity that is the moral ground of the equal right to life of all. This is a right possessed by every human being simply by virtue of his or her humanity. It does not depend on an individual's age, or size, or stage of development; nor can it be erased by an individual's physical or mental infirmity or condition of dependency." – Robert P. George
Lifeissues.net Newsletter #330 – July 1, 2007
Table Of Contents:
Focus On Asia: Heavy rains and winds are causing more problems in many areas of South Asia after a weekend of chaotic weather saw several hundred people killed. Much of Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi – where 200 died – is still without power. Forecasters say a cyclone and heavy winds are set to hit most of Pakistan's coast and much of India's west coast. More than 140 have been killed in the rains in India. There have also been a number of deaths in Afghanistan.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6236682.stm
Item #1. Catholic Bishops Criticize Rescinding Of Mexico City Policy, AIDS Prevention Funding
"Exporting abortion overseas will not lower abortion rates, is resented by developing nations, and is not supported by the American people," Ms. McQuade said. "Poor women in developing nations want food, clean water, housing, and affordable medicine for themselves and their families, not 'assistance' to abort their own children."
View full text at: www.swnebr.net:
http://www.swnebr.net/newspaper/cgi-bin/articles/articlearchiver.pl?161204
Item #2. Rays Of Hope For Africa's AIDS Children
UNAIDS and the U.N. Children's Fund say 2.3 million children in sub-Saharan Africa are HIV-positive, most of them infected by their mothers because they did not receive drugs taken for granted in wealthy countries to prevent transmission of the virus.
Globally, an estimated 530,000 children were newly infected last year and 380,000 died of AIDS, the vast majority in Africa. Without treatment, half of infected infants die before age 2.
Throughout southern Africa, child mortality rates have soared because of AIDS, reversing health gains from better sanitation and immunization even in relatively prosperous countries such as Botswana and South Africa.
View full text at Yahoo Asia News: http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070623/ap/d8pukns00.html
Item #3. Study Shows Forty Percent of PVS Patients Misdiagnosed, Half Recover
A new international study finds that about forty percent of patients like Terri Schiavo who are supposedly in a persistent vegetative state are misdiagnosed and another fifty percent of them recover from their situation. The study finds the patients in question were in a minimally conscious state and could improve.
The studies, conducted by researchers in Belgium, found that the level of misdiagnosis has not decreased in the last 15 years. There were presented at the European Neurological Society Meeting in Greece.
View full text at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/bio2155.html
Item #4. Brazil Offers Morning-After Pill To Poor
Brazil already distributes 254 million free condoms a year, many as part of an anti-AIDS program that makes a special effort just before each year's Carnival celebrations. Brazil also has handed out the morning-after pill and regular contraceptives at government pharmacies for years.
The newly expanded program offers regular contraceptives at commercial drug stores for sale at just $2.40 for a year's supply. Temporao didn't say whether the morning-after pills would be subsidized or entirely free. Previously, the government said it would distribute 50 million packages of regular birth control pills, each with a month's supply, by year's end.
View full text at The Conservative Voice:
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/ap/article.html?mi=D8Q0OGRO0&apc=9020
Item #5. Swiss Clinic Wants To Offer Assisted Suicide To The Mentally Ill
People who suffer from depression or mental illness could be allowed to legally end their lives at a Swiss suicide clinic, if campaigners win a legal test case next month.
Ludwig Minelli, who runs the Dignitas clinic in Zurich, wants to extend his assisted suicide service to patients who are not terminally ill. The Swiss Supreme Court is to hear the case in October of a patient with bipolar disorder who wants the right to die at the clinic.
View full text at LookSmart: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060921/ai_n16751102/print
Item #6. Teens, Young Adults More Likely To Oppose Abortion, Want More Limits
A new poll conducted by a three media outlets finds that teenagers and young adults are more likely than older adults to say that they don't think abortion should be legal or that it should be subject to stricter limits than it is now. The poll confirms the findings of other surveys showing the next generation of Americans are more pro-life.
See the full article at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/nat3212.html
Item #7. British Doctors Vote For Easier Abortions Despite New Record Numbers
Doctors in England have voted to make abortions there easier to get by making it so women don't need to get the signatures of two physicians before an abortion can be done. The move comes just after the government's health department released new figures showing abortions at a record high.
