Articles for Month: September 1999

VERMONT, Sept 17 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Karen Maple, a homeschooling mother in Vermont, who was jailed September 1 for failing to present her 15-year-old child to the courts to be taken into custody by the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, was released from jail this week since her bed in the jail was required for real criminals. Burlington, Vt.,  Judge Michael Kupersmith, who had jailed Mrs. Maple released her following a request from the state Department of Corrections, looking for room to incarcerate violent offenders. LifeSite reported two weeks ago that Maple’s child Trevor was labeled as “learning disabled”  […]

Father Richard Welch, President of Human Life International, has condemned the Puerto Rico State Senate legislative bill 1936 that gives minors access to State reproductive health services, including the distribution of contraceptives without parental consent. He also rejected the sex education program that is administered by the State Education Department in Puerto Rico.  (EWTN News) US Presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan has suffered the loss of his communications director.  Bob Adams left Buchanan’s campaign upset over the staunch pro-lifer’s serious consideration of leaving the Republican Party.  (Fox News) An unborn baby underwent in-utero surgery to clear its windpipe and was born […]

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., Sept. 17 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a major victory for pro-life forces in Missouri,  the state’s legislature passed a partial-birth abortion ban with a veto proof margin, thus thwarting the efforts of vehemently pro-abortion governor Mel Carnahan who promised to veto the bill. Frenzied lobbying of Senators by the governor failed to halt the two-thirds majority needed to veto proof the measure. The senate voted 27 to 7 while the House vote for the bill on Wednesday was 127 to 34. However, late Friday U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright issued a 10 day order delaying the enforcement […]

HALIFAX, NS, Sept 16 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Alexander Cameron and Cheryl Smith of Halifax sued the Nova Scotia government for failing to pay their bill of $40,000 on four unsuccessful in vitro fertilization treatments. On Tuesday, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal rejected the couple’s claim for the money but two of the three judges said that the couple are victims of discrimination by the province. The National Post quoted Justice David Chipman who accused the government of discrimination saying, “They are unequally treated because they are denied a medically recommended treatment appropriate for them. The fertile, on the other hand, […]

The government funded Family Planning Association in Britain has released a controversial mail-order catalogue selling sex toys with glossy colour ads. Shadow Health minister Alan Duncan described the “SexWare” catalogue, as “tawdry and wholly inappropriate”. Australian Senator Brian Harradine says Australian immigration officials bear some blame for their role in the deportation of a nine month pregnant Chinese woman who was deported despite warning she would be forced to abort. “We may have had a situation here that because the department has refused to rigidly assess its country information service, you’ve had a death on your hand in this women’s […]

OTTAWA, Sept 16 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien has chosen for his last two Governor-General appointments individuals who were living common-law rather than being married. The National Post reports today that both the current appointment for the Queen’s representative in Parliament, Adreienne Clarkson, and the former Romeo LeBlanc were selected for the role while in common law relationships. Just prior to their official appointments both got married. Critics argue the Prime Minister encouraged the marriages so as to make his selections look like good role models for society while he is not concerned at all about the ethics […]

ROME, Sept 16 (LifeSiteNews.com) – For the second time since May, German Catholic Church leaders were in consultation with Pope John Paul II this week over abortion counselling. German Cardinals Joachim Meisner of Cologne, Georg Maximilian Sterzinsky of Berlin, Friedrich Wetter of Munich and Archbishop Karl Lehmann were also in discussions with Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Catholic World News reports that after the consultation the Vatican indicated that it will soon issue new instructions to the German bishops regarding pre-abortion counseling.  German law requires that prior to obtaining an abortion women […]

On Tuesday the US House Judiciary Committee approved legislation aimed at blocking Oregon’s first-in-the-nation assisted suicide law. The “Pain Relief Promotion Act,” would overturn a June 1998 interpretation by Attorney General Janet Reno that the Federal Controlled Substances Act does not preclude physicians from prescribing listed drugs to assist a suicide   in accordance with Oregon’s “Death with Dignity Act.”  (Fox News) The police department in Birmingham, Ala, has banned officers from working off-duty jobs at abortuaries.  (al.com)

NEWARK, NJ, Sept 15 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Monday, a group of black New Jersey pastors announced they were organizing a three-day march of 1,452 African-Americans from Newark, New Jersey to Washington, DC October 9-11 to speak on behalf of the estimated 1,452 black children aborted every day in the United States. The march has been dubbed the “Say So March,” stemming from the slogan “If you love the children, say so!” “We’re organizing this march to tell our black brothers and sisters that we have been duped into destroying ourselves,” said Say So March spokesman Damon Owens. “Even though we […]

WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (LifeSiteNews.com) – US President Clinton’s National Bioethics Advisory Commission released a report Monday urging that the federal law prohibiting public funding for research on human embryos be scrapped. The report suggested that human embryos created for fertility treatments but left unused could be donated to publicly-funded research. The Commission claimed that the change in law should be allowed because of the great medical advancements hoped for in “stem cell” research. However, the Commission has no grounds for this argument since recent research has been able to harvest stem cells from adults, thus not having to destroy human […]