Articles for Month: September 2001

Total ratifications now stands at 39 of the 60 required for implementation UNITED NATIONS, September 28, 2001 (LSN.ca) – A United Nations press briefing announced yesterday that Nigeria deposited its instruments of ratification for several important treaties including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Nigeria’s ratification of the Rome Statute means that the International Criminal Court now has 39 ratifications, out of the 60 it needs before the Statute comes into force. Once in force, the ICC will assume universal jurisdiction, even over countries that have refused to sign on to it. LifeSite reported September 24, at the […]

ABORTION NUMBERS UP IN ENGLAND AND WALES   SPUC News Digest reports that official abortion statistics released today indicate that there were 1.2 percent more abortions performed in England and Wales last year than in 1999. The official report states that there were 185,375 legal abortions carried out in England and Wales during 2000, compared to 183,250 in 1999. The total for 2000 is the third highest ever.  https://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/abort0901.pdf SCOTTISH CHURCHES ANGERED BY GAY WEDDING PROGRAM PLANS   Catholic World News reports that plans by the BBC to broadcast a gay “wedding” have been condemned by the Catholic Church in […]

DAVID KUPELLIAN ON ISLAMISM   Although without question there are millions of peaceful, tolerant and decent Muslims, what we’re talking about here is a particular brand of Islam—a rapidly expanding one at that—often called “Islamism.” Like communism and Nazism, it is a brutal, coercive utopian movement bent on nothing less than total world domination…. Take a deep breath. Of the world’s approximately 1.2 billion Muslims, an estimated 10 to 15 percent are of the militant “Islamist” strain.  WorldNet Daily, September 28   https://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24704 COLLEEN PARRO ON AMERICA   “America is a great and powerful nation, and she is also a […]

STURGEON FALLS, ON, September 28, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Pro-lifers demonstrating at a high school in Sturgeon Falls were arrested and taken into custody this morning. Rosemary Connell, head of Show the Truth Canada, told LifeSite that her group went through “half an hour of sheer intimidation” by police at the scene of the demonstration. Following this, four of the group were arrested and wrongly charged with breach of a peace bond. The Show the Truth demonstrators were stationed at a high school across the street from an elementary school. In order to direct the signs depicting the horrors of abortion […]

ZURICH, September 28, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Switzerland's National Science Foundation altered its stance on research with human embryos Friday to allow the practice. Reuters reports that approval was given to a Geneva research project which aims to import embryonic stem cells from the United States. The foundation restricted the research to projects that were approved by the scientific panel and were not for commercial purposes. As well, the projects must use stem cells obtained legally and at no charge from countries where they were developed for in vitro fertilization purposes and permission has been obtained from the donors.

WASHINGTON, September 28, 2001 (LSN.ca) – The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), which establishes guidelines on new reproductive technologies followed by most U.S. fertility clinics, shocked the industry recently by permitting pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to be used to select the sex of offspring. A request by Dr. Norbert Gleicher to offer sex-selection via PGD was approved in a letter by the acting chairman of the ethics committee at ASRM, John Robertson. Robertson is an ethicist and lawyer at the University of Texas. The New York Times reports that experts in the field reacted with horror to the decision. […]

The White House has said it will not support a push for a National ID card. While some lawmakers in Congress have said they’d like to take a fresh look at the issue. White House spokesman Jimmy Orr said President Bush “is not even considering the idea.” https://english.hk.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/technology/newsbytes/article.html?s=hke/headlines/010928/technology/newsbytes/White_House_Will_Not_Support_Push_For_National_ID_Card.html An Episcopal Church committee has backed efforts by Washington’s acting Bishop Jane Holmes Dixon to oust a conservative priest,- Rev. Samuel Edwards, who has called the Episcopal Church the “unchurch’’ because of its tacit acceptance of actively homosexual clergy and ordination of women.  https://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010927/us/religion_briefs_1.html

HELSINKI, September 28, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Finland’s parliament has approved, 99-84, a law which affords homosexual couples most of the rights of married couples. The law allows a homosexual union in a civil marriage-like ceremony. It also establishes inheritance rights but stops short of allowing adoption of children and use of the same surname. Homosexuals may adopt children singly, but the child will not legally be registered as belonging to both homosexual partners in such cases. Ananova reports that the new law follows similar legislation in the other Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, where homosexual unions have […]

VATICAN EXPLAINS CONDITIONS FOR ETHICAL ANIMAL-TO-MAN ORGAN TRANSPLANTS Zenit News reports that the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life has presented a special document on Xenotransplantation in order to explain the Church’s view.  https://zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=10450

CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR NOMINATES PRO-ABORTION SUPREME COURT JUDGE U.S. District Judge Carlos R. Moreno, Governor Gray Davis’ first appointee to the California Supreme Court is pro-abortion.  https://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000077364sep27.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dcalifornia COURT TO RULE ON FORCING CATHOLIC HEALTH PLAN TO SUPPLY CONTRACEPTIVES The California Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to review an appeals court decision requiring a Catholic charity to comply with a state law demanding employers include contraception in health plans that cover prescription drugs. the case is Catholic Charities v. Superior Court, S099822 https://www.contracostatimes.com/news/bayarea/stories_baybreak/contracep_20010926.htm