Full Article at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/int338.html
Item #8. Terminally Ill Man Executed
A terminally ill death row inmate who had less than a year to live was executed Tuesday evening in Oklahoma, sparking a new debate over whether sick inmates should be put to death or allowed to die of natural causes.
Jimmy Dale Bland, 49, was killed by lethal injection shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, soon after the Supreme Court rejected his last, 11th-hour appeal. Bland had a fatal case of lung cancer that had spread to his brain, and had undergone radiation treatment and chemotherapy, his lawyer, David Autry, told ABC News. Bland would have died in six months, Autry said.
Full Article at ABC News: http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3319056&page=1
Item #9. Balancing Work While Caring For Aging Parents
Elder care is a costly struggle for employees and employers alike. A MetLife study found that people who take on a caregiver role give up more than $650,000 in lifetime earning potential. And on the employer side, the same study estimated that American businesses see a $33 billion productivity loss each year because of employees' care-giving obligations. The numbers suggest there's clearly a business case for introducing benefits and support programs.
View entire text at ABC News:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/TakeControlOfYourLife/story?id=3318633&page=1
Item #10. Patients' Own Stem Cells To Repair Broken Hearts
Surgeons in the UK are planning to use stem cells from patients' own bone marrow to repair the damage caused by heart attacks, in a trial that is the first of its kind in the world.
View entire text at Cordis: http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=27908
Item #11. Abstinence Education Vital For The Health Of America's Youth
Schneider said funding is urgently needed and implored lawmakers to reauthorize funding for state abstinence-education programs. "Sexual activity among teens has health, emotional and social consequences," the letter said. "Nearly half of all new cases of sexually transmitted diseases occur among young people aged 15-24. Among teens, sexual activity is associated with depression, especially for girls. And youth who are sexually active are more likely to participate in other risky behaviours like drinking and using drugs."
View entire text at Cordis: http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=27908
Item #12. Catholic Vice President Of Kenya Encourages African Leaders To Ratify Abortion Protocol
The leaders of 10 African countries have called for the legalization of abortion. Representatives from Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia attended a three-day conference in Nairobi, which discussed maternal mortality. 21 African countries have now signed a protocol on women's rights that endorses legal abortions in the case of rape, incest and when the pregnancy threatens the life or health of the woman or the embryo. Kenyan Vice President Moody Awori, who is a Catholic, said: "The ratification of the protocol is high on Kenya's agenda. It is sad to learn that 68,000 women die of unsafe abortion each year and, out of these, 30,000 are in Africa. We could simply say there is one unsafe abortion for every seven live births in Africa."
Patrick Buckley, SPUC's UN lobbyist, said: "This is yet another grave consequence of the Maputo Protocol which consists of a blatant attempt by the African Union to force all its member states to legalize abortion under the guise of reducing maternal mortality."
View entire text at LifeSite.net: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jun/07062807.html
Get Involved:
1. Pray Daily that we all may have the courage to be God's presence in society and strongly support those who have been deemed "unworthy of life".
2. Be Informed at Lifeissues.net website: http://www.lifeissues.net.
3. Become A Missionary For Human Life: "Journey for Life into the Heart of Asia" is a project, which appeals for donations to help finance travel expenses for talks to developing countries in Asia. Fr. Jerry's series of lectures this year emphasis different aspects of "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Life Issues, Trends and Challenges". For inquires about "no-cost to your group" Lectures (including travel) to anyplace in Asia: contact Fr. Jerry. To become a supportive Missionary participant for Human Life in Asia, kindly send your donations directly 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
Contact Assistant Editor: Mr. Marlon Castillo Ramirez; Author of Book: "The Sights and Soul of Life"; E-Mail:mcr4lifeissues@gmail.com
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
13. National Abortion Federation Calls On Canadian Medical Association To Require Doctors To Refer For Abortion - May 25, 2007
The U.S. based National Abortion Federation has demanded that the Canadian Medical Association change their policy of allowing doctors to decline to refer patients for abortion. In a letter sent to the CMA earlier this month, Federation president Vicki Saporta said a physician's "religious and moral beliefs" should not take precedence over patient interests and accused the CMA of creating delays for women with the conscientious objector policy. Dr. Colin McMillan, president of the CMA, defended the policy in a letter to Ms. Saporta quoted by the National Post, saying, "The CMA's policy on induced abortion does not violate our Code of Ethics…Nor does it treat women unfairly or impede their access to critical health care." The CMA's abortion policy was passed in 1988 and has been re-confirmed annually each year since. Concerned by threats to doctors' freedom of conscience, Canadian Physicians for Life is urging the public to contact the CMA and request that the protection for doctors' freedom of conscience be strengthened.
