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International Right to Life Federation,
Inc.
Vol. 17 No. 2
(March/April 2006)
First EU Pro-Life Conference
A Polish member of the European Parliament, Konrad Szymanski,
was responsible for organizing its first Pro-life conference.
It was called "Reproductive Rights - Facts, not Ideology".
It agreed that the different declarations of the Parliament should be analyzed as well as the scope of "reproductive rights". It was suggested that this term be deleted from the glossary of European politics or at least clearly defined so that it does not include abortion or any limitation of parental rights. Polish Senator Antoni Szymanski described the Polish Pro-life law and its influence on women's health. He noted that maternal mortality was down by half, the number of spontaneous miscarriages had fallen and that overall women's health in Poland had improved, as well as infant mortality falling to one fourth. All of this has happened since the pro-abortion Polish law has been repealed. Overall this conference was a success.
It was seen as a major step toward mobilizing Pro-lifers in the European Union.
New Genetic Screening
The London Times reported on January 6 that researchers in Britain have developed a new technique that will allow doctors to screen embryos for up to six thousand genetic disorders.
If and when an embryo is found to have a major abnormal gene pattern, common practice is to abort that embryo.
EU Policy on Embryonic Stem Cells
The European union tried and failed to come up with a common set of principals on embryonic stem cell research for its member nations. Officials pushed for liberalization, but there were enough member nations opposed to killing human embryos for their stem cells that no common policy was adopted. Germany, Austria, Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Luxemburg have laws opposing embryonic stem cell research or funding it. We praise them.
Because of this policy impasse, decisions to allow or to fund this lethal research will continue to be made by each individual nation.
Mexico Election Coming
Mexican Presidential Candidate Felipe Calderone is pro-life and has campaigned publicly supporting the pro-life issue. The front-runner is Manuel Lopez Obrador of the PRD Party, who is a self-described socialist,
former mayor of Mexico City and is publicly on record wanting to legalize abortion on demand.
Now It's Hair Follicle Stem Cells
A firm, Anti-Cancer, has used hair follicle stem cells to repair nerve damage in mice. These cells are readily obtainable and according to the research report,
would provide an "ethically superior alternative to fetal and embryonic stem cells."
Major Study, Abortion and Mental Disorders
A major study has been published in New Zealand. Researchers there tracked 500 women from birth to 25 years of age. They anticipated that they would be able to confirm that any problems found after abortion would be traceable to prior mental health problems. Preliminary data showed that women pregnant before age 25 were more likely to have experienced family dis-function and adjustment problems, to have left home young and to have entered a cohabiting relationship. However, when these and other factors were taken into account, it was found that women who had had abortions were still significantly more likely to experience mental health problems and pointed directly to the fact that abortion was the cause of their subsequent mental health problems. It found that young women who have abortions later experience higher rates of suicide, depression, substance abuse, anxiety and other mental problems. Its author, Professor David Fergusson stated, "I remain pro-choice. I am not religious, I am an atheist and a rationalist. The findings surprised me, but the results are very robust, they persist across a series of disorders and a series of ages. Abortion is a traumatic life event. It involves loss, grief and difficulties. The trauma may in fact predispose people to mental illness."
This is a landmark study which will probably have a profound influence worldwide. It is long term. It is prospective. It is well designed and it eliminates confounding factors. It should go a long away toward laying to rest the continuous argument by pro-abortion sources that abortion is not harmful to mental health. Your editor takes note of the feature article in the latest issue of Life Issues Institute's
Connector
comparing the safety of childbirth to induced abortion. It clearly lays out a comparison between the two, showing that abortion has far more complications across the board both physically and mentally than does childbirth.
Bush Slashes Contraceptive Funding
US family planning funding in other nations in previous years had totaled four hundred and twenty five million USD. Bush had frozen this at the level, where it was when Clinton retired. This coming year, Bush has cut the budget eighteen percent to three hundred fifty seven million.
In the meantime, he has increased funding for abstinence programs.
Russian Abortions Decline
The Russian Demographic Center has released the latest abortion figures in that country. It stated that in 1990 there were 206 abortions for every 100 live births. The number has dropped to 122 for every 100 births. We note that the overall population of Russia has been dropping by about 1 million a year, due to the low birthrate. While reporting in Russia is not as accurate as it is in many other western countries,
nevertheless this is very encouraging.
Italy Prolife Counseling?
Italy has a strong prolife group. It is Movimento Per la Vita. It warmly welcomed a new proposal by health minister Francesco Storace. He proposed that a prolife representative be allowed into all 2,000 of Italy's state abortion facilities. This person would be there to offer advice and alternative support to women considering abortion. Mr. Storace said that it was the duty of the state to "protect lives which are about to be born," and noted that Italy's abortion law was "designed to prevent abortion not just to legalize it."
Not surprisingly, proabortion groups reacted very negatively.
Demographics?
What will London, Paris, or Amsterdam be like in the 2030's?
If European politicians make no serious attempt this decade to wean the populace off of their unsustainable 35 hour weeks, retirement at 60 etc., then, to keep the present level of pensions and health benefits, the EU will need to import so many workers from North Africa and the Middle East that it will be well on its way to a majority Muslim population by 2035. As things stand, Muslims are already the primary source of population growth in British cities. Can a society become increasingly Islamic in its demographic character without becoming increasingly Islamic in its political character? So asks Mark Steyn in a major article in the Wall Street Journal January 6, 2006.
