Canada

Speaking at the party’s policy convention in Niagara Falls, Ontario Progressive Conservative leader John Tory said that parents with children in private religious schools will get help, most likely in the form of tax credits, with tuition fees if his party is elected in next year’s election. When he ran for the PC leadership in 2004, Tory indicated that he opposed restoring tuition tax credits that former premier Mike Harris had implemented but that Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government scrapped upon taking office in 2003. Tory told the conference delegates, “ I have come to understand even better the fact that there is a fairness issue that needs to be addressed”  … The University of Western Ontario officially opened Canada’s only homosexual library, the Pride Library, on Valentine’s Day. The library is the work of professor James Miller, founder of UWO’s Gender, Sexuality, and Culture program. Mathieu Chantelois, host of PrideVision TV’s Read Out, commended the University for creating a place that is great for homosexual persons to meet … New Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative leader and Premier Rodney MacDonald, told CTV that he is pro-life but that he does not intend to initiate legislation on abortion … Alex Munter, a former city councillor and national coordinator of the homosexual activist group Canadians for Equal Marriage, will run for mayor in Ottawa.

United States

The South Dakota House passed a bill that bans abortion except to save the life of the mother. The state Senate is expected to vote on the measure soon … The Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to consider the 2003 federal partial-birth ban, which has never taken effect after several federal circuit courts blocked its enforcement,  in its next term which begins in October. The National Right to Life Committee suggests it is likely to be upheld although ultimately it will be decided by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who voted to uphold Nebraska’s partial-birth abortion ban in 2000 in the Stenberg decision … The Herald News, a paper in Joliet, Illinois, reversed course after initially refusing to run ads that show a picture of a 3-D ultrasound of an unborn child that it originally deemed “too graphic” … The Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy has ordered retail giant Wal-Mart to stock the emergency contraception drug known as the “morning after pill.”  The only other state where Wal-Mart offers the MAP is Illinois which requires that it do so by law … Indiana lawmakers are considering a law that would require women seeking an abortion be informed that life begins at conception and that the unborn child might be able to feel pain … The New York Appeals Court ruled that the state’s law prohibiting same-sex “marriage” is constitutional. Justice John Lahtinen wrote: “In our opinion, the Legislature is where the changes to marriage” should take place.

International

The Australian Senate voted 45-28 to remove the power to regulate the abortion drug RU-486 from Health Minister Tony Abbott. Abbott had refused to allow the drug into the country, arguing that health considerations alone are sufficient to condemn the drug. The Australian House must now consider the bill. Liberal MP Danna Vale warned that legalizing RU-486 combined with the country’s already low fertility rate, could result in Australia becoming a Muslim country within five decades: “When you actually look at the birth rates and when you look at the fact that we are aborting ourselves almost out of existence by 100,000 abortions every year and that’s only a guesstimate.” Vale estimate that there would be five million fewer Australians if RU-486 is introduced … Research by David Fergusson at the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences in New Zealand, an abortion supporter, found that abortion causes serious mental disorders. Fergusson tracked approximately 500 women from birth to 25 years and found that those who had an abortion have a much higher than average experience of serious psychological disturbances … The Israeli High Court ruled that two lesbians must be recognized as mothers of their three IVF-created children … After the Czech parliament passed same-sex partnership legislation (147-86 in the lower house), President Vaclav Klaus vetoed the bill which would have allowed for registration of same-sex unions … The Information Mission, a commission established by president of the French National Assembly has recommended that same-sex “marriage,” adoption by homosexual couples and technologically assisted procreation for homosexuals not be permitted by law. The commission based its decision on the need “to affirm and protect children’s rights and the primacy of those rights over adults’ aspirations” … The British Department of Health has initiated a pilot project to study whether RU-486 could be used safely at home.