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"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you…"
Jeremiah 1:5
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Pro-Life News
Press Release
LifeCanada/VieCanada
310 - 376 Churchill Avenue N.
Ottawa ON K1Z 5C3
Tel: 1-866-780-5433 Fax: 613-722-2201
Email: lifecanada@bellnet.ca
Website:www.lifecanada.org
For Immediate Release
January 22, 2008
Abortion: Have we gone too far?
January 28 marks the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that removed all legal restrictions on abortion in Canada. In those 20 years, during which abortion has been allowed throughout all nine months of pregnancy, almost 2 million Canadian babies have been aborted.
LifeCanada, a national educational pro-life group, has launched a media campaign asking Canadians, "Have we gone too far?" by allowing unrestricted abortion. There are over 100,000 abortions each year in Canada and taxpayers pay for almost all of them.
"This isn't health care," said LifeCanada President Joanne Byfield. "It isn't life saving or life giving. It takes a human life and increases a woman's risk of many subsequent health problems. It is time we re-examined unrestricted abortion."
Provincial and local groups across the country have sponsored billboards, transit ads and radio and newspaper ads asking Canadians to re-think their position on abortion. The ads promote a website, www.AbortionInCanada.ca, which includes statistics, history, medical research and other information on the issue.
Byfield says a pro-abortion attitude has infected our politics, our media and our national psyche. "Have we gone too far?" she asked. "Let's look at the evidence."
- Abortions can be performed throughout all nine months of pregnancy for no medical reason and data show that hundreds are performed each year after 20 weeks gestation, the point of viability.
- Pro-life people who protest or pray near abortion facilities can be arrested, charged and jailed for expressing their opinions.
- Campus pro-life groups across Canada are denied club status because student governments don't want to hear pro-life opinions and don't want others to hear them either.
- To date, the cities of Fredericton and Hamilton have refused to allow our ads to run in their transit shelters. One city councillor in Hamilton found them "offensive."
- A bill currently before Parliament to allow the killer of a pregnant woman to be charged with two deaths is opposed on the basis that it threatens abortion rights even though the bill includes an exception for abortion. Some Canadians would rather ignore the murder of a "wanted" child than risk some notional threat to abortion rights.
Byfield said a majority of Canadians believe there should be legal protection for the unborn. In an October 2007 poll by Environics Research, 62% of Canadians said they supported legal protection at some stage of pregnancy. Women and young people aged 18 to 30 were even more supportive at 67%.
"Despite 20 years of unrestricted abortion and the suppression of a public debate on the issue, there is still strong support for protection of the most fundamental of human rights---the right to life for all human beings," said Byfield.
"After 20 years, it is time to reassess the policy," said Byfield. "We hope Canadians will go to the website, read the material and think carefully about the question we pose: 'Abortion: Have we gone too far?' Canada is the only western country with no legal restriction on abortion and we think it is time for a national discussion on this issue. Questioning Canada's abortion policy should not be a taboo subject."
For more information, call Joanne Byfield at 780-939-6365 or 780-445-0344 (cell) or Gudrun Schultz at 613-722-1552. For interviews in French, contact Nicole Pyle at 306-683-0829.
LifeSiteNews.com
Tuesday May 22, 2007
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/may/07052207.html
Students Begin Walk Across Canada to Promote Pro-Life Cause
US Crossroads Walk now a Canadian organization as well
By John Jalsevac
HOPE, British Columbia, May 22, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Cyril Doll, the organizer of the new Canadian version of the now-famous Crossroads walk is on the phone. He sounds a little groggy.
He apologizes. “I was on the night shift last night,” he says. “I’m just waking up right now.”
Cyril is one of six young men and women, between the ages of twenty and thirty, who are endeavouring to walk from Vancouver to Quebec (a distance of some 5,500 kilometres) in an effort to raise awareness about the pro-life cause.
Being on the night shift means that Cyril spent the previous night walking at least 15 miles, and probably more, through the rugged terrain just east of Vancouver. As we speak, Cyril and his fellow walkers are passing through Hope, British Columbia, about 75 miles from their starting point at Stanley Park in Vancouver.
Crossroads was founded in 1994 by Steve Sanborn, a student at Franciscan University of Steubenville as a response to John Paul II’s call to take an active role in the pro-life movement in order to establish a Culture of Life. Prior to this year Crossroads was a U.S.-only organization, with volunteers covering three different routes (North, Central, and South), starting from different points on the West Coast and converging on Washington D.C. for a concluding rally every summer.
This year is the first time that Crossroads has taken to the highways of Canada.
Cyril says that the walk is essentially divided into two sections—weeks and weekends.
During the week, the group will cover 60 miles a day. The six walkers are split up into shifts, with one of the shifts on the road at all times, day or night. Each participant is responsible for a minimum of 15 miles a day, a gruelling schedule to keep up, given much of the terrain they will be covering. The first portion of the trek is a trial by fire, as they pass through the Rocky Mountains.
“It’s tough,” says Cyril, who has taken part in a number of the U.S. versions of the Crossroads walk. He says that it is normal for walkers to develop blisters on their feet, and to go through several pairs of shoes. And yet, in his past experience, he says, those who join Crossroads always push through to the end despite the difficulty.
On weekends they will pray in front of abortion clinics, speak to youth groups about such things as chastity, and go around to various parishes giving talks and drumming up donations.
So far, says Cyril, the walkers are getting a lot of positive reactions from people. “We’re basically walking billboards,” he says. “We wear these t-shirts that in big letters say ‘Pro-Life’. So we get a lot of people honking at us, and giving us the thumbs up. A lot of people are really encouraged to see us. Its encouraging for them to see six young people dedicating a whole summer to this, maybe even putting their career on hold to witness to the sanctity of life to this apathetic nation of ours.”
He does admit, however, “As we walk along the road, we get a lot of fingers too. Obviously it’s a very politically incorrect issue. And yet, I’d say so far its about 70-30 positive to negatives.”
Although it is a huge sacrifice, both physically, financially and time-wise, Cyril says that getting Crossroads started in Canada is more than worth it.
