Articles for Month: April 2006

by Hilary White BEIJING, April 27, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Epoch Times International, a New York based online journal specializing in China and related issues, has confirmed through independent investigation that the Chinese communist government has been using prisoners as a source of organs for the international and domestic transplant market. The report verifies that organs for transplantation are very plentiful and available on demand in China and are supplied from prisoners. The prisoners are killed after they are found to match a patient who is awaiting a donor organ. Reporter Dominic Waghorn visited the Orient Organ Transplantation Center in […]

By Gudrun Schultz BOSTON, Massachusetts, April 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An ongoing struggle in a Boston suburb over homosexual material in elementary classrooms has culminated in a lawsuit between parents and the school system. David and Tonia Parker, and Rob and Robin Wirthlin are suing the town of Lexington and its public school system after their children were given books normalizing gay families. Attempts to reach a compromise with the school failed after officials refused to agree to the parents request that their young children be exempted from homosexual material and discussions in the classroom. The parents decided on a […]

By John-Henry Westen VATICAN, April 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a message to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI noted “we are witnessing on a planetary level, and in the developed countries in particular, two significant and interconnected trends: on the one hand, an increase in life expectancy, and, on the other, a decrease in birth rates.” He added, “As societies are growing older, many nations or groups of nations lack a sufficient number of young people to renew their population.” While he admitted that the cause of the troublesome situation is “complex” he stressed that […]

WESTMINISTER, April 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Nearly 72,000 letters expressing concern at plans to legalise assisted suicide were delivered to members of the House of Lords today. It is believed that this is one of the biggest ever concerted efforts to lobby peers by letter.   Those delivering the letters included doctors, nurses, care workers and people who have had personal experience of being with family or friends suffering from terminal illness. One letter writer, Dr Bernarda Sekolec, aged 94 of Chingford, wrote: ” My fear now is that this Bill will open the floodgates for people in my current […]

By John-Henry Westen   VATICAN, April 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an ancient practice, Catholics around the world are often reminded to pray “for the intentions of the Holy Father”. Every month, the Pope releases prayer intentions (usually two) asking the Church to focus on specific needs.   One of the prayer intentions for the month of May, which were released today by the Vatican Information Service, asks the Church to pray for legal protection for life from conception till natural death. “That in the mission countries those responsible for the public institutions may,” said the official text, “with suitable […]

By Gudrun Schultz HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Kentucky, April 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A literature professor and six students at Northern Kentucky University have been charged with criminal mischief and theft, after a campus pro-life display was vandalized on April 12. Professor Sally Jacobsen is also facing a charge of criminal solicitation for allegedly encouraging her students to destroy the display, reported the Associated Press yesterday. Four hundred white crosses, intended to represent a graveyard for aborted babies, were torn up and dumped in school garbage cans. A photo published in the online edition of the campus newspaper, The Northerner, showed Jacobsen […]

By Gudrun Schultz MANAGUA, Nicaragua, April 28, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new proposal to allow therapeutic abortion is being considered by the National Assembly of Nicaragua. The proposal would change the country’s Penal Code to legalize abortions. Efforts to bring easy abortion access into the country have been fuelled by feminist groups, who used the highly publicized case of a nine-year-old girl made pregnant by rape in 2003, to push for changes to the law. The child was eventually given an abortion despite the illegality of the procedure. Bishop Juan Abelardo, president of the Bishops’ Committee on Family Ministry, published […]

by Hilary White ARLINGTON, Va. April 27, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Concerned Women for America has highlighted the case of a Christian business that has been ordered to produce material that supports homosexual activity. An Arlington Va. video duplicator has been ordered by the Arlington County Human Rights Commission to produce video material for a lesbian activist. The video duplicator, Bono Film and Video, cited the constitutionally guaranteed right of freedom of religion to defend his decision to refuse business to lesbian activist, Lillian Vincenz. The proprietor, Tim Bono, argued that he could not, in conscience, produce material that promoted homosexual […]

By Gudrun Schultz WILLIAMSBURG, Kentucky, April 27, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A gay-rights group has launched a lawsuit against Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher for his decision to allow a Baptist university to receive state funding. The school expelled a student earlier this month for “engaging in and promoting” homosexuality. The University of the Cumberlands expelled 20-year-old Jason Johnson after the student discussed his gay boyfriend on a popular student website. The school’s policy on “attitude and conduct” in the 2005-06 student handbook states that participating in or promoting “sexual behavior not consistent with Christian principles (including sex outside of marriage and […]

by Hilary White BATON ROUGE, April 26, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Senate of Louisiana has passed a ban on abortion in a vote that rejected including exceptions for pregnancies due to rape or incest. In a 17-20 vote, the Senate defeated an amendment proposal to allow the exceptions and then passed the bill 30-7. If passed into law by the state House and not vetoed by the governor, the proposed law would outlaw all abortion except that which saves the life of the mother. The law would impose up to 10 years in prison and fines of $100,000 for doctors […]