14. Netherlands Numbers Game - May 25, 2007
The Netherlands Numbers Game, An interview with Henk Jochemsen, Director of the Lindeboom Institute in the Netherlands
Jennifer Lahl, Founder and National Director of the CBCnetwork: What is your opinion of the news coming out of The Hague reporting the sharp fall in mercy killings?
Jochemsen: My reaction is mixed. The fewer cases the better. I think that the decrease to some extent is due to better palliative care. The last decade or so the availability and quality of palliative care has increased considerably. Also the fact that the percentage of reported euthanasia cases has increased from 54 % in 2001 to 80 % in 2005 is in itself positive. Which is not to say that if it is reported, euthanasia is no problem!
On the other hand, the number of cases of continuous deep sedation with a possible life shortening effect has increased with the same number as the decrease in euthanasia cases. It should be noted that sedation need not be reported and feels safer for the physician. This does not necessarily mean that there simply has been a shift from the one to the other category. To some extent the terminal sedation has been used correctly - so without a clear life shortening effect. But the impression that sedation has been used as a hidden form of euthanasia is widely shared. So a new smoke curtain has been created.
Lahl: Also, do you think it is true that 80 percent of euthanasia cases are being reported, up from the 54 six years ago and if so why do you think it's changed?
Jochemsen: Yes, the number of cases labeled as euthanasia, that was reported has increased. But there is likely to be a certain degree of crypto euthanasia.
(Terminal sedation is essentially the addition of sedation to a dying patient. Although it is defined differently from euthanasia and appears more "natural," it has been referred as "crypto-euthanasia." As stated, almost 1 out of every 2 physicians who have practiced terminal sedation had, more or less, the goal of hastening death in their minds.)
Lahl: What has motivated you to become involved in field of euthanasia?
Jochemsen: The Lindeboom Institute was founded 20 years ago amongst others to resist the increasing permissiveness towards life ending actions of physicians and to further a biblically based life protecting and caring ethics. In the Netherlands this obviously meant to be involved in the euthanasia discussion. The euthanasia issue is not only relevant for patients in their last and difficult stage of life. It is about the very foundations of the state of law and of our civilization. Christians should be involved in that debate and in the activities to present the caring alternative!
Lahl: Regarding End of Life issues, what trends do you see that are encouraging and / or disturbing?
Jochemsen: Encouraging signs is the improving palliative care movement for patients at the end of life. Disturbing is that in the population there is an increasing idea that euthanasia is a right - which it is not in the Netherlands. Furthermore there is increasing pressure in the population and among certain physicians to extend the criteria for euthanasia/ PAS, for people with a beginning dementia and for people who 'suffer of life' without a clear medically identifiable suffering. These are symptoms of a weary culture for which ultimately only the Gospel has the answer.
Biotechnology and the Human Good, by C. Ben Mitchell, Edmund D. Pellegrino, Jean Bethke Elshtain, John F. Kilner, Scott B. Rae
This new book moves the ethical debate over biotechnology to a new level. Biotechnology and the Human Good offers a critical analysis and constructive engagement that is informed, astute, and elegant. A must-read for anyone concerned about the prospect of a post-human future. It argues that to question and critique how fields like cybernetics, nanotechnology, and genetics might affect our future is not anti-science, anti-industry, or anti-progress, but rather a way to promote human flourishing, common sense, and good stewardship.
