International Right to Life Federation, Inc.
Vol. 11 No. 4
(July/August 2000)

Mexico – A Pro-Life President
The election of Vicente Fox was good news for the pro-life movement. This gentleman is pro-life and is supportive of full religious liberty, and his position is to promote respect for the rights of the unborn from conception until natural death.

Canada – A Fresh Face
In July, a new face, Stockwell Day, was voted leader of the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance in a nationwide runoff election. An unapologetic conservative, he won a landslide victory over Preston Manning, 63 to 37. This puts a vigorous new leader at the head of Canada’s largest opposition party. At age 49, he is 17 years younger than liberal and strongly pro-abortion Prime Minister Jean Shretien. He will be a strong rival in elections expected next year. Mr. Day is pro-life.

International Conference
The sixth International Leadership Conference, The Abolition of Abortion and Euthanasia, will be held in the Netherlands 27-30 November, 2000. It will be co-sponsored by Netherlands Schreeuw om Leven and the International Right to Life Federation. For more information, address Ruitersweg 35-37, 1211 KT Hilversum, Netherlands; phone 31-35-624-4352; Fax 011-31-35-624-9141; e-mail Schreeuw@solcon.nl. Last year’s session was excellent. You should not miss this one.

Pro-Life at Beijing Plus 5 U.N. Conference
In spite of organized, heavily funded and virulent opposition, pro-life, pro-family groups held tough and scored a major victory at the recent intersessional preparatory meetings for Beijing Plus 5. It was a cooperative effort of many organizations working with Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, which has the only full time office at the U.N. in New York. Crossing all religious and national lines, pro-life and pro-family, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) fought and won one battle after another. They prevented anti-life, anti-family language from being inserted into the final document at the U.N. General Assembly. It was clear from the start that the rich Western nations, including Clinton’s delegation from the U.S., the European Union, Canada, Australia, and Japan, would attempt to promote abortion under the label of reproductive rights. They promoted mandatory training of various health care professionals for abortion. They fought hard for special rights for homosexuals as well as independent rights for children as young as 10 without parental knowledge or consent and the legalization of prostitution and pornography. Due to the efforts above, none of these radical feminist agenda items found their way into the final document. Clearly, this was a significant victory for pro-life forces. Particular credit must be given to Miss Jeanne Head, RN, and Peter Smith representing the International Right To Life Federation whose consistent efforts and leadership played a significant role in the victory.

Vietnam Abortion Rate High
During the past decade, the birthrate in Vietnam has declined from 3.8 to 2.3 babies per woman in her lifetime. In a developed country, this is slightly above replacement rate. In a relatively undeveloped country like Vietnam, this is at or below replacement rate. This, according to the Far Eastern Economic Review. Relevant also, is a report by Planned Parenthood’s Guttmacher Institute. It states that the average Vietnamese woman has 2 or more abortions. The 1996 abortion rate was 83 per 1000 women in state clinics. When adding those done in private clinics, the rate rises to 111 per 1000 women, or a total of 2 million abortions a year.

Ulster – No to Abortion
The Northern Ireland Assembly has reacted to a government suggestion that the radically permissive abortion law in London be extended to Northern Ireland. Assembly member Jim Wells reported that 79 of the 108 members have signed a petition backing a motion that he has made opposing the extension of the law. He said, "I think most Catholics and Protestants find the idea of abortion morally wrong and abhorrent and don’t want it to happen here in Ulster… There is a hint the government may extend the act to us, but a heavy ‘no vote’ in this assembly will make it very, very difficult for government to even start this process."

Kerala, India – No Euthanasia
The high court of Kerala has ruled that "voluntary death clinics" in district hospitals may not be established. The court ruled that the voluntary taking of one’s life, for whatever reason, simply remained suicide and was illegal. It ruled that all people have the right to live but no right to die. Euthanasia is illegal.India Population Penalties

The state of Madhya Pradesh has begun a new policy to stabilize their population. This levies penalties on families with "too many children." Beginning next year, if a family has a third child, it will be excluded from government welfare schemes and become ineligible to hold elected offices or government jobs.