“It’s important because life begins at conception, at fertilization and ends at natural death,” he says. “It needs to be defended. Mother Teresa said the most dangerous place for a human being to be is in their mother’s womb.”
“We may not see the fruits of our work,” he admits, “and that’s part of the sacrifice. And yet, through prayer and sacrifice we’re going to bring about change. I’ve seen the fruits of the work down in the States. I’ve seen women come up to us who were considering an abortion and who’ve changed their minds, or women who’ve had an abortion and are now willing to go seek counselling and forgiveness for what they’ve done.”
“We just put it, all this hard work and sacrifice, at the foot of Christ’s cross and let him dish out whatever good works will come of it. That’s why we’re doing it, and I’m pretty sure if you asked any one of my walkers, that’s what they’d tell you too.”
Readers are encouraged to look for updates on the Canadian walk at www.crossroadswalk.org/Schedule/CanadaWalk.asp
LifeSiteNews will also do its best to inform readers about the whereabouts of the Crossroads walkers.
Use of ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ Too “Homophobic”, Scottish Nurses Told
By Gudrun Schultz
EDINBURGH, Scotland, February 16, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Nurses and other health care professionals should avoid using the terms ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ to refer to family relationships since the terms could be offensive to homosexual couples with children, a new directive published by Scotland’s National Health Service recommends.
Issued in conjunction with the country’s leading homosexual activist organization Stonewall Scotland, the publication is entitled Fair For All - The Wider Challenge: Good LGBT Practice in the NHS. Americans for Truth reported Feb.11 on the publication’s release.
The booklet calls for a “zero-tolerance policy to discriminatory language” among Scotland’s health care system. Included in discriminatory language is the use of terms that assume a traditional family structure of mother, father and children, according to the NHS directive.
“LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered] people can and do have children, sexual orientation or gender identity has nothing to do with good parenting or good child care,” the booklet states.
“Individual circumstances lead to varied family structures and parenting arrangements. It is important to be aware of this. When talking to children, consider using ‘parents‘, ‘carers’ or ‘guardians’ rather than ‘mother’ or ‘father‘.
Along the same lines, the directive points out, use of the terms ‘husband’, ‘wife’ and ‘marriage’ is not acceptable since such terms exclude lesbian, gay and bisexual people. Instead, health care workers should use the terms ‘partners’ and ‘next of kin’. Since ‘next of kin’ is often understood to mean nearest blood relative, however, the booklet recommends that it may be preferable to use ‘partner, close friend or close relative’ to avoid confusion.
“This allows the patient to identify and choose who is important to them.”
Other recommendations include ensuring the health care environment is visually reassuring to LGBT people, with posters and magazines on LGBT issues on display.
“Posters with positive images of same-sex couples, alongside similar material depicting opposite-sex couples, should be displayed in all areas e.g. waiting areas, hospital wards.”
In order to better ensure the comfort and security of LGBT people in the health care environment, the NHS calls for sexual identity “monitoring forms” to be included in all registration procedures for both staff and patients. The booklet recommends five reply options to the question of sexual orientation, including ‘Lesbian‘, ‘Gay‘, ‘Bisexual‘, ‘Heterosexual‘, and ‘Other‘. Sections recording gender should be changed to have three reply options, ‘Male‘, ‘Female‘, or ‘Other, “where people can define their own gender.”
Among guidelines for implementing pro-LGBT policies in the health care system, the directive requires that management or team leader job descriptions include a mandatory commitment to combating any “discriminatory” language or attitudes among staff.
The booklet was funded by taxpayers through the NHS Education for Scotland, as part of the Equality and Diversity program.
The Hidden Cost of "Choice"
National Post - Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Byline: Andrea Mrozekice
In Canada, having an abortion is supposed to be all about "choice." A woman's health after she exercises that choice is a subject no one wants to talk about.
But things are different in other countries. On Oct. 27, 15 prominent signatories wrote a letter to the editor of the Times of London. The group included a past president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Others were some of the top general practitioners, psychiatrists and obstetricians and gynecologists in the country. They asked the official bodies regulating obstetricians and psychiatrists to revise their guidance on abortion as it pertains to mental health in young women.
Why? The group referenced a longitudinal study done in New Zealand and published in the January edition of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry indicating that young women who have had abortions exhibit twice the level of mental health problems, and three times the risk of depression, as those who had given birth or never been pregnant. According to the letter in the Times, "Since women having abortions can no longer be said to have a low risk of suffering from psychiatric conditions such as depression, doctors have a duty to advise about long-term adverse psychological consequences of abortion."
The author of the cited research, New Zealand psychologist David Fergusson, intended to correct design flaws in previous studies in the field. He tracked women from birth to age 25, and found that those who had abortions exhibited elevated tendencies toward suicidal thoughts, depression, drug dependence and other mental health problems even after controlling for prior mental health problems and other causative factors.
Accepted wisdom in Canada is that abortion is benign. So too in the U.K., where the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Web site tells women of limited to no harm from having an abortion. They write that "for most women, an abortion is safer than carrying a pregnancy and having a baby."
In the United States, however, the American Psychological Association had to withdraw their statement on the subject, which cited no evidence of psychological harm to women as a result of abortion, after the New Zealand study was published.
In Canada, there's no statement to withdraw: Since the issue is never even broached, the Canadian Psychological Association has never felt compelled to pronounce on the issue. As a result, we are in an unusual situation vis-a-vis other developed nations: We provide women considering abortion with little health-related research. (On the other hand, perhaps such an anomaly is to be expected: Canada is unique among liberal democracies in that we have no law regulating abortion either.)
The result is that Canadians have no public forum in which to raise legitimate abortion-related concerns, despite the fact abortion affects a large number of women. Canada reports approximately 105,000 abortions annually. Just less than half of all abortions are performed on the age group the New Zealand researcher tracked, or about 50,000 abortions annually. How many of these women have health problems thanks to their abortions? We have no idea.
