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International Right to Life Federation,
Inc. POLAND – VICTORY AGAIN: Politics in Poland resembles a roller coaster. For 40 years abortion was legal under the Communists. Then, with freedom, the pro-lifers were finally able to pass a law protecting their unborn. On these pages we have documented the precipitous drop in abortions accompanied by an increase in health of women. Elections, however, turned this around and, with ex-Communists taking control, a new law was passed to allow abortions again. Recently, their high court struck down that law as unconstitutional. Now the latest development is parliamentary elections, and the pro-lifers are again smiling. The pro-life party of Solidarity won 212 seats in the 260-member parliament to the ex-Communists party’s 164. The Freedom Union had 60, with the others splintered. It seems apparent that a coalition government will be formed. One thing looks certain and that is that the lives of Polish babies are secure for now. Unfortunately, the president, Aleksander Kwasniewski, is strongly pro-abortion. RUSSIA – YELTSIN VETOES THEN SIGNS BILL RESTRICTING RELIGION: The Russian Duma passed a bill that in essence established the Russian Orthodox Church as the state church. It did officially recognize the "traditional religions" of Islam, Buddhism and Judaism. But it will force registration of, and place substantial restrictions on, all other Christian religions. This bill received strong opposition from the Vatican and also from the U.S. Senate which threatened to cut off aid to Russia if it became law. President Boris Yeltsin vetoed the first bill. Then a second bill, not too different from the first, was passed. Yeltsin signed the second one. A SIGNIFICANT VICTORY: The pro-life movement dodged a bullet in the State of Florida recently. A certain Mr. Charles Hall, who is dying of AIDS, is the only surviving plaintiff of three patients who sued the state for the right to doctor-assisted suicide. A lower court judge in January ruled that he did have such a right. The Florida Supreme Court reversed that decision, ruling that the state’s Constitution does not recognize such a right. It stated: "The assistance sought here is not treatment. It is an affirmative act designed to cause death." Comment: This is a significant pro-life victory. If that court had ruled differently, assisted suicide would have become legal in the State of Florida. The Willke’s recent book, Why Can’t We Love Them Both, has now been joined by a companion version in video and in a slide set. This trio is being called their Third Generation. The first was Handbook on Abortion, first published in 1971. It was translated into ten languages and distributed worldwide in millions of copies. The second was Abortion Questions & Answers in 1985. It added ten more languages and continued to rate the title of "Bible of the Movement". And now the Third Generation. The early, almost sole emphasis on the baby and the mother’s physical problems has matured into an inclusive concern for both. Care and concern for her now shares center stage. Post-abortion syndrome is pervasive. New educational methods are needed to answer "pro-choice" arguments. This time the Willke’s used both narrative and question-and-answer formats. The book has 376 pages in their familiar question-answer-citation form. It answers just about any question that might occur. Newly treated are post-abortion syndrome, RU 486, breast cancer, euthanasia and much more. Information about these new products can be obtained from the publication office of this newsletter in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. AIDS IN LONDON HOSPICE: A recent New England Journal of Medicine article, 7/3/97, detailed high rates of physician-assisted suicide among AIDS patients in San Francisco. Dr. Maeve McKeogh, who works with AIDS patients, responded with the information that among the almost 2,000 patients admitted to McKeogh’s London Hospice in the last three years, only one requested euthanasia. This startlingly different report she attributes to the far greater emphasis on palliative care in the United Kingdom as compared to that in the San Francisco area. COLOMBIA, SOUTH AMERICA: Colombia’s highest court issued a ruling, 6-3, which apparently allows euthanasia for people who are terminally ill and request to be killed. It ruled that if a doctor follows appropriate guidelines, he will not be held legally liable for the death. Three dissenting judges called this a "gross usurpation of legislative duties." The Colombian parliament then debated and approved a law to allow euthanasia. This Catholic country’s Bishops’ Conference has since made its first major step toward overturning this decision. They called the decision "a legal absurdity and a human monstrosity … Nobody has the right to decide on the moment of terminating life, not even his own." They added, "The state has no right to legalize euthanasia, because the life of the human person is a good that prevails over governments’ power … Neither the doctor, the patient nor the family are authorized to decide when a human person will die." STATES FORBID PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION: When Illinois Governor Jim Edgar signed that state’s bill banning partial-birth abortions on July 17, Illinois became the 18th state to forbid this gruesome infanticide. Others who have enacted the ban include AK, AL, AR, AZ, GA, IN, LA, MI, MS, MT, NE, OH, RI, SC, SD, TN, UT. TIBET – FORCED ABORTIONS: An interesting article has appeared in an American Feminist magazine, Marie Claire. It reports on the forced abortion policy in Tibet imposed by the Chinese. It speaks of its "harsh birth control policy" in Tibet which includes "forced abortions and sterilization of Tibetan minority women…Married women, ages 25 to 35, are allowed one or two children." Several stories are told of the compulsory abortion situation. The article states: "It is legal to administer abdominal injections to women who are nine months pregnant to kill infants still in the birth canal…Many women, facing these conditions, try to escape from Tibet, an often harrowing journey across the mountains." The article notes that there are five movie films currently in production or completed sympathetic to Tibet and critical of the Chinese rule. SPLENDOR OF HUMAN LIFE is the title of a small booklet recently written by Dr. Marie Mignon Mascarenhas, Director of "CREST" in Bangalore, India. This 32-page booklet is a real gem. It starts with fetal development, personhood, and the difference between a human person and a chimpanzee. It discusses the meaning and value of human life, of scientific research and its abuses. Its core is about women, femininity, motherhood, their rights over their own bodies, abortion, and female infanticide, particularly as it applies to the Indian culture. After a concise discussion of euthanasia, she touches on various religious beliefs in the East, concluding that we must respect all human life at all stages of development. There’s a lot in this little book. Its author is a member of the board of the International Right to Life Federation, representing India and its surrounding nations. ABORTION IN ULSTER: According to the British SPUC’s Human Concern, a fight has begun over the rights of the Scottish parliament to legislate on abortion, human fertilization, embryology and genetics. The recent vote, which has given a degree of independence to Scotland, has stated that all powers should be devolved to the new Scottish parliament except those specifically retained by the Westminster parliament. These are known as reserve powers and include such issues as foreign affairs and defense. So far so good. The problem is that a number of other matters, including abortion, are also apparently going to be reserved. The reason? "The need for a common approach."