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Commentary on February 6 News

Dear Readers,

There is a golden opportunity to fight so-called legal pornography today with the police report on the epidemic of child porn traders – 600,000 in the US known to police and over 65,000 in Canada.  The expert on the subject we interviewed notes that all porn is addictive like drugs and it always takes more to achieve the same high. Therefore porn addiction is progressive and leads naturally to ever more bizarre and dangerous porn. To stop child porn we must stop all porn. Keep all even mildly explicit or "soft" porn out of your homes (television, Internet, magazines) and avoid this material outside the home as well.

The Eluana Englaro saga is a heartbreaker. One man, the president of Italy, a mostly figurehead position, is determined that Eluana must be killed. The Terri Schiavo slow killing was perhaps the most disturbing issue that we have ever covered, with even many Church leaders supportive of or disinterested in her murder. Now Europe is experiencing a similar trauma. It is hard to comprehend how such evil can be allowed to go on. People of all nations should be concerned about this development and contact Italian embassies demanding that Eluana's life be saved. If she is successfully killed this cancer will certainly spread to other nations.

We stongly encourage you to view the first of the Facing Life Head On videos on LifeSitenews today. "A Surprising Link" is one powerful video and Charnette Messe's moving testimony will never be forgotten. Tell others about the video. They will all thank you for it.

John Jalsevac seems to have left his audience at the University of London astonished with his information about the Inherent Racism of Abortion. Some of them explained that they had never heard of these facts. It was an eye opener. See also our most popular document, "The Inherent Racism of Population Control", a MUST READ, at http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/may/040518a.html

Drudge Report linked to LifeSiteNews.com yesterday for this story: Lawsuit Filed for Baby Born Alive at Abortion Clinic then Killed and Hidden from Police. Drudge Report is one of the world's most influential websites.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09013009.html

To our US readers, don't forget about Sienna Wireless. You get quality service and excellent prices while at the same time helping LifeSiteNews by designating us as the charity to receive the percentage of your bill that Sienna gives to life affirming organizations. You win and we win. See http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09012614.html

Finally, please remember our need for donations. If you have been impressed with some of our recent reports help us to continue to produce such reports with a generous donation. We are totally dependent on gifts from readers. To donate go to http://www.lifesitenews.com/donate/index.html

Steve Jalsevac
LifeSiteNews.com

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Child Porn Pandemic as Police Estimate 600,000 Americans, 65,000 Canadians Trading Child Porn Online

By Kathleen Gilbert

TORONTO, Ontario, February 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Ontario police yesterday celebrated the results of a province-wide child pornography bust, the largest in Ontario's history - yet officers acknowledge they have only scratched the surface of the massive underworld of child sexual abuse in North America. 

Police officers said at a press conference Thursday that the sweep led to the arrest of 31 child sex offenders between the age of 14 and 60, as well as the rescue of two young victims, a 4-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl.  The maximum jail time for creating and distributing child pornography is ten years, with five years for possessing images.

But the "huge" bust has hardly put a dent in the actual child pornographer population - which officials estimate at a staggering 600,000 in the U.S., and 65,000 in Canada.  The profits for creating and trading images of often-violent sexual abuse of children, toddlers, and infants amount to an estimated $2- to $3-billion each year.

The child pornography unit of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) believes the 65,000 figure is very low, as 40,000 computers in Ontario alone are known to be used to access child porn.

“The OPP is arresting about 75 of these offenders a year, when we know there are tens of thousands of them,” said Inspector Andy Stewart in a Canadian press report, also calling the 65,000 estimate "very conservative."  

“We’re never going to be in a position to arrest our way out of this," he said.

“There’s just not enough manpower to go and identify and arrest these 65,000 individuals,” said Paul Gillespie, former head of Toronto police's child exploitation unit, now president and CEO of the Kids’ Internet Safety Alliance.  “That’s where it gets scary and people sort of change the channel, because they don’t want to hear that the police know there’s 65,000 suspects they’re never going to get to.” 

The number is even more alarming when considering how many children, toddlers and infants are put in danger by the spread of child pornography addiction.  According to information released at the press conference, studies indicate that those who engage in actual child abuse - somewhere between 30-80% of those possessing abusive images - have anywhere from 13 to 30 child victims each.

Inspector Dave Ross, Deputy Director of the OPP Corporate Communications Bureau, told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that, while the public is alerted when a child abuser has been arrested, there is no such alert after they are released from jail. 

Thorough investigation of the sex offenders proves difficult, not only for lack of manpower, but due to the sheer perversion of the images officers must sift through to track down offenders and identify enslaved children.  The evidence trail is so revolting that investigators go to yearly counseling, said Det. Staff-Sgt. Frank Goldschmidt of the OPP.

Dr. Judith Reisman, an internationally-recognized author, scientist, and educator specializing in sexual perversion, says the growing appetite for child pornography corresponds to the "pornographic, erototoxic epidemic.”

"It’s called in science 'social contagion' or 'emotional contagion,'" Reisman told LifeSiteNews.com. "Historically it is known as ‘monkey see monkey do.’ Pornography wires viewers brains to lust after rape of women and children, globally breeding nations of child rapists, serial rapist murderers and the like among men, women and even children.

