Must-read pro-life news-stories, Fri 9 Mar

Top stories:

Ambassadors walk-out of UN meeting over new sexual rights agenda
A large group of ambassadors have walked out of a United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council discussion in Geneva, Switzerland, in protest at a concerted attempt to create new sexual rights. The panel chosen for the discussion was unanimous in its support for expanding universally-accepted human rights norms to include the novel concepts of 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity'. Pat Buckley, who represented SPUC at the meeting, reported: "The ambassadors of the Arab Group and of the Organisation of Islamic States (OIC) walked out once the discussion began. Delegates chosen by the Arab Group and the OIC also walked out after delivering strongly-worded statements." SPUC upholds the family based on natural (i.e. heterosexual) marriage because of its protective effect for both unborn and born children. [SPUC, 8 March]

Fantastic SPUC youth conference paused in silence to remember Tony Bland RIP
The 5th International Youth Pro-Life Conference, organised by SPUC and held in Rotherham, south Yorkshire, was a massive success for the future of the pro-life cause. 140 delegates grew in their knowledge and love of the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the family. On Saturday morning the delegates observed two minutes' silence for Tony Bland who, 19 years ago to the day, was starved and dehydrated to death following a court ruling. [John Smeaton, 5 March]

Other stories:

Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, Spain's justice minister

Abortion

• Spain announces plans (picture) to tighten abortion laws [Telegraph, 9 March]
• Pregnant mother offered £2,000 to abort baby with Down's Syndrome [ParentDish, 8 March]
• Abortion is the ultimate weapon against women, pro-life feminist Fiorella Nash tells SPUC youth [John Smeaton, 7 March]
• SPUC's comment on the 'after-birth abortion' paper [John Smeaton, 1 March]

Embryology

• Adult stem cells beat kidney rejection, claim US scientists [BBC, 8 March]
• Adult stem cells may treat glaucoma, claim UK scientists [BBC, 7 March]

Euthanasia

• UK woman left to die by hospital, rules coroner [Islington Tribune, 9 March]

Sexual ethics

• More than half all births in Scotland to umarried couples for first time, statistics show [Daily Record, 9 March]

General

• Fr Andrew Pinsent helps pro-life youth uphold human dignity [John Smeaton, 6 March]
• The sun is shining for the young pro-life movement in Britain [John Smeaton, 2 March]

Older stories:

• Statement by Glasgow midwives after abortion judgment [SPUC, 29 February]
• SPUC's Paul Tully speaks to Premier Christian Radio about Glasgow midwives abortion judgment [Premier Christian Radio, 29 February]
• UK pro-abortion lobby: "sex selective abortion is not gender discrimination", "travesty" that doctor suspended [Reproductive Health Matters, 28 February]
• "[P]ro-choicers flailing with their responses" to sex-selective abortion scandal, says leading left-wing blog [Liberal Conspiracy, 25 February]
• Founder-director of Calthorpe Clinic at centre of sex-selective abortion  scandal is veteran eugenicist [The Bones, 24 February]
• Ex-BPAS medical director: Sex-selection abortion is "widespread" in UK, “happens in all communities” in UK [Telegraph, 24 February]
• Major UK & int'l veteran pro-abortion leader defends sex-selective abortion [Marge Berer, 24 February]
• Newcastle embryologist claim new technique lifts IVF success-rates [Telegraph, 1 March]
• Grandmother, 75 'left to die of thirst' after nurses refused to give her enough to drink [Mail, 1 March]
• Ageing Scotland faces population time bomb [Scotsman, 1 March]
• UK lesbian activist says: abolish marriage, replace it with civil partnerships both 'gay' and 'straight' [Guardian, 27 February]
• Fall in teen pregnancies welcome but not due to contraception, says SPUC [SPUC, 28 February]
• SPUC works to build int'l  pro-life cooperation [John Smeaton, 27 February]

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Ambassadors walk out of UN meeting over new sexual rights agenda, SPUC reports from Geneva

A large group of ambassadors walked out of a United Nations (UN) meeting yesterday in Geneva in protest at a concerted attempt to create new sexual rights. SPUC, as a UN-recognised non-governmental organisation (NGO), was present at yesterday's meeting. SPUC upholds the family based on natural (i.e. heterosexual) marriage because of its protective effect for both unborn and born children.

Patrick Buckley, who represented SPUC in Geneva, reports:

"The panel discussion had been arranged by the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The discussion was entitled “Ending violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity". The panel chosen for the discussion was unanimous in its support for expanding universally-accepted human rights norms to include the novel concepts of 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity'.

The ambassadors of the Arab Group and of the Organisation of Islamic States (OIC) walked out once the discussion began. Delegates chosen by the Arab Group and the OIC also walked out after delivering strongly-worded statements.

A clear divide was evident between those nations which want to invent new so-called rights and those nations who reject the concept of establishing new so-called rights. There is no international consensus on the meaning of the terms 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity'. The EU, the US, Canada, Australia and some South American countries support an expansion of rights, in contrast to the Russian Federation, most African countries, the Holy See, the Arab Group and the OIC.

