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International
Right to Life Federation, Inc.
Vol.
14 No. 1
(January/February, 2003)
Thailand To Limit Families
According to the Canadian pro-life newspaper, The Interim
(10/02), the Thai government has been distributing free
morning-after pills and has been involved in intensive family
planning "education." The Population Research
Institute now is publicizing what it calls the government's
blackmail. This is a threat to cut off medical and educational
benefits to children in larger families.
Dutch Euthanasia-Not for Mental Suffering?
According to BBC News, 24 December, the Dutch Supreme Court
has ruled that mental suffering is not a legitimate reason
for legal euthanasia. This is a very interesting development,
flying directly in the face of what has become fairly routine
practice. Now the question is, will this influence the day-to-day
practice of euthanasia in Holland, or will doctors continue
to routinely ignore this rule, as they have all other rules
set forth by judges and their Parliament?
Slovakia-Abortions Decline
In 1989, the total number of abortions recorded in the nation
of Slovakia was nearly 50,000. In 2001, it had dropped to
16,000. Christian Democrat Party legislators have asked
Slovakia's Constitutional Court to throw out the current
abortion law, which allows abortions up to the 12th week
of pregnancy. The basis for their suit is that the Constitution
protects all human life before and after birth. The court
has taken the case, and a decision is expected by early
summer.
Ireland, No Human Cloning?
The Irish Labor Party has proposed a bill to ban all human
cloning. There is an official commission now beginning to
meet on assisted human reproduction, but the party feels
that they cannot wait and, therefore, have made their proposal
now.
India Curbing Sex Selection Abortions?
The Indian Supreme Court, in October, ordered the governments
of every Indian state to act against unregistered clinics
that offer prenatal ultrasound testing and fetal sex selection
services. They ordered state governments to impound ultrasound
machines from such clinics.
Uganda Teen Pregnancy Drops
According to the Ugandan Health Ministry, the unmarried
teenage pregnancy rate in Uganda in 1995 was 45%. This year
it is 31%. Uganda continues to promote abstinence and forbid
abortion. These policies are in direct contradiction to
the anti-life policies of the UNFPA, IPPF, etc. Maybe that's
why they are succeeding.
French Senate Bans Cloning
The French Senate, on January 27, adopted a government proposed
ban on all cloning. This included the research or "clone
and kill" method, as well as "reproductive"
cloning in which the cloned baby would be brought to term.
The bill now goes to the Assembly.
Stem Cell Company Floundering
The Geron Corporation in San Jose, California is certainly
a major player in human embryonic stem cell research. We
have noted in the past that it is not attracting venture
capital, while adult stem cell research is getting very
adequate support from financial investors. This company
was forced to layoff one-third of its staff and cut research
spending last summer. In January, it announced that another
forty researchers and support staff were being laid off.
This leaves the company with only fifty-one employees. Its
stock has lost two-thirds of its value in the market over
the last year. It never did make money, and raising new
money now has proven problematic, according to its chief
financial officer, David Greenwood. Pro-life people have
been very critical of the use of embryonic stem cells, pointing
out that adult stem cells are more ethical and, in all probability,
are more universally useful. Now it seems as though the
realistic judgment of the financial market place agrees
with pro-lifers.
U.S. Statement in Bangkok
As evidence of a complete reversal of the pro-abortion,
anti-family policies of Clinton at the UN, we print the
following statement from Bush representatives at the recent
Bangkok meeting. "The United States understands that
none of these terms [reproductive rights, reproductive health
care services, family planning services and sexual health],
or any other terms used in this document, or in previous
UN or UN Conference documents, should be interpreted to
constitute support, endorsement, or promotion of abortion
or abortion-related services or the use of abortifacients.
Because the United States supports innocent life from conception
to natural death, the United States does not support, promote,
or endorse abortion, abortion-related services or the use
of abortifacients. The United States does, however, support
the treatment of women who suffer injuries or illnesses
caused by legal or illegal abortion, including, for example,
post-abortion care, and does not place such treatment among
abortion-related services."
Hard to Believe, But UN Admits Population Bust
A United Nations report, just released, finally admits what
pro-life sources and informed demographers have been predicting
for a long time. "All the evidence suggests fertility
is falling rapidly in developing countries, with no sign
that it's going to stop at the magical number of two."
