Down’s child refused transplant
Brazil may loosen abortion laws
Doctor tells of abortion horrors
Irish pro-lifers claim support
Cuban persecuted over pro-life views
Abortionists face fraud charges
British pro-life group in disarray
Cardinal opposes eased abortion law
Doctor guilty of illegal abortion
Down’s child refused transplant
SHEFFIELD, England – The family of a nine-year-old girl stricken with heart defects have been told she will never be considered for a heart transplant because she is a Down’s syndrome child, and her “quality of life” is not good enough. Katie Atkinson is dying from accumulated heart problems often found in children with Down’s syndrome.
Katie’s plight is bringing a spotlight on discrimination against the physically challenged, and the wide variations in policy across England. Two other Down’s syndrome children in London were recently identified as suitable candidates for heart and lung transplants.
“We can’t stand by and do nothing,” said Katie’s father, Philip. “It was a shock to find that in the end, they are not prepared to help her because she is a second-class citizen … They are ruining more than her life. We will all be devastated by losing her. My wife and I are committed to doing everything we can for her.”
A lawyer with a Manchester legal firm, meanwhile, says he knows of a number of similar cases. “Down’s children are put to the bottom of the list because they are considered less important than normal children,” said Lesley Herbertson. “They are not offered all the options that would be offered to a ‘normal’ child.”
Penny Green of the Down’s Heart Group said it is a “basic human right” that Down’s children be treated as individuals and not subjected to a ban on medical care. “Is someone’s life worthless because they will not make millions for the country?” she asked.
Brazil may loosen abortion laws
BRASILIA – President Fernando Henrique Cardoso was reported recently to be attempting to legalize abortion in Brazil in cases of rape, incest and danger to the mother’s life. He was also reported to be seeking the legalization of abortions in cases where the unborn child was deformed.
Current Brazilian legislation allows for no punishment anyway when abortions are committed for rape, incest or danger-to-the-mother reasons. The Brazilian Catholic bishops’ conference was fighting any proposed loosening of the country’s abortion laws. Some speculated that Cardoso’s initiatives were a result of prompting and pressure from international sources such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations.
Doctor tells of abortion horrors
CANBERRA, Australia – A doctor who formerly performed abortions in China has told an Australian senate committee that Chinese babies are forcibly aborted, often into bedpans and beyond 7 1/2 months’ gestation. The doctor, known simply as “Wong” for fear of reprisals, said forced abortions are common, in contradiction with China’s claims that women are not forced to abort if they have more than one child.
Wong testified into hearings investigating the case of a Chinese woman who was deported from Australia and forced to have an abortion upon returning home. The woman was just days away from giving birth.
Wong said it was “really hard” watching women being forced into abortions. “You see the screaming. You see them being dragged. You do not feel as if they are human beings. I just do not know what they are. Maybe I think I am not human too.”
Women who refused abortions lost jobs and were denied state benefits. Doctors who refused to commit abortions were jailed. “Nothing has changed,” said Wong. “The number of abortions with larger pregnancies has been reduced, but they are still doing it.”
Irish pro-lifers claim support
DUBLIN – The Irish group Pro-Life Campaign is claiming widespread support for its position after recent opinion polls showed that 80 per cent of respondents favoured a government initiative to offer women with crisis pregnancies positive alternatives to abortion. The poll also revealed that 70 per cent want a referendum on the abortion issue.
“The Pro-Life Campaign calls on the leaders of both parties in government to acknowledge and respond to the consistent majority support that exists among the Irish people for a balanced, inclusive approach – on the one hand resolving the situation by way of a referendum, while at the same time putting in place a government strategy to provide positive alternatives to abortion,” said Caroline Simons of Pro-Life Campaign.
She added that government has a constitutional obligation to defend and vindicate the right to life of unborn children. “The rising trend of abortion is not inevitable … When the conditions which pressure women to opt for abortion are addressed, the trend can be slowed down and even reversed.”
Cuban presecuted over pro-life views
HAVANA – A Christian leader in Cuba is reported to be suffering at least in part because of his pro-life views. Dr. Oscar Biscet, president of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, has been an outspoken critic of human rights violations by the Castro regime, including abortion.
Last Nov. 26, Biscet publicly read an open letter to the United Nations, in which he said, “We honour posthumously the thousands of innocent victims who have been assimilated in this concrete pile (hospital) … Here as well as in other hospitals in Cuba. Day after day, hundreds of children are sacrificed who were never given the opportunity to receive a name, to hear a caressing word, nor feel the love of their mothers … We say ‘no’ to abortion and ‘yes’ to life.”
Less than two weeks after reading that statement, Biscet was arrested, threatened and pressured to publicly retract what he had said. In response, Biscet launched a 40-day fast on behalf of Cuba on June 7.
Abortionists face fraud charges
GAVRILOV YAM, Russia – Three doctors at a hospital in this Russian provincial town 240 kilometres from Moscow are being prosecuted for fraud after performing abortions on hospital premises and then pocketing money offered as payment. They are also accused of failing to give mothers full anesthetics before the abortions.
Observers say it is not uncommon for expecting mothers to offer doctors extra payments in return for “special attention” during abortions. The hospital itself is little more than a large log cabin. The director of the hospital is defending the three doctors publicly. “The women do not regard themselves as victims of swindling, nor do I,” said Dr. Vladimir Yelansky. “None of these women has come to me and complained about her treatment.”
One of the defendants said none of the women cries about any of the children she has lost. “If they are worried about anything, it’s the fear of the operation itself. Nearly every woman who gives birth to a baby has already had at least one abortion.”
British pro-life group in disarray
LONDON – There are fears for the future of Britain’s foremost pro-life group after its founder and other leading activists quit following an attempt to oust its national director, John Smeaton. The affair has triggered an angry backlash from pro-life members of Parliament as well as recriminations within the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. One SPUC member said, “It is a tragedy. People can’t believe what is happening.” Another said the organization is in “an absolute shambles.”
MPs expressed dismay over Smeaton’s moves to marginalize the parliamnetary fight at Westminster. “MPs no longer have confidence in you as a campaigning organization,” MP Ann Widdecombe wrote in a letter to SPUC’s national council. “You have deliberately divested the society of individuals with political experience, instinct and motivation.”
Smeaton’s critics say he has spent too much time pursuing policy interests while diluting the main thrust of the pro-life campaign. But Smeaton denies the charges. “Our fundamental and primary objective remains, as always, the battle in the British Parliament, working closely with pro-life members,” he said. He added that he was seeking an early meeting with parliamentarians, and hoped that “we can sort this out.”
Cardinal opposes eased abortion law
MANAGUA – Nicaraguan Catholic Cardinal Miguel Obando Bravo has reacted in opposition to an announcement that the Nicaraguan government plans to remove penalties for abortion in cases of rape or congenital “defects” in the unborn child.
“If a woman has been raped, she cannot go and kill her own son,” said the cadinal. “The rapist has done something bad, but the mother cannot commit another sin, committing a crime, depriving of innocent life an innocent being that is in her womb.”
The cardinal added that “life must be defended right from the mother’s womb. It is a principle we must defend at all costs.”
Doctor guilty of illegal abortion
HONG KONG – A mainland Chinese doctor has been found guilty of performing an illegal abortion on a 15-year-old girl. Lai Pui-heung, 52, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of using an instrument or other means with the intent to procure a miscarriage.