Saeed Sarwar, the Pakistani delegate speaking on behalf of the OIC Group, told the discussion:

'The international community only recognizes those rights that are enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which were codified in subsequent international human rights instruments. Thus, we strongly condemn systematic attempts by a group of states to introduce the notion of 'sexual orientation' ...  Our opposition to the notion of sexual orientation also stems from the fact that it may encompass the social normalization, and possibly the legitimization, of many deplorable acts, including pedophilia and incest.'

Time was not given to the Holy See to make a statement. Only non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which support the sexual rights agenda were called to make a statement.

The bias shown by the Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday reflects the Council's ideological commitment to the Western homosexual agenda. We are witnessing the imposition of a socio-political agenda, enforced by UN bureaucrats, on all nations regardless of cultural or other norms. The Council wants to manipulate states into engaging in public propaganda campaigns, in order to achieve its political ambitions to change society according to its own whims and prejudices. There is no fundamental right to homosexual practices."

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Abortion is the ultimate weapon against women, pro-life feminist Fiorella Nash tells SPUC youth

The second address of this past weekend's 5th International Youth Pro-Life Conference was given by Fiorella Nash (pictured) on the subject of pro-life feminism. Fiorella is a researcher, writer and political assistant at SPUC. She is also an accomplished novelist, wife and a mother of three children. Fiorella's address dovetailed beautifully from the end of Fr Andrew Pinsent's address on human dignity, with a common theme of personalised ethics. Here are some paraphrased notes from Fiorella's talk:

• Compare Christ's "This is My Body, given up for you" to the pro-abortion "My body, my life, my choice". Any slogan which contains the word "my" no less than three times is morally questionable!
• Modern radical feminism is opposed to pro-life movement. It denigrates the female body and has a destructively self-seeking agenda.
• The original feminists would not recognise modern feminism.
• The original feminists opposed abortion. They held that neither women nor children should be treated as property.
• A society which allows abortion denigrates and fails women.
• Radical feminism, in order to justify abortion, ignores scientific evidence and uses delusional language. It is ridiculous to claim that wantedness can change 'a bundle of cells' into a baby! What supernatural power can turns a bundle of cells into a baby  - witch-doctory?! Certainly not an act of the will!
• The killing of unborn human life has now been accepted as the norm.
• A pro-abortion woman once said to me: "Logically, you're right - abortion is murder. But it's a murder we have a right to commit."
• There is a right-to-choose dogma and women who oppose this ideology are bullied. Pro-abortion women describe pro-life women as 'anti-women women'. This is an incredibly insulting and patronising view of women. The suppresion of pro-life dissent by pro-abortion feminism would be considered fundamentalist oppression in any other movement.
• Support for abortion is praised as 'dispassionate feminist analysis', whereas opposition to abortion is smeared as 'blind obedience to faith' or even 'Stockholm syndrome' among women chained to men.
• Abortion providers see themselves as acting in the name of women, yet they refuse deliberately to tell women the truth about the nature of abortion procedures. They employ euphemisms such as 'gentle suction, 'remove the pregnancy' and 'products of conception'.
• How dare the pro-abortion lobby claim to speak in my name or in women's name!
• Abortion is the ultimate weapon against women.
• Atrocities involving the deaths of women from abortion are not reported and are covered up. Feminists should be vocal in their opposition but instead give silent collusion.
• Women sometimes react to revelations about China's one-child policy by saying that it is none of their business. What happened to the universal sisterhood!
• There is now a serious gender imbalance om China and India, accompanied by an increase in sexual violence, wife-sharing and child-trafficking. Some groups will talk about these problems but avoid the abortion issue.
• Ann Furedi, one of Britain's leading pro-abortion feminists, has argued that it is necessary to accept the choice of aborting a baby for the crime of being a girl.
• The maternal mortality crisis is being used to justify abortion on demand. Yet, as several Irish obstetricians and gynaecologists said many years ago, there are no cases in which direct abortion is necessary to save a mother's life.
• Some feminist voices have been raised against human cloning. IVF was lauded as liberating women, yet women actually bear the brunt of the process. A majority of IVF cycles fail to result in pregnancy. Women are being debased to the level of 'genetic contributor'. The health risks to women of IVF are being ignored. The IVF industry has not done sufficient research into the health risks of IVF to women, even after  30 years of the practice. This shows a callous disregard for women.
• Among other issues, euthanasia is significant for women, as is the danger of sexualised images in advertising. Prostitution is tolerated or even exalted by the media, even though most prostitutes want to leave, have drug problems, suffer abuse and risk death. The suffering of these women is being not taken into account.
• The pro-life movement must uphold bodily integrity, considering that women are often more vulnerable than men. We must challenge inflated emotional rhetoric, whilst acknowledging that pregnancy is life-changing and can be difficult for many women.
• Pro-choice campaigners trivialise the real abuse of women.
• Women's rights exist for the good of society, and not only for personal justice.
• Nobody really believes that human beings have no dignity. Ask people who support infanticide: So would you stamp on the face of a new-born?
• Abortion will not end until women, supported by men, rise up in defence of their unborn child.