Reisman said pornography "mutilates the human brain" and creates offenders, rather than simply pandering to an existing pathology. "Erototoxins turn what could have been normal, decent humans into vile and deformed molesters," she said.  "Our brains and our behavior are shaped by our environment.

"Some people will withstand pornographic conditioning due to their genetic inheritance (perhaps) but more likely due to strong moral absolutes.  However, even those moral absolutes can be exploited and violated by exposure to these erototoxins we call pornography."

Reisman said that someone who sees no connection between "legal" porn and the child porn pandemic is "in denial."

"Literature, music, art, cross cultural history and current brain science all coalesce to confirm the addictive, destructive process of all 'sexually provocative' visual stimuli," said Reisman.  "All porn are Erototoxic because the brain converts sexual images into an endogenous drug ‘high’ via the reward system, pouring a supranormal drug cocktail similar to cocaine throughout the brain/body.

"The withdrawal state following use will be the same as withdrawal from a street drug, calling the user back to the source of image-arousal.  Like alcoholics, any cue that is associated with their lust (here booze) will drive the addict, the user, back to his or her source."

See related LifeSiteNews.com articles:

Road to Perversion Is Paved With Porn
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/apr/060412a.html

Child Porn Among Fastest Growing Internet Businesses
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05110905.html

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Italy’s Communist President Refuses to Sign Passed Temporary Measure to Save Eluana Englaro

Thousands of pro-life groups and individuals across Italy have been begging the government to intervene

By Hilary White

ROME, February 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Italy's President and head of state, has refused to sign an emergency measure, passed by the government, that would save the life of Eluana Englaro, the young woman whose food and hydration is being removed starting today. The ratification by the President is required under Italy’s parliamentary system for the law to take effect.

The government announced at 3 p.m. (Italian time) today that it had approved the temporary measure, called a “decree law,” that was drafted to prohibit the removal of food and hydration from vulnerable patients. A decree law is a measure that can be put into place by the Council of Ministers as an emergency measure and will be in effect for 60 days while Parliament debates whether to adopt it permanently.

Napolitano’s refusal has “frozen” the measure and although there is a procedure in place in Parliament to override his decision, it will take 20 days to implement, by which time Eluana will have been successfully dehydrated to death.

The government announcement of its approval of the law came as the nursing clinic in Udine, La Quieta, to which Eluana was taken on Tuesday night by her father, told media this morning that the process of “gradual” removal of food and hydration from Eluana Englaro had begun. Medical experts predicted that from the start of this process, 48 hours would have remained to stop the procedure before irreversible damage was done to Eluana.

Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Italian Republic, is under heavy pressure to sign the law which is supported by Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister and head of the government. Napolitano, the Head of State and former leader of the Italian Communist party, had sent a letter to the executive explaining his doubts about a measure of its kind. After the 1991 dissolution of the officially recognised Italian Communist Party, Napolitano joined the Democrats of the Left (DS) party. He was the first former member of the Communist party to be Minister of the Interior.

The text of the law, entitled “Urgent Provisions on Nutrition and Hydration,” reads, “Pending the approval of a complete and comprehensive legislative framework in the field of end-of-life, nutrition and hydration, as forms of life support physiologically designed to alleviate suffering, cannot under any circumstances be rejected by the person concerned or suspended from caregiver subjects unable to provide for themselves.”

Today the Council of Ministers voted unanimously to support the measure despite the doubts of some. “Even those who had doubts were convinced to vote because the government has the opportunity to express its decision but also offers a way to Parliament to decide,” one member said. In November, legal expert Luca Silvestri told LifeSiteNews.com that a decree law was the best hope of stopping the court-mandated dehydration death of Eluana as well as protecting others by closing the legal “back door” to euthanasia by dehydration.

Thousands of pro-life groups and individuals across Italy have been begging the government to intervene. Archbishop Pietro Brollo of Udine said on Wednesday, “The only duty society has towards this young woman is to help her to live.”

“Udine is ready to embrace Eluana Englaro, a daughter of this land. Upon learning of her arrival, I ask first of all that this woman be guaranteed care, hydration, nutrition and every means that someone who is sick, particularly someone who is very incapacitated, is due by those who have the professional duty in conscience to provide a cure,” the archbishop wrote in a statement

As of this writing, demonstrations are still planned for the weekend in support of Eluana, who is often described as the “Terri Schiavo” of Italy. The Catholic apostolate, Communion and Liberation that has thousands of followers across Italy, announced it will be mobilising to save Eluana and demonstrating outside the La Quiete clinic in Udine. The group “Two Minutes for Life” a national lobby group, is providing the email addresses of members of parliament and asking the public to demand that the government save Eluana.

Daniele Sebastianelli national coordinator of the Catholic action group Militia Christi told LifeSiteNews.com that they will be demonstrating on Sunday afternoon with a candle light vigil. On Thursday night, the group held a similar vigil outside the Quirinale Palace, the official residence of the President of the Italian Republic.

