---

SHARE THIS PAGE: E-mail  Print

---

---

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PASSES RESOLUTION CALLING FOR ALL EUROPE TO LEGALIZE ABORTION

Bashes Bush administration's Mexico City Policy

STRASBOURG, July 3, 2002 (LSN.ca) - The European Parliament voted 280 to 240 (with 28 abstentions) today to adopt a resolution calling on all member nations, and those seeking European Union membership to provide abortion. The resolution, known as the Van Lancker report after the Belgian MEP who drafted it, says "in order to safeguard women's reproductive health and rights, abortion should be made legal, safe and accessible to all."

The document calls on Europe to "promote emergency contraception" and goes so far as to demand that abortifacient drugs be available "over-the-counter and at affordable prices, as standard practice within sexual and reproductive health care." It calls on governments to allow fertility treatments for homosexual couples by asking them to "provide access to sexual and reproductive health services without any discrimination based on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status."

Notably, the report bashes the Bush administration's Mexico City Policy banning funds to abortion-promoting groups and calls on the European Commission to "fill in the budgetary gap provoked by the Mexico City Policy."

Euro-fam, the European pro-life group which has closely monitored the European Parliament, notes that while the report does not have the force of law, it does have interpretative force. It notes that since the report specifically includes abortion in "reproductive health services" the EU position on interpreting international documents with that language may now include abortion.

See the full EP resolution on line at:
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A5-2002-0223+0...

See the Euro-Fam evaluation of the report:
http://www.euro-fam.org/spip/article.php3?id_article=63

See the EP press release on the resolution:
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/OM-Europarl?PROG=PRESS-DAILYNB&L=EN&PUBREF=-//EP...

 Back to Top

---

HIGH PROFILE SPEAKERS AT WORLD YOUTH ALLIANCE FORUMS AT WORLD YOUTH DAY

TORONTO, July 3, 2002 (LSN.ca) - The World Youth Alliance (WYA), has finalized its programs for its two Toronto World Youth Day (WYD) forums on July 24 and 26. This international youth-run group, with headquarters near the UN in New York, will be presenting WYD attendees the opportunity to hear some of today's most prominent and dynamic Catholic personalities.

The speakers list includes:
Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor of First Things, John Paul II biographer, George Weigel, Fr. Robert Sirico, Janet Smith, Wendy Shalit, Fr. Roger Landry, U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Jim Nicholson, Pia de Solenni, Canadian Member of Parliament Jason Kenney, Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, Teresa Collett, Jay Webber, Louise Oliver, National Review columnists Rod Dreher and Kathryn Lopez, Justina McCaffery, Irish singer and Member of the European Parliament Dana Rosemary Scallon, singer Paddy Kelly, singer Janelle & One80 and WYA president Anna Halpine.

For the detailed agenda see
http://www.worldyouthalliance.org/events/wyd2002/forumonthehumanperson.shtml

 Back to Top

---

MAJOR STUDY FINDS MOTHER'S ABORTION HISTORY IS A FACTOR IN HEALTH OF NEWBORNS

EDMONTON, July 3, 2002 (LSN.ca) - A major Canadian study, released in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of Public Health has found that a abortion mother's history of abortions is a factor in the necessity of newborns' re-admission to hospital. The main finding of the study, which examined 81,956 live births between April, 1997, and March, 2000, in Alberta, showed that early maternal discharge is a relatively minor reason for newborn re-admissions to hospital.

But in a list of factors that influenced newborn re-admissions "history of abortions" was listed. Numerous other published studies have confirmed risks for later-born siblings of aborted babies.

Researcher Brent Rooney recently compiled a list of twenty-seven studies published in major medical journals showing a significantly elevated risk of premature birth from prior induced abortions. Medical research indicates that pre-term birth increases the risk of respiratory distress and asthma, Cerebral Palsy and death. The studies showing the link have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, British Medical Journal, The New England Journal Of Medicine, American Journal of Public Health and others.

Despite the risks to later-born children, not to mention risks to the mother, health authorities in Canada refuse to demand that abortionists offer informed consent detailing such risks to women prior to abortions .

See the coverage of the CJPH study in the National Post:
http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id={E7F4BC06-F686-4D65-911C-DA46033F...

