Recent Catholic News

SALEM, Oregon, Dec 16 (LSN) – Oregon taxpayers could be forced to pay for sex-change operations and physician-assisted suicide. The Oregon Health Services Commission is considering placing the two procedures on the list of medical treatments covered by the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s insurance program for low-income people. The decision is expected early next year. Gov. John Kitzhaber wants physician-assisted suicide considered for the list according to the same criteria used to review other medical treatments. Olivia Jaquay, a transsexual, told the commission the health plan discriminates against her by not paying for a sex-change procedure.

KYOTO, Japan, Dec 16 (LSN) – Pro-life attendees as the Kyoto Convention on Climate Change, have voiced concerns over possible anti-life policies in the final document. The American Life League (ALL) reported on December 1 that some attendees suggest fears of “global warming” may be used to justify “reducing world population-using abortion, harmful birth control chemicals and sterilization—to ‘solve’ the alleged climatological problems.” Pro-life researcher Susan Roylance points out that the reason this document is so dangerous is because, for the first time, the UN will be establishing legal regulations (based on “emissions budgets”) which a nation must live within. […]

OTTAWA, Dec 16 (LSN) – A Southam-Global poll, released yesterday, conducted by the Toronto-based polling company Pollara, indicates 60 per cent of Canadians favour legalizing doctor-assisted suicide. Support for doctor-assisted suicide was lowest—48 per cent—in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where the Robert Latimer case sparked much controversy. Quebec ranked highest with 65 per cent approval, followed by BC at 64 per cent. Pollara surveyed 1,410 adults nationwide from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2. Results are considered accurate within 3.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Pro-life observers are looking into whether the question was weighted in favour of euthanasia

VATICAN, Dec 15 (LSN)—On the news that a third baby has been born after being frozen as an embryo, the Italian newspaper Avvenire denounced sacrificing children “on the altar of experimentation.” The paper was reacting to a case in which an Italian woman gave birth to a child who had been conceived in a test tube, frozen, and then thawed, before being implanted in her womb. Protesters noted such a process has a failure rate of over 80 per cent—each “failure,” of course, being the death of a human being.

SAO PAULO, Dec 13 (LSN) – In a case which parallels recent events in Ireland, an 11-year-old Brazilian girl known as “M,” pregnant allegedly due to rape, is requesting an abortion. M and her family have asked a Brazilian judge to permit doctors to kill the 4-month-old preborn child. Judge Luiz Mangabeira Cardoso delayed his decision until next week, saying, “I can’t authorize an abortion until I know if she is going to be harmed or not.” Health Minister Carlos Albuquerque told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that the abortion request is in keeping with Brazil's relatively strict abortion […]

WINNIPEG, Dec 15 (LSN) – In a unanimous, precedent-setting decision, the Manitoba Court of Appeal ruled last week that physicians are permitted to refuse to resuscitate critically ill patients, even against the wishes of next of kin. The case involved a boy of nearly one year who was judged by doctors to be in a “persistent vegetative state,” allegedly due to violent shaking. Doctors recommended a do-not-resuscitate order be placed on the child's chart, on the grounds resuscitation would only prolong his suffering (even though they also claimed the child had no sensation). Winnipeg Child and Family Services, who had […]

CHICAGO, Dec 12 (LSN) – Richard Seed, a Harvard-educated biologist with a background in embryonics, told the Washington Times on Wednesday that he wants to develop human cloning as a commercial venture and has already found two infertile couples who are interested. Missouri Republican Senator Christopher S. Bond, who has put forward a bill to restrict federal funding of human cloning, released a statement saying, “The news about Richard Seed’s efforts to clone humans is very disturbing and makes it critically important that we move forward quickly to ban cloning.” Seed said he has assembled an eight-member team that includes […]

VATICAN (CWN)—The Catholic Church has rejected the argument that a pro-life activist in France should be offered political asylum. Dr. Xavier Dor, who had spent a night at the residence of the papal nuncio in Paris, left the building voluntarily this morning, to face a possible prison sentence of eight months for his involvement in blockades at abortion centres. Convicted on December 9 by a court at Versailles, Dor had arrived at the nunciature proclaiming the right to political asylum. Although the nunciature in Paris declined all public comment, the Holy See today issued a statement indicating that Dor did […]

PHILADELPHIA, Dec 12 (LSN) – On Dec. 7, the European Parliament began a debate on approving a Europe- wide document identifying “dangerous sects.” According to an article in the December 12 issue of the Washington Times, groups such as “Catholic charismatics, Hasidic Jews, Baptists, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Quakers, Buddhists and the YWCA [are] now being listed as ‘dangerous sects’ by state panels.” The Times reported that “A network of psychiatric, legal, media and socialist groups are pressuring European governments to outlaw or curtail the activities of well-known religious organizations, a new report states.” These “anti-sect” groups “propose laws to list […]

TORONTO, Dec 11 (LSN)—In response to letters protesting Sony's Christmas album entitled “O Come All Ye Faithful,” the proceeds of which were to support an abortion-promoting group called Rock for Choice, Sony recently issued an apology. In a letter to people protesting the album, the company said, “Sony Music had no intention of re-releasing or marketing O Come All Ye Faithful this Christmas. We apologize for this mishap, and regret any upset resulting from this inadvertent error.” The album was planned for release last year in the US, but pro-life protests garnered a promise from Sony to halt the release. […]