Fatwa/Islamic ruling is issued on presumed consent organ donation legislation in Wales

Hizbul Ulama in the UK (Association of Muslim Scholars/UK) has issued a Fatwa/Islamic ruling opposing the Welsh Government's plans to introduce legislation allowing presumed consent in organ donation. The Welsh government is calling it "deemed consent", in which people living in Wales for a period of six months or more will be opted-in automatically as organ donors. This will include prisoners, tourists, and students.

The Islamic ruling calls on "all Muslims who are living in Wales to oppose strongly this unjust, unislamic, inhumane bill by all legal and peaceful means"

The ruling, signed by Molvi Yakub Ahmed Miftahi, Hizbul Ulama UK,states:

"Fatwa/Islamic ruling from Hizbul Ulama UK in Britain regarding presumed consent, 2nd Muharram 1434H/16th November 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Assalaamu alaikum warahamtullah wabaraktuh

Our organs and our bodies belong to our Creator: ALLAH. We are ordered in Islam to protect all our organs from any harm like alcohol and smoking, and to allow them to be satisfied physiologically with all their needs and as ALLAH wanted. We do not own any of our organs and no one has the right (Muslim or non Muslim) to take any of our organs especially at time of death.

ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION is a controversial issue in Islam: Some Muslim scholars agree with it but with many strict conditions, others oppose it! However if any Muslim is interested to give any of his/her organs: The law in Britain allows him/her to do that. But this should be done voluntarily by doing a WRITTEN CONSENT in advance and during one's life and after been made aware:

 Of the details of the surgical procedures being agreed to, including the possibility of organs being taken while the patient is still alive and the heart is still beating or pain is still felt
 Of any harm resulting to the donor when he/she is still alive. And without any interference with the natural moment of death as fixed by ALLAH Almighty and not by doctors. There should not be any interference with the natural moment of death.
 Death should occur first NATURALLY when both the heart and respiration (and all brain activity) stop naturally and normally the soul leaves the body after natural death.
 That there is no other alternative to help the patient

We became aware lately of a draft Bill in Wales called: PRESUMED CONSENT or DEEMED CONSENT
In this Bill, if it becomes law: the doctors/hospitals in Wales have the full right to take our organs at time of death, WITHOUT ANY WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM US BEFORE AND DURING OUR LIFE ... THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE HUMANELY ISLAMICALLY AND MEDICALLY.

We all know that before any medical or surgical procedure in hospitals today, we have to give our own informed consent before.

So why our basic human right: CONSENT is taken from us in this Bill?

Besides, almost all Muslims who will die in Wales and who did not know about this Bill, their organs will be "TAKEN AND STOLEN" by force, if the Bill is implemented, without giving their own written consent before. Also, those Muslims who were against organ donation and organ transplantation during their life, their organs will be taken, without their knowledge before[hand] and without their consent.

Finally: WE LIKE TO APPEAL TO ALL THE MUSLIMS WHO ARE LIVING IN WALES TO OPPOSE STRONGLY THIS UNJUST UNISLAMIC UNHUMANE BILL BY ALL LEGAL AND PEACEFUL MEANS:
WE ASK EVERY MUSLIM (man or woman) in Wales TO WRITE TO THE MEMBERS OF THE WELSH ASSEMBLY TO EXPRESS THEIR OPPOSITION AND TO ASK THEM TO STOP THIS BILL AND TO EXPLAIN CLEARLY HIS/HER OBJECTION AS A WELSH CITIZEN.

MAY ALLAH GUIDE US AND GIVE US THE VICTORY OVER THIS DREADFUL BILL.

Wassalam Alaikum

Molvi Yakub Ahmed Miftahi
Hizbul Ulama UK
www.hizbululama.org.uk

Those seeking further information on the Fatwa should contact Dr A Majid Katme, Health/medical adviser to Hizbul Ulama UK on 07944 240622

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Induced delivery of non-viable children is neither ethical nor Catholic

In the wake of the tragic death of Savita Halappanar, various pro-life and Catholic commentators have been claiming that inducing delivery of Savita's child would have an appropriate course of action. They claim that an induction does not constitute abortion and is standard medical practice in Ireland.

These commentators are wrong. In its 2009 "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services", the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) teaches [my emphases in bold]:

"45. Abortion (that is, the directly intended termination of pregnancy before viability or the directly intended destruction of a viable fetus) is never permitted. Every procedure whose sole immediate effect is the termination of pregnancy before viability is an abortion..."
....
"49. For a proportionate reason, labor may be induced after the fetus is viable."

Savita was in the 17th week of pregnancy. There is no scientific evidence that unborn children are capable of surviving outside the womb at such a young age. If the doctor in Savita's case had agreed to induce her child,  he would have been performing an abortion. The principle of double-effect would not have justified inducing Savita because:

• the termination of pregnancy before viability (which would certainly have killed the child) would have been directly intended, and would not have been (as double-effect requires) an indirect and unintended effect
• the sole immediate effect of the inducing would have been the termination of pregnancy before viability, thus killing the child
• there are alternative ways of managing these highly distressing cases (see my blog on the International Symposium on Maternal Health held in Dublin in September).

The intrinsic wrongness of inducing babies before viability has been taught clearly by the Catholic Church. In the late 19th century a doctor who practised premature delivery of non-viable children in the belief that it could save mothers' lives asked the Holy Office (now called the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith) if his practice was licit. The Holy Office replied* in 1895:

"In the negative, according to other decrees [of the Holy Office]".

This reply of the Holy Office was approved the next day by Pope Leo XIII himself. One of those "other decrees" (1889) had declared as not "licit":

"every surgical operation that directly kills the fetus".

