Coronation St assisted suicide episode risks misleading public

Next Monday's Coronation Street

A forthcoming episode of a popular British soap-opera risks misleading the public on the issue of assisted suicide.

Next Monday's Coronation Street storyline depicts 'Hayley', a character with terminal cancer, opting for assisted suicide. 'Hayley' fears that painkillers will cloud her mental processes in the dying phase and thus she opts for assisted suicide in order to take control of her death.

Anthony Ozimic, SPUC Pro-Life's communications manager, told the media this morning:

"Soap operas are successful vehicles for creating emotion, fear and loyalty among the viewing public, but very poor vehicles for fostering the rational, ethics-based and evidence-rich debate needed on assisted suicide. We fear that Monday's storyline will fail to give a medically-accurate depiction of the reality of palliative care in Britain today, which is highly effective in managing both pain-reduction and consciousness.

The public, through no fault of its own, is not well-informed on the issues of assisted suicide and palliative care. Objective, high-quality information on medical ethics is still sorely lacking in schools, universities, and the media. Opinion polls do not convey the facts that the majority of the medical profession does not support assisted suicide, and that the British Parliament has voted several times in recent years against a change in the law."

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New attempt to push Estrela, radical abortion agenda, through European Parliament

New attempt to push Estrela, radical abortion agenda, through European Parliament
As expected, the pro-abortion lobby is trying to resurrect the pro-abortion Estrela report, rejected by the European Parliament last month. The European Parliament plenary agenda scheduled for 16 January includes a statement from the European Commission on "Non-discrimination in the framework of sexual and reproductive health and rights". The Estrela report promoted abortion on demand, restriction of freedom of conscience, and compulsory sex education at primary and secondary school. [Pat Buckley, 10 January]

Other stories:

Abortion

• Pope Francis: abortion kills children "who will never see the light of day" [LifeNews.com, 13 January]
• Israel will offer young women free abortions [LifeNews.com, 10 January]
• Teens who have sex by age 16 account for 75% of all abortions, suggests US research [LifeNews.com, 10 January]

Embryology

• Babies will be genetically sequenced from birth within our lifetime, claims expert [Telegraph, 10 January]

Sexual ethics

• Gender ideology is 'absurd' and 'very dangerous': Ecuador's President Correa [Pat Buckley, 13 January]

General

• Mothers are happier with their lives than any other group in society, suggests study [Telegraph, 13 January]
• Families should only get child benefit for the first two children, says Work and Pensions secretary [Mail, 12 January]
• Congratulations Archbishop Nichols [John Smeaton, 12 January]

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Congratulations Archbishop Nichols

I have just heard the news that Archbishop Vincent Nichols is to be made Cardinal next month. On behalf of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children I congratulate him on this important appointment for Catholics in England and Wales. I can confidently assure His Grace of the earnest prayers of our supporters, both Catholic and non-Catholic as he assumes his new office.

As Pope John Paul II has said, bishops ... "are the first ones called to be untiring preachers of the Gospel of life" (Evangelium Vitae 82). With 570 babies killed daily in Britain and countless mothers and others deeply damaged by abortion may God bless Archbishop Nichols as he assumes his new role.

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Belgium’s oldest athlete killed at his ‘euthanasia party’

Top stories:

Belgium’s oldest athlete killed at his ‘euthanasia party’ [LifeSiteNews.com, 8 January]

Parents’ role in sex education must be protected, say MPs and family groups
MPs and family groups have written to Michael Gove MP, the Secretary of State for Education, stating that parents must be supported and upheld as the primary educators of their children when it comes to sex education. The letter, signed by 20 groups and individuals, supports Mr Gove in his refusal to amend current guidelines on teaching sex and relationships education (SRE) in schools. [SPUC, 8 January]

Ask MEPs to vote against pro-homosexual Lunacek report
Between 3 and 6 February, the European Parliament is expected to debate and vote upon a report by Ulrike Lunacek, an Austrian MEP and the co-president of the European Parliament's homosexual rights group. The report is entitled "Roadmap against homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity". Proponents of homosexual unions and the homosexual agenda are embarking on an attack on a fundamental natural institution - marriage. SPUC supporters are therefore urged to email MEPs, telling them to vote against the Lunacek report. [SPUC, 6 January]

Other stories:

Abortion

• US abortionist fined for running filthy 'meat-market' practice [LifeSiteNews.com, 8 January]
• Man gives up everything, walks across U.S. making reparation for sins of abortion, family breakdown [LifeSiteNews.com, 7 January]
• Ob/gyn stopped doing abortions after seeing her own child on the ultrasound screen [LifeNews.com, 7 January]

Population

• Iran considering giving gold to parents to boost birth rate [LifeSiteNews.com, 8 January]

Euthanasia

• Amnesty International UK is promoting assisted suicide [Alex Schadenberg, 4 January]

Sexual ethics

• Street preacher arrested and held in custody in Dundee for mentioning sexual sin [Christian Concern, 9 January]
• Utah won’t recognize 1000+ gay ‘marriages’ contracted after judge struck down marriage amendment [LifeSiteNews.com, 8 January]
• Labour MP who voted against same-sex marriage dies aged 60 [BBC, 8 January]

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Parents’ role in sex education must be protected, say MPs and family groups

Michael Gove, education secretary

MPs and family groups have written to Michael Gove MP, the Secretary of State for Education, stating that parents must be supported and upheld as the primary educators of their children when it comes to sex education - see full text of letter further below.

The letter, signed by 20 groups and individuals, supports Mr Gove in his refusal to amend current guidelines on teaching sex and relationships education (SRE) in schools. The Telegraph "Wonder Woman" Campaign is among those championing a re-write of the guidelines and sees Mr Gove as the only blockage in their way. But family campaigners fear any such move would further undermine the role of parents and pave the way for compulsory sex education.

