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Tuesday March 18, 2003
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Print- UK GOV'T RAPPED FOR FAILING TO ADDRESS CHINA ON COERCIVE ONE-CHILD POLICY
- CANADIAN PRIEST DEMANDS EXCOMMUNICATION FOR HIS PRO-ABORTION VIEWS
- MONTREAL IMMIGRANT CARE-GIVER FIRED FOR REFUSING ABORTION
- NEW ZEALAND TO DEBATE ASSISTED SUICIDE
- POLICE ARREST PRO-ABORT THUG WHO ASSAULTED B.C. PRO-LIFE PICKETER
- NEBRASKA GOV. PRAISES ABORTION REDUCTION BUT STILL MOURNS LOSS OF LIFE
- JAMES KOPP CONVICTED OF INTENTIONAL MURDER
- ARGENTINA REGIONS RECOGNIZE HOMOSEXUAL UNIONS
- LIFESITE NEWSBYTES
UK GOV'T RAPPED FOR FAILING TO ADDRESS CHINA ON COERCIVE ONE-CHILD POLICY
TODAY'S HEADLINES
WESTMINSTER, March 18, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has welcomed a report which criticises the British government's slow progress in its human rights dialogue with China - including the issue of what the Committee called the "often brutal enforcement of China's one-child policy".
In its report issued today on the Foreign Office's Human Rights Annual Report 2002, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee calls upon the Foreign Office to "present a more honest picture of what has and has not been achieved by the Dialogue," saying that the Government's "current strategy appears to be yielding few tangible results."
SPUC political spokesman Anthony Ozimic commented: "We welcome this repeated criticism of the British government's failure to uphold the fundamental human rights of women and children - born and unborn - in China. We also welcome the submission by Amnesty International, which calls upon China to "ensure that there is no impunity for human rights violations", citing the failure of the Chinese authorities to punish population control officials who "resort to violence, torture and ill-treatment, including physically coerced abortions and sterilisation.""
The report comes hot on the heels of new evidence of forced abortion in China released two weeks ago at a conference in Washington, at which U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee Vice Chairman Chris Smith called for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) "to be held accountable in a court of law" for "aiding and abetting a dictatorship that has declared war on its women and on its unborn and newly born children, mostly girls." Last year President George W. Bush declared that US federal funding of UNFPA was illegal under US law which bans such funding for organisations complicit in coercive population control. Nevertheless, the European Union and EU member-states including Britain still give UNFPA tens of millions of pounds in annual funding.
Mr. Ozimic concluded: "While the British government refuses to admit that its support of UNFPA's China programme is in violation of international principles protecting pregnant women agreed at Cairo, it cannot claim to be implementing an 'ethical foreign policy'."
Back to TopCANADIAN PRIEST DEMANDS EXCOMMUNICATION FOR HIS PRO-ABORTION VIEWS
VALLEYFIELD, Quebec, March 18, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Claude Fluet, a Catholic priest in the diocese of Valleyfield wrote a letter to the editor published in Le Devoir March 14 in which he says he would rather be excommunicated than give up his convictions about allowing abortion in certain cases. The letter entitled "Perhaps I too should be excommunicated," took issue with the Catholic Church in Nicaragua which told the parents of a nine year old girl that by advocating abortion for their daughter they incurred ipso facto excommunication.
The case in Nicaragua has caused much commotion since feminists are typically using this hard case to push the country to legalize abortion. A nine year old girl, known as Rosa, was raped and conceived a child. Doctors said that her health was equally at risk from an abortion as it would be to continue with the pregnancy. Despite the fact that Nicaraguan law prohibited abortion in those circumstances the baby was aborted. The local Bishop and the head of the Nicaraguan bishops conference had attempted to save the life of the child while offering aid to the young mother and her baby.
