News,
The Catholic Education Service (CES) of England and Wales has helped to draft the government's anti-life/anti-family sex education draft guidance. The draft guidance promotes abortion, contraception and homosexuality. Oona Stannard of the CES has described the guidance as "a positive step forward". John Smeaton, SPUC director, described the CES's involvement in the guidance as "a systematic betrayal of the Catholic Church and of all this country's children, Catholic and non-Catholic, born and unborn." [John Smeaton, 10 February] http://is.gd/85Txr
Dr Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, spoken out against the legalisation of assisted suicide. The archbishop described the potential legalization of helping a sick-relative to die as crossing a moral boundary and entering into very dangerous territory. Dr Williams said that the legalisation of assisted suicide would create an ethical framework in which the worthwhileness of some lives is undermined. [Daily Mail, 10 February] [http://is.gd/84vo6]
The United Nations is pressuring Nicaragua to relax its ban on abortion, according to reports from a Mexican government newsagency. The UN is reported to have urged the Nicaraguan government to allow abortion for so-called therapeutic reasons and in cases of incest and rape. The United States, Mexico, Canada, Britain, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands and France are all reported to have supported the move. [LifeSiteNews.com, 9 February] [http://is.gd/84yNs]
Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, president of the Philippine bishops’ commission on family and life, has criticised efforts by the United States and UN agencies to promote anti-life policies in the Philippines. Those efforts come just months after the Philippines bishops published a catechism on family and life for this year's elections. The catechism instructs Catholics that it is morally impermissible to vote for an anti-life candidate. [CatholicCulture.org, 8 February] [http://is.gd/84F8q]
Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican’s representative to the United Nations, has said that population growth is needed to overcome poverty. The archbishop refuted the idea that population growth is the cause of poverty and said that the solution can only be found within the workforce. Archbishop Migliore’s words echo those of Pope Benedict earlier this year when he said that population was an asset, not a factor that contributes to poverty. [LifeSiteNews.com, 9 February] [http://is.gd/84xUc]
David Cameron, leader of Britain's opposition Conservative party, has said that he would force faith schools to teach that there is nothing wrong with being gay. Mr Cameron's comments follows the government's attempts to force employers to promote the employment of homosexuals. Mr Cameron also urged the Anglican Communion to accept homosexual equality as essential. [Daily Mail, 5 February] [http://is.gd/7KLZF] John Smeaton, SPUC director, commented: "As Pope John Paul taught, it is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not offer adolescents and young adults an authentic education in sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection."
Experts have shown that some patients who show no outward signs of consciousness can in fact comprehend speech and answer simple questions. Doctors using hi-tech brain scanning equipment asked a 29-year-old patient in a so-called persistent vegetative state (persistent non-responsive state) to respond to biographical questions by imagining scenarios which used various parts of the brain. The scanned brain activity showed the patient answered 100% of the questions correctly. [Telegraph, 3 February] [http://is.gd/7FV6s] Alison Davis, of No Less Human, has criticised the report of the story as it appears in The Telegraph. Ms Davis says the major focus of the article is that the new technology will assist people in choosing to die, without recognising that such patients have a right to life. [John Smeaton, 4 February] [http://is.gd/7KSEg]
US military bases worldwide will be required to provide the morning-after pill, following directives from the Pentagon. Pro-life groups have regularly opposed the morning-after pill. The morning after pill works in a number of ways, one of which is to cause an early abortion to preventing the implantation of a fertilized egg into the lining of the uterus. [Air Force Times, 4 February] [http://is.gd/7KN2y]
Pope Benedict XVI has challenged the Catholic bishops of England and Wales to oppose homosexual equality legislation. The Pope also urged the bishops to teach with a united voice and not to mistake dissent within the Church for a mature contribution to debate. John Smeaton, SPUC's director, has urged the bishops to repudiate their Diversity and Equality guidelines in light of the Pope’s address. [Fr Tim Finigan, 1 February] [http://is.gd/7BLsl] [John Smeaton, 2 February] [http://is.gd/7z1qD]
The Kenyan National Council of Churches and the Catholic Church have helped to ensure that the draft Kenyan constitution does not facilitate a right to abortion. The draft now contains a definition of life beginning at conception and ending at natural death. Pro-abortion language, such as the right to reproductive health, has been deleted. [All Africa, 2 February] [http://is.gd/7BJXu]
A Florida-based stem cell therapist has helped a man battling severe heart disease with treatment utilising the patient’s own stem cells. Dr Zannos Grekos of Orlando, America, developed stem cells from the blood of Les Nachman and injected the specialised cells into his heart. Mr has suffered from life-threatening heart disease for ten years, but since his treatment his condition has improved significantly. [News-Medical, 3 February] [http://is.gd/7BJz1]