Canada discusses abortion only in terms of access, funding or choice, as if no women were actually involved. When the New Zealand study came out, no media report were filed, even as the media did report on the class action lawsuit launched by the Association for Access to Abortion over private payment required by the Quebec government for abortion.
There should be an open forum for discussion of women's health after abortion. En route to the abortion clinic, or while sitting for counseling in the nearest agency's office, is not the right moment for a young, already distressed woman to learn that depressive episodes and suicide ideation may be the result of her decision to kill her fetus. Bad health news on abortion must not be hidden as if it were always a pro-life ploy to thwart women's freedom.
Doctors in the U.K. took note of the New Zealand study and are asking for changes. Will Canadian doctors do the same?
- Andrea Mrozek is Manager of Research and Communications at the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada.
andream@imfcanada.org
Andrea Mrozek
Institute of Marriage and Family Canada
Manager of Research and Communications
2001-130 Albert Street
Ottawa, ON K1P 5G4
613-565-3832 ext. 230
Docs Set to Change Medical Practices
Great expectations accompany opening of largest stem cell research centre in Canada
By LAURA CZEKAJ - November 8, 2006
Among the chaos of moving boxes and new state-of-the-art equipment are the makings of what is the largest centre devoted to stem cell research in Canada.
As the official opening of the Ottawa Health Research Institute's Sprott Centre for Stem Cell Research draws near on Nov. 15, the expectations surrounding the revolutionary work that will be conducted within its walls are growing.
Director Dr. Michael Rudnicki just chuckles at the commotion as the group of multi-disciplinary researchers slowly but surely take over the fifth floor of the Ottawa Hospital's Eye Institute.
"Having this focus here really allows us to leverage the work that's being done internationally and will benefit the citizens of Ottawa faster than it otherwise would because we will be translating it into clinical initiatives," he said.
TRANSFORM MEDICINE
Rudnicki is convinced that stem cell research will transform how medicine is practiced --and he would know. The renowned scientist led a team that first identified the rare stem cells in adult muscle tissue that are responsible for regeneration. His work is revealing how several different genes work together to control these adult stem cells, and also the more powerful stem cells found in embryos.
His passion for his work and the work of his colleagues is tangible.
"We are working to make a difference to contribute to our society,"said Rudnicki. "If we can make a difference in our life then I think that is something that is really powerful and rewarding."
- - -
The potential of stem cells is immense and has been linked to possible treatments for a range of debilitating illnesses, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and heart disease.
At the Sprott Centre, scientists will address a variety of medical conditions.
"The work spans from molecules through to cells, through to patients,"said Rudnicki. "This multi-disciplinary approach will really facilitate the advancement and translation of knowledge from the bench to the bedside."
The vast array of research conducted within the building on the Ottawa Hospital General campus is expected to drastically advance Canadian scientists' involvement in stem cell research. It's also being touted as a coup for local patients, who will have the ground-breaking research available to them through clinical trials.
FIRESTORM OF CONTROVERSY
It also has the potential, however, to bring to Ottawa's doorstep a firestorm of controversy surrounding embryonic stem cell research --such as that exhibited recently when Canadian actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's disease, starred in a television advertisement supporting the research. Fox drew criticism from conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and sparked a renewed public debate.
No such debate has made an appearance at the door of the new Ottawa research facility, which will use stem cells from human embryos that will come from an in vitro fertilization clinic and will be designated for research use through a due consent process.
The process is regulated under the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which became law on March 29, 2004, and the accompanying Guidelines for Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Research. Funding for stem cell research projects is approved by the Stem Cell Oversight Committee, which is a standing committee of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Governing Council.
"I think we have a more rational system, we have a stricter system. It's a permitted activity, but there are limits,"said Rudnicki. "In fact, the U.S. being totally unregulated is the wild west compared to Canada."
- - -
Carroll Rees, executive director of Life Canada Ottawa, was surprised to learn the Sprott Centre will use embryonic stem cells.
"As a pro-life group, we think stem cell research is wonderful and has tremendous potential and we certainly promote the use of adult stem cells and even umbilical cord blood,"she said.
REPRESENTS A LIFE
It is the use of embryonic stem cells for research purposes that is of concern to Rees and those who share her opinion that an embryo represents a life.
"Personally, I object to them saying these are discarded embryos that are just going to be thrown away or destroyed -- because there are other alternatives that we could pursue for these embryos," she said, citing adoption of surplus embryos by infertile couples as a feasible answer.
Rees said there are ethical alternatives to the use of human embryonic stem cells that would address the concerns raised by pro-life groups.
Rudnicki argues that doctors are also faced with the moral obligation to help their fellow human beings by advancing their knowledge and clinical care.
"Morally and ethically, a lot of people feel that embryonic stem cell research is more akin to organ donation," he said.
- - -
The Sprott Centre has been many years in the making.
Dr. Ronald Worton, retiring CEO of the Ottawa Health Research Institute, has been credited for being the driving force behind the creation of the Ottawa research facility, which will house about 120 scientists, trainees, and staff.
The $18.6-million facility is the result of more than three years of fundraising from corporate, government and private sources, said Susan Doyle, president and chief executive officer of the Ottawa Hospital Foundation.
"It will allow so much collaboration to take place among the scientists in the stem cell centre and throughout our research institute," she said. "But the main thing is, there is going to be a close collaboration between basic research that goes on and clinical research."
The centre's namesake, philanthropist Eric Sprott and his wife Vizma have donated $7 million to create an endowment fund that will allow the researchers to further their work.
"It means that the centre will continue to have the means to flourish and grow and develop because of this generous gift from the Sprotts," said Doyle.
REPAIR TISSUE
The research conducted at the centre, combined with work being done around the world, is expected to harness the power of stem cells to regenerate and repair tissue that has been damaged by disease and trauma.
"Regenerative medicine will transform how medicine is practiced in hospitals," said Rudnicki. "This is a 20-year path that we have already started going down. But the entrance of regenerative medicine in the clinic will completely change the practice of medicine."
The creation of the centre is a win-win situation for the hospital and research institute because it will attract top stem cell scientists from around the world.
