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Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are calling for compulsory school-lessons to combat opposition to the Lisbon treaty, including claims that the treaty could result in abortion bans being over-turned. The calls are being led by the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) bloc and by Mario David, a Portuguese MEP. Mr David said: "All the debates about the constitution and then the Lisbon Treaty showed a great deal of lying, cheating and mistrust about the EU. In Ireland people were told there was going to be abortion across the EU, that young men would be conscripted into a European Army. This was a bunch of lies." [Telegraph, 15 October] http://is.gd/4m0o0 Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: "It would be a totalitarian abuse of power to use the school system to brain-wash pupils into rejecting the well-founded concerns by pro-life groups regarding the Lisbon treaty."

A former Peruvian health minister says pro-abortion feminist groups make false claims regarding illegal abortion numbers. Luis Solari said that when minister of health he was able to confirm that the figures claimed by pro-abortion groups were several times higher than the official figures. Mr Solari also said the pro-abortion groups in Peru were receiving money from foreign groups in order to change the law. [Catholic News Agency, 15 October] http://is.gd/4m3eH SPUC has pointed out that a new report on worldwide abortion rates by the pro-abortion Alan Guttmacher Institute also relies upon highly spurious guesstimates. The pro-abortion lobby has a proven track record of exaggerating illegal abortions numbers. [SPUC, 14 October] http://is.gd/4msvB

A nurse who gave suicide advice online has loses his professional licence. William Melchert-Dinkel, a male nurse from Minnesota, America, used pseudonyms in online suicide chat-rooms to pose as an expert on suicide techniques. Two participants in the chat-rooms committed suicide. [Wesley J. Smith, 15 October] http://is.gd/4m25x

Other stories

Abortion

• Late abortions data must be published, rules information commissioner [Telegraph, 15 October] http://is.gd/4m08c
• 46% of Spaniards oppose, 44% approve of government plans to expand abortion [LifeNews.com, 12 October] http://is.gd/4m0QE
• Europe is terminally ill from abortion says Spanish bishop [Catholic News Agency, 15 October] http://is.gd/4m4su
• Italian abortion rate falls, fertility rises in latest stats [MercatorNet.com, 15 October] http://is.gd/4m2Vu
• Actor rallies Mexicans to join march against abortion clinic [Catholic News Agency, 15 October] http://is.gd/4m4Gw
• Botched legal abortion almost kills Canadian woman [LifeSiteNews.com, 16 October] http://is.gd/4m4aJ
• Abortionist reflects on performing abortions while pregnant [LifeSiteNews.com, 15 October] http://is.gd/4m1DC
• Another African cardinal condemns Western imposition of abortion on Africa [Zenit, 15 October] http://is.gd/4m3Oy

Embryology; fertility treatment; stem cells

• Pro-life group launches law-suit to stop state paying women to donate eggs for embryo research [Catholic News Agency, 15 October] http://is.gd/4lZVU

Sexual health; teenage pregnancies

• Condoms promote promiscuity, lead to more HIV, says African bishop [Catholic News Agency, 15 October] http://is.gd/4m2jk
• Catholic school board in Canada rejects plan to give pupils HPV vaccine [LifeSiteNews.com, 15 October] http://is.gd/4m42F

Euthanasia and assisted suicide; disability

• Archbishop invokes example of St Therese of Lisieux against assisted suicide [Telegraph, 15 October] http://is.gd/4mm8D

Marriage and family; sexual ethics

• California recognises out-of-state gay marriages [LifeSiteNews.com, 15 October] http://is.gd/4m3om

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