The Canadian Liberal Party has demanded that Stephen Harper, the Canadian prime minister, includes the promotion of abortion and contraception as part of his proposed maternal health initiative. The Liberal Party are also calling for funding for the pro-abortion International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). Paul Szabo, a pro-life Liberal MP, has claimed the press release does not reflect the party’s position and that he will continue to defend the unborn. [LifeSiteNews.com, 2 February] [http://is.gd/7BIXX]
The Anglican Archbishop of York, England, has criticized what he describes as a celebrity-driven campaign for legalised assisted suicide. Dr John Sentamu said he was more interested in hearing what disabled people thought about assisted suicide. Dr Sentamu warned that legalising assisted suicide would soon lead to an acceptance of so-called mercy killings. The Archbishop also questioned the reliability of a UK poll of one thousand people, which suggested that three-quarters of British people are in favour of a change in the law regarding assisted suicide. [Daily Mail, 2 February] [http://is.gd/7xGay]
An abortion doctor in Michigan, America, is under investigation by the Bureau of Health Profession for involvement in forced abortions. Abraham Alberto Hodari became subject of the investigation when it emerged that a woman has filed a lawsuit against him for committing a forced abortion on her in 2008. Dr Hodari has also been accused of the forcible abortion of a 16 year old girl. [LifeSiteNews.com, 1 February] [http://is.gd/7xGKO]
A study conducted in Philadelphia, USA, suggests that abstinence-only education reduces promiscuity. The results of the study suggest that students enrolled in abstinence-only classes were 33% less likely to engage in sexual intercourse than students who were taught about contraceptive sex. Bill Albert, of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, has welcomed the news. He said that with teen pregnancy rates on the rise in the US, this study could not have come at a better time. [LifeSiteNews.com, 1 February, Health Finder, 1 February] [http://is.gd/7xGOF, http://is.gd/7xGT0]
An organisation of lay Catholic Americans has been set up to investigate the involvement of high-profile pro-abortionists with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. John Carr, a top executive for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, has been simultaneously employed by the Centre for Community Change throughout his time working within the Church. The Centre for Community Change list the promotion of abortion as among its core issues for advocacy. [LifeSiteNews.com, 1 February] [http://is.gd/7xH06]
A former head-teacher of a Catholic school has challenged leaders of the Catholic Education Service of England and Wales (CESEW) to a public debate on the Children, Schools and Families bill. Mr Hester, who was a head-teacher of Catholic comprehensive and grammar schools for 24 years and has extensive experience of inspecting schools, claims that the bishops have been deceived about the government’s plans. Mr Hester claims that no government minister is prepared to offer a public assurance that Catholic schools will not be forced to teach things contrary to Church doctrine as part of the bill’s sex education provisions. Mr Hester has also challenged the CESEW to debate the issue of sex education with him or another speaker on behalf of Catholic teaching. John Smeaton, national director of SPUC, has joined Mr Hester in that challenge. [John Smeaton, 30 January] http://is.gd/7tSQb
A parish priest in Manchester, England, has said the government’s promotion of abortion and contraception in Catholic schools is an act of hatred towards the Catholic Church. Fr Tom Connolly, parish priest of St. Kentigern's, Fallowfield, has warned that should the Children, Schools and Families bill be passed, the next generation of children will be in indoctrinated by the false ideology of those who rule us. [John Smeaton, 30 January] http://is.gd/7tSYs
Three-quarters of respondents to a poll in Britain have said that they support a change in the law that would allow for assisted suicide. Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, is already drafting new guidelines for the circumstances in which those involved with assisted suicide of family members will be brought to court. Such a change in the law has received high-profile support from people such as Sir Terry Pratchett, the author. Care Not Killing http://is.gd/7tT4r , a group that works for the rights of the disabled and the promotion of palliative care, has said that it is discriminatory and dangerous to argue that terminally ill people need less protection from the law. [Telegraph, 1 February] http://is.gd/7tThL
Stillbirth Foundation Australia is urgently calling for more research into stillbirth, after it emerged that 2,000 babies a year are stillborn in Australia. Reports say that IVF and ovarian stimulation are thought to increase the chance of stillbirth. [The Daily Telegraph Australia, 1 February] http://is.gd/7tTws
The murderer of George Tiller has been found guilty of first degree murder after admitting to shooting the late-term abortion practitioner. Pro-life groups have joined in again condemning the murder as an act of vigilantism. [LifeSiteNews.com, 29 January] http://is.gd/7tTNh
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