As the official launch date nears, only time will tell what revolutionary medical breakthroughs will be made at the centre and how the public will react to such a politically and morally charged topic.
WHO'S WHO
Some of the researchers who will work at the Sprott Centre for Stem Cell Research:
- Dr. Lynn Megeney is focusing on adult cardiac muscle stem cells and has co-founded a company called StemPath that is developing small molecule compounds to stimulate the regeneration of cardiac muscle tissue.
- Dr. Miguel Andrade is an expert in bioinformatics. His massive stem cell gene expression database, StemBase, is used by investigators around the world to determine how stem cells are regulated.
- Dr. Marjorie Brand dissects the components of protein complexes to understand the function of the molecular machines that regulate stem cell function.
- Dr. Jeffrey Dilworth is studying how genes can be regulated by modifying the way DNA is packaged inside the cell.
- Dr. Cathy Tsilfidis is searching for clues to human regeneration in newts.
- Dr. Ruth Slack is a neuroscientist investigating how gene therapy and stem cells might be applied to treat neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and stroke.
- Dr. Kursad Turksen is focusing on the study of epidermal stem cells for potential use in burn patients and for the treatment of foot ulcers in patients with diabetes.
Abortion fragile issue - The Windsor Star - Mon 23 Oct 2006
Byline: Leonard Stern
Many people are conflicted about abortion. They don't want to criminalize it, but at the same time believe abortion represents a moral problem. They know that reproductive rights are central to the health and security of women, but abortion still makes them queasy.
Now we all know about those right-wing Christians who say there is nothing ambiguous about abortion because life begins at conception, abortion is murder, and that's that.
But there are ideologues on the other side, too, who for political reasons also deny the moral ambiguity of abortion.
Just another medical procedure, they say, like having a mole removed. It offends these people that many women agonize over their abortions, because it implies that there's something wrong with abortion.
These secular radicals can be just as judgmental as their counterparts on the religious right, and they've found a home in Ms. Magazine, the publication co-founded by feminist icon Gloria Steinem.
This month Ms. launched a campaign called "We had abortions." The editors are asking women who have terminated a pregnancy to stand up proudly and go public, by signing a petition.
The idea is to remove the stigma of abortion, to show that abortion is not an exceptional event but rather something to which our sisters, mothers, girlfriends and wives have routinely availed themselves. Ms. Magazine believes that abortion rights are increasingly being challenged, so the way to restore abortion's legitimacy is to show how perfectly normal -- or "common," as the magazine puts it -- the procedure is.
The campaign rests on the premise that abortion poses zero ethical questions, for otherwise it wouldn't be normal or routine.
Those elements of the pro-choice camp who seek to diminish the moral complexity of abortion tie themselves into contradictions. Just outside the Morgentaler clinic in Ottawa, someone once purchased a small billboard-type poster with the words "Abortion Stops a Beating Heart," presumably to provoke second thoughts in women en route to the clinic.
Emotional pain
Workers at the clinic were furious and tried to get the poster removed. Why? Because the clinic's patients were in a fragile state and the poster caused them emotional pain.
This was confusing because abortion, so we were told, was just another medical procedure. The clinic was indirectly acknowledging that even women who had booked their appointments remained conflicted and emotional -- which shouldn't happen if you're getting a mole removed.
Even pro-choicers ought to be allowed to question the decency of Ms. Magazine's "We Had Abortions" initiative. Certainly, women should not be ostracized or made to feel guilt-ridden because they've chosen abortion. At the same time, women who are wistful or sad, who still struggle with their decisions, should not be made to feel as though they are self-hating feminists. Ms. Magazine's campaign is troublesome because it makes abortion into an expression of female empowerment.
A few years ago Planned Parenthood began marketing "I had an Abortion" T-shirts. Planned Parenthood said the T-shirts were an "affirmation that abortion is not shameful." Yet it seemed that the T-shirts were more than an affirmation of the right to choose but an attempt to transform abortion into a positive political act, an assertion of feminist identity. This is a denial of what I believe is the more honest and instinctive view, that abortion is a negative experience.
To suggest that every abortion is in some sense a sad event does not mean you want abortion outlawed or that you are anti-feminist. It is interesting to note that some women who in their youth were 100 per cent untroubled by abortion will adopt a more nuanced view after becoming pregnant for the first time and experiencing that first ultrasound.
The feminist intellectual Naomi Wolf has documented how motherhood suddenly complicated the abortion debate for her.
Abortion opponents shouldn't judge women who have had guilt-free abortions. And neither should pro-choicers judge women who, declining to sign petitions or wear T-Shirts, refuse to celebrate what was a painful and difficult decision.
Leonard Stern is the Ottawa Citizen's editorial pages editor. E-mail: lstern@thecitizen.canwest.com
From: Friday Fax, August 24, 2006
Pro-life Nations Under Severe Pressure to Allow
“Reproductive Health” in New Treaty
By Susan Yoshihara, PhD
(NEW YORK — C-FAM) At the UN this week, nations continued a heated debate over whether to include “reproductive health” in a new human rights treaty for the disabled. While the goal is to finish the treaty by the end of the week, the contentious issue remained unresolved as the Friday Fax went to press and the negotiations are expected to late tonight and tomorrow. The phrase is controversial since the UN General Assembly does not include abortion in “reproductive health” it is defined that way by radical groups and rogue UN committees.
On Tuesday the International Disabilities Caucus, a liberal umbrella group for disabilities organizations worldwide, conceded defeat and called for deletion of the controversial rights of persons to “sexual and reproductive health services” and to “experience their sexuality.” They conceded after Nicaragua led 23 nations demanding those phrases be deleted. Rather than recognize the lack of consensus, the chairman’s staff has kept up pressure on those nations to get them to back down. So far, the coalition is holding the line.
In a move that started many observers, Finland, acting as the EU president, contested a reference to the family as the “fundamental group of society.” Nations have unwaveringly supported this phrase in UN treaties ever since the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. One European delegate told the Friday Fax that the objection was based on the EU gay marriage agenda. Arguing in support of the pro-family language were 11 Muslim states including Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Syria and Qatar, who also said that the family is the “natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members.”