The replacement rate is 2.1 babies per woman in her lifetime.
The UN report now warns that the average fertility rate
will drop to 1.5 by mid-century, which means that, at that
time, the world population will begin to decline. For example,
the fertility rate in Thailand, which was 5.0 in the 1970s,
has dropped to under two. In Iran, the rate has gone from
6.5 to 2.75. With two or three minor exceptions, all of
Western Europe now has fertility rates ranging from 1.2
to about 1.8. The West is dying, and it looks now as though
the underdeveloped world will be following the West, only
some decades later.
Dolly the Sheep Dies
Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal in the history
of the world, was born in 1996. Initially, she seemed to
be a healthy animal and has given birth to six lambs. When
she was five years old, however, she developed premature
arthritis. Now, at age six, with progressive lung disease,
she has been euthanized. Sheep normally live 11 or 12 years.
Lung disease is common in older sheep. Clearly this was
not an entirely normal animal, and this reflects directly
back on the fact that she was cloned. We are being told
by scientists that no cloned animal will ever be normal.
Dolly and her history certainly add substance to this prediction.
Minnesota Moves Ahead With Adult Stem Cells
In June, Dr. Katherine Verfaillie at the University of Minnesota
published a study revealing that stem cells found in human
adult bone marrow are capable of forming tissue of various
different organs. These cells, according to her study, may
prove to be as versatile as embryonic stem cells. Her group
has now licensed the rights to such adult stem cells, and
research is proceeding. If this promise materializes, this
could influence the entire debate over clone and kill, i.e.,
killing four-day-old human embryos to get their embryonic
stem cells.
U.S. Birthrate Interesting Facts
The birthrate in Europe, and almost all of the Western world,
is about 1½ babies per woman in her lifetime. In
the U.S. it's over 2.1, which means that only the U.S. is
replacing itself. Why isn't the U.S. birthrate below replacement
level? According to Steve Mosher, "America is a very
unique country, particularly in the strength of its religious
sentiment. On Sunday, about 50% of the people are in church,
as opposed to about 10% in Europe. It makes a difference
if you read the Bible rather than The Washington Post,
or the Sunday Times. The Bible says children are
a blessing, and people respond to that." According
to the Center for Disease Control and the Planned Parenthood
education branch, the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the annual
number of abortions in the U.S. has been declining for a
decade. Between 1994 and 2000 it declined 11%, with the
decline particularly steep-39%-among those age 15 to 17.
A Zogby poll, commissioned by the Buffalo News, found
that 32% of Americans changed their opinions on abortion
during the last decade. Of these, 21% became more opposed
to abortion, while 11% became more favorable. The strongest
age group opposing abortion were young people 18 to 20 years
old. They changed 39% in the direction opposing abortion.
How many kids? "If you survey people at pro-life meetings,
the average number of children is 4. People at a National
Abortion Rights League meeting average one-half of one child.
People who go to church on Sunday and pray regularly average
three kids. Those who don't attend church average one. Demographically,
this means that the ranks of pro-abortion people will be
decimated ultimately by a form of self-imposed collective
suicide. Their response is to try to infiltrate and use
our educational system to reproduce themselves intellectually,
since they're obviously not going to reproduce themselves
biologically. According to Mosher, the birthrate in the
Northeast is about 1½ children, which is the same
as the European average. The rest of the country averages
2½ children, with the highest being in the South
and in Texas. In fact, these striking differences roughly
parallel the famous red and blue states of the maps of the
2000 presidential election. For pro-lifers this is a very
positive sign for the future.
Polish President Now Opposes More Permissive Abortion
Law
This reverses his previous stand. Polish President Aleksander
Kwasniewski had promised during the 2001 election campaign
to "liberalize" Poland's abortion law. Under communist
rule, there were as many as 150,000 abortions done annually.
Since the 1993 law, which again protected the unborn, the
number of abortions has dropped to 138 in the year 2000.
Why Kwasniewski's change? Speculation has it that it is
due to the fact the Poland wants to be admitted to the European
Union. In order to do this, he needs a high level of approval
by Polish voters. If he antagonizes the Catholic Church
by trying to again permit abortion, he may alienate enough
voters so that they refuse to approve European Union entry.
