International Right to Life Federation, Inc.
Vol. 16 No. 2
(March/April 2005)

No To Legal Abortion In Ireland
The Irish Human Rights Commission, a pro-abortion organization, recently asked for legislation to legalize abortion in that country. The Irish Department of Health replied that it has "no plans for legislation regards to abortion" and two members of the Irish H.R.C. disagreed on the grounds that such legalization would "violate the human rights of unborn children up to the time of birth."

South Africa Hospital Refuses Abortion
A new South African pro-life group, The Health Professionals Conscientious Objection Campaign, has announced that the staff at a major hospital has agreed to refuse to do abortions. Phillip Rosenthal, the group's coordinator in Cape Town, stated, "Numerous other small hospitals, especially rural ones, have refused to do abortions. But this is the first time a major hospital, previously doing them, has stopped."

China, Population Ratio
As a direct result of its tragic one child policy, China now has a gender imbalance. According to the 2000 census, there are now 117 males to 100 females. In some rural areas the ration is 150 to 100.

EU Against Trade In Human Eggs
According to Independent Catholic News, 11, March, the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the trade in human ova. This demonstrates the need to explore alternatives for treating human infertility and it also points up the medical risks involved to the women who donate their eggs.

Mice With Human Brains?
According to the London Telegraph, 6, March, researchers at Stanford University are planning to breed mice that will have brains taken from aborted human babies. The University's ethics committee has approved this project. The head of the university's committee admits that this experimentation is "a little creepy."

New Brunswick Refuses Abortion Funding
This Canadian province is bucking Canada's national government which wants it to pay for elective abortions done by the infamous Henry Morgentaler. The federal government may step in to enforce this.

Polish Parliament - No To Abortion
The Polish government, which is pro-abortion, had announced that it would introduce a bill to allow abortion in the first three months. It was also going to make sex education a separate subject in primary schools. Further, it would have allowed abortions for young people without parental consent. Consideration of the bill was defeated in Parliament by a vote of 199 to 183. A close call.

• RU 486 Information on US Food and Drug Administration website.
• RU 486 Complication Report on Concerned Women for America website.
• RU 486 Information on Life Issues Institute website.

Costa Rica: In UN Strong Pro-Life Speech
Costa Rica's President Abel Capacheco, before the UN general assembly, called for international protection of life "from the moment of conception." He said, "As we have a duty to the oppressed and persecuted, we also have a duty to protect those who do not yet have voice. In particular there is a pressing need to agree on a normative framework, internationally binding, to uphold human dignity from the moment of conception. Necessary to defend life is to defend the very essence of man himself: all the promises, joys, and hopes of the human being." (The Interim, Nov., 2004)

UN Declaration Against Human Cloning
On March 8, the UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on Human Cloning by a vote of 84 to 34. This called for member states to adopt all measures necessary to forbid all forms of human cloning…"In as much as they are incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life." Pro-lifers rejoiced at this but recognized that it is only a resolution and does not mandate member nations to follow it.

Portugal's Socialist Party
Portugal's Socialist Party has just won in their recent general election. It has pledged to initiate another nationwide referendum on that country's restrictive abortion laws.

Dutch Euthanasia Of Children Denounced
A recently published article, in the New England Journal of Medicine, revealed that Dutch doctors now openly kill newborn handicapped infants. The 17,000 members of the US Christian Medical Association denounced this practice. Its President, David Stevens MD said, "The tragic irony is that Dutch doctors once risked their lives to oppose the Nazi euthanasia program. Dutch euthanasia doctors today indignantly protest the contrast between their motives with the Nazis, yet there is little difference in the final result between the involuntary euthanasia of Dutch infants and non-consulting adults and the Nazi euthanasia program."

Australian Religious Groups Oppose Abortion
Leaders from Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths in Sydney have called on the government to end the profit incentive for private abortion mills. Australia aborts between 70 and 100 thousand babies each year.

Note This Change
Due to the increasing availability of technology as well as the continuing cost and often irregularity of delivery by surface post, we will be switching this newsletter from a printed mailing to an e-mail format. We anticipate completing this by next summer. With the savings in postage cost, we will be able to send this newsletter to many more readers. Accordingly, we ask the following:

· Please send us your e-mail address. Our e-mail address is: IRTLF@lifeissues.org

· In the event you do not have access to e-mail and wish to have us continue to mail this surface post, please mail us your postal address.

New Secretary UNICEF
After serving two five-year terms, Carol Bellamy will not be re-nominated as director of UNICEF. Pro-lifers can only sigh with relief and say, "she is finally out of there." This strongly pro-abortion radical feminist has turned UNICEF upside down. She vigorously pursued "comprehensive reproductive health programs" which had not been previously on the agenda of UNICEF. Now UN Secretary Kofi Annan has nominated US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to replace her. Secretary Veneman has stated that in her opinion "reproductive health and education issues are not relevant to the agencies' mission…I come with an agenda of helping children, particularly in the areas of education and health and to address the issues of hunger and malnutrition." Sounds like a breath of fresh of air. Maybe now we can quit boycotting this major branch of the United Nations.