Movement for Life of Casale, in a press release proposed three “weapons” to save Eluana: “prayer, fasting and the use of computers”. They ask that the Catholics of Italy pray the Rosary every day for her life, seeking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin of Lourdes, whose feast is February 11. The group also strongly suggested three days of fasting and requested that all the people of Italy “who are committed to the defence of life should continue to write to the Italian government asking them to use all possible legal instruments to save Eluana’s life”.

Stefano Gizzi, an attorney and Municipal Councillor of the town of Ceccano, wrote to Senator Maruo Cutrufo, requesting that the decree law to save Eluana be passed, calling it “absolutely urgent” and said that the value of human life is “not negotiable”.

The head of the Rome office of Human Life International, Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro, sent a letter today to Berlusconi, pleading for the life of Eluana. Msgr. Barreiro said, “Think of the blessings of the Lord that would come upon Italy if you would have the courage to save the life of Eluana Englaro.”

“Think how much those blessings are necessary in this time of crisis when unemployment is increasing when it is harder and harder for families to pay the most basic living expenses.

“If you do not abandon the ways of the Lord, He will not abandon you, and He will reward your fidelity. If instead you let Eluana die, think on the justice of the Lord; think that in a not distant future, you will find yourself in front of the justice of the Lord, and you will need all His mercy.

“But if you save Eluana, our organisation, which is extended worldwide, will praise you publicly, and your courage in justice will be known worldwide. I assure you that in difficult times, I will pray constantly for you.”

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Breaking News: Italian Government Ready with Draft Law to Stop the Killing of Eluana Englaro
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020501.html

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Terri’s Foundation Denounces President of Italy’s Refusal to Sign Decree Stopping Eluana Englaro Death by Dehydration

ST. PETERSBURG, FL, February 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In spite of an emergency decree passed by the Italian government, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano refused to sign the decree that would save the life of Eluana Englaro, the young woman whose food and hydration has been removed this morning. The ratification by the President is required under Italy’s parliamentary system for the law to take effect.

Eluana Englaro, who has been called “Italy’s Terri Schiavo,” has been receiving food and water via a feeding tube since a 1992 car crash that left her with a brain injury. Her father, Beppino Englaro, has been seeking to end her life for nearly 10 years. Today’s events will clear the way for Eluana to experience what Terri’s Foundation called a “barbaric and inhumane death” by starvation and dehydration unless President Napolitano signs this decree into law.

“We are very disappointed to hear that President Napolitano is reluctant to sign the decree that would spare Eluana from a horrific death,” noted Terri Schiavo’s brother, Bobby Schindler.

Schindler added, “It is incumbent upon any official to protect and safeguard the value and dignity of all life, regardless of a person’s physical limitations. Eluana is not dying and only needs food and water – the most basic care – to live. This at the very least should be provided for her and we are asking for everyone to contact the Embassy of Italy in the US at (202) 612-4400, and communicate to the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano that he should IMMEDIATELY sign the decree which would prevent Eluana’s inhuman dehydration death.”

Terri’s Foundation, located in St. Petersburg, FL., is an organization dedicated to promoting the Culture of Life, embracing the true meaning of compassion by opposing the practice of euthanasia.

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Senate Refuses to Remove Religious Discrimination in Stimulus Package

By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The U.S. Senate has refused to remove language in the economic stimulus bill proposed by the Obama administration stating that universities accepting funds for facility upgrades would be forbidden to allow religious activity in those areas.

Section 803 of the bill grants funds "for the purpose of modernizing, renovating, and repairing institution of higher education facilities that are primarily used for instruction and research." The same section, however, prohibits these funds to go to the "modernization, renovation, or repair of facilities--(i) used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or a school or department of divinity; or (ii) in which a substantial portion of the functions of the facilities are subsumed in a religious mission."

"This provision would, in fact, prohibit universities that allow student groups to use facilities for Bible studies or worship services from receiving federal funds under the stimulus package," wrote Jay Sekulow, an attorney with the American Center for Law and Justice.

Immediately following the discovery of the controversial clause in the several-hundred-page document, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) put forward an amendment that would have invalidated the discriminatory language, but the amendment failed Thursday in a 54-43 vote.

Sekulow wrote that the law center plans to challenge the measure in federal court if the final draft of the stimulus bill still contains the provision and is passed.

"What’s most troubling is the fact that a majority of the Senate supports a discriminatory provision that prohibits religious activity from taking place in college and university facilities nationwide that take federal stimulus funds," wrote Sekulow.  "This provision has nothing to do with economic stimulus and everything to do with religious discrimination."

The Senate is expected to vote on the stimulus bill today.

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Abortionist Stripped of Medical License in the Hialeah Baby Murder Case

TAMPA, Florida, February 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - This morning, the Florida Board of Medicine revoked the medical license of Pierre Renelique, a Florida abortionist who failed to show up for a scheduled late-term abortion at a Hialeah clinic in July, 2006. As a result of his no-show, unlicensed workers delivered a live 23-week old baby girl, then shoved the struggling baby into trash bag, and stashed her body on the roof.

The Board found Renelique guilty of medical malpractice and delegating responsibility to unlicensed personnel.

"We are very grateful to the Florida Medical Board for stripping Renelique of his medical license,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman, following the board's decision. “His incompetence led to the brutal death of an innocent baby born alive, and we are grateful that he will not be afforded the opportunity of hurting anyone else."

