Politics
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Thursday February 1, 2001
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PrintMAJOR CHANGE OF FOCUS SEEN FROM US REPS AT UN
TODAY'S HEADLINES
Applause Marks Bush Administration Support for Family
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 1, 2001 (LSN.ca) - As the preparatory sessions for the UN Children's Special Session scheduled for September got underway in New York, the Bush Administration signaled a major change in focus. Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute reported that today Ambassador Michael Southwick, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, veered sharply from previous US policy on the question of parents and the family.
C-Fam notes that Clinton Administration negotiators tended to fight mention of the family and were the leading forces against the rights of parents in UN documents. However, Southwick said this morning, "The last decade has also revealed new challenges" including "the erosion of parental authority." The right kind of document he said "would help countries, communities, and their civil society partners decide how best to improve the situation of children and families." Southwick urged that the new document should emphasize "the vital role the family plays in the upbringing of children."
Both governmental delegates and lobbyists cheered at the conclusion of Southwick's remarks.
It has been requested that pro-lifers email President Bush and thank him for his administration's pro-family speech at the UN Child Summit today: (with files from C-Fam)
Back to TopSASKATCHEWAN TO ALLOW M.A.P. WITHOUT PRESCRIPTION BY APRIL
REGINA, Feb 1, 2001 (LSN.ca) - The abortifacient morning-after-pill, Plan B, is set to be dispensed without a doctor's prescription in Saskatchewan this April. Ray Joubert, registrar of the Saskatchewan Pharmaceutical told the Globe and Mail yesterday that the drug will be available from pharmacists, but stocked behind the counter.
Plan B acts to make the mother's body inhospitable to the human embryo (embryo - fertilized ovum - the first stage of human life) by weakening the uterine wall, thus not allowing implantation, leading to the death of the already conceived human being. Mark Beaudet, vice-president of Montreal-based Paladin Labs, the Canadian distributor of Plan B, said the drug costs $15.95, plus the pharmacist's dispensing fee.
For more see the Globe and Mail at: http://www.globeandmail.ca/gam/National/20010201/UPILLN.html
(with files from Pro-Life E-News)
CANADIAN ETHICIST PROMOTES HUMAN CLONING
OTTAWA, Feb 1, 2001 (LSN.ca) - Tim Caulfield, a prominent Canadian ethicist, has argued in favour of allowing human cloning, even reproductive human cloning. The National Post reported yesterday that Caulfield, research director of the University of Alberta's Health Law Institute, said, "With a criminal law against cloning ... we're casting a possible chill over possible scientific inquiry that may be beneficial. When you have a criminal law, it sends a strong symbolic statement." He argued that he was in favour of cloning since he believes "human beings are so much more than just their genes."
Canada is one of the only developed countries without any regulation regarding human cloning or any other new reproductive technology.
For more see the National Post at: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/updates/story.html?=/stories/20010131/national-...
POPE REAFFIRMS IMPOSSIBILITY OF HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE
VATICAN, Feb 1, 2001 (LSN.ca) - Speaking to Vatican court officials today, Pope John Paul II stressed the constant teaching of the Church that homosexual marriages are contrary to nature. Marriage is of its nature "ordered for the good of the spouses and generation and education of children," said the pope. He argued that marriage is a "natural reality ... evident to reason" and not a mere social construct.
The pope suggested that "truth" about marriage is "not only being disregarded but openly contested." He said that this trend is clearly evidenced in the attempt to make homosexual unions equal to marriage.
See Reuters coverage of the pope's remarks: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010201/ts/pope_gays_dc_1.html
BUSH ON BISHOPS - ALLIES "NOT TO BE ERODED BY POLITICAL CORRECTNESS"
WASHINGTON, Feb 1, 2001 (LSN.ca) - Yesterday, in a private meeting with Catholic leaders from across the nation, President George W. Bush had his discussions unknowingly broadcast to the media. The president spoke frankly with the many assembled Catholic bishops telling them they are important allies since "you're not going to be eroded by political correctness or whatever."
President Bush expressed the need to re-frame the debate over abortion and school vouchers. "Those of us who agree on these issues must figure out better ways to position from a PR perspective," he said. "Vouchers is the wrong word. ... It ought to be opportunity scholarships or freedom initiatives or something. ... It's like the abortion issue ... I mean, there is kind of a built-in prejudice against a particular position on both sides of both issues. And the language of the issues is never for life; it's always anti-somebody's right."
For more see the report in the Austin American-Statesman at: http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/today/news_17.html
SITE NEWSBYTES
RESEARCH CONCLUDES SMOKING POT 'DAMAGES MENTAL HEALTH'
Confirming the fears of many parents, British scientists have concluded after examining existing research that using cannabis can have a serious effect on mental health. It can provoke negative mood changes, induce psychosis and have a severe effect on mental illnesses. "Cannabis affects almost every body system. It combines many of the properties of alcohol, tranquillisers, opiates and hallucinogens", say the researchers. The research indicates 60% of British students have tried the drug. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1146000/1146752.stm
QUEBEC'S BABY BONUS PROGRAM PROVEN EFFECTIVE
A program in Quebec to encourage parents to have more children to build up the quickly dwindling indigenous population was abandoned as ineffective. However a new study into the program found that it was in fact very effective in encouraging parents to have more children. The program, scrapped in 1997, offered $500 for a first baby up to $8,000 for a third and drove up overall fertility in the province by 12%. http://www.globeandmail.com/gam/TopNational/20010131/UBABYN.html
Superdrug, the UK company that announced yesterday its plan to sell abortifacient morning after pills over the Internet, has been forced to back down from its plan after the Department of Health and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society objected based on concerns over safety and information delivery. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1138000/1138715.stm
US NEWS ROUNDUP
For six years, leaders on both sides of the abortion debate have met in secret in Massachusetts in an attempt to better understand each other. They participated in the publication of an article in the Boston Globe and are inviting comment form those concerned at See the article: http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/028/focus/Talking_with_the_enemy+.shtml
ASHCROFT CONFIRMED AS ATTORNEY GENERAL
The Senate confirmed John Ashcroft's nomination for attorney general this afternoon with a vote of 58-42. http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/stories/02/01/ashcroft.vote.03/index.html
Surprise - Catholics For A Free Choice is angry about the Bush policy to re-instate the Mexico City Policy removing U.S. funding for international agencies that promote or are involved in abortion.. http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/0123-106.html
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