Bishop Afrifah-Agyekum is right to link marriage with sanctity of life

As I blogged earlier today, Bishop Afrifah-Agyekum, the Chairman of the health department of the Ghanaian Catholic Bishops' Conference and Bishop for Koforidua Diocese, said earlier this week:

“as the leadership of the Catholic Church in Ghana, we the Bishops recognize that a grave responsibility is imposed on us by our apostolic mandate to reiterate the Church’s true and beautiful teachings on the sanctity of life, the beauty of love, the purity of marriage and family life and the dignity of human sexuality”.

I am delighted that the Ghanaian Catholic bishops' conference are clearly linking marriage (the permanent exclusive union of one man and one woman) to the protection of human life. Earlier this year I spoke at Cleveland Right to Life's Convention "Bringing America Back to Life" and, if you have time, you can view my talk entitled "Why the Pro-Life Movement must embrace the defence of marriage and the family or face defeat".

I also made it clear in my talk that pro-life victory can only be won when church leaders who can reach out to millions of faithful worldwide are working together with the pro-life movement in the unambiguous proclamation of the pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-family message. That's why the forthcoming Family Synod in Rome is so critical. Please pray for its outcome.


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Ghana's bishops launch pro-life conference in context of Family Synod

Ghana's bishops launch pro-life conference

The Bishop in Charge of Health of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) on Wednesday, July 22, 2015 launched a Pro-Life Conference, which is aimed at leading Ghanaians to a deeper reflection of the Gospel of Life and appreciating of the sanctity of life, purity of marriage and the dignity of human sexuality.

The two-day Conference (in which I will have the honour to participate on behalf of SPUC) will be held at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra from Saturday, August 7 to Sunday, August 8, 2015  on the theme: Promoting Life and Family Values in the Continuing Culture of Death.

In October 2014, the Holy Father, Pope Francis convoked an Extraordinary Synod on the family in Rome to enable the Church to reflect on the vocation and mission of the family in the contemporary world and to fashion a response to the very challenges that the family of today faces.

Bishops at the Synod observed that over the years, but most importantly in recent times, there had been an increasing encroachment of the proponents of the culture of death in almost every part of the world including Africa.

From African bishops the Synod discovered that the spread of the culture of death was evident in the persistent attempts by some international organisations, wealthy nations and philanthropists to limit, suppress and even destroy the source of human life among Africans.

Launching the Conference at the National Catholic Secretariat, Bishop Afrifah-Agyekum said that recognizing that Ghana is at the heart of the storm and struggle between the culture of life and culture of death in Africa necessitated the organisation of the Conference.

“Realizing the urgent need for the Church in Ghana to rise up and promote the Gospel of life in speaking against the emerging culture of death in Ghana,” was also one of the reasons for the conference, he added.

He noted that the Conference was to strengthen the witness of the faithful and other Christians to promote the dignity of life from conception to natural death; promote long cherished values of family life such as unity, indissolubility, openness to life and incorporating government, leaders and people in the project of building an authentic culture of life in Ghana.

He said that “The Catholic Church acknowledges the important role she has to play in concert with other like-minded Christian groups and Civil Society Organisations in renewing a pro-life mission in the world and calling on contemporary society to a deeper reflection of the Gospel of life.”

He said “as the leadership of the Catholic Church in Ghana, we the Bishops recognize that a grave responsibility is imposed on us by our apostolic mandate to reiterate the Church’s true and beautiful teachings on the sanctity of life, the beauty of love, the purity of marriage and family life and the dignity of human sexuality.”

Bishop Afrifah-Agyekum, said the Conference was aimed at teaching and training the faithful to understand the Gospel of life and to stand and defend the pro-life position of the Church.

In an interview after the launching, the Bishop said the unconditional respect for the right to life of every innocent person from the moment of conception to natural death is one of the pillars upon which every civil society stands and therefore the State has the primary duty to defend life.

To be actively pro-life is to contribute to the renewal of society through the promotion of family values and the common good, he added, stating that there can be no democracy without the recognition of every person’s dignity nor can there be a guarantee of true peace unless life is defended and promoted.

He lamented that the culture of death was emerging in Africa in a form of population control measures being proposed and propagated in African Nations by some multi-national organisations which had implanted themselves in Africa as a Family Planning Organisations.

