LifeZine No. 475: 27th Mar 07
Irish Bishops Urge Involvement in Stem-Cell Research Debate
Ireland’s Catholic bishops have strongly urged church members to respond to the Irish Council for Bioethics current public consultation process on stem-cell research. “Catholics —as citizens—cannot abdicate their responsibility to play an active part in the formation of attitudes and policies on issues which relate to the dignity
and rights of the human person”, the bishops said in a statement. They added, “Research on human embryos which involves their destruction can never be justified.” The bishops, whose three-day spring meeting concluded at St
Patrick’s College, Maynooth, last week, were commenting on the press advertisements by the Irish Council for Bioethics. See: http://www.keysurvey.com/survey/141220/18a8/ Details: CLICK TO READ MORE.....
Irish Baby Undergoes Operation in the Womb
A baby has undergone surgery at a Dublin hospital while most of her body remained in the womb. In what is understood to be the first such procedure successfully performed in Ireland, the baby had a massive tumour removed from her tongue. Aideen McMahon from Dundalk is now four weeks old and doing “fine”. The tumour was discovered during an ultrasound scan; she had a massive tumour protruding from her mouth which would have prevented her breathing independently. The tumour, which measured 8cm by 4cm, was removed when doctors at the Rotunda Hospital performed what is believed to be the State’s first successful “Exit” (ex utero intrapartum treatment) procedure—a special form of Caesarean section that is done when an unborn baby has an obstruction to the mouth and airway. The Irish Times.CLICK TO READ MORE.....
British Lawmakers Reject Call for Parental Notification on Abortion
Members of the British parliament rejected legislation on Wednesday that would have required a teenager’s parents to be notified before she can have an abortion or get information on contraception. Studies have shown such
laws have cut the number of abortions on teenagers in half in the United States. Tory MP Angela Watkinson sponsored the measure, which wasn’t expected to be approved by the House of Commons. Ultimately, MPs voted by 159 to 87 to keep parents in the dark when their teenagers have abortions. Watkinson said current policy was not working and cited the increasing rate of abortions on teenagers and noted how the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases on British teens is also rampant. “All the indications are that many children are becoming sexually active well before they are either emotionally or physically mature,” she said, according to the BBC. “It’s time to try a different approach.” She said parents could help their children resist peer pressure and make pledges to abstain until marriage, and they could also help a pregnant teen raise a child instead of having an abortion. “In education about the real risks involved and the likely outcomes, the advice to underage girls should be to abstain, to wait, to delay, to resist,” she said. “Parents need to be part of this process.” LifeNews.com. BBC. CLICK TO READ MORE.....
Polish Pro-Life Leadership Responds to EU Court Forcing Restitution for Denied Abortion
A woman who had been denied an abortion in Poland won damages against the Polish government in the European Court of Human Rights. The decision, say pro-life leaders, is another effort by European ideologues to pressure Poland to admit to the existence of a “right” to abortion. Ewa Kowalewska, President of the Forum of Polish Women, called the Court’s decision, “the greatest legal curiosum in court history of the European Council.” The court ordered the Polish government to pay 36-year-old Alicja Tysiac compensation, upholding her claim that she had been discriminated against by being refused an abortion by doctors and the Polish courts. Kowalewska
said the Court has effectively declared that “refusal to kill a child breaches provisions of Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.” She called it “a precedent opening doors to deem abortion as a ‘human right’.”“We ask the European Court of Human Rights who is going to assert the rights of the child of Alicja Tysiac, who survived only thanks to the honesty of Polish physicians?” Details: CLICK TO READ MORE.....
Pontifical Academy for Life Calls for “Brave Conscientious Objection” to Protect Life
The Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life issued a paper following last month’s conference on the theme “Christian conscience in support of the right to life.” The document specified that “an indispensable requirement of
justice is respect for the principle of equality, which requires the protection of everyone’s rights, especially of the weakest and most defenceless”. The conference called for the “mobilization” of all those concerned with human life that must extend to the political field. “More and
more various attacks on human life,” strong pressure from activist organizations, court rulings and legislation opposed to the sanctity of life, were cited as the challenges facing Christians and others in the health care professions. Quoting Pope Benedict, who had addressed the
assembly, the document called for “brave conscientious objection” on the part of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and administrative staff, judges and parliamentarians particularly with regard to “emergency contraception that
is essentially an abortion in the earliest moments of pregnancy”. LifeSiteNews.com. CLICK TO READ MORE.....
Planned Parenthood Misleads Women on Abortion’s Health Risks
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) is coming under fire for continuing to mislead women about the mental health risks associated with having an abortion. In a statement released recently by PPFA medical
director Vanessa Cullins, the abortion business claimed there are no emotional or psychological concerns. However, her statements run counter to the latest research studies published in peer-reviewed medical journals. Dr. David Fergusson, a New Zealand college professor, published the results of a study he conducted in January 2006, which showed that 42% of the women who had abortions had experienced major depression within the last four years. Professor Fergusson’s study was published in the “Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology”. His research accorded with that of professors at Bowling Green State University in Ohio found in 2004. They examined data on nearly 11,000 women between the ages of 15 and 34 who had experienced an unintended pregnancy. Their survey found that women who have abortions of unexpected pregnancies were 30% more likely to experience subsequent problems with anxiety than those who don’t have one.LifeNews.com.CLICK TO READ MORE.....