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TIME FOR PARLIAMENT TO DEBATE AND PASS LAW FOR THE UNBORN

CLC Press Release - November 28, 2000

With the federal election results finally tallied, the representation of pro-life MPs remains largely the same as before the election, according to Campaign Life Coalition President Jim Hughes. "While the distribution of seats for the parties and for pro-lifers within each party is roughly the same as last time," said Hughes, "the lessons of the campaign should send a clear message to the party leaders from the millions of pro-life voters who cast ballots yesterday." "Pro-lifers want Stockwell Day and Prime Minister Chretien to debate the abortion issue," said Hughes, "and have the debate where the Supreme Court has repeatedly said it belongs: in parliament."

Mr. Hughes added the Canadian Alliance must also face the abortion issue squarely. "This election showed that the referendum approach to crucial issues like abortion just won't fly in Ontario. Ontarians - and all Canadians - want to know where the parties and the candidates stand, pure and simple, and they want leaders who have the courage of their convictions.

To the Prime Minister, Hughes pointed out that recent polls indicate that, even after almost thirteen years of legislative limbo on the issue with no abortion law, a majority of Canadians still support a law to protect the unborn at some point in the first nine months. "The Prime Minister is wrong to suggest there is a right to abortion: there is no such right. The Prime Minister is wrong to refuse to allow an open, free and democratic debate on this issue in Parliament," says Hughes.

Hughes concluded that parliament remains the best institution to debate the important issues of the day, not through national referendum and certainly not through the courts. "Parliament has an obligation to debate this issue until there is a law to protect the unborn."

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LISTEN TO MICHAEL COREN'S COMMENTARY ON THE ELECTION RESULT

http://www.lifesite.net/coren/ra/112800elect.rm

LifeSite analysis of the election results will follow tomorrow

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NETHERLANDS PASSES WORLD'S FIRST LAW ALLOWING EUTHANASIA

AMSTERDAM, Nov 28 (LSN.ca) - The Dutch Parliament passed, 104-40, a law today formally legalizing euthanasia. Although the practice was already common in the country for some 20 years, experts fear that formal legalization will lead to an increase in the already out-of-control situation where the elderly fear entering hospitals in case they are euthanized without their consent. The new law says that the patient must be suffering unbearable and unremitting pain, must have repeatedly asked to be killed and a second medical opinion must be sought.

A controversial clause which would have allowed children as young as 12 to end their lives without their parent's approval was dropped from the legislation. Catholic World News reported that euthanasia advocates have said they will not stop with the limits imposed by the new euthanasia law. They want to allow children as young as 12 to demand their own death even if their parents disagree and to allow people who are "tired of life" to also ask their doctors to kill them. The law is expected to pass in the Senate without difficulty.

See the BBC and CWN coverage at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1044000/1044289.stm
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=9874

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GIBBONS, CONNELL GET ONE DAY IN JAIL, PROBATION

TORONTO, Nov. 28 (LSN.ca) - Pro-life activists Linda Gibbons and Rosemary Connell were sentenced to one day in jail today after both were found guilty in a Toronto court on a charge of obstructing a peace officer. The charge had been laid in connection with their Oct. 17 challenge of the temporary court injunction establishing a 60-foot "bubble zone" around the Scott Clinic abortuary. Both pleaded not guilty. The judge also imposed a one-year probation period, which includes a provision that Gibbons and Connell stay at least 100 metres away from three Toronto abortuaries.

U.S. Lawyer John Broderick represented Gibbons, who remained mute throughout proceedings out of solidarity with the voiceless preborn. Defence lawyer Paul Vandervet, representing Connell, argued that his client could not be guilty of obstructing police because she was totally passive and did not offer any resistance. However, the judge disagreed, saying that simply disobeying a lawful order to leave the bubble zone was enough to constitute obstruction.

"There's an acknowledgement that the position of Rosemary and Linda is principled," said Vandervet after the trial. "There's some respect starting to be shown, which maybe wasn't there previously. Persistence is making a difference."

