Canada

Campaign Life Coalition launched a petition calling for the decriminalization of abortion. It reads, in part: “Whereas it has been 40 years since May 14, 1969 when Parliament changed the law to permit abortion and since January 28, 1988 Canada has had no law to protect the lives of unborn children. Therefore, your petitioners call upon Parliament to pass legislation for the protection of human life from the time of conception (fertilization) until natural death.” The petition can be accessed at www.campaignlifecoalition.org … Socially liberal Ontario PC leader John Tory resigned the day after losing a by-election in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock. The leadership race will culminate June 27 at a convention in Markham, Ont. Campaign Life Coalition says that all the probable leadership contenders are more conservative than Tory: MPPs Tim Hudak, Frank Klees, Randy Hillier, Elizabeth Witmer and Christine Elliott, although Witmer and Elliott are still Red Tories … During its policy convention in Pictou , N.S., the Green Party of Canada debated the decriminalization of euthanasia. Kitchener, Ont. lawyer Diane McInnis argued against discussing the idea, saying the party should focus “on policies that will get us elected.” After the debate, the resolution was voted back to the drawing board. Euthanasia Prevention Coalition executive director Alex Schadenberg said the Green Party “would do well not to follow the paths” of the NDP and Bloc Quebecois, “and forge different policies than the other left-wing parties.” …In February, ProWomanProLife.org won “best new blog” in the Canadian blog awards. In March, the pro-life website launched a t-shirt, People for the Ethical Treatment of People … Despite being charged with trespassing on their own campus for taking part in a December 2008 Genocide Awareness Project, members of the University of Calgary Campus Pro Life club resumed their activism on March 25 with the GAP display that the reality of abortion. CPL treasurer Alanna Campbell said: “We don’t know what the university will do this time, but we do know we can’t let them censor us.” … The Calgary Sun reports that Linsday Blackett, the Alberta Minister of Culture and Citizenship, will introduce amendments to the Alberta Human Rights Act, to codify a prohibition against discrimination against homosexuals, but also entrench the right of parents to direct the education of their children. The changes will also remove the Alberta Human Right Commission’s ability to censor free speech.

United States

During an appearance on the Jay Leno Show, U.S. President Barack Obama made fun of his own bowling ability saying, it’s “like the Special Olympics or something.” Pro-life groups criticized the president for his insensitivity to marginalized groups … In an interview with CNN, former U.S. president Bill Clinton repeatedly claimed that embryonic stem cell research was permissible because had no possibility of becoming a human being. Six times he reiterated that ESCR should be forbidden if there was any chance the embryo would be fertilized: “We’re not taking embryos that can – that under any conceivable scenario would be used for a process that would allow them to be fertilized and become little babies.” Pro-life activist and former nurse Jill Stanek said Clinton exhibited “illiteracy on human biology.” Blogger Ed Morrissey said Clinton is confusing embryos with unfertilized eggs, which have “no research value in stem cell work because they don’t produce anything; they’re genetically incomplete.”

International

Jonathon Porritt, patron of the Optimum Population Trust and an environmental advisor to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, told the OPT’s annual conference, that the United Kingdom must be reduced from 61 million to 30 million by 2050 to protect the environment. In February, Porritt backed the Trust’s “Stick at Two” campaign encouraging parents to limit themselves to two children and calling couples who have more offspring of being “irresponsible” … After Obama abolished the Mexico City Policy prohibiting U.S. taxpayer funding from being used to provide or promote abortions abroad, the Australian government of Labour Prime Minister Kevin Rudd followed suit. Australia, the only developed world country to refuse to fund international abortion organizations, will increase the country’s foreign aid budget A$15 million to pay for abortion and family planning services … During his visit to Angola, Pope Benedict XVI said that contra what international human rights groups argue, abortion is not the answer to “the crushing yoke of discrimination that women and girls so often endure.” He also said that condoms are not the answer to stopping the spread of AIDS/HIV … A study by the Inter-American Development Bank finds a correlation between the spread of soap operas in Brazil and a decrease in fertility and increase in divorce.