---

SHARE THIS PAGE: E-mail  Print

---

---

Former US President Clinton Speaking at Another Catholic Fundraiser in Canada

By John-Henry Westen

KITCHENER, ON, July 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - LifeSiteNews.com has learned that former US President Bill Clinton is to speak at a fundraiser for the Catholic Family Counselling Centre in Kitchener Ontario.  His scheduled November 8 address will mark the second time Clinton has been employed by a Catholic institution for a fundraiser in the same diocese.

Andrew Wilding, the Director of Resource Development for the Catholic Family Counselling Centre told LifeSiteNews.com that while the speaking engagement has been confirmed, they have not yet secured a location for the event.  Wilding also confirmed that the Counselling Centre was founded by the Diocese of Hamilton.  When asked whether organizers gave thought to the suitability of Mr. Clinton's speaking at the Catholic fundraiser given his support for partial-birth abortion, Wilding replied, "I don't know actually, I don't think so."

Several calls to the diocese of Hamilton were not returned by press time.

In 2001 St. Joseph's Catholic hospital in Hamilton invited Clinton to speak at its fundraiser to the outrage of pro-life leaders in Canada and the shock and horror of their US counterparts.  Despite protests and a picket by pro-lifers the Clinton fundraiser went ahead. (see coverage: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/feb/01021402.html)

As the debate over Clinton's speaking at the Catholic hospital in Canada was underway, Focus on the Family President Dr. James Dobson said, "No man has ever done more to debase the presidency or to undermine our Constitution - and particularly the moral and biblical principles upon which it is based - than has William Jefferson Clinton." Writing in February 2001 he added, "Clinton's hands are stained with the blood of countless innocent babies. By twice vetoing a bill that would have banned partial-birth abortion, he almost single-handedly preserved a barbaric procedure by which fully viable and un-anaesthetized infants, each fresh from the Creator's hand and brimming with life, were murdered during the final moments of delivery."

In 2004, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a policy document calling on Catholic institutions not to have pro-abortion politicians put on a pedestal due to the scandal it would cause.  In their document, Catholics in Political Life, the Bishops' Conference states: "The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honour those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honours or platforms which would suggest support for their actions." (see coverage: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jun/04062102.html)

Those warnings seem to have been ignored, at least in Canada.  In addition to the Catholic Counselling Centre Clinton event, LifeSiteNews.com revealed that the Christian Children's Fund of Canada has partnered with Clinton.  (see coverage: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06061309.html)

The pro-life group Campaign Life Coalition was on hand to picket Clinton's various appearances in Canada and will be there again.  Mary Ellen Douglas, National Coordinator for Campaign Life Coalition told LifeSiteNews.com, "It's an absolute shame that a Catholic facility would invite a man who is so unworthy of an honour."  Douglas added, "CLC will be there to picket as we have every time he's come."

To express concerns:

Auxiliary Bishop Gerard Bergie
Chancellor
Diocese of Hamilton
700 King Street W. Hamilton, ON., L8P 1C7
[905] 528-7988 FAX [905] 528-1088

Catholic Family Counselling Centre
400 Queen Street South
Kitchener, ON N2G 1W7
(519)743-6333

 Back to Top

---

Coma Recovery After 19 Years Poses Questions About Terri Schiavo

A Tale of Two Terries

By Peter J. Smith Mountain View, Arkansas, July 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Monday The Journal of Clinical Investigation published new research on the recovery of a brain damaged man from his 19 years in a minimally conscious state, adding to the growing evidence that those with “hopelessly” severe brain injuries may be able to recuperate with therapy or other kinds of assistance.

The Journal’s research focuses on the sudden recovery of Terry Wallis, who experienced a car wreck in 1984 when he was 19 years old. The accident sheared the nerve connections in his brain, putting him in a minimally conscious state (MCS) and rendering him a quadriplegic. Terry, a young husband with a newborn child, was considered a hopeless case, especially considering that his family could not pay the $120,000 needed to consult a neurologist about any possibility of recovery. However in 2003, during one of the regular visits of his mother, who had regularly visited him at the Rehabilitation Centre in Mountain View, Arkansas, he made what seemed a sudden recovery, and spoke “mom”, his first word in 19 years.