Another papally-approved reply by the Holy Office in 1898 referred to the 1895 reply above (condemning premature delivery of non-viable children) as a

"decree...on the illicitness of abortion". 

The Church was thus making clear that premature delivery of non-viable children is abortion.

In 1902 another reply of the Holy Office decreed that it was not permitted to extract from the womb an unborn child earlier than six months after conception (at that time, the point of viability), explaining that:

"[W]ith respect to time...no accleration of the birth is licit, unless it be performed at the time and according to the methods by which in the ordinary course of events the life of the mother and that of the fetus are considered."

In other words, premature delivery of non-viable children violates their right to life. Pro-life and Catholic commentators should take care not to deny that truth nor promote such inducing as an ethical response to medical emergencies.

*See "The Sources of Catholic Dogma", Henry Denzinger, Loreto Publications, 1955, section 1889 onwards.

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Savita Halappanavar death tragic but abortion doesn’t save women’s lives

SPUC has responded to claims that Savita Halappanavar’s death was due to a hospital's refusal to abort her unborn child by inducing labour. According to reports, Mrs Halappanavar was 17 weeks’ pregnant when she came to the hospital in Galway. She miscarried and later died from septicaemia. The case is currently subject to investigations.

Paul Tully, SPUC’s general secretary, told the media earlier today:

“The full details of this case are not yet known, so we must await the investigations which have been launched before we can make definitive comments. What we do know is that miscarriage and infection can be managed by proper medical treatment. Abortion is not medicine - it does not treat or cure any pathology."

Leading obstetricians with extensive experience in dealing with these situations have found that they can be successfully managed without abortion, while sometimes the pregnancy can be saved. This was recently confirmed at a symposium in Dublin by Dr Byron Calhoun, a US obstetrician http://youtu.be/RA1UJEHafLk

Mr Tully also said:

“It is not ethical to induce delivery of an unborn child if there is no prospect of the child surviving outside the womb. At 17 weeks’ pregnancy Mrs Halappanavar’s child was clearly not viable outside the womb, as there is no scientific evidence that unborn children are capable of surviving outside the womb at such a young age. Rather than removing the protection of the womb from unborn children, the ethical response to emergency situations in pregnancy is medical treatment of the mother for the conditions causing the emergency. In the case of infection, this is usually timely administration of antibiotics. It is also not ethical to end the life of an unborn child, via induction or any other means, where the child is terminally-ill.

We do not oppose medical treatment which is necessary for the mother and targets her own body but may have an adverse side-effect on the baby such as unintended death/miscarriage, provided this is truly unintended and proportionate to the threat to the mother.

What is rarely reported are the many cases of women who have died from infection or other causes because of supposedly safe and legal abortions. Manon Jones, Jessie-Maye Barlow and Emma Beck would all be alive today if they had not been subjected to abortions in Britain. The Republic of Ireland has the world’s best record in maternal health, without recourse to abortion. By contrast, Great Britain and the United States, with their high abortion rates, have poor maternal health records. It is therefore entirely spurious to argue that Ireland should legislate for abortion in order to save women’s lives.”

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Pro-life analysis of US presidential election reveals need for Church support

Below is a list of articles from pro-life commentators analysing the results of the US presidential election (see my blog of last Thursday about the election). These articles provide useful arguments and data which rebut today's article in The Times by George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which argues that Mr Obama won the election partly because of his strong support for abortion and same-sex marriage. The pro-life commentators' analyses reveal the urgent and essential need for the Catholic Church and other faith communities to throw their full weight behind the pro-life and pro-family movement. The re-election of Mr Obama, the most anti-life and anti-family US president ever, is an historic tragedy, the likes of which will be repeated unless Christians everywhere are converted to believing in and implementing fully the Gospel of Life.

N.B. My inclusion of any article below does not imply endorsement of any of its content.

LifeNews.com:

• Romney Should Have Attacked Obama’s Radical Abortion Record
• Despite Obama Win, Pro-Lifers Win Big at the State, Local Level
• Abandoning Pro-Life Issues Not the GOP Path to Victory
• Exit Polling Data Shows Pro-Lifers Failed to Vote Pro-Life 
• Exit Poll: 21% of Evangelical Voters Supported Barack Obama
• Activists: Romney Should Have Pressed Pro-Life Issues More
• Poll: Evangelical Turnout Increased in 2012 Over 2008
• Despite Attacks on Catholics, They Vote to Re-Elect Obama

LifeSiteNews.com:

• Why Romney lost
• GOP: Competing for the pro-choice 41 percent?

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Obama's re-election is tragic, but failure to preach the Gospel of Life is worse

The re-election of Barack Obama, the most anti-life and anti-family president in US history, is indeed tragic. The truth, however, is that his re-election is but a symptom of a greater evil which extends not just across the US but across the world.

One clue is in the demographics of those who voted for Mr Obama. Analysts of the poll results pointed out that women, Hispanics, immigrants and young adults were more likely to vote for Mr Obama than for Mr Romney. A large proportion of those groups (which also overlap considerably) is Catholic - yet they voted to re-elect a president who has declared himself effectively to be a enemy of the Catholic Church over the issues of abortion, contraception and homosexuality.

Another clue is the fact that, as Fr Frank Pavone of Priests for Life said:

"Many in Church leadership failed to connect the dots between personnel and policy. They prayed and preached against the HHS mandate [President Obama's anti-life healthcare plan], but then were silent about the election, and called the police to remove citizens who leafleted the Church parking lot trying to inform voters about where the candidates stood on this issue."

