International Right to Life Federation, Inc.
Vol. 13 No. 4
(July/August, 2002)

Ukraine and Abortions
According to the Ministry of Public Health of Ukraine, there were 600,000 legally registered abortions in that country in 2001. This rate is over 1% of the population and is double the rate in the United States. The law in Ukraine makes abortion available, at the woman's request, until the 12th week of pregnancy, but also until the 28th week for medical or social reasons. Reports from doctors there indicate that many abortions are not registered, so the figure is higher than the above. Due to this abortion rate, but also to the poor socioeconomic conditions of the country, the birthrate has dropped dramatically. In 1993, the Ukraine had a population of 52.2 million; in 2001 the reported population was 49.3 million.

Swiss Legalize Abortion
In a national referendum, 72% of Swiss voters agreed to the legalization of abortion in the first three months. The Swiss law had been quite pro-life but had not been enforced for many years. Under the new statute, a woman must still provide a written request for the procedure and undergo "counseling and medical advice." She can have an abortion after 12 weeks "if she can show a physician that her physical health is endangered or that she faced profound distress." This type of wording in a law means absolutely nothing. The net effect of the Swiss referendum is to legalize abortion-on-demand with no restrictions. In the typically conservative Swiss mind, however, predictions are that not much will change. The Protestant cantons voted heavily pro-abortion. The Catholic cantons voted pro-life.

Ireland-No Abortions
The Irish government has confirmed that it has no intention at this time of legislating on abortion. Michael McDowell, the justice minister, said that there was no appetite in the government for further abortion legislation after the defeat of its abortion referendum proposals in March. The present situation is that no abortions may take place in Ireland because unborn life is constitutionally protected from the moment of conception, and the X-case judgment in 1992, which authorized abortion in cases of threatened suicide, has never been legislated for.
(SPUC Info. July 2002)

CEDAW Must Be Opposed
It's time to remind our readers about the United Nations treaty, the Convention of Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This treaty has been approved by most nations in the world but has been strongly opposed by the United States. The UN committee that oversees compliance for this treaty has told China to decriminalize prostitution. It has criticized the nation of Belarus for celebrating Mother's Day and complained about Mexico's lack of access to swift, easy abortion. It has told Armenia to "combat the traditional stereotype of women in the noble role of mother" and has ordered Kyrgyzstan to legalize lesbianism. It simply would ban any recognition of the unique roles women play as wife and mother. It would require countries, against their will, to "modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women." For years, Senator Jesse Helms has been a major factor in preventing the United States from endorsing this treaty but he is retiring. Best we now contact legislators, not just in the U.S. but around the world, to oppose this dangerous, anti-life, anti-family, anti-marriage, anti-motherhood United Nations document.

Poland Chipping Away
Poland passed a law to forbid abortion 9 years ago. Since that time the total number of abortions in that nation has dropped from around 150,000 to under 200. In the last election, control of the parliament was taken over by the Democratic Left Alliance, which is controlled by socialist ex-communists who are pro-abortion. Finding themselves probably unable to reverse the law, they have chipped away at the pro-life efforts of the previous parliament. They have cut funding to programs that support families and babies. They have reduced maternity leave. They have wiped out the tax incentives for buying children's items and are promoting, de facto, out-of-wedlock unions. They say there is no money for pro-family programs and are trying to implement a very costly Western style liberal sex ed scheme in the schools. They also want to gut the Family Life program that has been in place for almost a decade. They have shut down the Special Commission for the Family and set up a new "Commission for the Cause of Equality Between Men and Women." They have eradicated the office of the Advocates for the Rights of Children. Everything above that they have done is aimed at destroying families, injuring children, and paving the way, once again, for abortion. In Poland, now, a single mother can get more money for raising a child out of wedlock than a husband and wife would get for having a fourth child. In the meantime, pro-life leaders, lead by Ewa Kowalewski, are working to mobilize citizens against the new, radical sex ed programs that the feminists and the government are trying to force into the schools.

