Canada
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau told the CBC that Prince Edward Island should start doing abortions. He urged Islanders to ask whether “the Canada Health Act is being respected and that Canadians have the opportunity to make choices about their own reproductive health.” The CHA does not require that abortions be paid for or carried out in any province. Health Minister Doug Currie says that 140 women leave PEI for obtain abortions in other provinces. Premier Robert Ghiz told the Globe and Mail “there are many competing priorities in health care and there is no plan to change the current policy” on abortion … Bill C-36, the government’s prostitution law based on the Nordic model that would target clients instead of prostitutes, passed final House of Commons vote 156 to 124 and will now be considered by the Senate … Senator Don Plett (CPC, Manitoba) spoke against Bill C-279, which would add gender identity to Canada’s hate crimes laws, that is currently being debated in the Senate. Plett said “my five-year-old granddaughter doesn’t want to be in a bathroom with a biological male” … The Physicians Alliance Against Euthanasia and Living with Dignity have filed a court challenge to Quebec’s “assisted dying” legislation that prevents prosecution of doctors who help patients commit suicide. The two groups argue the law violates section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees the rights to life, liberty, and security of the person. The Alliance and Living with Dignity want the case heard before the law goes into effect in December 2015 or an injunction to suspend the law. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and the Christian Legal Fellowship have joined the lawsuit as interveners … Terri-Jean Bedford, the former dominatrix who successfully challenged the Criminal Code provisions against prostitution, threatened to expose the names of politicians who have used prostitutes if the government continued with their prostitution bill, C-36. “I’d also like to say if this law passes, I’m going to make you forget about Mike Duffy, because I’ve got information and more proof on politicians in this country than you can shake a stick at.” She later relented.
United States
Billy Graham writing in his Decision magazine said, “Even though America is just as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah ever were, and as deserving of the judgment of God, God would spare us if we were earnestly praying, with hearts that had been cleansed and washed by the blood of Christ” … Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, wrote in Elle about her abortion, which she said “wasn’t a difficult decision.” She suggests that women who had abortions should talk about their experiences … The city of Houston issued subpoenas demanding certain pastors submit any sermons dealing with homosexuality or gender identity, but relented after the request received national media attention as well as the threat of legal action from the Family Research Council and the Alliance for Freedom … The American Academy of Pediatrics in new guidelines published in Pediatrics that while acknowledging that only abstinence is the only way to prevent sexually transmitting diseases and pregnancy, said that teens who are sexually active should be encouraged to use IUDs or hormonal implants, along with condoms. Dr. Mary Ott, associate pediatrics professor at Indiana University, lead author of the guidelines, says that teens do not remember to use birth control pills or condoms consistently and that IUDs are effective for three to 10 years after insertion while implants usually last three years … Tech companies Facebook and Apple have both confirmed that they will offer a new benefit for female employees: paying to freeze their eggs for reproductive purposes. Both companies will pay the roughly $500 per year storage fees and for one $10,000 round of harvesting costs. Critics such as Joan C. Williams of the Center for WorkLife Law, say the program signals that career is more important than child-bearing, by encouraging female employees to put off motherhood.
International
The Netherlands released its official 2013 euthanasia numbers. They reveal the total number of euthanasia deaths increased 15 per cent to 4,829, including a total of 42 people with “severe psychiatric problems.” The number of euthanasia deaths has increased at least 13 per cent in each of the past five years and it now accounts for three per cent of the population … Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino defied Italian law and registered 16 same-sex “marriages” in mid-October. Interior Minister Angelino Aflano said the marriages would be voided because the country does not recognize same-sex “marriages” … The German National Ethics Council voted by a two-to-one margin to call for the decriminalization of incest, saying “the fundamental right of adult siblings to sexual self-determination is to be weighed more heavily than the abstract idea of protection of the family.” Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker, a spokesman for the Christian Democrat government of Angela Merkel, said, “the abolition of the offense of incest between siblings would be the wrong signal.”
