Canada
When Rod Bruinooge (C-Winnipeg South) wrote a pro-life column in the National Post – see page 3 of this issue – declaring that he will fight to protect the unborn, David Sweet (Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale) and Mark Warawa (Langley), two Conservative MPs who signed the CLC questionnaire in 2006 indicating they were pro-life, said that with the current economic turmoil, now is not the time to introduce legislation on abortion. Warawa told the Langley Advance: “Canadians want us to focus on the economy” … … The Ontario government will liberalize its sex education program following recommendations from the Safe Schools Action Team chaired by Liberal MPP Liz Sandals (Guelph), a former president of the Ontario Public School Boards Association. Reacting to a sexual assault in a Toronto high school last year, the panel urged the Ministry of Education to update the school curriculum to promote “healthy relationships.” Students will be taught about “homophobia” in Grade 6, sexually transmitted diseases in Grade 7 and “sexual identity” in Grade 8 … Ontario Progressive Conservative leader John Tory convinced MPP Laurie Scott to give up her Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock seat so he could run and be seated at Queen’s Park. He lost in his Don Valley East riding in the 2007 Ontario election and has been leader of the opposition from the galleries. The Reform Party of Ontario said it will run a candidate against Tory to represent “true” conservative values, but party leader Brad Harness stresses that Reform is a fiscally, not socially, conservative party.
United States
Four pro-life Republican senators have announced they will not seek re-election in 2010: Kit Bond (Missouri), Sam Brownback (Kansas), Mel Martinez (Florida) and George Voinovich (Ohio). Pro-abortion Democrats are well poised to pick up several of those states. Brownback is rumoured to be running for governor … The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is seeking new funding, because it does not expect the state to fund embryonic stem cell research due to an estimated $30 billion state budget deficit. Sources could include a bond issue or major backing from philanthropic institutions or individual large donors … KFSN, an ABC affiliate in Fresno, Calif., reports that local Planned Parenthood centres have “experienced a notable increase in its abortions” due to the downturn in the economy. PP public affairs director Patsy Montgomery says demand for all services, including “family planning” is up eight per cent from last year … The New York Times says lawyers, real estate agents and financial planners are reporting a decline in divorces due to the faltering economy. Because of declining housing prices, “divorce has become more complicated and often more expensive, with lower prospects for money on the other side,” the paper reports … The U. S. Supreme Court denied a request to review a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that upheld the constitutional rights of the Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform Inc. to display graphic photos of aborted babies on the public streets in California. The decision upholds the constitutional rights of pro-life activists to display large, graphic photos of aborted babies. Police claimed the photos were “disruptive,” but the Ninth Court said police violated the free speech rights of the activists … The Centres for Disease Control report that rates of sexual transmitted disease are on the rise; notably, a 15 per cent increase in syphilis. Nearly two-thirds of new syphilis cases are in gay and bisexual men.
International
The city of Beijing is increasing fines for having more than one child. Currently, fines are three to eight times the national average income for having a second child. Deng Xingzhou of the Family Planning Commission said: “As the public feels strongly against those who have more children just because they can afford to pay the fines, we are thinking of collecting much higher social maintenance fees from those who go against the policy” … The African nation of Cameroon responded to agitation from the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women to account for how it has implemented CEDAW’s previous recommendations to “review the abortion law and increase access to, and availability of, contraception” by noting that “abortion is murder.” Their official response went on to say that abortion “is portrayed as a freedom without mentioning that the mother exercises this freedom to the detriment of the child’s” … Mexican pro-life president Felipe Calderon spoke at the World Meeting of Families in Mexico City, where he promoted the traditional family while speaking of the need to support single mothers. In Mexico, there are more than five million households headed by a single mother … Atheists in England raised £135,000 for an ad campaign with the slogan “There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” The advertisement appeared on 800 buses and is the brain child of leading atheist Richard Dawkins. Future ads will feature quotations from famous atheists such as Albert Einstein, Emily Dickinson and Katharine Hepburn.