A third clue is in a comment made to me recently by someone who has attended Mass every Sunday for four decades in Wales. He told me that he had never once heard a pro-life sermon.

These clues - and there are countless more I could list - tell me that the failure of Catholic leaders to preach and apply the Gospel of Life will make future elections of anti-life politicians inevitable.

It is all very well for Church spokesmen like Cardinal Dolan and Fr Lombardi to highlight the culture of life, religious freedom etc. in the wake of Mr Obama's re-election. But unless the Gospel of Life is actually used in practice to stop abortion, contraception and the destruction of marriage among Catholics themselves, there won't be any Catholics left for Mr Obama to persecute. This radical application of the Gospel of Life requires some of the following actions (and many other similar ones):

• the dismissal from office of prelates who give succour to the culture of death - such as Archbishop Rino Fisichella
• the banning from every Catholic church of publications which undermine the Gospel of Life - such as The Tablet
• the removal from Catholic schools of pornographic sex education programmes (such as "Living and Growing") and the unequivocal banning of government agencies committed to giving schoolchildren access to abortion which have operated in Catholic schools with the co-operation of the Catholic Education Service in England and Wales.

In 1988, Pope John Paul II said*:

"The common outcry on behalf of human rights is false and illusory if the right to life is not defended with maximum determination."

Last night's election results are a rude reminder to the Catholic Church today of that fundamental reality.

* My thanks go to Paul Kilbane of SPUC Crosby branch for reminding me of this quotation. 

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Pro-life, pro-family commentators react to Obama's re-election

Top story:

Pro-life, pro-family commentators react to Obama's re-election
Pro-life and pro-family commentators have reacted to the re-election of anti-life and anti-family Barack Obama as US president. Abby Johnson, the former Planned Parenthood centre manager now pro-life figure, said: “Time to get involved in the prolife grassroots movement." [LifeSiteNews.com, 6 November] Dale O'Leary, an expert on the homosexual agenda, wrote: "We must protect ourselves and our families by strengthening our own institutions. We must create an alternative culture, one which will resist the culture of death." [Dale O'Leary, 7 November] Michael Matt, editor of The Remnant Catholic newspaper, wrote: "Barack Obama is not the problem, by the way. We are!  Abortion is ... Obama has been reelected because America, like any nation, will always get the leaders she richly deserves." [The Remnant, 7 November]

Other stories:

Abortion

• 3000 pro-life marchers demand Irish Prime Minister uphold unborn rights [LifeSiteNews.com, 5 November]

Embryology

• £12 million initiative announced to fund research into reprogrammed stem cells [Wellcome Trust, 6 November]

Sexual ethics

• Radical statist agenda behind Ireland ‘Children’s Rights’ referendum: former MEP Dana Scallon [LifeSiteNews.com, 6 November]

General

• Bishop Hopes preaches the Gospel of Life in Westminster Cathedral [John Smeaton, 6 November]
• Plymouth - SPUC Pro-Life Universities Tour [SPUC youth blog, 5 November]

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Bishop Hopes preaches the Gospel of Life in Westminster Cathedral

Yesterday Westminster Cathedral was the latest stop on the pro-life "Ocean to Ocean" pilgrimage, during which a copy of the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa is travelling across Europe as a focus for prayer and hope for the Gospel of Life (see more details in my blog last Wednesday).

Alan Hopes, Catholic auxiliary bishop of Westminster, celebrated Mass and led devotions attended by an estimated 2,000-plus faithful. Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, represented SPUC in the Cathedral and many SPUC supporters were there too. Earlier in the afternoon, SPUC held a meeting in the Hinsley Room, connected to the Cathedral, on the theme of "Ocean to Ocean", which was addressed by several pro-life speakers.

Below are some key extracts from Bishop Hopes's sermon. I wish to thank the bishop for his powerful words and encourage readers to read the sermon in full. Among other things, Bishop Hopes said:

"Tonight we welcome into our Cathedral the replica of the famous and much venerated icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa. It was commissioned in January of this year to be a witness to the Gospel of Life and to the Civilisation of love – pro Life and pro Family ... entrusting to her maternal intercession a reclaiming of the dignity of human life and of respect and support for the Family and of a restoration of family values."
...
"The icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa...has been the object of desecration, abuse and contempt. Scarred by assaults the message of this sacred image is a reminder in spite of anything man can do, the true beauty of God’s love will shine brightly. How marred is our own world by such assaults on the dignity of human life – from the easy discarding of innocent lives in the tragedy of abortion, to the easy discarding of life as it nears its completion in the so called “right to die” and “mercy killing”."
...
"How marred too, is our world by the assaults on the dignity and the sacred nature of marriage and family life. From the beginning God shows us that the family is a sacred unity given by him to provide stability for the human race ... Today’s ideas of living with one another and entering into the commitment of marriage, the acceptance of unfaithfulness and sexual immorality, the provision in law of pre-nuptial agreements which is symptomatic of a general disregard for marriage, the proposed marriage of same sex couples – none of these can replace the ideal of the family – mother, father children - which God intends should provide stability for society as a whole."
...
"Let us pray fervently, today, before the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa that those who are in power will seek to uphold the dignity of human life until the tragedy of abortion and assisted killing is no more; and to support and strengthen the family and the values of family life."

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Nadine Dorries-style radically pro-abortion 'time-limit' legislation must be rejected

Last Wednesday, members of the House of Commons debated the issue of abortion time-limits (full text). Nadine Dorries MP had secured parliamentary time for an adjournment debate in Westminster Hall. Such debates last typically for 90 minutes and no vote is held on the debate's subject. The debate served to show the dangers inherent in the campaign to reduce the upper time for social abortions.

