LifeZine No. 469: 5th Mar 07
Family & Life’s ‘Ethical Vaccine for Children Project’
Family & Life’s new project, called “Ethical Vaccine for Children Project”, will apply pressure on the Irish health authorities and pharmaceutical companies to supply a safe vaccine that does not use aborted baby’s tissue. Right now, the Irish Government provides a vaccine to protect children against three diseases - measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), derived from the tissue of a baby who was aborted for the specific purpose of creating the vaccine. We have no quarrel with the general concept of vaccines that protect people, especially children, as long as such vaccines are necessary, safe and morally acceptable. Our government however is not providing parents with any alternative to this tainted vaccine, even though acceptable alternatives do exist and could be made available in Ireland. That is why this appeal is urgent. Please help us fund this urgent project to persuade the health authorities, pharmaceutical companies and politicians to make available morally acceptable vaccines in Ireland. To help please click on Donate Now button on Homepage. Thank you.
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Children’s Rights Referendum Wording Opens 'Wide Range' of Interpretations—Trinity College Law Professor
The wording of the Irish Government's planned Children’s Referendum “is capable of a wide range of interpretations”, said Professor William Binchy, Regius Professor of Laws at Trinity College Dublin. He was speaking at a recent conference on children's rights in Trinity College, chaired by former Supreme Court judge Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness. Professor Binchy said the best solution was to proceed with the amendments relating to child protection and delay consideration of other provisions until their possible impact on the rights and welfare of children can be clarified. “In short, the language of the amendment is capable of a very wide range of different interpretations if it is to be regarded as requiring integration into the totality of constitutional rights and duties”, he said. Details: CLICK TO READ MORE.....
Study Warns of AHR Dangers—HFEA Criticised
Powerful drugs given to women egg-donors to harvest their eggs can cause paralysis, and lead to limb amputation and death, according to a new study by Italian experts. The warning comes from researchers at the University of Padua at a time when the UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is expected to endorse a controversial new policy allowing doctors to pay healthy women for harvesting their eggs for research purposes. The study, published in the journal “Thrombosis and Thrombolysis”, concludes that the occurrence of dangerous side effects would rise as the number of assisted reproduction techniques increased. Josephine Quintavalle, from Comment on Reproductive Ethics, accused the HFEA of “losing sight of their duty to the welfare of patients”. She added, “The risk of a young woman dying as a result of these experiments, is really not a chance that anyone should be taking.”
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Italian Judge Orders 13-Year-Old to Have Abortion
An Italian judge has ordered a thirteen year-old girl to have an abortion because her parents are opposed to her giving birth. Italian law allows parents to make the pregnancy decisions for their teenage children. The girl from Turin did not want to have an abortion but the ruling will compel her to do so. The Italian newspaper “La Stampa” reported that the decision has caused the teenager so much stress that she has contemplated suicide and consequently needs psychological help. Severino Poletto, Archbishop of Turin said, “The unborn baby is still a life and I defend life whatever the situation. Society must take care of this child.” “We have to take a step back and ask ourselves how this could have happened to a 13-year-old girl”, he added. LifeNews.com. CLICK TO READ MORE.....
Portuguese Physician Says Doctors Strongly Oppose Abortion
A leading Portuguese physician said doctors in Portugal do not want to carry out abortions and would seek a conscience clause to make sure they can opt out. The statement came after the Portuguese government made it clear that it intends legislate for a liberal abortion regime in parliament despite the void abortion referendum. The physician, Dr Pedro Nunes, Dean of the College of Medicine of Portugal, said that the Physicians’ Code of Ethics defends human life from conception. Nunes said that doctors, therefore, have the right to exercise conscientious objection. Nunes emphasized that most doctors defend life from the moment of conception. LifeNews.com. END.
Vatican Hopeful at Stem Cell Discovery
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, the president of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, said he is hopeful about the news that stem cells can be obtained from amniotic fluids, as long as the ethical conditions proper to all transplants are respected. Unlike the method of obtaining stem cells that requires the destruction of human embryos, initial information seems to indicate that this newly discovered method for extracting stem cells could be in accord with respect for human life. “Once again we see that respect for human life, together with the capacity for research, leads in the right direction for healing and health”, the Cardinal said. Zenith. CLICK TO READ MORE.....