California now most pro-abortion state
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – In one day, California’s pro-abortion Democratic Governor Gray Davis signed two bills strongly supported by the abortion industry – bills that the California Pro-Life Council says “jeopardize the lives of women and minors seeking abortions in California.” The Reproductive Privacy Act will replace the 1967 Therapeutic Abortion Act, and in the process remove the 35-year-old requirement that only physicians may do abortions in California by authorizing midwives, nurse practitioners and physician assistants to do drug-induced abortions such as RU-486. Another bill will force abortion training programs on students in the state’s medical schools. The CPLC said the bills are “intended to increase the number of babies killed by abortion.” Earlier this summer, the state legislature passed a bill that would nullify the effects in California if the Supreme Court reverses Roe v. Wade.
Abortion leads to more STDs
FAIRFAX, Va. – A George Mason University study, “The Effect of Abortion Legalization on Sexual Behaviour: Evidence from Sexually Transmitted Diseases,” shows that legalization of abortion leads to an increase in sexually transmitted diseases. Professors Thomas Stratmann of the Department of Economics and Jonathan Klick of the School of Law found that legalization of abortion in the U.S. led to social, economic and medical changes that were followed by changes in sexual activity.
They concluded that, “Legalizing abortion provided extra incentives to engage in risky sexual activity.” Legalization caused gonorrhea incidents to increase by 35 per cent and syphilis to rise by 38 per cent, the two diseases for which reliable data is available. Stratmann and Klick said that this translates into an extra cost of $400 million a year for treatment.
Presbyterians reaffirm pro-abortion stance
COLUMBUS, Ohio. – According to the Salt Lake City Desert News , the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) assembly has reaffirmed its support for abortion before “viability,” to save a woman’s life, to “avoid fetal suffering,” or in cases of rape or incest. The assembly also approved a measure that says the mother must receive counselling from pastors and doctors. Terry Schlossberg, of Presbyterians Pro-Life, noted that the church’s official position is not in line with biblical teaching: “This allows for so many exceptions; there’s no way for the church to counsel that any late-term abortion would be objectionable.”
Iran considers expanding abortion
TEHRAN – Proposed legislation would legalize abortion in cases of fetal handicap, and permit so-called preventative abortions in the first four months of pregnancy if three doctors certify that an unborn child is “malformed.” Abortion is currently illegal in overwhelmingly Muslim Iran except in cases where it is committed to save the mother’s life.
Thailand toys with two-child policy
BANGKOK – In an attempt to limit families to two children, the Thai government has gone from distributing free “morning-after pills” and family planning propaganda to what the Population Research Institute has labelled blackmail: the threat to cut off medical and educational benefits to children in larger families. PRI also reports international bodies such as the UNFPA, World Bank and the International Planned Parenthood Federation are pushing the southeastern Asian country to legalize abortion.
Costa Rica spurns UN abortion request
JOHANNESBURG – Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco was approached by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson to support language that would have approved abortion. According to the Costa Rican newspaper Al Dia, Pacheco said Robinson wanted Costa Rica to sign an amendment that would “be an opening for abortion.” However, Pacheco said, “I told her that Costa Rica, in its Constitution, is a Catholic country, that I am Catholic, and as a doctor I have taken an oath to defend life above everything, and if that was going to be an opening to legalize abortion, I could not agree with it, and Costa Rica would not support it.”