Weekly News

1. Birth Control Pill Creates Blood Clot Causing Death Of Irish Woman – September 10, 2007

Family warns others to beware of the health risks of the pill – By Elizabeth O'Brien

DUBLIN, August 17, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Irish woman has died of a blood clot after taking the birth control pill for several years. Her family and an investigating doctor have publicly attributed her death to the use of the contraceptive.

On March 22 of last year, 31-year-old Julie Hennessy was found dead on the floor of her living room, Ireland Independent reports. Although she was a non-smoker of healthy weight, the woman had been taking the drug Mercilon for a number of years. This resulted in her developing deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a condition in which a blood clot forms in a deep vein-usually in one of the appendages. As in the case of Miss Hennessy, a DVT can break off and lodge in the lungs, causing death.

After her inquest on Tuesday, Julie's father Ray, speaking on behalf of his family-his wife Angela and their two daughters-drew special attention to the fact that the pill was the main factor in the death of his daughter.

"The Pill was the major cause of our daughter's death and we want to put it on record that other young women should be aware of these dangers," said Mr. Hennessy. "Doctors are aware of the risks but I want to warn young women of the possible consequences of taking it. I wouldn't like this to happen to another family."

Speaking before the Dublin County Coroner's Court, pathologist Peter Szontagh-Kishazi emphasized that the contraceptive pill had caused Julie Hennessy's DVT.

"Clotting is a well-known risk of using the contraceptive pill. There is no other medication that has such a big risk as the oral contraceptive pill," said Dr Szontagh-Kishazi."

Some investigators attempted to blame the condition on the air travel that Julie went on for her work. Nevertheless, Szontagh-Kishazi said that although flying, especially economy class, has caused blood clots before, this was not the reason for her death because in such a case the clot would have happened in the plane. In this case, her condition was "a recent complication".

Blood clotting is only one of the many medical risks of taking the contraceptive pill. According to noted endocrinologist (hormone doctor) Dr. Maria Kraw, studies have shown that taking oral contraceptives increases a woman's risk of breast cancer by 24%. Hormonal contraceptives also make the body much more susceptible to the Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) known as the human pampilloma virus (HPV). Other STI's such as HPV, Gonorrhoea, Chlamydia, Chancroid and Syphilis are also more common in people who take the pill. In addition, the pill has been known to cause osteoporosis and reduce milk production in lactating mothers.

Studies have also shown that the pill likely causes a decreased sex-drive, and one particular report showed that the drug raises the risk of heart attack by 100%.

In addition, the birth control pill has been proved to cause frequent medical abortions by making the wall of a woman's uterus hostile to a newly conceived person. The resulting condition in the womb can cause problems later on when the woman wants to conceive a child. In fact, women who take birth control have a 26% lower fertility rate.

Referring to trial runs of the pill in Latin America, Kraw stated, "They started off using ten times the amount of estrogen - 'We're really going to shut down that brain' - Well, what happened? Women died in the first phase trial of these medications, but they were in Puerto Rico so, (the attitude was) 'well…. we didn't really have medical ethics, so we'll just keep going and trying.'"

These risks are present, however, even in the regular, low-dose contraceptive pill. As Kraw pointed out, "The problem is that this (death) is still occurring even as the dose of estrogen has lowered itself to only about 4 times with the low-dose pills."

2. Christian Heritage Party – Good News From Europe – September 10, 2007

Two European nations, long regarded as the vanguard of left-leaning liberalism – Holland and Sweden – are now showing signs of strong public desire for change.

According to Molly Moore of the /Washington Post/, Holland is re-thinking its “freewheeling” /laissez-faire /attitudes. She writes: “Today, with an Orthodox Christian political party in the government... the country that has been the world’s most socially-liberal political laboratory is rethinking its ‘anything-goes’ policies.”

W.B. Kranendonk, editor of a Christian newspaper (much like the legendary Abraham Kuyper – the home-schooled journalist/politician who was Prime Minister of Holland from 1901-05 as leader of the explicitly Christian ARP), notes that “People in high political circles are saying it can’t be good to have a society so liberal that /everything/ is allowed. People are saying we should have values; people are asking for more and more rules in society.”

So in cities across the Netherlands, councils are closing shops where marijuana has been sold and smoked. Municipalities are shutting down brothels. Parliament may soon ban the sale of hallucinogenic “magic mushrooms”. Christian MPs have introduced a bill to allow officials to refuse to perform ‘gay’ marriages on the basis of conscience, if they have moral objections. And authorities are working to curtail a group that sends sea-borne abortion mills to countries where abortion is still illegal.

The Christian Union Party, which now holds two of the 16 ministries in the multi-party cabinet of the coalition government formed this year, is being joined (surprisingly) by politicians from the left-centre Labour Party in an effort to rein in the Netherlands’ legendary liberalism.

At the same time, Sweden – long the darling of Western socialists – is discovering, just as the Soviet Union did, that centralized “command” economies don’t work. The new centre-right government of Frederik Reinfeldt is focusing on jobs and the economy, privatizing many state-owned industries and cutting Sweden’s infamously high tax rates. Three cabinet portfolios in the Swedish /Riksdag/ are now held by members of the Christian Democratic Party.

The work of openly Christian politicians in these two nations – long thought to be bastions of Secularism – shows that policies based on proven Biblical principles */can/* win public support… if they’re given a chance to be heard and considered.

3. Dr. Dobson Says Dogs Receive More Protection Than Babies – September 6, 2007

http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000005297.cfm

Stories of animal brutality outrage America as partial-birth abortions go unnoticed.

If we can judge the heart of a man or women by their treatment of animals, what can we say about the individual whose heart is cold toward human life?"

In his 90-second "Focus on the Family Commentary" airing today on ABC radio, Dr. James C. Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, questions the outrage following accusations that NFL player Michael Vick abused animals. No such outrage was heard.

4. Gardasil Vaccine Not The Only Option For Preventing Cervical Cancer – September 10, 2007

The following important announcement was posted today to the Vote Life, Canada! blog.

Vote Life, Canada! prepared an analysis of the proposed use of the Gardasil vaccine, in response to a growing series of announcements (and attendant controversy) about its use in Canadian provinces. This article was directed at publication in Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest daily newspaper but at this point no final word has been received as to whether it will see publication there.

Last week the Right to Life Association issued a press release outlining its concerns regarding the provincial government’s newly announced HPV Vaccination Program. A small controversy erupted, with many Newfoundlanders quickly adding their viewpoints.

However, in the interests of informed consent for all Newfoundlanders, much more needs to be said about this vaccination proposal, which will see 2,800 grade six girls throughout the province immunized from the human papilloma virus (HPV), a virus known to cause many types of cervical cancer. The province will fund the three-year program with its allotment of $4.6 million from a $300 million federal total.

At first glance this appears to be quite a beneficial – even marvellous – project. Why not take steps to protect women from a dreaded disease and why not use one more vaccine, among many, in grade school in order to do so? But are there reasons to be sceptical of such a plan? If so, one ought to start first with the most serious concerns, those relating to the health and safety of those women who receive the Gardasil vaccine produced by drug giant Merck Frosst.

According to the U.S. based National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), among the symptoms and illnesses (2200 reported) of greatest concern associated with Gardasil and reported to FDA’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) are death (seven deaths have been filed) and Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS).

In describing GBS, NVIC quotes the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke: “GBS is a serious disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. The first symptoms of this disorder include varying degrees of weakness or tingling sensations in the legs. In many instances, the weakness and abnormal sensations spread to the arms and upper body. These symptoms can increase in intensity until certain muscles cannot be used at all and, when severe, the patient is almost totally paralyzed. … Vaccinations can trigger onset of GBS.”

