Canada
Peter Merrifield, an RCMP officer who sought the Conservative Party nomination in Barrie, Ont., was punished for his political views after it was discovered that his campaign material was deemed hate literature for defending traditional marriage. The RCMP said it “would be in the best interest of the RCMP … if he was assigned to other duties, not related to politics,” as he was demoted from his position as a counter-terrorism agent to a job in the customs unit … Scarborough Southwest Conservative candidate Vincent Veerasuntharam and his campaign workers physically threatened and harassed a family handing out Campaign Life Coalition’s candidate evaluation sheets outside Our Lady of Fatima Shrine on the final Sunday of the election campaign, objecting to Veerasuntharam’s pro-abortion rating. LifeSiteNews.com also reported that Wayne Copeland, a local pro-lifer who assisted in the distribution of the evaluations, was intimidated by a group of men who objected to the evaluations who claimed that the pro-abortion rating defamed the candidate … According to an access to information request undertaken by Canadian Press, the issue that Canadians wrote, emailed and called to the prime minister’s office more about than any other issue was same-sex “marriage.” “An overwhelming majority of callers was opposed to a redefinition of traditional marriage,” CP reported. About 10 per cent of all communications to the prime minister addressed the subject of SSM … The family of Olivia Talbot, an Alberta woman who was 27 weeks pregnant when she was murdered, are launching a petition calling for the creation of a law to protect the unborn victims of violence. A LifeCanada press release stated: “Even though Olivia was in her third trimester of pregnancy, no charges were laid in the death of her unborn child. Since Canadian law does not recognize the child in the womb as a person, he or she has no rights until birth.”
International
Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, South Dakota and Tennessee and Georgia are all in the process of introducing legislation that would place broad limits on abortion. The South Dakota law, if passed, would make abortion a crime although it would not provide for the prosecution of doctors who commit them to save the life of the mother … Disgraced Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk, an advocate of human cloning who has been exposed as fraud, has been offered a position by the Raelian Movement cult, which believes that its members came from aliens and believes cloning to be a step towards eternal life … William Pena, a Tulua, Columbia, city councillor, has proposed a law that would force all residents over the age of 14 to carry a condom under threat of a $180 fine. Pena, who is worried about the incidence of AIDS in his city, said that “sexual relations are going on constantly, if you carry a condom, chances are you’ll use it during the day.” Catholic priest and resident Roberto Sarmiento, who would presumably also have to carry a condom, responded to the proposal: “Nobody can force someone to carry a condom in their pocket. They should instead carry the responsibility of what sexual relations mean” … A report of the European Union’s Network of Independent Experts on Human Rights has said that clergy and registrars should not have the right to refuse to perform weddings for homosexual couples. The report says that the “right of access” outweighs the conscience rights of those that preside over weddings. It seems odd that the report is making recommendations about gay “marriage” considering only the Netherlands and Belgium have passed laws permitting such unions … Uganda is considering ratification of the “Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights: on the Rights of Women in Africa,” which would obligate the country to legalize abortion in at least some circumstances … In the U.K, the Voluntary Euthanasia Society has changed its name to Dignity in Dying, leading to palliative care organizations to complain (in a letter to the Guardian) that “the implication of this now widely publicised name is that euthanasia is the only dignified death” … England’s High Court threw out a law requiring parents of minors to be informed when their children have an abortion, claiming that forcing a girl to tell her parents “may lead her to make a decision that she later regrets or seek the assistance of an unofficial abortionist.” The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children said that the Department of Health has been “routinely” providing under-16-year-olds with both abortions and abortifacient drugs, “flouting the 1985 legal guidelines” on the issue.