He noted that in reality, these organisations were promoting unnatural and artificial means of birth control such as abortion, sterilization, vasectomies, the use of condoms over and above the natural family planning the Catholic Church upholds.

Activities lined-up for the two-day Conference include, a prayer campaign had been declared in all parishes, rectorates and stations from July 22, 2015, lectures by both local and international speakers on August 7, 2015; a pro-life/pro-family match from the from the Holy Spirit cathedral through some principal streets of Accra on August 8, 2015 and the issuing of a communiqué and the encouragement of the mass-media to take up the pro-life campaign throughout the country.

The press launch was attended by members of the Ghana Medical and Ethics Commission, Staff of the National Catholic Secretariat (NCS), and Diocesan Directors of Communications.


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Children of homosexual couples oppose same-sex marriage

Like me, you may be interested in watching this video.

The video simply provides anecdotal evidence supporting the overwhelming case in support of marriage, the lifelong union of a man and woman which is open to children, as the best social context for children to be raised.

No other grouping offers such a high level of that security and stability that human beings need to flourish. Research shows overwhelmingly that children growing up within marriage do better in terms of health, educational success, careers and their own marriages. It is precisely because children matter, that real marriage between one man and one woman matters so much.

In the British context and no doubt elsewhere in the world, we should never tire of pointing out that Government statistics show that (in Britain) children conceived outside of marriage are 4 to 5 times more likely to be aborted than those conceived within marriage.

Tragically, last month, the US Supreme Court,ruled there is a constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry, which no state may deny. In doing so they may well have been misled by research from the American Sociological Association (ASA).

According to Dr Patrick Fagan:

The ASA has weighed in strongly supporting same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting with the potent claim that “the clear and consistent social science consensus is that children raised by same sex parents fare just as well as children raised by different sex parents.” This is a selective and dishonest reading of the research.

In a devastating critique, of the ASA, which can be read in full, Pat Fagan details four national survey reports that, through their sample size, give the lie completely to the ASA’s assertions.

We must do everything we can, without fear, if we truly care about children, born and/or unborn, to resist the march of the ideological footsoldiers of the homosexual "rights" lobby not least in their moment of triumph in the US and in Ireland.

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Another young man inspired to join pro-life fight

Ettore (Finaldi) is 15 and at St Thomas More school in Eltham, south London. He belongs to an Italian family and is the eldest of five children.

He came to SPUC's HQ in London to do work experience, and to learn about pro-life work, and he was very much impressed and inspired - as you will see from the letter of thanks received yesterday from Rhoslyn Thomas, SPUC's youth officer and Ettore's line manager whilst he was working for the Society.

Dear Miss Thomas,

I am writing to thank you for giving me a placement at SPUC. I really enjoyed it. I feel I have learned a great deal whilst I was here about the pro-life movement. I particularly enjoyed the trip to the Houses of Parliament and writing the blog. What I found most interesting was how we put the data [concerning new pro-life supporters] into a database. I have also loved working with the great staff.

This has given me an insight into the world of work and I have loved the independence, and using my time for a brilliant cause. Working in the pro-life field has shown me that I want to join SPUC in the future. I will definitely be going for the internship in three years’ time, I have also spoken to Elizabeth Foody about volunteering here in the near future when I have holidays! I would just like to thank you again for this great opportunity.

Yours sincerely

Ettore Finaldi

I don't know about you, but I love Ettore's vision, his sense of independence and his clear commitment to the pro-life cause. I hope he inspires you too ...

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SPUC speaks for unborn children at the UN

 SPUC's Pat Buckley at
the Human Rights Council in Geneva

One of SPUC's most important activities is to be a virtually constant presence at the United Nations where we battle for the right to life of unborn children.

Pat Buckley and Peter Smith are the Society's representatives at the UN - and they are there right now during the final stage of the ongoing negotiations of the Sustainable Development Goals and Targets (of which more another day) ... Spare a prayer for them, if you would.

Between them, Pat and Peter have clocked up 35 years of patient lobbying of UN delegations from around the world. In great measure, it is thanks to their work (and the work of our international pro-life collaborators) that, for all their terrifying power, the pro-abortion lobby has failed to establish abortion as an internationally-recognised "human right".