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Fr Andrew Pinsent helps pro-life youth uphold human dignity

The first speaker of this past weekend's 5th International Youth Pro-Life Conference, organised by SPUC, was Fr Andrew Pinsent of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science & Religion. Fr Pinsent spoke in a scholarly yet accessible way on the subject of human dignity, providing some practical tips for pro-life youth when debating the subject. He also asked searching questions of the delegates to help them solidify their understanding of pro-life principles.

Fr Pinsent prefaced his address by saying to the young delegates:

"Thank you for being heroes, in the light of the grave challenges we are facing today."

Here are some paraphrased notes from Fr Pinsent's address.

• Dignity can be defined as the quality of being worthy or honourable.
• Our opponents consider their role to be to close us down. We therefore need to understand their arguments.
• It could said that a person's support for legal abortion is not necessarily motivated by a desire for the act of abortion per se but motivated by a desire for dignity which the person believes (albeit wrongly) will result from abortion.
• In contrast, some people (albeit very few people), argue against the idea of dignity, sometimes dismissing it as a specifically religious or narrowly Catholic concept.
• It has been argued that appeals to dignity are too vague and are mere slogans which add nothing to an understanding of a situation.
• Dignity has a power to move us and to move our will (affectivity). This power is recognised by our opponents, which is why they use it.
• The law often finds it impossible not to refer to dignity.
• The concept of 'respect for persons' is closely related to dignity.
• False thinking about dignity comes in different forms: sufficiency of autonomy; sufficiency of rights; sufficiency of divine command
• Dignity is irreducible to mere autonomy. For example: Why is it contrary to dignity to use a human ear as an ashtray? Or (if one denies that newborn children are persons) to stamp one's foot on a newborn's face? Principlism, the ethical system devised by Beauchamp and Childress which elevates autonomy, is thus inadequate to defend human dignity.
• We see evidence of a growing inability of people in Western society to recognise and respect other people's dignity. For example, the recent Bad Samaritan case, in which a young man injured during the London riots was robbed by people as they pretended to help him; the Walmart worker crushed to death by a stampede of bargain-hunters; businessmen who have adopted a principle not to treat people with dignity; the ugliness of modern art and architecture.
• The NHS is concerned about medical staff not treating patients with dignity, about a lack of compassion there. Yet, when medical staff have to perform so many acts of indignity on patients, it's unsurprising that the dignity of medical staff  is also suffering - e.g. the Glasgow midwives denied their right to conscientious objection to abortion.
• Judges interpret laws, yet judges are also formed as persons by culture. Today some judges decide cases even before they consider the law.
• There have been many attacks on human dignity by non-Christian states e.g. Communist regimes.
• Dignity is not self-protecting, even though people in general agrees that it's a good thing.
• Dignity does have a power to appeal to the right-hemisphere of the brain, but this metaphoric power can be misapplied,  unsupported or unformed.
• Natural reason is not sufficient to protect dignity. This is shown by the fact that the number of actions and conclusions regarded as unaccepetable is declining. A problem with a reductio ad absurdum argument is that people are increasingly choosing the absurdum.
• There is a lack of understanding of cause and effect. Consequences of evil actions don't come home to people.
• Human understanding - the intellectus, the perception of truth and goodness - is also not sufficient to protect dignity. Images that are themselves unattractive at first sight can lose their unattractiveness; taboos can be broken.
• Some things need to be recognised as wrong simpliciter; the principle of non-contradiction is breaking down in society.
• Stories provide examples of admirable lives and show what happens when dignity is stripped out of society. However, narratives can be used in opposite way e.g. the use of films by the Nazis to promote euthanasia.
• Great violations of human dignity sometimes are largely ignored. For example, the killing of six million people in the ongoing war in the Congo has been almost entirely unreported, even though it has included cannibalism on a massive scale.
• We need people who treat persons as persons. We need people (like that) in whatever discipline they work in.
• We need second-person ethics (patiency, I-thou relationships) because third-person ethics (agency) is not sufficient to protect dignity. Natural family planning (NFP) is an example of second-person ethics, because it consists of two people loving together what the other person loves, thus upholding dignity; whereas contraception is an example of third-person ethics, as it is like a business contract and therefore breakable.
• Avoid cold benevolence and narcissism. Listen to others and read their body language. Find common ground. Avoid ad hominem attacks. Exercise mercy and forgiveness.

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Fantastic SPUC youth conference paused in silence to remember Tony Bland RIP

This past weekend saw one of the best pro-life events I've attended in nearly four decades of service to the pro-life movement. The 5th International Youth Pro-Life Conference, organised by SPUC and held in Rotherham, south Yorkshire, was a massive success for the future of the pro-life cause. 140 delegates grew in their knowledge and love of the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the family. They also had lots of fun, made or renewed friendships, prayed deeply and left with hope for our world. Do see an album of photographs from the conference on SPUC's Page on Facebook (you don't have to join Facebook to see the photos or read the page.)