Antonia Tully of the SPUC Safe at School campaign told the media this morning:

"There are over 90 references to the importance of parents in the current guidelines which, as we say in the letter to Mr Gove, is an important recognition that parents matter. Those lobbying to change the guidelines have no intention of involving parents in any re-drafting.

We keep hearing that so-called ‘experts’ are needed to develop and deliver sex education in schools. We are saying that parents are the experts. We look forward to a response from Mr Gove."

The full text and list of signatories of the letter follow below.

Open letter to Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Education

8 January 2014

Dear Mr Gove,

Sex and Relationships Education Guidance

Thank you for resisting the pressure to amend the current guidelines on teaching sex and relationships education (SRE).

We support and uphold parents as the primary educators in this important aspect of a child's education. Current guidance for schools on teaching SRE repeatedly emphasises the role of parents. We fear that changing the guidelines risks removing references to the importance of parents and would be a dangerous step towards compulsory sex education at all key stages.

Those demanding a review of current SRE guidelines do not want parents included in the review process. The Telegraph "Wonder Woman" campaign to bring sex education into the 21st century is calling for "young people, teachers, professionals and online experts" to review the guidelines.
This call has been taken up by three Labour Peers as an amendment to the Children and Families Bill.

Parents must be affirmed in their role as the main educators of their children in matters of sex and relationships. Schools can support them in this role, but should not take over from parents. Sex education is a delicate issue and parents need to be encouraged to teach their children about sexual matters within their own moral framework.

Parents also have a crucial role to play in protecting their children from the influence of pornography via the widespread access to the internet available to children and young people. Most parents would prefer their children not to watch pornography. Yet the ideas being promoted by the Sex Education Forum on teaching pornography in the classroom are focussed on helping pupils to explore pornography, not warning them against it.

Current guidelines on sex education contain over 90 references to parents. This is an important recognition that parents matter. Another recognition of the primacy of parents is their right to withdraw their children from sex education.

This parental right has been under attack in those primary schools which deliver graphic sex education in compulsory science lessons from which parents cannot withdraw their children. We are pleased to see that the new National Curriculum for science in primary schools is clear that information about human sexual reproduction is not to be given in science lessons. We are also pleased that personal, social and health education was not made a compulsory school subject in the new National Curriculum.

The right of parents to withdraw their children from sex education is constantly threatened. Although this right is exercised by a minority of parents, its existence helps schools to resist pressure to use inappropriate material. There is absolutely no evidence that removing this right would have any adverse impact on the well-being of children and we urge you to maintain this important right for parents.

Further, there is no evidence that graphic sex education in primary schools lowers teenage pregnancies. A number of robust studies show that access to abortion and contraception, widely promoted in secondary schools, has not reduced under-18 conceptions.

Please remain firm in opposing any change to the current SRE guidance.

Yours sincerely,

Antonia Tully - SPUC Safe at School
Norman Wells - Family Education Trust
Sue Relf - Challenge Team
Dr Chris Richards – Lovewise
Mrs Valerie Ward – Union of Catholic Mothers
Edmund Adamus - Director for Marriage & Family Life, Diocese of Westminster
Tahera Ayazi – Tower Hamlets Parents Action Group
Yusuf Patel – SREIslamic
Professor David Paton -  Nottingham University Business School
Dr Lisa Nolland – Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group
Kathy Hearne - Campaign to Protect Children
James Wiltshire - Christian Parent Talk

David Amess MP
Bob Blackman MP
David Davies MP
Philip Davies MP
Jeffrey Donaldson MP
Mary Glindon MP
Sir Gerald Howarth MP
Jim Shannon MP
Sammy Wilson MP

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Ask MEPs to vote against pro-homosexual Lunacek report

Ulrike Lunacek MEP

Between 3 and 6 February, the European Parliament is expected to debate and vote upon a report by Ulrike Lunacek, an Austrian MEP and the co-president of the European Parliament's homosexual rights group. The report is entitled "Roadmap against homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity".

The Lunacek report:

• calls for the European Commission and European Union (EU) member-states to recognise homosexual unions contracted in other countries. The aim is to have a pro-homosexual definition of marriage accepted across the whole of the EU. This is a direct attack against true marriage i.e. between a man and a woman.
• calls upon EU member-states to register and investigate so-called hate crimes against homosexuals, and adopt criminal legislation prohibiting incitement to hatred on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. Such legislation serves only to stop people from expressing opposition to the homosexual agenda and has little to do with actual hate.
• calls upon the EU Commission to continue its current monitoring of issues linked to sexual orientation and gender identity in accession countries. This is a push to make the homosexual rights agenda a condition for membership of the EU.

Proponents of homosexual unions and the homosexual agenda are embarking on an attack on a fundamental natural institution - marriage. These attacks inevitably leave very many innocent and vulnerable victims. Marriage as an institution protects children, both born and unborn. Statistics show that unborn children are much safer within marriage than outside marriage. Same-sex marriage represents an attempt to redefine marriage, thus undermining marriage. This undermining lessens the protection for unborn children which true marriage provides.

You are therefore urged to email MEPs, telling them to vote against the Lunacek report. How to contact MEPs:

• list of UK MEPs according to region (website of the EU Parliament Information Office in the UK)

• all MEPs in alphabetical order (EU Parliament website)

Please remember to forward any replies you receive from MEPs to SPUC's political department, either by email to political@spuc.org.uk or by post to SPUC HQ.

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Catholics and others must reflect deeply on the blasphemy in Cologne Cathedral

As a Catholic I was naturally appalled to read about Josephine Witt, a FEMEN activist, who leapt up and stood bare-breasted upon the altar in Cologne Cathedral during Holy Mass celebrated by Cardinal Joachim Meisner on Christmas day. On her chest was written the slogan “I am God.”

Euronews reports that “The activist climbed the altar to protest Vatican propaganda for the criminalisation of abortion".

The stark contrast between FEMEN and the Holy Mass and Christmas will not be lost on visitors to my blog.