SPUC’s UN envoy Patrick Buckley made a powerful intervention in defence of the right to life of unborn babies at the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva last week. The Committee is preparing a new General Comment for Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. A discussion day on the Article gathered together key people and representatives of organisations worldwide on both sides of the debate. You can read below Patrick Buckley’s intervention made following SPUC’s written submission at the Human Rights Committee:

Honourable members of the Human Rights Committee,

My name is Patrick Buckley and I speak on behalf of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children.

We have submitted a comprehensive document setting out the reasons unborn babies deserve protection before as well as after birth, both from the point of view of international law and of relevant scientific research.

This Committee has afforded itself a once in a generation opportunity to consider the implications of Article 6 of the ICCPR but we remind the members that in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties they cannot reinterpret the provisions of the Treaty or expand its meaning.

The basic question is, will the Committee do the right thing and use this opportunity to protect the right to life of the most vulnerable human beings? Or on the other hand will the Committee bow to the ongoing demands of the abortion lobby and attempt to establish a right to kill the unborn rather than logically interpreting the International Bill of Rights and specifically the ICCPR in accordance with its provisions and in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Convention?

Based on sound science, human embryos, from the moment of fertilisation, are new living human beings because of their unique genome and their ability to direct their own development. To use the words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 we are all members of the “human family”. So we say that from the moment of fertilisation we all share a common humanity and that human embryos are equal members of the species homo sapiens. We also say that each stage of development is equal in value to every other stage.

There is a connection between the self-interest of certain communities and the line to be drawn between recognition of persons and non-persons. That self-interest may be driven by eugenic, economic, social or political factors such that those a society wishes to exclude are deemed to be non-persons. History is replete with examples of this phenomenon many of which have been set out in our detailed submission. This should not be allowed to happen.

However cleverly the arguments are presented the taking of a human life the killing of a human being is a heinous crime it is called murder. The killing of the defenceless, the most vulnerable human beings, the unborn baby is the most heinous of crimes and and we call on the Committee to outrightly reject it.

Denying embryonic and foetal human beings their inherent rights can only diminish the whole of humanity and hinder the search for truth that is the essence of the scientific and human endeavour.

Jus cogens (or ius cogens) is a peremptory norm of general international law from which no derogation is permitted and which can be modified only by a subsequent norm of general international law having the same character. The right to life of all human beings has the nature of an intransgressible norm already contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ICCPR, the Declaration of the Rights of the Child 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

We call on the Committee to reject all practices that enable negative discrimination against human embryos and foetuses. Chief among these are the legalization of abortion and approval for all research that harms or destroys human embryos. Moreover, because human embryos and foetuses cannot consent, even research that is supposed to be directed to their benefit must only be considered with the highest degree of ethical scrutiny.

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Catholics and pro-lifers worldwide receive leadership from Africa's bishops

Culture of Life Africa, an international, Africa-centred, pro-life group is doing simply amazing work in Africa - as are the Catholic bishops in Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana and many other nations. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) is proud of our association with their work.

As a Catholic, I am proud of the pro-life leadership being shown by Catholic bishops in Africa for the following reason ... they are showing themselves to be true shepherds of the universal flock of Catholics and the worldwide pro-life, pro-family movement in their prophetic opposition to abortion, contraception, same-sex marriage ideology being imposed on our children, and population control. This is happening at a time of unprecedented confusion evident at the highest levels in the Catholic Church.

Earlier this month, for example, the Catholic bishops conference of Nigeria issued a powerful resounding statement in the wake of the Irish referendum which had accepted same-sex marriage by popular vote and the US Supreme Court decision which had ruled that there is a constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry, which no state may deny. The Nigerian bishops wrote:

“Accepting this western trend by officially endorsing homosexual unions or “same-sex marriage” will be devastating and detrimental to our nation, Nigeria as it will lead to the inevitable deconstruction of the family and the society at large with other serious but negative implications.”

Watch this great video from Cameroon illustrating the pro-life message of the Catholic Archdiocese of Douala, Cameroon, as well as Culture of Life Africa, led by Obianuju Ekeocha (Uju for short) and supported by French-speaking, North East England based, Jean Fleron. SPUC was grateful to be invited by Culture of Life Africa to make a modest donation to their extraordinary, outstandingly generous, pro-life work in Africa, the good consequences of which are experienced by people and nations around the world.