European Patent Office Closes Loophole
A patenting loophole, which theoretically made it possible to clone humans, has been closed by European Union officials. The original patent granted to the creators of Dolly the sheep gave permission to alter the cells of "mammals" to create a transgenic animal. Inadvertently, and accidentally, it failed to restrict this type of experimentation to animals only. When the document was published, the loophole was spotted. Accordingly, the office announced promptly that the document, after a 3-day hearing, had been revised. The loophole is closed.

Europe Center Right Gaining, Left Losing
At present, center right parties are ruling in Spain, Italy, Denmark and Portugal. They have won elections recently in France and The Netherlands and lead in Germany. It is noted that the Dutch Prime Minister, who was defeated, was defeated in part because "he pushed through a large collection of social policy laws, legalizing brothels and euthanasia, as well as recognizing homosexual marriages." The recent winner in The Netherlands does not support euthanasia, while the chief opponent of incumbent German Chancellor Schroeder is opposed to homosexual marriages and abortion. A recent conference in The Netherlands of the winning center right parties affirmed…"respect for the right to life and the uniqueness of each human being from the moment of conception," stating that embryo experimentation should only be permitted if it protects the life and health of that specific embryo. Let's hope these changes herald a move by the European Union and its parliament away from the radical policies on human life and the family that they have pursued during the 90's.

Archbishop of Canterbury and SPUC
The next Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury will be Dr. Rowan Williams, currently Archbishop of Wales. We're pleased to learn that he has been a life member of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children in the United Kingdom for many years.

March For Life
On the 17th anniversary of the decriminalization of abortion in Spain, the Pro-Life Day Platform held a march for life in Madrid on July 6th. The march began at La Plaza de la Villa and ended at La Puerta del Sol. Its purpose was to raise the conscience of the nation about the crime of abortion, but it also concentrated on other attacks against human life including euthanasia and human embryo experimentation. Among the other goals put forth by the group was the establishment of pregnancy help centers, treatment for post-abortion syndrome and research concentrating on adult stem cells, not embryonic ones. They also supported legislation to help mothers stay home if they desire. They spoke to palliative care for terminal patients and opposed euthanasia. They also asked for better adoption laws.

UNFPA-Forced Sterilization In Peru
A congressional committee of the government of Peru has charged that the United Nations Population Fund supported the massive forced sterilization campaigns executed by former Peruvian dictator, Alberto Fujimori. This program forced over 100,000 women to be sterilized. Particularly, it targeted rural women and minorities. It states, "The UNFPA brought not only financing, but also demographic goals for the focalized reduction of the Peruvian population and the fecundity of Peruvian women, especially those in rural areas." Undoubtedly, this report from the Peruvian government itself played a part in Bush's refusal to grant funding to the UNFPA.

Peru-Compulsory Sterilization Program
The Peruvian Health Minister, Fernando Carbone, has issued a statement verifying that between 1996 and 2000, the government gave "misleading information, offered food incentives and threatened to fine men and women if they had more children." As a result, 215,227 women and 16,547 men were sterilized during that time. This compares to 80,000 women and 2,800 men who were sterilized in the 3-year period prior to that. The investigative commission heard testimony from over 500 Peruvians who were sterilized, only 10% of whom said they had the procedure voluntarily. Others testified that those who refused were fined and could not get medical care for their children. Further, it reported that the procedures were performed with "inadequate pre-surgical evaluation and little post-operative care." At least 18 women died during the sterilization procedures.

Cells May Cure Paralysis
A team of doctors in Brisbane has announced that cells from inside the nose may be able to be used to treat paralysis. Such olfactory ensheathing cells connect the nose to the brain and are able to regenerate throughout a person's life. The Brisbane team suggests that if these cells are injected into a person's spine, who is paralyzed, they might provide a bridge enabling new spinal/nerve connections to grow. Note, these are not embryonic stem cells and are not produced by cloning.