As Dan Blackman, a young Catholic on SPUC's staff, put it to me: "It is precisely during the Holy Mass that the words 'This is my body' are said by the priest. Contrast the beauty and truth concerning Christ’s giving of His whole self to mankind on the Cross, with the ugliness of the pro-abortion rhetoric 'my body my rights' which seeks to justify, on the basis of a blatant lie, the killing an innocent child."

However, this incident should not simply appal Catholics (and others). We really need to reflect deeply on its significance.

The fact is that Femen is recognising through this public blasphemy, albeit in a grotesquely distorted way, the fundamental truth which explains the Catholic Church's unequivocal opposition to abortion: i.e. the link between the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, present in body and blood, soul and Divinity in the Eucharist, and the value and inviolability of every human life.

Furthermore, Christmas is the celebration of the incarnation of Jesus and Mass is the re-enactment of Christ's death and resurrection. Pope John Paul II explains the significance of the Salvation story for humanity in this way in Evangelium Vitae [2]

"'By his incarnation the Son of God has united himself in some fashion with every human being'. This saving event reveals to humanity not only the boundless love of God who "so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn 3:16), but also the incomparable value of every human person."

On the basis of this teaching, Pope John Paul goes on to confirm the unchanging and unchangeable teaching of the Church about abortion:

"Therefore, by the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors, in communion with the Bishops-who on various occasions have condemned abortion and who in the aforementioned consultation, albeit dispersed throughout the world, have shown unanimous agreement concerning this doctrine-I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. This doctrine is based upon the natural law and upon the written Word of God, is transmitted by the Church's Tradition and taught by the ordinary and universal Magisterium." [Evangelium Vitae 73]

What Femen did in Cologne Cathedral was appalling and even managed to shock the secular world. A spokesman for the Green party in Germany reportedly said:

"The action by Femen in Cologne cathedral was disrespectful and an unnecessary disturbance of worshippers during a service."

However, I feel bound to ask the question: Is the blatant, ugly, blasphemy of Femen any worse than the reception of Holy Communion by politicians and others who make no secret of their pro-abortion stance?

Should not all Catholics make a new year's resolution - Catholic laity, nuns, priests, bishops and cardinals - to do everything in our power to protect the Holy Eucharist in 2014? Femen's disgusting action simply underlines the fact that the Body of Christ is being exploited by the enemies of the unborn child to advance the "respectability" of the pro-abortion cause in Ireland, in the US, in Britain and throughout the world.


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Spanish abortion restrictions "sincere but misguided" says SPUC

Mariano Rajoy, Spanish PM

Proposals by the Spanish government to tighten abortion laws in fulfilment of pre-election pledges demonstrate the sincerity of the politicians, but amount to misguided compromises that lack sound rational basis.

The proposed law would allow abortion when doctors decided there was a threat to the mother's health or when it was suspected or alleged that the baby was conceived in a non-consensual act.

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

"Killing unborn children conceived in rape perpetuates the stigma of rape and punishes the wrong people. There is no rational basis for saying that babies in this situation are any different from others or deserve to be killed before birth.

The same can be said of situations where there is a threat to the mother's health. In some situations the care of children after birth may have a serious effect on the mother's health. Should we kill children in those situations?

The law should not be based on arbitrary decisions about past events or the limitations of health services, but on protection of the human person. Our awareness of the human characteristics of the unborn increases from year to year with new discoveries about the behaviour of the baby in the womb and his or her developing capacities."

Abortion poses risks to mental health, as British experience testifies, with cases like that of Emma Beck from Cornwall who committed suicide after an abortion. Physical risks to women who have supposedly safe, quasi-legal abortions are serious too. Young healthy women such as Alesha Thomas, Jessie-Maye Barlow and Manon Jones have all died in recent years from the physical aftermath of abortions. These cases may only be the tip of the iceberg. NHS numbers are not recorded for abortions, which can make it impossible to tell whether a young woman who becomes critically ill or dies has recently had an abortion.

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Irish Government to celebrate New Year Marian feast by introducing legalized abortions

The Irish Government is celebrating the feast day of the Mother of God by introducing the legalized killing of unborn children on 1st January 2014

I ask Catholics everywhere to join me in prayer that day to Our Lady, who became the Mother of God nine months before Christ was born, for the mothers, fathers, and children of Ireland on that day.

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Civil service dedicated to implementing same-sex marriage

Chris Bryant, the leading homosexual Member of Parliament, asked recently the following question of the government:

"To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many officials in her Department are working on allowing same-sex couples to convert their civil partnerships to marriages."

Helen Grant, the responsible minister, answered:

"DCMS has approximately nine full-time equivalent policy and legal staff working on implementing the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. The new procedures and processes required specifically for the conversion of civil partnerships into marriages are the responsibility of a number of other Departments."

This is the power of the British state at work destroying marriage and the family now that the same-sex marriage legislation has been passed by Parliament.

Rather than become despondent, however, it is a call to us to give witness to the truth about marriage. In particular, we must defend children in schools, who will be subjected to brainwashing, distortions, and political correctness. We must ensure that children receive the truth about marriage and sexuality. In this connection, readers are encouraged to apply for SPUC's question-and-answer paper on same-sex marriage and homosexuality in schools - please email me at johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk

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Pro-abortion feminists invade Bologna cathedral in protest against rejection of Estrela report

Top story:

Pro-abortion feminists invade Bologna cathedral in protest against rejection of Estrela report
A group of pro-abortion feminists have invaded the Catholic cathedral in Bologna, Italy, to protest against the rejection by the European Parliament of the pro-abortion Estrela report. The protesters unfurled a pro-abortion banner in front of the cathedral's sanctuary. Cardinal Carlo Caffara, Bologna's archbishop, had called upon the European Parliament to reject the Estrela report. [The Eponymous Flower, 18 December]

Other stories:

Abortion

• Boyfriend hit girlfriend in the stomach with a pipe to 'beat the baby out of her' [Mail, 17 December]
• Post-abortive dad is helping save thousands [LifeSiteNews.com, 17 December]
• Court sides with Catholic schools, hospitals against Obamacare [Catholic Culture, 17 December]
• Chile's new president is strongly pro-abortion [Fides, 16 December]

