Articles for Month: July 2001

TORONTO, July 9, 2001 (LSN.ca) – LifeSite has learned that pro-life heroine Linda Gibbons was released from prison Saturday. Linda, a veteran pro-life demonstrator and counsellor was sentenced to four months in jail and two years’ probation, in addition to two months already served in custody, in April. She was convicted on charges stemming from pro-life activities inside bubble zones at Toronto abortuaries. Gibbons was arrested and charged with obstructing police and breaching terms of probation on Feb. 13 after walking and praying while holding a placard outside the Scott Clinic abortuary on Gerrard Street East.

TORONTO, July 9, 2001 (LSN.ca) – The Globe and Mail reported today that “court rulings have forced most provinces to allow same-sex couples to adopt children.” The report notes that British Columbia was the first province to allow homosexual adoption without mandates by the courts. However the Globe cites a Supreme Court of Canada decision two years ago allowing spousal support for homosexual couples, as a turning point. Since then Ontario, Alberta and other provinces have passed laws allowing homosexual couples the same privileges as heterosexual spouses. Certain provinces, such as Manitoba, left adoption out of such legislation. The Globe […]

OTTAWA, July 9, 2001 (LSN.ca) – The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC), an association of 32 Protestant denominations representing just under half of Canada’s estimated 3 million Protestant evangelical Christians, submitted a brief on stem cell research to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) on June 29. The EFC recommends that the government respect and protect human life by not extending funding to stem cell research that results in the destruction of the human embryo. “Allowing embryonic stem cell research which destroys the embryo treats the human embryo as an object to be utilized, and not as a subject […]

AYLMER, ON, July 9, 2001 (LSN.ca) – A hearing today in the case of a Christian family whose 7 children aged 6 to 14 were taken from their home by police last Wednesday has not led to the children’s return home. LifeSite has learned that an interim hearing is scheduled for July 26 and a trial for August 9. The family’s pastor, Rev. Henry Hildebrandt of the Aylmer Church of God, told LifeSite that there is no merit to the actions of the Children’s Aid Society and the police since the family is in no way abusive to their children. […]

PRESIDENT BUSH PLANS ALLOW STATE TO GIVE “UNBORN CHILD” MEDICAL COVERAGE The Bush administration has drafted a policy to allow states to cover unborn children under the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Pro-abortion groups are condemning the measure even though it allows coverage for pregnant women who are not eligible for Medicare, since they see it as establishing the recognition of the unborn child as a person.  https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/06/politics/06FETU.html?searhpv=nytToday CNS reports that Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has written President Bush urging him not to fund destructive research on human embryos. “Government support for destructive […]

CNN reports that Germany’s governing Social Democrats and Greens have rejected opposition calls to stop imports of human embryos for experimentation. A decade-old German law prohibits the creation of embryo cells purely for research, but imports are not explicitly forbidden.  https://www.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/07/03/germany.genetic.ap/index.html Zenit News reports that Belgium’s Catholic bishops have issued a statement expressing their opposition to a proposal to legalize euthanasia. The document, entitled “Euthanasia, A Defeat for Civilization,” comes as the Belgian Senate debates legislation promoting “gentle death.”  https://zenit.org/english/archive/0107/ZE010705.htm#7774

“Cloning will never make a correct copy” say scientists A study published in today’s Science journal, suggests that embryonic cloning is dangerous and causes hidden defects in the two percent of embryos that survive the cloning procedure. Researchers from the University of Hawaii cloned mice and found that the pups had problems. “Even if a cloned animal looks normal, it may have a dormant problem,” said Ryuzo Yanagimachi, one of the researchers. Yanagimachi and Dr. Hidenori Akutsu, collaborated with Rudolf Jeanisch and scientists at Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the research which according to Akutsu shows “we must […]

LUCERNE, Switzerland, July 6, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Switzerland, a country where physician assisted suicide is tolerated, has just been confronted with the case of a young nurse who has admitted to – as the media put it – “helping nine senile women die” in a home for the elderly. The National Post reports that Orvo Nieminen, the investigating magistrate for Lucerne, told a news conference yesterday that the man, whom he described as a “well-educated young nurse,” said he acted out of sympathy for the sick people and was convinced he was doing good. For more see the National Post […]

PARIS, July 6, 2001 (LSN.ca) – France’s Paris-based Constitutional Council has ruled that a recently-passed bill allowing later abortion in France is also enforceable in its overseas territories, including French Polynesia. In April, the French Socialist government France passed a law increasing the legal limit for abortions from 10 weeks to 12 weeks. However, a clause in the bill forced French Polynesia to publicly fund abortions, as has been done in France for some 25 years. The colony’s strong religious tradition prevented the law’s implementation and Polynesia rejected the clause. Gaston Flosse, president of the French overseas territory that includes […]

AYLMER, ON, July 6, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Police in Aylmer, Ontario forcibly removed seven children aged 6 to 14 from their home Wednesday after their Christian parents refused to promise social workers they would not use a switch to discpline the children. Rev. Henry Hildebradt of the Aylmer Church of God, where the family worships, told LifeSite that he knows the family personally and that they are “a wonderful Christian family.” He said the couple, German-speaking immigrants in their 30s, “are known for being lenient with their children rather than strict.” Rev. Hildebrandt said the couple allowed the social workers […]