Bits 'n' Pieces

U.S. politics

Pro-abortion and population control proponent billionare George Soros is funding a new political action group, America Coming Together, to oppose President George W. Bush and numerous pro-life senatorial and congressional candidates. The anticipated $75 million fund was set up with a $10 million donation from Soros and will be headed by Ellen Malcolm, president of EMILY's List, a pro-abortion political action committee. Soros said, "The fate of the world depends on the United States, and President Bush is leading us in the wrong direction" ... Pro-abortion Senator Ernest Hollings (D, S.C.) announced he would not seek re-election. Carol Tobias, director of the National Right to Life Political Action Committee explained "Senator Hollings was a solid pro-abortion vote in the Senate and did not represent the people of South Carolina." Rep. Jim DeMint and former state attorney general Charlie Condon, both pro-life, are vying for the Republican nomination. Most political observers consider the state an easy pick-up for the GOP ... Republican opponents of pro-abortion California Governor Gray Davis gathered enough signatures to force a recall vote. Actor and pro-abortion Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger is the front-runner to replace Davis. Billionaire Warren Buffet, who funds various abortion and population control programs, is Schwarzenegger's financial advisor for the campaign. Pro-life Republican gubernatorial candidates Bill Simon or state Senator Tom McClintock are polling third and fifth respectively.

Canadian politics

Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm's Progressive Conservative government was reduced to a minority, falling from 31 to 25 seats. Herm Wills, president of Campaign Life Coalition Nova Scotia, reports that seven of the newly elected MLAs are "committedly pro-life" and that at least another six are "workable" on the issue. He was displeased with the response from Tory candidates, which was a non-committal form letter written by Hamm ... Ontario Premier Ernie Eves indicates that anticipated September election will be postponed until October or next spring ... Days after polling data showed a shift in public opinion against same-sex "marriage," Eves reversed himself on the issue saying "I happen to personally believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. That's my own personal belief." However, in June, he said "Everybody has their own personal point of view on this issue. My point of view on this issue is that if two people decide they want to be in a union, why would I interfere with that?" He is not willing, however, to fight against same-sex "marriage" ... Pro-abortion and pro-gay "marriage" federal Finance Minister John Manley dropped out of the Liberal Party leadership race, leaving two pro-abortionists: Heritage Minister Sheila Copps and former finance minister Paul Martin.

World

Priests for Life was granted official non-governmental organization status at the UN ... In New Zealand, The Care of Children Bill would allow girls under 16 to procure an abortion without their parents' consent or knowledge ... By a 60-57 vote, the New Zealand legislature defeated the Death with Dignity Bill on first reading. National leader Bill English said the so-called safeguards were full of loop-holes and likened the bill to the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act: "That has a remarkably similar process to this. It includes experts, doctors, consultants (and) references to mental health. And everyone knows it has become a conveyer belt to abortion." ... The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Dr. Raymond Seidler, a "drug law reform activist," has called for the morning-after pill to be made available in schools on Monday mornings to prevent teenage pregnancies ... The Medical Journal of Australia reports that abortion is the second leading cause of hospital admission among young women ... Aftenposten, a Norwegian newspaper, reports that the country's teenage abortion has dropped about 10 per cent and that the overall abortion rate is at the lowest level since abortion was legalized in 1979 ... The India Supreme Court ruled that state-level population control measures that punish large families do not violate the constitutional rights of parents. The Haryana state bars parents with more than two children from public office and depriving large families of government jobs, housing loans and places in schools ... The city of Beijing has officially eased its one-child policy for certain families. However, Dr John Aird, an expert on Chinese population control, noted that the exceptions are nothing new and affect less than 10 per cent of the population. He said that "As long as the basic one-child policy continues, the 'rights of local citizens' under the family planning policy are still acutely restricted."

Euthanasia

A study published in The Lancet says that European doctors are increasingly choosing to hasten the deaths of the terminally ill. The study found that two thirds of the 20,000 deaths under examination involved the withholding of life-prolonging treatments or the prescription of pain control that could hasten death ... Palliative care expert and a member of the House of Lords, Professor Ilora Finlay of Wales University Medical College wrote in the British Medical Journal that legalising euthanasia will devalue human life: "As soon as you say to patients they have aduty to die because they are using up money and resources it gives a terribly demoralising philosophy to the whole delivery of health care" ... EXIT, the Australian euthanasia campaigning organisation organized a publicity stunt in a Queensland parking lot, measuring carbon monoxide emissions from different models of car so as to determine which ones could be used to commit suicide. Euthanasia opponents called the stunt "macabre and bizarre" ... Hemlock Society of Colorado is to change its name to End-Of-Life Choices.

Reprotech

Legislation was introduced in Congress to authorise $15 million in federal funding to subsidise the storage of umbilical cord blood as a source of ethically derived stem cells for use in medical treatments ... The U.S. President's Council on Bioethics is considering federal regulations of IVF. Presently, the production of human embryos through IVF, their destruction or use in scientific experimentation, is not subject to any federal regulation, nor is there any oversight of egg donation, surrogate mothers or IVF children ... The National Institute for Clinical Excellence, a British government health watchdog, recommended making IVF treatment available free on the National Health Service ... Professor Gedis Grudzinskas of the Bridge Centre, a British fertility clinic, said most fertility problems are preventable and that expensive, morally dubious fertility treatments would be unnecessary if women married younger and remained with the same partner. He stressed the need to educate women about the two major risks to fertility - sexually transmitted infection and the postponement of childbearing ... Spain has authorized the use of embryos left over from IVF treatment for embryonic stem cell research. The Spanish Episcopal Conference's executive committee has proposed allowing "leftover" IVF embryos to unfreeze and "die in peace," arguing that this would be a "lesser evil" ... The founder of the Raelian cult, Claude Vorilhon, has been forced out of South Korea amid fears by the Justice Ministry that he might engage in cloning activities ... The BBC reports that the first "internet baby" was born to an anonymous lesbian couple in England. They bought sperm from a website, ManNotIncluded.com, that caters to lesbians, after a number of failed IVF attempts. The Medical Ethics Alliance has called the website "a gross abuse and commercialization of fertility care, which has consequences far beyond the practice of simply buying sperm."

Homosexuality

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted 526-462 not to delay decisions regarding the blessing of same-sex marriages and the ordination of homosexual clergy. The issue will be debated during the denomination's 2005 synod ... The United Church of Canada has formally requested that the federal government legislate changes to the definition of marriage to include homosexual couples ... Timothy Potts, chair of the British Catholic homosexualist group Quest, criticized the Vatican's statement on the legal recognition of same-sex unions whining that the Church's opposition to legal recognition of same-sex relationships because homosexuals cannot procreate is wrong-headed: "In an overpopulated world and island, they (homosexuals) certainly contribute to the survival of the human race, and it is, rather, married partners who endanger its survival by reproducing too much."

Setbacks for abortionists