The research indicates that Terry’s brain grew new tiny nerve connections over time, creating a new nerve network to replace the old one that was severely damaged in the car accident. While doctors and neurologists are still baffled as to ‘why’ Terry recovered, the doctors at the rehabilitation centre have indicated that Terry’s recovery might be attributed to the visits of his family, who took him out on weekends and special occasions. This may have acted as a mental therapy to help his brain recover.

“He now seems exactly like his old self,” says Jerry Wallis, Terry’s father. Over the 19 years of Terry’s coma, both Jerry and his mother Angilee had doubts at some time or another about whether or not it was better for Terry to be alive. However, now both are glad they never caved into those doubts. Since then they have seen their son make strides in his recovery with the ambition of walking for his daughter. “He very often tells us how glad he is to be alive,” says Terry’s father.

Terry Wallis’ remarkable recovery after 19 years, however, stands in stark opposition to the case of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, who received no therapy from her philandering husband after her 1990 collapse. She was instead dehydrated to death by court order in March 2005. Although some doctors claim that Terri Schiavo could not have made Terry Wallis’ recovery since she was in a persistent vegetative state (PVS), witnesses such as former nurse Carla Iyer maintained that with therapy, Schiavo, who said words like “mommy, help me”, could have indeed recovered over time.

New research on the ability of the brain to recover over time questions the hastiness of many in the medical profession to condemn patients as irreversibly brain-dead or damaged. Back in May, South African researchers discovered a drug that helps PVS patients temporarily recover to a fully conscious state. In a BBC interview Dr. Ralf Clauss, a scientist in nuclear medicine and one of the drug researchers, stated that “For every damaged area of the brain, there is a dormant area, which seems to be a sort of protective mechanism. The damaged tissue is dead, there’s nothing you can do,” he explained. “But it’s the dormant areas which ‘wake up’.”  

 Back to Top

---

Irish Woman Pleads for Frozen IVF Children in Dublin High Court

By Hilary White
DUBLIN, July 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A woman broke down in tears yesterday in Dublin’s High Court when she described the three frozen embryos that she is fighting for custody over against her husband.
 
The woman, whose identity has not been revealed to the press, is suing her estranged husband over their frozen embryonic children whom they conceived by in vitro fertilization treatments.
 
“The rightful place for those three embryos is back with their mother to give them the right to life,” she said.
 
After the treatments, the woman discovered her husband was having an affair and they separated. She admits that she never gave much thought at the time of the treatments to the fate of the other three embryos that had been placed in cryogenic frozen storage.
 
When the husband suggested selling the embryos or destroying them, she took him and the clinic to court.
 
The Associated Press quoted the woman: “They are our children. They are our childrens' brothers and sisters, just in the beginning of their life. The right place for them is to be back inside their mother who’s me.”
 
The Irish constitution protects the right to life of unborn children and the woman’s legal counsel is arguing that the embryos cannot be destroyed under the law. The IVF clinic in Dublin has refused to implant the embryos until the court has rendered a decision. The court is dealing with issues surrounding consent before examining the constitutional issues.
 
The husband’s lawyer has claimed that the woman is trying to “force” him to have more children than he wants.
 
“I have thought long and hard about donating them but I can’t give our children to another couple,” she said. “I can’t destroy them. It’s morally wrong.”
 
Ireland currently has no regulations regarding IVF treatments.

 Back to Top

---

Abortion of “Excess” Babies Common with IVF

By Gudrun Schultz

VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia, July 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “Excess” babies are routinely aborted as part of in vitro fertilization techniques, a report by the Virginian-Pilot acknowledged yesterday.

The report examined the problems associated with multiple births, a common occurrence when attempting to conceive and successfully carry a child using artificial technology. The success of IVF techniques typically rely on the insertion of multiple embryos to enhance a couple’s chances that at least one embryo will successfully implant and result in a pregnancy.

Frequently, the procedure will result in more than one embryo implanting in the womb at a time, resulting in abnormally high rates of twins, triplets and quadruplets. All multiple births pose far greater risks for both mother and children. The babies are usually born prematurely with dangerously low birth weight, at risk for serious disabilities.

