Canada
While Ottawa has given $6 million to International Planned Parenthood Federation projects in conjunction with its maternal health initiative, the Canadian International Development Agency has refused to give grants to MaterCare International. MaterCare, which works to reduce maternal mortality in the developing world but does not carry out abortions, was denied a funding request for the eleventh time in ten years. Founder and executive director Dr. Robert Walley told EWTN that he was informed MaterCare was “too Catholic” to qualify for funding … Pro-abortion feminist MPs, Hedy Fry (Lib., Vancouver Centre) and Libby Davies (NDP, Vancouver East) have both introduced private members’ bills addressing animal cruelty … David Hood, the principal at Christ the King School in Winnipeg, was suspended with pay after he approved senior elementary school students participation in 40 Days for Life as school-sanctioned community service. Christ the King is a funded, independent Catholic school, but it was the archdiocese that put the kibosh on Hood’s plan and suspended him for a month. Robert Praznik, director of education for the Archdiocese of Winnipeg Catholic schools, said: “Catholic Schools in Winnipeg do not give community service or academic credit for participation in prayer vigils” and “There are no Catholic schools in Winnipeg that give academic credit for political activity.”
International
The Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County in Texas announced that it will close its facilities as a result of a bill Governor Rick Perry signed into law in July. The bill prohibits the state from contracting with any organization that carries out abortions. Planned Parenthood will consolidate its offices and refer existing costumers to other PP centers in the state as South Texas operations for the abortion agency will see a staffing cut from 67 to 32 … Russia’s parliament has attempted to stem the decline in population by passing restrictions on abortion beyond 12 weeks and which will require a waiting period of two to seven days before obtaining an abortion. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is expected to sign the bill … Morocco Social Development, Family and Solidarity Minister Nouzha Skalli said her government will the liberalize the predominantly Muslim country’s abortion law to permit killing the unborn in cases of rape, incest, or when the fetus is deformed. She said in those cases, “recourse to legal abortion … is no longer taboo.”