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15. Ontario Institute For Cancer Research Says Their Program Will Not Use Embryonic Stem Cell - May 31, 2007
Media Release
In a statement in the National Post on Thursday, May 31, 2007, the Ontario Institute for Cancer research, which funds the Mars Discovery District research centre in downtown Toronto, said that "the program will involve stem cells from cancerous tumors-not the controversial embryonic (stem) cells that have led to political tumult because they come from (and destroy) fetuses." (brackets are CLC addition)
"We are very pleased that the Cancer Institute will not be funding embryonic stem cell research," said Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC). "Adult stem cells are proving to be remarkably successful and costly anti-rejection drugs are not needed because the person's own cells are being used. We trust that the Ontario Institute for Cancer research will be successful as it works towards ethical research to save lives and not resort to the use and killing of human embryos," he continued.
"Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is a vocal proponent for the use of embryonic stem cells and we would like to see more assurance that none of the $30 million tax dollars will ever be used to support his projects," said Mary Ellen Douglas, National Organizer of Campaign Life Coalition.
Media Contacts:
Mary Ellen Douglas, National Organizer CLC, Kingston, ON 613-389-4472
Aidan Reid, Director, CLC Public Affairs Office, Ottawa, 613-729-0379
16. Pakistan Tells Pro-Abortion UN Committee That Abortion Is Murder - June 6, 2007
Pakistan Tells Pro-Abortion UN Committee that "Abortion is Murder" - By Samantha Singson
(NEW YORK - C-FAM) On Friday the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) will conclude its latest round of two-week meetings in New York, having questioned six out of the eight countries under review on their abortion laws. As in previous sessions, CEDAW Committee members used the question of maternal mortality and contraceptive prevalence to bring up the issue of abortion in Mauritania, Mozambique, Pakistan, Serbia, Sierra Leone and Syria. Notably, two delegations took the opportunity to push back.
Abortion is not mentioned in the treaty, but delegations often go along with the committees' line of questioning on abortion by providing data and answering queries on the subject during their reviews. During this round of talks, however, delegations deviated from the routine by making statements in stark contrast to the committee's argument. The delegate from Pakistan, undergoing its first review, told CEDAW that "abortion is considered murder once a fetus is conceived," and then stated that abortion was illegal in her country except to save the life of the mother.
When committee members criticized Sierra Leone for low contraceptive prevalence, the delegate responded that in Sierra Leone there was a prevailing cultural belief that "children were a gift from God."
At variance with the dialogue behind the chamber doors during country reviews, CEDAW committee members maintain officially that the treaty is abortion-neutral. At a public meeting during the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) last March, CEDAW Committee Chair Dubravka Simonovic stated that the CEDAW Convention contained no references to abortion. In response to NGO questions about the CEDAW provisions on health and family planning, Siminovic said that "there is nothing about abortion in the treaty" and stressed that "the CEDAW Committee is very careful because we have to keep in mind the 185 States Parties and it is up to them to implement the provisions of the Convention." At a joint panel discussion with Center for Reproductive Rights and others during the same CSW session, however, Simonovic stated that she believes abortion rights are "in the spirit of the treaty."
Abortion is not mentioned in the treaty, but delegations often go along with the committees' line of questioning on abortion by providing data and answering queries on the subject during their reviews. During this round of talks, however, delegations deviated from the routine by making statements in stark contrast to the committee's argument. The delegate from Pakistan, undergoing its first review, told CEDAW that "abortion is considered murder once a fetus is conceived," and then stated that abortion was illegal in her country except to save the life of the mother.
When committee members criticized Sierra Leone for low contraceptive prevalence, the delegate responded that in Sierra Leone there was a prevailing cultural belief that "children were a gift from God."
At variance with the dialogue behind the chamber doors during country reviews, CEDAW committee members maintain officially that the treaty is abortion-neutral. At a public meeting during the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) last March, CEDAW Committee Chair Dubravka Simonovic stated that the CEDAW Convention contained no references to abortion. In response to NGO questions about the CEDAW provisions on health and family planning, Siminovic said that "there is nothing about abortion in the treaty" and stressed that "the CEDAW Committee is very careful because we have to keep in mind the 185 States Parties and it is up to them to implement the provisions of the Convention." At a joint panel discussion with Center for Reproductive Rights and others during the same CSW session, however, Simonovic stated that she believes abortion rights are "in the spirit of the treaty."
