Canada
A Winnipeg girl, 13, was impregnated twice by her stepfather, according to court documents, and both pregnancies ended in abortion. Carol Scurfield, a doctor at the Women’s Health Clinic, one of the two facilities that do abortions in Winnipeg but did not give this girl an abortion, said, “If a 12-year-old is pregnant, it raises red flags that health providers should be addressing” … Bill C-279, introduced by NDP MP Randall Garrison (Esquimalt – Juan de Fuca) to include gender identity as a prohibited ground of discrimination will likely not pass in the Senate. With the parliamentary recess and expected election call ahead of the October 19 federal election, the private member’s bill will die on the Order Paper … Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown marched in the Toronto Pride parade June 27. Joining Brown was MPPs Lisa Macleod (Nepean-Carleton) and Jack MacLaren (Carleton-Mississippi Mills), MP Kellie Leitch (Simcoe-Grey, Minister of Labour and Status of Women), MP Bernard Trottier (Etobicoke-Lakeshore) and several candidates in the upcoming federal election … Conservative MPP Michael Harris (Kitchener-Conestoga) wrote an open letter to the Minister of Education Liz Sandals challenging her to honour the request of the Waterloo Regional District School Board, which was to have her come, in person, and answer questions put forth by concerned parents regarding the new Ontario sex-ed curriculum. There has been no reply from Sandals …The Conservative majority on the Senate security and defence committee is urging Ottawa to explore options for training and certifying imams, all in an effort to combat the threat of terrorism. In a recent report, they said foreign-trained imams have been spreading extremist ideology, which is not in keeping with Canadian values.
United States
A person claiming to be a 26-year-old American woman threatening to have an abortion unless pro-lifers raised $1 million over 72 hours, was using the gimmick to market his novel Strange Animals. The book by Chad Kultgen has a character that uses the same tactic to draw attention to laws that regulate abortion, including waiting periods between requesting and undergoing an abortion … A study by Express Scripts found that in the first quarter of 2014, the use of oral contraceptives increased by 29 per cent compared to the same period a year earlier while the number of people using prescription drugs decreased 18 per cent … Oregon approved measures that will allow women older than 18 to get a year-long supply of contraceptives directly from pharmacists without the approval of a doctor. Governor Kate Brown (D) stated that this would help women who are forced to make frequent trips to the doctor’s office. The FDA, however, requires prescriptions for most oral and hormonal contraceptives … More than 20 per cent of sexually active female teenagers have used a morning-after pill, according to a study by the Center for Disease Control. This is notably higher than in 2005, when only 1 in 12 sexually active female teens used these pills. Morning-after pills, which have a 90 per cent likelihood of terminating a pregnancy, were permitted to be sold over the counter to people age 18 or higher in 2006, though the age limits were removed in 2013.
International
A drone carrying abortion pills was flown from Frankfurt, Germany across the river to Slubice, Poland, where the pills are illegal, as part of a campaign headed by Dutch pro-abortion group Women on Waves. WOW, which usually provides abortions to women who board their boats in international waters, said it intended to “highlight the staunchly Catholic country’s restrictive abortion laws.” According to a press release by WOW, upon landing the drone was met by a group of pro-abortion activists who distributed the abortion pills to two Polish women who proceeded to swallow the pills in the vicinity of a dozen pro-life protestors … The Bishop of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, Bishop Gustavo Rodriguez Vega, has responded to a declaration of the Mexican Supreme Court that nullified state laws prohibiting “marriage” of same-sex couples nationwide. Bishop Vega and his clergy say they will not bow to political pressure to bless homosexual unions saying: “Let the Supreme Court send the bishops and the priests to jail, whomever they want, but the Church cannot go against the law of our Lord Jesus Christ” … An Israeli study involving 13,000 women suggests that the death of a child early in pregnancy through either abortion or miscarriage may lead to future complications. Whether the child’s death was natural or intentional made virtually no difference, as the increased likelihood of diabetes, induced labour, and retained placenta are roughly equally likely between the two groups. The greatest jump in complications came from c-sections, which was 7 per cent more common among women that had lost a child during pregnancy.