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Volume 20, Number 3
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May/June 2009
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Slovakia – Free Speech Wins
The Slovak Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a pro-life group in a lawsuit against police for shutting down a pro-life rally. The pro-life group had held a rally to inform people about the atrocities of genocide, including abortion. Police put an end to this peaceful pro-life rally. The Court has now ruled that this violated the pro-life group’s
constitutional right to free speech.
Denmark – More Late-Term Abortions
Abortions after the twelfth week have reached the highest figure ever. The Appeals Board has stated that the increased number is due to an increased number of ultrasound
diagnoses of developmental problems.
Canada – Largest March Yet
To mark 40 years of abortion, 12,000 Canadian pro-lifers marched in sorrow to commemorate 40 years of legalized abortion.
This was a record-breaking crowd.
China One Child Policy Rigid
Fines for having an illegal child in China are now three to five times the average family’s annual income. The equivalent fine in the U.S. would be 150 to 250 thousand dollars. Couples encumbered by such fines have to
mortgage their future for literally decades in order to pay the fines.
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Nepal
The Supreme Court of Nepal has ordered the government to provide “safe and affordable abortion services” by creating a fund to pay for them. It also ordered that the government must “educate health care providers and the
public regarding the country’s abortion law.”
England – Half of Teen Pregnancies Aborted
The government reports that out of 40,000 teenage pregnancies in England last year, more than 20,000 ended in abortions. In spite of a major attempt by the government to limit teen pregnancies, with contraceptives and the morning-after pill,
the pregnancy rate has continued to rise.
Father’s Support is Crucial
A new study in the International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction reports that the relationship between a pregnant woman and the baby’s father is crucial in so far as her abortion decision is concerned. The study found that woman who felt that they could not rely on their partner to help in caring for the child were more likely to have the abortion, and that woman who had abortions were over three times more likely to report heavy alcohol use and cigarette smoking. It is interesting that in the same study, woman whose first child had medical problems or who had difficulty raising the child
did not have a higher abortion rate.
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South Korea’s Birth Dearth Looks at French Efforts
Between the years 2000 and 2005, the number of children born per women in Korea dropped to 1.19. The total number of infants delivered dropped from 630,000 to 430,000. France has managed to up its fertility rate, now having 1.94 children born per woman. It has subsidized children and families, granted more maternity leave, and allowed part-time work for women. A Korean government official said, “To properly handle the falling fertility rate, more families should be eligible for
more subsidies and larger benefits then current levels.”
Gender Selection Abortion Legal in Sweden
Swedish health authorities have ruled that it is not illegal to kill a healthy unborn child simply based on its gender. The case involved was a woman who already had two daughters and was expecting a third. She asked for an abortion and the medical board responded
that such a request must be accommodated.
Togo (Africa), Abortion – Yes
Capital Punishment – No
In May, Togo passed legislation to abolish capital punishment. However, it allows abortion for rape, incest
and a verified “strong risk of particularly, serious medical conditions.”
Nigerian State: No to Abortion
In June, the Imo State Abortion Bill was defeated 13 – 1 on the floor of its State House Assembly. Leading up to this, on the day of the vote, all roads to the State House were crowded by a huge diverse assembly of people; political, religious, etc., who chanted traditional and religious songs in solidarity. Their placards read, “Reproductive right is abortion.” “Children are our values.”
“Imo mothers love children, etc.”
Anencephalic Infant Thrives
Tiny Faith Walker, now over two months old, was born with the top of her brain (cerebral hemispheres) missing.
Such survival is rare. She died at 93 days
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Brazil Aging Rapidly
Only four years ago, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics estimated that within forty years its fertility rate will dip to 1.8 children per woman, this being insufficient to replace current population. Now an official study has confirmed that it has already reached this low number, along with its comment that the
fertility rate will continue to decline.
Columbia, South America
A Catholic hospital in Bogota, St. Ignatius University Hospital, and a Jesuit institution has been fined by the government for refusing to perform an abortion. Magaly Llaguno of Human Life International stated, “It is shocking and a great cause for concern that Columbia’s Health Department considers the killing of an unborn child who has a serious medical problem a ‘service’ that a
hospital should be forced to provide.”
Pro-life Amendments Continue in Mexico
In 2007, the Mexican Supreme Court upheld a law legalizing abortion up to 12 weeks in the federal district of Mexico City. In the past year, in reaction to this, thirteen Mexican states have now approved constitutional amendments defining personhood beginning
at the moment of conception and forbidding abortion.
Tasmania, Australia – Now Euthanasia?
A bill has been introduced in this Parliament to legalize euthanasia.
This has ignited a statewide discussion on this issue.
East Timor Stands Fast
This small Catholic nation in Indonesia has been independent since 2002. During this time, it has resisted continuous pressure from UN agencies and UN NGOs to legalize abortion. By a 45 – 0 vote, its Parliament retained penal sanctions on abortion that continue to criminalize abortion in virtually all cases. It stated that, “Life exists from the
moment of conception and is entitled to protection.”
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Abortion Equals More Violence
A study released in April by Drs. Priscilla Coleman and Vincent Rue has shown that after a woman has an abortion, the couple is more than twice as likely to argue when discussing future children and nearly three times as likely to experience domestic violence, this compared to women who have carried their pregnancy to
term and are raising the child. (Public Health, March 24)
U.S. Aggressively Pushing Abortion Agenda in U.N.