NVIC insists that the U.S. Center for Disease Control “should immediately issue a public advisory to doctors, parents, and vaccine recipients that Gardasil is associated with 15 reports of GBS in VAERS.” Yet Merck, as well as Canadian federal and provincial officials, have told us nothing about this.

Gardasil has undergone less than four years of testing and relatively few girls (1200) between the ages of 9 – 15 years were involved in the testing. More surprisingly, out of that total, a miniscule number (100) were nine years old. This does not generate a high level of confidence in the short-term, or even the immediate, safety of the vaccine. We certainly have no answers about the vaccine’s long-term safety, yet Merck (and our provincial government) proposes to make this age group the target population for mass vaccination. It is not surprising then that some have characterized the vaccination program as a huge Canadian experiment with young schoolgirls as the guinea pigs. For example, might one of the side effects of this vaccine be to render girls sterile at some point in the future?

Regarding the efficacy and costs of Gardasil, some significant difficulties are also posed. Very importantly, it must first be noted that HPV infection does not equate to contracting cervical cancer. The majority of women infected with HPV – even the high-risk variety – will not develop cervical cancer. In no sense does Canada have a cervical cancer “crisis,” and in no sense will Gardasil “eradicate” Canada’s cervical cancers.

A group of McGill medical specialists headed up by epidemiologist Abby Lippman will be publishing a summary of their numerous concerns about the Gardasil vaccine later this month in the August edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Lippman states emphatically that there is no such crisis of cervical cancer in Canada but that the flurry of recent announcements by politicians and the aggressive marketing techniques of Merck have manufactured an “epidemic of fear” in Canada.

Gardasil shows POTENTIAL to prevent SOME cervical cancer. There are more than 30 types of HPV which can cause cancer and for those women – firstly, who receive Gardasil; secondly, who receive Gardasil before being infected; and thirdly, whose protection by Gardasil is still active and effective [uncertainty prevails on this point] – there is protection against 4 of the most common types which together cause about 70 per cent of cervical cancers. When all is factored in, some believe the vaccine MAY help to prevent less than 17% of cervical cancers. Cancer experts predict that cervical cancer will take the lives of about 390 women this year in Canada.

The vaccine is given by means of three injections over a six-month period of time, and is very expensive, costing about $400 per person. The Canadian Women’s Health Network expresses doubt that the benefits of the vaccine justify such a high price tag and suggests that the money be used instead to improve the Pap smear process. Research has strongly and consistently indicated that if every woman were to receive regular Pap smears, cervical cancer in Canada could be virtually eliminated. Oddly enough, the Gardasil vaccine raises the spectre that women might be lulled into a false sense of security, and overlook the acute need for Pap smears and routine exams by their physicians. If such proved to be the case Canada could conceivably see an increase in the rate of cervical cancer.

Further number crunching raises more doubts – even a startling picture. Reliable indications are that Gardasil’s potency declines significantly after about four years yet cancer data show that the average cervical cancer patient is 47 years of age. If young school children are vaccinated at 9-13 years of age, how many injections or boosters during their lifetime might they need in order to stay protected? The higher the number the better for Merck’s bank account.

The HPV vaccine "touches on very deep sexual, social, ethical values," says Margaret Somerville, Faculty of Medicine professor at McGill University. A good mix of these is apparent in the hostile reaction to the message that government will take care of the risks of a disease that is spread ONLY by sexual promiscuity. At the root of such a reaction is the simple but profound truth, and moral standard, that a young man and young woman getting married, both having no prior sexual intimacy and contact, and both remaining faithful to each other for life, have ZERO risk of contracting HPV. HPV is spread only through the peculiarity of multiple sex partners. Like HIV, it is for all practical purposes a behavioural disease.

In a society where many outrightly dismiss, are ignorant of, or have abdicated their parental responsibilities for the moral (and sex) education of their children, this standard seems not only utopian but its very suggestion is said to be offensive and intolerable. Nevertheless, the Gardasil message is clear: “Your little girl, as young as nine, will not remain abstinent but will engage in, or is preparing to engage in, sexual activity. She needs to be vaccinated.”

Some have compared the Gardasil campaign to the push to promote condoms, which, in creating a false sense of security about “safe sex,” has resulted in overall increased risk. In the strategy to control the spread of STD’s, condoms have been a failure. “Condoms aren’t enough to do the trick – let’s throw in the Gardasil.”

Furthermore, widespread immunization by government meddles with the right of parents to choose the appropriate time to decide when and how their children will be exposed to the topic of sexuality. Against their better judgment and wishes they are forced to engage in the discussion.

The federal Health Canada website states: “Anyone who has had sex is at risk for HPV.” This is obviously not true in the case of the young man and woman described above whose lives and marriage are ruled by monogamous standards. Does the Canadian government assume all its citizens deal with multiple sex partners?

HPV is not like polio or some other serious, preventable disease treated with a vaccine. HPV is a disease contracted through vaginal, oral or anal sexual intercourse – and only by those means. Your daughter will not catch HPV by sitting next to someone who has it.

Gardasil offers no protection whatsoever against other serious STDs, such as Chlamydia, herpes, gonorrhoea, syphilis, HIV, AIDS; nor is it effective against the other more than 26 kinds of HPV.

Provincial Health Minister Ross Wiseman said he believes the vaccination program will do more good than harm. So is he saying that, after spending nearly five million hard earned health dollars to protect women from a cancer causing STD that comes only through multiple partner sex, if 2,800 young girls are vaccinated and some MAY be saved from cervical cancer twenty years or more hence but one or more girls die or are incapacitated after being vaccinated, that the program was a success? Perhaps Merck-Frosst, as well as our politicians, haven’t gone to such depths in their thinking. That possibility is indeed a scary – and dangerous – one.

Vote Life, Canada!
"Justice for Canada's Unborn through the Christian's vote."

5. Homosexual Indoctrination Grade 12 Curriculum To Start In British Columbia Schools – September 10, 2007

Result of Human Rights settlement by the government with homosexual activists – by Hilary White

VANCOUVER, September 4, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Starting next week, British Columbia will introduce its grade 12 "Social Justice" elective course that will see homosexuality promoted in BC schools as an "alternate lifestyle" equivalent to natural marriage. The course is only the first part of a larger K-12 curriculum resulting from a Human Rights complaint settlement by the government with a pair of homosexual activists.

The British Columbia Human Rights Commission ordered that Murray Corren and his homosexual partner Peter Corren be allowed to force the BC Education Ministry to accept their curriculum and that parents will not be allowed to remove their children. Murray Corren wanted the K-12 curriculum to include, "Queer history and historical figures, the presence of positive queer role models – past and present – the contributions made by queers to various epochs, societies and civilizations and legal issues relating to (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) people, same-sex marriage and adoption."

It was revealed in 2006 that the provincial government had signed the settlement contract with the two men giving them unprecedented control over the content of the curriculum. The contract stipulated that the education ministry would meet with the men every six months until September 1, 2007 to allow them to oversee the development process.

The Vancouver Sun reports that among the "key learning concepts" in the new course are "ableism, ageism, anthropocentrism, consumerism, cultural imperialism, extremism, feminism, fundamentalism, heterosexism, humanism, racism, sexism and speciesism."

Heterosexism is defined as a "prejudice against homosexuals on the assumption that heterosexuality is the norm".

Glen Hansman, president of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers' Association admitted in the Sun that the curriculum will require students to examine injustices to homosexuals because of the assumption that heterosexuality is normal and to "take a stand against these injustices."

Sean Murphy, spokesman for the BC Catholic Civil Rights League is quoted by the Sun saying that the course "can be used by individual teachers as a vehicle to turn students against the Catholic Church on the grounds that it violates human rights by opposing practices like abortion, contraception and homosexual conduct."