Embryology

• UK: 127 Babies Conceived in Tax-Funded IVF Killed in Tax-Funded Abortions [LifeNews.com, 16 December]

Euthanasia

• France is slowly but surely moving towards assisted suicide [LifeSiteNews.com, 18 December]
• Belgian bishops criticise vote to allow children to choose euthanasia [Catholic Herald, 17 December]
• Assisted suicide ruling cannot ignore right and wrong, says judge [Telegraph, 16 December]

Population

• Chinese professor fired for allegedly violating one child policy [LifeSiteNews.com, 18 December]

Sexual ethics

• UK judge rebuked for upholding marriage steps down [Mail, 18 December]
• Another controversial report to be considered early next year in the European Parliament [Pat Buckley, 17 December]
• Good and bad news as the Australian High Court rules on same-sex marriage law [John Smeaton, 14 December]

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Good and bad news as the Australian High Court rules on same-sex marriage law

There was both good news and bad news this week as the High Court of Australia ruled on the law in the Australian Capital Territory (A.C.T.) which sought to allow same-sex civil marriages. The High Court said that the ACT's same-sex marriage law was invalid, because it contradicted Federal law, which only recognises opposite-sex marriage.

The bad news is that the High Court held also held that:

"s 51(xxi) [of the Australian Constitution] gives the federal Parliament power to pass a law providing for same sex marriage ... The status of marriage, the social institution which that status reflects, and the rights and obligations which attach to that status [marriage] never have been, and are not now, immutable ... When used in s 51(xxi), "marriage" is a term which includes a marriage between persons of the same sex."

So the Federal Parliament could, at some future point, decide to allow same-sex marriages. Thankfully last year Parliament voted against allowing same-sex marriages, and Tony Abbot, the newly-elected Catholic prime minister, is against same-sex marriage. The homosexualist lobby, however, is powerful and well-funded, so we must pray hard for the defence of marriage in Australia.

The content of this week's judgment is a salutary lesson to pro-life/pro-family campaigners not to get carried away by victories, but to form a cold, clear assessment of the texts, voting patterns, lobby-strengths etc. involved in each situation.

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Terminally-ill man fears changes to assisted suicide law

Top stories:

Terminally ill man on why he fears for any changes to the law around assisted suicide [Yahoo!, 12 December]

European Parliament again rejects pro-abortion Estrela report, SPUC thanks supporters

Following the rejection of the pro-abortion Estrela report by the European Parliament plenary session, SPUC has thanked its supporters and colleagues for helping secure the pro-life victory. John Smeaton, SPUC's chief executive, said: "The Estrela report represents one of the most concerted recent attempts to get the European Parliament to exceed its competence and try to impose abortion on European Union member-states. Today's rejection of the Estrela report proves that peaceful and prayerful grassroots lobbying by pro-lifers can have a real positive impact in the political arena. I wish to thank SPUC's supporters at home and our colleagues in Europe for saving lives today." The "Report on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights", put forward by Edite Estrela MEP, suggested that abortion is a human right, called for compulsory sex education for all children in and outside of school, and attacked conscientious objection for healthcare professionals. [SPUC, 10 December]

Other stories:

Abortion

• Pro-life leaders protest at sweeping praise for pro-abortion Mandela [Washington Post, 10 December]
• Men attacked by feminist, pro-abort mob while defending cathedral speak up [LifeSiteNews.com, 9 December]

Euthanasia

• 
  
• Belgian Senate passes bill permitting doctors to euthanize children [LifeSiteNews.com, 12 December]
• Analysis of the Irish equivalent of England's Mental Capacity bill [Pat Buckley, 5 December]

Sexual ethics

• Australian High Court unanimously overturns gay ‘marriage’ law [LifeSiteNews.com, 12 December]
• Putin defends law banning homosexual indoctrination of children [PinkNews, 12 December]
• Porn is destroying modern sex lives, says feminist writer [Mail,  12 December]
• Ireland to recognise same-sex marriages from other nations [Irish Examiner, 11 December]

General

• Read The Telegraph's moving obituary of Alison Davis [John Smeaton, 12 December]
• Dangers of delaying motherhood until 30, warn researchers [Mail, 11 December]

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Read The Telegraph's moving obituary of Alison Davis

Today's edition of The Telegraph has a moving obituary of Alison Davis, the leader of No Less Human, SPUC's division for disabled people. It starts:

"Alison Davis , who has died aged 58, was a severely disabled woman who became a prominent campaigner against the legalisation of assisted suicide, a campaign which was all the more potent because for many years she had wanted to end her own life."

and further down reads:

"From 1983 Alison Davis began working for SPUC’s new Handicap Division (later renamed No Less Human), and after two pilgrimages to Lourdes she was received into the Catholic Church in 1991.

In the years that followed she became a leading spokeswoman not only in opposition to attempts to introduce legislation allowing assisted suicide, but on such matters as abortion, genetic screening and embryonic stem cell research, which she acknowledged might potentially help people with conditions like hers, but opposed on the basis of the belief that life begins at the moment of conception."

and concludes:

"In 2002 Alison Davis won the Clarins Woman of the Year title for her charity work, and the following year was named Britain’s most inspirational woman in a competition organised by the Body Shop and Marie Claire magazine."

The online version of the obituary features a YouTube video of a testimonial by Alison in 2011:



Details about Alison's funeral tomorrow can be found at http://alison-davis-info.blogspot.co.uk/

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European Parliament again rejects pro-abortion Estrela report, SPUC thanks supporters

Following today's rejection of the pro-abortion Estrela report by the European Parliament plenary session, I thank SPUC's supporters and colleagues for helping secure the pro-life victory.