Among other things, Nadine Dorries

• promoted abortion on demand:

"I am pro-choice, and I believe that, up until 12 weeks, that should be the case. I am delighted that more than 90% of abortions in this country take place before 12 weeks."

• called for the Abortion Act to be extended to Northern Ireland:

"[T]he law on abortion should be equal in all parts of the Union. Abortion law needs to be reformed in the UK, and there needs to be parity across the board."

• praised Marie Stopes International (which, by its own admission, "do illegal abortions all over the world"):

"If any abortion provider is to come to Northern Ireland, Marie Stopes is probably the best bet. Marie Stopes is one of the most professional and non-advocacy-driven abortion providers. It has no political ideology and is concerned only for the health of the woman, and it operates in a professional manner. So I think that, if Northern Ireland is to have an abortion provider, Marie Stopes are the people to have."

• mispresented the history of abortion law reform - "In 1990, the 1967 Act was amended to reduce the upper limit from 28 weeks to 24 weeks." - which is not true. Because of amendments to the abortion law made by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Act 1990, the previous limit - which was based on the capability of the baby to be born alive, not a fixed number of weeks (28) - was abolished. A 24-week time limit was introduced, but only for certain cases. In other cases, including where the abortion is carried out on grounds of disability, abortions can be and are now carried out right up to the time of birth. Every child who had reached the stage of development of being "capable of being born alive" was protected by the pre-1990 law. Since 1990 that protection has been removed. So the effect of the HFE Act 1990 was to increase the time-limit for abortion in most instances and in many cases right up to birth. 

• backed discrimination against disabled babies:

"I want to make it clear that my proposal to reduce the upper limit does not include babies with foetal abnormalities or, sadly, disabilities. That is a discussion to be held, as I have said, between parents and doctors. Abortion is available up until birth for foetal abnormalities. My proposal applies to abortions for social reasons."

So let's be clear about the implications of the Westminster Hall debate on the abortion 'upper limit' last Wednesday. Nadine Dorries made it crystal clear that she wants:

• to introduce radically pro-abortion legislation in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy,which would have the effect of increasing substantially the numbers of abortion during that period
• extending such legislation to Northern Ireland; and
• reinforcing current discrimination against disabled babies, allowing them to be aborted up to birth.

A Nadine Dorries-style bill must be firmly rejected by the pro-life movement.

Such radical pro-abortion legislative thinking - sometimes wrongly and grotesquely presented as being based on good pro-life tactical thinking - has a tragic history, to which I allude above and to which I will return again shortly.

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My talk on ending abortion in the UK

On 15 September, SPUC Midlands Region held a conference in Loughborough. I addressed the conference and William Astor kindly made a video of my address, entitled "Ending Abortion in the UK". You can watch the video below on on YouTube:



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What's going on at L'Osservatore Romano?

Two stories about the new James Bond movie appear in The Daily Telegraph today .

One is by Byrony Gordon, a feature writer, who says:

"I couldn't help but laugh out loud at one of the prerequisite seduction scenes, in which ... James Bond steps into a woman's shower uninvited, having only met her an hour or so before. I know the man is a legendary lover ... but I'd have slapped him round the face ... and threatened to call the police".

The other story by Nick Squires in Rome headlined James Bond, licensed to thrill ... by the Vatican reads:

" ... L'Osservatore Romano devoted an entire page and five articles in praise of the fictional spy on Wednesday.

"As the latest Bond film, Skyfall, opened in Italian cinemas, the Vatican paper said it was one of the best of the 23 films made since the franchise began 50 years ago ...

" ... it lauded this incarnation of Bond ... as being 'more human, capable of being moved and of crying: in a word, more real."

Now I'm a father who over the past few decades, with the support of my wife, has cautioned his children against James Bond movies which glamorize the permissive lifestyle. Dare I quote in support of the position I've adopted the following extract from Humanae Vitae? ...

"Everything therefore in the modern means of social communication which arouses men's baser passions and encourages low moral standards, as well as every obscenity in the written word and every form of indecency on the stage and screen, should be condemned publicly and unanimously by all those who have at heart the advance of civilization and the safeguarding of the outstanding values of the human spirit. It is quite absurd to defend this kind of depravity in the name of art or culture (25) or by pleading the liberty which may be allowed in this field by the public authorities."

Of course, it's argued that James Bond films are not to be taken seriously, it's just good fun, and it's extraordinarily difficult in today's moral climate for parents to make a stand on such issues. Do we really want to risk making our children a laughing stock if their friends know they're not allowed to see such films?

My position on this is rather simple. If the film in question depicts an actor, in a brazenly glamourising and explicit manner, committing what for me, if I were doing it, would be a mortal sin, should I be watching that film, let alone allowing my children to watch it?

No serious commentator today is in any doubt about the social consequences of permissive lifestyles which are a fundamental part of James Bond movies. Consider, for example, cohabitation and its lifetime cruel consequences compared with marriage.

The conclusions of research include:

• Living together leads to living alone
• Cohabiting relationships are always more likely to break up than marriages entered into at the same time, regardless of age or income.
• Cohabiting also influences later marriages. The more often and the longer that men and women cohabit, the more likely they are to divorce later
• Both men and women in cohabiting relationships are more likely to be unfaithful to their partners than married people.
• At all socio-economic levels, cohabiting couples accumulate less wealth than married couples.
• Cohabitants have more health problems ... Cohabitants are also much more likely to suffer from depression than married people.
• Cohabitations with children are even more likely to break up than childless ones.
• Unborn children are four to five times more likely to be aborted than babies conceived inside marriage

Like practically everyone else reading the newspapers this morning about L'Osservatore Romano's coverage of the James Bond movie, I have been reading about the L'Osservatore's coverage rather than the coverage itself. Maybe it's much more nuanced than The Daily Telegraph reports today. Maybe the line L'Osservatore takes, reflects the kind of caution struggling parents seek to adopt about such cultural phenonemena when raising their children.