Police, working on an informant's tip, were able to recover the little girl's body. An autopsy determined that she had air in her lungs and had therefore been born alive. A second evaluation of the autopsy determined that actions taken by unlicensed abortion worker Belkis Gonzalez caused her death.

The baby, Shanice Denise Osbourne, was finally buried in October, 2008, and just last week a civil suit was filed against Renelique, Gonzalez, and others on behalf of Shanice.

Criminal charges have yet to be filed, but a spokesperson for the state attorney's office told reporters that a decision on criminal charges is expected soon.

"This was the first step in finally holding Shanice's killers accountable for her murder. We look forward to seeing criminal charges filed very soon," said Newman. Operation Rescue has been encouraging calls to the prosecutor David Waksman, who had delayed pressing charges for over two years.

"This is an open and shut case, as shown by the Medical Boards actions today. There is no more reason for delay. Causing the death of someone, even if they are terminal, is still murder in anyone's book.”

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Lawsuit Filed for Baby Born Alive at Abortion Clinic then Killed and Hidden from Police
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09013009.html

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Life Issues Television Series Starts Today on LifeSiteNews.com

First video presents moving, compelling evidence of abortion/breast cancer link

By Steve Jalsevac

February 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Recently, Niagara Region Right to Life contracted LifeSiteNews to host a series of on line, half hour videos of a television program on life issues produced by the Life Issues Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio. The series, with host Brad Mattes, has been praised for its high quality, compelling and accurate productions on these crucial matters.

Today, the series begins with "The Surprising Link", a convincing and moving investigation of the link between abortion and breast cancer.

Charnette Messe, a 35-year-old mother of two, was living the American dream until she learned she had breast cancer, and then the very next day, found out she was pregnant. Fighting for her life and that of her baby, Charnette wanted answers, and, now, she wants to tell other women the truth she discovered about the abortion she kept a secret for 15 years and why it may have caused her cancer.

Dr. Angela Lanfranchi, a New Jersey breast surgeon and co-founder of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, provides a medical explanation of why abortion is the single, most avoidable risk factor for breast cancer.

LifeSiteNews highly recommends this video to all its readers. We have no doubt that most viewers will be impressed and moved by the personal witness of Charnette Messe and impressed by the evidence presented by Dr. Lanfranchi and Breast Cancer Institute co-founder Dr. Joel Brind.

Readers are encouraged to tell others about the "The Surprising Link". The lives of many young women are at stake.

This first video is presented in three parts and in both Windows Media and Quicktime formats. Some viewers may find that one or other of the formats will function better in their particular browser.
 
** See "The Surprising Link" **
http://www.lifesitenews.com/video/facinglifeheadon/thesurprisinglink/index.html

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Call Issued for Alumni to Cut Funding to U of Calgary over Pro-Life Trespassing Fiasco

By John-Henry Westen

CALGARY, February 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The announcement that the University of Calgary has charged a number of pro-life students with trespassing on their own campus for displaying graphic pro-life signs has caused a stir even among those who do not consider themselves pro-life.  Free speech advocates have condemned the decision, professors at the university have slammed it and, now, alumni have been called to halt their financial support for the institution. 

Famed free-speech advocate Ezra Levant, himself a graduate of the University of Calgary, has encouraged his fellow alumni to launch “a boycott on donations” to the University.  Levant called the University’s move “an embarrassment to all Calgarians and all alumni of the University of Calgary.” He remarked that “the U of C's police harassment (sic) of its students is a planned, thoughtful, strategic assault on freedom of speech, academic freedom, and the very nature of universities.”

He called it “appalling” and “un-Canadian,” that the “city's university sends cops after young women to bully them into ceasing their political discussions.”

The University, he said, "should lose endowments. They should lose grants. They should lose donations from thousands of alumni. Not just from pro-life alumni – though it should lose all of those. But from anyone who believes that a university is a place where different ideas can duke it out, and the best wins."

The Canadian Constitution Foundation told the National Post that “using the trespass legislation to suppress one viewpoint is a gross misuse of what that legislation is all about.”  The Post also reported that several professors at the University have criticized the Administration’s actions.  "This shows that senior administration has really lost touch with the purpose of a university, which is precisely to discuss questions that members of the public find difficult to consider," said University of Calgary political scientist Barry Cooper.

Levant concluded, “This is not a pro-life vs. pro-choice discussion. That's irrelevant. This heavy-handed bullying by the U of C would be appalling no matter which side of the debate was being squashed. I think that any pro-life alumni should be extra angry that the university is officially gagging one side of that debate. But any pro-choicer who believes in freedom of speech should be disgusted with their alma mater, too.”

Leah Hallman, the president of Campus Pro-Life, said she was thankful for the support and had this message for pro-life Canadians: “I would like to encourage all Canadians to be a voice for the unborn and to stand up in the face of persecution.”

Campus Pro-Life also said they would appreciate any donations to help with legal fees.  Hallman told LifeSiteNews.com, “I suggest that alumni who are currently donating to the University of Calgary withdraw their support, and use this money to donate to Campus Pro-Life [cheques can be made payable to ‘Campus Pro-Life’ and mailed to the address below] or another pro-life organization.”