To avoid these risks and increase the chances of having a healthy baby, fertility clinics commonly recommend the “selective reduction” of one or more babies—which in fact simply means aborting the children tagged as less promising to make room for the baby (or babies) believed to be physically stronger. 

“In a world where debate storms on legislative floors over stem cell research and abortion, embryos are culled with quiet regularity from the wombs of women for whom fertility procedures were too effective,” wrote report author Elizabeth Simpson.

Although some fertility clinics have attempted to cut down on multiple birth rates by voluntarily placing restrictions on the number of embryos placed in the womb, such measures only result in the deaths (or indefinite storage) of left over embryos denied access to their mother’s womb.

This treatment of “surplus” embryos is a core argument against artificial procreation methods, raised by the Catholic Church and other religious and political organizations who charge that in vitro fertilization techniques are fundamentally immoral.

Read the full coverage from the Virginian-Pilot:
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=107004&ran=201086

See LifeSiteNews coverage of the loss of life and medical risks of IVF:

http://www.lifesite.net/features/invitro/

 Back to Top

---

Supreme Court Intervenes to Save the Mt. Soledad Cross

SAN DIEGO, CA, July 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com)  – The U.S. Supreme Court intervened Monday to save the 43-foot cross, the centerpiece of a national veterans memorial, atop of Mt. Soledad in San Diego California. A lower court judge had ordered the City of San Diego to remove the cross by August 1st or face fines of $5,000 a day thereafter.

However, after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stay the lower court order, the Thomas More Law Center filed an emergency application for stay on behalf of San Diegans for the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial, the organization that spearheaded the highly successful referendary petition drive that kept the cross from being removed in 2005. The Emergency Application For Stay was filed with Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who issued Monday’s stay order. The Thomas More Law Center is a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel for the Thomas More Law Center commented, “This is great news for our veterans and fallen war heroes on this Fourth of July eve.”

The Law Center’s emergency application explained that this case presents a serious question regarding the place of religious symbols in the public life of our nation.

Robert Muise, the Law Center Trial Counsel who authored the emergency application, also argued that the Mt. Soledad Cross case would give the Court an opportunity to revisit its Establishment Clause jurisprudence, which many on the Court have noted is in need of substantial revision. Muise explained, “It would be a national tragedy to tear down the memorial cross. It would cause irreparable harm to the citizens of San Diego, and the many family members, friends, and comrades of the nearly two thousand veterans who are honored by this memorial for their sacrificial service to this country.”

Charles LiMandri, the West Coast Regional Director for the Thomas More Law Center, whose office is located in San Diego, commented, “Justice Kennedy’s order granting a stay is great news. The Mt. Soledad Cross and Memorial represents the sacrifices our veterans and their families have made and the gratitude that we, as a community and a nation, have for them.”

The Supreme Court normally considers three factors when deciding whether to grant a stay, namely, whether there is a reasonable probability that four Members of the Court will consider the issue sufficiently meritorious to grant certiorari, whether there is a fair prospect that five justices will conclude that the case was erroneously decided and whether there is likely irreparable damage if the stay is denied.

Justice Kennedy also granted the City of San Diego’s application for a stay. The City had previously indicated that unless the legal situation changed, it would comply with the lower court order to remove the cross.

In addition to the numerous legal steps the Law Center is taking to prevent removal of the memorial cross by August 1st, the Law Center is also asking all Americans to join in the effort to urge President Bush to immediately use the federal powers of eminent domain to take the land on which the cross and memorial sit by signing a petition to the President contained on its website at: http://www.thomasmore.org.

 Back to Top

---

Chinese Woman Falls to Her Death Fleeing Forced Abortion of Twins

By Hilary White
 
HONG KONG, July 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy reported this weekend that a woman pregnant with twins has fallen to her death while fleeing a forced abortion in a hospital in Himei.
 
Li Shimei, who was seven months pregnant, was seized at her home and taken to the hospital in the eastern city of Hefei because she already had one child when she became pregnant.
 
Shimei fell from the Shuguang Hospital’s second floor while trying to leave because she thought the procedure was too dangerous, the Information Centre said.
 
The Information Centre provides information about human rights abuses in mainland China for news outlets around the world.
 