I'm pictured here with (left to right): Magdalene Soon, Sophie Lawes, Imogen Fell and Lucy Boyles, all from Students for Life Leeds:

And here is what they told me about the conference:

Lucy: "Very informative; I feel far more confident in terms of people questioning me about pro-life issues."

Magdalene: "Very informative and eye- opening to the reality of the culture of death. It is good to know there are support groups that are there to help you."

Imogen: "For me, this weekend has enhanced my knowledge but also gave me a support system whereby if I were to make a point, I know I have a network for information I can access to back it up."

Sophie: "This weekend has revitalised me, and strengthened my resolve to fight for the rights of all vulnerable. Most importantly, it has highlighted to me further that it is not 'if' we can change views, it is 'when', and our coming together can only facilitate this. As a group, I feel we have bonded and are stronger. We are ready to take the next steps in Leeds to make our voices heard."

Thank you SPUC!

In the midst of the conference's intense buzz, we did not fail to remember those who could not be with us. On Saturday morning we observed two minutes' silence for Tony Bland who, 19 years ago to the day, was starved and dehydrated to death following a court ruling. This was particularly poignant, since the conference venue was little more than an hour's drive away from Airedale General Hospital where Tony Bland was killed. A recurring theme of the conference was the need to protect the disabled (Tony Bland was left brain-damaged by the Hillsborough disaster) and other vulnerable groups against lethal discrimination via abortion and euthanasia.

I will be blogging throughout this week with reports of the conference speeches, workshops and social events.

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The sun is shining for the young pro-life movement in Britain

This evening is the first evening of SPUC's 5th international youth pro-life conference, which this year is being held in Rotherham, south Yorkshire. Pro-life youth have come from all parts of the United Kingdom and from European countries, including Spain, Malta and even the Faroe Islands! There is a great camaraderie not only between the young delegates but also between the youth and SPUC's conference staff.

This evening featured a viewing of "Sophie Scholl: the final days", about the White Rose anti-Nazi student group whose leaders were tried and executed in 1943. (See my blogs of 22 February 2008 and 17 December 2008 about the link between the White Rose group and SPUC's work today). Sam Sheridan-Garrity (pictured) from SPUC Rotherham introduced the film, saying:

"Tonight's film is from a time in our recent history when human dignity was not respected. It tells us that when a small voice speaks the truth it can speak very loudly."

Two lines spoken by the Sophie Scholl character in the film stood out for me:

"Every life is precious"

and

"Laws change; conscience doesn't".

Only this week we have witnessed great bravery in defence of life and conscience by two Scottish midwives fighting to uphold their right not to be complicit in abortion.

I truly believe that the young people gathering at this weekend's conference are the future for our world. Conversations I'm having with young people here from universities and elsewhere the length and breadth of Britain are informing me about an extraordinary new networking in this generation of pro-lifers, the like of which I've not witnessed in 38 years in the movement. Despite the darkness of the culture of death threatening to envelop us, "the sun is still shining" (in the words of Sophie Scholl in this evening's film).

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SPUC's comment on the 'after-birth abortion' paper

Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, has been quoted overnight in The Huffington Post UK and The Sun, commenting on "After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?", the pro-infanticide paper which appeared last week in The Journal of Medical Ethics. Anthony said:

“The paper proves what pro-lifers have long been arguing: that the common arguments for abortion also justify infanticide. There is no difference in moral status between a child one day before birth and a child one day after birth.

“Birth is merely a change of location, not a change from non-personhood to personhood. International human rights law makes no distinction between human beings according to various theories about what constitutes personhood.

“All human beings, regardless of age, location or capacities, are regarded in international law as equal members of the human family and thus as having an equal right to life. This chilling promotion of infanticide is a measure of how abortion is creating a culture of death.”

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Statement by Glasgow midwives after abortion judgment

The two Glasgow midwives at the centre of today's court judgment on conscientious objection to abortion have made the following statement:

Miss Mary Doogan said:

"Connie [Wood] and I are both very disappointed and greatly saddened by today's verdict.

For most of our 20-plus years of employment as midwifery sisters at the Southern General Hospital we have been proud to be associated with a maternity unit in which the right of all midwifery staff to freedom of conscience has been acknowledged, protected and upheld with no detrimental outcome to any mother whatsoever.

Neither Connie nor I stand in judgement of any woman who chooses to terminate her pregnancy for whatever reasons. We are more than aware of the difficult choices that some expectant mothers may be faced with in a crisis pregnancy.
    
However, in holding to the view that life should be protected from conception to natural death, neither do we wish to be judged for exercising what is our legal right to refuse to participate in the process of medical termination of pregnancy.

We wish now to take some time to consider all options that are available to us (including appeal) before making any further comment."

Since both women remain employees of the health board they are not in a position to make further comment or give interviews.

SPUC has supported the midwives in bringing their case, underwriting their legal costs, and will now be considering their further legal options with them.