Campus Pro-Life
PO Box 84065
Calgary AB 
T3A 5C4

See Levant’s blog online here:
http://www.ezralevant.com/

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Bishop Martino Warns "Pro-Life" Sen. Casey to Rescind Abortion Vote or Else be Complicit in "Hideous Evil"

SCRANTON, Pennsylvania, Februrary 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a letter to Sen. Robert P. Casey, the bishop of Scranton Pennsylvania, Joseph F. Martino, strongly condemned the Pennsylvania Democrat's vote against an amendment reinstating the Mexico City Policy in spite of the senator's claim to be "pro-life."

“Your vote against the Mexico City Policy will mean the deaths of thousands of unborn children," wrote Bishop Martino.  "This is an offense against life and a denial of our Catholic teaching on the dignity of every human being. This action is worthy of condemnation by all moral men and women.”

The Martinez Amendment to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) would have reinstated the Mexico City Policy that disallowed U.S. taxpayer funding of international abortion-promoting organizations before President Obama struck it down Jan 23. The amendment was defeated in a vote of 60-37.

In his letter, Bishop Martino condemned Sen. Casey’s vote against the Martinez amendment which would have prevented “over 450 million dollars of American foreign aid ... [from going] to organizations that are militant in promoting abortion as a method of population control, particularly in countries that find abortion objectionable on moral grounds.”

The bishop also urged Sen. Casey, a Catholic who has touted a strong pro-life identity, to rescind the vote. “Your failure to reverse this vote will regrettably mean that you persist formally in cooperating with the evil brought about by this hideous and unnecessary policy,” said the bishop.

A release issued by Sen. Casey’s office the day after the vote said that “Restrictions on the federal funding of abortions are in place both domestically and overseas."  The release cited the Helms amendment, which disallows foreign aid from paying for abortions directly.

Bishop Martino’s letter pointed out that the Helms Amendment does not restrict recipients from using their own money to provide abortions, and does not deny money to organizations that lobby to dismantle the legal protections for unborn children in foreign governments, as the Mexico City Policy had done.

The bishop commented on the irony of the Senate having voted down the amendment the same day it signed legislation granting greater access to health insurance for children.  "What hypocrisy offers health insurance to children in one part of the world when children in another part will be deprived, by the stroke of the same pen, of their first breath?" wrote Martino.

"I recognize and respect the burdens that you bear as a United States Senator; however, I remind you that your responsibilities as a Catholic bound by the faith of the Church exceed even those of your office."

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LSN Assistant Editor Speaks on the “Inherent Racism of Abortion” at King’s College

By John-Henry Westen, Editor

(To book an LSN staff member to speak at your event, e-mail , or call 1-888-678-6008)

February 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This past Wednesday evening, John Jalsevac, the assistant editor of LifeSiteNews.com, spoke to the campus pro-life group at King’s College at the University of Western Ontario in London.

King’s Live for Life organized the event, which was attended by approximately 60 university students. The talk was titled, “The Inherent Racism of Abortion.”

Jalsevac began by explaining that, in the broadest sense of the term, abortion is “racist” simply insofar as it targets a minority, the unborn child. “I understand that I am playing with language here,” he said. “Obviously the unborn child is not a ‘race.’

“However, much like blacks in the American South or Jews in Nazi Germany could be treated completely different simply because of one characteristic they happened to have, so too the unborn child can be treated differently because of one characteristic – the fact that he is unborn. In Canada one minute before birth the child can legally be killed, simply because he is unborn. One minute later, he is protected by the law.”

However, Jalsevac then explained that rather than focusing on this “broad” definition of racism, he would instead focus on the connection between abortion and racism by exploring the history of what he termed “scientific” racism and its relation to “old-fashioned” racism.

Beginning with Thomas Malthus, and then Darwin, Herbert Spencer, Sir Francis Galton, and others, Jalsevac traced the history of the modern population control and eugenics movements, showing how nearly all major abortion-promoting organizations arose out of eugenic theories and Malthusianism.

Eugenicists, he explained, promoted what can be termed “scientific” racism, in which certain categories of people (the poor, uneducated, sick or “feeble-minded”) are deemed “unfit” by virtue of a “sub-normal” genetic makeup.  The consequence of this theory is that these categories of people become a “race” set apart, inferior by the mere fact of being what they are.

The primary goal of the eugenicists was to purify the race by encouraging the breeding of the “fit” while discouraging, or, in many cases, forcibly preventing, the unfit from reproducing. Eugenicists promoted “judicious marriages” between the fit, and encouraged the use of contraceptives (and, in time, abortion) amongst the unfit, so as to greatly reduce their birth rate.

In the early to mid twentieth century, several countries also instituted laws, based upon the theories of the eugenicists, which mandated sterilization for certain categories of the “unfit.” In America alone it is estimated that by the mid 1960s upwards of 65,000 “unfit” Americans had been sterilized against their will, under these eugenicist laws.

Jalsevac observed that two of the most well-known eugenicists of the early twentieth century were Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider, and Marie Stopes, the founder of the Marie Stopes Foundation, another large international abortion-promoting organization.