But enormous damage has been done. A few google searches I carried out when I got to my desk this morning at SPUC headquarters in London suggests it's been reported, literally, in millions of news/internet outlets. What is happening at L'Osservatore Romano?

If  L'Osservatore's coverage has been mischievously misrepresented, will a front-page apology be made to parents around the world, the primary educators, and to their children, for what appears to be, at best, a gross misjudgement and lack of editorial prudence?

If it has not been misrepresented, will anyone in the Vatican care about parents and their children sufficiently to seek, urgently, to redress the situation?

What's going on at L'Osservatore Romano and will someone bring it under control please?

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You can join pro-life pilgrimage of Black Madonna of Czestochowa in Westminster or elsewhere in Britain

The Ocean to Ocean* pilgrimage of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa in defence of life will arrive in England on Monday. Special events, services and Masses have been organized throughout Britain in Catholic and Orthodox churches with the support of the Catholic and Orthodox hierarchies.

When the icon of the Black Madonna arrives at Westminster Cathedral next Monday, 5th November, at 5 p.m. there will be Mass in the Cathedral in memoriam for all unborn babies and for healing of those affected by abortion, celebrated by Bishop Alan Hopes, auxiliary bishop of Westminster.

Prior to the Mass, SPUC has organized a pro-life event in The Hinsley Room, Morpeth Terrace, SW1, from 3 p.m. to 5 pm which will feature addresses from SPUC, Good Counsel Network and Helpers of God's Precious Infants. The event will consist of refreshments and stalls, presentations and prayer. The Hinsley Room is situated close to Westminster Cathedral, in Morpeth Terrace between two school playgrounds.

SPUC will also be holding an event at St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham, on Friday, 9th November.  An SPUC speaker will give a brief address at the Welcome Liturgy, which starts at 4.30pm.  From 6.00pm onwards SPUC and Helpers of God’s Precious Infants will have stalls and speakers in the Grimshaw Room at the cathedral.

Ewa Kowaleska, European co-ordinator of the pilgrimage, and director of Human Life International, Poland, has said:

"The Icon travelled over 30 thousand kilometers in 137 days and has been met by nearly 2,000,000 people. Large crowds of people – Orthodox, as well as Catholics – have been greeting Our Lady on Her scheduled route, giving their unwavering witness of faith and their active involvement in the defense of life.

"Since June 15, when this historic and unprecedented pilgrimage began in Vladivostok, the following countries have already welcomed Our Lady's Icon on Her journey:
Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland and Germany. This autumn, the Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa will be visiting the following countries: Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland, France, and Spain. Our Lady will arrive in Fatima, Portugal just in time for Christmas."

Whether or not you can get along to one of the many events in Britain, those wishing to be associated with the pilgrimage can join in the following daily prayer - an Act of Entrustment of the Protection of the Civilisation of Life and Love Into the Hands of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, which represents the heart and purpose of this historic spritual project:

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Chaste Mother of God, Immaculate Virgin.
Into your hands we entrust the great cause of protecting the civilization of life and love.
We live in a difficult time of a massive global attack by the civilization of death.
Very many innocent people are perishing - unborn children, the aged and the sick.
The number of victims already exceeds two billion human beings.
Each day an additional 50 thousand children die in their mother’s womb.
Many people do not want to have any children at all.
Means of destroying fertility and life are becoming more and more common.

Infertility of married couples is increasing.
The human child is becoming a product of modern technology, a donor of cells and organs.
Children “are produced” with designated attributes, subject to selection.
Hundreds of thousands of frozen embryos are preserved between life and death in liquid nitrogen.

International man made law denies legal protection to the life of the unborn child.
More and more countries are legalizing euthanasia.
The attack on marriage and the family is increasing.

O Holy Mother, we promise you that we will defend human life,especially the small and defenseless, with all our strength.

We stand before you, Mother of Our Redeemer,
fully aware that alone we are unable to win that global struggle.
Stand at the forefront of the defense of life movements and lead us.
Protect life! Save the family! Strengthen us!
Obtain from your son the victory of the civilization of life and love!

SPUC has donated towards the British leg of the pilgrimage which has received Catholic episcopal support from Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the archbishop of Westminster, Archbishop Longley, the archbishop of Birmingham, Bishop Mark Davies, the bishop of Shrewsbury, Cardinal O'Brien the archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh and the bishops of Scotland.

Archbishop Elisey of the Russian Orthodox diocese of Sourozh has assured  the support of the Diocese of Sourozh. The Diocese of Sourozh has for its territory the islands of Great Britain and Ireland.

Dr Tom Ward, vice-president of the National Association of Catholic Families, explained to me the signficance of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa. He said:

"The Black Madonna is not an icon, exclusively, of either the Catholics or the Orthodox. It antedates the great schism. It's our common patronage.

"The pilgrimage of the Black Madonna has for the first time in 1000 years caused Orthodox an Catholics to unite in defence of their families - which have never been under such threat from politicians in Britain and throughout the world promoting abortion, same-sex marriage and the destruction of parents as the primary educators of their children.

"In the Ocean to Ocean pilgrimage Orthodox and Catholic families are entrusting to the Mother of God the replacement of today's culture of death  with a new civilisation of love and life based on the timeless values of marriage and the family. This is nothing less than a cultural revolution based on the teachings of Christ."