A victory for the pro-life majority came when the body successfully adopted inclusion of the term “dignity and worth” of the person into the treaty’s preamble. The Holy See and Uganda led this move. Conservative UN experts had been concerned that the term “dignity and worth,” which has been included in numerous UN documents, was curiously changed to delete the word “worth” in the draft text of the treaty. They argue that the omission exposes an agenda to support the “death with dignity” movement. Some European states, including Belgium and the Netherlands, have already legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Led by Qatar, several countries rallied to make sure disabled people were not denied lifesaving medical treatment, food and fluid. Wayne Cockfield of National Right to Life said, “This kind of ‘passive euthanasia’ based upon a perceived poor quality of life is the number one killer of the disabled. They won’t kill me because I’m in a wheelchair, they will kill me because they say I’m ‘trapped in my own body.’” Only Finland, speaking for the EU, opposed the provision of lifesaving treatment. But sources told the Friday Fax that the EU is split on the matter. Finland argued that the convention is a broad statement of principles and not intended to cover specific medical situations such as end of life issues. Ironically, they argued the opposite when supporting the inclusion of “reproductive health services” that address beginning of life issues.
From the Edmonton Journal, August 8, 2006:
Contentious study approved: U of C scientist has conditional go-ahead to extract embryonic stem cells
Byline: Michelle Lang
CALGARY - A University of Calgary scientist has conditional approval to extract embryonic stem cells from human embryos for the first time in Alberta, a controversial practice that is already sparking opposition from pro-life groups.
Dr. Derrick Rancourt expects to begin stem-cell experiments on frozen human embryos in the coming months as part of a Canadian project to improve technology around the delicate but promising cells.
Only a handful of researchers around the country work with human embryos for stem-cell experiments.
"We have this expertise and we've been asked to participate (in this project)," said Rancourt, an associate University of Calgary professor who has extensive experience with mouse embryonic stem cells.
"I kind of feel like it's our responsibility."
Many scientists believe embryonic stem cells could unlock treatments for diseases ranging from multiple sclerosis to muscular dystrophy because of their ability to multiply and develop into any type of cell in the body.
But experimenting on human embryos left over from fertility treatments has been hotly debated because the process of extracting stem cells kills the embryos -- essentially a fertilized egg in the earliest stages of development.
Pro-life advocates were disappointed to learn about local plans to work on human embryos. "They are human beings," said Joanne Byfield of Alberta Pro Life. "That should place them above being used and abused and killed for research."
Some scientists argue embryos aren't a viable human life until they've been implanted in a mother's womb.
In Calgary, the embryos are donated by couples who no longer require them for fertility treatments at a local clinic.
The embryos would otherwise be discarded, said Rancourt.
Rancourt's work in the area will involve coaxing the embryos into a later stage of development that will allow him to extract stem cells.
He will then encourage the embryonic stem cells -- which are in short supply and are often tied up with patents and other commercial interests -- to grow in larger numbers so they can be distributed to other scientists for research purposes.
The local study is part of a larger project led by the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto aimed at improving the science surrounding experimentation on human embryonic stem cells.
"It's basically the development of technologies that would allow one to ultimately pursue therapies from embryonic stem cells," said project leader Dr. James Piret, a UBC researcher.
The $523,000 national project is still waiting final approval from federal regulators to begin work on so-called fresh embryos, which are considered technically easier to work with, for the first time in Canada. Fresh embryos are even more controversial than their frozen counterparts.
Some ethicists say such early donations could decrease the chances of pregnancy for some couples who may still need the embryos.
Rancourt's lab, however, will not use fresh embryos in any stem cell experiments because the Calgary in-vitro fertilization clinic won't provide them.
"It's so controversial, I'm not going to touch it," said Dr. Cal Greene of Calgary-based Regional Fertility Program.
Greene, who says he is not opposed to the use of fresh embryos, would only reconsider if the "controversy was sorted out and patients wanted to do it."
Once regulators grant final approval for the project, Rancourt's University of Calgary lab will be free to begin stem- cell experiments on frozen human embryos.
Rancourt, who is beginning a year-long sabbatical in Toronto, may work with University of Toronto researchers on the project while his Calgary lab performs experiments locally until his return.
He has also worked on human embryos for projects unrelated to stem cell research.
Only two other labs in Canada -- both of them at Ontario universities -- work with human embryos for stem cell research, according to Dr. Janet Rossant, deputy scientific director of the Stem Cell Network.
Most Canadian researchers in the field obtain embryonic stem cell lines from other universities, not human embryos.
From: Friday Fax, July 21, 2006
Radical Lawyers Want Pregnant Women Drinking More
By Mark Adams
NEW YORK — C-FAM) Parental notification requirements, laws prohibiting ingesting illegal drugs during pregnancy, and government health insurance that does not pay for abortifacient contraceptives are all cited as violations of a UN human rights document by a new report from a powerful, radical pro-abortion group.
"Women's Reproductive Rights in the United States: A Shadow Report" was submitted on July 10 by the Center for Reproductive Rights to the UN Human Rights Committee. The 44-page report is described as a supplement to the US government's own report to the committee. It accuses the US of violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Despite the fact the US has among the world's most permissive abortion laws and makes available every kind of contraceptive, the report accuses the US of creating an environment hostile to "reproductive rights" on the grounds that it does not do more to facilitate abortions and make contraceptives cheaper and easier to obtain.
At the presentation of the report a CRR representative made a statement to the committee calling on them to put pressure on the US to change its laws so as to be in conformity with their understanding of international law. "We ask the Committee to hold the United States to its Covenant obligations to protect the lives, health and equality of girls and women subject to its policies both within the US and abroad," said Kim S. Buchanan, a senior fellow at CRR.
The report claims that one of the ways the US violates international law is through laws that make it a crime for a mother to endanger an unborn baby through excessive drinking or drug use. "Such discriminatory legislation and practices subject women to forms of civil or criminal liability that are never imposed on men," the report says. It is unclear how men could be prosecuted for such crimes since they are unable to get pregnant.