“If anyone ever tells you that Margaret Sanger was not a committed eugenicist, they’re either lying or misinformed,” said Jalsevac, who went on to present numerous quotations from her written works and private letters showing her eugenicist beliefs. Margaret Sanger, he said, specifically targeted the “unfit” with her pro-contraception propaganda, and suggested that the unfit should be segregated from the general population on "farms." While Sanger herself did not believe abortion was necessary to prevent the breeding of the unfit, Planned Parenthood would in time become America’s largest abortion-provider. 

Jalsevac concluded his talk by tracing the connection between the “scientific” racism of the eugenicists and the “old-fashioned” racism against visible minorities. “The point,” he said, “is that once the eugenicists came up with their categories of the ‘unfit’ they discovered that many racial minorities fit neatly into those categories. In the early twentieth century it was the White West that was the most developed, and it was largely whites who were educated, had access to good health care, etc. So what you find is that many eugenicists also determined that certain races were intrinsically ‘unfit.’ In early twentieth century eugenicist literature there is a lot of explicitly racist language.”

Finally, Jalsevac showed that the numbers suggest that the racist origins of the abortion movement continue even to this day. He presented statistics that show that black women in the United States are more than three times as likely as white women to obtain an abortion. Studies have also shown that abortion clinics are situated predominantly in minority neighborhoods. In addition, every year developed first world countries spend billions of dollars on promoting contraception and abortion overseas, often amongst peoples that have strong objections to both, and have significantly reduced the birth rates of many third world countries.

“Rather than seeking to alleviate the poverty of these countries by helping them develop a growing economy, we have in many cases instead attempted merely to get rid of the problem by getting rid of the people,” said Jalsevac. “In many cases we have robbed these countries of their greatest asset – their own people.”

(To book an LSN staff member to speak at your event, e-mail , or call 1-888-678-6008)

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Argentinean Unborn Child is Killed after Pleas for Mercy Go Unheeded

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

ARGENTINA, February 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An unborn child has been killed in the Argentinean province of Santiago de Estero after two weeks of controversy in which a lawyer offered to adopt the child, and a woman conceived in rape plead with the grandparents to spare its life.

The abortion was performed yesterday in the Regional Hospital of Santiago de Estero on a young woman who doctors claim is mentally retarded and was raped by a yet unknown assailant. Although all abortions are illegal in Argentina, they carry no penalty in the case of mentally disabled women who are raped.

The deadly procedure was carried out despite the offer of 38 year old Dr. Lucian Pavo, a lawyer living in the province, to adopt and raise the child. 

"The child condemned to death is completely innocent, isn't guilty of anything, and no one pleads for it," wrote Pavo in an open letter to El Liberal, a local daily newspaper. "To the contrary, those who carry out her legal representation are asking for its death, with the silence of prosecutors, of the district attorney, and of the priests."

"Don't kill the child, deliver it to the authorities, because there are many Argentines who can't have children, or give custody to me so that I can raise it, with the intervention of [the Ministry of] Justice," wrote Pavo.

Pavo was joined by a young woman who was conceived by the rape of her mentally-disabled mother.  The woman, who wrote anonymously to protect her family, noted that her mother "thought of giving us up for adoption, but she never considered having an abortion. She never thought about taking the possibility of life away from us, even though she was mentally ill, she never thought of killing us, despite not wanting us."

"Many times, when she was seized by attacks of insanity she said ugly things to me,” continued the woman. “But, do you know what?  I'm very grateful to her for having given me the chance to live, and for giving herself the chance to accept us and give us love.  I love her because she is my mother, and I know that despite the fact that she didn't choose this, at least she had the courage to tell me what happened and I can share the pain with her."

Doctors reportedly retained a piece of the unborn child's body to enable police to compare the DNA to that of various suspects in the case.

Previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

Lawyer Offers to Adopt and Raise Baby Threatened with Death by Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020303.html

Daughter of Rape Victim Pleads for Life of Unborn Child in Danger of Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020509.html

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Porn Lawyer Has a 'Confirmation Conversion' at Senate Hearing

CHICAGO, February 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – David Ogden, nominated by President Obama to help lead the Department of Justice, was grilled by lawmakers yesterday during his confirmation hearing.

Ogden’s nomination has been a source of controversy, due to the fact that he has a long record of arguing against child pornography laws, and for a virtually unlimited abortion license.  He has represented clients such as Playboy, Penthouse, and the ACLU.

"You've taken some very extraordinary positions, some left-leaning and unorthodox positions," Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. told Ogden during yesterday’s hearings.

In the process of the hearing, however, Ogden experienced what Fidelis, a coalition of pro-family organizations, has called a 'Confirmation Conversion' and claimed to have abandoned the library of liberal views he spent his career advancing.

Brian Burch, President of Fidelis, described Ogden's performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee as "a textbook example of an ambitious nominee saying whatever he needs to say to get the votes for confirmation."

When pressed by Senators on his views during his confirmation hearing, Ogden completely reversed his extreme views on numerous subjects.

According to Ogden, despite a career of arguing the opposite, he now believes child pornography laws and internet filters are constitutional and extremely important. "Child pornography is abhorrent," Ogden said, adding later, "Issues of children and families have always been of great importance to me."

