Population control described

GENEVA - The recent World Congress of Families in this Swiss city heard from several African pro-family leaders who described the devastation wrought in their nations by UN-backed population-control initiatives. One woman from the Cameroons said such population control involved the extensive use of demographic targets, economic incentives, forced sterilizations and experimental contraceptive methods.

Maria Morfaw said it is clear that "the extermination of some races on the globe is an agenda item for those who believe they own the world and treat the earth in which we are all tenants as if it were their private property."

Dr. Margaret Ogola of Kenya said the distribution of millions of condoms has led not only to disease outbreaks, but to the breaking down of tribal taboos against promiscuous sexual behavior. "The disbelief and shock in the reaction of young people when I tell them they have AIDS is heart-breaking," she said.

Ban sought on ‘cranial abortions'

QUEENSLAND, Australia - A panel of medical experts is calling for the outlawing of so-called "abortion by cranial depression" after describing it as "horrendously cruel and painful." They pointed a finger at David Grundmann, Australia's only late-term abortionist, who they believe committed as many as 12 such abortions last year.

"Of course, in Dr. Grundmann's case, it's always a death certificate ... and it's a pretty horrendous way of doing it," said Dr. Clem Marrinan, a leading obstetrician/gynecologist. Anesthetist Gavin Carroll said the practice is very painful for the unborn baby and is more cruel than "abattoir slaughters."

Grundmann says he performs "cranial depression" abortions because of the certainty of the result. "A woman does not choose to have an abortion because it is fun," he claimed. "It is a very traumatic decision that must be taken into account."

Teen abortions up in Spain

MADRID - The latest report by the Spanish ministry of health shows that the number of Spanish girls under 19 undergoing abortions has increased 60 per cent since 1990 - about the time that a government campaign against AIDS encouraged young people to use condoms. The report also noted that the number of abortuaries in Spain rose from 81 in 1990 to 115 in 1997.

Although Spanish law forbids abortion except in cases of threat to the mother's health, fetal malformation and rape, over 95 per cent of abortions are justified by reasons of maternal health - a category thought to be abused by abortuaries seeking to have abortion on demand allowed.

Moral values reversed in Kenya

NAIROBI - A UN- and International Monetary Fund-led pressure campaign seems to have borne fruit in a reversal by Kenya's president on family-values issues. President Daniel Arap Moi said recently that he advocated the use of condoms in efforts to combat the spread of AIDS.

"In today's world, condoms are a must," he said at a University of Nairobi graduation ceremony. The statement was a reversal from his views the week before, when Moi said it would be morally wrong for him or his government to advocate condoms as a way of controlling AIDS.

Muslim and Catholic leaders suspected the reversal was due to pressure from donor countries that backed the use of condoms - and indeed, a day after the president's university speech, the central bank of Kenya announced it had fulfilled all conditions demanded by the IMF to negotiate poverty-reduction loans.

Government caught lying