China Increased Fines for Second Child
Family planning officials in the Chinese province of Guangdong have increased by 400%, the fine levied against a couple giving birth to a second child without government permission, as reported by the London Daily Telegraph (7-22-02). This fine is equivalent to 8 times a couple's combined annual income, up from twice the combined yearly income at present. It is noted that this is additional confirmation justifying President Bush's withholding of funds from UNFPA.

Bush Denies UNFPA Funds-EU Supplies Them
Pointing to the UNFPA involvement in the savage, coercive abortion and sterilization programs in China, as well as the coercive sterilization programs in Peru, President Bush denied U.S. tax money for the United Nations Population Fund. This decision was roundly applauded by all pro-life, pro-family people. However, the European Union, so frequently the pro-abortion attack dog at the United Nations, promptly voted to give almost the same amount of money to make up the deficit. Repeating the tired, old false charges, it stated that to remove the funds would lead to "more unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and increased dangers for mothers and infants." It pointed to the decision by Bush's fact-finding committee to allow the funding. Every informed person knew that the fact-finding commission would whitewash China. These three people were escorted to only certain locations, which clearly were cleaned up before they came. The Chinese had a month's advance notice to do this. The committee did not see evidence of coercive abortions. Should anyone be surprised? Their conclusions, therefore, were a given before they ever left the U.S. We thank President Bush for having the guts to stand against this pro-abortion tide.

New Home Ovulation Test
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a saliva-based ovulation prediction test. This can be done at home and is an alternative to the previous urine testing, cervical mucus observation, and temperature methods. The salt content of a woman's saliva increases as she nears ovulation. This tests the amount of potassium chloride in her saliva. The TCI Ovulation Tester involves placing some of her saliva on a slide and then looking at the slide through a hand-held microscope. Small dots of salt indicate that ovulation is close, while a larger pattern, resembling a fern, shows that ovulation is "imminent." According to the review by the FDA, the saliva test has proven to be 90% reliable in predicting ovulation (Neergaard, AP/Sacramento, b, 119).

Nonoxynol-9---Strike Three
The most widely used spermicide, world-wide, Nonoxyl-9, has been shown in yet another study to not protect against gonorrhea or chlamydia, this according to a study in the March 6th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. In the study of over 1,200 women in Cameroon, Nonoxynol-9 did not reduce the infection rate for gonorrhea, chlamydia, and perhaps, more importantly, it did not reduce the infection rate for HIV. Prior to this, it had been successful against gonorrhea and chlamydia in the laboratory. However, this and other studies have shown that it is not effective in the vagina. A number of authorities, reacting to this, have now stated that this is "clearly not the product to be used as an inexpensive, effective, female-controlled method for preventing sexually transmitted infections."

Forbes on Stem Cells
Of all places, Forbes, the most widely read financial magazine, editorialized on stem cell research. We quote: "President Bush rightly barred the destruction of new embryos for stem cell research. Science has long established that human life begins with the embryo, the first stage in the development of a human being. We go from embryo to fetus to infant to child to teenager to adult. That is scientific fact. Advocates of embryonic stem cell research go through verbal contortions to avoid acknowledging that, to improve the quality of human life, they favor destroying human life. Most Americans would react with horror at the idea of killing children or adults to get hold of their body parts, so why should a human, at the very start of life, be less protected by law than one at a later stage?

"Incredibly, the media have paid scant attention to the extraordinary advances being made with stem cells gained from adults or other nonembryo sources. The biggest source of human stem cells is the umbilical cord, discarded after birth. Stem cells obtained from bone marrow have already saved thousands of lives. Breakthroughs in nonembryo stem cell research have the potential to alleviate stroke symptoms, block HIV growth, regenerate liver tissue, renew heart muscle cells, and more. Taiwanese surgeons, for instance, have restored vision to patients suffering severe eye damage using stem cells from the patients' own eyes.
"By contrast, the 'benefits' of embryonic stem cells are sheer speculation. In fact, one recent experiment involving patients with Parkinson's disease severely harmed many of those people. Private research money has gone overwhelmingly to nonembryo stem cell research, which is one reason embryo researchers want to get their hands on federal funds."

Back to the International Right to Life Newsletter Index Page