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Volume 20, Number 5
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September/October 2009
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Australia Abortion Drug Legal
The Parliament of Queensland, Australia has approved an amendment to its criminal code making RU 486 legal.
This drug has killed over 13 women and injured 1,300 in the U.S. alone.
Cameroon, Africa – A Countrywide Debate
The highly controversial Maputo Protocol is being intensely discussed in Cameroon. It seems that a few minority voices are pushing it while the vast majority of the nation opposes it’s
pro-abortion and pro-homosexual mandates.
Clamp Down on Swiss Suicide Clinic
Authorities in Zurich have announced new rules which will apply to Dignitas and other organizations which have been helping tourists commit suicide. The new legislation will require a longer period of counseling at the clinic, stretching over several months. The Swiss doctors who prescribed the deadly drugs must have met the person on at least
two separate occasions and there will be other clinical and age limits.
Ireland Ratifies Lisbon Treaty
Irish voters by a margin of 67 – 33 adopted the treaty after rejecting it only one year ago. Reasons given were the economy, as well as guarantees that their pro-life and pro-family laws would be protected.
Many have remained intensely skeptical as to whether these guarantees will in fact protect the pro-life laws.
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Slovakia’s Restrictive Law
An amendment to Slovakia’s abortion law now establishes mandatory counseling, requires a two-day wait, and increases the age until which parents consent is required from sixteen to eighteen years. International abortion groups have put heavy pressure on the Parliament not to add these pro-life amendments,
however, they were adopted by a vote of 86 – 7.
U.N. Treaty on Disability
After careful scrutiny, pro-life advocates have stated that a U.N. Treaty on the Disabled does not confer a right to abortion.
U.S. Health Bill Pro-Abortion
Amid all the conflicting stories emanating from the U.S. House, Senate and President Obama regarding the proposed comprehensive health bill, one fact stands out. Every single proposed amendment in both houses to every single version of the bill being presented has had proposed restrictions. Every one of these proposed restrictions has been defeated. It is painfully clear that unless some major change occurs, the bill that is finally adopted
will allow abortion-on-demand without restrictions paid for by tax funds in all fifty states.
Turkey - Abortion Breast Cancer Link
A major study from Istanbul in the World Journal of Surgical Oncology reported a statistically significant,
66% increase in breast cancer among women who had abortions.
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No Conscientious Objection?
Spain’s Socialist Minister of Justice, Francisco Caamano, has stated for doctors “there is no room for conscientious objection” when it comes to abortion. Spain’s Right to Life organization reacted by saying, “We are willing to go to jail rather than follow a criminal law. We are willing to commit the supposed crime
of disobedience rather than the crime of abortion.”
French Abortions Increase
The French National Institute of Demography has shown that unplanned pregnancies fell from 46% – 33% in the last 30 years, probably due to contraceptive use. However, the number of abortions of such pregnancies jumped from 42% – 60% over the same period of time. The explanation has been that women using contraception have a greater desire to control their fertility and thus more likely to abort a child conceived in spite of contraceptive use. During these years, French fertility rates fell from 2.4 to 1.8 children per woman. It has recently jumped back to 2.0, which may due to the government’s attempts
to encourage child birth thorough various initiatives.
London – Morning-After Pill, the Choice
According to the Daily Mail, the morning-after pill is the “contraceptive of choice” for many young women. A survey recently done found nearly half of sexually active, young women had used this abortifacient drug. Further investigation shows that growing numbers are relying on the drug to “prevent”
pregnancy rather than using it as advised only as a “back-up” contraceptive.
Oaxaca, Mexico Adopts Amendment
The Congress of the Mexican state of Oaxaca has voted 31 – 6 to amend the state’s constitution. The wording is, “Every human being from the moment of fertilization enters under the protection of the law and is considered the same as one that has been born for all legal effects until his natural death.” This is the sixteenth Mexican state to pass such an amendment in the past year.
These have all happened since the Mexico DF (Mexico City) decriminalized abortion.
