From the editor’s desk
One of the necessary ingredients to reversing tanking fertility rates is restoring the vaunted place of motherhood and one way to do that is to make life easier for moms and families. Katherine Boyle, general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, tweeted some policy ideas on how to accomplish this: “Here’s some super easy things states and companies could do to honor families. All airlines, TSA lines, and other forms of travel should allow families to board first, before priority and first class. Family lanes should be required. Carpool lanes on highways renamed family lanes … every parking lot should be required by law to have family reserved parking, just like handicapped parking, for the safety of mothers and children. Family lanes at all stores for ease of checkout. Reserved seating for families at churches, houses of worship and other community spaces where children should be encouraged to go. In short, society should beat us over the head that families take priority above class, work and other forms of identity or protected groups, because family is the backbone of our civilization.” These are good ideas as they would send a strong signal that family takes priority. Something for governments, corporations, and other institutions to consider.
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The New York Times published a frighteningly revealing story, “A push for more organ transplants is putting donors at risk.” It begins with the story of Misty Hawkins, 42, who choked and fell into a coma; three days later, “her mother decided to take her off life support and donate her organs.” Hawkins was “removed from a ventilator and, after 103 minutes, declared dead. A surgeon made an incision in her chest and sawed through her breastbone. That’s when the doctors discovered her heart was beating … they were slicing into Ms. Hawkins while she was still alive.” According to the investigative report by the Times, “a growing number of patients have endured premature or bungled attempts to retrieve their organs” with the paper revealing “a pattern of rush decision-making that has prioritized the need for more organs over the safety of potential donors.” It reported that a Florida man cried and bit his breathing tube as life support was ended for him, a New Mexico woman regained consciousness after being prepared for organ retrieval, and a West Virginia man was asked for consent to remove his organs while he was recovering in an operating room still under the influence of sedatives. A neurologist at the University of California, San Francisco, told the Times, “I think these types of problems are happening much more than we know.” University of Alabama at Birmingham transplant surgeon Dr. Robert Cannon said, “I don’t know the scope of the problem, I don’t know if anybody does,” calling that level of ignorance “the scary thing.” The Times investigation was based on 55 health care workers in 19 states reporting “at least one disturbing case.” Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a report that found organ procurement teams ignored signs of consciousness in 73 potential donors, including, in one case, a Kentucky man who shook his head and drew his knees to his chest as the procurement team “pursued” his organs. In all, 29.3 per cent of cases reviewed by the federal government showed “concerning features” including 28 patients who may not have been dead at the time the organ retrieval surgery was initiated. It found that organ procurement organizations routinely ignore their own protocols. Wesley Smith wrote at National Review Online that “hastening death is strictly forbidden by the dead donor rule,” but that the Times reported that “hospital staff have been persuaded by transplant coordinators to administer morphine, propofol and other drugs to hasten the death of potential donors.”
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Doug Steffy wrote “The case for Christian burial” in The American Reformer which noted the increased popularity of cremation (62 per cent of American chose cremation in 2024). Steffy observed that “pagans practiced cremation for centuries” but today many Christians are choosing to have their bodies burned to ash. He argues that cremation is “at odds with both Scripture and the Christian tradition” because (all) “Christians have always professed the foundational belief that man is created as both body and soul” with mankind “uniquely created by God as a composite of both the physical and spiritual.” The physical body is both temporary and eternal. Steffy says the “Reformed tradition” of the Westminster Shorter Catechism states the bodies of believers “being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection.” The Westminster Confession of Faith adds “all the dead shall be raised up with their self-same bodies.” Steffy writes “the body, in short, remains in union with Christ and under His care after death” and “our body is eternally a part of who we are.” He wonders, “why would we incinerate that which is ‘still united to Christ?’” and “why destroy that which will be redeemed?” Good questions.
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Doug Steffy acknowledges that his brief for the dual nature of the body as both temporal and eternal has implications for transhumanism and transgenderism (including so-called mind uploading). But I think it also has implications for organ donation. It is one thing to surrender a part of you that is not necessary for life (a kidney or a portion of your liver) but even supposedly ethically sourced organ donation after death of hearts, lungs, and eyes means a fundamental incompleteness of the body that will, we hope, eventually unite to Christ.
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Bobby Schindler, brother of the late Terri Schiavo, recently wrote at LifeNews about euthanasia and how it is promoted through the cold calculations of cost-benefit analysis: “Even more alarming is that this growing disregard for human life isn’t occurring in a vacuum; it reflects a deeper cultural shift toward a utilitarian worldview, in which the inalienable worth of every individual, regardless of age, disability, or prognosis, is increasingly ignored. Instead of viewing vulnerable individuals as persons worthy of protection, too many policymakers and healthcare authorities now view them as ‘costs’ to be managed and burdens to be removed.”
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Compassionate Community Care has launched Project Anna & Simeon which provides euthanasia healing retreats for those who have lost family and friends to euthanasia. The Project sessions include “guided sharing, a pastoral talk, memorial service, and a meal.” One is being held Nov. 2-8 pm at St. John the Compassionate Mission on 155 Broadview Ave. in Toronto. Registration for the retreat is required and you can find the link on their website.
