According to a recent study, a large majority of doctors and other health workers who care for the terminally ill oppose all active forms of euthanasia. In a timely survey, The Human Life Research Institute (H.L.R.I.) determined that 74 per cent of those health care professionals who responded to their questionnaire felt that any direct action undertaken to terminate a patient’s life [...]
Roe v. Wade is often compared with the Dred Scott case. Who or what was Dred Scott? M.M., St. John’s. Dred Scott was a slave. He was taken by his owner to Illinois, a ‘free’ state where slavery was not allowed, and then to the federal territory, part of the Louisiana Purchase where slavery was prohibited under the Missouri Compromise of 1820. [...]
The most important state ballot measures this November 3 will appear in five states: Arizona. Proposition 110 is an abortion initiative introduced by the Arizona Family Research Council. Put forward as “the common sense” abortion measure, this amendment to the state constitution would prohibit abortion except where the mother’s life is endangered or in cases of reported rape or incest. Maryland. Question [...]
At a well-attended dinner meeting of the Human Life Research Institute, held at Massey College in Toronto on September 12, Dr. John Scott spoke on a most timely topic – palliative care. He is associated with the Elizabeth Bruyere Health Centre in Ottawa, and after eighteen years at bedsides of people approaching death, he has a great deal of insight into their [...]
In March 1992, in a Florida hospital, Theresa Ann Campo Pearson was born with anencephalia, a rare condition in which most of the upper skull and brain cortex are missing, but in which the partially developed brain stem can still produce breathing and a heartbeat. The parents – anticipating baby Theresa’s death in a matter of days – asked a Florida court [...]
We have many non-Christians in Canada. What is the position of Islam on abortion and euthanasia? L.M. North York. Doctors at the 1981 International Conference on Islamic Medicine, held in Kuwait, issued the document. It answers your question. The Doctor’s Oath I swear by God…The Almighty To regard God in carrying out my profession. To protect human life in all its stages [...]
Way to go, Peterborough! Peterborough – Civic Hospital’s Board of Governors is having a hard time getting pro-lifers off their backs. Since the news that Toronto abortionist Nikki Colodny was being “united” to Peterborough to help kill preborn Peterborough babies, the pro-lie contingent has been galvanized into action. Very successful action! Following peaceful and prayerful visits to the houses of the three [...]
Ottawa – On May 12, 1992, a sub-group of the House of Commons Justice Committee started public hearings on changes for Canada’s Criminal Code. By the end of the summer the committee hopes to draft some guiding principles. Among the topics to be discussed is the controversial issue of euthanasia. The Committee has before it a proposal from the Law Reform Commission’s [...]
Abuse of Canada Council Ottawa, Ont. – MP Don Boudria (Lib. Glengarry), who helped quash a bill to legalize mercy killing last winter, expressed outrage that Vancouver’s John Hofsess is using Canada Council money to promote his Right to Die Society. In a newsletter obtained by the Ottawa Sun, Hofsess said that he wanted to buy television time to show people “the [...]
I understand that exact scientific knowledge of the beginning of human life is only recent. How recent? E.L. Saskatchewan I quote the evidence given by Sir William Liley (the Father of Fetology) in the Borowski Trial, in Regina: “It was in 1930 that the liberation of an ovum from the human ovary was first observed. In 1944 the union of human ovum [...]
Battling the Church The Coalition of Concerned Catholics (CCCC), the group of “progressive” Catholics who want to remake their Church in the current feminist image, met in Toronto on May 2 and 3, 1992, for their third annual meeting. Some 300 were in attendance. Networking The choice of American key speakers, Fathers Bill Callahan and Richard McBrien (for latter see Interim, May [...]
We all have times when we want to die! If tragedy strikes, or pain is unbearable, sickness is serious, or disability is permanent we are tempted to give up. However, the living out of the days and the weeks and the months teaches us how to cope. It is in the coping and working through each day that we learn that life [...]
In The News… Forthcoming Encyclical on Morality Rome The Roman whisper was that the encyclical was ready in October 1990, complete with the title Veritatis Splendor, ( The Splendour of Truth). Then it ran into objections from the theologically-minded German Bishops, according to the rumors. This sent Cardinal Ratzinger back to the drawing board. Be that as it may, Cardinal Ratzinger, perfect [...]
What is the objection of pro-life people to being called “anti-abortion?” After all, they are anti-abortion. R.P., Whitehorse, Yukon True enough, but that is only half the story. Pro-lifers are also against other evils: euthanasia; infanticide of handicapped new-borns by starvation and dehydration; the creation of human embryos (ex utero) to be vivisected in experimentation; fetal transplants and so on. Anti-abortion is [...]
At their policy convention in Hull (Feb. 20-23, 1992) the Liberals did it again, to the applause of the media. Back in the years of 1967-1969 Pierre Trudeau “hijacked” the Liberal Party of Canada for his permissive society ideals. Parachuted into the leadership by a party clique, he launched his career by wondering out loud in December 1967 what God could possibly [...]