Over-The-Counter Abortifacients Delayed Again
In January the US Federal Food and Drug Administration once again delayed its decision on the drug manufacturer's request to allow over-the-counter sales of abortifacients. In May of 2004 it had refused approval because of inadequate information on its use among girls age 16 and under. The drug company, Barr, had submitted a revised application allowing OTC sales for those 17 and older. Pro-lifers have objected to the drug because its function is commonly abortive in the first week of life.

U.S. Teen Pregnancy/Abortion Rates Drop
Using data from the US Government's National Center for Health Statistics, and the Alan Guttmacher (Planned Parenthood) abortion survey, and comparing them over the last decades, statistics show that the US teen pregnancy, birth & abortion rates have been declining annually for ten straight years.
The national teen pregnancy rate fell 2% between 1999 and 2000. Calculating it over ten years, from 1990 to 2000, the drop has been 28%. The pregnancy rate among black teenagers was even more pronounced; it dropped 32% between 1990 and 2000. The all-time high of abortions among pregnant teenage girls was in the late 1980's when there were 44 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19. According to this recent study, there are now 24 abortions per 1,000 teenage women.
The US teen birthrate in 2000 was 48 births per 1,000 teenage girls. The all-time high had been in 1991 when it was 62 births. Not surprisingly, pro-abortion groups gave credit to "increased use of contraceptives," although there are no studies to back this up and no evidence to point toward it. Pro-life groups proudly announced that this was largely the result of the new abstinence programs that have been spreading like wildfire across the United States.

More Completely Unauthorized UN Abortion Pressure
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discriminations Against Women (CEDAW) has pressured the government of Samoa to make abortion legal. According to lifesitenews.com, 3-Feb., 2005, that island's chief justice has issued a directive to the government to begin discussions.

More UN Strong Arming
Now its Malta and Chile. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, has asked them to report on their abortion policies. This is obviously so that this committee can make "recommendations." This is a blatant attempt to interfere with the domestic policies of these independent countries. They should ignore the request.

Number of US Death Camps Drops Sharply
We have been hearing that the number of abortion mills has been declining. Now we have some documentation. Life Dynamics in Denton, Texas in 1992, using Yellow Page ads for abortion mills in telephone directories, found 2,020 such listings. In 2003, using the same Yellow Page investigation, they only found 796. Why Yellow Page investigation? His rationale is that an abortion mill must advertise, and at the very minimum their ad would be in the Yellow Pages. This shows us that there are half as many killing centers still operational as there were a decade ago.

New Breakthrough With Adult Stem Cells
Dr. Douglas Losordo of Tufts University, heading a Tufts University (Boston) research team, has discovered an adult stem cell that has been theorized to have the same potential as embryonic stem cells. These cells appear to be capable of changing into many different types of cells. They were injected into the hearts of rats that had experienced heart attacks. Some of the stem cells became heart muscle, tissue cells and blood vessels. In his report in the The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Feb., he stated, "I think embryonic stem cells are going to fade in the rear view mirror of adult stem cells."

Ultrasound Safe For Babies
Another report has confirmed that fetal ultrasound does not harm the developing baby.
Journal of the American Medical Association, 19-Jan., 2005, pg 286.

New Federal Bill About Fetal Pain
Chris Smith, (R-NJ) and, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) in the US Senate introduced new legislation. This will require the abortionist to tell women seeking abortion at 20 weeks or later, that medical evidence indicates a human fetus of this age can feel pain during an abortion. This was largely prompted in part by testimony on fetal pain given during the Federal Court cases that are challenging the constitutionality of the federal partial-birth abortion ban. Doctor Kanwaijeet Anand testified that human fetuses can feel "severe pain" at 20 weeks gestation and that partial birth abortion would be "extremely painful". He also stated that the pain perceived by a fetus is possibly more intense than that perceived by new born or older children. This is because of a higher density of pain receptors per square inch of skin at 20 to 30 weeks gestation. We also note that the myelin sheath that insulates nerve fibers for the rest of us is not complete at this early age. This results in pain being felt not only at the receptor site but also along some of the nerve length. Rep. Chris Smith, the bill's sponsor stated, "We are going full court press on this."

IVF Babies 40% More Birth Defects
According to Lifesitenews.net, 31-Jan., 2005, The Telethon Institute For Child Health Research, in Perth, Australia, has found that In Vitro Fertilization babies are 40% more likely to suffer from birth defects. This includes conditions ranging from cleft palate to spina bifida.

J.C. Willke, President, International Right to Life Fed.
1821 West Galbraith Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45239 USA
Phone +1 (513) 729-3600
Fax +1 (513) 729-3636
e-mail: IRTLF@lifeissues.org

International Right to Life Fed., International Office
Ruitersweg 35-37 1211 KT Hilversum
The Netherlands
Phone +31 35 624-4352
Fax +31 35 624-9141
e-mail: info@schreeuwomleven.nl

Back to the International Right to Life Newsletter Index Page