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Nigeria: Catholic bishops advise President Buhari against legalising same-sex marriage

Nigeria: Catholic bishops advise President Buhari against legalising same-sex marriage [24/7 Nigerian News Update, 12 July]

To see a full news summary for 16 July 2015, click here.

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SPUC Peterborough honours Our Lady of Guadalupe

James & Christine Conlon
at the tomb of Katherine Queen of England

Last night SPUC Peterborough invited me to speak after Vespers at the Catholic Church of St Peter and all Souls held in honour of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mother of the unborn) of whom the Missionary Image was visiting the parish from its shrine in Bedford.

Vespers was led by Fr Adam Sowa the parish priest. Before the meeting SPUC Peterborough Chairman, Christine Conlon, and James, her husband, took me to visit Peterborough Cathedral, where Katherine of Aragon, Queen of England, the wife of Henry VIII, is buried.

I was edified to read in the church bulletin of St Peter and All Souls that SPUC is described as upholding "all the tenets of our faith regarding protection of the unborn, sex education in schools, assisted suicide and other life issues and lobbies Parliament on our behalf".

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Spanish pharmacy wins right to refuse selling contraception

A pharmacy in Seville has won the right to refuse to sell morning-after pills, some of which are abortifacient. The pharmacy has won the right to refuse selling the MAP despite being fined €3,000 in 2008 for not selling morning-after pills or condoms. The constitutional court has overturned the decision on appeal, stating that the pharmacy’s “right to ‘ideological freedom’ was violated by the sanction." The pharmacy can now refuse to sell the morning-after pill. However, the court said the pharmacy must still provide condoms, stating it saw “no conflict of conscience with constitutional relevance” there. [Telegraph, 7 July] 

To see a full news summary for 9 July 2015, click here.

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MPs call for buffer zones around abortion clinics

MPs are calling for buffer zones to be established outside abortion clinics. An early day motion proposed by Caroline Lucas MP aims to prevent a peaceful prayer presence outside abortion centres. Nine MPs have already signed the motion. Home Office Minister Mike Penning said police have "adequate powers" to prevent the harassment of women already. [Independent, 24 June]

To see a full news summary for 29 June 2015, click here.

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UN committee calls for Irish abortion referendum

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has called for a referendum on abortion in Ireland. Following a two day hearing in Geneva, the 17-member committee stated its concern at "Ireland's ... legislation on abortion." It has called for a referendum to repeal Article 40.3.3 which protects the right to life of the unborn. The committee also called for a revision of the 2013 Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, claiming it is unclear "what constitutes a threat to a woman’s life." [Irish Times, 22 June]

To see a full news summary for 23 June 2015, click here.

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Voice of the Family statement notes welcome and troubling aspects of environment encyclical

Professor Hans Schellnhuber,
co-presenter of papal encyclical to press

Voice of the Family issued this morning the following statement on the papal encyclical on the environment:

The international coalition Voice of the Family is deeply concerned by the omission from the encyclical letter Laudato Si of a reaffirmation of the Church’s teaching against contraception and on procreation as the primary end of the sexual act.

The encyclical, published this morning, contains the welcome assertions that “concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion” (No. 120) and “that demographic growth is fully compatible with an integral and shared development” (No. 50).

However the omission of any reference to Church teaching on the use of contraception leaves Catholics ill-prepared to resist the international population control agenda.

“God commanded man to ‘increase and multiply, and fill the earth’ (Gen 1:28)” said Voice of the Family manager Maria Madise “but the environmental movement commonly regards population growth as a threat”. Madise continued: “Developing nations are being flooded with contraceptives and subjected to pressure to legalise abortion. Given that contraception and environmentalism so often go hand-in-hand it is deeply troubling that Church teaching on the primacy of procreation is not reaffirmed.”

Patrick Buckley, UN lobbyist for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), noted that “The encyclical calls for increased international environmental action in paragraphs 173-175, while neglecting to prepare Catholics for what such action will undoubtedly involve: renewed attempts to further impose contraception and abortion on the developing world.”

Professor Hans Schellnhuber was among those chosen by the Holy See to present the encyclical to the press this morning. Schellnhuber has previously stated that the “carrying capacity of the planet” is “below 1 billion people”. The global population would have to be reduced by more than 80% to meet this target.