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Midwives must take charge of abortion says court

Judgment was handed down today in the case of two senior midwives from Glasgow who have a conscientious objection to abortion. The midwives have been told that they must accept the decision of their hospital management that they must oversee other midwives performing abortions on the labour ward.

Lady Smith, sitting in the Court of Session in Edinburgh, ruled that the senior midwives’ role is not covered by the conscience clause in the Abortion Act.

Commenting on the judgment, Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, told the media earlier today:

“We are very disappointed by the judgment. SPUC has supported the midwives in bringing their case, and will now be considering their further legal options with them."

The senior midwives argued that their legal right included not directing or assisting other midwives performing abortions.

Both the midwives have served for over 20 years at the Southern General Hospital, caring for many thousands of mothers and babies. The case arose when the hospital demanded that all senior midwives must take responsibility for overseeing mid-term and late term abortions. Since 2008 the hospital has insisted that these abortions, mostly for suspected disability in the foetus, must be conducted on the labour ward, rather than the gynaecology ward where most early abortions are performed.

The midwives in the case, Miss Mary Doogan and Mrs Connie Wood, argued that they had never been required to supervise abortion procedures in the past, and that the hospital was asking them to be morally, medically and legally responsible for abortions. They argued that this conflicted with their profound objection to abortions and with the right to opt-out that is protected in the 1967 Abortion Act.

The case was subject of a protracted grievance procedure before coming to court in January.

The late abortion procedure, called “Medical Termination of Pregnancy” or MTOP, entails the mother being given drugs to induce labour, and then having to go through labour and deliver the baby.  In more advanced pregnancies the baby is killed first by an ultrasound-guided lethal injection while still in the womb.

The hospital’s labour ward delivers 6000 babies every year, but is also required to provide about 1-3 MTOPs each week – a number which has increased since a special unit for diagnosing disability in the womb was transferred to the Southern General Hospital in January 2010.

The conscience clause was included in the Abortion Act to assure MPs that no-one would be forced to participate in abortions.

The midwives were represented in court by David Johnston, QC of Axiom Advocates and Marie Clark of Arnot Manderson Advocates.

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Fall in teen pregnancies welcome but not due to greater provision of contraception

SPUC has responded to new figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), which suggest a fall in teenage pregnancies. Any such falls are welcome but are attributed wrongly to greater provision of contraception.

Professor David Paton, professor of industrial economics at Nottingham University Business School, told the media earlier today:

"The fall in conception rates to minors is to be welcomed. The decrease in the rate of conceptions ending in abortion for under-16s over the past three years is particularly good news, although it is still higher than in 1999, when the last government introduced its Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. Since that time, there appears to be no correlation at all between changes to contraceptive services for young people and changes in the conception rate. For example, the number of contraceptive clinic sessions offered specifically for young people was static in 2010 following increases in previous years. Despite this, the teenage conception rate continued to fall in 2010.

Indeed, Anne Milton, the health minister, just last week stated the following when questioned about recent cuts to contraception services: 'Statistics on conceptions ... and abortions ... do not suggest that any recent changes to contraception provision offered by PCTs has had an impact on the number or rate of conceptions or abortions.' This bears out studies in the peer-reviewed literature which show that access to birth control (and in particular the morning-after pill) has little or no causal effect in reducing teenage pregnancy rates."

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SPUC works to build international pro-life co-operation

Last week I was in Washington and New York meeting pro-life leaders of groups with which SPUC has been collaborating for four decades.

The mother of God is central to the work of Human Life International (HLI), the pro-life group based in Front Royal, Virginia, founded by Fr Paul Marx and which has pro-life groups and workers on the ground in over 100 countries.

Pictured around Our Lady's statue in the reception area of their Virginia headquarters are Fr Shenan Boquet (right), the new HLI president, Fr Peter West, vice-president for HLI missions, and yours truly.

We had a productive meeting about SPUC's work at the United Nations and HLI's vital presence in more countries than any other pro-life group. I told them that Europe owes a great debt to HLI for spreading the pro-life message and for the courageous HLI witnesses who have risen up in so many nations - many of whose work I have seen personally and deeply admired.

I pray that my meeting with Fr Boquet and his team - and my meetings with other pro-life leaders I met during my short visit - will be part of a renewed and powerful commitment to international pro-life co-operation.

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Sex-selective abortion is inevitable consequence of easy abortion access

SPUC has responded to The Telegraph's report this evening which suggests that some British doctors are complicit in sex-selective abortions.

Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, told the media earlier this evening:

"This investigation confirms the reality of eugenics in modern British medicine, in which some innocent human beings are deemed too inconvenient to be allowed to live. Sex-selective abortion is an inevitable consequence of easy access to abortion, a situation to which the pro-abortion lobby has no convincing answer. The government needs to cut its ties to private abortion providers and to abortion rights organisations. They are complicit in sex-selective abortion domestically through their support for abortion on demand, and internationally through their complicity in China's population control programme."

