Canada
The Toronto District School Board and Greater Essex School Board are admitting that the Ontario sex-ed curriculum may be contributing to lower student enrolment as parents look for educational alternatives for their children. The Toronto Star reported that the TDSB discovered that its November tally of students found 2,600 fewer children enrolled in its elementary schools than had been projected, with 169,419 students showing up instead of the expected 172,004. TDSB trustee Jerry Chadwick told the Star that opposition to the sex ed curriculum was “one of the factors” behind lower than expected elementary school enrollments. In southwestern Ontario, the GESB reported an 84 per cent increase in the number students opting out of the public system in favour of private or homeschooling as 138 students left the system compared to 75 last year … The Run for Life blog by Patricia Maloney reported that the Ontario government’s rationale for refusing to release abortion statistics, specifically that the numbers might lead to harassment of women who have abortions or doctors who carry them out, was rejected by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner in 2000. The OIPC stated: “any link between disclosure and the harms in these sections is exaggerated. The evidence before me does not establish a reasonable expectation of endangerment to the life or physical safety of any person, or to the security of a building, vehicle or system or procedure.” In 2012, the Liberal government passed the Broader Public Sector Accountability Act, which, amended the Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act to exclude media or citizens from requesting information about abortion.
United States
Congress passed a $1.67 trillion budget that fully funds Planned Parenthood through September 2016, which includes funding for both reimbursements for the abortion procedure and family planning programs. Several pro-life Republicans led by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ) called for redirecting funding from Planned Parenthood to federally funded community centers. The budget passed with bipartisan support despite 20 of 54 Senate Republicans voting against, as well as 151 of 246 House Republicans … After the Center for Medical Progress released a series of videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s harvesting and selling of baby parts, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine launched an investigation of the abortion provider in his state. On Dec. 11, he announced that PP broke state law in another way, by disposing of aborted babies in landfill sites, “apparently intermingled with other common residential and commercial trash.” He said every PP facility disposes of babies this way. DeWine said, “Disposing of aborted fetuses from an abortion by sending them to a landfill is callous and completely inhumane,” and Governor John Kasich promised legal action against Planned Parenthood … A third legal challenged has been launched against California’s The Reproductive FACT Act which forces pregnancy care centers to inform women how to obtain abortion both verbally and through signage posted or distributed in their facilities. Pastor Scott Scharpen who runs a mobile pro-life clinic is challenging the law as a violation of his religious freedom. Separate suits filed by the Pacific Justice Institute and another by the National Center for Law and Policy in tandem with the Alliance Defending Freedom, on First Amendment freedom of speech grounds … KRDO-TV in Denver reported that on Dec. 8, Fern Roberta DeLise, 54, called the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood facility to make an appointment, but when she learned it was still closed following the Nov. 27 shooting at the center, she left a message saying, “it’s tempting to walk into a Republican Party meeting with my dead husband’s gun and just start shooting people.” Police who investigated the incident and arrested DeLise.
International
The latest United Nations Population Fund’s annual report focuses on the needs of girls and women in emergencies, and it highlights the lack of abortion and birth control women have in war-torn regions and in natural disasters. In this year’s report, “Shelter from the storm: A transformative agenda for women and girls in a crisis-prone world,” the UNFPA claims that in various “international agreements, the world has affirmed the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls,” which they go on to state has not been upheld. Rebecca Oas of the pro-life UN watchdog C-Fam, said that UNFPA trumpets sexual and reproductive health rights without ever specifying what they are. UNFPA deputy executive director Kate Gilmore said, “multiple international standards international global standards, define sexual and reproductive health and rights, not UNFPA” … The Mosul Eye blog in Iraq reported that Shar’i Board of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISIS) has issued a fatwa to “kill newborn babies with Down Syndrome and congenital disorders and disabled children.”