News,
A Scottish pro-abortion campaigner has decided to retire from the British House of Commons at the next general election. Maria Fyfe, Labour member of parliament for Maryhill, was first elected to Westminster in 1987. She has called for a liberalisation of abortion laws in Northern Ireland, promoted equal access to abortion throughout Great Britain, and attacked SPUC in parliament over its campaign against the provision of morning-after pills from Boots chemists' shops in Glasgow. [
Daily Herald, 16 January; LifeSite News, February 1999;
Hansard, 24 March 1999]
Dr Leroy Carhart, the abortionist who successfully challenged Nebraska's partial-birth abortion ban in the US Supreme Court, is planning to make use of his notoriety to raise millions of dollars for pro-abortion causes. Dr Carhart, who set up his Abortion Access Fund last May, claims to have raised 150,000 dollars and has set himself a goal of 10 million. The funds would be used to finance new abortion clinics, fight legal challenges and help poor women obtain abortions. [
Omaha World-Herald, 16 January]
The falling birth rate in Spain is being felt in the country's schools. The number of pupils in Catholic schools fell by 19.2 percent during the 1990s, while the number of pupils in public schools fell by 15.3 percent over the same period. [Zenith news agency, 16 January]
The Catholic bishops of Florida, USA, have released a message to mark the 28th anniversary this month of the
Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision which affirmed a woman's constitutional right to abortion. The bishops committed themselves to work and pray for the reversal of
Roe v Wade, and declared: "Abortion and infanticide are evil and beneath us as a people." [
LifeSite Daily News, 16 January]
Pro-life campaigners in the American state of South Carolina have objected to radio commercials for the abortifacient morning-after pill. The advertisements, which were bought by Planned Parenthood, feature a rhythm and blues singer saying: "Sometimes love goes too far and accidents happen. You wind up ... wishing it would all just go away. Sometimes, it can." Steve Lefemine of Columbia Christians for Life commented: "They're basically advertising chemical abortion... I would ask those radio stations of their own choice, to stop. They are involving themselves in something that takes the life at an early stage of another human being." [
The State, 15 January]
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