TORONTO, May 6, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - LifeSite has been advised that the Toronto Catholic School Board will receive a committee report tomorrow evening recommending the Board remove the pro-life women’s help agency Aid To Women from its list of agencies approved for Halloween fundraising. In 1997 the board, which is one of the largest in Canada, disallowed participation in the UNICEF Halloween fundraising program by its schools. At that time the pro-life crisis pregnancy agency, Aid to Women was added to the list as an alternate to UNICEF. The decision was taken in response to substantial evidence of UNICEF’s co-operation with abortion and other so-called ‘reproductive health’ programs offensive to Catholic moral principles. Since the 1997 decision, UNICEF and its allies have repeatedly and aggressively attempted to have the decision of the Catholic Board rescinded even though UNICEF’s involvement in the offensive programs has deepened and become more explicit. A board trustee told LifeSite a UNICEF delegation will also attend tomorrow’s meeting to once again push for re-instatement of their Halloween box program. A Feb. 6, 2003 letter to the Board unintentionally supports contentions that there are serious problems with supporting UNICEF and that Aid to Women is deserving of Catholic support.
The four page letter, jointly from the notoriously anti-Catholic ‘Catholics for a Free Choice’ and the also pro-abortion Catholic Network for Women’s Equality, strongly supports UNICEF and its admitted endorsement of “family planning” programs. The writers, via highly biased presentation of information and events, also attempt to discredit Aid to Women and the Board’s inclusion of the life-saving agency in the list of approved agencies. Nothing in the letter mentions the hundreds of grateful mothers and their babies that have been saved from abortion by Aid to Women staff and the extensive help that these women have received from the crisis pregnancy center.
The board will hear parent and other delegations on Wednesday night May 7 starting at 7 p.m. Those who call the Board before 4 p.m. to request to speak will be heard for 5 minutes. Others who request to speak at the meeting might possibly be given an opportunity to speak for three minutes. The number to call is 416-8282 Ext. 2293. See LifeSite’s extensive UNICEF section http://www.lifesite.net/waronfamily/unicef/index.html See previous LifeSite reports on this issue PHONY ‘CATHOLIC’ PRO-ABORTION GROUPS SUPPORT UNICEF HALLOWEEN DRIVE http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2002/oct/02103002.html UNICEF LOOKING FOR HALOWEEN DONATIONS BUT CONTINUES ANTI-LIFE PROJECTS http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2002/sep/02091901.html UNICEF’S OTHER AGENDAS http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2002/oct/02103001.html Will anti-Catholic group finally die after humiliating defeat in Congress? http://www.lifesite.net/interim/2000/aug/18kissling.html ROCKEFELLER’S PHONY “CATHOLIC” GROUP TRIES TO BOOT VATICAN FROM UN http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/1999/march/99032604.html