Annual IRTLF Board Meeting
The annual board meeting of the IRTLF was recently held in Washington D. C. It was attended by both of our new board members, Mr. Bill Sanders, Esq., from the Family Research Council in Washington D. C., (representing the United States) and Katherine Cotton, representing Australia and New Zealand. Instead of the usual one day board meeting, this was structured for two full days. Our business was pleasantly interrupted by the visits and testimony of a series of government officials from relevant U.S. agencies. This was arranged by Bill Sanders most efficiently. The testimony of these officials was very informative as was the question and answer period following each of their presentations. Our warm thanks go to Mr. Sanders.
The next board meeting has been scheduled for January 2007 in Manila the Philippines.
US Funds Cord Stem Cell Bill
In December, the US Congress authorized over 300 million USD for life-saving umbilical cord stem cell therapy. It authorized almost 200 million dollars for national bone marrow transplant systems and 79 million dollars for the collection of the cord blood and establishment of inventory centers. The US House had passed this unanimously in May. It had since been held up in the Senate by liberal Senators who wanted to attach authorization to also spend money to kill five-day old embryonic stem cells.
This request was finally withdrawn and the bill passed both houses.
Philippine Bill Mandates Only Two Children?
A bill is being proposed in the Philippines that would prohibit families from having more than two children. Pro-lifers in the Philippines are outraged. This conjures up images of forced abortions and sterilizations. Some are calling it "China-light." Pro-lifers have been pointing out that this does not grow out of Filipino values, but rather is drastic social engineering being imposed on this nation from the outside. It is noted that at this time abortion is not legal in the Philippines and that in this very Roman Catholic country, while contraception is legal, this method of family planning is generally rejected by a great many people.
Korean Professor Hwang Fired
Officials of Seoul National University have officially fired Dr. Hwang Woo-Suk from his position as a professor because he faked embryonic stem cell research. They also suspended six other members of his research team for participating in the hoax.
This brings to a formal close the earlier claim by Dr. Hwang that he had cloned humans.
Parental Consent for Minor's Abortion?
Over the half of the US states had passed laws requiring at least parental notification and in many cases parental consent before a minor daughter can have abortion. This was recently challenged by pro-abortion groups. The case was heard by the US Supreme Court. They decided unanimously that parents have a right to know if a minor daughter seeks an abortion. The present laws and the court decision make one exception. That is if the daughter fears physical abuse from her parents,
she can go to a judge and request permission to prevent this.
American Psychological Association
Strongly Pro-Abortion
The American Psychological Association in 1969 adopted a strong pro-abortion position. Recently faced with a series of research reports detailing damage to women psychologically and physically, they were asked about their policy. A spokesperson for them explained that they still have their pro-abortion position, but that it is not based on scientific proof of any mental health benefits that would arise from abortion. Rather their position is "a civil rights view". However, this is a mental health organization, so when it takes a position on such an issue, listeners fully assume that the position is based on their professional psychological judgment. For a civil rights organization to base their public policy on a civil rights opinion is certainly a valid position,
but for a professional psychological association to base their opinion on a civil rights issue is simply dishonest.
Unmarried Couples Have Disadvantaged Babies
A major study in the Province of Quebec, Canada, has just been published. It was done by an impressive set of sponsors, including the Federal Statistics Bureau of the Government, McGill University, the Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System and was funded by Health Canada. It compared babies born to unmarried couples to those born to married couples and found over an eight year period that the unmarried unions were fourteen percent more likely to give birth prematurely, eighteen percent more likely to be born small for stated age and twenty one percent more likely to have low birth weight. These babies had a seven percent greater chance of dying within a month after birth compared to the married ones and a twenty three percent greater chance of dying within a year of birth. Overall the risks to the babies health were about twenty percent greater if the mother was not married as compared to if she was married.
These figures are extremely significant because at present the ratio of unmarried couples compared to those married in Quebec is approximately 50-50.
Depression? After Abortion
The British Medical Journal has published a study by two researchers at Arizona State University. They report on data from 1,247 women. Their conclusion is that post-abortion women do not suffer more from depression or anxiety than those who carry "unwanted pregnancies" to term. This differs directly from over a dozen other studies in recent years. One large study of 11,000 women, published in 2004 by Patricia Coleman at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, showed exactly the opposite. She reported that those who aborted an unexpected first pregnancy were 30% more likely to experience problems of anxiety than those who carried to term.
It is of interest to note that both Arizona authors are longtime radical, feminist, pro-abortion activists.
Pope Speaks at Vatican Conference on Ethics
Speaking to a Vatican conference on ethics and human embryos, Pope Benedict XVI, told participants that God's love for human beings knows no boundaries when it comes to age. "The love of God does not distinguish between the newly conceived still in the womb of his mother, the child, the youth, the man, or an elderly person. This moral judgment is valued already at the beginning of the life of an embryo whether or not it is implanted in the maternal womb".
After the conference it was made very clear that the church stands firm on its position condemning all forms of experimentation on human embryos.
Amnesty International Pro-Abortion
This organization is reportedly consulting its members to determine it's future policy on abortion. It is best known for its campaigns against capital punishment. The general impression has been that it's unofficial policy and the opinion of its leaders has been pro-abortion. There is now talk that it may begin campaigning for abortions as a human right, which would be opposed to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Because of this, pro-life advocates recently picketed an Amnesty International meeting at Queens University in Belfast.
Laws Against Abortion Do Not Increase Maternal Deaths
The United Nations population division has released new data. It shows that nations with permissive abortion laws do not have lower rates of maternal mortality when compared to nations with restrictive abortion laws. A pro-abortion argument has always been that restricting abortion laws leads to illegal abortions and higher maternal death rate. This report which has examined and compared four countries in the developed world in the years 2000 to 2004. It notes that Ireland with a very restrictive abortion law has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the world. It also reports that infant mortality shows the same pattern.
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
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