Austin Ruse of C-Fam has stated, “Obama’s administration is gearing up to make a frightening new global attack on the unborn child.” He said he, “Watched in horror as the previous pro-life positions of the U.S. were overturned in an instant by radical feminists representing the new Obama administration… The U.S. will now join the U.N. bureaucracy, Canada, and the European Union as
aggressive promoters of abortion all over the world.”
Australian Woman Dead from Birth Control Pills
A twenty-four-year-old Australian woman taking oral contraceptive pills as part of her acne treatment collapsed and died in Melbourne on August 20th. Her doctor said that her death was “caused by blood clotting
which was caused by factors related to the contraceptive pill.”
Australia, Nix to Fetal Development
In Sydney, the pro-life group, The Wonder of Life,
has been banned from speaking to groups in schools.
Homosexual Gene Vanishes
For years it has been an article of faith among those supporting homosexuality that many people are born with this gene and therefore the condition is not reversible. Now the American Psychological Assn. has officially admitted that there is no “gay” gene. Previously this organization had offered a resounding “no” when questioned whether therapy could change sexual orientation. That has been deleted and
now their consideration of this question is much more nuanced.
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World Congress of Families
Up to 4,000 pro-lifers from around the world are expected to rally in Amsterdam on August 10 – 12. This brings together scholars, academics, policy makers, elected officials,
and other activists for four days.
Nigeria – Lots of Babies
Sextuplets were delivered in a Nigerian teaching hospital. The babies survived but the mother died,
apparently from blood loss.
New York – More Birth Control Equals More Abortions
In New York City there is almost total free access to various types of birth control. Yet its abortion rate is the nation’s highest and is three times that of the national average in the U.S. Nationwide 20% of pregnancies are aborted.
In New York City, 72 out of 100 are killed.
Romania
A new criminal code has been proposed in Romania to declare unborn babies to be legal persons after 24 weeks of gestation. Back in 1990, there were 3,200 abortions per 1,000 live births. While still shockingly high, the 2006 year book reports 700 per 1,000 live births.
The proposed new law would have an exception for the life of the mother.
Japan – Fewer and Fewer Children
Japan is undergoing a slow motion demographic catastrophe without precedent in the developed world. The number of children being born has declined for 27 consecutive years. It now has fewer children younger than 14 then at any time in the past 100 years. Concurrent with this, the percent of elderly people is the highest in the world. By 2020, the elderly will outnumber children by nearly 3-1, and by 2040, by nearly 4-1. Another way to look at this is that Japan, now the world’s second largest economy, will lose 70% of its work force by 2050. The actual shrinkage of its population began three years ago and is accelerating. Within 50 years, the number of people living in
Japan will fall by one-third and within a century by two-thirds.
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Stem Cells Make New Windpipe
In England, doctors took adult stem cells from the bone marrow of a woman’s hip and created cartilage tissue to form a new windpipe. This was then used to replace a non-functional left main stem bronchus which joined the windpipe to the left lung. With this a non-functioning left lung, damaged by Tb, was brought back to full functioning since it used her own cells. There has been no organ rejection and she is now once
again able to take care of her children at home.
Stem Cells Cure Blindness
Researchers at the University of New South Wales have cured the blindness in three patients who were each blind in one eye. The procedure involves scraping less than a millimeter of tissue from the sides of the cornea of each patient’s good eye. These cells were cultured with a contact lens. The patient then wore the lens. Within two week, the new stem cells had attached themselves to the patient’s corneas,
replenishing the damaged cells and restoring sight to those eyes.
Continued Progress on Pluripotent Stem Cells
In 2006, Dr. S. Yamanaka, showed that adding four “transcription factors” could transform adult cells into induced pluripotent stem cells which have the same basic characteristics and behavior as embryonic stem cells. Since that time, research has shown that just two or three of the transcription factors were sufficient to bring about the reprogramming. Now Dr. Scholer in Germany has converted neuro stem cells using a single factor. This is a welcomed discovery as two of the other factors are oncogenes – genes that turn cells into cancer. However, even this one transcription factor can under
certain conditions produce tumors. So research continues.
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Help for Parkinsonism?
Researchers in Cambridge, Massachusetts have converted skin cells from patients with Parkinsonism into the type of neuron that the disease ordinarily destroys. These cells should produce Dopamine which
will help the symptoms of the disease.
Ireland – Fewer Go to England to Abort
For the seventh straight year, the rate of women heading from Ireland to England for abortions has decreased. Irish leaders welcomed the news but stated that priority must be given to insuring adequate resources are in place to assist
expectant mothers in continuing with their pregnancies.
No Homosexual Adoptions
After 120 years of service, a Catholic adoption agency in Manchester, England has closed its doors, rather than submit to a new law requiring them
to place babies equally with heterosexual and homosexual couples.
Amniocentesis Kills Babies
A new study in Britain confirms statistics on this issue. About 660 babies each year in the UK are found through this test to have Down syndrome and an additional 400 normal babies, who are tested and cleared, die as a result of the test. So for every three babies found through this test to have Down syndrome, (four-fifth are killed),
two normal babies are lost through miscarriage resulting from the test.
Use Humans Instead of Animals
In a new twist, a directive from a U.N. European Commission directs a drastic restriction in the use of animals for laboratory testing and for certain toxicology tests. These will be permitted only after alternative methods, including research on human embryos, has proved fruitless.
A final vote was held April 24.
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www.internationalrighttolife.com
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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
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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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