See the Gibbons page on Lifesite
http://www.lifesite.net/gibbons/index.html
and photos of the most recent arrest
http://www.lifesite.net/gibbons/oct1800photos.html

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DANA LOOKING TO FORM PRO-LIFE PARTY IN IRELAND

DUBLIN, Nov 28 (LSN.ca) - DANA, the popular Irish Christian singer who became a Member of the European Parliament after gaining 14% of the vote in a failed bid for the Irish Presidency is contacting independent politicians in her homeland to form a pro-life political party. DANA, whose real name is Rosemary Scanlon, and her brother-in-law and agent, John Brown are looking to form alliances with social conservatives and allow the party members to have leeway on other issues so as to be open to pursue local interests. "The Family Party" would address a multitude of concerns including disaffected families where tax unfairness discriminates against stay-at-home moms.

For more see the Sunday Times at:
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/Sunday-Times/stiireire02008.html

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NO JAIL IN CANADA FOR RAPE, ABORTION AND MURDER

LONDON, Ontario, Nov 28 (LSN.ca) - Edward Gratton, 67, received a mere conditional sentence for his involvement in the murder of a 16 year old girl in 1967. Gratton, 34 at the time, had sex (statutory rape) with the girl and held Glenda Tedball down while her own mother, Norma Poore, aborted her baby - killing her in the process. Poore hid her murderous secret until her death in 1999. The unsolved murder case was reopened after her death at the urging of Glenda's father Glen Tedball.

Gratton plead guilty to procuring an abortion after the Crown agreed to withdraw a charge of culpable homicide. For the abortion, while it was illegal, and for concealing the murder for all these years, Justice Bruce Thomas gave Gratton a conditional sentence of two years less a day to be served in the community, followed by probation. Gratton is said to have had limited mental capacity, but the sentence did not suggest a stay at one of Canada's institutes for the criminally insane.

For more see the CP coverage at:
http://www.canada.com/cgi-bin/cp.asp?f=/news/cp/stories/20001124/national-145904...

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POPE TO JUDGES: LAW WITHOUT VALUES IS DANGEROUS

VATICAN CITY, Nov 28 (LSN.ca) - In a meeting with Catholic legislators and judges Monday, Pope John Paul II stressed: "Law that is separated from the anthropological and moral foundations carries numerous dangers within it, as it subjects decisions to the pure arbitration of the persons who write it, without keeping in mind the incomparable dignity of one's neighbor." Zenit News reported that the pope met with the International Union of Catholic Jurists who are in Rome attending their plenary assembly.

The pope explained that law without moral foundations is why, "for many of our contemporaries, the right to life - primary and absolute right, which does not depend on positive law, but on the natural law and the dignity of every person - is unknown or underestimated, as if it were a disposable and nonessential right."

For more see the Zenit News report at:
http://zenit.org/english/archive/0011/ZE001124.html#item2

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PRO-LIFE 2000 CONFERENCE TAPES ORDER INFO NOW ON LINE

LifeSite is pleased to provide the information and forms required to order audio cassettes of the talks given at the recent Canadian National Pro-Life Conference. We strongly encourage you to order these talks by Peter Kreeft, Joe Scheidler, Dr. Joel Brind, Professor Charles Rice and the many other wonderful speakers.

See http://www.lifesite.net/shop/tapesintro.html

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LIFESITE NEWSBYTES

Australian biotech company Amrad has taken out a Europe-wide patent on a process which campaigners claim would allow animal-human hybrids. http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,403160,00.html

In a heart-warming story from Italy, a mother in the Northern city of Pavia gave birth to a child with severe brain defects despite the urging of doctors to abort the baby. The baby boy lived for two hours after birth and was baptized Carlo Gabriele Maria Pio by the doctor. The city's Bishop Giovanni Volta praised the Catholic parents of the boy as exemplary Christians. Village priest Luigi Ferrari assisted the parents, who already have two children, and thanked them "for giving the community an angel and a new go-between.

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