Canada
Canadian International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau told a family planning conference in Kigali, Rwanda, that developing countries, especially in Africa, must do more to offer “family planning services” including contraception and abortion, in order to combat poverty. The Trudeau government maintains that breaking down “barriers” are necessary for “women and girls to develop their full potential.” She complained that while some countries’ delegates will talk about contraception and abortion at conferences they do not follow-up with concrete actions at home. Bibeau told the Canadian Press that “Canada has a very important role to play right now, and to make sure that the conversation stays wide, that the conversation is not narrowing.” In 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Ottawa would spend an additional $650 million over three years to fund abortion and contraception, but to also lobby for legal and cultural change where abortion is not legal.
The Canadian Down Syndrome Society (CDSS) has launched a campaign to have those afflicted with Down’s recognized as an endangered species. In Iceland, almost all unborn babies with Down’s are aborted. The figure is about 90 per cent in the United Kingdom and Canada. The CDSS has noted that in North America, animal welfare groups receive about twice as much funding as Down’s syndrome charities do.
United States
The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that an unborn baby is a person under the law, and anyone who kills an unborn child can receive the death penalty. The case concerned a man who killed his eighth-month pregnant wife, and was convicted of murdering two persons; he received the death penalty, which has been upheld by the Alabama Supreme Court. Associate Justice Tom Parker wrote a special concurrence in arguing that Roe v. Wadehas no historical or constitutional basis, which “carved out an exception to the rights of unborn children and prohibited states from recognizing an unborn child’s inalienable right to life when that right conflicts with a woman’s ‘right’ to abortion.”Parker continued: “I urge the United States Supreme Court to reconsider the Roeexception and overrule this constitutional aberration. Return the power to the states to fully protect the most vulnerable among us.”
Michelle Cretella, president of the American College of Pediatricians supports Donald Trump as a “woman’s rights’ champion in the transgender dispute.” On Oct. 26, the Dept. of Justice asked the “Supreme Court to strike down a court decision which said that laws against sexual discrimination must be extended to include discrimination against people who declare an opposite-sex ‘gender identity.’” Cretella explains that “What transgenderism requires is that (the term) ‘gender identity’ replace ‘sex’ in the law. If that happens, then men who say they have a female “gender identity” will be legally defined by the federal government as women, and we can no longer distinguish legally between males and females … (because we) have just eliminated the (biology-based) legal definition of women … This is female erasure by definition.” Trump is also pushing the U.N. to use the phrase “violence against women” instead of the open-ended “gender-based violence.” Cretella is supported by Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.
On June 26, on appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court in a five justice majority led by Justice Clarence Thomas found that California’s Reproductive FACT Act – which required pro-life pregnancy centers to disseminate information about abortion – “likely violates the First Amendment.” The Alliance Defending Freedom which represented a coalition of pro-life groups had challenged the California act, arguing that “California disregarded the truth when it passed its law forcing pro-life centres to advertise for the abortion industry.”
Phil Bryant (R), the pro-life governor of Mississippi, has put abortion statistics in perspective: 20 million African-American children have been aborted. If they were alive, the African-American population would be 48 per cent larger than it is today.
The new president of Planned Parenthood (PP), Leana Wen, the first medical doctor to lead the organization, claims that PP offers “life-saving care.” She said that she wanted the job as head of PP so she could help shape the future for her son. What about the future of the 20 million aborted African-American children, many in the offices of Planned Parenthood?
Hillary Clinton took to Twitter to proclaim that “reproductive rights (abortion) are human rights …. When to have children is core to (women’s) liberty as human beings.”
International
The Vatican Synod on Youth was held in October. The final document has received criticism including concerns of homosexuality and sexual abuse. The section on homosexuality (paragraph 150) garnered the most negative votes by delegates, although it still passed. Its critics refer to vague language and the preposterous statement that sexuality in the Catholic Church requires “a deep anthropological, theological and pastoral elaboration.” In rebuttal, American Archbishop Charles Chaput stated, the Catholic Church “already has a clear, rich and articulate Christian anthropology. It’s unhelpful to create doubt or ambiguity around issues of human identity, purpose and sexuality, unless one is setting the stage to change what the Church believes and teaches about all three, starting with sexuality.” The section also refers to encouraging the accompaniment “in the faith of homosexual people,” a vague statement that could be used to normalize homosexual practices in Catholic moral teaching. The synod document makes no mention anywhere about leading a chaste life. There is also the statement committing the Church “against all discrimination and violence on a sexual basis.” The Catholic Catechism (no. 2358) opposes “unjust discrimination.” Requests by delegates to have the word “unjust” added were ignored.
Following eight years on death row, Asia Bibi, wife and mother of five, has been released from prison by a decree of the Pakistan Supreme Court. She had been facing execution for allegedly blaspheming the prophet Mohammed by holding to her Christian faith when talking to the muslim women with whom she worked in the fields. However, Pakistani mobs agitated for her execution. A few countries are rumoured to have offered asylum to Asia and her family, among them Canada and Italy.
The British House of Lords has voted down an amendment that would have legalised abortion and imposed same-sex ‘marriage’ in Northern Ireland because it is properly an issue for the Northern Ireland Assembly, and, therefore, Westminster should not interfere. Presently, abortion and same-sex “marriage” are not allowed in Northern Ireland. A bill making abortion legal is going through the Dail, the Republic of Ireland parliament, and could become law by January. Women in Northern Ireland looking to kill their preborn babies are expected to travel south to the Republic for their abortions.
Abortions in Hungary have fallen by almost 25 per cent following the adoption in 2012 of a pro-life constitutional amendment recognizing that life begins at conception. The Fidesz government of Viktor Orban actively promotes adoption and arranges education classes for new parents
