President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address: “We must not overlook the weakest among us. I ask you to protect infants at the very hour of their birth and end the practice of partial-birth abortion” … President Bush threatened to veto budget legislation if it omitted language that prohibits the use of federal funds for agencies that committ abortions overseas … The Family Research Council notes there were four new pro-life democrats elected to the U.S. House of Representatives last November … Bishop William Weigand of Sacramento, Ca. reminds Catholic politicians who support abortion that they should abstain from receiving Holy Communion: “Anyone – politician or otherwise – who thinks it is acceptable for a Catholic to be pro-abortion is in very great error, puts his or her soul at risk and is not in good standing with the Church” … Representative Duncan Hunter (R-Ca.) will introduce legislation establishing personhood at conception, thus overturning Roe v. Wade.

The Virginia House’s justice committee sends to the full House a bill that would remove the “mental-health” exception for late-term abortions. The committee also approves a partial-birth abortion ban that the bill’s sponsor, delegate Robert Marshall (R) says has the right wording to accommodate the Supreme Court by defining partial-birth abortion as “infanticide” … Maryland pro-life lawmakers are preparing legislation that would require parental notification for minors seeking an abortion. New Governor Robert Ehrlich (R) supports the effort … Oklahoma is considering requiring informed consent and a 24-hour waiting period for women to consider abortion risks and alternatives. The American Civil Liberties Union worries that the “ultimate goal is do away totally with abortion” … The Arizona Senate judiciary committee approves a 24-hour waiting period for abortions. Pro-abortion Governor Janet Napolitano (D) threatens to veto the bill if it passes.

Dolly the cloned sheep has been euthanized at age six, about half the normal life expectancy for her breed, after a series of ailments. Dolly suffered from arthritis and pre-mature aging before scientists at the Roslin Institute decided to finally put her down when she contracted a lung infection. Richard Gardner, a member of the Royal Society, a British academy of science, worried about “the dangers inherent in reproductive cloning, and the irresponsibility of anybody who is trying to extend such work to humans” … Clonaid, which in December claimed to have cloned a human baby named Eve, told a Florida court that it does not know the whereabouts of the alleged child … The BBC reports that the machine that Clonaid says was used to create Eve is on display at the Science Museum in London, England … Chinese researcher Lu Guangxiu claims to have created 80 human clones in a Changsa, Hunan laboratory.

The 1.2 million-member Rotary International of business and professional leaders renews its co-operation with the population-control activities of the United Nations Population Fund … In 2002, the Netherlands became the top donor nation to the United Nations Population Fund, providing a total of $55 million (US) to the pro-abortion agency … UNFPA directorThoraya Obaid complains that U.S. funding cuts to the population-control agency have led to financial problems: “Resource mobilization was a major challenge for UNFPA in 2002 (and) by the middle of last year, it was clear that UNFPA was facing a serious financial crisis” … Romania’s population is stagnating at 24 million people because of a devastating abortion rate of 70 per cent over the past 12 years. Last year, there were 700,000 abortions. Ziua, a Bucharest newspaper, said, “Romania is a country of abortions.”

Statistics Canada reports that in 1999, the average age of brides was 31.3 years and for grooms, 33.8. The increase in the average age at marriage has jumped 5.5 years over 20 years, in part because of higher rates of re-marriage. There has also been an increase in the age of first-time brides. A total of 155,742 couples got married in 1999, with more than one in five brides previously divorced … On Valentine’s Day, same-sex couples from across the country staged a publicity stunt by inviting media to join them at municipal offices in Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Sudbury, Toronto, Montreal, Sherbrooke, Fredericton, Moncton and St. John’s as they applied for, and were subsequently denied, marriage licences. At least 35 media outlets in various cities covered the staged events.

Rev. Ken Campbell, national director of Canada’s Civilized Majority, castigates newly elected NDP leader Jack Layton for countenancing statements by members of his caucus who say President Bush “spends his waking hours scheming how he may kill Iraqi babies,” while the party, especially Layton, promotes abortion. “It’s (Morgentaler), and the death culture he leads and which the NDP promotes, which is responsible for the more than 100,000 Canadian babies slaughtered annually in the sanctuary of their mothers’ wombs,” said Campbell.