As one of only seven nations, which have not ratified CEDAW, the US has become a lightning rod of criticism from radical feminists and abortion rights NGOs at the UN. In Washington, CEDAW proponents take the opposite tack, insisting that the treaty is silent on abortion. The American Bar Association, which urges US ratification of the treaty, argues that "CEDAW does not address the matter of abortion and, according to the US State Department is [sic] 'abortion neutral.' Many countries in which abortion is illegal - such as Ireland, Burkina Faso and Rwanda - have ratified CEDAW." In fact, Ireland was pressured by the CEDAW to legalize abortion during its last two reviews in 1999 and 2005, as was Burkina Faso in 2000, and Rwanda in 1984 and 1993, which was its last report.
The CEDAW Committee will reconvene on July 23rd to review the reports of the Cook Islands, Belize, Brazil, Estonia, Guinea, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea and Singapore.
For more news visit us at www.c-fam.org
Copyright 2007 - C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute). Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.
17. Polling Responses Change Based On The Context Of The Question - June 10, 2007
On November 7, 2000 in the State of Maine, promoters of assisted suicide waited with excitement concerning the results of a referendum on the Maine Death with Dignity Act. Polls throughout the Campaign assured the initiative sponsors that 70% of the voters in Maine supported assisted suicide and Maine would become the second State in the USA, after Oregon, to legalize assisted suicide.
The question voters in Maine were asked was: "Should a terminally ill adult who is of sound mind be allowed to ask for and receive a doctor's help to die?" On Election Day 51% of the voters in Maine rejected the Death with Dignity Act. On June 10, 2007; the Ipsos Reid polling company released a poll that was done between June 5 - 7, that included two questions related to assisted suicide. The result of the poll was that 71% of Canadians supported doctor-assisted suicide and 76% supported the concept of the "Right to Die". The second question concerning the "Right to Die" is a bogus question due to the mixture of meaning related to the terminology.
In March 2005 the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition participated in an Angus Reid survey of 1122 participants from across Canada. Our polling found that the responses of Canadians differed based on the context of the assisted suicide question.
Our poll included a series of 10 questions whereby the first question we asked resulted in a similar support for assisted suicide as the current Ipsos Reid poll. When analyzing the first question we found that very few people strongly supported assisted suicide with nearly all of the support for assisted suicide falling into the somewhat support category. This was the same experience we had with our poll in 2001.
We then asked eight further questions related to disability rights, palliative care, promotion of suicide techniques, the need to protect vulnerable Canadians, etc., with the 10th question being a near restatement of the first question. The response to the 10th question was that: 45% of Canadians supported the legalization of assisted suicide, 39% of Canadians opposed the legalization of assisted suicide while 16% were undecided. In other words, when people have a chance to think about assisted suicide with respect to its related issues and societal impact the support drops.
Therefore the real support for euthanasia or assisted suicide can only be determined once it has been placed within a social context.
Similar to the Maine referendum in 2000, where all the polls indicated that Maine would become the second State in the USA to legalize assisted suicide, once people had the opportunity to analyze the issue in the context of its effect on society, that support for assisted suicide plummeted and 51% of the voters in Maine voted to maintain legal prohibitions to assisted suicide.
Alex Schadenberg, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.
18. Senate Inaction On Age-Of-Consent Bill Endangers Children – June 25, 2007
Dear friend,
As you might know, earlier this spring the House of Commons passed Bill C-22, which raises the age at which, a boy or girl can consent to s-x with an adult from 14 to 16 years. Since then this important bill has been languishing in the Senate instead of receiving the fast-track passage it deserves. Now Senators have decided to commence a three month holiday without passing the bill, thereby endangering the safety and dignity of the young men and women as predators continue to exploit these adolescents without fear of legal consequences.
In response to this we have created an petition asking Senators to either return to Ottawa and convene a special session of the Senate to pass this important piece of legislation, or alternatively, to make the passage of C-22 their top priority upon returning to Ottawa in September for the Fall Parliamentary session.