While forced or coerced abortion is officially outlawed, human rights groups outside China and some human rights activists within the communist country have said that with quotas laid on local officials, women and families are commonly intimidated or outright forced to abort.
 
China’s One Child policy has come under fire even from the abortion-friendly United Nations human rights inspectors. Demographers believe that China has one of the highest rates of abortion in the world. In 2001, a single region, Guangdong (formerly known as Canton) was ordered by ‘family planning’ officials to carry out a quota of at least 20,000 abortions and sterilizations.
 
In 2005, despite “reforms” claimed by the Chinese government, Amnesty International reported that forced abortion continued to be common.
 
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Forced Abortion Continues in China at Alarming Rate says Latest Report
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05102602.html

 Back to Top

---

South Dakota Tribe Ousts President for Abortion Activism

By Gudrun Schultz

PORCUPINE, South Dakota, July 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Cecelia Fire Thunder, tribal council leader for the South Dakota Oglala Sioux Tribe, was formally removed from office by a 9-5 vote last Thursday, reports the Washington Post.

The Tribal Council had suspended Fire Thunder in May for allegedly beginning fundraising for an abortion clinic on tribal lands without the permission or knowledge of the tribe.

Fire Thunder, according to the Post, had worked part-time in the past for a California abortion clinic run by Planned Parenthood. She began pushing for an abortion clinic on the reservation last March, shortly after South Dakota passed a law banning almost all abortions in the state. Fire Thunder said the state law would not apply within the reservation.

“The bottom line is the Lakota people were adamantly opposed to abortion on our homelands. The president was involved in unauthorized political actions,” said Will Peters, who filed the original complaint against Fire Thunder, resulting in a 20-day suspension prior to the impeachment hearing.

Fire Thunder has said she will challenge the decision, claiming abortion was not the real issue.

“It’s not about abortion. A lot of them have personal stuff toward me,” she said. The Tribal Council had dismissed two previous complaints against Fire Thunder for unrelated activities.

Tribal law includes an inherent respect for life that doesn’t allow for abortions, said retired chief judge and law teacher Patrick Lee to the AP in April.

Lee said the tribe’s respect for the unborn is stated specifically in the juvenile code: “a child conceived, but not born, is to be deemed an existing person so far as may be necessary for its interests and welfare to be protected in the event of its subsequent birth.”

Last month the tribal council voted to completely ban abortion on the reserve.

See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

Abortion Supporting Native Indian Chief in South Dakota May Be Impeached
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/apr/06041107.html

South Dakota Reservation Bans Abortion, Suspends Tribal President Seeking Abortion Clinic
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06060102.html
 

 Back to Top

---

Criminal Charges for Showing Abortion Pictures Violate Freedom of Speech Rights: Editor of NRO

By Gudrun Schultz

NORFOLK, England, July 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Jailing abortion opponents for showing pictures of aborted babies is an attack on free speech wrote journalist and editor of National Review Online, Kathryn Lopez, in the Dunklin Democrat last Friday.

In an article for the Democrat Lopez cited the conviction and jailing in the U.K. of Edward Atkinson and the conviction (on the same day) of a wheelchair-bound woman for sending pictures of aborted babies to pharmacies, as instances of government-led attacks on freedom of speech rights. 74-year-old Edward Atkinson spent one month in jail for repeatedly sending graphic pictures of aborted babies to staff and administrators at Norfolk’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He was attempting to “educate” them, he said, about the abortion procedures taking place at the institution.

“[I]t’s a scandal that a man would be jailed for such an act of free speech. But sending offensive material through the mail is a crime in Merry Old England and so a judge deemed this old man’s mail criminal. You don’t have to think that abortion is an evil that we need to eradicate to think that that is an outrage,” writes Lopez.

Referring to images of partial-birth abortion used by the U.S. National Right to Life Committee to emphasize the barbarity of the procedure, Lopez said, “Not only should a citizen be free to show such disturbing images—that illustrate a legal procedure offensive to our very humanity—those images can be a public service.”

“That’s why the United Kingdom’s treatment of Mr. Atkinson has been so reprehensible.”