John-Henry Westen, co-founder of Voice of the Family and editor-in-chief of LifeSiteNews commented “Professor Schellnhuber is an advocate of the establishment of a supreme global government that would have the power to take action to resolve the perceived environmental crisis, which in his view requires population reduction. In this context the references in the encyclical to the need for a ‘world political authority’, which should have the power to ‘sanction’, is deeply troubling.”

Yesterday it was revealed that Professor Schellnhuber has been appointed a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS) by Pope Francis.

In November 2015 the PAS will be holding workshops to discuss how to use “children as agents of change”. The programme involves strategising on how to deploy children to advance the environmental agenda worldwide. Such efforts seem to be endorsed by the encyclical in paragraphs 209-215. Some of those involved in the workshops, such as Jeffrey Sachs, are among the most vehement promoters of contraception and even abortion as necessary elements of population control.

John Smeaton, co-founder of Voice of the Family and Chief Executive of SPUC, stated “The international environmental movement often seeks to convince children that the world is overpopulated and that this must be resolved by controlling reproduction through contraception and access to abortion. There is now grave danger that our children will be exposed to this agenda under the guise of education on environmental concerns. The proposed plans of the PAS, and the lack of clear teaching on these dangers in the encyclical, put us on our guard. Catholic parents must resist all attacks on our children, even when they emanate from within the Vatican.”

About Voice of the Family:

Voice of the Family can be contacted by email to enquiry@voiceofthefamily.info or by telephone on +44 (0)20 7820 3148 (UK landline)

Follow Voice of the Family via:
• email subscription via the website
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Voice of the Family is an international lay coalition of major pro-life and pro-family organizations that has formed to offer expertise and resources to leaders of the church, the media, NGOs, and governments before, during, and after the Catholic Church’s Synod on the Family.


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Report reveals Belgian GPs are killing patients who have not requested death

A professor at Hull university has written a report which revealed "around one in every 60 deaths of a patient under GP care involves someone who has not requested euthanasia." Authored by Professor Raphael Cohen-Almagor of Hull university and published by the Journal of Medical Ethics, the report brings into question the existing euthanasia laws in Belgium. Cohen-Almagor states: "The decision as to which life is no longer worth living is not in the hands of the patient but in the hands of the doctor." [Daily Mail, 12 June]

To see a full news summary for 17 June 2015, click here.

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Get married to avoid the heartache of abortion

Figures released by the NHS reveal that marriage is the great protector from abortion. Of the 184,571 abortions performed in England and Wales last year over 80% were performed on unmarried women and girls.

Paul Tully, general secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children said: “The statistics reveal yet again another catastrophic loss of life with over 184,000 lives ended at NHS expense and two-thirds of these taking place in private clinics at public expense.”

“We know that most women do not want abortions and therefore call on tax payers’ money to be used more wisely to avoid abortion. Stable family life, in particular marriage, is hugely important to providing women with the security to continue their pregnancies and the figures testify that marriage is key to that stability.”

“We want to see a country which provides the support needed to welcome life rather than see women pressurised for a variety of reasons to seek abortion.”

“Another indicator of the anti-life culture is that more than 3,000 babies lives are ended simply because they are at risk of suffering a handicap” concluded Mr. Tully.

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Vulnerable people threatened by Labour MP's suicide proposal

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children fears that vulnerable people will be adversely affected by the decision of Rob Marris, Labour MP for Wolverhampton South West, to propose an 'Assisted Dying' bill in the House of Commons. The bill is expected to single out people who are terminally ill or have disabilities as candidates for help to die.

A similar proposal was defeated on 27th May 2015 in the Scottish Parliament.

Commenting on the Mr Marris's decision, John Deighan, of SPUC Scotland, said:

"We are disturbed that Rob Marris MP has chosen to prioritise the issue of assisted suicide. When properly examined assisted suicide is revealed as a grave danger to the vulnerable and disabled. It is not possible to safeguard effectively against coercion, and the so-called right to die easily becomes a duty to die. Establishing laws which endorse the view that some people are better off dead creates a regime which endangers the weakest members of society. We should maintain equal protection for the rights of those who are vulnerable.

"For reasons such as these Scottish politicians recently rejected assisted suicide proposals in considerable numbers. We call on Members of Parliament to do likewise with this proposal," concluded Mr Deighan.