The Estrela report represents one of the most concerted recent attempts to get the European Parliament to exceed its competence and try to impose abortion on European Union member-states. Today's rejection of the Estrela report proves that peaceful and prayerful grassroots lobbying by pro-lifers can have a real positive impact in the political arena. I wish to thank SPUC's supporters at home and our colleagues in Europe for saving lives today.

The "Report on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights", put forward by Edite Estrela MEP, suggested that abortion is a human right, called for compulsory sex education for all children in and outside of school, and attacked conscientious objection for healthcare professionals.

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European Parliament to vote today on new version of pro-abortion Estrela report

Top stories:

European Parliament to vote on new version of pro-abortion Estrela report
Today (Tuesday 10 December) the European Parliament will meet in plenary to vote on a new version of the "Report on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights" put forward by Edite Estrela, the radically pro-abortion MEP. SPUC has urged all pro-lifers to email their MEPs to tell them to vote against the very dangerous Estrela report. The report suggests that abortion is a human right, calls for compulsory sex education for all children in and outside of school, and attacks conscientious objection for healthcare professionals. [SPUC, 5 December]

Proposed abortion changes not wanted in Northern Ireland, says SPUC
Proposed changes to abortion law are not wanted by the people of Northern Ireland nor by their elected representatives, said SPUC Northern Ireland. SPUC Northern Ireland was responding to reports that David Ford, Northern Ireland's justice minister, is to launch a consultation on whether Northern Ireland's abortion law should be changed to allow abortion where the unborn child is terminally-ill or has been conceived in rape or incest. Liam Gibson, SPUC Northern Ireland's development officer, said: "The people and politicians of Northern Ireland have shown, time and time again, that they reject pro-abortion attempts to change Northern Ireland's abortion law. I am confident that they will do so again." [SPUC, 5 December]

Alison Davis, leader of SPUC's division for disabled people, is mourned
3 December 2013: Alison Davis, the leader of No Less Human, the division for disabled people within SPUC, died on Tuesday 3 December, aged 58. She had been unwell for several years, and a long-term difficulty in eating resulted in her sad passing. John Smeaton, SPUC's director, commented: "Everyone in SPUC and the whole pro-life movement will be greatly saddened at her passing. Frail in body, she was full of strength in defence of the most defenceless human beings - disabled unborn children." [SPUC, 3 December]

Related stories:

• Obituary [Catholic Herald, 3 December]
• Tribute to Alison Davis by Colin Harte, her carer [John Smeaton, 3 December]
• Funeral information [Alison Davis 1955-2013, 6 December]
• Alison's "Three Changes of Mind" [Alison Davis 1955-2013]

God rest Nelson Mandela. His record on pro-life/pro-family issues [John Smeaton, 6 December]

Other stories:

Abortion

• Save the Children's sad record of support for abortion and contraception including abortifacients [SPUC, 28 November]

Euthanasia

• English Supreme Court to rule on euthanasia joint case [Telegraph, 8 December]
• Euthanasia in Belgium: Safeguards and controls do not work [Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, 8 December]
• More than 1000 people killed by dehydration in the UK [Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, 3 December]

Sexual ethics

• Croatia helps protect the future of humanity by upholding true marriage [John Smeaton, 2 December]

General

• Eugenics and the pro-abortion campaign in Ireland [John Smeaton, 2 December]
• My comment on Pope Francis's apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium [John Smeaton, 26 November]
• Pope Francis's new document addresses abortion, family, marriage [John Smeaton, 26 November]
• Another excellent pro-life/pro-family Gospel reflection from "Our Faith on Sunday" [John Smeaton, 26 December]

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Act now to stop new version of pro-abortion Estrela report

On Tuesday 10 December the European Parliament will meet in plenary to vote on a new version of the "Report on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights" put forward by Edite Estrela, the radically pro-abortion MEP. SPUC urges all pro-lifers to email their MEPs to tell them to vote against the very dangerous Estrela report.

On 16 October and 25 November SPUC issued action alerts about the Estrela report. The report suggests that abortion is a human right, calls for compulsory sex education for all children in and outside of school, and attacks conscientious objection for healthcare professionals. It is believed that Vicky Claeys, president of the European section of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has claimed publicly to have co-written the report.

When the original version of the report was debated in plenary on 22 October, MEPs voted to send it back to the FEMM women’s committee. On 26 November the FEMM's women's committee again passed the report and has now sent a new version forward to the plenary for 10 December. The new version of the report is extremely dangerous and must be rejected in its entirety.

You can find your MEPs and their contact details via the SPUC website: http://www.spuc.org.uk/campaigns/ (scroll down). Please remember to forward any replies you receive from MEPs to SPUC's political department, either by email to political@spuc.org.uk or by post to SPUC HQ.

The Estrela report is very dangerous because it:

• says that abortion is a human rights concern, uses the myth of backstreet abortion to claim moral high ground yet no national or International law states abortion is a human right (section 33)
• gives free reign to abortionists, calls for the non-prosecution of abortion (section 36)
• presents liberal abortion laws, sex education, contraception as the ideal (section AK)
• says attention should be devoted to killing unborn children, claims sex education and contraception prevents unwanted pregnancies, contrary to the peer-reviewed evidence (section AE)
• calls for the rejection and overriding of all pro-life laws (section 7)
• singles out and attacks traditionally pro-life countries for protecting unborn children (section U)
• wants the EU to skirt around the right of Member States to implement pro-life laws and policies, via EU strategies and policies about public health (section 13)
• wants new EU Member States to make access to abortion and contraception easier, considering prolife laws and policies as obstacles (section 17)
• wants to curtail countries from protecting its citizens, born and unborn (section 29)
• calls for abortion on demand on spurious “risk to health or life” grounds, discriminates against unborn children conceived in rape, makes no mention here of support for mothers who do not want to abort (section 66)
• again calls for the non-prosecution of abortion, dictates to EU Member States and countries wanting to join, making pro-abortion position a requisite for membership (section 37)
• attacks large families (section 26)
• attacks and wants to curtail conscientious objection to abortion, attacks faith based hospitals and staff (section 34)
• targets children and teens, calls for children, teens, young adults to act as sex education propagandists in the EU and even to candidate countries (section K and section 40)
• calls for compulsory anti-life sex education for primary school children onwards (section 41 and 45)
• wants to make sex education a human rights concern (section 42)
• dictates that the homosexual agenda must be promoted in schools (section 51)
• wants the EU to impose abortion as part of overseas development assistance (sections 76, 81, 85)
• anti-life definition of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHRs) purported as a human right, essential for highest level of health (sections G, 1, 4, 14, 25, 67)