“A judge told Atkinson that ‘it is clear that you intended to shock and I am certain your purpose was to cause distress and anxiety,’” wrote Lopez. “Well, I for one am shocked, distressed and anxious—not just because abortion is legal there, and here across the pond, but because of this apparent governmentally enforced conspiracy of silence. The Atkinson files reveal a real case of aborting free speech. Abortion defenders may not agree on the underlying issue—but can’t we all muster outrage over attempts to avoid discussing the details of the issue?”

Along with one month in jail, Atkinson was given a five-year anti-social behaviour order and threatened with five years incarceration if he disobeys the order. The hospital also removed him from a wait list for hip surgery evaluation and banned him from receiving anything but life-saving treatment.

Read the Daily Dunklin Democratic report here
http://www.dddnews.com/story/1158711.html

See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

74-Year-Old UK Pro-Lifer Jailed, Denied Health Care for Sending Abortion Pics to Hospital
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06050904.html
 

 Back to Top

---

Judicial Activism Key to Introducing Abortion to Catholic Latin America: Abortion Lobby Group

By Hilary White  

WASHINGTON, July 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The abortion lobby, the Center for Reproductive Rights, held a briefing on Capitol Hill yesterday to outline  their plans for expanding abortion in Latin America and elsewhere in the world.  

The Catholic News Agency reports that the Center will continue to use the courts in Latin America to bypass legislative opposition to abortion. The Center’s speakers boasted that judicial activism has been particularly successful in “widening the availability of abortion” in the heavily Catholic region.
 
The speakers said that they understood that the area was heavily opposed to abortion and that it would require much “education” to change the attitudes there. They praised the success of the notorious “Paulina” case in which a young girl was held up as a test case in Mexico to create a legal exception through the courts for abortion due to rape. They said the rape exception was a particularly effective wedge issue in Catholic countries.
 
In recent years, Latin America has been singled out by abortion activists as one of the last remaining regions in the world where public opinion has not swung in favour of “a woman’s right to choose.”
 
In May, the president of the Bishops’ Conference of Colombia,  Archbishop Luis Augusto Castro, begged for prayers from around the world to stop the abortion invasion of Latin America.
 
Archbishop Castro said that the so-called “rape exception” was a ruse to plant abortion in countries where no one wants it. “A door is being opened toward the elimination of the innocent lives of so many children who will not be allowed to live, we have always said this is wrong. We continue to say that this is an act against the life of the unborn and it is immoral.”
 
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Colombian Court Legalizes Abortion – Beachhead for Activists in Latin America
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06051503.html
 
US Abortion Activists Forcing Abortion on Mexico through Courts
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/mar/06030808

 Back to Top

---

LifeSiteNews.com NewsBytes

Washington D.C. Metro Board Member Won’t Abide Opposition to Homosexuality; Official has a history of anti-Catholic, anti-ex-‘gay’ remarks and actions
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11060/CFI/family/index.htm

Michael Medved recommends Obsession movie
http://www.obsessionthemovie.com/

Cancer Breakthrough Called ‘Teachable Moment’ for Abstinence
http://www.ncregister.com/articulo4.php?artkod=NjIz

Ohio Judge Allows Investigation of Planned Parenthood Records    
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11044/CWA//index.htm

Alabama Lawmaker: Teachers Should Divest From NEA's Liberal Agenda
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/afa/302006b.asp

Don't Believe the Hype - Al Gore is wrong. There's no "consensus" on global warming.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008597

War Hero and Former U.S. Senator Asks Bush to Save Cross, War Memorial
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/afa/302006f.asp

Dr. Dobson: Media Provides Cover for Assault on Traditional Marriage
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/28/dobson.gaymarriage/index.html

Marriage issue won't go away - By Bishop Fred Henry
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Henry_Bishop_Fred/2006/06/24/1651652.html

Study: Men in Germany Are Scared to Start Families
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2071657,00.html

Skin stem cells aid nerve cells MS, Parkinson's may benefit
http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2006/06/14/pf-1631198.html

Polish Bishops on Funding Human Embryo Research: "Human Dignity Is Inviolable. It Must Be Respected and Protected"
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=91783

So Much for the World Cup of Prostitution in Germany: A Lot of Supply, Not Much Demand
http://www.thefactis.org/default.aspx?control=ArticleMaster&aid=1556&aut...

Internet Service Providers Join Forces to Block Child Porn
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0041055.cfm

 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.