For a complete listing of the journals and the specific citations see Rooney's website at:
http://vcn.bc.ca/~whatsup/

 Back to Top

---

90% OF OREGON ASSISTED-SUICIDE PATIENTS CHANGE THEIR MIND SAYS STUDY

WASHINGTON, July 3, 2002 (LSN.ca) - Most people who ask their doctor about assisted suicide are simply depressed or fearful of pain. If properly counselled and treated, 90% choose to continue living, according to a new study of the impact of Oregon's unique 1997 "Death with Dignity Act."

"People usually change their minds," Dr. Susan Tolle, director of the Center for Ethics in Health Care at Oregon Health & Science University, told Reuters. "The doctors are never taught in medical school what to do, what to say, how to help people with their fears that led to their request," said Tolle, who headed the study. She adds: "The doctor should ask, 'What are you afraid of? What are you worried about?'"

Oregon is the only U.S. state where doctor-assisted suicide is legal, but lethal injection is not allowed. Instead, patients referred for suicide are given a prescription, told an overdose would be fatal, and sent home. Researchers believe 1 percent of patients request doctor-assisted suicide, and of these, one in 10 actually take the prescribed overdose. The researchers said that 25,000 terminally ill patients nation-wide ask their doctors for lethal prescriptions every year.

Non-lethal options include counselling and the widely-neglected pain-relief alternative of palliative care, which is upholds human dignity and respects the gift of life.

To read Reuters coverage see:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/Living/reuters20020702_484.html

For links to pro-life information about assisted suicide see:
http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/

To read the free abstract from the Journal of the American Medical Association see:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/current/abs/jel20002.html

 Back to Top

---

B.C. WOMAN CHARGED FOR TWO ASSISTED SUICIDES

DUNCAN, B.C., July 3, 2002 (LSN.ca) - Evelyn Marie Martens, 71, of Langford, B.C., appeared in Duncan provincial court Tuesday morning, charged in connection with two assisted suicides. On June 26, she helped Leyanne Burchell, 52, kill herself in Vancouver. Last Thursday she was charged for counselling and helping Monique Charest of Duncan, a former nun originally from Quebec, to end her life on Jan. 7.

At the end of the hearing, Judge Keith Bracken released Martens on $5,000 bail with a curfew and other conditions -- including that she not be allowed use the Internet or possess plastic tubing, rope, helium tanks or "exit bags," used to suffocate suicidal victims. She is described as a little old lady "with tightly-curled grey hair and gold wire-rimmed glasses," but details went unreported due to a publication ban and she refused comment.

Martens enjoys the dubious honour of a DeathNet endorsement: "Due to the enterprising efforts of such Victoria members such as Evelyn Martens ...in sharing the workload," the site announces, DeathNET founder John Hofsess was "able to resume work on his book 'Born Free But We Die in Chains: An Insider's Report on the right-to-die movement in Canada'," reports the Victoria Times Colonist.

For Globe and Mail coverage, including quotes from "supportive" local seniors, see: http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?current_row=1&tf=t...

For Southam/Victoria Times Colonist coverage see:
http://www.canada.com/victoria/story.asp?id={8BA768AD-0C2C-42E1-8807-27062852B3F...

 Back to Top

---

U.S. NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE PULLS INFO DENYING ABORTION-BREAST CANCER LINK

WASHINGTON, July 3, 2002 (LSN.ca) - The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, a women's group concerned with the issue, reported yesterday that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has taken down an inaccurate web page discussing abortion-breast cancer research. According to the Coalition the NCI's fact sheet misrepresented research in the area and even included false statements and refused to acknowledge the deleterious effects of abortion on the confirmed breast cancer risk factor - postponement of first full term pregnancy.

Early last month, 28 members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson requesting a review of the NCI's fact sheet and calling its information "scientifically inaccurate and misleading to the public." They asked Secretary Thompson to check the web page "for accuracy and bias" and to take it down until after the conclusion of the review.

The congressional representatives faulted the agency for having suggested that "women who have had either induced or spontaneous abortions have the same risk as other women for developing breast cancer," when in fact 28 out of 37 studies worldwide and 13 of 15 American studies report risk elevations. They condemned the NCI for depending on a single study, Melbye et al. 1997, to deny a relationship between abortion and the disease, "although that study contains many significant flaws."

