Canada
Sean Murphy, the administrator of the Conscience Protection Project, said in column in the National Post that the Canadian Medical Association, which was scheduled to debate the physician’s role in euthanasia and assisted suicide at their annual meeting in Halifax in late August, has taken a position that imperils the conscience rights of doctors: “By accepting the morally contested obligation to kill as normative, CMA directors imposed a paradigm for medical practice and a framework for discussion that’s inherently prejudiced against physicians unwilling to participate in euthanasia and assisted suicide.” The CMA is proposing that physicians who object to an assisted-suicide request be required to refer patients to an independent third-party. CMA president Chris Simpson said “we don’t support anything that’s going to impede patients from accessing a legal service” … In June, the Quebec Liberal government of Premier Philippe Couillard has proposed Bill 59 a new “hate speech” bill for which public hearings will be held until Sept. 23. Couillard claims it will “prevent and combat hate speech and speech inciting violence” arising from religious radicalization, but John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, said the bill’s “practical effects will be to diminish the free expression rights of all peoples speaking on all topics.” Carpay said “free expression is a seamless web and if the government takes a knife to it, the shredded seamless garment is a consequence that has a bad impact on everybody.” Bill 59 will grant Quebec’s Human Rights Tribunal “new powers” such as being allowed to investigate the private lives of citizens and to apply for a court order requiring persons found guilty of hate speech to cease such speech, and to define “hate speech” … Ottawa’s Carleton school district will install single-stall, gender-neutral bathrooms in schools wherever parents request accommodation for transgendered children “transitioning” from their real gender to their self-identified one. Mike Carson, the superintendent of facilities, told CTV News, “We’re proud of it … we are trying to keep pace with our communities.”
United States
Carly Fiorina, former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard and a current candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, spoke at the Iowa State Fair Soapbox and said Planned Parenthood employees “target poor communities” adding that “Planned Parenthood … from its very inception, targeted poor women, African-American and Hispanic women” … eValueator, a Maitland, Florida, “biblically based investment firm,” reported that Planned Parenthood receives a quarter of its funding from corporate sponsorship and released a list of 77 companies that give “intentional corporate donations or sponsoring events within the last five years,” including Coca Cola Company, General Electric, Home Depot, Marriott International, the New York Times Company, Nike, Proctor and Gamble, Office Depot, Playboy Enterprises, Royal Bank of Canada, Staples, Starbucks, United Parcel Service, and the Walt Disney Company … The Colorado Appeals Court has declared that Denver’s Masterpiece Cakeshop owned by Jack C. Phillips cannot refuse to sell a wedding cake to a homosexual couple, saying religious or conscience rights are not a valid excuse for allegedly violating the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. Phillips said he refused to sell Charlie Craig and David Mullins a wedding cake citing his religious beliefs and the fact that Colorado did not at that time recognize gay “weddings” as legal. Phillips said, “the Constitution guarantees me the right to practice my faith, my religion, anywhere, anytime; there are no restrictions on it. I don’t surrender those rights when I open my doors” … Following a three-year campaign by National Center of Sexual Exploitation, formerly Morality in Media, the Hilton Hotel chain has dropped “adult video-on-demand” from their television offerings. Hilton joins other chains including Ritz-Carlton and Marriott who have recently dropped pornographic channels from this services.
International
The 11-year-old girl in Paraguay who made international headlines following her pregnancy after her step-father raped her, has given birth by cesarean section, in a hospital in Asuncion, the nation’s capital. The unidentified minor’s mother sought an abortion but Paraguay’s law permits the procedure only in cases to save the life of the mother. Medical staff told government officials, who blocked the abortion, the girl was in fine health. Pro-abortion groups used the case to advocate for liberalizing Paraguay’s abortion law, and Amnesty International said by refusing the abortion, the government was committing a “human rights violation” against the girl and her family. Health department statistics say that 600 girls under the age of 15 become pregnant annually in the country and the Latin American Women’s Commission said that sex education, stiffer penalties for abusers, and support for pregnant girls are necessary.