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God rest Nelson Mandela. His record on pro-life/pro-family issues

Nelson Mandela (centre)

May God rest Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa who died last night. Below I reproduce the substance of a blogpost I wrote on 1 February 2011 entitled "South Africa's Catholic bishops are wrong to laud Nelson Mandela", which contains details of Mr Mandela's record on pro-life/pro-family issues:

It is absolutely vital that Catholic leaders do not allow themselves to become respecters of persons, swept away by personality cults. Catholic leaders have a duty to stand up to public figures with  anti-life and anti-family records, however praiseworthy their record may be on other issues. The sanctity of human life and the dignity of the family are the foundation and guarantee of all other human rights.

Nelson Mandela and abortion

Mr Mandela has been quoted as saying on abortion: "Women have the right to decide what they want to do with their bodies." In 1996, Mandela signed into law the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Bill, which permits abortion on demand. SPUC's pro-life colleagues in South Africa tells us that the bill was introduced into the South African parliament by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Mr Mandela's health minister. In addition, the wording of the new South African constitution, signed by Mr Mandela in 1996, had made the legalisation of abortion on demand a mere formality. Mr Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) has a strong ideological committment to abortion, with the ANC Women's League strongly behind the legalisation of abortion on demand. The ANC has for decades been in a close political and electoral alliance with the South African Communist Party (SACP) (Mr Mandela pictured with SACP leader Joe Slovo) which also has a strong ideological committment to abortion.

Nelson Mandela and homosexuality*

The 1996 Constitution signed by Mr Mandela made South Africa the first country to forbid so-called discrimination on the grounds of "sexual orientation”. Homosexualist activists have honoured Mr Mandela for this provision.

Nelson Mandela and condoms

Mr Mandela is well-known for his activism regarding HIV/AIDS, through which he has many times promoted the use of condoms.

Nelson Mandela and "The Elders"
Mr Mandela is one of "The Elders", a group of retired international public figures dominated by leading international advocates of abortion, homosexuality and population control.

* The late Pope John Paul II, the great pro-life champion, taught (Evangelium Vitae, 1995, para.97) 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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Proposed abortion changes not wanted in Northern Ireland, says SPUC

David Ford, NI justice minister

Proposed changes to abortion law are not wanted by the people of Northern Ireland nor by their elected representatives, said SPUC Northern Ireland.

SPUC Northern Ireland was responding to reports today that David Ford, Northern Ireland's justice minister, is to launch a consultation on whether Northern Ireland's abortion law should be changed to allow abortion where the unborn child is terminally-ill or has been conceived in rape or incest.

Abortion is presumptively illegal in Northern Ireland and remains a criminal offence.

Liam Gibson, SPUC Northern Ireland's development officer, told the media earlier today:

"The people and politicians of Northern Ireland have shown, time and time again, that they reject pro-abortion attempts to change Northern Ireland's abortion law. I am confident that they will do so again. This consultation is not the result of public opinion but the result of a propaganda campaign orchestrated by the pro-abortion lobby and its willing accomplices in the media, most notably Stephen Nolan."

Abortion is not a compassionate response to the diagnosis of fatal disability. Babies with fatal disabilities are no less human than other children and share the same right to life as all other human beings. The law in Northern Ireland respects that right, while the British Abortion Act has led to the situation where it is lawful to kill a disabled child up to birth.

Abortion in cases of rape or incest is also not a compassionate response for the mother. Abortion simply adds a second tragic and traumatic experience onto the first. Unborn children conceived in rape or incest should not be punished by being killed by abortion. It is a basic principle of natural justice that the innocent should not be punished along with the guilty."

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Details of Alison Davis's funeral

The Requiem Mass for Alison Davis will be offered on Friday 13 December at 12 noon at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Dorchester, Dorset. This will be followed by burial at Milborne St Andrew, the village 8 miles from Dorchester where Alison lived. Further details about the funeral arrangements will be posted shortly.

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Tribute to Alison Davis by Colin Harte, her carer

Colin Harte, Alison Davis, Pope Benedict

Colin Harte, Alison Davis's carer, said today:

"It is with much sadness that I write to tell you that Alison died at home this morning at 8.40am. Funeral arrangements and other information about Alison will be posted in due course at http://alison-davis-info.blogspot.co.uk/ I know Alison's many friends love and appreciate her and many others have long admired her. Having shared her life for a quarter of a century I have known first hand how remarkable she is. Though in some ways she has been well known, so much about her has been 'hidden' during her life. In due course there will be a better understanding and deeper appreciation of this extraordinary woman who is now irreplaceably missed."

See this morning's statement by SPUC and an obituary by Francis Phillips on The Catholic Herald website.

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Alison Davis, leader of SPUC's division for disabled people, is mourned

Alison Davis, the leader of No Less Human, the division for disabled people within SPUC, died this morning at 08:40 GMT, aged 58. She had been unwell for several years, and a long-term difficulty in eating resulted in her sad passing this morning.

In a statement earlier this morning, I said:

"Everyone in SPUC and the whole pro-life movement will be greatly saddened at her passing. Frail in body, she was full of strength in defence of the most defenceless human beings - disabled unborn children. Her keen insight and uncompromising solidarity have proved a powerful defence for the sick and disabled targeted with euthanasia. Her own early struggle with temptations to suicide made her an exceptional witness that life is always worth living. Alison's strong Catholic faith and her love of children moved her to care for disabled children in India. Countless people touched by her life will now be praying that Alison, her family and her friends will receive the peace they seek."

