Abortion-induced infertility crisis
MOSCOW – Vladimir Kulakov, Russia’s chief gynecologist and head of Russia’s Scientific Centre for Girls, said that 60 per cent of all Russian pregnancies end in abortion, with another 10 per cent ending in miscarriages that are a result of health problems and malnutrition. Kulakov noted that six million Russian women are now infertile and that abortion is a major cause of this. Russia’s low birth rate has resulted in a tragic situation in which the country’s population actually shrinks by 2,500 people a day.
Italians urged to have more children
ROME – Speaking to the Italian legislature, Pope John Paul II addressed, among other issues, “the crisis of the (Italian) birth rate.” Italy has one of the lowest birth rates in the world and one of the oldest populations. The United Nations has raised concerns about the country’s economic future if current population trends continue. The Pope urged Italians to reverse the dangerous course by having more children. He also repeated his call for the European Union constitution to recognize Christianity’s tradition on the continent. It was the first time a sitting pope has addressed the Italian parliament.
IVF’s deadly toll
LONDON – Official statistics for the United Kingdom show that 925,747 human embryos have been created by in vitro fertilization treatment since 1991, of which just 46 per cent, or 423,153, have been implanted in a woman. Another 225,627 have been stored for the parents’ later use, 448 were stored for use by someone other than the parents and 53,497 were donated and destroyed to be used for experimention purposes. Nearly a third of the embryos created remain unused or were already otherwise discarded. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children noted that the “wastage rate” in IVF is even higher, though, because many embryos die very soon after fertilization while still in the petri dish. In all, it is estimated that just four per cent of IVF embryos survive birth.
Six million killed in 35 years
LONDON – Oct. 27 marked the 35th anniversary of the passing of Britain’s Abortion Act. Since the legislation took effect on April 27, 1968, nearly six million unborn babies have been killed by abortion despite assurances at the time that it would not lead to abortion on demand. There are nearly 500 abortions committed every day in England, Scotland and Wales. The Act was amended in 1990 to allow abortions up to the 24th week for what SPUC calls “broad social reasons” and up to birth in cases of fetal handicap. Pro-lifers lit candles in their windows as a memorial to those killed by abortion while Marie Stopes International announced it was pushing for even further liberalization of the abortion law.
Pro-abortion socialists win in Brazil
BRASILIA – Worker’s Party leader Luiz Inacio won 61 per cent of the vote in the final round of presidential elections. Dr Talmir Rodriguez, Brazil’s representative on the board of the International Right to Life Federation, told The Interim the country’s pro-life constitution may be threatened by the Worker’s Party, which supports legalizing abortion on demand in the first three months of pregnancy. “Inacio’s party supports abortion and there is tremendous international pressure to increase abortion,” in Brazil, Rodriguez said. He vowed that pro-lifers would oppose any liberalization of abortion and asked for prayers from Interim readers.