News

Tuesday November 6, 2001


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DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS ADMITS TO ABORTION INVOLVEMENT

NEW YORK, November 6, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Doctors Without Borders, known internationally by their French title MŽdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) supports abortion, despite an official policy not to take a stand on the controversial issue. Chris Torgeson, spokesperson for MSF told LifeSite that the organization does not take a position on the issue. However documents on the group’s website suggest otherwise.

Documents on the MSF website show that MSF provided medical utensils which MSF knew were to be used for abortions in North Korea. An MSF document describing their activities in the country states: “Among patients hospitalized for gynecological reasons, around 50% are for abortions. Before MSF distributed standard gynecological supplies, hospitals were performing caesarians, abortions and other surgical interventions with rusty instruments and without (sic) little or no anaesthetic, sterilization equipment, antibiotics or anti-hemorrhaging drugs.”

Other documents show that MSF provides abortifacient morning after pills. An excerpt from the MSF publication “Refugee Health: An Approach to Emergency Situations” notes that MSF follows the guidelines of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in these situations. UNHCR has defined a ‘Minimum Initial Service Package’ (MISP) to be implemented on site as soon as possible, which according to MSF includes “the provision of emergency post-coital contraception (abortifacients) to those women who request it … guaranteeing the availability of free condoms to anyone who requests them … planning for provision of comprehensive reproductive health services (which according to UN definition includes abortion).

When asked about the documentation, Torgeson admitted that MSF doctors do perform abortions. She said that MSF works in 80 countries, some of which allow abortion. “In some countries abortion is an important part of family planning policy,” she said. She said MSF does emergency medical work and will work within hospitals where abortions are performed and perform them.

See the two documents referred to:
https://www.refugeecamp.org/learnmore/clinic/fieldguide.htm https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/pr/before1999/09-30-199…


PUBLICLY FUNDED ALTERNATIVE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS COMING TO ONTARIO

HAMILTON, November 6, 2001 (LSN.ca) – The possibility that publicly funded alternative Christian schools will soon be a reality in Ontario is very real. A group known as People for Alternative Christian Education (PACE) hopes to begin their project as early as next September within the Hamilton-Wentworth School Systems (Public or Separate).

Offensive and anti-Christian teaching, and a forced absence of God from public education has caused many Christian parents to resort to home schooling or private schooling. However the situation was manifestly unfair as those parents had to pay twice – their education taxes to the public schools and then cover the costs of private or home education themselves. The situation was also problematic for public schools as less children in the school makes for lower funding from the province. Various public schools have been forced to close due to lack of students.

Lynne Scime, one of the PACE organizers told LifeSite that the program did not involve independent schools but classrooms within schools. Teachers who agree with the PACE program and are selected in consultation with PACE parents partake in the program. All parents who agree with PACE may send their children to the Christian alternative school within a school. At an initial public meeting for the program, local politicians were amazed at the crowd of over 500 who attended. Mrs. Scime notes that over ten teachers in the public system have inquired about teaching in the alternative school.

The Hamilton-Wentworth School Board is seriously considering the proposal and the Ontario government is also likely to approve the measure. The PACE schools would meet the Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum guidelines with a Christian viewpoint to issues and topics in all curriculum areas provided. Instruction will be delivered within a Christian environment grounded in Christian principles with a strong academic focus.

Publicly funded alternative schools exist throughout Canada. Some schools focus on subjects such as science, the arts or sports. Other schools focus on cultures such as French (immersion), Ukrainian, Chinese, German, and Hebrew. In Ontario there is already a publicly-funded Christian School operating since 1998 – Eden High School in St. Catharines.

For more information, the PACE program will be presented at the Family Coalition Party Hamilton Region Banquet on Saturday, November 17, 2001. All interested please contact Francesca at [email protected], or call Phil (905) 692-5092. Tickets should be booked within the next few days.


CANADA PUSHES, US SHUNS ABORTION PROMOTION AT UNITED NATIONS

NEW YORK, November 6, 2001 (LSN.ca) – The Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly which addresses “Social, Humanitarian, Cultural” concerns has, in recent weeks heard the US and Canada take opposite approaches to abortion promotion in UN documents.

According to a UN report, on November 1, the US representative to the Committee clarified that the US “Government understood that the term ‘reproductive health services’ did not endorse or support abortion services.” During debates over the UN Special Children’s Summit a member of the Canadian delegation revealed that the term “reproductive health services” includes abortion. Last month Costa Rica expressed reservations similar to that of the United States regarding the terminology.

Canada however, has acted like a spoiled and unrepentant child at the UN. On Oct 24, Canadian delegate Gilbert Laurin defiantly endorsed “reproductive health services” with such vigour as to suggest scorn. “To effectively address these and other problems, he said there had to be a promotion and protection of the reproductive rights of women, men, girls and boys, including by ensuring their access to sexual and reproductive health information, care and services,” Laurin is quoted as saying in a UN report of the proceedings.

See the UN docuementation
https://www0.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/gashc3653.doc.htm
https://www0.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/GASHC3645.doc.htm


BUSH ADMINISTRATION CLAMPS DOWN ON OREGON EUTHANASIA

WASHINGTON, November 6, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Today, Attorney General John Ashcroft reversed a 1998 ruling by Clinton Administration Attorney General Janet Reno that authorized the use of federally controlled drugs to assist suicides in Oregon, the only state whose law permits lethal prescriptions in certain cases.

The Ashcroft decision effectively reinstates the original determination by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). On November 5, 1997, then-DEA Administrator Thomas Constantine had announced that since assisting suicide is not “a legitimate medical purpose . . . prescribing a controlled substance with the intent of assisting a suicide” violates the federal Controlled Substances Act. On June 5, 1998, Attorney General Reno agreed that “adverse action under the CSA” might be warranted “where a physician assists in a suicide in a state that has not authorized the practice under any conditions, or where a physician fails to comply with state procedures in doing so.” However, she decided to allow federally controlled drugs to be prescribed to kill patients, when legal under state law, as in Oregon.

Burke Balch, Director of the National Right to Life Committee’s Department of Medical Ethics, commented: “Americans overwhelmingly agree the federal government should not be facilitating euthanasia and assisting suicide with federally controlled drugs. We commend Attorney General Ashcroft and the Bush Administration for cutting off this outrageous misuse of drugs –drugs that should be used to cure and to relieve pain, not to kill.”

See the Washington Post coverage:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20011106/aponl…


TAIWAN ABORTIONISTS USING BLACK MARKET RU-486

TAIPEI, November 6, 2001 (LSN.ca) – The Taipei Times reports that “many of the nation’s gynecologists have given up the use of legal RU486 abortion medication to buy black market RU486.” The abortionists are upset with the country’s restrictions on the use of the abortion drug and have turned to illegal sources.

Meishih Pharmaceutical, which was the first to import legal Apano RU486, says that according to their sales people, more than 20 gynecologists in southern and central Taiwan now use illegal RU486.

For more see the Taipei Times at:
https://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2001/11/06/story/0000110290


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