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UN committee overstepped mandate in pro-abortion attack on Catholic Church

A United Nations (UN) committee on the Rights of the Child overstepped its mandate in its pro-abortion attack on the Catholic Church, said lobbyists for the SPUC at the UN. SPUC is recognised officially by the UN at a non-governmental organisation NGO, and provides most of the pro-life lobbying efforts at the UN institutions in New York and Geneva. SPUC was responding to a report published by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child which attacked the Catholic Church's teachings on abortion, contraception and homosexuality, under the guise of a critique of the Church's handling of child sex abuse cases. [SPUC, 5 February]

Related story: My meeting in New York with the papal nuncio to the United Nations [John Smeaton, 5 February]

Two-thirds of women seeking abortions were using contraception: Britain’s largest abortion provider

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), the UK's main independent abortion provider, has confirmed that the majority of women seeking abortion were using contraception at the time they conceived. Ann Furedi, BPAS’ chief executive, said: "Ultimately women cannot control their fertility through contraception alone, and need accessible abortion services as a back-up for when their contraception lets them down." Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, told LifeSiteNews that there is a "growing body of evidence that the provision of contraception not only fails to prevent unplanned pregnancies but results in unborn children being victimised to death as the unwelcome consequences of so-called contraceptive failure. Abortion merchants like Ann Furedi use ‘contraceptive failure’ as a leverage for both more abortion and more contraception." Contraception’s effect on culture and society has been wholly negative. "It deems unborn human life disposable and discards any notion of individual responsibility for sexual behaviour." [LifeSiteNews.com, 5 February] 

Other stories:

Abortion

• Catholic archbishop leads boycott of businesses building Planned Parenthood abortion facility [LifeSiteNews.com, 5 February]
• Topless feminists assault Spanish cardinal before Mass in pro-abortion protest [LifeNews.com, 4 February]
• Mayor sparks abortion debate in Norway by posting picture of unborn baby in his hand [LifeNews.com, 4 February]
• Miracle baby born despite doctors advising mum to have an abortion [Sutton Coldfield Observer, 2 February]

Embryology

• I had sex with patients who wanted babies, says Carla Bruni’s former gynaecologist [Metro, 5 February]

Euthanasia

• Four-year-old Canadian girl pleads with the King of Belgium to block his country's new euthanasia law for children [PR Newswire, 5 February]
• Canadian man fighting for unborn son inside ‘brain dead’ wife receives global outpouring of support [LifeSiteNews.com, 5 February]
• A catalogue of reasons why Margo Macdonald’s Assisted Suicide Bill should be rejected [Peter Saunders, 3 February]
• Canadian court rules fluids and food are basic personal care [Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, 3 February]
• Motor neurone disease patient says society encouraging disabled to commit suicide [LifeSiteNews.com, 31 January]

Population

• Pakistan plans to curb population growth [Bloomberg, 6 February]
• Catholic Church spokesman in Papua New Guinea welcomes population growth [LifeSiteNews.com, 4 February]

Sexual ethics

• Bill to redefine marriage passed by Scottish Parliament [Christian Institute, 5 February]
• Parents who dress their daughters in pink are holding back the economy, says minister [Telegraph, 5 February]
• Boy of 13 raped eight-year-old sister after watching porn on Xbox [Mirror, 5 February]
• Lunacek report passed in European Parliament [LifeSiteNews.com, 4 February]
• Scots children as young as 12 diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections [Herald, 3 February]
• France's Hollande retreats on family policy after protests [Reuters, 3 February]
• Tens of thousands protest in Paris and Lyon against same-sex marriage [Pink News, 3 February]
• Blood clot warning for 1m contraceptive pill users [Telegraph, 2 February]
• Bishops everywhere should follow the Nigerian bishops' lead in defence of families [John Smeaton, 31 January]
• "You cannot be consistently pro-life without being pro-marriage", argues San Francisco archbishop [Archdiocese of San Francisco, 25 January]

General

• Beautiful photos capture family's 10 precious days with baby Zion who they knew would be born with fatal genetic abnormality [Mail, 5 February]
• My baby had an operation – in my womb [Mirror, 5 February]
• Archdiocese of Westminster pro-family conference to focus on beauty, freedom and the family [LifeSiteNews.com, 4 February]
• Landmark appeal involving surrogacy birth starts in Ireland [Irish Examiner, 3 February]
• Places still available at the UK's premier pro-life youth event [John Smeaton, 3 February]
• Drinking alcohol during pregnancy could be ruled a crime [Telegraph, 2 February]
• Judge orders mentally ill woman to have forced caesarean [Telegraph, 1 February]

To subscribe to SPUC's email information services, please visit www.spuc.org.uk/em-signup. The reliability of the news herein is dependent on that of the cited sources, which are paraphrased rather than quoted. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the society. © Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, 2018