The report takes to task America's current policy on foreign aid. It criticizes the Mexico City Policy which prohibits American foreign aid from being used to provide or promote abortions. Buchanan called the policy "contrary to the United States' obligation to protect freedom of expression under Article 19" of the covenant.
The report is also highly critical of the US policy that links funding to fight HIV/AIDS with abstinence promotion. The US policy is based on the success of Uganda's fight against HIV/AIDS which was rooted in abstinence promotion. The report acknowledges Uganda's success but said that it was due to widespread distribution of condoms not abstinence. But according to a 2002 USAID report, condom use did not play a significant role in Uganda's reduction of HIV/AIDS. What is more, USAID found that behavior change, abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage, were the most important elements of the Ugandan program.
From LifeSiteNews.com:
Human Eggs As Currency?
IVF Clinic Given OK to Accept Eggs as Payment for Fertility Treatments
By Terry Vanderheyden
LONDON, July 27, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A UK fertility clinic has been given the green light by the country’s fertility authority to allow women undergoing in-vitro fertilization to trade costs of the treatment in exchange for any surplus eggs. The eggs are to be fertilized, and the resulting embryonic babies mined for cells to be used in research.
The decision marks the first instance where human eggs are being legally sold as items of commerce.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority licensed the North East England Stem Cell Institute to exchange embryos in lieu of payment for IVF services. The Newcastle-based Institute utilizes the cells derived from embryonic humans to investigate potential stem cell treatments for conditions such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.
Before now, women were allowed to voluntarily donate “spare” eggs derived from IVF treatments, although the demand has exceeded the supply, according to the Newcastle team.
Paul Tully, General Secretary for the UK’s Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, told LifeSiteNews.com today that he was “deeply concerned” over the prospect of women being paid for their “spare” eggs.
“Women will be under enormous pressure to engage in these practices,” he emphasized. “There is a huge potential for exploitation."
Josephine Quintavalle, co-founder of Hands Off Our Ovaries, told the BBC that the needs of researchers who want more eggs for research will supersede the best interests of the women donors. “It is coercion under another name,” she said. She described the HFEAs actions as the “worst example of HFEA arrogance” she had observed.
N.B. to seek new way to offer abortions
CHRIS MORRIS Canadian Press May 19, 2006
FREDERICTON -- The New Brunswick government says it will find a way to provide medically necessary abortions, despite the sudden cancellation of the service at the hospital performing almost all of the province's publicly funded abortions.
Health Department spokesman Steven Benteau said yesterday the Conservative government is reviewing its options after the announcement by the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton that it will stop providing abortions at the end of June.
"It performed most of the medically necessary abortions in the province," Mr. Benteau said. "Now that they are not going to provide that service, we will ensure the service continues to be provided to New Brunswick women."
Hospital after hospital in New Brunswick has dropped out of providing therapeutic abortions to women, although the procedure still will be performed in emergency situations.
The Chalmers was the last major provider of hospital abortions in New Brunswick. About 400 were carried out there last year.
Most women go to the Morgentaler clinic in Fredericton where an average of 600 abortions are performed each year, but those operations are not covered by provincial medicare.
Women themselves pay for the procedures, which cost up to $750.
The New Brunswick government refuses to fund abortions at the Morgentaler clinic, the only private abortion clinic in the province.
Abortion-rights advocates say New Brunswick is violating the Canada Health Act, but successive New Brunswick governments have argued that they are fulfilling their obligations under the law by providing abortions in provincial hospitals.
However, that claim will be open to question once the Chalmers hospital stops performing abortions.
"Abortion-rights advocates have argued for years that the Morgentaler clinic exists in Fredericton only because the service is not being adequately provided by the provincial government," said NDP Leader Allison Brewer, a former director of the Morgentaler clinic.
"This latest move is just confirmation that the government wants to get out of providing safe, affordable access to abortion for women in New Brunswick, and they are going to put the entire responsibility for that on the shoulders of Dr. [Henry] Morgentaler. That is a shame."
The Chalmers hospital said it no longer has the staff or the resources to continue the abortion program.
"In this case, that department [obstetrics and gynecology] has experienced an increase in workload and has physician-resource issues," said hospital spokeswoman Shelley Fletcher.
"So the decision was made we no longer have the ability to continue that service after June 30."
Mr. Benteau said the province is examining its options.
He said another hospital will be found to provide abortion services, but he would not name any possibilities.
Amnesty takes up cause of abortion rights
By Steven Edwards, CanWest News Service Thursday, April 27, 2006
Amnesty International has proposed advancing abortion rights around the world, marking a new direction for the human rights advocacy group that built its global reputation on campaigns to free political prisoners.
In documents sent to Amnesty members for their feedback, the organization's chiefs cite three areas of the abortion debate where they say Amnesty should begin fighting for women's rights.
They call for the global decriminalization of abortion and say there should be abortion on demand in cases involving sexual assault or risk to a woman's life.
Finally, they say women who have suffered medical complications following an illegal abortion should have the right to proper medical care.
"Governments have responsibilities to ensure that everyone's sexual and reproductive rights are protected," says the main paper of the group's Sexual and Reproductive Rights Consultation Kit.
"No one should be discriminated against when and if they attempt to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights, or ask that they be protected."
With abortion illegal in many countries around the world, and politically contested in the United States, adoption of the proposals will place Amnesty activists in a new line of fire.
"We (faced opposition) on the death penalty, while some issues around imprisonment are hot potatoes, so it's not new to us," said Cheryl Hotchkiss, women's rights campaigner with Amnesty in Ottawa.
"As an organization, we have increasingly expanded our work on women's human rights. As we've done that, we recognized we have areas of policy that are empty. When we've come across these problems, we have had to be silent for a lack of global policy."
Canada's 7,000 Amnesty members are asked to comment on the proposed changes before the group's annual meeting in May, while comments from the more than one million worldwide members will be considered at a global conference in Mexico in August 2007.
