Canada
In an interview with Radio-Canada, child murderer Robert Latimer said he would kill his disabled daughter Tracy Latimer if faced with the decision to do it over again. “People think it is a hard decision, but it’s not,” he told Anne-Marie Dussault. Latimer was granted full parole in December after serving a ten-year sentence … Writing in the the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada, Tara A. Crawford and Wendy Norman of the Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, say that medical students in Canada are insufficiently trained to carry out abortions and call for “curriculum reform to improve abortion training in undergraduate medical programs … to ensure safe and effective productive health care for women.” Their study also found that just 37 per cent of fourth-year med students would provide an abortion while another 36 per cent would refer a patient to an abortionist … Conservative MP Joy Smith (Kildonan-St. Paul) wrote in the Winnipeg Sun that human trafficking is not merely the smuggling of foreigners into Canada for criminal purposes, but the exploitation of women and children within Canada for sex trafficking and forced labour. Smith stated that regardless of the origin of the trafficking victim, Canada has “a duty to rescue and restore victims and prosecute the offenders” … The Toronto Star reported that the intrauterine device or IUD is “making a comeback” in Canada, with Dr. Dara Maker, co-medical director at the Bay Centre for Birth Control in Toronto saying, “we are putting them in more women, and in more younger women.” IUDs fell into disuse in the 1970s when the Dalcon Shield model was found to cause inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancies and death. In Canada, 1-3 per cent of women who use contraception use IUDs compared to 25 per cent in Europe … Mildred Moir, founder and former president of Nova Scotia United for Life and a founder of Alliance for Life and Coalition for Life, passed away at the age of 84.
United States
The House of Representatives voted 240-185 in favour of an amendment by Rep. Mike Pence (R. Indiana) to the 2011 Federal Spending Bill that will, if passed by the Senate, present Barack Obama with a budget shorn of all funding for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Pence said, “I commend my colleagues in both parties for taking a stand for taxpayers and a stand for life” … Three pro-abortion Democrats have announced they will not run for re-election in 2012 – Jeff Bingaman (New Mexico), Jim Webb (Virginia), and Kent Conrad (North Dakota) – increasing the chances of electing a majority pro-life Senate. Independent Joseph Lieberman (Connecticut), who has a mixed record on abortion and caucuses with the Democrats, has also announced he will not seek re-election as has pro-life Republicans Jon Kyl (Arizona) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas). Political prognosticators says Republicans are likely to hold onto Arizona and Texas and have at least a 50 per cent chance of winning in each of New Mexico, North Dakota and Virginia … Barbara Bush, the daughter of former president George W. Bush, is featured in a video released by the gay activist Human Rights Campaign, calling for “marriage equality” … New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared his support for legalizing same-sex marriage in the Empire State and the Associated Press reports that the legislature could pass such a measure in 2012 … Joseph Scheidler’s Life Action Ministries reported saving 93 babies through sidewalk counselling, bringing the organization’s total since 1981 to 2587 … Kristine Casey, a 61-year-old woman, has given birth to her own grandson in Illinois after acting as a surrogate mother for her daughter Sarah Connell, who could not conceive herself.
International
Lynne Featherstone, Liberal Democrat junior Home Office minister with responsibility for equality, in Britain, announced that the government will allow civil partnership ceremonies between same-sex couples to be held in places of worship. Civil partners, though not officially “married,” have almost the same legal rights as married couples. The Anglican Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, told the BBC that the state should not force churches to marry couples if it violated church teaching. Lord Norman Tebbit, former chairman of the Conservative Party, was quoted in The Independent that if the “permissive option” were available, “sooner or later, legal proceedings will start to enforce it upon churches against the will of many ministers” … In a poll released a week before Irish elections, 68 per cent of respondents wanted unborn life protected in the Irish constitution compared to 26 per cent who do not. At the same time, Ireland United for Life, an umbrella group for 30 pro-life organizations, called upon all candidates for elected office to commit to maintaining constitutional protections for the unborn … A UNAIDS study found that “partner reduction” has resulted in a 50 per cent decline in the prevalence of HIV in Zimbabwe since the late 1990s. Researchers found that reducing casual, commercial and extramarital sex reduced the rate of infection.