Canada
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, while speaking at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ont., was asked by a student about abortion. “My personal view is abortion should be as rare and as infrequent as family planning, good medical care and education can make it,” said Ignatieff. Then he added: “But it should be legal.” Earlier this year, Ignatieff advocated that Canadian taxpayers fund overseas abortions as a part of the federal government’s maternal health plan … Mary Wagner, a British Columbia pro-life activist, was arrested Nov. 21 at the Women’s Care Abortion Clinic in Toronto after distributing pro-life information to women entering the facility. She was scheduled for a court appearance the following day … The British Columbia Court of Appeal ruled on Nov. 15 that four dissident Anglican churches in the Vancouver area must return the buildings and land they claimed to the Anglican Church of Canada. The conflict arose because of the parishioners’ disapproval of the ACC’s decision to conduct same-sex “marriage” … Robert Tomas, president of Mr. Leatherman Toronto, a leather fetish group, has criticized the Toronto Sun for revealing that taxpayer money was used to fund the organization’s “Leatherball in the Park.” The Sun found that retiring Councilor Kyle Rae paid for the group’s permit for the event in Allan Gardens with $421 from his office budget … The Quebec government introduced legislation on Nov. 11 that would give Quebeckers the chance to sign a consent form authorizing post-mortem organ and tissue donation. The form would be sent out every four years when Quebeckers have to renew their health insurance cards, and potential donors would be incorporated into a consent registry … Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced new legislation that would mandate longer prison sentences for seven existing sexual crimes and add two new child sex offences to the Criminal Code. “Our government is committed to helping prevent sexual offences against children by ensuring that adult sexual predators receive sentences which reflect the extreme seriousness of their crimes,” said Nicholson … Organizers decided to open a pregnancy care centre in Truro, N.S., after community meetings indicated there was interest and support for the initiative. “The town needs this. Lots of girls need support…one individual has already come forward seeking assistance,” said the group’s Paula LacLeod. The center is associated with the Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Services, a Christian charity.
International
New York City Council is considering a bill that would require crisis pregnancy centres to post signs notifying women that they do not provide abortion services and state whether or not they have a licensed physician on staff. Chris Slattery of Emergency Mother Care Frontline Pregnancy Centers said the proposal was unconstitutional and would “cripple our work” reaching out to abortion-minded women. City councilor Jessica Lappin said her bill would protect women’s health, but fellow councilor Daniel Halloran said the new regulations were inherently unfair because abortion facilities would not be required to describe the services they do not offer … On Nov. 2, California voters rejected a ballot initiative legalizing marijuana for recreational use by a margin of 54 to 46 per cent. The initiative would have let licensed retailers sell up to one ounce of marijuana at a time without a doctor’s note to Californians over 21. Voters also voted down medical marijuana initiatives in Colorado, Arizona and Oregon … Victoria Kolakowski was elected the country’s first transgendered trial judge in Alameda County in California … A CNN exit poll found that 31 per cent of self-identified gay voters chose the Republican Party in the mid-term elections – 4 percentage points more than in 2008 … Online book retailer Amazon stopped selling a self-published guide for pedophiles entitled The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct, that offered advice on how to make sexual encounters with a child “safe.” However, Amazon continues to sell another pedophilia-themed title, Understanding Loved Boys and Boylovers … The Court of Cassation, France’s highest court agreed to look into a constitutional challenge to the country’s marriage legislation, which defines marriage as a union between a woman and a man. France established “civil solidarity pacts” for homosexual couples in 1999 … The Philippine House of Representatives will hold hearings on six different reproductive health bills. If passed, Rep. Edcel Lagman’s bill, would legalize artificial contraception and sex education in the predominantly Catholic country. Rep. Jose Maria Zubiri said he supports liberalizing contraception because the country’s “over-rapid and unsustainable population growth … has already become a national security issue” … Beijing began to undertake an extensive census with emphasis on the speed of aging of the population and economic well-being of seniors, hoping it would help the government reform the country’s pension system. It is predicted that by 2050, there will be 437 million elderly living in cities with only 1.6 working adults for every senior as Red China starts to feel the consequences of its one-child policy, and a dramatic drop from 7.7 working adults per senior in 1975.