Some members have already asked for clarification on the decriminalization call, wondering if it's a call for universal legalized abortion.
"We're not saying with this proposal that abortion on demand is a woman's right, but we are saying a woman's human rights are violated if she is imprisoned or otherwise punished for seeking an abortion or helping someone else have one," Hotchkiss said.
According to the Amnesty chiefs: "Governments . . . must must act with due diligence to punish abuses of sexual and reproductive rights by private persons, organizations and other non-state actors."
The passage is a "direct attack" on the anti-abortion movement, says John-Henry Westen, editor of LifeSiteNews.com, which first obtained the Amnesty proposals.
"If they include abortion as a sexual right as they've proposed and ask governments to 'punish' those who would impede those so-called rights, then Amnesty would find itself working to shut down the pro-life movement, and everyone who believes in the right to life for the unborn," he said.
Here is a hear warming story of Leif & Zhanya Camp, Lutheran Missionaries to Russia. It almost reminds me of some of St. Pauls missionary jouneys. They are trying to do pro-life work in between missionary work. Great dedication. The abortion rate in Russia is 63%. However, they are short of funds and need help, as many groups and people do. They are looking for pro-life leaders or Pastors to do training in Russia. I have been in contact with them, and they are asking us for our prayers/support. Their e-mail and website is listed at the bottom of their newsletter.
Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints --
March is almost over--but we still have two more seminars to do--today we are headed for Nizhniy Novgorod, and I wanted to send this before we left (and as my computer is breaking, I don't know if I will be able to when I regurn). Again, we have had an overwhelming amount of work--it seems to get more and more.? And this month is document season--we have to get our documents in order to extend our living permits and get all the forms and documents in order so that we can leave for our visit to the USA this Summer (and return without any problems).? We still have some more work this month:
I have been sent there by the Ingrian Lutheran Missionary Committee to hold a Mission Seminar for the Volga District.? While there we will stay over a couple of days to hold a Pro-life workshop with youth.? This will be a joint conference with the local Catholic Parish and God willing some of the Russian Orthodox--keep that in prayer, and we will report on that next month.? Forgive me, but I don't think I will actually get the usual prayer letter done this month (but prayer requests will be included in this "cover" letter.
A word or two about the pictures below: At the end of February, my wife was invited to be a participant in a women's retreat out at Pushkin. Pushkin's Pastor, Fedor Tulinin, just happens to volunteer his time managing the Ingrian Pro-Life Website, so when my wife arrived, they decided to take a few moments during the retreat to give a short talk on pro-life.? Luckily Zhanya happened to have with her a few of our pro-life brochures.? As happens so often, many women commented on the need for more information (and a couple scolded my wife for not having more brochures!). One picture--the women milling around during a break.
As part of my work for the Missionary Committee I am called to participate in various district work.? This month the Ingrian Missionary Committee held a district conference for the western Ingermanland district (the District of villages outside of St. Petersburg) and the parish in Gubanitza.? The goal of such conferences is to get the district parishes to network together for more cooperative mission work--sharing resources, swapping talents, etc.? At the end of the conference we all sang a couple of mission songs led by Pastor Arvo Servo.? Two pictures--one of the side view of the Gubanitza church and the other of us singing at the altar.
Deacon Ivan Laptev, who works out at Koltushe but is also very active in youth work, has organized some youth evangelism training at St. Michael's. I was invited a couple of times, once to give a short talk and answer questions on "personal evangelism" methods and another time to participate and lead some songs.? The youth have decided to start a discussion club to which they can invite their friends--each week there will be a theme to discuss over tea and munchies (with the idea being that the discussion leads up to what God's Word has to say about that week's theme).? One picture of me discussing with one work group.
At the Gubanitza district conference I met with Pr. Kiosti who leads the congregation in Hietimyaki. He invited me out to the parish to present on Stewardship--and I also gave my short pro-life talk and distributed our literature. ? This congregation was initially founded in 1700 and served 52 villages (and ultimately had over 6000 members).? In 1778 they finished building their first church building (the old BW picture below) which stood until the Communists destroyed it in 1930 (the picture is of one of the last services in 1929).? In 1995 with help from Finnish partners they set up this new church--sort of "mobile home" style.? There are now over 100 members with an average worship attendance of 50. 3 pictures--the old church, the new church and me presenting.
This last Sunday, immediately after English Worship, I slung 40 pounds of guitar, computer, projector and prolife material on my back, and with my son Karl in tow, via metro and taxibus headed out for the Suburban parish in Turyo.? This parish was founded in 1642, although the present building wasn't built until the 1830s.? I was invited out there by one of the youth leaders I met at the St. Michael's youth evangelism training to give a talk to youth on Prolife. ? One of the chaperones, a woman of about 55, came up to me afterwards almost in tears almost begging me to arrange to come to her parish to give a similar talk.? She said that her age group needed to hear this so they could first repent and second help their married daughters--she again underlined the lack of information available on abortion and related issues.? Three pictures--one of Karl standing in front of the Church, one of the congregation at worship (we made it for the end of their worship service), and one of the seminar (you might be able to make out the slide of a 10 week old fetus on the projector screen).
Before the new year a water pipe in the central offices sprung a leak--it has finally been fixed.? I grabbed my tools to help measure and cut access panels for the new shut-off valves (there were about 6 different panels).
Please keep in prayer the following: our documents--that all be done in time; our preparations for our visit this Summer to the USA (we are planning to come for June and July); for the continued pro-life work--many pastors and deacons are becoming more interested, and some have expressed a desire for some specific, top-notch training on how to better counsel and give spiritual care for women and families on this issue;? I am not sure what to pray for on this, but at the last seminar, my lap-top broke--the hinge that attaches the screen to the base just broke (the anchors split, so I can't really repair it). It is usable, but will not travel well (especially on Russian transport).? Also, the battery cover on my digital camera has broken (I am able to hold it in place with rubber bands, but this too, is temporary).? I suppose pray that my tools hold up as they are very helpful in my work and service to God and the Church here. Pray for our visit to Nizhniy Novgorod, for the Volga district, for pro-life, pray for the youth evangelists at St. Michael's, pray for the more than 20 building projects that the Church of Ingria is responsible for completing (what happens is the government tosses a building back to the Church which then is obligated to repair it--if the Church refuses a building then the government says it has no right to it in the future).? And as we pray every week at English Worship: pray for all those Ingrian pastors who are struggling financially-especially those who are facing the decision to leave the ministry in order to provide for their families the basics of life, a home, food, and clothes.