However, Rev. Fluet falsely painted the situation as one of selecting which life to save, that of the unborn baby or the nine-year-old girl. He said that destruction of the unborn child was the correct recourse for the girl and that he was "shocked" that "the most recalcitrant sectors of the Catholic Church aimed at obstructing the abortion."
Rev. Fluet concludes his letter saying, "If I am truly wrong, I would prefer excommunication rather than renounce my convictions."
To contact the Bishop of Valleyfield:
Most Rev. Luc Cyr
Bishop of Valleyfield
Email:
MONTREAL IMMIGRANT CARE-GIVER FIRED FOR REFUSING ABORTION
MONTREAL, March 18, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Filipina immigrant woman who
works as a live-in caregiver was taken to hospital by her employers for an abortion without even being consulted. When she refused to have the abortion, she was fired and threatened with deportation.
Marisa (not her real name), who is 33, came to Canada two years ago under a federal live-in caregiver program. Marisa states her employer, a busy family man who found her pregnancy inconvenient, "told me I was just an immigrant and what future would this child have?" Together with her employment agency, Eurasian Homecare Services, the employer sent Marisa to Notre Dame Hospital, assuring her it "would be good for her."
Marisa says: "I thought it was for a checkup, and they were discussing everything with the doctor in French, so I didn't know what was going on." A few minutes later she knew. "I was shocked," Marisa said. "I told them I couldn't have an abortion because it was against my religion." She has lodged complaints with Quebec's Labour Board and the Quebec Human Rights Commission.
Pro-life leaders in North America and elsewhere have often encountered similar situations where pregnant live-in workers have been callously threatened and pressured to abort their child.
For Montreal Gazette coverage:
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/columnists/story.asp?id={43D39849...
NEW ZEALAND TO DEBATE ASSISTED SUICIDE
WELLINGTON, March 18, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - New Zealand's parliament is set to debate assisted suicide legislation, the Death With Dignity Bill.
"The voluntary euthanasia movement believes that this would enable a comprehensive, nationwide debate, which has been too long avoided," said Jack Jones with the Voluntary Euthanasia Society.
New Zealand First MP Peter Brown introduced his member's bill to the House on March 6. It calls for two independent medical opinions, mandatory counseling with a psychologist or psychiatrist, a mandatory stand-down period, and a minimum age of 18, before a person can access the provisions of the bill and seek help to die.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2340116a6160,00.html
POLICE ARREST PRO-ABORT THUG WHO ASSAULTED B.C. PRO-LIFE PICKETER
Crown Council Has Not Yet Approved Charges Say Police
VANCOUVER, March 17, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Police arrested a large man on Friday March 14, after he physically attacked the leader of Campaign Life Coalition B.C., John Hof. While Hof was picketing outside the fifty meter bubble zone surrounding an abortuary, an unknown assailant approached, looked at the sign Hof was holding pushed the sign, kicked it and punched Hof in the face. Hof told LifeSite that he did not speak to the man prior to the attack. The sign compared the abortion holocaust to the killing of blacks and Jews.
Many bystanders witnessed the attack including a police officer who was observing the scene. Hof, who sustained bruising and a bleeding nose from the attack got up to find the man in handcuffs and was asked by police if he wanted to press charges. He decided to proceed with charges.
LifeSite spoke to several witnesses who corroborated Hof's account of the event. However, LifeSite got a different version of events from the Vancouver City Police Department. Police spokesman Constable Sarah Bloor, told LifeSite that there was a "verbal exchange" followed by a "pushing match" after which the "victim was struck in the face" and incurred a "cut on the lip."
Bloor said she could not release the name of the assailant since he was not yet charged. She explained that the crown council had not approved of charges.
Ted Gerk, of the BC Pro-life Resource Center told LifeSite he was very concerned at the cavalier attitude taken toward assaults of pro-lifers by BC authorities. Gerk recalled the University of BC incident where a pro-abortion student was given nothing more than a slap on the wrist for being caught on video destroying a pro-life display.