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Government says cuts to contraception haven't increased pregnancies or abortions

Anne Milton MP

The British government has said that cuts to contraception haven't increased pregnancies or abortions. In a newly-published parliamentary answer (Hansard, 20 Feb. 2012, col. 679W) Anne Milton, the health minister, said that:

"Statistics on conceptions (published by the Office for National Statistics) and abortions (published by the Department of Health) do not suggest that any recent changes to contraception provision offered by PCTs has had an impact on the number or rate of conceptions or abortions."

In a message to the SPUC, Professor David Paton, professor of industrial economics at Nottingham University Business School, commented on Mrs Milton's admission:

"This admission by the Health Minister is long overdue but very welcome. In 2001, I published a paper in the Journal of Health Economics demonstrating that access to contraception had not had the desired effect of cutting underage pregnancies or abortions in the UK. When asked about my research in the House of Commons, Hazel Blears, the then Minister for Health stated that interventions like 'access to youth contraceptive clinics have been shown to reduce teenage pregnancy rates but do not hasten the onset of or increase sexual activity among young people' and her Government ploughed millions of pounds into increasing access to contraception for young people."

Professor Paton continued:

"Contrary to Hazel Blears’ claims, the peer-reviewed research published both before and since has found little or no evidence that access to contraception and, in particular, emergency birth control (the morning after pill) cuts unwanted pregnancy or abortion rates amongst teenagers. Some 10 years later, it is very gratifying to see the Department of Health finally admitting that restrictions on access to contraception provision do not appear to have an effect on conception or abortion rates. Indeed, despite the reported restrictions to contraception services, the latest statistics (due to be published next week) are expected to show a further decrease in the teenage pregnancy rates."

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Must-read pro-life news-stories, Wed 22 Feb

Top stories:

Dolphins are persons with the right to life, claim experts
A group of experts meeting in Canada are claiming that dolphins are persons with the right to life. The experts are calling for recognition of their Declaration on the Rights of Cetaceans. [Metro, 21 February] Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: "The most commonly-accepted definition of person is 'an individual substance of a rational nature'. Dolphins are not of a rational nature, unlike unborn children who have an innate rationality which develops with age. The proposed declaration shows just how far modern bioethics has become divorced from reality."

UK prime minister reiterates determination to establish gay marriage
The office of David Cameron, the British prime minister, has reiterated his strong personal support for the establishment of a gay marriage. An unnamed source told The Independent newspaper: "Nothing has changed on this as far as he is concerned. He is very passionate about this subject – it is something that has defined him." [Independent, 21 February] SPUC has published a position paper and a background paper in the run-up to next month's public consultation on gay marriage.

Other stories:

Abortion

• Please continue to lobby government to overrule abortion ads decision [John Smeaton, 21 February]
• Undercover at a pro-abortion meeting: final part [SPUC youth blog, 21 February]
• Skilled attendance at birth and maternal mortality – what the data show [Pat Buckley, 21 February]
• New attempt to introduce abortion in Ireland [Pat Buckley, 20 February]
• Traditionalist Catholics protest against abortion ads outside regulator's HQ [Integrity and Action, 17 February]
• 40 Day for Life London launches latest campaign [SPUC youth blog, 16 February]

Embryology

• UK mother went to Belgium for controversial IVF screening process [Mail, 16 February]

Population

• Chinese forced abortion opponent collapses from home detention [LifeNews.com, 20 February]

Sexual ethics

• Episcopal failures to oppose the sexual revolution have global consequences [John Smeaton, 17 February]
• European Parliament denounces Russian ‘gay propaganda’ laws [Pink News, 16 February]

General

• Ash Wednesday is a national day of prayer and fasting for life [John Smeaton, 21 February]
• Please support the 100 Masses for life campaign [John Smeaton, 18 February]
• The importance of pro-life education [SPUC youth blog, 17 February]
• UK equalities chief attacks Christians over conscientious objection [Telegraph, 17 February]
• Referendum on children's rights to be held in Ireland [Pat Buckley, 17 February]

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Ash Wednesday is a national day of prayer and fasting for life

Christ fasting in the desert

The Good Counsel Network's next national day of prayer and fasting for life is tomorrow, Ash Wednesday. Please support this initiative - the full details are below:

And He said to them; This kind (of demon) can go out by nothing but prayer and fasting.

Gospel of Mark 9:29.

Since the 5th July 2008 The Good Counsel Network has organised monthly National days of prayer and fasting for life, the first was to prevent the passing of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Although the bill was passed some of the more damaging anti-life amendments were not added to it, including an attack on pro-life counselling and the extension to Northern Ireland of the Abortion Act. There had also been 40 days of Prayer and Fasting in Northern Ireland to ensure that this law was not extended. This only confirmed what we already knew; it is clear from the work that we do at Good Counsel Network, advising women who are strongly set on abortion, that the struggle to end abortion is a spiritual struggle and not merely one of practical concerns or politics.