When asked about pro-pornography memos he wrote his former boss, Justice Blackmun, Ogden responded that he regretted the memos and maintained that his vigorous opposition to the Moral Majority and the regulation of pornography was due to immaturity.

Ogden also said he could not remember whether previous arguments against pornography regulation were made on behalf of paying clients, or whether he made them when working "for the public good" (pro bono publico).

And when asked about quotes detailing his view that judges should allow compassion to affect their impartiality, Ogden stated that he believed constitutional principles were fixed and that the law should be the ultimate factor in a judge's decision-making process.

According to Burch, "Ogden spent his entire life arguing for far left extremist positions.  And he expects us to believe he has matured and abandoned those views now that he is before the Senate?  What we have here is a nominee who knows that his views and Obama's views on the law are far out of the mainstream in America, so he is adjusting his rhetoric to get the votes he needs."

Fidelis said that it remains committed to its previous statement that President Obama made a major mistake and put America's families at risk by selecting David Ogden to become Deputy Attorney General.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Obama Picks Porn Lawyer for #2 at Justice
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020401.html

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Victory for Christian Nurse Facing Sack for Offering to Pray for Patient

WESTON, U.K. February 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Caroline Petrie, the nurse from Weston-super-Mare who was suspended without pay for asking a patient whether she would like to be prayed for, was reinstated by North Somerset Primary Care Trust last night.

The dramatic turn-around by North Somerset Primary Care Trust comes days after extensive media coverage and news reports which revealed that Mrs. Petrie, a born again Christian and mother of two, was suspended after her employers discovered that she had asked a patient whether she would like to be prayed for.

Petrie has explained that she was not “forcing” her religious beliefs on anyone, but that, "I was just trying to let a patient know that I was thinking of them.

"It was just my way of saying 'get well soon'."

Although the patient in question said she was not offended, the incident was reported and Mrs. Petrie was told that she could face disciplinary action. Last week Mrs. Petrie attended a disciplinary hearing on the basis that she had failed to demonstrate a “personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity” by offering to pray for the patient.

North Somerset Primary Care Trust, in a statement issued yesterday evening, said that they recognized that Mrs. Petrie had been acting in the "best interests of her patients" and that nurses did not have to "set aside their faith" in the workplace, and could "continue to offer high quality care for patients while remaining committed to their beliefs."

The Trust also said that for some people, prayer is recognized as an "integral part of health care and the healing process." The Trust has contacted Mrs. Petrie with the result of its decision and she will be returning to work in the near future.

Leading religious liberties barrister Paul Diamond advised Mrs. Petrie and The Christian Legal Centre supported her throughout the case. Andrea Williams, director of the Christian Legal Centre, said: "This is a great victory for Mrs. Petrie, and for common sense. Today's decision highlights the importance of being able to take personal faith into the workplace rather than being forced to leave it at the door for fear of being silenced by equality and diversity policies."

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

British Nurse Suspended For Offering To Pray For Elderly Patient
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020307.html

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Pope's Secretary of State Denounces Abortion and Homosexual "Marriage" During Trip to Spain

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

MADRID, February 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – During Tarcisio Bertone’s recent visit to Spain, the Vatican Secretary of State stirred up controversy by denouncing abortion and homosexual "marriage," while making a thinly-veiled attack on the government's Education for Citizenship program, which seeks to impose homosexualist and socialistic ideologies on students as early as elementary school.

"To want to impose, as secularism intends to do, a faith or religious practice that is strictly private" involves "a meddling with the rights of people to live their religious convictions in accordance with their wishes and with the demands of those convictions," said Bertone in a speech delivered to the Spanish Episcopal Conference.

In an apparent reference to the Spanish government's plans to loosen its already liberal abortion law, Bertone stated, "I have tried to understand, but also to make others understand, that if something is necessary it is to restrict, and not to widen the possibilities of abortion."

He also reiterated the Catholic Church's teaching that family life is founded on "the marriage of one man and one woman, united by an indissoluble link, freely contracted."  Spain is one of the only European countries that has legalized homosexual “marriage."

During his two-day visit, Bertone met with the King of Spain Juan Carlos I, Spain's president Jose Rodriguez Zapatero, opposition leader Mariano Rajoy and numerous other dignitaries.

The Spanish Socialist Worker's Party, which currently holds the nation's executive and predominates in the national legislature, reportedly put its program to liberalize the nation's abortion law on hold while Bertone was in the country, highlighting the continuing importance of the Catholic religion in Spain.

Although a majority of Spaniards publicly identify with the Catholic faith, church attendance has fallen dramatically since Spain's transition to democracy in the 1970s, which brought a series of socialist and secularist governments in its wake.

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Ontario Crown Attorney’s Office Appeals Linda Gibbons’s Last Case

By Tony Gosgnach

TORONTO, February 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Linda Gibbons has received formal notification that the Crown attorney’s office is appealing her last court case, in which a judge quashed a criminal charge of disobeying a court order against her. Justice John C. Moore said on Jan. 12 that it was “simple” to quash the charge, since a 1994 “temporary” court injunction restricting pro-life activity around the Scott “Clinic” abortion site was pronounced in a civil, not criminal, court.