United Nations Again
We’re pleased to print the following from C-FAM, the pro-life office at New York’s U.N. headquarters: "Some years ago, the radical feminists managed to get the U.N. to pass something called ‘The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women’ (CEDAW). To date, CEDAW has been ratified by more than 150 countries. What a terrible pity! CEDAW is nothing more than radical feminism writ large and dangerous. It calls for the kind of radical leveling that offends most sensible people. Governments have been pressured and conned into supporting it. One of the worst things about CEDAW is that it formed a committee, to which governments must report, on how they’re implementing CEDAW. In recent months, the CEDAW committee has done the following alarming things:

1. Directed China to legalize prostitution
2. Directed Kygystan to legalize lesbianism.
3. Directed Libya to reinterpret the Koran so that it falls within committee guidelines.
4. Criticized Belarus for instituting Mother’s Day, since "Mother’s Day advances a negative stereotype."
CEDAW has not been ratified by the U.S. Senate, and it probably will not be.

Nicaragua – National Day of Unborn
A decree published pursuant to the constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua declares that "the right to live is inviolable and inherent in every human person." It gives special protection to "the process of human reproduction throughout the pregnancy…. The right to life.. is the principle axis of human rights and merits the determined attention of the government." The decree declares March 25th annually as the National Day of the Unborn.

RU 486 Legal in Spain
In February, Spanish public hospitals and a few private offices began to use the French abortion pill, RU 486. Since 1985, abortion has been legal in Spain only up to the 8th week of pregnancy, and then, in the case of rape, fetal handicap, and "maternal health risk". Spain follows Germany, which began to commit abortions using this lethal drug in November.

Gaza Strip Fertility
Reports indicate an extremely high fertility rate of 7 children per woman in the Gaza Strip. Traditionally, large families are a point of nationalistic pride, and Palestinian leaders have long advocated population growth as a way to outnumber the Israelis. The Jewish/Israeli birthrate is well below even replacement level. In the face of this, we are told that some studies show a slowly growing acceptance and use of birth control by Gaza Arabs over the last few years, as many people say they do not want their children to suffer as they did in oversized poor families.

Dutch Euthanasia
It has been legal in Holland for doctors to directly kill patients for almost two decades now. The legality is because of judicial decisions. Their parliament has never passed a law to permit this. The parliament is now debating a law to formally legalize euthanasia. Incredibly, the major point of contention has been at what age a person is old enough to make their own decision to ask to be killed. After much heated argument, the Dutch Cabinet has agreed to drop the article in the bill which would have allowed minors as young as 12 to decide independently that they wanted to be killed, and this without the consent of their parents. The solution to this argument has been to raise the age of consent to 16.

Britain to Recommend Human Cloning
A panel of "experts" led by Britain’s chief medical officer, Dr. Liam Donaldson, has recommended that scientists be allowed to clone human embryos. The purpose for this would be to kill them after they are several days old and take stem cells from these living human embryos. The recommendation is that they be allowed to be kept alive for up to 14 days. A year ago a different pandl had made a similar recommendation. The government then rejected the advice and appointed this current panel to look into the issue. This time, the London Daily Telegraph reports that the government may well go along with these recommendations and change the law.

U.S. – Republican V.P. Pro-Life
Mr. Dick Cheney was selected by George W. Bush, the Republican nominee for the U.S. presidency, to be his vice president. Mr. Cheney served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 to 1988. During this time, he voted 100% pro-life. His position has not changed. He served as Chief of Staff for President Ford and was Secretary of Defense under President George Bush, being primarily responsible for the war against Iraq. In the last decade he has been a highly successful chief executive officer of a major oil equipment company. He also opposes assisted suicide. His wife, Lynne, also a well-known administrator and author, strongly shares his pro-life position.

Laura Bush – Pro-Life
Laura Bush, wife of Republican nominee, George W. Bush, has been quite direct and public in stating that she completely shares his pro-life positions. The American election will be held on November 7. The new president will take office in January.