*Pacific Ocean at Vladivostok to the Atlantic Ocean at Fatima.

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Read Anthony McCarthy's fascinating report of the Cork same-sex marriage debate

On 1 October, Anthony McCarthy, SPUC's education and publications manager, debated at University College Cork Philosophical Society on the subject of same-sex marriage. Also opposing same-sex marriage was Brendan O'Neill, editor of Spiked Online. Speaking in favour of same-sex marriage were Katherine Zappone, a lesbian senator from Canada, and Max Krzyzanowski, an Irish gay rights activist. Do read the whole of Anthony's fascinating report of the debate on the SPUC website. Here are some key quotations from Anthony's arguments:

• "The attempt to make natural institutions [e.g. marriage] conform to personal desires [e.g. homosexuality] is always a grave error."
• "[There is ] no middle ground when it came to competing notions of sex and the family."
• "[T]he evidence does not support the claims of gay parenting promoters. Underlying all the propaganda and citation of methodologically worthless papers is, in fact, a deep rejection of the biological family.  Sometimes this will take the form of supporting, not gay adoption, but the use of donor eggs or sperm to produce a child ... As with gay marriage, the rights of adults here are, it seems, what ultimately matters."
• "[W]e are faced with a new image of the person – one where sexual differences and biological ties are robbed of all meaning, and marriage and the family lose their status as the foundational unit of society."
• "[T]hose seeking to impose a new and incoherent anthropology [i.e. gay marriage] are violently intolerant of opposition to their cause."
• "[T]he [UK] government’s proposal to airbrush certain words from official documentation: words like husband, wife, father, mother."
• "The gay-marriage issue is giving the state extraordinary leeway to interfere in married and family life, which have traditionally been considered no-go zones."
• "[S]terile and unnatural sex is elevated and fruitfulness despised and persecuted"
• "[In contrast] a vision of life that understands the difference between being a parent and being a gamete donor, and in which the love and nurture of young human lives is seen as more important than adult ‘sexual rights’."

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Girls of 13 given birth control jab at school without parents’ knowledge

Top stories:

Girls of 13 given birth control jab at school without parents’ knowledge
The Telegraph newspaper has found that school nurses have given contraceptive implants or jabs to girls aged between 13 and 16 more than 900 times in the past two years. The schoolgirls' parents were not told about the jabs unless the girls gave permission for this information to be shared. [Telegraph, 28 Oct] Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, commented: "Such implants and jabs can act as early forms of abortion. So not only are schoolgirls being introduced prematurely into the adult world of sexual activity, they are also being involved in the killing of unborn children." See SPUC's leaflet and briefing about birth control methods which can cause abortion.

Other stories:

Abortion

• Stopes ‘broke abortion law’ [News Letter, 29 October]
• French Natl Assembly votes for full funding of abortion, free contraception for girls 15 and up [LifeSiteNews.com, 26 October]
• Marie Stopes International, one week on [Pro-Life Belfast, 25 October]
• BBC World helps Marie Stopes vs SPUC [John Smeaton, 25 October]
• Amnesty International part I: Is abortion a human right? [SPUC youth blog, 24 October]

Euthanasia

• Congratulations to SPUC South Wales for well-supported campaign vs presumed consent for organ donation [John Smeaton, 27 October]
• Pro-life experts issue statement challenging the Liverpool Care Pathway [John Smeaton, 26 October]

Population

• The demographic time bomb is most marked in Japan [Peter Saunders, 28 October]
• Batman actor Christian Bale condemns forced abortion in China, honors blind activist Chen Guangcheng [LifeSiteNews.com, 26 October]
• Peter Singer: Abortion is justified for population control [LifeSiteNews.com, 25 October]

Sexual ethics

• UK mother fails in Court of Appeal bid to halt her children’s adoption by homosexuals [LifeSiteNews.com, 25 October]

General

• Oxford - SPUC pro-life universities tour [SPUC youth blog, 24 October]
• Door smashed, cans of black paint thrown into pro-life office during World Prayer Congress for Life [LifeSiteNews.com, 24 October]
• Top ethicist delivers damning opinion on Children's Referendum [SPUC, 23 October]

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Pray for the downfall of children's "rights" referendum in Ireland

At critical moments in history, even secular politicians unashamedly turn to God to pray for Divine intervention.

Famously, Sir Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister during the Second World War, organized "Divine Service" on the quarterdeck of HMS Prince of Wales for his first wartime meeting with Franklin D. Roosevelt, the US president, on 10th August 1941.

After the war, Churchill said:

"On Sunday morning, August 10, Mr. Roosevelt came aboard H.M.S. Prince of Wales and, with his Staff officers and several hundred representatives of all ranks of the United States Navy and Marines, attended Divine Service on the quarterdeck ... I chose the hymns myself – 'For Those in Peril on the Sea' and 'Onward, Christian Soldiers.' We ended with 'O God, Our Help in Ages Past,”' ... Every word seemed to stir the heart. It was a great hour to live. Nearly half those who sang were soon to die."

Today, one of Ireland's great pro-life leaders, Patrick McCrystal, is appealing for 9 days of prayer, starting today, for the downfall in Ireland of the Children's "Rights" referendum. What's at stake for Irish families and for Irish parents is every bit as grave as what was at stake for those on board HMS Prince of Wales - as Pat McCrystal, the father of a large family, explains on the HLI Ireland website.

I particularly commend Patrick's prayer novena to my fellow Catholics for whom it is designed.

I refer visitors to my blogpost last week in which Fr Fleming described the proposed amendment to Ireland's constitution as "potentially be a disaster for Irish families."