With the inclusion in the list of "speciesism", the course will also introduce the concept of animal rights, a key issue in the world of secularist utilitarian bioethics that proposes human beings are no more important than animals. The term was coined by Peter Singer, the Princeton bioethicist who promotes infanticide and euthanasia on utilitarian grounds. Singer is generally considered the "father" of the modern extremist animal rights movement.

The two homosexual men filed a complaint against the B.C. Ministry of education in 1999 alleging that the Ministry's curriculum didn't adequately "address issues of sexual orientation." The result was a curriculum, the writing of which was supervised by Murray Corren, that teaches students that the "gay lifestyle" is safe and as natural as heterosexual relations.

The pair particularly objected that the law allowed an opt-out provision in which teachers are under an obligation to advise parents when a subject deemed to be "sensitive" is raised in the classroom. The complaint demanded that homosexuality be removed from the list of issues considered officially "sensitive."

The issue has sparked protest rallies by parents' groups concerned by the erosion of parental rights and the right of religious people to protect their children from secularist indoctrination.

Read LifeSiteNews.com extensive coverage:

Is Canada Heading Towards a Totalitarian State? An Essay by Michael D. O'Brien
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/feb/05022810.html

B.C. Gay Couple Seeks Mandatory Homosexual School Curriculum Without Parental Opt-Out
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jul/05071106.html

Documents Reveal Government Signed Over Control of Education to Homosexual Activists
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06061907.html

BC Parents Will Have to Lie to Keep Kids out of Gay Advocacy Curriculum
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/sep/06091307.html

Gov't Agrees to Mandatory Homosexual Curriculum with No Opt-Out for Students or Parents
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06060101.html

900 Protest in Vancouver Over Homosexual Activist Control of Gay Curriculum in Schools
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/aug/06082807.html

6. International Symposium On Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide – September 6, 2007

Friday, Nov 30 th, Saturday, Dec 1, 2007 at the: Four Points Sheraton – Toronto Airport Hotel .

Co-Sponsored by: Euthanasia Prevention Coalition – Canada, NOT DEAD YET – USA, Compassionate Healthcare Network – Canada, Physicians for Compassionate Care – USA, Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare – Vermont, Care NOT Killing Alliance - UK, No Less Human, UK.

Nearly every leader and significant speaker on the issues of euthanasia and assisted suicide will be attending this Symposium. Make sure that it includes you .

The program begins on Friday November 30 th at 9:30 am and ends on Saturday at 5:30 pm. The Friday night dinner speaker is Professor Margaret Somerville founding director of the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law.

• Margaret Somerville , the founding director of the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law. Somerville is the author of many internationally recognized books including: The Ethical Imagination and Death Talk.

• Dr. Peter Saunders is the director of the Care NOT Killing Alliance in the UK, that co-ordinates organizations in the UK that oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide and support palliative care. They were instrumental in defeating a recent assisted suicide bill in the UK.

• Dr William Toffler is the national director of Physicians for Compassionate Care in Portland Oregon, a national organizations of physicians who oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide in the US.

• Dr. Bob Orr is the director of the Vermont Alliance for Ethical Health Care opposes assisted suicide and promotes ethical healthcare practices. They were instrumental in defeating a recent assisted suicide bill in Vermont.

• Diane Coleman is the founder of NOT DEAD YET, a leading disability rights group in the US.

• Allison Davis is the national co-ordinator of No Less Human in the UK, a national disability rights organization.

• Hugh Scher is the legal counsel for the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and the former chair of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities Human Rights Committee. Hugh is a leading lawyer in Canada on Human Rights, Constitutional and End-of-Life Issues.

• Alex Schadenberg is the Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition in Canada.

• Rita Marker is the Executive Director of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. Rita is the leader and the unifying force for groups that oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide.

• Wesley J. Smith, attorney for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. Smith is the author of many books including: Forced Exit. Smith is a powerful speaker.

• Bobby Schindler is the brother of Terri Schiavo and works for the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation.

• Catherine Frazee is the co-director of Ryerson University (RBC) Institute for Disability Studies, and the former chair of the Ontario Human Rights Commission (1990 - 95). She is an extraordinarily gifted intellectual leader.

• Cheryl Eckstein is the founder of the Compassionate Health Care Network in Canada.

• Dr. Paul Byrne is a Neonatologist from Ohio and a recognized expert in the area of Brain Death.

There has never been a Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide like this before.

Please contact the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition for special one-day rates.

Reserve your room by calling the Four Points Sheraton – Toronto Airport at: 1-800-368-7764 and indicate that you are reserving for the Euthanasia Symposium. The room rate is $109.00 per night.

For further registration information contact the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition at: info@epcc.ca or call toll free: 1-877-439-3348.

Correction: J. K. Rowling Advocates Physician-Assisted Suicide – By David Haddon

In my previous article, I pointed out that J. K. Rowling's making the standard arguments for euthanasia the motivation for Severus Snape's accession to Albus Dumbledore's request that Snape kill him amounted to advocacy of euthanasia. I stand corrected. What I had not realized was that this conversation in which Dumbledore appeals to Snape's compassion for a sick old man was in the context of a doctor-patient relationship (Deathly Hallows, pp. 680-681).

Indeed, Professor of Potions Snape has a detailed knowledge of healing potions and incantations with which, for example, he saved Draco Malfoy from bleeding to death when cut up by Harry's Sectasempra curse in the previous book. Dumbledore only regains consciousness after Snape pours "a golden potion down Dumbledore's throat" (p. 680). And after giving him the bad news that he has no more than a year to live, Snape lectures his patient in true doctorly fashion: "'If you had only summoned me a little earlier, I might have been able to do more, buy you more time!' said Snape furiously." So Rowling is right on the cutting edge of the issue of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) as it is playing out in Europe and the United States.

Rowling's brilliant portrayal of the defects of UK (and American) politicians and bureaucrats through the medium of the blindness, ruthless ambition, and incompetent arrogance of the bureaucrats of the Ministry of Magic shows her to be an incisive critic of the political scene. She cannot be unaware of the political tendency of the moral arguments she is instilling into the minds of unsuspecting children.

This is why we cannot treat these fantasies as fictions unrelated to life. The greatest moral teachers and the greatest demagogues have always used stories to teach either their moral and spiritual truths or their lies. These are children's books that are forming the unconsciously absorbed worldview and morality of millions of children.

From the perspective of orthodox Christians, whether Roman Catholic, Orthodox or Reformed (my perspective); a murder-suicide pact cannot be justified by any hoped for result (e.g., preserving Snape's double-agency) because it violates a clear commandment of God. As another British literary artist put it, God has "fix'd his canon 'gainst self-slaughter" (Hamlet) and other forms of murder. Parents need to know it when an author of children's books justifies such law-breaking in the minds of children.

The issue comes down to this: Are your ethics based on an end-justifies-any-means morality or on an objective and unchanging code? Rowling along with the media and academic elites of the modern West opt for the former; many conservatives and all orthodox Christians for the latter.

David Haddon is a Left-Coast writer and prolife activist of Evangelical persuasion.

Why are Adult Stem Cells so effective? A study at Tulane University suggests a reason for their effectiveness: Stem cells from bone marrow injected back into the adult patient's body have been shown to transfer mitochondria DNA from themselves into existing local stem cells, whose own mitochondria are inactive. This stimulates the indigenous cells to start working, as well as adding the benefit of the injected cells.

The massive American College of Paediatricians has called for an end to embryonic stem cell research. It recommends the exclusive support of the already proven effective adult stem cell research. Michelle Cretella, M.D. stated, "Not only does embryonic research require taking the lives of human embryos, but it also prolongs needless suffering by delaying the development of more promising adult stem cell treatment and cures." "Every dollar spent on the failed and unnecessary process of embryonic stem cell research steals resources away from the established utility and potential of adult stem cell research. This is fiscally irresponsible and medically unconscionable."

