Wednesday December 1, 1999
See today’s LifeSiteNews stories- SECOND CHANCE FOR CONSCIENCE LEGISLATION POSSIBLE
- NO JAIL FOR MOTHER WHO TRIED TO KILL DISABLED DAUGHTER
- EXHAUSTIVE ABC LINK EVIDENCE DEMANDS INFORMED CONSENT LAW
- WEB SITE LAUNCHED TO PROMOTE CANADIAN CONSCIENCE LEGISLATION
- CANADIAN NATIONAL PRO-LIFE CONFERENCE REPORT
- NEW LAW PLACES GREATER VALUE ON ANIMALS THAN HUMANS
- LIFESITE NEWSBYTES
SECOND CHANCE FOR CONSCIENCE LEGISLATION POSSIBLE
OTTAWA, Dec 1 (LSN.ca) – Despite the failure of Maurice Vellacott’s conscience legislation to get the full hearing it deserved in Parliament on November 18, the Saskatchewan MP’s efforts and House of Commons speech on the bill have laid the groundwork for future initiatives on this issue.
The future may not be long in coming if the Senate conscience bill makes its way through Parliament in a timely fashion. Also, in late-breaking news, Mr. Vellacott contacted LifeSite to report that his bill can be reintroduced in its current form, but with a new number.
His bill first entered the schedule of Parliamentary business after being drawn through the traditional random draw process for Private Members’ Business. That process does not have an agreement that a bill will be ruled votable if it has the signatures of 100 supporting MPs. Since Vellacott’s bill has collected the support of 100 MPs under a relatively new agreement, his bill is still in the line-up of proposed legislation to be drawn from that additional process he says, following confirmation from Parliamentary officials.
For more see today’s LifeSite Special Report at:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1999/dec/991201a.html
NO JAIL FOR MOTHER WHO TRIED TO KILL DISABLED DAUGHTER
NIAGARA FALLS, ON, Dec 1 (LSN.ca) – Yesterday, Superior Court Justice Paul Forestell sentenced Lisa Thompson, 38, to only a two year conditional sentence to be served at home for attempting to murder her disabled 6-year-old daughter, Brandy. On November 8 last year, Thompson tried to kill her daughter by administering a lethal dose of drugs through her feeding tube. After checking to assure that Brandy no longer had a pulse, Thompson turned herself in to police.
Traci Walters, national director of the Canadian Association of Independent Living Centres, told the Toronto Star that the case is evidence of “a disturbing trend in sentencing.” “The courts are sending a message that this is okay to do and that it’s less of a crime because disabled people are less of a person,” she said.
Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition of Ontario, told LifeSite that the Coalition is requesting Ontario’s Attorney General to review the judicial decision based on the concern that this decision establishes a precedent for other cases of neglect, abuse, murder or attempted murder of dependent or disabled persons in Ontario. Schadenberg said the sentence “is far too lenient and may create a climate of tolerance” toward these acts.
Similar cases resulting in lenient penalties include the Robert Latimer case and that of Danielle Blais. Latimer was initially granted a constitutional exemption resulting in only a two-year sentence rather than the minimum 10 years for killing his disabled daughter Tracy by carbon monoxide poisoning. In 1996, Danielle Blais of Montreal received a 23-month suspended sentence after drowning her 6-year-old autistic son, Charles-Antoine and was not imprisoned.
See the Toronto Star coverage at:
https://www.thestar.com/thestar/editorial/news/991201NEW01c_C…
EXHAUSTIVE ABC LINK EVIDENCE DEMANDS INFORMED CONSENT LAW
OTTAWA, Dec 1 (LSN.ca) – In a Monday press conference, which aired on the Canadian Public Affairs Channel yesterday, Canadian health researcher Isabelle Begin presented extensive evidence supporting a link between induced abortion and breast cancer. She said that informed consent legislation must be implemented to ensure that women are given the necessary information about this risk prior to procuring an abortion.
Begin noted that in its Global Action Plan of 1997, the World Conference on Breast Cancer finally included “induced termination of pregnancy” in its list of possible risk factors for breast cancer. “Indeed, 43 studies throughout the world since 1957 have shown that induced abortion carries an increased risk of breast cancer of 30 to 610%,” she said. Demonstrating the urgency of the situation, she noted that 18,700 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in Canada.