Therefore, the story is that his change is for political
reasons, not because he has changed his mind on ultimately
wanting abortion legal
Russia, Abortion-Birthrate
According to Vladimir Kulakov, head of the Scientific Center
for Ob and Gyn, the nation's leading gynecologist, the story
on pregnancy outcome at this time is as follows: 10% are
lost in miscarriage, 30% go to term and deliver a child,
and 60% are killed by abortion.
Australia Allows Destructive Embryonic Stem Cell
Research
In December, after months of divisive debate nationally,
the Australian Senate voted 45 to 26 in favor of the Research
Involving Embryos Bill. In September it had passed their
Lower House after a 35-hour debate by a vote of 99 to 33.
This will allow researchers to kill living, but frozen embryos
created during invitro fertilization treatment in order
to extract embryonic stem cells from them. All major church
bodies in Australia opposed the bill and, of 1,851 submissions
received by the Senate Committee, only 48 supported the
bill. The Governor General went ahead to sign the legislation
allowing embryonic stem cell research, but also approved
legislation which forbade "reproductive" human
cloning, i.e., human cloning and then carrying the child
to term.
Breastfeeding Reduces Breast Cancer
A major study on this has been published in the Lancet
(vol. 360, num. 9328, 20 July 2002, p. 187, 195) by
Dr. V. Beral and associates. The studies included 50,000
women with invasive breast cancer and 97,000 controls without.
Examining more than 80% of the worldwide studies on this
issue, they concluded that breastfeeding lowers the risk
of breast cancer. Further, the longer a woman breastfeeds,
the lower the risk becomes. As has been well shown, pregnancy
and birth itself reduces breast cancer, but, in addition,
this adds an increment. This was consistent for women from
developed and developing countries of different ages, ethnicity
and various childbearing patterns.
Mental Health After Abortion
1) The British Medical Journal examined depression
scores 8 years after an unintended pregnancy. It found that
women who had abortions were at a significantly greater
risk of clinical depression than women who carried their
unintended pregnancies to term (Reardon, Depression…Br.MJ,
2002;24:151-2). 2) The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
reports that women who aborted required more mental health
treatment than women who delivered babies. This was the
result of examining MediCal records for 173,00 California
women for 4 years after their pregnancy outcomes (2002;72(1):141-5).
3) In the Southern Medical Journal, researchers examined
death records linked to MediCal payments for births and
abortions. Aborted women died twice as frequently in the
following 2 years, and the higher death rate persisted over
the subsequent 8 years that were measured. For the 8 years,
the death rate was 3 times that of women who had delivered
babies. This study repeats the findings of the one in Finland,
which reported that aborted women were 3.7 to 6.5 times
more likely to commit suicide within one year.
Condoms Ineffective
The US National Institutes of Health, on 20 July 2001, released
a comprehensive study of the clinical, epidemiological and
empirical research on the effectiveness of condoms to prevent
sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). A prestigious group
of medical scientists analyzed the entire world literature
on the subject of the effect of condoms in preventing sexually
transmitted diseases. This is a first, and is by far the
most authoritative study done to date. It investigated a
number of STDs. Condoms used for vaginal intercourse result
in a 14% pregnancy rate per year of "typical"
use. For HIV-AIDS, consistent proper use reduced infection
by 80%, but the 20% who did become infected ultimately died.
The other disease in which significant infection was reduced
was gonorrhea, but the variability of clinical study results
did not allow them to estimate the percentage of protection,
as studies for gonorrhea demonstrated either no protection
or some protection, but were inconclusive. For syphilis,
some studies suggested a partially protective effect; however,
the panel found that a rigorous assessment of the degree
of protection could not be done. For HPV (Human Papilloma
Virus), condoms offer no discernable protection.
Conclusion: Since the government has spent billions of dollars
supporting condoms as reliable, safe sex, and has continued
to recommend their use as the primary preventive mechanism,
this study is a revelation in that a major government bureau
has recognized the almost massive failure of what they've
been promoting. In spite of this, the U.S. Center for Disease
Control has continued to insist on the effectiveness of
condoms against all sexually transmitted diseases.
Federal law requires all public health agencies and their
contractors to use medically accurate information. Sadly,
this landmark report on condoms has not been disseminated.
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