Quebec birth rate rises Despite expectations that the Quebec government’s policy of paying cash bonuses for newborn babies would not work, the number of babies born in the province increased for the second year running. The bonuses range from $500 for a first child to $6,000 for three or more children. Parents are also given special provincial income tax deductions. As a [...]
The year 1990 brought many ‘signs of hope’ to the pro-life movement said the executive secretary of the American Bishops’ Pro-Life Activities Secretariat, Father John Gouldrick. He noted the following successes in the United States: • An August poll found that most Americans believe human life begins long before birth and that the unborn child deserves protection; • Media bias against the [...]
Czechoslovakia In the second week of January, the Czechoslovak federal assembly passed a new human rights law which included a ‘right to life’ clause. Members of the assembly, especially those representing Christian-oriented parties called for this clause to be extended to cover life from the moment of conception, in other words, they wanted an end to legal abortion, in line with the [...]
AT HOME ‘Light under a bushel’ department Christ the King is the name of a new Catholic elementary school nearing completion in what has become a predominantly Jewish suburb in Toronto. But Richmond Hill trustee Pat Burzillo has received a number of complaints about the name, including one from ‘concerned Catholic parent’. Jo Zupnik: “We feel that the name ‘Christ the King’ [...]
It was just one tiny sign in a sea of placards with the words “Whatever happened to patriotism?” In cities and towns across the U.S. last week, citizens began taking a stand against the pacifists and peaceniks out on the streets protesting war in the Persian Gulf. The growing phenomenon of the ‘pro-troops’ demo is something I wish would be echoed in [...]
Prince Edward Island is widely regarded as a pro-life province. After all, five years ago abortion was banned in this province, and two years later the Legislative Assembly declared itself pro-life. (Politically, there was little choice.) It is true the Right to Life movement still exists, but it is struggling for membership, understanding and support. On almost all other fronts, the family [...]
The recent media disclosure of the site of Henry Morgentaler’s proposed abortion ‘clinic’ has given Alberta pro-lifers impetus to lobby fiercely against its opening at 10141-150 Street in Edmonton. The site was confirmed as having been purchased by a Morgentaler holding company, Habal Gastion. “The pro-life movement as a whole will be working hard to keep Morgentaler from opening his franchise in [...]
Halifax, N.S. In late January, the struggle for life here heated up still more with the arrests of sidewalk counselors Sharon MacPherson and Karen Levy outside the recently-opened Morgentaler ‘clinic’. After walking quietly all day with their placards, MacPherson and Levy called out (once) to a very young girl being hustled into the abortuary. Abortuary staff called police, who arrested the pair [...]
Supposing information from embryonic experiments proved to be useful, would it be ethical to us it? M.P., Toronto, Ontario. It is useful to look at a similar case. While doing post-graduate work in Arctic Studies in the 1950’s, I had access to accounts of the Nazi doctors’ experiments on the effects of cold on the human body. The victims, stark naked, were [...]
Ontario Citizenship Minister Elaine Ziemba addressed a group of about 50 homosexual and lesbian students January 29, 1991, at the University of Toronto on the occasion of ‘Lesbian and Gay Awareness Week.’ Throughout the hour-long meeting, Ms. Ziemba bent over backwards in her attempt not to appear ‘homophobic’. Myth The first thing she did was to dismiss the idea that homosexuals are [...]
One RC theologian in the U.S. continues to do his best to establish that human life does not begin at conception. Peter Steinfels of the New York Times, in a news story which appeared in the Globe and Mail (January 14), outlined arguments by Rev. Richard McCormick that new life does not exhibit the stable and determinate character necessary for considering it [...]
Professor William E. May, moral theologian at the Catholic University of America has written a lucid and important article on the controversial subject of withdrawing or withholding medical treatment (Linacre, August 1990). Moralists Professor May takes strong issue with two highly influential Catholic moralists, Richard McCormick, S.J. (see below) and Kevin O’Rourke, O.P. He regards their position on the withdrawal or withholding [...]
FOR PEACE IN THE MIDST OF WAR In December 1990 Pope John Paul II described war as “an adventure without a return.” On January 11, 1991, he sent a telegram to the secretary general of the United Nations pleading for peace. On January 12, 1991, in his annual address to the diplomatic corps attached to the Vatican, he said that war in [...]
“Prospects called grim for groups fighting abortion,” bannered a Globe and Mail headline following the defeat of Bill-43. “They gave it the good fight, and they lost,” said Jack London, a Manitoba law professor. Fade away Professor Bernard Dickens of Toronto agreed, saying that the abortion controversy will gradually fade away. He predicted a series of harassments of doctors performing abortions, and [...]
Ontario Premier Bob Rae has responded to a letter from the Ontario Bishops (November 1990) and from the Knights of Columbus (December 1990), both of which objected to the underwriting of free-standing abortion ‘clinics’ in Ontario. Both are reaffirmations of the NDP government’s aggressive pro-abortion policy. Two months It took almost two months for Premier Bob Rae to reply to bishop John [...]