Fr John Fleming, SPUC's bioethical consultant, said:

"Alison was a great pro-life warrior, and a wonderful example to us all of one who accepted her sufferings with astonishing equanimity. I also wish to pay tribute to Colin Harte, whose care for Alison was heroic, constant, and expert, and who greatly enhanced Alison's quality of life in every possible way."

Alison Davis and SPUC's division for disabled people ("No Less Human")

Alison Davis, who led SPUC’s No Less Human since 1982, had spina bifida and was a major commentator on anti-life philosophies and policies which discriminate, lethally, against disabled people http://www.spuc.org.uk/about/no-less-human/alison No Less Human, SPUC’s division for disabled people, their loved ones and carers http://www.spuc.org.uk/about/no-less-human/about promotes the equal status, worth and rights of disabled people, including the most fundamental right of all – the  right to life, from conception to natural death. In spite of serious illness, Alison continued to write, publish and broadcast on the eugenic nature of the Abortion Act and on healthcare, government policies, which treat disabled lives as expendable – including major interviews on BBC’s Newsnight, the BBC World Service’s series Heart and Soul: Choosing Life and leading letters in the national newspapers throughout Britain. In addition, in August 2009 she published a paper showing how euthanasia has spread, starting with the 1992 Bland judgment, and how it has expanded as a result of the 2005 Mental Capacity Act and came to be implemented through the Liverpool Care Pathway.

In September 1982, in my report to SPUC’s national council, I proposed that Alison Davis should be asked to join the Council to represent SPUC’s Handicap Division, now known as No Less Human. The minutes state that my proposal "was warmly agreed by the Council".

Alison's early involvement in SPUC

Not long before, Alison, who had previously been in favour of abortion, had changed her mind on the issue, having read about a baby named Louise born in High Wycombe Hospital who was found to have both spina bifida and hydrocephalus. In Alison’s words:

"Her paediatrician, Dr. Donald Garrow, persuaded her parents that she would be ‘better off dead’ as she would be unable to walk, and would thus compare herself unfavourably with her two able-bodied sisters ...  Dr. Garrow made a video of her last days which was shown on daytime TV, and which I saw. Louise's face was grey, her eyes sunken. I wrote to Dr. Garrow at the hospital and explained that I was disabled to just the extent that Louise had been, and that I felt he had made a horribly wrong decision. In response he invited me to speak to his ‘team’ at the hospital, which I accepted. I cannot remember exactly what I said, but I pointed out that life with spina bifida and hydrocephalus could be full and happy, and that it was in any case wrong to deliberately kill any child on grounds of his/her disability."

Alison remained at the helm of SPUC’s work for disability rights ever since, speaking at SPUC’s Mother Teresa Rally in 1983 and joining SPUC's full-time staff in 2000.

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Eugenics and the pro-abortion campaign in Ireland

Clare Daly TD

Matthew McCusker, one of the authors of SPUC's youth blog, has sent me kindly his reflections on eugenics and the pro-abortion campaign in Ireland, below:

"In a recent blogpost Pat Buckley has drawn attention to the intention of Independent TD Clare Daly to introduce a private members bill in the Dáil (Irish Parliament) to allow for abortion in cases of fatal ‘foetal abnormality’. The Irish Times has reported that the Government will not oppose the introduction of the Protection of Life in Pregnancy (Amendment) (Fatal Foetal Abnormalities) Bill.

The clear implication of all such laws is that unborn children with disabilities, and by extension all people with disabilities, are of less value than other human beings. This is the inescapable conclusion of allowing them to be killed in circumstances where others would be protected. It is no surprise to find that disabled infants are being specifically targeted by abortion advocates. The movement for abortion and the movement for eugenics have in fact always been closely associated with the former developing seemlessly from the latter.

The term ‘eugenics’ was coined by Sir Francis Galton who thought that modern science could be used to selectively breed a human master race. His ideas were soon popularised by figures such as H. G. Wells who wrote that in the world of the future there would be no place for those who ‘who do not come into the new needs of efficiency’. Wells asserted that, in order to deal with those who, through physical or mental disability, fell short of the standard of human perfection, ‘the method that must in some cases still be called in… is death…the merciful obliteration of weak and silly and pointless things.’

Ideas like this were commonplace among scientists and politicians in the first half the twentieth century. In the United States alone thousands of people were forcibly sterilised after being deemed ‘unfit’. An enthusiastic participant in the eugenic movement was Margaret Sanger who, while best known for her advocacy of birth control, considered that birth control was inseperable from the broader re-shaping of the human race through eugenics. ‘The campaign for Birth Control is not merely of eugenic value’ she wrote ‘but is practically identical in ideal with the final aims of Eugenics.’ As well as contraception she favoured a variety of other methods such as the forcible segregation and sterilisation of those, such as the ‘mentally and physically defective’, who she deemed to be no more than ‘human weeds’. The organisation she founded, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, placed itself at the forefront of the movement to legalise and performs abortions in the United States and around the world. In Britain similar views were voiced by Marie Stopes, and the organisation that proudly bears her name is a major abortion provider already established on Irish soil.

TD Clare Daly is only one of many who have sought that unborn children with disabilities be eliminated by abortion. Her amendment is focused on children who would die before birth but the lesson of recent history is that the abortion movement will not stop there. Indeed, the speed with which this amendment follows the ‘Protection of Life in Pregnancy Bill’ shows that the connection between abortion and eugenics is as strong as ever."

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Croatia helps protect the future of humanity by upholding true marriage

Yesterday the people of Croatia voted in a referendum on the question: “Do you support the introduction of a provision into the constitution of the Republic of Croatia that defines marriage as a life-long union of a woman and a man?”

65.8% of those who voted said yes, 33.5% said no. The turnout was 37%.

