Articles for Month: December 2001

MICHAEL O’BRIEN IN ZENIT INTERVIEW ON HARRY POTTER O’Brien, a renowned Canadian Catholic author, points out that after reading the four volumes of the Harry Potter series three times, “with each reading the serious defects of the novels appear in clearer light.” Pointing out a problem of “consistent use of repulsive details, lowering the child’s instinctive aversion to the horrible and grotesque” O’Brien cites the book noting that “in one (witchcraft) class the students are taught to cut up mandrake roots, which are living human babies, for use in a potion. At the least, this can cause a subconscious desensitization […]

WASHINGTON, December 6, 2001 (LSN.ca) – The process for extracting eggs from a woman for fertility treatment either for herself of others is a painful and dangerous experience. The Washington Post reports today on the hardship faced by women who are enticed by large monetary rewards to consider donating their eggs. “Following an extensive application process, she could wait months, even years,” reports the Post, the woman must endure tests for genetic and infectious diseases, a complete physical examination and psychological assessment. Once the process is approved there are multiple doctor appointments and the prospective egg donor must “give herself […]

QUEBEC TO INTRODUCE NEW BILL ON HOMOSEXUAL UNIONS THIS WEEK The Canadian Press reports today that the Quebec government to introduce draft bill on homosexual unions this week. “It appears the bill will fall short of offering all the rights gay and lesbian couples have been seeking but it will accord a brand new status,” reports CP. JAPAN TO ALLOW CREATION OF ANIMAL-HUMAN EMBRYOS https://www.ananova.com/yournews/story/sm_462557.html

BUSH APPOINTS RNC HEAD WHO IS NOT PRO-LIFE Yesterday President Bush tapped Marc Racicot, a former governor of Montana, to head the Republican National Committee. ABC news reports that “many social conservatives have expressed doubts about Racicot’s fidelity to certain principles held by many members of the party’s membership base – His positions on abortion, school choice, taxes, unions, and gay rights have all come in for criticism.”  https://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/abc/20011205/pl/racicot011205_1.html FLA. COURT RULES CANDIDATES CAN DONATE TO NON-PROFITS AP reports the federal appeals court overturned a Florida law banning political candidates from contributing personal or campaign funds to nonprofit groups, saying […]

WASHINGTON, December 6, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Religious organizations and pro-family groups reacted strongly last week to suggestions that the US Foreign Operations Conference is considering increased funding of UNFPA. The recent evidence of ongoing coercive population control in China and UNFPA’s complicity in it brought forward by the Population Research Institute has spurred the debate. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has come out against any funding of UNFPA. The USCCB Legislative Program for the 107th Congress suggests under ‘Foreign Aid” that Catholics “Oppose legislation to provide U.S. aid to organizations that perform and promote abortion abroad and to […]

WASHINGTON, DC, December 6, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Pat Robertson, the President and Founder of the Christian Coalition and a 1988 candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, has resigned from the Presidency and the Board of Directors of the Christian Coalition, the organization which he founded in 1989. Yesterday the Coalition’s Board of Directors accepted his resignation and elected Roberta Combs, who had been Executive Vice President, to succeed Robertson as President. Robertson explained that he intended to focus his energies on spiritual matters. “We are seeing an outpouring of revival power in the United States […]

Vatican Against Law But Irish Bishops Have Not Released Position DUBLIN, December 6, 2001 (LSN.ca) – The hotly contested abortion bill passed one of the two houses of the Irish Parliament yesterday after the Taoiseach cut off debate on the matter. The 25th Amendment to the Constitution (Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy) Bill passed all stages in the D‡il, by 74 votes to 71. The Irish Times reports that the bill goes to the Seanad tomorrow and paves the way for next year’s abortion referendum, scheduled to take place in the spring. John Smeaton, national director of the UK’s […]

Toronto Liberal flagship paper, The Toronto Star, endorses Harpur OTTAWA, December 5, 2001 (LSN.ca) – In a series of private interviews with reporters Monday, Canadian Alliance leadership candidate Stephen Harper commented on abortion. In the National Post, journalist Sheldon Alberts writes that Harper “vowed not to let the religious right hijack the Alliance party, and he would not be beholden to any narrow, special interest groups.” While the Post reports Harper as saying he would allow free votes on issues such as abortion, it quotes him as saying, “I don’t think that’s a wide enough base to win the leadership. […]

LONDON, December 5, 2001 (LSN.ca) – A study in Britain has found that abortion makes women nearly twice as likely to suffer from breast cancer, reports the Scotsman. Life, a UK pro-life group which commissioned the Populations and Pensions Research Institution (PAPRI) to undertake the study, said that as many as 22,000 women residents of England and Wales could have developed breast cancer because they obtained legal abortions. PAPRI, an independent group of statisticians, looked at breast cancer and abortion rates in Britain, Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic suggests that up to 50 per cent of breast cancer cases […]

PARIS, December 5, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Top prenatal doctors in France pledged to strike due to a decision by the country’s top court last week, which held that when doctors fail to detect deformities in unborn disabled children and do not suggest abortion to their parents, the doctors are liable for compensation. In a letter to the daily Le Monde, 11 specialists at eight hospitals said that from January 1 they would refuse to carry out any ultrasounds and other tests that can show whether an unborn child has any abnormalities. Reuters reports that the doctors hoped many others would […]