International Round-up

European approval of RU-486 condemnedBERLIN – German authorities have ignored last-minute appeals from the Roman Catholic Church in clearing the sale of the RU-486 “abortion pill.” Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder says he welcomes giving women an alternative to surgical abortion. Germany’s move came in tandem with that of seven other European countries to legalize RU-486. Cologne Archbishop Joachim Meisner called Germany’s move illegal and said RU-486 is a “murder pill.”

World Life League director Robert Sassone, meanwhile, paralleled Europe’s moves with that of Nazi war crimes during World War II. “Those who kill via RU-486 treat humans not yet born as non-persons. The chemical means of killing these babies is disquietingly similar to the mode of killing with the gases used by the Nazis,” he said.

The countries registered the drug with the European Medicine Agency in London, England.

Health minister calls for fetal harvesting

THE HAGUE – Holland’s health minister says it should be permitted to use unborn children who are aborted or miscarried for organ transplantation and medical research if the children’s mothers agree. Else Borst presented a draft law on the issue to Parliament’s lower house recently. He added that a mother’s “partner” will also have a say in whether his preborn child can be used for scientific purposes.

Supporters of Borst’s move say Holland’s ban on the medical use of preborn babies should be lifted in order to allow for the use of babies younger than 24 weeks’ gestation in the search for the cures to diseases such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and Alzheimer’s. Opponents, on the other hand, argue that it is unethical on moral and religious grounds, and could produce a black market in the trade for preborn human beings.

UN predicts aging population

NEW YORK – The population division of the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs has released a document on the aging of the world’s population. The department reports that one out of every 10 persons is 60 years of age or older. This ratio will increase to one out of every five by 2050, and one out of three by 2150. The population of older persons will outnumber that of children (under 14) by 2050 as well.

The document notes that these trends will have severe implications in terms of support for elderly people. “The potential support ratio, which indicates the dependency burden on potential workers, is falling.” To be affected are “social security schemes, particularly pay-as-you-go systems where current workers pay for the benefits of current retirees,” the report said.

Vietnam gets population award

HANOI – The United Nations Population Fund has given its most prestigious award to Vietnam’s national committee for population and family planning, which is implementing a population policy closely based on that of China’s one-child-per-family scheme. According to the Population Research Institute, Vietnam’s policy calls for a maximum of one or two children, delineates a minimum age for child-bearing, minimum number of years between children, and mandatory contraceptive usage (especially intra-uterine devices and sterilizations).

UN Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette lauded Vietnam’s program for being both effective and what she called “voluntary.” She also held it up as an inspiration to all involved in this year’s Cairo+5 population conference.

Adoption scandal in Brazil

BRASILIA – A senate commission is investigating allegations that a local family court judge has illegally removed children from their parents’ care. Judge Luiz Beethoven Giffoni Ferreira approved 484 adoptions in the town of Jundiai, including 204 that saw children go to live with wealthy couples abroad, mostly in Italy and Germany. The developments followed Brazil’s move a few years ago to give preference to locals over foreigners when adopting, after reports of illegal adoptions and children being sold for organ harvesting emerged.

Jundiai residents say Ferreira developed a “fast-track” adoption method, justifying his actions with the explanation that poor Brazilian children deserved chances at better lives in the First World. Some allege he employed a network of scouts in schools and hospitals, including one who prowled poor neighbourhoods in a van on the lookout for light-skinned, blue-eyed children who are popular with Europeans.

Sex-selection abortions assailed

MADURAI, India – Sociologists and intellectuals at a conference attended by almost 2,000 people, have issued a call to avoid the “abuse” of medical technologies that lead to so-called sex selective abortions, while accepting that abortion is legal. Speakers, including some from the Campaign Against Sex Selective Abortion, expressed concerns over the recent shift from female infanticide to “female feticide,” and urged the government to end the practice of determining sex of the unborn child.

According to one CASSA representative, a survey of sample Indian villages had found the ratio of girls to boys had dropped from 905:1,000 to 822:1,000. “The trend is dismal and painful,” said the representative. One professor said she has organized demonstrations outside facilities that perform ultrasound scans because they are abusing their medical instruments for unethical and illegal activities. “Women should not be treated as species of an alien land,” said the professor.

Vatican clears up counselling questions

WUERZBURG, Germany – In order to clear up misleading stories distributed by Germany media, the Vatican has released the text of a letter Pope John Paul II sent to German bishops recently regarding abortion counselling. The Vatican stressed that the Pope did not ban the practice of counselling, but did insist that certificates issued through Catholic counselling must not be used to obtain abortions.

“I ask you, for the sake of the dignity of life and of clarity in ecclesial testimony, to unanimously accept my decision on this matter and to put it into practise before the end of the year,” the Pope wrote.

Bishop Karl Lehmann, Chair of the German Bishops Conference, said counselling will continue, but certificates will include a sentence saying, “This certificate cannot be used for the carrying out of a legal abortion.” Some say the certificates may still be accepted as satisfying the legal requirements for an abortion; others think the added sentence won’t be used because it will give rise to legal challenges and lawsuits.

Provide abortions and divorces says UN

SANTIAGO – The UN’s committee on the elimination of discrimination against women is complaining bitterly that Chile has not been offering legal abortions and divorces, and is ordering that its laws must be changed. “Year after year, clandestine abortions (have) had horrible consequences, particularly for poorer women who could not travel abroad to address their situation,” the committee said. “At the very least, the termination of pregnancy should be allowed for health reasons.”

Meanwhile, the committee used surprisingly blunt and revealing language in responding to Nepal’s report on its compliance with the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in calling for the country to make abortion legal. “It was discriminatory for a state party to refuse to legally provide for the performance of certain ‘reproductive health services’ for women. To refuse to provide ‘reproductive health services’ to women was discriminatory, and must be taken care of as soon as possible.”

Nun advocates for some abortions

KAMPALA – A Catholic nun who is on the staff of the surgery department of Mulago hospital here, is encouraging couples to use contraceptives as a way of “family planning,” and says abortions should be allowed in cases where the mother’s health is threatened during pregnancy.

Sister Dr. Justine Najjuka spoke recently on methods of contraception and abortion at a theological conference on “the family as a means to true Christian living and witness in Uganda today.” She said the life of the unborn child cannot be as useful to society as the mother’s is.

Another speaker, Rev. Fr. John Mary Waliggo, said the Catholic church is not doing enough to meet the needs of single mothers, and so reduce the abortion rate. “We could help these people and even those who would think of terminating innocent unborn babies who would praise the Lord.”

Britain bans human cloning

LONDON – The British government has rejected the advice of “experts” and chosen to ban the cloning of human embryos for any kind of medical research. The decision came in Parliament after months of deliberations.

The government had been expected to follow the advice of its experts, who said Britain should allow continued research into the cloning of human embryos, provided the clones were destroyed after a maximum of 14 days.

Publicly funded embryo research is banned in the U.S., and not allowed at all in Germany and France. Britain’s health minister said human cloning is “ethically unacceptable.”