Croatia's president, government and mainstream media opposed the referendum. However, a petition numbering almost 750,000 signatures, organised by the Catholic group "In the name of the family", enabled the referendum to be held.

The BBC reported that Cardinal Josip Bozanic, the archbishop of Zagreb, said in a letter read out in churches that: 

"Marriage is the only union enabling procreation. This is the key difference between a marriage... and other unions."

What Croatia has achieved helps to protect the future of humanity. Anthony McCarthy, SPUC's education and publications manager, has said:

"Moves which undermine marriage by redefining it out of existence will inevitably impact harmfully on society. [W]here traditional marriage has been weakened and where the sexual revolution has been fostered by those who wish to displace the central role of traditional marriage in society, children suffer, and unborn children suffer most."

Catholic teaching on marriage puts the Catholic Church, of course, in the vanguard of discussions on this topic. It’s therefore important to note what recent Popes have said:

Pope (now emeritus) Benedict said last January in an address to the world's ambassadors to the Holy See:

"In addition to a clear goal, that of leading young people to a full knowledge of reality and thus of truth, education needs settings. Among these, pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman. This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself. The family unit is fundamental for the educational process and for the development both of individuals and States; hence there is a need for policies which promote the family and aid social cohesion and dialogue. It is in the family that we become open to the world and to life..."

Pope Francis, in his first encylical Lumen Fidei, wrote (section 52):

"I think first and foremost of the stable union of man and woman in marriage. This union is born of their love, as a sign and presence of God’s own love, and of the acknowledgment and acceptance of the goodness of sexual differentiation, whereby spouses can become one flesh (cf.Gen 2:24) and are enabled to give birth to a new life, a manifestation of the Creator’s goodness, wisdom and loving plan."

And in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis says (section 66):

"The family is experiencing a profound cultural crisis, as are all communities and social bonds. In the case of the family, the weakening of these bonds is particularly serious because the family is the fundamental cell of society, where we learn to live with others despite our differences and to belong to one another; it is also the place where parents pass on the faith to their children. Marriage now tends to be viewed as a form of mere emotional satisfaction that can be constructed in any way or modified at will. But the indispensible contribution of marriage to society transcends the feelings and momentary needs of the couple. As the French bishops have taught, it is not born “of loving sentiment, ephemeral by definition, but from the depth of the obligation assumed by the spouses who accept to enter a total communion of life”.[60]

[60] CONFÉRENCE DES ÉVÊQUES DE FRANCE, Conseil Famille et Société, Élargir le mariage aux personnes de même sexe? Ouvrons le débat! (28 September 2012).

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Save the Children's sad record of support for abortion and contraception including abortifacients

Save the Children is an international charity, founded in 1919 in Britain, which promotes children's rights and provides humanitarian relief.

In 2012 Save the Children published a report entitled: "Every woman's right: how family planning saves children's lives." The report was produced in the run-up to the London Summit on Family Planning, co-hosted by the Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK's Department for International Development (DFiD), with strong backing from the world's leading providers and promoters of abortion. This summit sought to fundraise money to spend promoting contraceptives, including abortifacient drugs and devices, among the poorest in the developing world. This summit also gave rise to population control themes, along the lines of there being "too many" people e.g. poor people in the developing world. SPUC responded to this dangerous report with a series of researched press releases:

• http://www.spuc.org.uk/news/releases/2012/june27
• http://www.spuc.org.uk/news/releases/2012/july09

In a letter dated 23 March 2011, David Mepham, then Save the Children's director of policy, wrote: "We do not have a formal policy on abortion. Save the Children does not provide abortions in any of its programmes. However, we believe that there are circumstances when a woman must have the right to seek a safe abortion, for example when a pregnancy would risk her health. ... We do promote the use of and access to contraception including the morning after pill." SPUC comments:

• Abortion is never safe and there are no circumstances in which abortion is necessary for women's health.
• According to their manufacturers, hormonal contraceptives such as morning-after pills can act abortifaciently (i.e. cause an abortion), by preventing newly-conceived embryonic children from implanting in the womb of his or her mother. Therefore Save the Children can be said to facilitate and provide abortions if and when a hormonal contraceptive provided by them acts abortifaciently.

A 17 September 2010 Save The Children blogpost on pregnancy in Liberia read: "Most adolescent pregnancies are unwanted and are more likely to end in induced unsafe abortions. The attitudes of parents and that of service providers in the public sector who are not willing to provide services to teenagers compounds their plight."

A 29 November 2010 Save the Children blogpost read: "Save the Children is aiming to pilot a reproductive health education programme in Vietnam, to help teenagers make informed decisions, feel proud of who they are and protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies."

A 5 January 2011 Save the Children blogpost read: "empowerment and rights are essential if women are able to control their fertility. No amount of services or "contraception education" will make a difference unless women’s legal and social status is changed. The UK is also to be congratulated for its strong stand on safe abortion, a controversial topic which needs powerful champions. We are pleased that girls’ education status is seen as vital to improving rights."

A 22 February 2012 Save the Children blogpost on Malawi perpetuates the pro-abortion narrative about the need for liberalised abortion laws to supposedly reduce dangerous back-street abortion. The press release also reveals that Save the Children runs a youth project in Malawi which includes sexual and reproductive health (sex education and contraception) to youth as human rights.

Save the Children's "An Equal Start" report, 2011, includes the pro-abortion narrative about campaigning for liberal abortion laws in order to prevent mothers dying from dangerous back-street abortions. The report also criticises Peru’s 1997 Health Law because it "criminalises abortion"
Save the Children's "Charting the Future: Empowering girls to prevent early pregnancy" report,  2012, perpetuates the pro-abortion narrative that large numbers of women are having dangerous back-street abortions because of restrictive abortion laws and social attitudes. The report also says that "Greater effort needs to be made to make girls and healthcare providers aware of emergency contraception" .

SPUC also had an in-depth entry on Save the Children in SPUC's 2006 charities bulletin which showed that Save the Children has taken clear pro-abortion and population control positions.

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