Articles for Month: December 1997

OTTAWA, Dec 19 (LSN)—Despite an “historic” appeal to the Senate made by two representatives of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), the Senate voted yesterday to amend the Constitution and abolish religious education in Newfoundland. Most Reverend Anthony Tonnos, Bishop of Hamilton and Chairman for Christian Education for the CCCB, and the Most Reverend Douglas Crosby, Bishop of Labrador City and Newfoundland, asked pleaded with the Senate yesterday to safeguard the constitutionally-guaranteed rights to religious education in Newfoundland. Speaking for the federal Liberal government, Inter-governmental Affairs Minister Stephane Dion urged the Senate to approve the proposed constitutional amendment. The […]

WARSAW, Poland, Dec 18 (LSN)—The Polish parliament has approved the decision by the Polish high court to overturn a liberal abortion law that was criticized by Pope John Paul II during his recent visit to his native land. The lax abortion law, imposed by the “former” communists who were voted in prior to the now ruling Solidarity government, allowed doctors to kill preborn children up to 12 weeks of age if the mother was deemed to face financial or emotional difficulties. Poland’s high court deemed the permissive law unconstitutional in May, but it remained in effect for six-months. On Wednesday, […]

DUBLIN, Dec 18 (LSN) – Paddy Leahy, Ireland’s foremost euthanasia enthusiast, told reporters on Wednesday that he has gone to Thailand to find someone to help him die. The 80-year-old general practitioner, who has also campaigned for contraceptives and abortion in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation, made a last pathetic plea for legalizing euthanasia saying, “I think that the doctors there will look after me. If I get obstructed, I think they will come in and say I’ll put you out of pain. I’ll leave it to them. That would be a much nicer way.”

ARTICLENEWARK, NJ, Dec 18 (LSN)—New Jersey authorities have allowed homosexuals to adopt children jointly, placing them on the same footing as heterosexual couples. The decision, which is limited to children in state custody, came in response to a class-action lawsuit brought forward in June by homosexual activists with the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union. Robert Knight, director of cultural studies for the Family Research Council in Washington, said, “The settlement is “a victory for homosexual activism and a defeat for children already bruised in life and in need of an intact, committed husband-and-wife family.”

VANCOUVER, Dec 18 (LSN)—A poll on euthanasia released Monday saying that 70 per cent of Canadianssupport doctor assisted suicide is untrue according to Dr. Will Johnston, co-chair of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition of BC (EPC). Dr. Johnston pointed out that the Pollara poll, sponsored by Southam and Global news organizations, was “inaccurate” because it failed to define “doctor-assisted suicide”. ” Our results show many people still don’t understand terms like euthanasia and doctor- assisted suicide,” said Dr. Johnston. He suggests most people believe these terms refer to stopping artificial life support. Johnston noted that results from a poll conducted in […]

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 18 (LSN)—A retired Brazilian obstetrician saved the life of the baby of an eleven-year-old girl, who was scheduled to be aborted the next day. The heroic doctor travelled to the girl’s hometown of Sapucaia in Rio de Janeiro state, after hearing about her case on television, and persuaded the girl’s father to save the baby with the help of the local priest. The father, priest and doctor then rushed to Rio de Janeiro, where the girl had already been hospitalized awaiting the abortion. Claiming she was raped, the girl and her family asked Brazilian Judge Luiz […]

The BBC is conducting a poll on whether euthanasia should be legal. Derek Humphry has already alerted members of the “right to die” mailing list to go to the BBC site and vote. If you would like to voice your opinion, just click on the following URL. https://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking%5Fpoint/newsid%5F38000/38414.asp

OTTAWA, Dec 18 (LSN)—On Monday, the Senate voted 51-17 to approve a constitutional amendment requested by the Quebec-separatist government to deprive Christian parents of the constitutionally guaranteed right to religious schooling. With its approval, linguistic boards will replace religiously-based school boards. Senator Anne Cools described the action as “the extinction of constitutional rights to denominational education.” Speaking in the Senate chambers Senator Cools told her colleagues that she objected to “this collaboration with a separatist provincial government to extinguish minority rights.”

TOKYO, Dec 17 (LSN) – CNN reported today that a popular TV cartoon in Japan caused seizures in over 600 children who were watching the program on Tuesday. In a national survey, the Tokyo fire department found that at least 618 children had suffered convulsions, vomiting, irritated eyes, and other symptoms after watching the show “Pokemon.” Moreover, Japanese television network NHK reported that 111 people were still hospitalized Wednesday morning. Some other children were stricken later, when watching excerpts from the scene in TV news reports on the earlier victims. It is suspected that the seizures were caused by flashing […]

SYDNEY, Dec 17, (LSN) – In a report released Monday, at least 1,045 developmentally-disabled girls and women are said to have been sterilized without “authorization” in Australia since 1992. The report, commissioned by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, said the data used for the study were incomplete, and that the total number of operations could be three times higher. Elizabeth Hastings, the disability discrimination commissioner, added that, “Not only is federal law failing to protect the human rights of girls and young women, but Health Insurance Commission figures appear to show that illegal operations are funded via Medicare.”