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Abortion case in Appeal Court serves abortion industry's interests

Abortion and Northern Ireland are in the legal spotlight today in the Appeal Court in London.

The pro-abortion narrative regarding this case is that it's about Northern Irish women being able to get free abortions on the NHS in England. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) in Northern Ireland, on the other hand, sees the hand of the abortion industry very much at work seeking to feather abortionists' nests at the expense of women and unborn children.

Liam Gibson, SPUC's Northern Ireland officer, issued the following statement today.

Women in Northern Ireland are clearly looking for better options than abortion according to the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC). As the Court of Appeal hears the case of R(A and B) v. Secretary of State for Health, SPUC has pointed to the declining number of Northern Irish women travelling to England to get an abortion.

"15 years ago, around 1,600 women were going to England to have abortions. This figure has dropped steadily since then with only 802 recorded in 2013", said Liam Gibson, SPUC Development Officer in Northern Ireland. "This tells us that women in Northern Ireland facing a crisis pregnancy are looking for better options. Help is available for any woman who feels she cannot cope. Abortion is never a solution."

The case before the Appeal Court today is a further attempt to get the Secretary of State for Health in England to give women from Northern Ireland 'free' abortions on the NHS.

Mr Gibson said: "The right to life of unborn children in Northern Ireland is protected by the law. This case serves the interests of the abortion industry. It is not about the welfare of women and the lives of their children."

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Cardinal Pell and Cardinal Burke encourage pro-life and pro-family advocates

I 

Whilst in Rome for Voice of the Family meetings and for Italy's March for Life, our Voice of the Family/SPUC team had the pleasure of meeting Cardinal Burke:

Cardinal Burke joins SPUC/Voice of the Family team
at Italy's March for Life in Rome last Sunday

His Eminence joined pro-life marchers on Sunday, giving great encouragement to us all by his presence.

Cardinal Burke also presided in the ancient rites of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction at Chiesa Di San Salvatore in Lauro, Rome, on the eve of the March for Life:

Earlier in the day, Cardinal Burke joined our Voice of the Family Rome Life Forum held in the Vatican and listened attentively to His Eminence George Cardinal Pell, who addressed our group of 120 pro-life leaders from around the world:

I had the honour of chairing the event and of introducing Cardinal Pell. He spoke on "Parents as the best educators". His comments in answer to questions on the forthcoming Ordinary Synod on the Family were typically robust and were founded on the constant, unchanging teaching of the Catholic Church. His words were re-echoed, I'm pleased to say, in news reports around the world, including The Washington Post which reported:

"Church teaching, he said, referencing papal documents such as those of St. John Paul II on marriage and family, can’t be “abdicated, (because) it’s based on the teachings of Christ.”

" ... When it comes to October’s Synod of Bishops on the Family, the cardinal said he expects “the synod will massively endorse the tradition” of the Church’s teachings on these issues.

"There is a great desire to help people and to be compassionate, and these are things everyone wants, he noted, saying he believes synod delegates “will recognize that the Christian tradition of St. John Paul the Great, Benedict, the Council of Trent, is well established … and I don’t anticipate any deviation of that.”

Earlier, during my own address to the Forum, I explained why the Synod on the Family is of fundamental significance for the pro-life movement. I told them why the Council of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children had voted, without anyone opposing, to support marriage and to oppose same-sex marriage. I said:

"The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), as a pro-life organization, decided to fight against “same-sex marriage” legislation for two reasons. First, statistical evidence on abortion clearly shows that marriage as an institution protects children, both born and unborn.

"Secondly, “same-sex marriage” represents an attempt to redefine marriage, thus undermining marriage and family life, as a growing body of academic research clearly shows. It is this undermining that lessens the protection for unborn children that true marriage provides ...

" ... The destruction of traditional family structures has very grave consequences for all members of society, but it is children, born and unborn, who are especially vulnerable. Government statistics show that in Britain children conceived outside of marriage are 4 to 5 times more likely to be aborted than those conceived within marriage.

"Historically, our nations’ laws protected unborn children from being killed, and so, quite logically and rightly, pro-life movements worldwide have worked tirelessly to restore, or to uphold, such laws.

"By the same token, historically, families based on the indissoluble union in marriage of a man and a woman, have provided children, both born and unborn, with their best hope of life and fulfilment in life ... so, quite logically and rightly, pro-life movements worldwide must work tirelessly to defend marriage and the family.

