Canada

On May 17, Conservative Senator Tobias Enverga Jr. questioned the federal government’s $650 million foreign aid program for sexual and reproductive health. He said, the government’s announcement in March to “support the right to choose safe and legal abortion” in foreign countries, including where it is not legal,  “raises a lot of questions and concerns.” Enverga asked “are we seeing increasing abortion funding from Canada now because our southern neighbours are ending theirs?” … National Economic Editorial reports that abortions cost the Canadian medical system $100 million a year … An Alberta NDP MLA introduced Motion M-514, to examine increasing abortion access in rural communities of the province. We Need a Law reports that during a 2015 review of the state of health care in the province’s remote communities no stakeholder “made mention of abortion access as a primary (or even secondary) concern”… A federal Ministry of Health interim report on euthanasia and assisted-suicide released April 28 stated there were 803 “medically assisted deaths” in Canada after the practice was legalized on June 17, 2016. 56.8 per cent of euthanasia requests come from cancer patients while 23 per cent are made by patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease, or amyotrophic laterial sclerosis. The average age people being euthanized is 72 … MPP Jeff Yurek’s (PC, Elgin-Middlesex-London) private member’s Bill 129, “The Freedom of Conscience in Health Care Act,” was defeated in the Ontario legislature when the Liberals voted in unison against the bill … The Alberta Progressive Conservative Association and Wildrose Party have an “Agreement in Principle on the Establishment of the United Conservative Party” …A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Madeline Li of the University Health Network in Toronto looked at 74 patients, most with cancer or a neurological disorder, who requested assisted-suicide and found more people requested to end their lives more due to psychological suffering than physical suffering. “It’s what I call existential distress,” said Li. “Their quality of life is not what they want,” she explained … As part of the Crown corporation’s marking the 150th anniversary of Confederation, Canada Post unveiled a new stamp celebrating same-sex “marriage” in Canada.

United States

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America released its annual report, covering the abortion giant’s activities from July 2015 through June 2016. It reported having received $554.6 million in taxpayer funding, a record high for the organization. It reported doing 328,348 abortions, up 4,349 from the previous 12 months. That number does not include the 757,830 emergency contraception kits PPFA administered which use abortifacient drugs … Charmaine Yoest, former president and CEO of Americans United for Life and former vice-president of communications for the Family Research Council, was appointed Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Public Affairs by President Donald Trump on April 28 … Center for Medical Progress lead investigator David Daleiden has been ordered by California district judge William Orrick to attend a June 14 hearing about possible contempt charges for releasing undercover footage from the 2014 and 2015 National Abortion Federation conventions, and thereby breaking a preliminary injunction preventing its release. Orrick ordered all links to the video, depicting abortionists laughing about eyeballs and severed heads, removed. The public relations representative for Daleiden’s lawyers contends that “Attorney General Xavier Becerra has entered this footage into the public record by filing a public criminal proceeding based on it. The preliminary injunction obtained by NAF in a federal civil suit cannot bind this State criminal proceeding”… A group of Catholics including Catholic grade schools in the Archdiocese of St. Louis and Our Lady’s Inn, a maternity home, filed a lawsuit against St. Louis, Missouri on May 22 to halt the enforcement of its “abortion sanctuary” law enacted in February that makes it illegal for employers or landlords to discriminate against someone who is post-abortive, pregnant outside of wedlock, or uses contraception or artificial insemination. Lawyers for the Catholic groups argue that the law could violate one’s religious convictions to sometimes not discriminate.

International

Australian company Baby Bee Hummingbirds, which turns hair, breast milk, cord stump, placenta, pet fur, etc. into keepsake jewellery, is doing the same for unused IVF embryos. Belinda Stafford, for instance, wears a heart-shaped pendant containing her seven embryos. The option may be cheaper than paying for annual storage and more appealing to some parents than donating or discarding the embryos… In an interview with Refinery29, American feminist and abortion activist Gloria Steinem said: “If we had not been systematically forcing women to have children they don’t want or can’t care for over the 500 years of patriarchy, we wouldn’t have the climate problems that we have. That’s the fundamental cause of climate change.”