This is a non-partisan issue that all Canadians can agree on. Please take a moment to tell our Senators how important it is to you that they protect our children by passing C-22 as early as possible by clicking on the URL below and adding your signature to this petition. http://www.gopetition.com/online/12972.html
You can also download and print a copy of this petition and have your friends and neighbours sign it. To download a copy of the petition now go to: http://www.canadianvalues.ca/Petitions/Age_of_Consent.pdf
Finally, in order to obtain the largest number signatures possible, please forward this email as widely, and post to as many forums and blogs as possible.
Joseph C. Ben-Ami
Executive Director
Institute for Canadian Values
19. Study On Assisted Suicide Not Appealing In Reality - June 13, 2007
Assisted suicide not appealing in reality: study
Today's Family News - June 13, 2007
A study of 379 Canadians receiving palliative care for cancer has found that, although 63 per cent of the patients support the idea of legalized physician-assisted suicide, only 6 per cent would personally request a hastened death if it were currently legal.
According to the study published in the journal Health Psychology, participants were concerned about future pain or a "worst-case scenario" which may lead them to desire early death. Dr. Keith Wilson, an associate scientist at the Ottawa Health Research Institute and the study's lead researcher, commented to the Canadian Press that patients saw assisted suicide as an appealing option when considering hypothetical situations.
In reality, only a small amount of the participants would agree to physician-assisted suicide in their present condition. The study found that the desire to hasten death was associated with lower religiosity, reduced functional status, depression and greater distress regarding individual symptoms and concerns.
In other words, pain is not the only reason these patients would opt to end their lives early. "In the mind of the general public, euthanasia and assisted suicide are intricately tied up with the relief of uncontrollable pain," Wilson commented in the Ottawa Sun. "The reality is the circumstances are much more complicated than that. They are partly mental health issues, partly social concerns, and pain is only a small part of it."
The survey discovered that 10 per cent of participants would have asked for assisted suicide earlier in their illness but had changed their minds once their pain was brought under control.
"Pain is a double-edged sword," Wilson told the Sun. "If it's uncontrolled, perhaps it can drive people to suicide but, for the most part, pain control can be achieved for most patients and even after you've achieved it, there are still going to be people who will want an assisted suicide for reasons other than pain."
Wilson further commented to CP that those who had an immediate wish for hastening death "did tend to feel sicker, they did tend to feel weaker. They were more likely to be depressed, and they felt that they had become a burden to others," specifically to their families or the health care system.
Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov, a palliative care researcher who contributed to the study, told the Ottawa Citizen that feeling "a burden to others can mean that someone senses their life serves no ongoing purpose and has no continued sense of meaning."
These findings show that restoring a palliative patient's self-worth and offering comprehensive support may significantly alleviate suffering at the end of life. Perhaps this study, and future studies of its kind, will shift the focus of the current assisted suicide debate and will promote new ways of improving life instead of ending it.
Scientists create stem cells without harming embryos
Today's Family News - June 13, 2007
Scientists have discovered a way of reprogramming mouse skin cells into fully functioning embryonic stem cells, the National Post reported last week.
This recent development in regenerative medicine was originally reported by a research team in Japan. Two U.S. teams have since replicated the same results. The findings were published in the inaugural issue of Cell Stem Cell journal.
By adding four genes to mouse skin cells, a process was triggered which could transform the skin cells into any type of cell found in the body. This multi-use state of a cell is considered to be the trademark of embryonic stem cells.
If this process were to be transferred to humans, cells could be grown to replace damaged organs or tissue in the body. It could lead to the long-anticipated stem cell treatment for diseases such as Alzheimer's and diabetes.
Michael Rudnicki, scientific director of Canada's Stem Cell Network and director of molecular medicine at the Ottawa Health Research Institute, warned that these findings are not yet applicable to human cells. Rudnicki told the Post that, since one of the genes used in the study is also linked to cancer, "you wouldn't want any of these cells put into a person or they'd end up with tumors."
Kathrin Plath, one of the study's U.S. researchers at UCLA's Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, cautions that it may be months or years before scientists will know if the same reprogramming is an option for human cells, the Toronto Star reported.
Although it may be a while before humans realize the medical benefits of these findings, this study's impact on the field of embryonic research is immediately apparent. Until now, embryonic stem cells could only be studied by harvesting embryos. Although Canada's Assisted Human Reproduction Act prohibits the creation of embryos solely for research, embryonic research is frequently performed on discarded embryos from fertility clinics.
