News,

Concerns have been raised in Washington that US aid is still being used for coercive sterilisation programmes. Congress passed legislation in 1998 blocking US aid to overseas governments which force women to be sterilised, have abortions or use contraceptives, but Todd Tiahrt, the congressman who moved the legislation, is now alleging that Peru is again coercing women to have sterilisations or in some cases even abortions without their consent. USAID, the government agency, currently spends 11 per cent of its aid to Peru on family planning and related programmes. [Associated Press, 19th April] The United States supreme court will begin considering Nebraska's partial-birth abortion ban on Tuesday (25 April) in a case which will have major implications for similar bans in 26 other states. The Clinton administration has urged the Nebraska law to be struck down, and the president has himself twice vetoed such bans passed by Congress. Congress passed another ban on the procedure last week, but not by a sufficient margin to bypass another presidential veto. [Gannett News Service, 18th April (from Pro-Life Infonet)] Pro-life chains will be formed in 90 cities, towns and villages across Great Britain on Saturday 29 April to commemorate in silent vigil the 5.5 million unborn children killed since the 1967 Abortion Act came into force. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, which is organising the annual event, hopes that 20,000 people will participate and build on last year's success when hundreds of thousands of people witnessed the chains. [This bulletin is privately circulated by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, www.spuc.org.uk, 5/6 St Matthew Street, London, United Kingdom, SW1P 2JT, +44 20 7222 3763. 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. Please forward this bulletin to other interested parties. To unsubscribe, send an appropriate email to information@spuc.freeserve.co.uk]