Strengthen their faith in You and Your provision, and then provide for them out of Your generous love and grace.? Open the hearts of those who have access to funds to aid in this regard so that they may help according to Your will.
Please send us your prayer requests--we will include them in the general prayers at English Worship (and in our home prayers).
Blessings (and again, sorry I couldn't do the normal prayer letter format--I actually have a lot to report on, maybe too much...).
Leif and Zhanya Camp email: leif.camp@elci.ru
We have a website www.prolife.elci.ru which is in Russian and English. There is a toggle in the corner <> and if you click on it, it should change the languages. The Russian brochures can be downloaded and printed off in brochure form (the English files just down load the text). There are also lots of pictures and so forth.
Respect for life hard to find here
Naomi Lakritz - Calgary Herald
Thursday, April 13, 2006
In this week of Passover and Easter, holidays that celebrate new life and redemption, the Herald editorial board visited the most unredeemable place in Calgary -- the Kensington Clinic.
This is where 2,900 unborn babies are killed each year. Clinic staff don't like action verbs. They call it a "procedure." They're also fond of making smug pronouncements such as, "Don't judge someone until you've walked in their shoes." They can dance around the issue all they like; it doesn't change the fact that when you have a living being whose heart is beating, and you cause that heart to stop beating, you have killed that being. And it is entirely reasonable to pass judgment that killing is morally wrong.
Despite the fact clinic staff boast of handing out birth control information to all patients, 25 per cent, or 725 annually, are repeat abortions. This double whammy of irresponsibility is blithely labelled "choice."
The clinic does abortions up to 20 weeks. If your unborn baby is older than 20 weeks, staff will give you the addresses of U.S. clinics you can turn to.
I asked Dr. Ted Busheikin if he ever looks at a near-20-week fetus after an abortion and wonders if this is a sentient being.
"No," he said. "I never think it might be sentient."
Those of us who are mothers know from our unborn children's reactions to noise and to our voices that those little beings are indeed sentient.
Premature babies of the same age are certainly treated as sentient humans, for neonatologists struggle heroically to save them. Nobody decrees, after such a tiny baby's early arrival: "Next Tuesday, his soul will enter him and he will be fully conscious." Consciousness is simply assumed to be there.
What if scientists proved that a 12-week fetus feels pain and is sentient?
Busheikin shrugged. "It wouldn't matter," he said.
It wouldn't matter that you were dismembering a human being who was aware of its own existence and could feel the pain of being torn to pieces?
Busheikin insists "there's no evidence either way about when a fetus can feel pain."
He either is unaware, or chooses to ignore, that a British pro-choice doctor, Viviette Glover, thinks fetuses may feel pain at 17 weeks. Perhaps this information is considered suspect because it is circulated by Paul Ranalli, a pro-life Toronto neurologist, who noted in February in the Herald that two-thirds of Canadians want legal restrictions on abortion.
Clinic staff were upset with an editorial in which the Herald called on the federal government to follow the lead of some European countries and legislate a limit on gestational age for abortion.
"Why do you need a law, if it's already the practice?" executive director Celia Posyniak asked, referring to the 20-week guideline.
Why does she object to a law being written down if the clinic already abides by it? Posyniak claims any doctor who performed an abortion over 20 weeks would be subject to discipline by the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
But who would report that doctor? The patient certainly wouldn't; the clinic staff aren't going to. No one would ever know about it.
Asked whether patients are counselled on fetal development, Posyniak at first appeared not to understand the question.
"Women aren't stupid. They know what stage of pregnancy they're in," she said.
When pressed, she said, "If they ask, we'll show them, but it's not forced on them. Why should they see fetal development?"
Why not? Shouldn't a woman be fully informed before choosing abortion, that her fetus has a heartbeat by four weeks and brain activity by six weeks?
Asked about abortion statistics, Posyniak said StatsCan doesn't track the numbers. She wrongly accused the Herald of being inaccurate in saying so, in another editorial. However, in conjunction with the Canadian Institute of Health Information, StatsCan tabulates the number of induced abortions by province, including age and marital status of the patient, number of previous induced abortions and "date fetus removed."
This information is on Stats-Can's website. And although Posyniak carried on about teens, StatsCan reports 53 per cent of women who had abortions in 2003, the latest year for figures, were in their 20s.
Clinic staff assured us they respect pro-life views. Yet, when questions about sentience and pain arose, Posyniak rolled her eyes in exasperation. Hardly a sign of respect for a dissenting view.
But that's OK. I have no respect for anyone whose business is the systematic destruction of unborn babies.
nlakritz@theherald.canwest.com
Pro-Life Speaker Holds Her Own Against Pro-Abortion Crowd at University of Western Ontario
Abortion supporters' intolerance said to be "appalling"
- LifeSiteNews Staff
LONDON, March 27, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - One year after the University of Western Ontario (UWO) awarded infamous abortionist Henry Morgentaler an honorary degree, the abortion debate has re-ignited.
On March 21, Stephanie Gray, Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, spoke against abortion at King's College at UWO.
The full text of the story is available at:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/mar/06032703.html
Belgium to Consider Legalizing Under-18 Euthanasia
By Gudrun Schultz
BRUSSELS, Belgium, April 7, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The government of Belgium is considering a proposal to legalize euthanasia for children and youth up to age 18.
The Flemish Socialist party, a member of Belgium's coalition government, has called for an extension to the country's euthanasia laws to give teenagers under 18 the right to choose assisted suicide, and parents of younger children the right to "choose" it for them...
The full text of the story is available at:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/apr/06040704.html
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