LifeZine No. 482: 19th Apr 07
Irish Council for Bioethics Survey under the Spotlight—‘Even the Nazis had More Delicacy’
The Irish Council for Bioethics is conducting a survey to find out the public’s attitude to stem cell research using human embryos. According to the editor of the family
newspaper, “Alive!”, “You might think that such a Council would have definite ethical standards respecting human life, or standards laid down for it. Its stance, however, seems to be, ‘we’ll go with whatever the majority of the public wants’… The refusal to recognise fundamental moral principles such as ‘You shall not kill’, is pure moral relativism. We have to wonder what’s behind its latest survey. Is it just a way to provide material for a campaign in favour of using human embryos for research in Ireland? Its frequent references to ‘producing’ and ‘using’ human embryos reduces the human being to an object, a manufactured product. Even the Nazis had more delicacy”, opined “Alive’s” editor. The questions contained in this survey are instructive. They indicate openness to embryo stem cell research that, according to one "Irish Catholic" commentator, “is troubling”. Details: CLICK TO READ MORE.....
The CPA and its Pro-Abortion Stance
Two years ago four volunteers from the Catholic Church’s pregnancy counselling agency, CURA, went public with their objections to CURA’s use of abortion referral materials, supplied by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA). Subsequently, the Catholic Bishops of Ireland directed that the CPA’s pro-abortion “Positive Options” leaflets were unacceptable for CURA to use. However, no such restrictions from any source were placed on the Irish government-funded CPA. Senator Martin Mansergh recently noted this anomaly in the “Irish Catholic” newspaper, writing that whatever its intentions and its supposed work to reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortion in Ireland might be, the CPA’s effect has been to make life “very uncomfortable” for pro-life organisations. And, according to another commentator, “not at all uncomfortable” for pro-abortion bodies, e.g. the Irish Family Planning Association. As a statutory body, the CPA should be pro-life. Unfortunately, this is most definitely not the case. Details: CLICK TO READ MORE.....
Law on Withdrawal of Consent has to Change
According to Julia Millington of the UK ProLife Alliance, Natallie Evans’s recent defeat in her frozen embryos case at the European Court of Human Rights is further evidence, if any were needed, “that legislation on the freezing of embryos is fundamentally flawed”. Although this was a very difficult matter for the courts to rule on, the result was sadly predictable, she said. The law allowing fathers to withdraw their consent on the use of frozen embryos needs to be changed, she argued. The law, she continued, “should say that a decision to create an embryo is an irrevocable choice”. Ms Millington said that “lives have already begun, and a partner should not be allowed to withdraw their consent at a later date. And now tiny lives will be destroyed because of the boy-friend’s decision”. One question needs to be asked: “Should a parent be allowed to withdraw consent after the lives have been created? The answer is no”, said Ms Millington. The Times. CLICK TO READ MORE.....
UK Economist—Government’s Teen Pregnancy Strategy ‘Counter-Productive’
England and Wales have the highest teenage birth rate in Western Europe, according to statistics published by the British government. The area with the most teenage pregnancies is the district of Redcar and Cleveland on the North-East Coast of England which has a conception rate of 18.4 in 1,000. Professor David Paton, an economist at the Nottingham University Business School, believes that the government's attempt to reduce pregnancies by easy access to contraception and sex education could be counter-productive. He said, "The underlying social deprivation of an area, family breakdown rates and religion seems to have a greater effect on teenage pregnancy rates than more obvious policies such as sex education or providing access to family planning. The danger with this sort of approach is that it can lead to an increase in risky sexual behaviour among some young people." Daily Telegraph. CLICK TO READ MORE.....
Vatican to UN—‘First Right of Children is to be Born’
"The first right of children is that of being born and educated in a welcoming and secure family environment where their physical, psychological and spiritual growth is guaranteed, their potential is developed and where the awareness of personal dignity becomes the base for relating to others and for confronting the future." Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the United Nations at Geneva, who spoke during the fourth session of the Human Rights Council, made the statement during an address. Archbishop Tomasi recalled that "the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child attributes to the child the fundamental rights of a person; it recognizes the child to have the same equality and dignity as any adult person". "In many cases," he went on, "to many children the right to life is denied; prenatal selection eliminates both babies suspected of having disabilities and female children simply because of their sex, and thus denies the equal and intrinsic value of disabled persons and of girls for their families and for society." State and society, said the permanent observer, must "concretely support and enable the family to carry out its task. ... Children are both weakness and hope. To pursue the defence of their rights and the elimination of all forms of violence against them remains an institutional challenge for the international community.” LifeSite.net. CLICK TO READ MORE.....
Australian Study: Women Having Abortions More Likely to Be Abused by Their Boyfriend
A new study published by researchers at La Trobe University in Australia found that women who are abused by their boyfriends are more likely to have an abortion in an unwanted pregnancy situation than to keep the baby. Women having abortions were also more likely to be from lower income families. The researchers studied 9,683 young Australian women between the ages of 22 and 27. The information came from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health, which contains health data compiled by the government. Women who had abortions in their teens or early 20s were more likely to have been abused by a boyfriend than those who carried the pregnancy to term, they found. The scientists published the results of the study in today's edition of the “Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health”. LifeNews.com. CLICK TO READ MORE.....