The proposed amendment, according to Fr Fleming "represents a dramatic ideological shift in both emphasis and practice", "provid[ing] a beachhead by the state into what has traditionally been the preserve of the rights of parents in the upbringing of their children."

Fr Fleming is a foundation member of UNESCO's International Bioethics Committee, and a corresponding Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life

Whether or not you join Patrick's prayer novena, to which I strongly commend you, everyone should pray - and, if possible, work for the defeat of the amendment.

You might also look at Pat Buckley's blog for a full legal analysis of the wording and text of the referendum on children,

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Congratulations to SPUC South Wales for well-supported campaign vs presumed consent for organ donation

Congratulations are to SPUC South Wales, in particular Wendell and Janet Thomas, for organising a well-supported campaign against the Welsh government's proposals for presumed consent for organ donation. The vast majority of submissions to the Welsh government's consultation (2,601 out of 2,891) were in response to SPUC South Wales' call for action. See Monday's press release from our colleagues at CARE (Christian Action Research and Education) for more information.

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Pro-life experts issue statement challenging the Liverpool Care Pathway

Prof. Patrick Pullicino

Earlier this week senior pro-life medics and experts have issued a joint statement (full text below) which raises serious objections to the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), in reply to a statement by the National End-of-Life programme. The Mail and The Telegraph have published a range of pieces recently about the LCP:

• "Hospitals 'paid millions to put patients on death pathway'" [Telegraph, 26 October]
• "Hospitals bribed to put patients on pathway to death: Cash incentive for NHS trusts that meet targets on Liverpool Care Pathway" [Mail, 25 October]
• "A welcome review of the pathway to death" [Mail, 25 October]
• "Care Pathway condemned by senior doctors as 'medical treatment that hastens death'" [Mail, 23 October]

In another recent development, Archbishop Peter Smith, chairman of the relevant department of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW), last week called upon the Department of Health to launch an official enquiry into the LCP. Although the Department of Health rejected his call, the Association of Palliative Medicine (APM) has announced that it will be conducting its own review. We are, however, doubtful that the review by the APM, which supports the LCP, will address adequately the disturbing claims about the LCP.

Here is the joint statement from senior pro-life medics and experts:

Commentary on the Statement supporting the Liverpool Care Pathway

21 October 2012

The Statement supporting the Liverpool Care Pathway from the National End of Life Programme was published under multiple signatories. We have a number of serious reservations and questions about the working of the Liverpool Care Pathway.

1 The statement says, “it is not always easy to tell whether someone is very close to death”.
The fact is that there is no scientific evidence to support the diagnosis of impending death and there are no published criteria that allow this diagnosis to be made in an evidence-based manner. This is even more true of non cancer conditions. This diagnosis is a prediction, which is at best an educated guess. Predictions have been shown to be often in serious error.
There is no evidence that the diagnosis of impending death can be improved by using “the most senior doctor available “, and an actual misdiagnosis of impending death could result in a wrongful death.

2 “The Liverpool Care Pathway …is not a treatment”.
This statement belies what actually happens once a patient is signed up onto the LCP. The fact that morphine, midozelam and glycopyrrolate are prescribed makes the LCP a treatment protocol.

3 “The Liverpool Care Pathway …is…a framework for good practice.”
In the twenty-first century all good clinical practice is evidence based. Good clinical practice has always traditionally involved a close doctor-patient relationship and the management of symptoms in the best interest of the patient, as and when they arise. The LCP is more than a framework. It is a pathway that takes the patient in the direction of the outcome presumed by the diagnosis of impending death. The pathway leads to a suspension of evidence based practice and the normal doctor-patient relationship.

4 “The Liverpool Care Pathway does not….hasten death.”
It is self evident that stopping fluids whilst giving narcotics and sedatives hastens death. According to the National Audit 2010-2011, fluids were continued in only 16% of patients and none had fluids started.
The median time to death on the Liverpool Care Pathway is now 29 hours. Statistics show that even patients with terminal cancer and a poor prognosis may survive months or more if not put on the Liverpool Care Pathway.

Your statement fails to mention the relief of symptoms at all. We think this is a serious omission. The question of consent is not mentioned either.

If as you say, the LCP does not replace “clinical judgement”, and is a “framework for good”, why is it not endorsed by 28% of senior healthcare professionals? (National Audit 2010-2011)

Patients should receive an individual treatment plan according to best evidence based medicine. They should not be deprived of consciousness, but receive such treatment that is aimed at relieving all their symptoms including thirst. Nothing should be done which intentionally hastens death. An individual care plan based on best evidence is preferable to a rigid pathway.

Signed

Professor P Pullicino
Prof of Neurosciences

Mr J Bogle
Chairman Catholic Union of Great Britain

Dr P Howard
Chairman Joint Medico Ethical Committee Catholic Union

Dr R Hardie
President Catholic Medical Association

Dr A Cole
Chairman Medical Ethics Alliance

Dr M Knowles
Secretary First Do No Harm

Mrs N McCarthy
Catholic Nurses Association

Ms T Lynch
Chairman Nurses Opposed to Euthanasia

Mr R Balfour
President Doctors who Respect Human Life

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BBC World helps Marie Stopes vs SPUC

Last week Anthony McCarthy, SPUC's education and publications manager, was interviewed on BBC World News by George Alagiah, the veteran BBC reporter and news-presenter, about the Marie Stopes abortion centre opened in Belfast. Watch the video below or on YouTube:



Anthony's point - that any abortions which Marie Stopes will perform in Northern Ireland will almost certainly be illegal abortions - is borne out by the admission in 2007 by Paul Cornellisson, Marie Stopes' programme director in South Africa, that Marie Stopes:

"do illegal abortions all over the world"

See the video below, produced by Precious Life, our colleagues in Northern Ireland, which shows that the strategy Mr Cornellisson proposed in 2007 is coming to pass in Northern Ireland in 2012:



It should also be noted that Marie Stopes' abortion operations in Zambia were stopped by the Zambian government as recently as July, when it was discovered that Marie Stopes had performed hundreds of illegal abortions. And in 2004 Marie Stopes' staff in Kenya admitted to performing illegal abortions there too. It is therefore very welcome news that the Northern Ireland Assembly's Justice Committee has launched an investigation into Marie Stopes' Belfast clinic.

