Brussels:

Visiting Belgium in May, pope John Paul II condemned artificial techniques to create life and warned such tampering could lead to ”fatal aberrations.” The Toronto Sun (May 21) reported that the Pope’s remarks came in a speech to the 10-nation European Community in which he also said Europe was in moral and spiritual decline.

“The wonderful act of transmitting life is partly deprived of its meaning…the wish to have a child does not justify manipulations violating the nature of man.”

“It is as if human beings see life as a game – a game that is, whenever they are not seized by despair.”

In an earlier speech, the Pope specifically ruled out scientific interference with the human embryo: ”it must not be subjected to experiments as if it were an object,” he said.

Abortuary raids Down Under

On Monday May 20, police mounted two massive military-style raids on abortion clinics in Queensland, Australia. The carefully-orchestrated raids, carried out by more than 68 police, closed the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Townsville as well as a private clinic in Brisbane. Even the sewers near the Townsville abortuary were searched and samples of sewer wastes (possibly containing tissue from unborn children) were taken as evidence. A ”fetus” was also secured as evidence from the Townsville abortuary.

More than 47,000 records were seized from the two abortion clinics and a police spokesman said, “It has not been determined if any women [clients] will be charged.”

On both raids, a medical team including a Government medical officer, gynecologist, pathologist, anesthetist, forensic biologist and nurses accompanied the police.

Mr. Peter Bayliss was arrested at the Brisbane clinic after he refused to give an assurance to police that he would stop performing abortions. It had not been decided whether to take action against a second abortionist at the same abortuary. As well, it had not been decided whether to take action over vasectomy operations allegedly performed at both Queensland abortion clinics.

Clients at the abortuaries left during the investigation, going past police guards and signs that read ”Crime scene investigation – No entry.”

In the reception area of the Townsville abortuary, police found many copies of an April news report from a local paper (The Courier-Mail) saying that Queensland lay made obtaining a conviction in cases of unlawful abortion virtually impossible.

Section 282 of the Queensland Criminal Code states that the only ground for which a lawful abortion may be performed is ”for the preservation of the mother’s life.”

The abortion clinic in Townsville had been in operation since 1983, the on in Brisbane since 1980.

The raids have been hailed as a major victory for pro-lifers in Australia. Mrs. Christie Mac Ginley of the Queensland Right to Life Association said that the raids spell the end for such clinics in Queensland and called for more community research into ways of finding answers to problems of women whop would otherwise seek an abortion.

The raids came two days after Dr. Bernard Nathanson screened his film The Silent Scream for police forces in Queensland.

IUD doubles chance of infertility

It has been known for many years that the IUD is an abortifacient, that is, an abortion-causing contraceptive device. Promoted by Planned Parenthood and other anti-family organizations and centers, it has been adopted by millions of women worldwide, including many single women who do intend to have children some day when married.

Recently, two medical research teams, on in Boston, the other in Seattle, reported that a childless woman who uses an IUD has a good chance of becoming infertile (Globe and Mail: April 11, 1985). The use of the IUD at least doubles the rate of infertility.

Meanwhile in Richmond, Virginia, the manufacturer of the Dalkon Shield intrauterine contraceptive, an IUD off the market since 1974, has paid out $314.6 million to settle 8,300 lawsuits brought by women claiming to have been injured. As of December 31, 1984, there were still 8,300 unsettled claims. Since January another 1,000 cases have been launched against the A.H. Robins Company. Stockholders, too, have decided to sue the company before the cash register is emptied completely.

According to the company, 123,000 of the shields were sold in Canada but no damage suits seem to have originated in this country or any other country outside the U.S.A.

The fate of the IUD follows that of the pill. Naturally, pro-abortion researchers such as Dr. David Grimes of the Atlanta Centers for Disease Control (who testified for Morgentaler in Toronto in October 1984) blame “widespread confusion, indeed paranoia” for the decline in the use of the pill (Globe: May 14, 1985). They would like to see the bad publicity stopped. But numerous studies have now confirmed the many ill effects of the pill. Magazines such as Chatelaine, after encouraging women in the sixties and seventies to use contraceptives, have given the newly discovered ill effects widespread publicity.

Abortion an election issue in Greece

According to an article in the Toronto Star (June 1), abortion is the ”leading means of contraception in Greece” where there are two abortions performed for each live birth – an estimated 300,000 illegal abortions per year.

The Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement wrote into its manifesto a programme of free ”family planning” with contraceptives and abortion paid for by the state. This is the party of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, the winner in the June 2 election (45 per cent of the vote vs. 40 per cent for the conservative New Democrats). His wife Margaret had campaigned for free abortion on demand since the beginning of the year.

The conservative New Democratic Party offered only “special health care programmes for pregnant women,” and most politicians of both major parties avoided all discussion of the issue.

Prior to the election, a suit was filed by a public prosecutor against seven prominent women, including a new Democrat politician who admitted in a magazine to having had abortions. Mrs. Papandreou, head of The Women’s Union of Greece, led public street demonstrations for the decriminalization of abortion in support of the defendants.