41.6 million abortions annually, yet report frets about access The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion think tank, has released a study which says surgical abortions decreased in 2003 from 1995 levels, but decried that abortion was not universally legal and that many women have “unsafe” abortions due to the fact the procedure is illegal or restricted in much of the developing world. In [...]
At the age of 25, Andrew Scheer ran for office under the banner of the new Conservative Party of Canada in the NDP stronghold of Regina-Qu’Appelle, defeating former NDP leadership candidate Lorne Nystrom by just under 900 votes. Although he was confident he would win, he told The Interim in a recent interview, “There was an element of ‘wow.’” Scheer, [...]
A Medical Detective Story; What You Felt Before You Were Born by Paul Ranalli (de Veber Institute, 60 minutes, $20) Review The issue of fetal pain is an aspect of the abortion debate that has been consistently overshadowed by the more dominating question of the personhood of the fetus. While outsiders may find this somewhat odd, the reasoning of pro-lifers is simple. [...]
Titus Brandsma was a small, gentle, bespectacled man. He spent years working with the Dutch underground movement to smuggle Jewish people out of the Netherlands and away from the threat of the Nazi murderers. As a monk, he rejected violence and so would not, could not, pick up a gun to use against the oppressors of goodness and all he [...]
In 1990, Denise Hounjet-Roth was asked to become president of Campaign Life Coalition Saskatchewan. The invitation came as a surprise for the young mother, pregnant with her second son. She had been a pro-life activist for less than three months. Her introduction to political activism had come in response to pro-life MP Tom Wappel’s announcing his bid for the federal [...]
“Where are you going, Frank?” asked my wife. “Ottawa, my dear, to interview a BQ MP.” “I thought it was only Liberals you enjoyed torturing?” “No, I’m just trying to change the course of history.” “Good luck, dear.” The next day, after arriving in Ottawa, I inquired: “Is this the office of Francine Lalonde, the BQ member for La Pointe-de-l’Ille?” “Yes, what [...]
The Roman Catholic bishop of Peterborough, Nicola De Angelis, has written a pastoral letter addressing a recent complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, brought against the bishop and 12 local parishioners. In the letter, distributed on Sept. 13, he strongly redressed the OHRT’s encroachment, asserted his authority as bishop of his diocese and the autonomy of the church from state control over [...]
The sign outside the fire hall in Malton, just near Toronto’s Pearson airport, read “Remember 9-11.” It was just a couple of days since the 8th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, but I was pleased – and somewhat surprised – that someone was still making the effort. I was in my late thirties on the [...]
In a classic 20th-century treatise entitled The Road to Serfdom, Friedrich Hayek observed that the hallmark of a free country is the subordination of ruling authority to the fundamental principles of the rule of law. He explained: “Stripped of all technicalities, this means that government, in all its actions, is bound by rules fixed and announced beforehand -- rules which [...]
Agronomist who helped double agricultural production dies at 95 Norman Borlaug, one of the most important people of the 20th century, has died at the age of 95. Borlaug is often referred to as the “father of the green revolution” – the new processes and techniques in agriculture that brought food to hundreds of millions of starving people and helped lower the [...]
In this month of October, Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving, and we have much for which to be thankful. We live in a country that affords us many blessings. It is all too easy to focus on the negative and miss the many things for which we should be thankful. Our cover feature this month lists 40 things for which the pro-life movement can [...]
Over a two-week span in August, a pair of Kennedy siblings passed away. On Aug. 25, Senator Edward (Teddy) Kennedy died at the age of 87. Since the 1960s, he had been lionized by an adoring media in part because he was a Kennedy, but also because he advanced an unabashedly liberal agenda. Upon his death, he was given a full public [...]
Sept. 23 marked the official kick-off of the Fall 2009 40 Days for Life Campaign. Because of the success of the Canada-wide debut of the campaign this past Spring, seven Canadian cities have joined the roster for 40 Days for Life this Fall along with some new locations. Not only will Toronto host 2 locations this time around, but Kitchener, Ont., will [...]
On Sept. 11, a lone gunman shot James Pouillon twice, killing the long-time pro-life activist in front of Owosso High School in Owosso, Mich., near Flint. Pouillon, 63, was holding a sign with a newborn child and the word “Life” embossed on it. The same morning, Mike Fuoss, 61, owner of a local gravel pit was found murdered. Police arrested [...]
In an attempt to address concerns about expanding abortion coverage that might result from changes to the U.S. health care system, Senator Max Baucus (D, Montana), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, amended his proposed bill to say that abortion cannot be mandated by the Department of Health and Human Services. The change echoes an amendment proposed by Rep. Lois [...]