But this study's method of developing stem cells "raises no serious moral problem, because it creates embryonic-like stem cells without creating, harming or destroying human lives at any stage," said Richard Doerflinger, a spokesman on stem cell issues for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to the New York Times.
"It's super exciting," says Plath. "It's opened up an entire field of research. There will be so many who will find this interesting who can [work with] it."
Sweet-tasting drug targets children
Today's Family News - June 13, 2007
A new type of sweet-tasting methamphetamine, which is intended to lure younger children, may be on its way to Canadian streets.
The Winnipeg Free Press reports that chocolate- and strawberry-flavored methamphetamine is just as pure and harmful as the original, bitter-tasting form. The altered drug is referred to as "Strawberry Quick" and is said to be similar to Pop Rocks candy.
U.S. news sources claim sweetened methamphetamine has surfaced in some western states, while San Francisco police have seen cases of chocolate-flavored meth being sold to children.
Winnipeg police spokesperson Const. Jacqueline Chaput comments, "We haven't seen it in Winnipeg yet. But like everything, unfortunately it's only a matter of time before it will make [its way] up here."
Despite these concerns, Edmonton police Staff Sgt. Darcy Strang told the Calgary Sun that flavored meth is "kind of becoming an urban myth." Strang doubts that the sweetened drug would be of much use to drug dealers, since children as young as 12 years of age are already more concerned with the drug's effect than its flavour or smell.
Parents. The Anti-Drug warns that methamphetamine is a highly addictive drug that stimulates specific systems in the brain. It is also known as "speed," "chalk," "ice," "crystal" and "glass."
For more information on how to help children make safe and smart decisions about drugs, visit the How to Drug Proof Your Kids™ website.
20. Sweep Out Anti-Family Foreign Affairs Bureaucrats - May 31, 2007
Sweep out Anti-Family Foreign Affairs Bureaucrats Women's Group Urges Canada's Conservative Government Lists Canadian delegates to UN's Commission on the Status of Women - By Steve Jalsevac
OTTAWA, May 31, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Of serious concern for pro-life and pro-family Canadians has been the Conservative government's maintenance of Liberal government appointed anti-family bureaucrats in the Department of Foreign Affairs. These bureaucrats have continued, through the United Nations, to promote policies to force countries to liberalize abortion laws, adopt de-population measures and institute legal support for homosexuality. REAL Women of Canada, a pro-family national women's organization, has called on the Conservatives to finally clean house and replace the Foreign Affairs staff.
In its May/June Reality magazine REAL Women states, "When will the Conservative government rid itself of these feminist ideologues who seem to dominate the public service in Ottawa." More specifically, it calls for "a broom to sweep out the Foreign Affairs Department (among others) and its public servants who are using their positions as public servants, both within Canada and on our delegations at international conferences, to force an agenda, unbeknownst to Canadians, which destroys society and families."
Reality lists every one of the Canadian delegates to the UN's Commission on the Status of Women meeting and notes that "a quick look at who was on the Canadian delegation at that meeting explains a great deal".
The list includes:
Florence Ievers, Head of Delegation - Coordinator, Status of Women, Canada, a radical feminist supporting, taxpayer funded organization.
Henri-Paul Normandin, Alternate Head of Delegation - Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations in New York.
Julie Delahanty - Deputy Director, Human Rights, Gender Equality, Health and Population Division, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.
Chantale Walker - Senior Policy Advisor, Human Rights, Gender Equality, Health & Population Division, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.
Nell Stewart - First Secretary, Human Rights, Canada's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.
Rebecca Smith - Policy Analyst, Human Rights, Gender Equality, Health and Population Division, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.
Stacey Douglas - Policy Analyst, Human Rights, Gender Equality, Health and Population Division, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.
Mary-Lou Sutton - Policy Analyst, Status of Women, Canada.
Marianne Fotonoff - Policy Analyst, Status of Women, Canada.
Jennifer Myles - Policy Analyst, Gender Equality Division, Policy Branch, Canadian International Development Agency.
Duy Ai Kien - Senior Policy Analyst, Gender Equality Division, Policy Branch, Canadian International Development Agency.
