Canada

In the Alberta provincial election campaign, PC Premier Alison Redford attacked the Wildrose Party for having opponents of homosexualiy run as candidates and condemned leader Danielle Smith for being open to enacting laws to protect the conscience rights for medical workers and marriage commissioners … Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said that once again he will not be attending the city’s Pride Parade, opting instead to attend his family’s Canada Day celebrations at a cottage north of the city. Gay activists and political opponents complained that Ford had a “duty” to attend because, as the Toronto Star editorialized, “Ford was elected mayor of all Toronto” … Glen Murray, the openly homosexual Ontario Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities, said Bill 13, the government’s anti-bullying legislation, would prevent Catholic schools from teaching the Church’s morals, saying, “I have to say to the bishops: ‘You’re not allowed to do that anymore’” … Fr. Raymond de Souza suggested in a column in the Catholic Register that there is a chance that cuts by the Canadian International Development Agency to Development and Peace (D&P), the official international development arm of the Canadian Catholic Church, may lead to reform, even though Canadian bishops are calling for more support to the organization. Fr. de Souza wrote that CIDA funding decreased because D&P’s partners “are very much directed to social and political activism.” In 2009, LifeSiteNews exposed D&P for its partnerships with agencies that advocate for abortion … Statistics Canada announced that fewer hate crimes were reported to police in 2010, particularly violent hate crimes, which only consisted of a third of all incidents. There were 1,401 hate crimes in total. Just over half of reported hate crimes, or 707 incidents, were related to race or ethnicity, while 395 involved religion and 218 were linked to sexual orientation.

United States

Democrat Babette Josephs, a Pennsylvania state representative, called her female colleagues who supported a bill giving women the chance to see the ultrasound before an abortion “men with breasts”  … A committee of the U.S. Bishops Conference stated that it is an “obligation of faith” to disobey unjust laws such as Obama’s mandate forcing religious employers to provide contraceptives, and regulations in some states forcing Catholic charities to provide adoption and foster care services to same-sex or unmarried couples … On April 12, the Vermont Senate rejected a bill legalizing assisted suicide. Such a bill was already defeated by the Vermont Senate Judiciary committee in mid-March, but it re-emerged in April attached to a bill regulating tanning beds … Annette Corriveau appeared on the Dr. Phil Show pleading for a lethal injection for her two severely disabled adult children diagnosed with Sanfilippo syndrome. Corriveau, who only visits her children once every two months, claimed that as a mother, she has a right to kill them because she does not believe their lives are worth living and that her children would choose suicide if they could. Dr. Phil, a celebrity advice-provider, weakly tried to counter her argument, but called the mother’s intended actions an act of mercy, and almost every audience member agreed with Corriveau.

International

On March 27, the British Parliament passed a motion “welcoming” prosecution guidelines that dictate that it is not in the public interest to prosecute people who assist in someone else’s suicide out of “compassion.” Anthony Ozimic, communications director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said, “They have approved the prosecuting guidance that basically gives a free reign to anyone who wants to commit an assisted suicide” … The two major Spanish political parties – the conservative People’s Party and the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party – rejected the introduction of a bill by a coalition of three small socialist parties that would have legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide … A study by researchers at the University of South Wales found that women with six or more children are 40 per cent less likely to die in the next 16 years than childless women … A private member’s bill introduced in the Irish Parliament by Socialist Party deputy Clare Daly proposes legalizing abortion until birth if the woman’s life is in danger or if she threatens to commit suicide, and would give a maximum one-year prison sentence to pro-life sidewalk counselors. According to Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Life Institute, the bill draws on a “fundamentally dishonest claim that abortion is needed to protect women’s lives” … A report by European Dignity Watch accuses the European Union of funding abortion in developing countries with strict laws against abortions. This was done through the organization’s Development Aid and Public Health budgets, under the category of “sexual and reproductive health,” which was supposed to exclude abortion.