LifeZine No. 474: 22nd Mar 07
New Opinion Poll in Ireland Finds 66% Oppose Abortion
A new opinion poll in Ireland shows that 66% of the people consulted oppose the legislation of abortion. The poll, carried out by Millward Brown/IMS, also found that 73% of those who expressed an opinion want the Dáil (Parliament) to give legislative protection to the human embryo. The latest poll will come as a boost to pro-life campaigners ahead of the General Election, expected to be called within weeks. The poll also found that voters are twice as likely to vote for a candidate who is against abortion than for a candidate who promises to legalise abortion in Ireland. Pro-life activists intend to keep pro-life issues in the forefront of the General Election. Details: CLICK TO READ MORE.....
Legislation Needed in Ireland on ‘Living Wills’
Ireland needs to introduce legislation to ensure that advance healthcare directives—or “living wills”— are legally binding, according to a new report of the Irish Council for Bioethics (ICB). The ICB said a living will, a written document giving directions about the limits of medical treatment acceptable to an individual patient, should be respected where possible, but the ICB added that it remains uncertain whether advance directives have any legal standing in Ireland. The report recommends that patients nominate a family member or friend to act as a proxy who can interpret and oversee the implementation of the advance directive. The Irish Medical News. END.
Little Public Sympathy as UK Abortionists Step up Campaign
The British pro-abortion group Abortion Rights has launched a campaign to have abortion available on demand in the first three months of pregnancy. Abortion figures have reached record levels in Britain with one woman in three having had an abortion by the time she is 45. It is also effectively available on demand, as the only significant “safeguard” in the 1967 “Abortion Act”, the requirement that the abortion be approved by two doctors on medical grounds, has proved to be worthless. In the forty years since the “Abortion Act” was passed over six million abortions have been carried out in Britain. UK pro-life campaigners said there is now a “sea-change in the public’s view on the humanity of the unborn and consequently there is little public sympathy for further relaxing the current law”. The Daily Telegraph.
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Move in UK to Strengthen Influence of Parents in Children’s Abortion Issue
A bid to allow parents the right to know if their daughters are having abortions has been launched by a Conservative Member of Parliament. Angela Watkinson MP said parents, in order to protect their children, should know if under-16s have an abortion or are given contraception. Similar laws in the US are said to have resulted in a 15 to 20% drop in abortion rates for minors. Last year a mother from Manchester lost her High Court bid to stop girls being given confidential abortion advice. Mrs Watkinson argued that the government’s teenage pregnancy strategy was not deterring under-16s from having sex. Professor David Paton, of Nottingham University, said legal systems requiring parents to be told before an abortion is performed on an underage girl, had resulted in a drop in pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases. He said there was no evidence to suggest that in the US, under-age girls had turned to “back street abortionists” as a result. BBC.
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Pope Benedict XVI Comments on European Under-Population Problems
Pope Benedict recently commented on the under-population problems many European countries are experiencing as a result of falling birth rates. Even the inflated statistics of the United Nations Population Fund put Europe’s total fertility rate at a fatal 1.4 and asserts that Europe’s population is already shrinking. The pope, in the course of his comments given in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican, said it was beautiful to listen to the testimonies of couples—“blessed by a numerous throng of children—who introduced themselves to us”. The pontiff used the opportunity of this experience to muse upon the nature of Europe’s demographic crisis. “Before these families with their children, before these families in which the generations hold hands and the future is present, the problem of Europe, which it seems no longer wants to have children, penetrated my soul. To foreigners this Europe seems to be tired, indeed, it seems to be wishing to take its leave of history,” the Pope said. LifeNews.com. END.
New Study Links Abortion with Physical Abuse
A new study suggests that women who have had an abortion are more likely to demonstrate a range of physically aggressive behaviour towards their other children. The study, published in the “Journal of Paediatrics and Neonatology”, was based on interviews conducted in the US city of Baltimore with 237 women who had either abused their own children or had allowed others to abuse them. Journal of Paediatrics and Neonatology.
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