Irish Constitution
Because the existing constitutional wording has been interpreted by the Irish Supreme Court to allow a teenage girl to have an abortion when she threatened suicide, the Catholic bishops there have urged that the constitution be changed to include a more specific ban on abortion. Bishop Lawrence Ryan of Kildare said, "We believe that what is required is a constitutional amendment that would protect the right to life of the unborn child, while recognizing that an expectant mother who is ill must receive such medical treatment as is necessary, even when that treatment, as a side effect, puts her unborn child at risk." Catholic World News, 6 July

Global Food Supplies
A United Nations body has admitted that global food supplies are predicted to grow faster than the world’s population, contradicting the arguments of population control advocates. The report, published by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, said that the projected world population of 8 billion in 2030 would in fact be better fed than before. It stated: "Growth in agriculture will continue to outstrip world population growth of 1.2%, up to 2015 and 0.8 % in the period to 2030."
[LifeSite Daily News, from a UN press release, 25 July]

Frozen Sperm Equals Legal Heirs
A court decision in New Jersey ruled in the case of two female children born 18 months after their father’s death. They were conceived by their mother using frozen sperm from their father. The court said, "Discerning a basic legislative intent to enable children to take property from their parents and through their parents, and noting that the two girls in this case, once they came into existence, are full fledged human beings entitled to all of the love, respect, dignity and legal protection which that status requires. They are declared their father’s legal heirs."

A Human Cloned?
According to a report on the Web, a private biotech company in England, American Cell Technology, has succeeded in cloning a living human embryo, this according to a BBC News report carried by pro-life E-News. This apparently happened last November, but the company held the news back. This tiny, living human was killed at 10 days of age. According to the report, the firm plans to clone more humans, but then kill them and extract their stem cells. (Life Advocacy Briefing 7/3 as reported on AOL)

PAS After Fetal Abnormality
Psychological stress has been found to be significantly higher three months later among women who terminated their pregnancies between 24 and 34 weeks in cases of fetal abnormality than it was for women who delivered such babies after 34 weeks. (Jan Hunfeld, et al, "Emotional Reactions in Women Late in Pregnancy Following Ultrasound Diagnosis of Severe or Lethal Fetal Malformation", 13 Perinatal Diagnosis, pgs. 603, 609, 1993). Furthermore, evidence exists that protecting the child from abortion in such cases is better for the mother as well as for the baby. Studies of psychological complications that occur within two years of an abortion show that a disproportionate number of such complications were related to abortions for fetal abnormality. (Zolese & Blacker "The Psychological Complications of Therapeautic Abortions" 160 br. J. Psych. pg. 742, 1992.)

No Leukemia from Ultrasound
Reuters Wire Service (1/28/00) reports that researchers at Uppsala University and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden report that ultrasound examinations in early or in late pregnancy do not increase a child’s risk of getting leukemia. This report, also in the British Medical Journal, stated, "We could not detect any association between exposure to ultrasound during pregnancy and lymphatic or myeloid leukemia." The researchers compared ultrasound exposure of all the children in Sweden diagnosed with leukemia between 1973 and 1989, and in equal number of healthy children, and found no risk. This is a question that has been asked over the years by many people. Assuming this is the definitive answer, this is good news indeed.

Stem Cell Research
A California-based stem cell bank entitled "Cord Blood Registry" has asserted that "umbilical cord blood represents an easily accessible and high quality source of stem cells that does not involve fetuses, but rather is a unique and invaluable by-product of a new life. Politically, scientifically and ethically, research on cord blood stem cells appears to be a preferable, non-controversial course for research and therapy." It noted that these stem cells, harvested from the umbilical cord right after the infant has been born and the cord has been cut, are immediately available, are 8 to 10 times more proliferative than bone marrow stem cells, are immunilogically immature and easily enable donor recipient matching.

Denmark – Premature Deliveries
Using three Danish national registries, researchers followed 61,753 women who became pregnant in 1980, 1981 and 1982. Fifteen thousand, seven hundred twenty-seven had first trimester-induced abortions. Women who had one abortion were 1.8 times more likely to have a pre-term delivery. With two abortions, it was 2.66. It also increased the risk of delayed delivery. With one abortion, it was 1.89; with two it was 2.61.

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