(Transcripts of the press conference are available from LifeSite News) [email protected]
WEB SITE LAUNCHED TO PROMOTE CANADIAN CONSCIENCE LEGISLATION
VANCOUVER, Dec 1 (LSN.ca) – The Protection for Conscience Project was launched today with the opening of its web site at https://www.consciencelaws.org. According to a press release, the non- denominational, non-profit group “supports authentic freedom of conscientious choice for everyone.” The project will push for protection of conscience legislation, provide information on protection of conscience legislation worldwide, promote clarification and understanding of the issues involved to assist in reasoned public discussion, and act as a clearing house for reports from people who have been discriminated against for reasons of conscience.
The site offers a forum, for those who have suffered conscience discrimination, to relate their experiences. The site catalogues the need for conscience legislation with numerous Canadian and international examples of job discrimination and termination based on refusal to participate in abortion.
Site Administrator Sean Murphy warns, while abortion is currently the main focus of the need for conscience legislation, euthanasia, assisted suicide and demands for new reproductive technologies will soon add fuel to the debate.
CANADIAN NATIONAL PRO-LIFE CONFERENCE REPORT
TORONTO, Dec 1 (LSN.ca) – The Save the Planet’s People First conference which concluded Saturday was rated by many veteran attendees as the best pro-life conference ever. A power- house of speakers riveted participants who were able to interact via video technology that allowed questioners to be heard and seen by the 500+ session participants.
Soul-shaking messages were delivered by famed Catholic novelist Michael O’Brien, disabled activist Mark Pickup and Second Chance Ministries founder Angelina Steenstra. Experts and professionals in the fields of medicine, law, statistics, pharmacy, media and politics provided essential information for pro-life strategies for the coming new millenium while seasoned pro-life leaders like John Cavanaugh-O’Keefe and LDI’s Doug Scott charted the course.
The conference charted a new course for pro-life in the new millenium with a strong emphasis on spirituality and re-evaluation of pro-life strategies and attitudes in light of today’s realities. There was great confidence after the conference that an exciting renewal of the pro-life movement was now underway.
Youth were well represented with both national pro-life youth groups in attendance and entertainment included performances by singer and songwriter Michelle Iurman.
Conference audio cassettes will be made available in the coming weeks from LifeSite.
See the conference site for more info at:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/conference99/index.html
NEW LAW PLACES GREATER VALUE ON ANIMALS THAN HUMANS
OTTAWA, Dec 1 (LSN.ca) – In Canada unborn babies have been legally slaughtered by the million, where the most common sentence for pedophilia, rape and now the “mercy killing” of children by parents is less than two years in jail. Nevertheless, the federal government has decided to come down harder on animal abusers, wanting to pass legislation giving them penalties of up to five years in prison for maltreatment of pets. The new government legislation being proposed today will also impose unlimited fines on animal abusers.
See the report in the Ottawa Citizen at:
https://www.southam.com/ottawacitizen/newsnow/cpfs/national/9…
LIFESITE NEWSBYTES
As expected, US President Bill Clinton waived a restriction on a near-billion dollar UN funding deal allowing the UN to use the funds to lobby for abortion on demand worldwide. AP reports that the money for abortion advocacy is limited to $15 million. https://www.nando.net/noframes/story/0,2107,500063512-5001050…
The official newspaper of the Vatican, L’Osservatore Romano slammed the Socialist French government yesterday for their imposition of the morning after pill in high schools across the country. The paper called the claim that the pills would reduce abortions “cruel hypocrisy” since the “morning after” pill is itself abortifacient. https://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=43984
Israel’s Pro-Life Ministry, the Be’ad Chaim Association, reported today that the abortion pill, RU-486 has been used on over 100 women so far at the Assuta hospital in Tel Aviv. LifeSite reported in August that the lethal drug was legalized in the country despite pro- life protest.
An editorial in yesterday’s National Post decried “the current unrestricted traffic in foetal tissue” and said it “must be suspended” until public debate has taken place. https://www.nationalpost.com/commentary.asp?s2=editorials&f;=9…