Dr. Paolo de Coppi et al have demonstrated that amniotic fluid stem cells can be used to generate many different types of body tissues, and that such cells show more promise then embryonic stem cells do. This doctor encountered "heavy resistance" to the publication of his work because it used adult stem cells rather than embryonic ones. He concluded that publishing his paper was met by "a resistance to the idea of finding an alternative to embryonic stem cells because many researchers, particularly in the U.S. are so heavily invested in embryo research."

(A Quote:) "I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." – Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor

Table Of Contents:
1. Online Video: Noted Endocrinologist Explains How The Birth Control Pill Causes Abortion
2. Analysis Of Us Government Data Shows Abstinence Education Coincides With Teen Birth Decline
3. Australia Abortion Practitioner Wants RU 486 Available Nationwide
4. Manila Promotes Natural Family Planning
5. Number Of Child Abuse Cases Reaches Record High
6. Research Highlights Medical Risks Of Vasectomies
7. Revolutionary Stem Cell Treatment For Heart Disease
8. New Risks Discovered For HPV
9. $500k For Stem Cell Breakthrough
10. United Nations Proposes New Global Campaign To Push Reproductive Health/Abortion
11. The Conjugal Act: "Open" To Procreation?
12. Defending The Council Of Europe's Opposition To Euthanasia

Focus On Asia: South Asia millions face flood hunger. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6934548.stm. Millions of people across South Asia are still facing hunger after some of the worst floods in decades, amid fears of disease and fights over supplies.

Item #1. Online Video: Noted Endocrinologist Explains How The Birth Control Pill Causes Abortion
During the Humanae Vitae Conference "A New Beginning" last year, noted endocrinologist Dr. Maria Kraw explained how many so-called contraceptives actually result in fertilization and end in the abortion of a new human person during its early development.

Item #2. Analysis Of US Government Data Shows Abstinence Education Coincides With Teen Birth Decline
During past eight years, as funding for abstinence education increased, young, unmarried teen birth rate has been cut in half.

Item #3. Australia Abortion Practitioner Wants RU 486 Available Nationwide
An abortion practitioner who is the only one licensed in the nation to distribute the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug is upset that it is still not yet available nationwide. The nation's parliament has voted to allow its drug agency to approve sales of the drug nationwide but no business has applied for a permit yet.

Item #4. Manila Promotes Natural Family Planning
The government of the Philippines has decided to follow the Catholic Church and promote natural family planning (NFP) methods in the remotest, an initiative the Catholic Church has welcomed. The plan involves the whole country, including some its most far-flung areas. View full text at AsiaNews.it: http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=10035&size=A

Item #5. Number Of Child Abuse Cases Reaches Record High
The number of child abuse cases detected by the police reached 149 in the January-June period, up 24.2% from a year earlier and the largest number since equivalent data became available in 2000, the National Police Agency said Thursday.

Item #6. Pain, Diabetes And Dementia – Research Highlights Medical Risks Of Vasectomies Weintraub and her team of researchers found that 40% of 47 men with primary progressive aphasia who were being treated at Northwestern's Alzheimer’s Disease Center had undergone a vasectomy, compared to just 16% of the 57 community volunteers with no cognitive difficulties.

Item #7. Revolutionary Stem Cell Treatment For Heart Disease
Australian scientists have made a major breakthrough in the treatment of heart disease; they have discovered a method of treating damaged hearts using the patient's own adult stem cells. The new treatment is being developed at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney.

Item #8. New Risks Discovered For HPV
With much hype, Merck Pharmaceuticals lobbied state legislators to mandate its Gardasil vaccine for pre-teen girls. The company says its vaccine attacks several strains of the HPV virus, which is transmitted sexually. Critics said it would imply to young girls that premarital sex is acceptable. Now researchers say they've found evidence the disease can be transmitted through other means.

Item #9. $500K For Stem Cell Breakthrough
Sydney could become the first city in the world to produce stem cells from cloned human embryos with a $500,000 grant being offered by Premier Morris Iemma to the first scientist to do it.

Item #10. UNFPA Proposes New Global Campaign To Push Reproductive Health/Abortion
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has assessed the various regions of the world and despite differences in local circumstances, proposes that the solution is the spread of "reproductive health services," a phrase that is used by UN agencies and committees as synonymous with abortion. UNFPA recently released a proposal for a comprehensive four-year, $224 million advocacy strategy aimed at supporting and raising "awareness of reproductive rights." Claiming "the right to reproductive health applies to all people at all times," the UNFPA program aims to "increase demand for sexual and reproductive health services and reproductive rights" across the globe by working with all sectors of society from governments and community leaders to NGOs and the media.

Item #11. The Conjugal Act: "Open" To Procreation? - Clarification Of The Procreative Meaning
It is often contended that if it is morally right for married couples to avoid conception by having intercourse during the infertile period of the wife's ovulation cycle, then it must be morally right to do so with contraceptive sex, especially if the same reasons are involved. Such reasoning ultimately reduces the procreative meaning of the conjugal act to procreation.

Item #12. Defending The Council Of Europe's Opposition To Euthanasia
The concerted campaign around the globe to legalize euthanasia and/or physician-assisted suicide is one of the greatest contemporary challenges facing the pro-life movement. The campaign for change has scored some successes, notably in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Oregon. But it has suffered even more reverses, particularly when the weaknesses of the arguments for reform have been convincingly exposed. Pro-life academics have a significant role to play in exposing those weaknesses. This paper illustrates the inadequacy of those arguments in the context of a recent, and unsuccessful, attempt to push Europe toward legalization.

Get Involved:
1. Inform yourself on crucial issues at Lifeissues.net: http://www.lifeissues.net.
2. Pray daily for the courage to be God's presence in society and strongly support those who are deemed "unworthy of life".
3. Supportive 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. Strong focus is placed on reaching Asian Catholic Major Seminaries, Parishes and Family related groups. A series of lectures by Fr. Jerry places emphasis on "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Trends and Challenges". For inquires about Pro Life Talks to your group within Asia at no cost: contact Fr. Jerry at jerry@star.quolia.com. 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

Britain votes to keep parents in the dark. By a vote of 159 - 87, the British House of Commons has rejected legislation that would have required a teenager's parents to be notified before she can have an abortion or get information on contraception. This is tragic, for laws requiring parental involvement elsewhere have sharply cut the number of teens getting abortions.

Another interesting bit of news shows that Morning After Pills do not reduce abortion and pregnancies. The Cochran Library Review looked at eight surveys in the U.S., India, and China. They found that the promotion of the morning-after-pill increased its use, but did not lower the abortion or the pregnancy rate. Its use went from 6% to 12%, but the abortion rate increased by 50% during the same period of time. Further, it did not reduce the pregnancy rate.

And the British Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority has granted permission to a couple to have their embryos screened to weed out any of these little innocents who carry a genetic eye disorder, which could cause them to have a severe squint. So now, we kill embryos for cosmetic reasons.

God Bless and let's reinforce our daily prayers and activities to continue developing a world society, which is based on the sanctity and dignity of human life.

A Quote: "There is only one beautiful baby in all the world and every mother has it." – English Proverb

BBC Acknowledges European Birth-Dearth
Teenage Abortions Sweeping Across Wales
Indonesian Government Should Take Action To Reduce Spread Of HIV Among Homeless Children
The Crime Of Abortion
Shots Assist In Aborting Foetuses
Danger And Opportunity: A Plea To Catholics
Opponents Of Legal Definition Of Person File Suit
British Researchers See Normal Brain Activity In Another "PVS" Patient
Population: Russians Get Day Off To Procreate, Then Win Prizes
Older Patients' Rights 'Abused'
What Is Death With Dignity? Reflections On The Sacredness Of Life
Michigan Governor Sued By Thomas More Law Center For Discrimination Against Citizens Who Oppose Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Focus On Asia: "Up to 300,000 may be homeless in North Korea floods": North Korea, which has suffered chronic food shortages for years, said flooding over the past several days has killed or left hundreds missing, washed away thousands of structures and ruined cropland in the country's agricultural bread basket.