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There are reports that U.S. President Donald Trump might abandon his campaign promise to subsidize IVF treatments. This would be welcome news considering that more babies are killed by IVF (when unused embryos are discarded) than abortion. I used the phrase IVF treatment, but that is a misnomer. IVF is not a treatment for infertility because it does nothing to remove or ameliorate the underlying cause of the infertility; in fact, it leaves the condition intact.
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The Labour government of Prime Minister Kier Starmer in the United Kingdom has announced it will lower its voting age from 18 to 16. Policy Options published an article by Leo Yang arguing that Canada should follow suit, although he would like the franchise extended to youth who “earn it” through “civic engagement” or “civic knowledge” tests. Many on the Left think that allowing high school students to vote will help left-wing parties get elected. Many on the Right oppose extending the franchise for the same reason. But there is a better reason to oppose letting 16-18 year-olds vote: protecting their innocence. The law generally refers to 16-18 years olds as minors – that is, children. An anonymous Twitter account that goes by the name of a character in a Robert Heinlein novel said that children should be protected from ideological activists, professional campaigners, corporate lobbyists, and social media manipulators. Why would we unleash those professions on kids? The goal of political campaigns is to influence thinking and behaviour (voting), so lowering vote ages gives the official endorsement to political propaganda aimed at kids, before they have finished high school, worked or paid taxes It effectively politicizes children. No thanks.
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As noted last month, pride month has become pride season — pride months – from June through August, as different communities celebrate those who proudly choose to identify by their debauched sex life. It might be useful for Christians to remember what The Bible says about pride, specifically Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
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There has been a fair bit of commentary about the turning of the tide on transgender issues, with biological reality winning. The right-wing Washington Times ran a triumphalist column titled “The tide has turned on transgender insanity.” There have indeed been outbreaks of common sense – several European countries have banned so-called gender-affirming care for children, polling that shows declining support for trans “rights,” restrictions on “trans women” (read: actual men) competing against real women in sports, and some jurisdictions ruling that men masquerading as women should not be housed with actual women in prison. All of this is worth celebrating, but we must not fool ourselves about the perceived weakness of the transgender movement, which remains strong in many places of influence, including the education and health systems, to say nothing of ideologically committed political parties and leaders. Some examples. The New England Journal of Medicine published an article (falsely) claiming “untreated gender dysphoria can lead to depression, anxiety, and suicidality.” The Trans Alliance is attempting to take over the pro-gay LGBT+ Labour committee of the United Kingdom’s Labour Party including nominating an actual man, “trans woman” Steph Richards to be the group’s women’s officer. While it is great that the University of Pennsylvania stripped male swimmer “Lia” Thomas of his women’s championship, the United Nations reckoned in a report last October that internationally more than 900 transgender athletes have stolen medals from women competitors. In February, France’s Ministry of Education has updated it “emotional, relational, and sexual life” curriculum which makes lessons normalizing transgenderism mandatory in all French classrooms beginning this September and the Council of State ruled that parents do not have the right to pull their children out of these classes. In June, in a 311-33 vote, the Spanish Congress of Deputies amended the Penal Code to impose sentences of up to two years for parents who oppose gender transition treatments for their children. Trans-normalizing books may be removed from some school and public libraries, but are still present in thousands of them. In July, Waterloo Public Health and Paramedic Services promoted clinics helping parents “breastfeed/chestfeed” in its social media posts. New York City is spending $65 million on a homeless shelter to be used exclusively for people who identify as transgender. With beachheads in education and medicine (and Hollywood, corporate human resource departments, etc…), the transgender movement is still very strong.
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One of the ways in which pro-trans ideology has its claws in the public consciousness is the made-up term “sex-assigned at birth.” Parents as First Educators in a recent email to supporters states: “Let’s be clear: there is no such thing as ‘sex assigned at birth’,” which is “pure gender ideology propaganda.” PAFE explains “A baby’s sex is biological down to their DNA. It is not arbitrarily assigned by the doctor or parents; it’s biological reality … You don’t ‘assign’ someone male or female; you recognize it.”
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A Reality Update from REAL Women on unions reports that union membership fees are used for political causes including to promote “among other extremist causes, abortion, euthanasia, special rights for LGBQT, same-sex marriage, and transgenderism,” noting that one of the demands by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in its current dispute with Canada Post are special provisions for people who identify as transgender. “All these many issues have nothing to do with obtaining higher wages and benefits for members and their families.” Neither do they relate in any way to the terms of employment for members.” REAL Women states if union leaders “want to be involved in these unrelated issues, they should be asking the members to volunteer their funds from their own pockets.” They don’t, REAL Women suggests, “because they know few members would support their social and political issues.”
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Congratulations to Ashleigh Molloy for being awarded the Order of Canada who the Governor General acknowledged “has dedicated his personal and professional life to promoting inclusion as an educator, advocate and mentor” and founding “Transformation Education International” which seeks to provide inclusive education for people with disabilities. Molloy is an adjunct professor at the Niagara University in Ontario department of special education. He has championed special education at all levels of schooling from elementary grades to college. His interest in the issue stems from seeing the barriers his daughter Lindsey, who has Down syndrome, faced in school. Molloy also works with the Sisters for Life when they work with pregnant mothers contemplating abortion after receiving a diagnosis of Down syndrome or another disability for their preborn child.
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Tyler Cox in American Reformer: “Virtue is necessary for a nation; otherwise, a corrupt populace will eventually require the strong arm of government to maintain order and restore public virtue if it is lost.”
– Paul Tuns