NEBRASKA GOV. PRAISES ABORTION REDUCTION BUT STILL MOURNS LOSS OF LIFE
Announces 27 Percent Decline in Abortions in Nebraska Since 1998
LINCOLN, March 18, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Gov. Mike Johanns announced today that the number of abortions in Nebraska has gone down for the fourth year in a row, falling from 5,140 abortions in 1998 to 3,775 abortions in 2002. The figures are part of the Nebraska Health and Human Services System's (HHSS) 2002 Statistical Report of Abortions released today.
"Since 1998, the number of abortions performed in Nebraska has fallen by 1,365, or 26.6 percent," Gov. Johanns said. "That is excellent news, but it saddens me to think of the human cost and lost potential to our state that results from having more than 21,000 abortions take place in the last five years."
The continuing downward trend may reflect a cultural change regarding the issue of abortion, and may reflect fewer unintended pregnancies for both single and married women, Gov. Johanns said.
Between 2001 and 2002, abortions reported to Nebraska's HHSS declined by 207 abortions or 5.2 percent. In 2001, 3,982 abortions were reported, compared to 3,775 abortions in 2002. Most of the decrease was in teenagers age 19 and under, dropping from 20.8 percent of the total in 2001 to 18.8 percent in 2002.
JAMES KOPP CONVICTED OF INTENTIONAL MURDER
BUFFALO, March 18, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Judge Michael D'Amico has found James Kopp guilty of intentional murder in the shooting death of abortionist Barnett Slepian. Kopp, who is a suspect in several non-fatal shootings of abortionists in Canada, said through his lawyer that he intended only to injure the abortionist so as to prevent further abortions.
In a November 2002 interview in the Buffalo News Kopp first publicly admitted that he shot Slepian. He was quoted by the News as stating "I aimed at his shoulder. The bullet took a crazy ricochet, and that's what killed him." He continued, "One of my goals was to keep Dr. Slepian alive, and I failed at that goal."
Sentencing is set for May 9, with Kopp facing a minimum 15 years to life and a maximum of 25 years to life in prison.
On Thursday Kopp will be in court again facing separate charges of interfering with an abortion.
See the AP coverage from Newsday at:
http://www.nynewsday.com/nyc-kopp0318,0,1557135.story?coll=nyc-topheadlines-left
See Previous LifeSite report
PRO-LIFE LEADERS SHOCKED AND SADDENED AT KOPP GUILT IN ABORTIONIST SHOOTING
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/nov/02112001.html
ARGENTINA REGIONS RECOGNIZE HOMOSEXUAL UNIONS
BUENOS AIRES, March 18, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Argentine capital region of Buenos Aires and Río Negro province became the first jurisdictions in Latin America to recognize homosexual civil unions this week, after months of pressure from the Socialist Party and homosexual groups. Three other provinces are considering a similar step.
The new laws grant homosexual "civil unions" many of the rights previously reserved to husbands and wives, stopping short of same-sex marriage and adoption but scoring a clear blow against traditional marriage.
Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio said the change "goes against natural law," noting that homosexual unions are "caricatures of families that have neither a future themselves nor the ability to create a future society."
For local coverage from a pro-homosexual source:
http://www.lapress.org/article.asp?IssCode=&lanCode=1&artCode=3276
For related coverage:
BUENOS AIRES GIVES LEGAL RECOGNITION TO HOMOSEXUAL UNIONS
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/dec/02121606.html
LIFESITE NEWSBYTES
GLOBAL ORGAN TRADE HAS CANADIAN CONNECTION
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/03/17/organ_trade030317
IRELAND PAID FOR TWO TEEN ABORTIONS SINCE ABORTION POLL
http://www.online.ie/news/irish_examiner/viewer.adp?article=1971366
IOWA SENATE PASSES LEGISLATION MANDATING ABORTION PILL REPORTING
http://www.theiowachannel.com/health/2047059/detail.html
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