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SPUC has condemned as false a new report into worldwide abortion rates by a pro-abortion body. The report, by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, claims that abortion bans are ineffectual and that 70,000 women a year die from unsafe illegal abortions. Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: "The Guttmacher report is not independent academic research but propaganda from the pro-abortion lobby. Guttmacher's figures are based on highly spurious guesstimates, which even the report itself is forced to admit. The pro-abortion lobby has a proven track record of exaggerating illegal abortions numbers. Abortion numbers in Britain today are many times higher than before the 1967 Abortion Act, despite ever-increasing access to birth control drugs and devices." [SPUC, 14 October] http://is.gd/4kDJr

The head of the United Nations' food agency has said that population control is not necessary to combat food shortages. Dr. Jacques Diouf told a synod of African bishops meeting in Rome this week that "On the earth, there is a sufficient number of financial means, effective technologies, natural and human resources to eliminate hunger in the world once and for all." [LifeSiteNews.com, 13 October] http://is.gd/4iNCv Dr Diouf's position is in marked contrast to the calls for population control frequently made elsewhere in the UN system.

An appointee to President Obama's administration has argued for the removal without consent of organs from dead or incurable patients. Cass Sunstein, a legal scholar appointed to a regulatory position, in a 1998 book defended the idea that "the state owns the rights to body parts of people who are dead or in certain hopeless conditions, and it can remove their organs without asking anyone's permission." Professor Sunstein has also argued that the government has a duty to fund abortions in certain cases. [World Net Daily, 12 October] http://is.gd/4kXTW

Other stories

Abortion

• Holy See tells UN that abortion, population control contrary to maternal health [Zenit, 14 October] http://is.gd/4kCvJ
• South African cardinal condemns Western aid tied to abortion [LifeSiteNews.com, 14 October] http://is.gd/4kGvH
• Former Philippines senator calls on parliamentarians to reject insertion of abortion into Millennium Development Goals [Francisco "Kit" Tatad, 14 October] http://is.gd/4kEnP
• Pro-life display at American university vandalised [LifeNews.com, 12 October] http://is.gd/4kCG2
• Student ordered to remove pro-life t-shirt during Obama address [LifeSiteNews.com, 14 October] http://is.gd/4kDwy
• Profile of pro-life woman's work photographing aborted infants [LifeSiteNews.com, 14 October] http://is.gd/4kFiq
• International Right To Life Federation praises bishops who withheld money from Catholic agency which funded pro-abortion groups [LifeSiteNews.com, 13 October] http://is.gd/4iPpF
• SPUC director: stop calling abortion promoters Catholics [John Smeaton, 13 October] http://is.gd/4iN1n
• US Catholic bishops' conference congratulates Obama on Nobel prize, no mention of Obama's anti-life agenda [Catholic News Agency, 13 October] http://is.gd/4iNSm
• Peruvian cardinal warns sentimentalism being promoted to disguise abortion push [Catholic News Agency, 13 October] http://is.gd/4iP0w
• Planned Parenthood closes abortion centre due to lack of patients [Jill Stanek, 14 October] http://is.gd/4iQfb
• Book published by woman who had 15 abortions [Daily Mail, 14 October] http://is.gd/4iRBp

Embryology; fertility; stem cells

• IVF centre websites failing to explain risks of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis [Reuters, 14 October] http://is.gd/4kHrr
• Genetic testing of embryos may cause dementia, obesity in adulthood [LifeNews.com, 12 October] http://is.gd/4iQVt
• Golfing champion returns to sport after being healed by adult stem cells [Bloomberg, 13 October] http://is.gd/4kE2o

Population

• Chinese women facing infertility due to abortion and one-child policy [LifeNews.com, 12 October] http://is.gd/4iQVt

Sexual health; teenage pregnancies

• Indian school starts teaching pupils about sex [Telegraph, 14 October] http://is.gd/4kHA2
• Australian pharmacist refuses to sell contraceptives [LifeSiteNews.com, 13 October] http://is.gd/4iPNM

Euthanasia and assisted suicide; disability

• Anti-euthanasia group questions survey suggesting Quebec doctors favourable to euthanasia [LifeSiteNews.com, 14 October] http://is.gd/4kGNy
• Advanced dementia should be seen as terminal illness, say researchers [Reuters, 14 October] http://is.gd/4kHgD
• Woman with half a brain stuns doctors [AOL, 12 October] http://is.gd/4iSFZ

Marriage and family; sexual ethics

• Italian parliament rejects gay hate crimes bill [Catholic Culture, 14 October] http://is.gd/4kGCO
• Guam legislature will lose moral authority if same-sex union bill passes says archbishop [Catholic News Agency, 14 October] http://is.gd/4kF4W
• Catholic diocesan bishop asks pro-gay retired bishop not to enter diocese [LifeSiteNews.com, 13 October] http://is.gd/4kGYc
• Catholic princess disputes inheritance by gay brother's surrogate children [Daily Mail, 13 October] http://is.gd/4kI6c
• Muslim team banned after refusing to play gay team [Breitbart, 14 October] http://is.gd/4kHIK
• US House of Representatives passing homosexual hate crimes law [LifeSiteNews.com, 13 October] http://is.gd/4iMM0
• Catholic university of Notre Dame pays for students to join gay march [LifeSiteNews.com, 13 October] http://is.gd/4iOeX
• San Francisco Catholic school hosts pro-condom, pro-gay play [Catholic Culture, 13 October] http://is.gd/4iShm
• Irish government helped gay group published guide for gay school students [United Families International, 13 October] http://is.gd/4iQxx
• Poland debates chemical castration for sex offenders [Guardian, 13 October] http://is.gd/4iRNx

General and miscellaneous

• Pro-life youth congress to be held in Phillippines, 24 October [Pro-Life Philippines, 8 October] http://is.gd/4kEOX
• Italian PM back Tony Blair as EU president [Times, 15 October] http://is.gd/4kCB0
• International pro-life congress to be held in Spain, 6-8 November [Zenit, 13 October] http://is.gd/4iNjJ

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