Item #1. BBC Acknowledges European Birth-Dearth
According to a BBC report broadcast earlier this month, "Population levels across many parts of the developed world are declining, but this is particularly noticeable in former Eastern Bloc states, where the number of children being born has plummeted within a generation." The BBC noted that "In 1974, 100,000 babies were born in Slovakia - now barely 50,000 a year."

World Congress of Families International Secretary Allan C. Carlson observed: "Of the 10 nations with the lowest birthrates worldwide, nine are in Europe. According to the European Union, the average birthrate for the continent is 1.37 children per woman - well below replacement level (roughly 2.1).

Eastern European and the former Soviet Union are particularly hard hit. The birthrate for the Czech Republic is 1.18, for Russia 1.26 and for Belarus, 1.21. Russia's population is contracting by three-quarters of a million a year.

View full article at Christian Newswire: http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/298383887.html

Item #2. Teenage Abortions Sweeping Across Wales
According to new figures released to Wales on Sunday by the Department of Health, more 15 to 17-year-olds than ever before are getting rid of their unwanted babies, with 1,004 girls opting for terminations in 2006 compared to 894 in 2005 – that's a rise of 12 per cent.

View full text at icWales.co.uk:
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_headline=teenage-abortions-sweeping-across-wales&method=full&objectid=19612006&siteid=50082-name_page.html

Item #3. Indonesian Government Should Take Action To Reduce Spread Of HIV Among Homeless Children
The Indonesian government should take action to reduce the spread of HIV among homeless children in the country, Ariest Merdeka Sirait, secretary-general of the National Commission for the Protection of Children, said Wednesday, the Jakarta Post reports. Sirait said homeless children are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS because many are involved in injection drug use and "lack knowledge about reproductive health and about how to protect themselves from" HIV. He also said homeless children have been excluded from government-sponsored programs aimed at reducing the spread of HIV among high-risk groups, such as commercial sex workers and IDUs. "The spread of HIV/AIDS among street children should be tackled immediately, otherwise it will lead to a worse situation," Sirait said.

View full text at Kaiser Network:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=46828

Item #4. The Crime Of Abortion
We as a society have lost our sense of right and wrong when it comes to abortion, we have to remind people that abortion is indeed a crime, and it is a crime in which the victim is indeed a human being - the least of our brothers and sisters, the preborn child. It is only when personhood is restored under the law to every innocent preborn child that there will be time enough to debate criminal consequences for the criminal act of abortion.

Reminding America that abortion kills children is not a bad thing; it is the truth. And it is this truth that recognizes that the only way to end abortion is to call it by its proper name and to be prepared to secure protection for all preborn babies. That means establishing personhood so that the victimization of the most vulnerable members of the human family ends. And, please God, let that be soon.

View full text at The Conservative Voice:
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?id=27207

Item #5. Shots Assist In Aborting Foetuses
The injections are generally done in abortions after 18 or 20 weeks gestation. (Massachusetts bans virtually all abortions at and beyond the 24th week, except to protect the life or health of the mother.) Medical staff inject either the heart drug digoxin or potassium chloride, a potentially poisonous salt also used in state executions.

View full text at boston.com:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/08/10/shots_assist_in_aborting_fetuses/

Item #6. Danger And Opportunity: A Plea To Catholics
"Nothing undermines the cause of justice and cultural reform and renewal more than the bad example of prominent Catholics who have made themselves instruments of what Pope John Paul II bluntly described as 'the culture of death,'" writes Princeton professor Robert George. "The bishops must make clear that being a faithful Catholic means many things; but among the things it means is bearing unambiguous witness to the sanctity of human life. By bearing such witness, Catholics can seize the opportunity now before them to renew and reform the culture."

Item #7. Opponents Of Legal Definition Of Person File Suit
Planned Parenthood has filed suit to stop a ballot initiative that would define human personhood as beginning at fertilization. Lizzy Annison of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains made a statement to the media in which she repeatedly made the erroneous statement that initiative backers want to grant personhood to eggs.

Full Article at cbs4denver.com:
http://cbs4denver.com/local/local_story_221094308.html?fromrss=1

Item #8. British Researchers See Normal Brain Activity In Another "PVS" Patient
British researchers say that scans of the brain activity of a disabled woman there show normal levels despite a diagnosis from doctors that she is supposedly in a persistent vegetative state. This is the second time the researchers have found normal brain activity in a PVS patient.

Item #9. Population: Russians Get Day Off To Procreate, Then Win Prizes
A Russian region of Ulyanovsk has found a novel way to fight the nation's birth-rate crisis: It has declared Sept. 12 the Day of Conception and for the third year running is giving couples time off from work to procreate. The hope is for a brood of babies exactly nine months later on Russia's national day. Couples who "give birth to a patriot" during the June 12 festivities win money, cars, refrigerators and other prizes.

Item #10. Older Patients' Rights 'Abused'
A report by British MPs and peers has warned that many older patients are being neglected in their hospitals and care homes. The Joint Committee on Human Rights heard evidence of care home residents subjected to neglect and discrimination, and has concluded that 21% of facilities have failed to meet even minimum standards of dignity and privacy for elderly patients. Mr Andrew Dismore MP, committee chairman, said: "Neglect and ill-treatment of the elderly is a severe abuse of human rights. We must see a complete change of culture in the health and care services." Mr Ivan Lewis MP, health minister, has said that reforms of services for the elderly are on the way: "We are strengthening our leadership role and embarking on a major programme of change which will seek to address the issues raised in this report."

Item #11. What Is Death With Dignity? Reflections On The Sacredness Of Life
What is meant by the sanctity of life? It would appear in the strictest sense to mean that life is something holy, transcendent, and set apart by God himself. Life is something that is not easily fathomable. In more modest terms, it could be said that, since life is sacred, it should not be violated, opposed, or destroyed; more positively, it should be protected, defended, and preserved. According to Leon Kass, a noted ethicist and physician, whatever sacredness is, it inheres in life itself, and that life by its very being calls forth an appropriate human response, whether it be veneration or restraint. To say that sacredness is something that can be conferred or ascribed - or removed - solely by human argument or decision is to focus on some self-centered concept. This is truly egoism.

Item #12. Michigan Governor Sued By Thomas More Law Center For Discrimination Against Citizens Who Oppose Embryonic Stem Cell Research
The Thomas More Law Center is suing Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm for discrimination. She is permitting supporters of human embryonic stem cell research to use the governor's official web site to petition lawmakers to lift state restrictions on the deadly experimentation.

View entire text at Thomas More Law Center: http://www.thomasmore.org/news.html?NewsID=692

GET INVOLVED:

INFORM yourself on crucial issues at Lifeissues.net: http://www.lifeissues.net .
PRAY daily for the courage to be God's presence in society and strongly support those who are deemed "unworthy of life".
SUPPORTIVE 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. Strong focus is placed on reaching Asian Catholic Major Seminaries, Schools and Family related groups. A series of lectures places emphasis on "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Trends and Challenges". For inquires about no-cost Pro Life Talks to your group within Asia: contact Fr. Jerry at jerry@star.quolia.com . 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

"Embryonic Stem Cell Research Lab Closes." The ES Cell International has lost its funding and closed its doors. It had been focusing on human embryonic stem cell research. Investors abandoned it because: "The likelihood of having products in the clinic in the short term was vanishing small." ESI was a multimillion-dollar organization in Britain set up in the year 2000 with the hope of being the world leader in embryonic stem cell technology. Private enterprise corrects its mistakes, Government seldom does.