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Kenya – Controversy Continues
A draft of a reproductive health bill has yet to be formally introduced. Opposition to it has been rapidly increasing due to the fact that it partially legalizes abortion. Kenyan’s Vice President K. Musyoka has publicly called on Kenyans to support a pro-life campaign, stating that killing of the unborn is against the protection of the human life,
saying that human life is sacred and should be protected.
Guttmacher Report Highly Speculative
The Guttmacher Institute is a branch of Planned Parenthood. It has recently released a report claiming that 70,000 women a year die from illegal abortions. Not surprisingly, the pro-abortion press internationally has played up legalization as an answer. A good pro-life response came from Anthony Ozimic of Britain’s SPUC, “The Guttmacher Report is not an independent, academic research group. Rather it is propaganda from the pro-abortion lobby. Its figures are based on highly spurious guesstimates which even the report itself is forced to admit. This pro-abortion lobby
has a proven track record of exaggerating illegal abortion numbers.”
Three examples might suffice: Chile which protects unborn life from conception has the lowest maternal mortality rate in South America while Guyana with abortion on demand has a maternal mortality rate 30 times higher. Nicaragua has been criticized by international, pro-abortion forces since it changed its law three years ago to grant full protection from conception. However, government statistics, since that time, show a decline in maternal deaths. Another example would be Nepal with no restrictions, has the region’s highest maternal mortality rate,
while Sri Lanka, with a very restrictive abortion law, has a rate 14 times lower.
Obama Pushes Abortion at U.N.
Recently the Obama team at the U.N. introduced a proposal which called for “universal access to sexual and reproductive health services including universal access to family planning.” We are reminded that in April, the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, stated that the U.S. administration has interpreted
“reproductive health” to include abortion.
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England, Too Young — Let Him Die
Laws in England require life-saving treatment to newborns only if they are more than 22 weeks along. Sarah Capewell’s son was 21 weeks and 5 days into her pregnancy when he was born.
Doctors refused to help him and he died several hours later, if he had only been two days older . . .
Jamaica — The Argument in Parliament over Permitting Abortion Continues
A major poll has shown that 60% of adult Jamaicans stated that they were pro-life and that this issue was likely to influence their vote. A further poll asks, “Should doctors and nurses be forced to perform abortions under the law?”
77% strongly disagreed, and only 12% strongly agreed.
Reaction to Kennedy Funeral
A top Vatican official, Archbishop Raymond Burke, has publicly stated that funeral rites should not be given to pro-abortion, “Catholic” politicians. He also defended the duty of Catholics to speak in charity against scandal caused by such figures. He stated, “That neither Holy Communion nor Funeral Rites should be administered to politicians who support abortion or same-sex marriage.
To deny these is not a judgment of the soul but is recognition of the scandal and its effect.”
Australia
The Australian state of Victoria has voted in its Parliament to remove legal restrictions on abortion up to 24 weeks gestation. In practice, this degree of abortion has already been allowed even though abortion was still in the criminal code. This vote takes it out of the criminal code.
Now doctors who conscientiously object to abortion may be subject to criminal penalties.
IRTLF Meets in Britain
The International Right to Life Federation held its annual board meeting in Britain in September.
Its next international meeting will be held in Sydney, Australia, May 28-31, 2010.
Colombia – It Gets Worse
As a follow up to the 2006 law decriminalizing abortion for rape or fetal handicap, the government has announced that it will construct the first clinic in Latin America that will provide
“sexual and reproductive health services.”
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Kill Babies?
According to the Catholic News Agency in London, that nation’s Royal College of Ob and Gyn has suggested to doctors that any baby under 22 weeks old, who survives an abortion attempt, be killed by lethal injection.
Records show that in one year 66 babies survived such abortions . . . and were left to die.
Vietnam – Birth Rate Down, Population Still Grows
According to the UNFPA, Vietnam’s total fertility rate is now 1.8, while 2.1 is needed to maintain a level population. The children already born, maturing through their adult years and having babies will cause
the population to slowly age but to also rise for the next two decades.