For more information on the ABC link see:
http://abortionbreastcancer.com/ABC_Research.htm

 Back to Top

---

PLANNED PARENTHOOD NON-MEDICAL STAFF ADMIT TO ASSISTING ABORTIONS

LOS ANGELES, July 3, 2002 (LSN.ca) - The United States Justice Foundation (USJF) has announced a campaign to force Planned Parenthood (PP) to obey California law. After hearing testimony that non-medical PP staff had assisted in abortions, USJF sent a notice, pursuant to California Civil Code Section 1782, to PP on June 7, 2002.

USJF Staff Attorney Richard D. Acherman demanded among other things that PP cease having unlicensed personnel performing invasive medical procedures on patients; and that PP advise patients as to the qualifications, or lack thereof, of the employees involved in such invasive medical procedures.

According to Gary G. Kreep, Executive Director of USJF, "Two Planned Parenthood employees have recently admitted, in deposition, under of penalty of perjury, that they have assisted in hundreds of abortions, despite the fact that they are not physicians and that they do not have the appropriate training necessary for such involvement. In fact, these two individuals have had no training justifying their involvement in surgical procedures at all."

The USJF release continued: "The irony of this is that one of the reasons claimed for the need to legalize abortion by its proponents was the fear that, without legalizing abortion, untrained individuals would be performing abortions, and that is exactly what is happening now. Essentially, for Planned Parenthood, and for all the other abortion providers, it is a matter of economics. They want to provide these services as cheaply as possible so that they can maximize their profit. Abortion is a multi-billion dollar per year industry and numerous individuals are getting rich off of it. One reason why they are getting rich off of it is the use of non-physicians in these procedures, in violation of California law."

For more see the USJF release:
http://www.usjf.net/html/plannedparentrelease.html

 Back to Top

---

SENIOR ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP SLAMS INGHAM'S HOMOSEXUAL BLESSINGS

VANCOUVER, July 3, 2002 (LSN.ca) - Dr. George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has condemned Michael Ingham, Vancouver's renegade liberal bishop, and his local synod, for causing schism among Anglicans by voting to bless homosexual unions. As titular head of the world's 70 million Anglicans, Carey lacks disciplinary powers outside the Church of England proper, and his imminent retirement further weakens the authority of his letter. But he made it clear that he regards Ingham's maneuver a "departure from the main thrust of Anglican moral tradition" and proof that "individual dioceses should not 'go it alone' in respect of such matters."

A senior Canadian Anglican priest told the Globe and Mail's Michael Valpy on condition of anonymity, that Carey's remarks were "a bit over the line" -- presumably in contrast to blessing homosexual unions, which the priest did not comment on.

Ingham, in a typically disingenuous and manipulative interview with an apparently naive Valpy, said: "I took it [Carey's letter] as a request for information. He's clearly not aware of the years of study and thought that's gone into this." Ingham dismissed Carey's remarks as a sop to ultra-conservatives. Meanwhile priests in his diocese who reject homosexual marriage, on grounds that it is utterly at odds with elementary Christian doctrine, were given a July 2 deadline to capitulate or face sanctions.

"Everyone will be tolerated -- who agrees; no one will be excluded -- who agrees!" was how Dean Mercer, president of the orthodox Anglican group Fidelity, summed up Ingham's vaunted tolerance and inclusiveness, in a letter to the National Post.

For Globe and Mail coverage see: http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?current_row=9&tf=t...

For Dean Mercer's letter to the National Post, "Was the bishop unfaithful?", see the print edition for July 3, 2002, page A15.

 Back to Top

---

WITCHCRAFT IS FASTEST-GROWING RELIGION IN AUSTRALIA

MELBOURNE, July 3, 2002 (LSN.ca) - Nearly 9,000 Australians consider themselves to be "witches", according to the country's 2001 census, up from fewer than 2,000 in 1996. Self-described "pagans" have more than doubled to 10,632 while the number of people calling themselves "druids," "animists" and "pantheists" have also increased. Muslims and Hindus grew by around 30%, while the overall proportion of Australians identifying with a religion other than Christianity grew from 3.5% in 1996 to nearly 5% in 2001.

By contrast, most Christian denominations suffered attrition, according to Philip Hughes of the Christian Research Association. Overall, the population grew by 5.4% during the five years from 1996 to 2001, but those identifying with Christianity grew by only 1.4%.