Safe sex is not so safe. Jennifer R. Morse, author of "Smart Sex: Finding Life-Long Love in a Hook-Up World", using Planned Parenthood's numbers, she explains, "...When people say that contraceptives are successful 90% of the time, they are talking about married women in their 30s and 40s. However for low income, cohabitating, teenage girls, 60% become pregnant while using the contraceptive pill and over 70% while using condoms. Those practicing abstinence have a zero pregnancy rate. In spite of this obvious fact the U.S. government spends $12.00 for contraceptive education for every one dollar for abstinence education and the U.S. Congress at this point is making a fierce attempt to stop the abstinence education.

Pro-abortion assault still targets Peru. A host of U.S. funded organizations along with the UN Population Fund are concentrating on the government and medical establishments of Peru. Their attempt is to legalize abortion as "women's health." These include the Ford and Gates Foundations. They have tried to circumvent the legislative process, which has remained pro-life, by getting endorsement from the Peru Medical College, certain hospitals and commissions. Peru's constitution protects life from the conception. Let us hope it holds.

A Quote: No word has the power to change the reality of things: procured abortion is the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, extending from conception to birth. Gospel of Life #58

Singapore Wants Older Workers To Continue Working
AP: Pain Medicine Use Has Nearly Doubled
"I'm HIV-Positive, But I'm Not Bad"
Down's Syndrome Test 'Risk To Healthy Babies'
Mother In Stem Cell Therapy Call
China's 'Big Brother Surveillance' To Dwarf UK
Amnesty International Reaffirms Pro-Abortion Position, Bishop Resigns
China's Forced Abortion Opponent Chen Guangcheng Gets Asian "Nobel Prize"
Thailand's Aging Population
TD Warns Against Moves To Legalise Euthanasia
Clone A Human, Get $500,000 Says Aussie State Premier
Open Letter To The Catholic Bishops Of Canada

Focus On Asia: "Up to 300,000 may be homeless in North Korea floods": North Korea, which has suffered chronic food shortages for years, said flooding over the past several days has killed or left hundreds missing, washed away thousands of structures and ruined cropland in the country's agricultural bread basket.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SEO146090.htm

Item #1. Singapore Wants Older Workers To Continue Working
While not expecting people to work into their 80s and 90s, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his National Day Rally speech that retiring at 55 or even 62 is far too early.

View full article at Channel NewsAsia:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/294889/1/.html

Item #2. AP: Pain Medicine Use Has Nearly Doubled
More than 200,000 pounds of codeine, morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone and meperidine were purchased at retail stores during the most recent year represented in the data. That total is enough to give more than 300 milligrams of painkillers to every person in the country.

Comment: Under-treatment of pain has much to do with suicides. Patients who legitimately need pain relief continue to suffer without relief. Some cannot cope. Then we hear of stories of how family watch a loved one suffer – and they want euthanasia for that person because they can't stand to see them suffer. I realize we will not always be able to eliminate pain but we know under-treatment is a serious problem that doesn't seem to be getting much better. Recently I had a conversation with someone whose father was on morphine. She told me "When my father's health got better and he didn't need morphine he realized he was addicted to it. It took him a week to get over the addiction." I asked her if she would have rather his pain went untreated all those months he was so ill and in pain. She admitted she hadn't looked at it that way and that a week of withdrawals was really not terrible at all for him. – Cheryl, CHN

View full text at auburnpub.com:
http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2007/08/20/ap/headlines/d8r4nulo0.txt

Item #3. "I'm HIV-Positive, But I'm Not Bad"
Yuvaraj lamented that people living with HIV continue to suffer from discrimination, because it is a story she herself knows almost too well. "Stigma remains the biggest challenge that we need to seriously address," said Yuvaraj, now working as HIV programme manager for Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH).

View full text at Terraviva:
http://ipsterraviva.net/tv/colombo2007/currentNew.aspx?new=921

Item #4. Down's Syndrome Test 'Risk To Healthy Babies'
Prenatal tests for Down's syndrome could cause women to miscarry their healthy babies, according to a British doctor Dr Hylton Meire, formerly of King's College Hospital, London, warned that the amniocentesis test can be needlessly invasive and can lead to miscarriages of unborn children. Writing in Ultrasound, he calculated that there are 160 healthy babies lost for every 50 cases of Down's or Edwards' syndrome detected.

View full text at Telegraph.co.uk:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/16/ndowns116.xml

Item #5. Mother In Stem Cell Therapy Call
A British woman whose daughter's leukaemia was treated with stem cells from an American umbilical cord bank has called for more cords to be saved. Ms Amy Winston-Hart said there should be a larger and more integrated system of cord banks in Britain. She said: "I feel this is something the government needs to invest more money [in]. Childhood cancers are on the increase and something needs to be done. It is a natural, life-saving resource that is currently being wasted. If it wasn't for that one couple who decided to freeze the blood from that cord, then [my daughter] might not be here today."

View full text at BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/leicestershire/6947455.stm

Item #6. China's 'Big Brother Surveillance' To Dwarf UK
The Chinese government has launched a surveillance programme that will include close monitoring of population control. All Chinese citizens, starting in the southern city of Shenzhen, must carry a residence permit encoded with a computer chip, which will store data on their whereabouts, education records and the number of their children under the one child policy. Television systems with software that can recognise faces are also being set up.

See the full article at Telegraph.co.uk:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/16/wchina116.xml

Item #7. Amnesty International Reaffirms Pro-Abortion Position, Bishop Resigns
Amnesty International affiliates have reaffirmed a decision their leading officials made in April to endorse abortion. The vote reconfirms the human rights group's position supporting abortion in cases when women are victims of sexual abuse -- especially in war-torn areas. Amnesty's nine-member executive committee voted to back abortion in those cases or when a pregnancy threatens a woman's life or health and the decision came under fire because it was done without the consent of AI's national chapters.

With their official backing, AI will now move ahead with plans to promote abortion in areas like Darfur and to try to get nations in places like Latin America and Africa to overturn their pro-life laws prohibiting abortions.

Item #8. China's Forced Abortion Opponent Chen Guangcheng Gets Asian "Nobel Prize"
The leading opponent of forced abortions in China is getting the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize for his efforts. Chen Guangcheng led the effort to bring international exposure to a brutal forced abortion campaign in Linyi, but he has been jailed on a bogus four-year prison term as a result.

Full Article at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/int389.html

Item #9. Thailand's Aging Population
Yet, for better or worse, the statistics point to an aging population throughout most parts of the world, and this includes Thailand. There are around 7 million people aged 60 or above in this country at present, which amounts to 11% of the national population. It is projected that by 2020 this figure will rise to 10.8 million, at that time around 17% of the population.

View entire text at bangkokpost.com:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/Perspective/19Aug2007_pers01.php

Item #10. TD Warns Against Moves To Legalise Euthanasia
Ireland is in danger of sliding down ‘the slippery slope’ into euthanasia, a leading Fine Gael TD and suicide expert has warned.

View entire text at Irish Examiner.com:
http://www.irishexaminer.com/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=40455-qqqx=1.asp

Item #11. Clone A Human, Get $500,000 Says Aussie State Premier
The State Parliament of New South Wales, Australia, has passed legislation allowing the cloning of human embryos for research purposes. The legislation also authorises the creation of human-animal hybrids, the use of ova from aborted baby girls to create embryos, and the creation of embryos from more than two donors. Morris Iemma, New South Wales Premier, has also announced a grant of $500,000 for the first scientists to succeed in cloning a human being, and an $11.5 million state fund to promote cloning and embryonic stem cell research.

Item #12. Open Letter To The Catholic Bishops Of Canada
With great distress Vote Life, Canada! notes the ongoing virtual silence of the Bishops on the subject of legalized child-killing in Canada and petitions the Bishops to take all necessary steps to confront the demon of abortion in Canada which has claimed over three million unborn victims.

