Articles for Month: June 1998

DETROIT, June 30 (LSN) – Michael Odette, one of pro-suicide activist Jack Kevorkian’s lawyers, has resigned after pressure from his seven-year-old son. Although Odette maintains that he is sympathetic to Kevorkian’s cause, Kevorkian’s recent move to begin extracting organs from his victims entailed family repercussions for Odette.  Explaining his resignation Odette said, “after the organ deal, my 7-year-old son told me, ‘Dad, you shouldn’t represent him. They should throw him in jail and melt the key.’ ““You know, I’ve got a family to think about here. That kind of did it for me.”

EDMONTON, June 30 (LSN) – CBC News reported yesterday that doctors and researchers now living in Canada were “linked” to population-control tactics used against blacks during apartheid in South Africa. CBC named three doctors identified by the commission, all who denied taking part in the population control schemes   “Dr. Deon Erasmus and his wife, Antoinette, who now live in Provost, Alta., and Dr. Jack Bothma, an orthopedic surgeon in North Battleford, Sask.”  The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that army scientists in South Africa engaged in biological and chemical warfare against blacks in the country. Dr Daan […]

TORONTO, June 30 (LSN) – Sexual health “experts” and pro-abortion advocates reacted with outrage to yesterday’s announcement of the new Ontario sexual education curriculum released by the Tory government which required teachers to teach abstinence to teens but permitted them to leave out controversial issues like abortion, contraception and homosexuality. Selma Savage of the Toronto board of health threatened,  “It means they’re going to keep on paying for abortions and unplanned pregnancies.” Contradicting numerous research studies, Savage claimed, “giving them the information does not mean they’re going to go out and have intercourse.”  Hazelle Palmer of Planned Parenthood condemned the […]

FREDERICTON, June 30 (LSN) – Yesterday, New Brunswick Finance Department spokesman Stephen Heckbert announced that the province will give survivor pensions to practicing homosexuals. Heckbert claimed that the change was automatic since the federal government has accepted an Ontario court ruling to change the definition of spouse in the Income Tax Act. “The Income Tax Act has been changed and now there’s no longer an exclusion for same-sex partners When the Income Tax Act changes, ours changes automatically, so same sex partners in New Brunswick, at least provincial civil servants, are eligible for survivors’ pensions,”  he said.  In a related […]

TORONTO, June 29 (LSN) – Ontario’s Education Minister Dave Johnson unveiled the new Ontario sex education curriculum at a press conference today. According to the Canadian Press, teachers would not be forced, in the new curriculum, to teach abortion, contraception and homosexuality.  However, all teachers are required to teach abstinence which Johnson referred to as “a positive approach”.  Catholic teachers commented that if the initial reports are accurate, the new guidelines for sexual education allow for respect of Christian beliefs on abortion and homosexuality whereas the curriculum put out by the former NDP government in Ontario did not.

VANCOUVER, June 29 (LSN) – Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) has applied to the B.C. Ministry of Health to extend the province’s bubble-zone law to include the hospital. The bubble-zone law forbids pro-lifers from engaging in any demonstration, including silent prayer, within 50 meters of an abortuary. Pro-life activists Maurice Lewis and Jim Demers have been jailed for violating the law by silent, peaceful protests.  VGH president Murray Martin told reporters the hospital commits 2,000 abortions a year. Referring to peaceful pro-life demonstrations outside the hospital, he said, “We don’t think it’s appropriate to have patients going through that harassment.” Pro-life […]

LISBON, Portugal, June 29 (LSN) – Yesterday, Portuguese voters rejected a bid to introduce abortion on demand in the largely Roman Catholic country. Only 31% of registered voters took part in the referendum; but of those, 51% voted against a change in the law. Despite the results of the referendum,  the ruling Socialist Party plans to go ahead. Portuguese law stipulates that a referendum is binding only when at least 50% of registered voters take part.  Portugal’s current abortion law limits the procedure to cases where a pregnancy is thought to endanger a woman’s health, or in cases of pregnancy […]

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, June 29 (LSN) – Last week, Focus on the Family reported that a popular annual all-  women concert series called “Lilith Fair” is promoting abortion. Cathy Brown of American Life League told Focus that Lilith Fair has invited Planned Parenthood to attend the concerts and hand out condoms and abortion information to youth in attendance.  “When you purchase tickets to Lilith Fair you are helping provide abortions for young people across the country, across the nation,” said Brown.

LONDON, June 29 (LSN) – Dianne Blood, who got permission last year from a British court to be impregnated with her deceased husband’s sperm, announced Saturday she is pregnant. The sperm was extracted from her husband before he died, while he was in a coma. The court approved the procedure even though British law forbids fertilization without written permission from the sperm donor.

VATICAN, June 29 (LSN) – In a recent meeting with bishops from the southern United States, Pope John Paul II urged his confreres to remind Catholic hospitals that abortion, sterilization, and euthanasia are mortal sins. “As bishops you must remind everyone involved hospital administrators and medical personnel— that any failure to comply with this prohibition is both a grievous sin and a source of scandal,” he said.