February 22nd, Ash Wednesday is the next National Day of Prayer and Fasting for Life. Please join us in fasting. You could fast from all food except bread and water for the day or fast from a particular food or luxury, e.g. chocolate, alcohol, cigarettes or tv. Fast from whatever you can given your state of health etc, but make sure that it is something that involves a sacrifice to yourself. We are asking people to say a Rosary (or an extra Rosary if you say it daily already). You could also offer an extra effort such as going to Mass, or an extra Mass, on the day, or going to Adoration.

And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least...God saw their efforts to renounce their evil ways. And God relented about the disaster which He had threatened to bring on them, and He did not bring it. Jonah 3:5,10.

For more information and a printable poster click here.

This Lent come and pray with us at an abortuary, there is our daily vigil in London, 40 Days 4 Life will start on Ash Wednesday in London, in Birmingham, in Brighton and in Manchester. For details of others vigils around the Country see here.

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Please continue to lobby government to overrule abortion ads decision

As I blogged on 26 January, the government should use its powers to stop TV advertising by commercial abortion centres. Please continue to lobby the government to make this happen. Please write to your Member of Parliament (MP), asking him/her to write to Mr Hunt on your behalf, reminding Mr Hunt of his powers in relation to Ofcom, and urging Mr Hunt to use those powers to block all advertisements by abortion centres. You can write to your MP at the House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. If you’re not sure of your MP’s name, please visit http://www.spuc.org.uk/mps (where you can also send an electronic message to your MP). Please copy or forward any replies you receive from MPs to SPUC’s political department, either at SPUC HQ or by email to political@spuc.org.uk

Below are eight bullet-points you can use in your communication to your MP.

Why Jeremy Hunt must overrule the Advertising Standards Authority’s decision to allow abortion advertising on TV, and deter the likes of Marie Stopes from peddling its deadly trade:

1. As well as charging for private abortions, abortion providers like Marie Stopes benefits from lucrative NHS contracts so can afford to advertise on TV, while pro-life groups can’t.
2. Marie Stopes International is a killing machine which is spreading abortion to the world’s poorest nations. In 2008, supported by funds from the UK government, they performed around 600,000 abortions overseas.
3. Marie Stopes has a vested interest in more abortion. It carries out 65,000 abortions a year in Britain—mostly funded by the NHS—to the tune of £25 million.
4. Advertising abortion on TV sends a message to young people that killing an unborn child is a reasonable solution to human problems. It isn’t.
5. When women and girls go to Marie Stopes they are not told the true nature of abortion and are systematically directed towards choosing abortion.
6. The Advertising Standards Authority cannot be trusted to give unbiased and impartial judgements. Amazingly, the ASA fails to accept that Marie Stopes is really advertising abortion. They say its TV advert merely advertises ‘pregnancy advice’, not abortion.
7. 4,600 concerned individuals sent letters and postcards of protest to the ASA before and after the Marie Stopes advert was broadcast. Another 29,000 people have signed SPUC’s petition to the prime minister seeking a ban on TV ads.
8. Unelected quangos are sanctioning the deaths of unborn children, while the views of the general public are ignored.

You can read a more detailed briefing about abortion advertising on my blog of 26 January.

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Call immediately on Council of Europe representatives to reject anti-life/anti-family recommendation

Tomorrow (Tuesday 21 February 2012), the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will hold one of the final meetings on a draft “Recommendation on the rights and legal status of children and parental responsibilities”. (The  Council of Europe is made up of 47 Member States and is separate from the EU Council, Parliament, and Commission). This draft Recommendation is a dangerous and ideologically-driven document. Being a legally non-binding document, its purpose is to create so-called ‘soft law’ and mislead people about European opinion on the family.  The timing of this draft Recommendation could adversely affect relevant pending cases at the European Court of Human Rights.

Please:

• read the bullet-points below
• contact immediately the Member-State permanent representatives at the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers (list of email addresses) asking them to use their voice and vote to reject the whole draft Recommendation.

Please do this immediately (including on Tuesday the 21st). You do not have to use all of the points below. Select a few for your letter, putting the points into your own words. You can email any and all Council of Europe Member-State permanent representatives. Make the reason for your email clear in the subject line.

Points to include in emails to permanent representatives:

The Recommendation: 