View entire text at Vote Life, Canada:
http://www.votelifecanada.ca/Main1/OpenLetterBishopsOf_Canada.html.

GET INVOLVED:
1. INFORM yourself on crucial issues at Lifeissues.net:http://www.lifeissues.net.
2. PRAY daily for the courage to be God's presence in society and strongly support those who are deemed "unworthy of life".
3. SUPPORTIVE 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. Strong focus is placed on reaching Asian Catholic Major Seminaries, Schools and Family related groups. A series of lectures places emphasis on "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Trends and Challenges". For inquires about no-cost Pro Life Talks to your group within Asia: contact Fr. Jerry at jerry@star.quolia.com . 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

Germany is now paying for babies. Reacting to the rapidly dropping birth rate, Germany will now pay to have new babies. The program allows new parents, who stop working, to receive two-thirds of their net wages for twelve months, and if they are poor, a higher percentage. Unless births pick up from this effort, Germany's current population of 82,000,000 is scheduled to drop to approximately 70,000,000 in 2050.

The pressure is maintained on Nicaragua. The pro-abortion folks in Europe continue to be upset by Nicaragua's adopting a constitutional amendment protecting from conception. Now the EU is threatening to cut funding for the entire nation unless they change their Constitution and allow the killing of babies.

China To Act On Gender Imbalance
Battle Lines Being Drawn For New War Over Stem Cells
Face-off Looms At New Planned Parenthood
California Company: We'll Turn Your Child's Sibling Embryos Into Extra Body Parts
Australia Hospital Becomes First To Sell Dangerous RU 486 Abortion Drug
Portugal Does 526 Abortions Since Parliament Legalized Them In July
China's Male-Female Birth Ratio Alarming In Most Cities Nationwide
Abstinence Remains Best Form Of Birth Control According To Christianet.Com Poll
A Mercy Killing Or Murder?
Crisis Looms As 18 Million Chinese Can't Find A Wife
Wages Up In China As Young Workers Grow Scarce
Women's Health Care – A New Era

Focus On Asia: "Interview – Drugs, conflict spur HIV in Asia Pacific region"
HIV infections are increasing at a worrying 10 percent a year in the Asia Pacific region, a top UN AIDS official said on Tuesday, putting the rise down to intravenous drug use, sex workers and conflicts. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/COL141335.htm.

Item #1. China To Act On Gender Imbalance
The Chinese government says it is drafting new laws to tackle the growing gender imbalance caused by the widespread abortion of female foetuses.

Item #2. Battle Lines Being Drawn For New War Over Stem Cells
Clashes between the high-tech and the holy are looming anew as political changes force stem-cell research back onto the public agenda, raising a host of new bioethical concerns for doctors and patients. And a Toronto physician is going to have his say about where this all leads.

Item #3. Face-off Looms At New Planned Parenthood
Following on the heels of similar projects in Illinois and Oregon, it has been reported that Planned Parenthood has been quietly been buying up property for a new $4 million headquarters and clinic in Denver. According to the Denver Post, "The organization initially intended to complete the whole project in secrecy in order to avoid the kind of protests and delays that Planned Parenthood's building projects have ignited elsewhere." Planned Parenthood now anticipates there will be protests. Local pro-lifers say they will indeed fight the effort.

Item #4. California Company: We'll Turn Your Child's Sibling Embryos Into Extra Body Parts
A firm called Stem Cell Life Line has found a point of convergence for the twin evils of in vitro fertilization and human embryonic stem cell research. It is telling parents of children conceived through in vitro fertilization that "We'll turn your spare embryos into embryonic stem cell lines tailored to your child's potential future medical needs."

Item #5. Australia Hospital Becomes First To Sell Dangerous RU 486 Abortion Drug
Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne received permission from the nation's drug regulatory agency yesterday to give women the dangerous abortion drug RU 486. The hospital filed an application in December to become the second place to sell the abortion drug after a Cairnes-based abortion practitioner. The facility asked the Therapeutic Goods Administration to allow 10 physicians to sell the mifepristone pills, responsible for the deaths of thirteen women worldwide. Now that the TGA has approved the application, Royal Women's Hospital could have the abortion pills on hand within weeks.

View full text at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/int402.html

Item #6. Portugal Does 526 Abortions Since Parliament Legalized Them In July
A new report from the National Health Service of the government of Portugal finds that 526 abortions have been done since the nation's parliament approved a law legalizing them. That law took effect in July and, shortly thereafter, a large abortion business in Spain built a new abortion facility in the nation's capital.

See the full article at LifeNews.com: http://www.lifenews.com/int403.html

Item #7. China's Male-Female Birth Ratio Alarming In Most Cities Nationwide
A new report from China's Family Planning Association finds that the male-female ratio in most of the cities in the Asian nation is alarmingly skewed because of sex-selection abortions and infanticides. The practices have run rampart in response to the coercive one-child family planning policy the nation instituted. With most of the residents of China allowed just one baby per family, residents are following their cultural preferences and trying to have boys instead of girls. They've resorted to sex-selection abortions and infanticides as a result and that has caused the disproportionate percentage of boys to girls to skyrocket.

ITEM #8. Abstinence Remains Best Form of Birth Control According to ChristiaNet.com Poll
ChristiaNet.com, the world's largest Christian portal with twelve million monthly page loads, recently asked, "Is birth control acceptable for Christians?" Bill Cooper, President of ChristiaNet responded, "Family planning shows responsible Christian behaviour." Most Christians agreed that abstinence is the most effective way to prevent unwanted children.

Item #9. A Mercy Killing Or Murder?
Comment: It isn't hard to imagine tricking someone with Alzheimer's into signing over their life's savings - nor is it a stretch to imagine the person had no idea he was going to be a member of a right-to die org., and that later they were going to be killed. It could have been a cover-up, but just guessing as there isn't enough info in this report. I was remembering when John Hofsess, president of Victoria (Canada) Right to Die, forged a letter that was supposed to have been written by Sue Rodriguez, a woman who was fighting along with John, to have the right to assisted suicide. The letter was published in the Vancouver Sun paper. I made a phone call to the paper saying I doubted Sue wrote such a letter, and asked if they had checked it with her? Shortly after, the reporter called me back and said indeed Sue had not written the letter, nor had she seen it. Sue broke off with John Hofsess after that, but months later got her way when a doctor secretly assisted her suicide. These people will go to any lengths to get what they want. – Cheryl, CHN

Item #11. Wages Up In China As Young Workers Grow Scarce
Chinese wages are on the rise. No reliable figures for average wages exist; the government's economic data are notably unreliable. But factory owners and experts who monitor the nation's labour market say that businesses are having a hard time finding able-bodied workers and are having to pay the workers they can find more money.

View entire text at NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/business/worldbusiness/29labor.html?em&ex=1188532800&en=b597d4594bd68033&ei=5087
ITEM #12. Women's Health Care - A New Era
Currently used artificial reproductive technologies involve the use of artificial insemination. They also include in vitro fertilization in which very high doses of hormones are given to women to make them produce more ova, and may involve the use of women as egg donors and as providers of surrogate wombs. These procedures are morally unacceptable. In contrast, NaProTechnology simply involves keeping a record of the menstrual cycle. Fertility is sometimes achieved by lovemaking on the fertile days. In other cases, records of the cycle help the physician to diagnose and treat the cause of the infertility, e.g., endometriosis, ovulation irregularities, stress, and anxiety. NaProTechnology is both morally good and medically effective.

