Articles for Month: December 2001

KANSAS CITY, MO, December 20, 2001 (LSN.ca) – While faithful Catholics have dismissed the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) as more anti-Catholic than Catholic and have thus turned to other more honestly Catholic publications, some Catholics continue to support the NCR. However, an op-ed piece published in the NCR’s December 14 issue, emphasizes the paper’s divergence from the faith. The Kansas City-based paper published an article by self-described “pro-choice” Ann Pettifer. In her piece, Pettifer takes aim at the pro-life movement, slamming it unmercifully for even suggesting that abortion after rape could be avoided. “To argue that the cells of an […]

AMSTERDAM, December 20, 2001 (LSN.ca) – According to a new study in the Dec. 20 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, women who take any type of oral contraceptives are at twice the risk of having a heart attack as women who do not use ‘the pill’. Researchers from eight university medical centers in the Netherlands conducted a nationwide, population-based, case-control study involving 1,173 Dutch women between the ages of 18 and 49. They found that depending on the combination of chemicals used in the manufacture of the pills, the increased risk of heart attack over non-users of […]

WASHINGTON, December 20, 2001 (LSN.ca) – A compromise measure in a massive $15.3 billion foreign aid bill will see President George Bush deciding on funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), one of the most notorious abortion promoting agencies in the world. While the bill suggests funding for UNFPA at $34 million – $9 million over last year – the amount is a ceiling, leaving Bush the opportunity to zero-fund the organization. The Population Research Institute (PRI), which recently presented to Congress the results of an investigation into UNFPA’s complicity with China’s coercive one-child policy, said “President Bush has […]

TORONTO, December 20, 2001 (LSN.ca) – The Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) would not normally become involved in the election of a leader of a political party. However, public comments by Ontario Progressive Conservative party leadership candidate Ernie Eves’ regarding the teaching of “hatred” in independent schools were deemed “cause for serious concern ” by CCRL. Mr. Eves, in commenting on the proposed private school tax credit program unveiled by Ontario Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, is reported to have stated: “I am not against choice in the education system, but I am in favour of some very basic standards. Are […]

Taxpayers to pay for the pills MONTREAL, December 20, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Quebec today announced that pharmacists may dispense the abortifacient morning after pill with the bill for the pills being picked up by taxpayers. The pharmacists doling out the pills were required to take a four hour course on how to administer a consultation with those demanding the abortifacients. The consultation fee – upwards of $30 – will not be covered, according to a report in the Montreal Gazette. Both the pills and doctor’s exam are free at hospitals. Normand Cadieux, managing director of the Association Québécoise des Pharmaciens-Propriétaires […]

St. Thomas children’s agency aggressively determined to make an example of Aylmer religious family AYLMER, ON, December 19, 2001 (LSN.ca) – The case of an Ontario family whose seven children were forcibly apprehended by social workers since the parents refused to stop spanking their children using objects such as a switch, has erupted again. The numerous delays in the case has caused the family to protest that they can no longer abide by interim restrictions on their freedom to discipline their children in accordance with their faith and Canadian law. Following the parents’ protest, the Family and Children’s Services of […]

TORONTO, December 19, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Environment Minister and Tory leadership candidate Elizabeth Witmer has questioned allowing parents a private school tax credit unless those schools follow the provincial curriculum. Finance Minister and leadership candidate Jim Flaherty finalized the regulations on the tax credit last week, noting that independent schools need not provide the standard government curriculum mandated in public schools in order to be eligible for the credit. The Toronto Sun reports that Witmer commented on the issue of the curriculum saying, “And that seems to be an issue that is certainly generating the need for some further discussion.” […]

OTTAWA, December 19, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Canadian Alliance leadership contender Grant Hill has stood his ground against the media’s hounding him for comments made five years ago about homosexuality being an “unhealthy lifestyle.” Rather than trying to back down from his statement, Hill said, “That’s a comment made as a physician, the same as I do with lifestyles I think are harmful for individuals. Political correctness is something that is very foreign to doctors. We take scientific information and lay it on the table and that’s what I did and I will continue to do.” At the time Hill noted […]

WASHINGTON, D.C, December 19, 2001 (LSN.ca) – “No one has a right to a child,” said American Life League president Judie Brown, “so we urge parents to consider the ethical alternatives to practices such as in vitro fertilization. When couples choose in vitro fertilization, they’re turning children into commodities.”“The idea of freezing embryos and possibly killing one or more of your children meant that in vitro fertilization was simply not an option for us,” said John Kurtz of suburban Philadelphia. Mr. Kurtz and his wife, Donna, struggle with infertility. The Kurtzes found their answer in adoption. “There’s no need to […]

WASHINGTON, December 19, 2001, (LSN.ca) – Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua has urged the U.S. Senate to follow the lead of the House of Representatives and ban human cloning in the United States. In a letter to the Senate last week, Cardinal Bevilacqua noted that the House overwhelmingly passed a ban on human cloning last summer (H.R. 2505) which the President has said he will sign into law. “The leadership of the Senate nonetheless has refused to take action on this measure, or even to consider a temporary moratorium on human cloning research,” Cardinal Bevilacqua said. “Such inaction is morally irresponsible and […]