Vermont’s House Judiciary Committee passed on to the House the bill that would establish “civil unions” as a parallel to marriage for homosexual couples. The bill is not likely to go to a floor debate until the middle of the month. Gov. Howard Dean supports the measure. http://wire.nj.com/cgi-bin/nj_nview.pl?/home1/wire/AP/Stream-Parsed/GENERAL/ a0465_PM_GayMarriage Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver stated this week that preserving the status of traditional marriage as a union between a man and a woman is “a matter of cultural survival.” In a column published in the Denver Rocky Mountain News, Archbishop Chaput affirmed that “if the last few decades have shown us anything, it’s this: When ‘traditional’ marriages dissolve, the children of these marriages suffer.” http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=47379 In Massachusetts a Senate measure to install a bubble zone around abortuaries passed on to the House for approval while a House measure banning partial-birth abortion passed through committee and is likely to pass the House vote. http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/061/metro/Senate_restricts_clinic_protests+.shtml President Clinton’s signature is all that stands between the outspokenly pro-life Cardinal John O’Connor and Congress’ highest civilian honor. The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to award the cardinal of New York the Congressional Gold Medal. http://wire.nj.com/cgi-bin/nj_nview.pl?/home1/wire/AP/Stream-Parsed/JERSEY_NEWS/ j0245_PM_NY—Cardinal-GoldMeda A 16-year-old who watched his troubled girlfriend shoot herself to death as part of an apparent suicide pact has become the first person charged under Maryland’s new assisted suicide law. http://flash.al.com/cgi-bin/al_nview.pl?/home1/wire/AP/Stream-Parsed/GENERAL/ a0524_PM_AssistedSuicide With the backing of Planned Parenthood, the pioneers of mass sterilization of Third world women with the controversial permanent-sterilization drug quinacrine are trying to make the drugs available worldwide. Stephen Mumford and Elton Kessel have scoured the third world on a personal population control mission boasting of having sterilized over 100,000 women. (Pro- Life E-News) http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/2000/Feb/28/magazine/QUIN28.htm