Illegal abortuaries raided in Spain
BARCELONA – Police in Barcelona have discovered bone-crushing machines attached to drains in four abortion facilities run by Peruvian Carlos Morin. The abortuaries, which advertise across Europe, are suspected of committing abortions in the eighth month of pregnancy and police say the bones were crushed and drained into the city’s public drains. In Spain, abortion is legal up to 22 weeks but only in cases of rape, maternal physical or mental health or when there is severe fetal deformity. Morin and four others have been arrested. The ABC newspaper said that police found “a set of horrors more usually associated with Nazi extermination camps.” The Times of London reported that British women were sometimes referred to one of the facilities, Ginemedex, if they were past the 22-week British limit for abortions. Last year, a Danish television documentary sent a seven-month pregnant investigative journalist to Morin’s clinic. She was given a certificate by Morin stating she suffered from a mental disorder, ignoring the need to get certification from two doctors, and had the procedure and cost (4,000 euros) explained to her.
Slovak court limits abortion
BRATISLAVA – The Constitutional Court of Slovakia ruled in favour of Daniel Lipsic, a member of the Christian Democrats, who submitted a request in 2001 to declare the country’s permissive abortion laws unconstitutional. The judges ruled that allowing abortions until 24 weeks gestation “did not comply with the constitution,” but that a basic 12-week deadline for abortion was in line with the “prevailing practice of relevant European legislation.” Although Article 15 of the country’s 1992 constitution safeguards the right to life, including the life of the unborn, the court’s ruling is being hailed as a success by pro-life and religious leaders in the country, because it places more stringent limits on the procedure. Earlier in 2007, pro-life billboard witnessing led to the country’s Health Ministry rescinding a law that forced all hospitals to provide abortions. Pro-life groups are now working to enact conscience protection for health care workers.
Divorce is bad for the environment
LANSING, Mich. – Researchers led by Jianguo Liu at Michigan State University have determined that liberal divorce laws hurt the environment. They found that the carbon footprint of American divorced households was disproportionately greater than married households. In 2005, divorced households spent 46 per cent and 56 per cent more on electricity and water per person respectively than married households. “More households mean more houses,” said Liu, professor of fisheries and wildlife ecology and systems modelling at Michigan State. “To build more houses, you need more land, more construction material and more energy.” The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, recommends that divorced families remarry or band together in shared dwellings. Looking at data from 12 countries, including Brazil, Greece, Kenya, Mexico, Spain and the United States, Liu said, “People have been talking about how to protect the environment and combat climate change, but divorce is an overlooked factor that needs to be considered.” Jenny Tyree, associate marriage analyst for Focus on the Family Action, commented on the study, saying, “It makes sense that more households – as a result of family breakdown – would use more resources. We’re pleased to see that God’s design for family is consistent with good environmental stewardship.”
Pornography tied to rape acceptance
PHILADELPHIA – A study published in the Journal of Research in Personality says that 60 per cent of men polled would rape a woman if there was no chance of getting caught. Mary Anne Layden, co-director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Centre for Cognitive Therapy, said there is a correlation between viewing porn and aggressive sexual behaviour among individuals. Layden said: “These messages lead to permission-giving beliefs,” she said, “for violence, sexual entitlement, that I should be able to have sex whenever I want, however I want, wherever I want, with whomever I want.”
