No aborted baby parts to be used in NIH research

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor of medicine, economics, and health research at Stanford University, has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the new Director of the National Institutes of Health. Bhattacharya came to international recognition and criticism when he co-authored, with Dr. Sunetra Gupta and Dr. Martin Kulldorff, The Great Barrington Declaration, which criticized the harmful lockdown policies during COVID-19. The declaration balanced the need to protect high-risk individuals from the virus while reducing the harm that lockdowns had on other aspects of medical care and public health. Thousands of medical scientists and practitioners around the world came forward to sign the document, bringing the debate into the public square. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), is the U.S. government agency for biomedical and public health research. It consists of 27 institutes and centres, and funds and conducts various scientific programs and projects.  It is the largest funder of biomedical research in the world. During Bhattacharya’s confirmation hearings before the Senate, Josh Hawley (R, Missouri) asked him his position on using fetal tissue from aborted babies in research. The doctor replied: “In public health, we need to make sure the products of science are ethically acceptable to everybody. And so having alternatives that are not ethically conflicted with fetal cell lines is not just an ethical issue, but it is a public health issue.” Bhattacharya’s response was, in part, a response to faithful Christians who were morally conflicted about taking the COVID-19 jab which used a fetal cell line from an aborted baby in the research and development. Following the hearing, Senator Hawley posted on X: “Dr. Bhattacharya promised me NO aborted fetal tissue in NIH funded research.”

Drag queens

Drag Queen Story Time began in San Francisco in 2015, although “drag” has been in existence for centuries. Drag – dressing up as the opposite sex — is considered an “art form” that has evolved in the gay culture and typically involves a male dressed in outlandish, bright female clothing, with wigs, highly accentuated make-up, glitz and jewelry and presenting a highly sexualized appearance. According to The Conversation, June 1, 2023, drag queen story hours are “educational events where performers read books to children (and) the aim is to present the diversity of gender expression and identity.” In reality, ‘drag’ shows for children are choreographed to infiltrate children’s spaces, with the objective of drawing innocent children into the gay culture, and infecting their minds using colourful props and teasing, sexual advances. Drag queen story time hit the B.C. Okanagan Regional Library in September 2019, with pushback from many Kelowna residents. But generally, across Canada, communities not only did not complain, they took their children to the local library to watch the spectacle, totally unmindful of the harm that was being perpetrated on their children. This leads to a recent event in Edmonton, where Evolution Wonderbar, a drag bar, is being updated to include “juke boxes, karaoke” and a special invitation to parents to “bring your kids til 9.” Videos on YouTube show drag queens performing exotic, sexual acts. The bar proudly advertises itself as “the only club serving the 2SLGBTQI+ community year round.” It is a member of the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, and receives funding from the Government of Canada as part of the 2SLGBTQI+ “Entrepreneurship Program,” which is investing $25 million in gay businesses. It may be noted that, since 2021, the Alberta government has also has spent $26 million on DEI programs for the gay community.”

TikTok and child porn

Breitbart’s March 5th, lead article, entitled “China’s TikTok profits from child pornography,” reports on a BBC investigation which found that children, often girls as young as nine, are participating in nefarious activities, including pornography and prostitution, on the Chinese-owned app. In many cases, these girls and women are then led into “live” prostitution, with real pimps and real violence. The online activities include: girls using “the Chinese platform to openly advertise and negotiate payment in exchange for explicit content.” At this point, the “viewer” can negotiate a sum of money for the girl to perform explicit acts on line; the viewer sends an emoji to indicate a “gift” for the girl, which is converted into cash for her performance. In other instances, the girl can use a code word for certain things she is willing to perform, if she is paid. Or she can openly advertise and negotiate payment in exchange for explicit content. A former TikTok employee has said that “the more people give gifts on a livestream, the more revenue for TikTok. The Chinese app takes a roughly 70 per cent cut from livestream gifts.” BBC reported that teenage girls and young women “spend up to six or seven hours every night in such behavior on TikTok, making an average of $38 per day.” It is especially financially rewarding for girls in poor countries, especially in Africa, where TikTok is very popular. Following a national security review, the Canadian government shut down Vancouver and Toronto TikTok offices in November 2024 and banned the Chinese platform from federal government devices, but Canadians can still use the app. Former CSIS director David Vigneault told CBC that it’s “very clear” from the app’s design that data gleaned from its users “is available to the government of China … I would absolutely not recommend someone have TikTok.”

Trans people and psychiatric problems

An Oxford study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine by Elsevier, a scientific publishing house, has found that “transgender people who suffer from depression and hope that surgery might be a possible cure may be worsening their mental health by seeking a sex change operation.” (Reported by Juno News, March 3). The study analyzed 107,583 gender-confused patients and found that males who underwent surgery had a 25.4 per cent depression rate, “more than double the 11.5 per cent in those who did not undergo surgery.” Similarly, among females who had surgery, the depression rate was 22.9 per cent, with 14.6 per cent among females who did not undergo surgery. With respect to anxiety, the results were similar to the depression rates: in males those who underwent surgery had a 12.8 per cent chance of suffering from anxiety, while those who did not undergo surgery only had a 2.6 per cent chance of suffering from anxiety. A previous study from the University of Texas showed that “patients who underwent a sex change were 12 times more likely to attempt suicide.” The Oxford study concludes that “Gender-affirming surgery, while beneficial in affirming gender identity, is associated with increased risks of mental health issues.”

Ukrainian nun offers perinatal care to grieving parents

Sister Giustina Holubets, a member of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate (SSMI), in Ukraine, had a chance conversation in 2013 with a pregnant woman whose unborn child had received a fatal prenatal diagnosis and didn’t know whether to abort her baby or bring it to term and prepare it for burial. Sister Holubets realized that couples facing the difficulty of a prenatal diagnosis needed help so they could embrace the life of their child while preparing for the death of their child. She says that “a woman who keeps a child (with a prenatal diagnosis), in reality, feels alone. It’s not enough to say do not abort, but we must give support to the end.” In 2017, Sister Holubets founded “Perinatal Hospice: Imprint of Life” in Lviv, Ukraine, which offers palliative care to unborn children and their families. She and her volunteers (often parents who have gone through the grief of losing a baby with a prenatal diagnosis) do not have a physical building, but go to where the baby is — “in the womb of the mother.” They give telephone consultations, attend medical visits with the mother, and, at the mother’s request, attend the birth of the baby. Sister Holubets discovered that “our mothers are prepared to give birth, but we must also prepare them for the death … so that when there is death too, the moms can feel calm because they have done everything they can for their baby.” After the baby is born, they help the family to create positive memories of their child, even if the child is born dead, or only lives a few minutes, by encouraging them to cuddle the baby, sing to them, tell them how much they are loved, and name them. By helping the family create memories of their child, the child truly becomes a member of the family, loved by the family, and never forgotten.