…British Prime Minister Tony Blair has apparently insisted on reserving abortion. This involves more than Scotland, It also involves Northern Ireland. Mrs. Betty Gibson, Chairman of SPUC in Northern Ireland, has stated that Blair’s new Labor government intends to change the law in Northern Ireland to allow abortion. This, despite the united opposition of all the churches and all of the Parties from Northern Ireland. If Scotland was allowed to legislate on abortion, then the same would be true for Northern Ireland. Considering Blair’s position, things don’t look too good for the unborn babies of those two countries. AUSTRALIA: The State of Western Australia is now considering a euthanasia bill. As an indication of how successful this may or may not be, we review the votes on the Andrews bill by its members in the Australian Federal House and Senate. The Andrews bill reversed the euthanasia law in the Northern Territory of Australia, so those who voted for this bill voted pro-life – against the bill was anti-life. Accordinglly, those in the House of Representatives from Western Australia were 7 for the Andrews bill – 2 against. In the Senate, there were 4 votes for the Andrews bill – 6 opposed. Stay tuned. BOARD MEMBER HONORED: Catholic Cardinal Clancy of Sydney was recently pleased to award the high honor of Dame of the Order of St. Gregory the Great to Mrs. Kath Harrigan for her services in defending life. This is a Papal award of the highest degree. Since the mid ‘80s she’s been the spokeswoman for the Australian Federation of Right to Life Associations. She has been a crisis counselor for hundreds of pregnant women as well as being deeply involved in post-abortion counseling. Appointed to the board of the International Right to Life Federation as the Australian representative, she rose to treasurer. She has just recently retired from the board, her place being taken by Greg Smith. Our congratulations to her for an honor truly deserved. SOUTH AFRICA: According to a report in the newspaper, Post, sent us by Mrs. Ennie Banda, Secretary and board member of IRTLF, of Lusaka, April ’97, the recent legalization of abortion in South Africa has "opened a floodgate of patients, both from within the country and from neighboring states." It goes into detail to note that many people are coming into South Africa from neighboring countries to have abortions. It notes that many hospitals are refusing to do them at all, and in some public hospitals, doctors and nurses have refused. It repeats the ridiculous pro-abortion claim that there were 45,000 illegal abortions in South Africa each year. Considering that illegal abortions are not reported, and they have no statistics at all, theirs is a pure guess, and it’s made by a pro-abortion health department. The article further notes that "in many parts of the country Muslims, Jews, Christians, Traditionalists and pro-life lobby groups staged demonstrations and protests. In Durbin, Christians forced the closure of a family planning clinic." Abortion is now legal there on demand, without parental consent, up through 12 weeks – and up to the 20th week "with the sanction of a doctor." It is one of the most radically permissive pro-abortion laws in the world. EMBRYO RESEARCH: On November 19, 1996, the Council of Europe adopted the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights & Dignity of the Human Being With Regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine. Included in it was the statement that "Experimentation on fertilized human eggs and embryos is an area full of conflict in all nations in which multi-ethnicity and multi-religiousness are present. Still, such research is now acceptable to the Council of Europe only if adequate protection of the embryo is ensured and if human embryos are not created for research purposes." BRAZIL – A NEW LAW? A bill has recently been passed to allow abortion for women who claim to have been raped and for various "health" reasons. Brazil, which has been under continuing pressure from the United States and the U.N. to legalize abortion, finally did so after a six-year battle in its legislature. Responding to this, Health Minister Carlos Albuquerque, appearing on TV networks, stated that he was "religiously, morally and ethically bound to advise the President to veto the bill." He described abortion as "murder" and, not unexpectedly, was promptly attacked by the vocal population control establishment in Brazil. JAPAN: The House of Representatives has just approved a bill defining legal death. It must meet five conditions: deep coma, pupil dilation, need for assisted respiration, no brain stem response, and all of the above having persisted for a minimum of six hours. LATIN AMERICA: Protesting a form of cultural imperialism that otherwise gets little attention, a large number of Catholic bishops from Latin America, the Caribbean and the Philippines issued the following statement when the U.S. Congress was debating the refunding of U.S. population programs abroad: "In Latin America and other countries of the Third World we have suffered for many years a campaign against births. There have been massive sterilizations in many countries. There has been the distribution of contraceptives, some of these forbidden in First World countries because they are dangerous to the health of women. Many organizations in the First World finance these campaigns with great amounts of money. Now they have gone a step further, proposing abortion as a means of population control. We know that abortion is a horrible crime. That is why we oppose the proposal of President Clinton to allocate funds from the United States for this. This proposal is unjust, offensive and criminal. We believe the people of the United States should not contribute to these contraceptive campaigns and must not include abortion as though it were a contraceptive method." --First Things, May ‘97 CONTACT US Phone: (513) 729-3600
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