Italy – Doctors Refuse Abortions
The Italian Health Ministry has reported that 70% of the Italian gynecologists now refuse to do abortions, and that the number continues to grow. In the region around Naples, 83% objected, in Sicily, 84%.
Probably as a result of this, the total number of abortions over the last couple of years has dropped 3%.
Pro-Life March in Berlin
On September 26, over 1,000 pro-life demonstrators silently marched from Berlin City Hall to St. Hedwig’s Cathedral.
They carried 1,000 white wooden crosses symbolizing the estimated 1,000 babies killed in abortion in Germany every day.
Israel Abortions Decimating Israeli Jews
The Israeli Pro-life Organization has stated that Israel has lost more than 1.5 million Jewish children to abortion since 1948, this in a country containing only 5.5 million Jews. Yet, over 50 thousand abortions are still performed every year in Israel. The Jewish birthrate is 2.3 babies per woman in her lifetime, the indigenous Arabs living in Israel have a birthrate almost double the Jewish rate. Not surprisingly, the Arab population is younger.
Half of Israeli Arabs are under eighteen, only one-third of Jews are.
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New Morning-After Pill
A new type of this pill is now available in Britain. It is Ulipristal and is reportedly “effective” up to five days after sexual intercourse. It is a chemical alteration of the older pills. The maker, HRA Pharma, admits that “alterations to the endometrium (lining of the womb) may also contribute to its efficiency. That is another way of saying that an already conceived child is prevented from implanting in the womb because the pill
has hardened its lining and the embryonic baby dies at the end of its first week of life.
Stem Cells for Hip Bones
In London, doctors have been using the patient’s own adult stem cells injected into deteriorating and dead hip bones.
In a limited test, five out of six patients were substantially improved.
Japan’s Demographic Winter
Japan’s stock market is down 80% from its all time high and real estate is down 60%. Its birthrate is 1.25 children per woman (2.1 is needed). Those over 60 years of age have increased from 12 to 21% in the last 20 years, the oldest in the world. The government has now announced that it will pay $275 a month subsidy to families for every child. But Russia (birth rate 1.17) has done this for several years without significant results. Isn’t it interesting that both countries,
now almost desperate for more people, still allow abortion-on-demand?
Contraception – Women Obese – Newborns Too Thin
In March, the University of Iowa reported that women who conceive within a month of taking birth control pills were shown to have more premature babies,
or full term babies with low birth rate.
Another study at the University of Texas has revealed that users of the contraceptive shot are significantly more likely than other women to become obese.
This second finding has been known for a long time.
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Uganda – Prostaglandin Pill for Bleeding
Misoprostol (Cytotec in the U.S.) is being distributed in Uganda to stop post-partum hemorrhage. This drug is cheap, stable and available. This is a legitimate use for it,
although in higher doses it is also used off-label to induce abortion.
Dominican Republic – Final Approval
Caribbean’s, Dominican Republic by a vote of 128 – 34 have adopted a constitutional amendment which states that “The right to life is inviolable from conception until death. In no case shall the death penalty be established, pronounced or applied.”
This has occurred despite heavy campaigning by international, pro-abortion groups including UNICEF.
Teenage Girls Suffer From Depression
Research reported in the Journal of Health Economics by Drs. Sabia and Reese found that sexually active teenage girls have twice the rate of depression compared to their non-active counterparts.
The numbers were 19% compared to 9.2%.
Poland – The Bishops Really Mean It
They have issued a document which at one point clearly tells Catholic politicians
that if they support abortion directly they risk excommunication.
Breast Feeding Protects the Mother’s Health
A study published in the April 2009 Ob/Gyn Journal examined 140,000 women who breastfed for over more than a year compared to an equal number who did not. It reports that the breast feeders were ten times less likely to develop heart attacks and strokes then women who had never breast fed.
Some benefit was seen if breast feeding had lasted only for one month.
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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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