Many Christian denominations declined in actual numbers, including the Uniting Church, the Presbyterian and Reformed, The Salvation Army, and, to a lesser extent, the Anglican Church. Catholics experienced their first proportional decline since the 1970s, while the Orthodox stayed level, as did Baptists. The greatest decline was in the Churches of Christ and the Brethren, the former by 22% and the latter by 14%. Lutherans and Seventh-day Adventists also dropped. The only established sect to show significant growth were the Mormons. Jehovah's Witnesses, who grew strongly from 1991 to 1996, declined.

According to the Census, Pentecostals fell by 46%, Hughes reports. However, leaders in the Australian Christian Churches, formed in 2000, encouraged members to identify themselves as "Australian Christian Churches," and some Pentecostals may have been lost in this switch. Others may appear under "Other Christian" (which rose strongly) or "Inadequately Described" (which also rose strongly), the latter capturing persons who scribbled "Jedi" as their religion.

Buddhists are nearing 2% of the population, including increasing numbers of Anglo-Celtic citizens, Hughes says.

One of the biggest surprises, according to Philip Hughes, is that the 'no religion' numbers actually declined. But 10% also refused to answer, a figure that may include religious people who object to the government's collecting such information.

For Melbourne Herald-Sun coverage of the rise of witches in Australia see: http://heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,4609334%255E662,00.htm l

For more details from the Christian Research Association see: http://www.cra.org.au/pages/00000088.cgi

 Back to Top

---

LIFESITE NEWSBYTES

PRAY FOR NETTIE VON DEHN OF B.C.
15 year old Nettie Von Dehn (Daughter of well known Vancouver Pro-life activist Sissy Von Dehn) has been admitted to hospital with a brain tumor. Prognosis is not encouraging but she is receiving the best of care. Please pray for Nettie and her family and spread this prayer request to everyone

CHEMICALS IN PRODUCTS DAMAGE MALE FERTILITY
Artificial female-hormone chemicals found in soya, beer, pesticides and paint can adversely affect male fertility, says a study with the first evidence that a range of potent environmental estrogens disrupt the behaviour of sperm inside a woman's body. The study did not take into account the impact of the high volume of estrogen in the environment as a result of widespread use of human contraceptive pills, blamed for the alarming appearance in rivers of impotent male fish. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/07/03/wfert03.xml&sShe...

For details on male fish deformed by human contraceptive pill detritus flushed into rivers see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$14IMEZIAAJKVXQFIQMGCFFOAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2002/03/27/nfish27.xml

POPE CONFIRMS HE WILL NOT RETIRE
The London Guardian reports that the Pope used a front-page article in an Italian newspaper to deny rumours that his deteriorating health may force him to resign. The article, authorised by the Pope, in the Milan daily Corriere della Sera, quotes Vittorio Messori author of Crossing a Threshold of Hope as retelling the pope's response to the rumours as: "The strength to continue is not my problem but that of Christ, who called me, despite my unworthiness, to be his Vicar on earth. In his mysterious design He brought me here and He will decide my destiny."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,746962,00.html

WOMEN URGED 'NOT TO RUSH IVF TREATMENT'
Most women - even those in their late thirties - will conceive naturally within two years of trying, research suggests.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_2089000/2089381.stm

 Back to Top

---

US NEWS ROUNDUP

US GOV'T $27.7 MILLION FUNDS ABSTINENCE-ONLY EDUCATION PROGRAMS
http://newsroom.hrsa.gov/releases/2002releases/abstinence.htm

FOCUS ON THE FAMILY'S DOBSON BLASTS BUSH APPOINTMENT TO CDC
Dr. James C. Dobson, president of Focus on the Family, responded today to reports citing Dr. Julie Gerberding as the new head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Her writings clearly show that she believes the 'safe sex' lie that has entrapped millions of our teenagers -- many of whom are now fighting incurable sexually transmitted diseases."
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/first/0702-137.html

US VP'S WIFE LYNNE CHENEY HAILS SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200207\NAT20020703a.h...

FLORIDA DEFENDS HOMOSEXUAL ADOPTION BAN
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-locstbriefs03070302jul03.sto...

PRESIDENT LAUDS SUPREME COURT SCHOOL CHOICE DECISION
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/07/20020701-7.html

 Back to Top

---

SHARE THIS PAGE: E-mail  Print

---

---

MORE NEWS: LifeSiteNews.com Home Page  Last 10 Days   Archives   Special Reports

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.