Inform yourself on crucial issues at Lifeissues.net: http://www.lifeissues.net.
Pray daily for the courage to be God's presence in society and strongly support those who are deemed "unworthy of life".
Supportive 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. Strong focus is placed on reaching Asian Catholic Major Seminaries, Schools and Family related groups. A series of lectures places emphasis on "The Asian Family at Crossroads: Trends and Challenges". For inquires about no-cost Pro Life Talks to your group within Asia: contact Fr. Jerry at jerry@star.quolia.com. 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.

New research shows a growing number of America’s employed women with children aged 17 and under would prefer to work only part-time, the San Antonio Express-News reported last week.

The study by the Pew Research Center revealed that a clear majority (60 per cent) of mothers who were employed full-time called part-time work their “ideal situation.”

By surveying a representative sample of 414 women across the U.S., researchers found that one-third of at-home moms also felt the same way. A further 19 per cent of mothers said they would prefer not to work at all outside the home.

Compared to 10 years ago, when a Pew survey posed the same questions, these latest findings suggest a significant shift in women’s attitudes.

In 1997, 32 per cent of working mothers and 24 per cent of at-home mothers said full-time work outside the home would be ideal. Now, those numbers stand at 21 per cent and 16 per cent respectively. Over the same period, the number of at-home moms who said not working at all outside the home was their ideal rose from 39 per cent to 48 per cent.

“Once upon a time, it was, ‘I have to be a superwoman.’ Now, [working mothers] are moving away from that philosophy and realizing it’s really important to have balance in their lives,” Tammy Palazzo, vice-president of research at Working Mother magazine, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

The ideal notwithstanding, the reality is that the number of American mothers employed in a part-time position has remained unchanged at only 24 per cent since 1997.

“Women aren’t about to quit their jobs because of this [discrepancy],” Cary Funk with the Pew Research Center told the Express-News. “It’s more an expression of the difficulties in combining work and child-raising responsibilities in today’s world.”

Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute, believes this change in attitudes reflects a generational shift. “The Gen X generation is more family-centric [than their Boomer parents]. This generation grew up with working mothers and they watched them trying to manage stress and long hours,” she said.

“Moms are talking. Business owners should be listening. A better society could result,” Washington State’s The Columbian stated in an editorial.

Part-time work is also the preferred option among Canadian women. In 2004, according to Statistics Canada, women accounted for 47 per cent of Canada’s employed work force, up from 37 per cent in 1976. And yet they made up about 70 per cent of all part-time employees, “a figure which has not changed appreciably since the mid-1970s.”

The Pew study showed as well that 72 per cent of fathers found working full-time to be their ideal. Only 12 per cent said they preferred part-time work.

The Alberta government plans to launch a province-wide drive to recruit more foster parents, the Calgary Herald reported recently.

Officials hope the $650,000 campaign will reverse the declining numbers of families willing to provide children with temporary care.

In Calgary, the number of foster care families has fallen from 745 in 2005 to 538 currently – a decline of almost 30 per cent – while the number of children in care has grown by 31 to 2,087.

This has meant that experienced foster parents are often asked to take in as many as six children at a time as opposed to four at most under normal circumstances. New foster parents are not allowed to care for more than two children at a time.

“We have been able to meet all of our needs by maximizing our existing resources,” said Alberta Family Services spokeswoman Dawn Delaney, despite the lack of foster homes. Even so, as she told the Herald, “It is rather a stressful time.”

The campaign will emphasize that singles, working parents and couples with or without children are all eligible to become foster parents.

“We need help from energetic, committed individuals and families who have a place in their homes and hearts for a child,” Trish Brady with the Edmonton and District Family Support Association told the Edmonton Sun.

“You may not think your family fits the mold of the typical foster home, but that doesn’t mean a foster child wouldn’t fit your family.”

But others believe the government also needs to offer Albertans more incentives to get involved in foster care.

“In my six years working in foster care, foster parents have been given an increase of $3.50 an hour,” Kevin Hodgson, a foster care team leader with Aspen Family and Community Network Society, told the Herald. “It is pretty evident to me that those increases in the per diem have not matched cost of living increases, from housing to utilities. Those costs have exploded.”

Nearly half of the campaign’s funding – $300,000 – will go toward recruiting more First Nations foster parents for aboriginal children, who account for nearly six out of every 10 young people in care. But only one in three are living with a First Nations family.

“Sometimes it is just a matter of making extended family aware there are kids who they are related to who they could be helping,” Lisa Nisbet with Alberta Children Services told CBC News.

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal will hear a complaint of alleged religious discrimination filed by a student group at Capilano College against the students’ union executive committee, the North Shore News reported last week.

The Capilano College Heartbeat Club claims it was twice denied official “club” status because of its pro-life stance on abortion. The decision means it is denied the use of space on campus for holding meetings and events and free photocopying.

Robert Gunnarsson, the club’s lawyer, insists his clients have no desire to use the complaint process to make a statement about abortion. “This complaint is only about not being discriminated against on the basis of their religion,” he told the North Shore News.

Gunnarsson contends that because their pro-life views flow from their religious convictions, his clients “feel they have been denied a certain access to services on the basis of their religious belief. And that’s basically why they are doing this.”

“We note that the [student union] has defined itself as an official ‘pro-choice organization,’” Heartbeat Club president Minerva Macapagal stated in her complaint, according to the Province. “This self-definition is in itself an ongoing state of affairs which leads to discrimination against pro-life clubs such as the complainants.”

The students’ union said it made its decision after determining that the club intended to “advance a pro-life/anti-choice political agenda” – and not because of its members’ religious beliefs.

13. Sex-Selection Abortion And America's Silent Bigotry – 4 September 2007

The pro-aborts often accuse us of hatred for women, but in reality they are the ones promoting this hatred. Read how the hard-line pro-abortion stance masks an agenda of depersonalizing violence against women.

The advent of ultrasound technology is usually considered a boon to the pro-life movement. Ever since its

rise to common use, countless lives of unborn children have been saved, as women gaze in wonder at the beautifully formed human beings inside them .

Now, incredibly, the power of the ultrasound is being twisted against the cause of life. Not only can an ultrasound demonstrate the power and beauty of life within the womb, the technology has advanced to the point where is can also give an accurate report on the child's sex. As a result, incredible as it may sound, it is becoming statistically more common for babies to be aborted for that reason.

This problem is rampant in places like India and China, where restrictive reproductive policies are in effect. Families in these countries, prevented from having several children, are desperate to have a boy to assist with the farm’s hard labor, and to care for them in their old age. As a result, girls are often aborted or killed after they are born, which has led to catastrophic sex imbalances in these regions.

Ultrasounds, once solely the domain of the pro-lifer and the specialist, are now being pressed into the service of family planners all over the world to help men and women choose the gender of their children.

According to the UN Population Division, China's modern sex ratio is 94 women to every 100 men, compared to 103 women for every 100 men in the United States, or 104 women for every 100 men in England. India’s statistics are no more comforting. As of 2007, 93 Indian girls were born for every 100 boys. According to further UN reports, sex-selection abortion and infanticide has proven responsible for the loss of at least 60 million girls throughout the world, probably more.

Although China and India have implemented laws that prohibit these sex-selective practices, they have little

real impact. Many media sources, including Chinese and Indian ones, have laid the blame of this accelerated sex-balance crisis on China's one-child policy, and rightly so. However, there is a more pervasive problem at work here, a significant shift in people's attitudes that allows there to even be a problem like this in the first place. This problem is not simply restricted to China or India, but is present even in our own country.

Most people in the United States look at sex-selection abortion as being a far-away phenomenon, one that only occurs in backward third-world countries, where obsolete ideas about women and society are still touted as cultural norms. In fact, a poll published in the Presbyterians Pro-Life News shows that 79% of Americans polled believe that abortion should not be legal solely because a woman doesn't like the gender of her child. Sex-selective abortion is rightly seen by many as the ultimate misogyny, a horrible discrimination against women before they are e

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