• promotes IVF practices (principles 17 and 18), thus promoting the abuse (often lethal) of embryonic children, and creates confusion about whom is the actual mother and father. The separation of marriage from procreation, and the redefinition of parents and family, is an attack upon the best interests of the child who needs a mother and father in a heterosexual marriage, which is normative and best for children. 
• supports gay married and civilly-partnered couples claiming the right to be considered parents in the case of IVF (paragraph 71 of the explanatory memorandum). This will only be used as a form of pressure by the gay lobby
• promotes and normalises the practice of surrogacy (principles 7 and 8)
• defines “parents” as defined by national law, rather than parents as “mother” and “father” (principle 2). This leaves the door open for gay couples to claim the title of parents and denies the need for a mother and father. It also creates confusion regarding sperm and egg donors, and surrogacy.
• places heterosexual cohabitation and civil unions on the same footing as heterosexual marriage (principles 11 and 12)
• claims (principle 1) that some children are discriminated against on grounds of their sexual orientation (e.g. homosexual) or gender identity (e.g. transgender).  This claim manipulates childhood for ideological ends and has no basis in international agreements
• subjects the child’s best interests to private agreement, by allowing a parent to give parental responsibilities to a spouse or civil partner (principle 24.3)
• redefines (principle 20) the authority of mothers and fathers to exclude the child’s moral and spiritual welfare, as defined and upheld in international and human rights documents (UN Declaration and Convention on the Rights of the Child; Preamble of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; Council of Europe’s own White Paper on legal consequences of parentage)
• disregards the fact that many of the practices relating to relationships, procreation, and family included in this draft Recommendation are in fact illegal in many European countries.
• attempts to go beyond, and contradicts, European and UN-agreed conventions and treaties which are legally binding – even though the Recommendation is non-binding on Member States and courts.

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Please support the 100 Masses for life campaign

Pat Sammon, an SPUC activist, is promoting a "100 Masses for life" campaign. She writes:

"Dear friend in Christ,

Please would you consider having one Holy Mass offered during Lent (Feb 22nd-April 7th) for the following intention:-
FOR AN END TO THE ‘CULTURE OF DEATH’ AND THE CONVERSION OF HEARTS.
By any priest of your choice. Please request that the intention is publicly announced, not just as a ‘private intention’
In order to assess the success of this campaign, please confirm Mass and venue if possible:
Pat 07747698553. patriciamarysammon@btinternet.com "

I encourage my readers to please support this campaign. Congratulations to Pat on this excellent initiative.

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Episcopal failures to oppose the sexual revolution have global consequences

Michael Voris, the American Catholic apologist, has this week been visiting the Philippines. In a video recorded there, Michael said:

"Obama's attempt to ram birth control down the Church's throat [is] exactly what is happening here in the Philippines ... [I]n America, the Catholic hierarchy folded like a house of cards 40 years ago in the face of the sexual revolution ... Catholics in America need to keep Catholics in other countries in mind when casting their vote for US president. It isn't just the Church in America that Obama is attacking, but the Church all over the world."

An analogy can be made with the situation in the UK vis-a-vis the Cameron government's promotion of homosexual marriage at home and so-called gay rights abroad. British government policy can have a significant effect internationally. Policy changes in Britain have the capacity to influence policy change in the English-speaking world and in Europe. I pray that Archbishop Nichols and his fellow English and Welsh bishops will not "fold like a house of cards" in the face of the Cameron government's sexual revolution, abandoning Catholics in other countries to the homosexual agenda. It is encouraging to see Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury taking a strong stand.

*SPUC's national council, which is SPUC's policy-making body, elected by its grassroots volunteers, last year passed the following resolution to defend marriage:

"That the Council of SPUC, noting the various proposals currently being made by the present Government and others in regard to the status and standing of marriage and its consequent effect upon family life; and further noting the higher proportionate incidence of abortion in unmarried women compared to married women, resolves to do its utmost to fight for the retention of the traditional understanding of marriage in the history, culture and law of the United Kingdom, namely the exclusive union of one man with one woman for life; and accordingly instructs its officers and executive committee to conduct a major campaign to this end, to co-operate with other persons and societies in so doing and specifically to target the Government's consultation period starting in March, 2012, in regard to (so-called) same sex marriage."

**Why is homosexuality (and sexual ethics generally) important specifically for the pro-life movement? The late Pope John Paul II, the great pro-life champion, taught in no. 97 of his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae that 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.

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Must-read pro-life news-stories, Thu 16 Feb

Nikki Kenward, anti-euthanasia campaigner

Top stories:

UK IVF regulator making millions from fees
Britain's IVF regulator has made millions of pounds from fees levied on IVF centres. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) charges £75 per patient. [Independent, 16 February] Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: "This is yet more evidence indicating that IVF is mainly an industry run for the benefit of vested interests, rather than a medical answer for couples anxious to conceive."

Draft bill by UK gay lobby would abolish terms 'husband' and 'wife'
A bill drafted by Stonewall, the gay lobby group, to legalise gay marriage would abolish the terms 'husband' and 'wife' in English law. The bill would also allow civil partnerships to be re-named as marriages. The bill was drafted ahead of a government consultation on legalising gay marriage. [Peter Saunders, 15 February]

Other stories:

Abortion

• The scandal of maternal mortality [SPUC youth blog, 15 February]
• Abortion and slavery - part II [SPUC youth blog, 14 February]

Euthanasia

• Interview with UK anti-euthanasia campaigner Nikki Kenward (pictured) [Journal, 15 February]
• Rise in suicide and infanticide among poor in Pakistan [Reuters, 15 February]
• British former model hanged himself after failures to treat chronic pain [Mail, 15 February]

Sexual ethics

• Listen to SPUC's Christine Hudson speak out against secret birth control implants for schoolgirls [John Smeaton, 16 February]

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