Mental suffering no reason for euthanasia
Germany considers tougher cloning ban
Liberalization of abortion in Poland opposed
UNFPA caught in coercive family planning
Modest Taiwanese abortion limit proposed
Malaysian Muslims approve research cloning
400,000 Filipino abortions
Mental suffering no reason for euthanasia
AMSTERDAM – The Dutch Supreme Court has ruled that a doctor, Philip Sutorius, who helped an elderly man “tired of living” to die was guilty of assisted suicide, thus upholding the country’s limited medical guidelines regulating euthanasia. The case stems from Sutorius’ assisting the suicide of Dutch legislator Edward Brongersma in 1998, who was physically well but said he did not want to continue living. Euthanasia was illegal at the time of the assisted suicide, but the Netherlands later legalized euthanasia. If Sutorius had won, it would have added mental suffering to the legal reasons for seeking euthanasia. Belgium, which legalized euthanasia last September, accepts psychological suffering as a reason for the practice to take place.
Germany considers tougher cloning ban
BERLIN – Kerstin Mueller, a leading member of Germany’s Green Party and a junior foreign minister, told the Frankfurter Allegmeine newspaper, that the country’s left-wing coalition government is considering abandoning its support for so-called therapeutic cloning for medical research purposes and embracing a more complete ban. Previously, Germany opposed only “reproductive” or “live birth” cloning. Last year, Germany and France led resistance to American opposition to all types of cloning at the international level during UN negotiations on the issue. Both the Green Party and the centre-right Christian Democrats voted for a comprehensive ban in party caucuses in mid-January.
Liberalization of abortion in Poland opposed
WARSAW – Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski responded to a request for a referendum on abortion by opposing any changes to the country’s pro-life legislation. In 1997, the Polish high court struck down a permissive abortion law as unconstitutional, a move was later approved by Parliament. The lax abortion law allowed doctors to kill unborn children up to 12 weeks of age if the mother was deemed to face financial or emotional difficulties. The law thus reverted to a 1993 law passed by the then Solidarity government which restricted abortion to those situations which endangers the mother’s life or when pregnancy results from rape or incest. The 1993 law came after four decades of abortion on demand under communism.
UNFPA caught in coercive family planning
MEXICO CITY – The Population Research Institute reports that the United Nations Population Fund and the National Population Council of Mexico have engaged in “involuntary sterilization and coercive family planning.” According to Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, “Public health servants have imposed methods of family planning on the native population without their consent and without informing them of the risks.” PRI said threats and bribes are used to deprive men and women of their right to determine for themselves the timing and spacing of pregnancies. Over 40 case studies of victims were obtained in Mexico last year, including one in which a woman testified that, while undergoing a caesarian delivery, her fallopian tubes were ligated (tied) without her foreknowledge or consent.
Modest Taiwanese abortion limit proposed
TAIPEI – Chiang Chi-weng, a member of the Taiwanese legislature, has proposed amendments to the existing Genetic Health Law which permits abortion in order to require psychological counselling before having an abortion. The amendment would require two hours’ counselling and a six-day cooling off period. According to the Taipei Times, Ms Chi-weng said that her bill would balance the rights of women with those of unborn children. Abortion advocates claim the limitation will lead to more illegal abortions.
Malaysian Muslims approve research cloning
KUALA LAMPUR – Malaysian Muslims’ National Fatwa Council, the local body of clerics that delivers “fatwas” (religious decrees), declared that “therapeutic” cloning of human embryos is ethically acceptable for research purposes so long as the embryo is destroyed before it reaches 120 days of age. While opposing reproductive cloning, council chairman Ismail Ibrahim explained that scientific research on human embryos up to 120 days would be in keeping with the view in Islam that, until a fetus reaches four months, it has no soul and therefore can be aborted.
400,000 Filipino abortions
MANILA – A study by the University of the Philippines Population Institute suggests that there are 400,000 in that country each year. Philippines Senate majority leader Loren Legarda said that the figures should serve as a wake-up call: “If this estimate on abortion is accurate then countless lives of children yet to be born are being silently extinguished with the murderers getting away with their dastardly crimes.” The Philippines has been heavily targeted in recent years by international de-population agencies. A common strategy by abortion advocates has been to greatly exaggerate the number of illegal abortions in a country to build a case that there is a strong demand for the “service,” thus calling into question the study’s findings as possibly politically motivated.