Rawwida Baksh - Program Leader, Women's Rights and Citizenship, International Development Research Centre.
Kara Mitchell - Policy Analyst, Education Division, Policy Branch, Canadian International Development Agency.
Sherry Lewis - Executive Director, Native Women's Association of Canada.
Nisha Lynn Sajnani - Popular Educator, Power Camp.
Therese Mailloux - Deputy Minister Responsible for Women's Issues, Quebec.
Sophie Niquette - Responsible for International Affairs Women's Issues, Quebec.
Real Women concludes, "The Conservative government has been in power for 16 months - how much longer before the government, rather than the public servants, takes charge of Canada's international policies?"
See related LifeSiteNews.com articles:
Canadian UN Representative Slams Muslim Nations for Opposing Gay Activist Groups: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/feb/07020603.html
China, India and Canada Kill UN Resolution Against Sex Selected Abortions: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/mar/07030811.html
Conservative Government Continuing Pro-Abortion Extremism at United Nations: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/aug/06082503.html
21. United Mothers, Fathers & Friends Newsletter – June 25, 2007
I) The Great Canadian Wish List
II) Take Action: Cast Your Vote for Life & Marriage Today!
III) Spread the Word!
IV) Support Our Efforts
“Help our country celebrate its 140th birthday by making a wish for its future.”
PLEASE ADD mail@unitedmothers.ca TO YOUR CONTACTS/SAFE LIST TO ENSURE NEWSLETTER DELIVERY
Hi Ellen,
I’m writing to you because I know you wouldn’t want to miss out on this.
Can you imagine… the CBC talking about ending abortion in Canada or restoring marriage as important goals to Canadians?
You can help make it happen!
This Sunday, July 1, CBC will be devoting special Canada Day coverage to the wishes that capture the most votes at a poll called “The Great Canadian Wish List,” at the social networking site Facebook.
The voting is incredibly close. We need your help!
Currently, the top five wishes are:
#1 (6,632) Abolish Abortion in Canada
#2 (6,170) I wish Canada would remain pro-choice (pro-abortion)
#3 (3,142) Spiritual Revival of Our Nation
#4 (2,629) Restore the Traditional Definition of Marriage
#5 (2,576) I wish tuition fees would be either lowered or eliminated
This wish list has already brought attention to pro-life causes.
Major media such as Macleans, The Globe and Mail and CBC local news have mentioned the wish to end abortion in Canada.
Help make this Canada Day one to remember! Register your vote today!
The contest closes June 30. All it takes is 5 minutes to make a difference!
Here are the four steps.
Step One : If you are not already a member, Register on Facebook. ( http://www.facebook.com) It’s free! (You do not have to enter your full name, just your first name and then 2 letters of your last name. i.e. John Watkins becomes John Wa.)
Step Two : Join the CBC's Great Canadian Wish List Group. ( http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2392827649) At this page, click on “Join this group” on the right.
Step Three : Vote for Abolish Abortion ( http://www.facebook.com/sgroup/subgroup.php?oid=2392827649&sub_oid=2552036367) To vote, click on “Add Support” on the right.
Step Four : Vote for Restore the Traditional Definition of Marriage ( http://www.facebook.com/sgroup/subgroup.php?oid=2392827649&sub_oid=2458141064) To vote, click on “Add Support” on the right.
Also consider voting for A Spiritual Revival in Our Nation.
To view the current standings: http://www.facebook.com/sgroup/subgroups.php?oid=2392827649
Forward this newsletter to others who can help speak out for marriage and life.
Please send your support today so that we can continue our efforts to strengthen the family, defend faith and freedom!
To become a quarterly donor of $25, $50, or $100 every 3 months, or to make a one time donation using our secure server, please visit http://unitedmothers.ca/links/donate/ If you prefer to make your donation by cheque please mail it to:
United Mothers Inc
P.O. Box 234
339 10th Avenue S.E.
Calgary, Alberta
T2G 0W2
Thanks for speaking out!
Michele Dow - www.unitedmothers.ca
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40. Sobey's Receipts Are Valuable
Please don't throw away your Sobey's receipts. Click here and see why!
Amount of receipts collected to date: $582,085.92
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