In a future blog-post I will explain why Mr Alagiah was so biased against SPUC's spokesman.

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Top ethicist delivers damning opinion on Children's Referendum

A top ethicist has delivered a damning opinion on the amendment proposed in the Children's Referendum in the Republic of Ireland.

Fr John Fleming Ph.D., professor of bioethics at the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute (Adelaide, Australia), a foundation member of UNESCO's International Bioethics Committee, and a corresponding Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, delivered the opinion on behalf of European Life Network, led by Patrick Buckley and based in Dublin. Full text: http://europeanlifenetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/bioethical-opinion-on-implications-of.html

In his opinion, Dr Fleming said: "It is difficult to see how the present Constitutional arrangements are not fit for purpose. The rights of the family and the child are already safeguarded". The proposed amendment, according to Dr Fleming "represents a dramatic ideological shift in both emphasis and practice", "provid[ing] a beachhead by the state into what has traditionally been the preserve of the rights of parents in the upbringing of their children."

Dr Fleming concluded that the "amendment, if passed, could potentially be a disaster for Irish families" and calls upon Ireland's Catholic bishops "to do all they can to persuade the Irish people that such a constitutional change is not in the best interests of Irish families ".

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Must-read pro-life news-stories, Mon 22 Oct

Top story:

EllaOne morning-after pill trial is dangerous
A trial by The Co-operative Pharmacy chain of prescription-free sale of the EllaOne morning-after pill has been described as 'dangerous' by SPUC. EllaOne is claimed to work up to five days after sexual intercourse. The Co-operative Pharmacy is conducting the trial in 40 pharmacies. Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, commented: "Our main concern is that EllaOne is dangerous for unborn children. As well as a form of contraception, EllaOne can also act as a form of abortion, by making the lining of the womb hostile to newly-conceived human embryos, thus killing them. [SPUC, 19 October]

Other stories:

Abortion

• 27% of all human deaths in England and Wales are due to abortion [Peter Saunders, 22 October]
• Protest at Marie Stopes Clinic in Belfast and intervention by Attorney General [Pat Buckley, 19 October]
• SPUC youth blog reviews pro-life film 'October Baby' [SPUC youth blog, 19 October]
• Russian priest saves 2,000 babies from abortion [LifeSiteNews.com, 18 October]
• Uruguay senate approves first-trimester abortions [New York Times, 17 October]

Euthanasia

• Nurse's account of mother's death on Liverpool Care Pathway [Mail, 20 October]
• Retired magistrate 'starved herself to death after being inspired by right-to-die campaigner Tony Nicklinson' [Mail, 19 October]
• 19-year-old woke up as doctors were preparing to harvest her organs [Mail, 17 October]

Sexual ethics

• Redefining marriage - the case for caution [Peter Saunders, 21 October]
• Parents for Children calls for no vote in children’s referendum [Pat Buckley, 18 October]

General

• Down Syndrome student crowned homecoming queen to school's standing ovation [Mail, 19 October]

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SPUC welcomes inquiry into Marie Stopes Belfast

The pro-life movement in Northern Ireland has welcomed the news that the Justice Committee in the Province's devolved government is to launch an investigation into the operations of the Marie Stopes International (MSI) abortion facility which opened amid protests in Belfast on Thursday 18 October. The arrival of MSI has caused widespread public concern that laws protecting children before birth will be overturned.

Liam Gibson, SPUC's Northern Ireland development officer, told the media earlier today that the Northern Ireland Assembly has no choice but to act against the direct challenge to the law presented by MSI:

"Abortion is not health care and in Northern Ireland it is a criminal offence. The Parliament of Northern Ireland rejected the British Abortion Act in 1967 and for the last 45 years the majority of the people and politicians have continued to oppose the liberalisation of our abortion laws. Through the long years of direct rule from London only the force of public opinion stopped successive British governments from imposing the Abortion Act on the Province. The last attempt to introduce it, in 2008 came only months before criminal justice powers were returned to local politicians. It failed because of the pressure brought to bear on the Prime Minister in London."

Pro-life campaigners are calling on members of the public to lobby their elected representatives to urge them to take all the necessary steps to ensure that Marie Stopes is unable to maintain its abortion centre in Belfast.

Liam Gibson continued:

"Public opinion must demand action to shut this centre down. There is too much evidence of Marie Stopes's involvement in illegal abortions in other countries for claims that the Belfast centre will operate inside the law to hold any credibility.

This is probably the greatest threat against the right to life of Northern Ireland's unborn children. We need everyone to raise this issue with their politicians, in their churches and among their families and friends. The financial resources available to MSI are enormous; but the pro-life people of Northern Ireland have fought long against the threat of liberal abortion. They worked too hard for the return of accountable democracy to see our laws and our devolved institutions swept aside by the abortion industry. I believe Marie Stopes have underestimated the level of opposition it faces from the people of Northern Ireland."

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