In the early morning hours of July 17, 1984, when John Carroll was told that his newborn daughter had Spina Bifida, he asked “What’s that?” Spina Bifida, one of the most common birth defects, involves the improper development of the spinal cord. This damage is done between 12 and 28 days after conception. A section of the back fails to close and [...]
New York - Feminist Betty Friedan believes that the feminist movement is suffering from paralysis. In a recent New York Times Magazine article excerpted in the Toronto Star (November 7, 1985), she demanded a re-commitment to the original aims. Among the ten focal points of the movement’s “second stage” – Friedman calls it – are pornography and abortion. Feminists, she says should [...]
On November 20, Toronto Judge Samuel Darragh imposed a $50 fine on Tom Brown, 48; his wife Barbara, 43; Annette McLoughlin, 24; Stephen Jalsevac, 38; and Antonio Canhoto, 45. He called the act of entering the clinic in order to make a citizen’s arrest a “charade”, on the grounds that none of the accused saw anyone performing an abortion. On the same [...]
Just about the most despised word among libertarians today is censorship. They equate it with fascism and other such vile terms. Why, the strong proponent of censorship is regarded as in reincarnation of old man Hitler himself. Especially are they riled when the subject of censorship is sex. Let a few seconds be deleted from a movie called The Tin Drum, or [...]
When I was at college, I didn’t major in history – I majored mostly in meals! But I do love to dabble in history, both ancient and modern and there is a great deal to be learned from just reading history. Wasn’t it the philosopher, George Santayana, who said, “Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to [...]
Abortion advocates often base their arguments for wider access to abortion on their belief that women have an explicit civil right to be free from any number of complications – physical, emotional, financial, etc – of an unwanted pregnancy. They tend to deny, or attempt to minimize, the many complications, physical and psychological, which frequently follow induced abortion. The Human Life Research [...]
Union dues, often compulsory for employees in industry, are being used for many purposes other than collective bargaining. These purposes include ideological warfare, often contrary to the views of those who pay the dues. They further include anti-family and anti-child policies such as abortion and homosexuality. On December 18, 1985, the Supreme Court of Ontario began hearings on a challenge to the [...]
Pro-Life activists in the U.S. have long believed that it’s important to know the strategies and attitudes of the other side. Joe Scheidler, director of the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League and Andrew Scholberg, editor of Life and Family News of Collegeville, Minn., have attended the annual meetings of the National Abortion Federation (NAF) since 1979. In previous years, the two non-members of [...]
One day after the Lavigne hearing (see “Use of Union dues being challenged”) started before the Ontario Supreme Courts on December 18, 1985, an Ontario civil servant was granted partial exemption from paying union dues. On December 19, the Ontario Public Service Labour Relations Tribunal declared that Rose Marie MacLean falls under a religious exemption to that part of compulsory dues which [...]
Toronto - Shelly Peterson, wife of Ontario Premier David Peterson, told an audience of 500 high school girls that the role of motherhood has been unfairly “downplayed” and “downtrodden.” Peterson thought women today can have both happy families and successful careers and they don’t have to be “superwomen” to do it. She has been married to the Premier for twelve years while [...]
The Minister of Health, Jake Epp, has announced the establishment of a parliamentary task force on child-care. The enquiry will focus o the care of children in a broad context and will include consideration of the child-care needs of all children, not just whose with working parents. Announcing the task force in the House of Commons on November 26, Mr. Epp said [...]
Three days of hearings on an application by former Manitoba Highways Minister Joe Borowski to declare Canada’s abortion law invalid, concluded in Regina on December 18, 1985. The hearings were before the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, which reserved judgment until later. Although a full complement of seven judges was originally considered for the case, second thoughts led to a hearing by three [...]
I write as a member of the Mennonite Community in respect to the problem of abortion. I have read the statements from various Mennonite Conferences, and will try to distil what appears to be a consensus of understandings on this very difficult moral and social issue. We believe that the family continues to be the basic unit of our society. The New [...]
A new national pro-life organization, LIBERTY (Living Infant Babies Everywhere, a Right of Tomorrow’s Youth), protested in front of Queen’s Park on Saturday, December 28, to call on Attorney General Ian Scott to enforce the abortion laws. Linda Gibbons, 37, the head of the new organization says she has the backing of more than 800 ministers and plans to build a $27,000 [...]
Women using Natural Family Planning can now buy a computerized device to help them keep trace of their fertility cycle. The Bioself 110, invented by Quebec resident Edmond Desjacques, is available in drug stores in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. The cost is $97. The Bioself, placed under the tongue, records the woman’s basal body temperature each morning when she wakes. Basal [...]