“Why use criminal modes to deal with civil matters?” Moore had asked. “There are rules for civil matters and there are rules for criminal matters. They are separate and apart … We can’t drive into criminal court everyone who disobeys a court order.”

That explanation does not seem to have been enough for the Ontario Crown attorney’s office, however. Under NDP, Liberal and Conservative governments it has been hounding Gibbons in the courts for 15 years for basically praying and walking back and forth in front of the Scott site. The Crown usually charges her with obstructing a peace officer, but last Sept. 30, Justice S. Ford Clements called the bluff by ruling that Gibbons’s silent, peaceful and acquiescent conduct with police could not be interpreted as obstructing a peace officer and thereupon acquitted her of the charge.

Gibbons is currently in custody on new charges of obstructing a peace officer (again) and mischief to property after she appeared outside the Scott site Jan. 20. An onlooker said at no time did he see anything that could constitute mischief and suggested it was a concocted charge.

Gibbons is to have a hearing by video to set a trial date on those charges at 9 a.m. on Feb. 17 in Room 505 of the Ontario Court of Justice at College Park in Toronto.

See related LifeSiteNews reports:

See LifeSiteNews' special "Linda Gibbons, Prisoner of Conscience" web page
http://www.lifesitenews.com/gibbons/

Gibbons freed from custody after judge quashes charge
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09011214.html

Legal Merry-Go-Round Continues as Gibbons is Arrested Again
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09012014.html

Pro-Life Veteran Linda Gibbons Arrested Again Outside Toronto Abortion Mill
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08051508.html

Canadian Pro-life Hero Linda Gibbons' Trial Commences
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08091104.html

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Vatican Radio Withdraws Invitation to Contraceptive Manufacturer

By Hilary White

ROME, February 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Vatican Radio has withdrawn an invitation to a Swiss pharmaceutical company that manufactures artificial contraceptives. The Chief Executive of Swiss drug company Novartis, Daniel Vasella, was to be “Commentator of the Month” in February, but the offer was rescinded when Vatican Radio officials discovered that the company makes abortifacient drugs.

“The approach of the Vatican to artificial contraception cannot be subject to the smallest doubt,” Vatican Radio said in a statement published on the German-language pages of its website.

Vatican Radio broadcasts in 47 languages, and its programs are sent out on short wave, medium wave, FM, satellite and the internet. Its programming content is produced by two hundred journalists located in 61 different countries.

“We ask Mr Vasella and our listeners to understand this decision. We have only just learnt from the press that Novartis also produces contraceptives,” the statement said.

Novartis has declined to comment.

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New Alberta Human Rights Chief Commissioner to Work to Add “Sexual Orientation” to Legislation

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

EDMONTON, Alberta, February 6, 2009 (LifeSIteNews.com) - The Alberta government has announced the appointment of retired Calgary judge David Blair Mason, Q.C. as Chief Commissioner of the Alberta Human Rights Commission. The Alberta HRC has been searching for a new commissioner since Dec. 2007.

“David Blair Mason, Q.C. has led a very impressive legal career, with experiences that make him an outstanding choice to lead our province’s Human Rights and Citizenship Commission,” said Lindsay Blackett, Minister of Culture and Community Spirit, in a government news release.

Blackett indicated that one of the priorities for the new commissioner is to work toward writing sexual orientation protection into Alberta human-rights legislation.

"But that's something that's up to caucus - we would need to vote on that together. It’s probably not prudent for me to comment on what I would do personally, because it’s not up to me," said the minister in a Calgary Sun report.

Commissioner Mason added, "Human rights is a very important part of the legislation in this province that needs prominence."

“Human rights commissions, as you probably know, have been under scrutiny and criticism across the country,” Blackett said in a Sun Media report. “Alberta needs a chief commissioner with the qualifications, proven experience, and leadership to help reframe the human rights commission for the 21st century.”

Responding to a highly critical report of the Alberta HRC by the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership, a non-profit organization that looks at activities across the country, Blackett said, "Most people would concur the (HRC) process is somewhat broken." He added that he hopes Mason will be the one to change the growing public perception of the Alberta HRC as, in the words of HRC critic Ezra Levant, "a politically correct kangaroo court."

Janet Keeping, president of the Sheldon Chumir Foundation, said, "The Alberta HRC seems to have taken a real nosedive, starting in the '90s," and suffers from "low profile and poor reputation." She recommended in the report that, apart from making the commission "more user friendly and offering legal assistance to both defendant and complainant," the government should repeal Section 3 of Alberta's Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act which deals with "statements or publications likely to expose people to hatred or contempt" in order to better protect freedom of speech.

Such anti-hate law provisions are an unacceptable limitation on free speech, said Keeping.

“There are people unfortunately in the human rights community who are quick to say, ‘shut this person up, he said something nasty about gays’ or ‘shut this person up, he said something nasty about people in Somalia,”’ she said.

“We don’t see limitations on freedom of expression as a good thing in the human rights arena. We see it as a bad thing.”

Blackett said that the Sheldon Chumir Foundation’s recommendations will be part of the government's review of the behavior of the Alberta HRC.

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