Pro-life victory in El Salvador Danish memorial for unborn babies ‘Morning-after pill in Ecuador Abortion deaths claimed in Nigeria Scottish MP told to butt out Experiments on embryos proposed Pro-life victory in El Salvador SAN SALVADOR – El Salvadoran pro-life leader Julia Regina de Cardenal is reporting that efforts to reform the country’s constitution to recognize the unborn as human beings from the instant of conception have been successful. A little over a year ago, the El Salavdoran legislative assembly removed all exceptions to criminal statutes against abortion. The consitutional change required a two-thirds majority of legislators to pass. Following what were perceived as pro-life losses in national elections last year, there were fears that the amendment wouldn’t be adopted. Instead, pro-life forces won 72 of 84 votes in their favour. According to Cardenal, Pope John Paul II’s pro-life statements made during a recent visit to Mexico played a role in influencing legislators. Danish memorial for unborn babies COPENHAGEN – Danish pro-lifers have unveiled a granite memorial to the half-million unborn children who have been killed by abortion since the procedure was made legal in 1973. The stone memorial is to stand at the gate of a park being planned for development in Vedersoe, about 185 kilometres west of Copenhagen. A Lutheran Church clergyman, Rev. Orla Villekjaer, is heading the campaign to create the park, which is set to open this summer on a 1,500-square-metre plot. The memorial includes an inscription dedicated to “the more than 500,000 Danish citizens whose lives have been stolen” by abortion. Danish law gave mothers a “right” to an abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy in 1973. Some 18,000 (or 20 per cent of pregnancies) are performed each year. ‘Morning-after pill’ in Ecuador QUITO – Local media reports are indicating that public hospitals have been routinely dispensing the “emergency contraceptive pill (also known as the “morning-after pill”), which causes early abortions, even though abortion is illegal in Ecuador. Theoretically, the use of the pill is restricted by law, but women who report they have been raped, or have engaged in “unsafe sex,” can obtain a prescription at public hospitals and health clinics. Health care officials are dubbing the pill “a new medical method of family planning.” The national ministry of health has ruled the pill is not banned under legislation that protects human life from conception. The ruling came after birth-control advocates argued the pill eliminates “product of conception” before a fertilized ovum is implanted in a mother’s womb. Abortion deaths claimed in Nigeria LAGOS – The Planned Parenthood-associated Alan Guttmacher Institute is at it again, this time claiming that most abortions in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, are performed by non-physicians in unsanitary conditions using dangerous instruments. Not surprisingly, the Institute suggests that the situation would improve if “public policy was more favorable to providing safer abortions to women.” In a joint study with the “Nigerian Campaign Against Unwanted Pregnancy,” the Guttmacher Institute claims that 1,000 maternal deaths occur for every 100,000 live births in Nigeria. It hopes that the results of the study will prompt the new military government of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar to make abortion “safer” and “less clandestine.” Although abortion is a crime, except to save a mother’s life, women’s activists say abortionists can exempt themselves from prosecution if they can prove they performed an abortion “in good faith” and “with reasonable skill.” Scottish MP told to butt out BELFAST – A Scottish MP has called for a change to laws regarding abortion in Northern Ireland, where the procedure is restricted to cases where there is severe danger to the health of the mother. Glasgow Maryhill MP Maria Fyfe asked the Northern Ireland Office of the British government if there were any plans to issue guidelines to doctors on the circumstances in which they could carry out abortions in the province. The move drew a stinging response from the pro-life group Precious Life, whose chairwoman, Bernie Smyth, told Fyfe to “stick to issues concerning her own constituency … The abortion situation in the province is no business of hers.” Experiments on embryos proposed BRUSSELS – The Belgian minister of health has proposed the creation of different categories of human embryos to allow for freer experimentation on them. The minister proposes to protect embryos “in vitro,” but to allow for the creation of human embryos destined specifically for scientific research. The same fate would be destined for embryos “left over” from artificial insemination attempts. The minister seems to be concerned only about embryos that are intended for implantation. A Belgian news agency notes that the minister’s proposal contravenes Article 18 of the European Convention on Bioethics, which specifically prohibits experimentation on embryos. The Council of the Belgian state must review and approve legislation before the Chamber can debate it. |