Politics
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Wednesday February 2, 2000
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PrintCANADIAN PHARMACIES DECIDE ON PROVIDING ABORTIFACIENT DRUGS
TODAY'S HEADLINES
TORONTO, Feb 2 (LSN.ca) - The January edition of the Canadian Pharmacy Practice journal covers the controversy raised over the recent release of "Preven" in Canada. Preven is the first approved drug kit specifically designed to be taken after intercourse in order to kill the possibility of giving birth to a child. The article cites Jeff Poston the executive director of the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA), as indicating that while the organization "supports the use of the new drug, it also recognizes the pharmacist's right to refuse to fill [a prescription] based on moral or religious beliefs."
While the US Wal-Mart pharmacy chain and many Canadian private pharmacies have refused to dispense the abortifacient drugs altogether, the article reports that the Canadian Wal-Mart pharmacies and the Pharma Plus chain plan to order the abortifacient drugs on request but not to stock them. Shoppers Drug Mart, however, carries the death dealing drugs in stock. The Canadian pro-life boycott of pharmacies which dispense Preven would thus definitely include a boycott of Shoppers Drug Mart and pro-lifers are asked to visit Shoppers to inform the owners of the reason for the boycott.
Shamefully the article in the pharmacists' journal attempts to suggest that the drug is not abortifacient, a suggestion flying in the face of all scientific research on the drugs. Furthermore, in an editorial in the journal Anne Bokma says that "those pharmacists guided by their conscience to not dispense Preven still have a responsibility to their patients ... to have a prepared information sheet with a list of addresses of nearby pharmacies where the product is available."
To express your concerns to Shoppers Drug Mart:
See the article and the editorial in the Pharmacy Practice journal:
http://www.bizlink.com/Content/pharmacy/phpractice/2000/01-00/php010008.html http://www.bizlink.com/Content/pharmacy/phpractice/2000/01-00/php010003.html
To send a letter to the journal and/or the editor:
Back to TopFRENCH AUTHORITIES UPSET WITH ABSTINENCE CHOICE
PARIS, France, Feb 2 (LSN.ca) - French young people are abandoning sexual promiscuity and opting for abstinence until marriage. Incredibly, the trend is being seen negatively by sex educators and AIDS groups. In a revealing article in Monday's National Post, Susan Martinuk writes that the new commitment to chastity and marriage is expected to result in an "amazing 70%" increase in marriages in 2000. Martinuk notes that sex educators and AIDS groups are labelling the healthy trend as evidence of gross ignorance about the "virtues" of safe sex - in other words, children are refraining from sexual relations because of unjustified fears over the ramifications of promiscuous behaviour. These organizations have convinced the government to launch a new nationwide sex education program to fix this alleged problem.
Like the French, Canada's premiere sex educator, Planned Parenthood, is committed to promoting "sex positivity" - teaching about sex within a context of "sexual pleasure" rather than married love and conception of children.
One revelation that should produce outrage among parents who consider the health of their children more important than politically correct rhetoric is that this strategy includes thereplacement of the term STD (sexually transmitted disease) with the softer term, STI (sexually transmitted infection).
"Apparently the term "disease" caused too much worry," says Martinuk. "Given this milieu, it isn't surprising that teen pregnancies in Canada increased 15.3% between 1987 and 1995 - even as sex programs and condom machines flooded the schools."
See Martinuk's article in the National Post at:
http://www.nationalpost.com/commentary.asp?f=000131/191280
HOW-TO GUIDE TO SUICIDE ON THE WEB
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Feb 2 (LSN.ca) - In the same week that a US video will air on public television demonstrating methods for suicide, news of a Dutch website how-to on the same subject has created waves. The Dutch parliament was in an uproar Monday with calls for regulating the Internet.
The site offers step-by-step instructions on wrist-slashing, sleeping pills, jumping off buildings and the "reasonably painless ... death of carbon monoxide poisoning." The site is called "Thisbe's Self-destruction Site."
For a website to aid those contemplating suicide to choose life go to:
http://covenanthouse.org/kid/kid_sui/kid_sui.htm
See the story by AP at:
http://online.hkstandard.com/today/default.asp?PageType=awo4
DEADLINE FOR COMMENT ON STEM CELL GUIDELINES EXTENDED
WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (LSN.ca) - Zenit News reports that the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has decided to extend the deadline for public comment on a revised set of guidelines for stem cell research.
A report published by the pro-life committee of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops notes that the draft government document on stem cells justifies the destruction of human embryos "by, among other things, the prospect that use of the resulting cells may reduce the need to use 'laboratory animals' for drug testing" (p. 67576). "The human embryo ranks lower in status than a laboratory rat," says the Bishop's letter.
"The guidelines instruct researchers in how to harvest versatile 'stem cells' from living week-old human embryos, a procedure which kills the embryos. They also establish standards for harvesting similar cells from dead unborn children following induced abortions," say the bishops. They warn, "only a large volume of critical comments by taxpayers will convince federal lawmakers that people do care about this moral atrocity."
Comments should be sent to "Stem Cell Guidelines" at: NIH Office of Science Policy 1 Center Drive Building 1, Room 218 Bethesda, MD 20892 Fax to: (301) 402-0280 E-mail to:
The NIH Guidelines can be viewed online at http://www.nih.gov/news/stemcell/draftguidelines.htm
See the Bishops letter at:
http://www.nccbuscc.org/prolife/issues/bioethic/talkingpoints.htm
LIFESITE NEWSBYTES
Much to the chagrin of fertility clinics, the UK's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists urged a maximum of two embryos for transfer for in vitro fertilization. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/320/7230/271
Ontario's provincial government has firmly rejected the United Nations' human rights tribunal ruling urging public funding for religious schooling other than that provided for Catholic schools. http://www.nationalpost.com/news.asp?f=000202/192950&s2=national&s3=politics
Catholic World News reported that the Federal Communications Commission last Friday reversed a controversial ruling that had limited the amount of religious programming on noncommercial television stations. http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=46195
Russia is facing a demographic crisis with its population dwindling thanks to low birth rates. http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/01/27/timfgnrus01001.html?999
Family Policy Network reported yesterday that Florida governor Jeb Bush made history on January 26 when he appointed an openly homosexual judge to the 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Florida. Judge Victoria Sigler, 48, of Florida's Biscayne Park is a lesbian activist. FPN wonders whether Jeb's brother, US presidential candidate George Bush would do likewise. http://www.familypolicynetwork
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