"The pro-life movement cannot possibly succeed in its efforts to end abortion if the family based on marriage between a man and a woman is destroyed."

To find out how you can help the Catholic Church at this critical moment in history - to assist the Church in re-proposing to humanity her unchanging teachings on marriage and the family, please visit Voice of the Family which provides a commentary on Synod news including full account of the Extraordinary Synod and the disturbing reports published by the Synod authorities last year.

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Fears for women and unborn children freed from Boko Haram

Girls captured by Boko Haram

While rejoicing that women and children, held captive by Boko Haram, have been rescued, SPUC, which has an outreach to Africa, is concerned by the presence of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which claims to be offering "counselling" to the freed women who are pregnant.

UNFPA is one of the leading international groups promoting abortion in the developing world. It is sending huge numbers of reproductive health kits to displacement camps in Nigeria where women rescued from Boko Haram have been taken.  The term "reproductive health" is used to cover a range of interventions including abortion. SPUC fears that these emotionally vulnerable, malnourished women will be pressured into aborting their babies.

Antonia Tully of SPUC told the media earlier today:

"Press stories have focused almost exclusively on the reported high number of pregnancies among the released women. It is extremely worrying that some of these women may undergo abortions, which could cause them further physical and emotional trauma in their already weakened state. The deaths of their unborn babies would add to the toll of lives lost in this tragic situation."

Antonia has recently returned from a major conference in Nigeria, at which Nigerians denounced Western agencies imposing abortion on their culture which values human life.

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Applications now open for SPUC internships 2015

SPUC's interns in 2011

Every year SPUC offers internship places at its headquarters in London to young people seeking work experience in the pro-life movement. This year, SPUC is offering two places to applicants aged 18-25. The internship programme covers all aspects of SPUC’s work, including a substantial amount of research, writing, and campaigning, along with some administrative tasks.

The internship will begin on 20 July and end on 28 August. Interns are paid the minimum wage and will be expected to work from 9am-5.30pm, five days a week. The internship will involve some evening and weekend work and travelling. To apply, please email a covering letter and CV to rhoslynthomas@spuc.org.uk or post them to: Rhoslyn Thomas, SPUC, 3 Whitacre Mews, Stannary Street, London, SE11 4AB. Applications close 20 June.

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Why the upset with Chinese scientists who "genetically modify human embryos"

Recently, concerns were expressed about Chinese scientists who "genetically modify human embryos". Fr Fleming, a leading bioethicist, puts these concerns into ethical context in an article he sent me today.

Fr Fleming writes:

The scientific community is in uproar over the newly reported experimental use of embryonic human beings to produce genetically modified human beings. (David Cyranoski& Sara Reardon, “Chinese scientists genetically modify human embryos: Rumours of germline modification prove true — and look set to reignite an ethical debate”, Nature, 22 April 2015,

It seems to have frightened them. Why?

Well, it seems that Chinese scientists have been trying to produce healthy embryos from embryos which have an identifiable genetic defect. They were trying to end up with an embryo with one altered gene in every cell, but with no unwanted damage to any other DNA.

In these experiments 86 embryonic human beings were injected with the enzyme complex CRISPR/Cas9, a gene-editing technique. These ‘defective’ embryos, labelled ‘non-viable’ because they could not result in a live birth, were obtained from fertility clinics. It is reported:

“In almost every case, either the embryo died or the gene was not altered. Even the four embryos in which the targeted gene was edited had problems. Some of the embryo cells overrode the editing, resulting in embryos that were genetic mosaics. And speckled over their DNA was a sort of collateral damage — DNA mutations caused by the editing attempt.”

At this stage the researchers did not plan to actually produce a baby (that is to bring one of these embryonic human beings to term). So what’s the problem? Why the angst?

After all, scientists in the area of reproductive technology have used all kinds of fanciful reasons to get legal permission to experiment on human embryos, embryos which they, the scientists, say are not really human beings anyway. And they were going to get embryonic stem cells from them and cure everything from Parkinson’s disease to Alzheimer’s. That has turned out to be fanciful, the use of embryonic stem cells for therapy having got precisely nowhere, while the use of adult stem cells has powered ahead.

The thing is that scientists and law makers have broken fundamental ethical boundaries. Western scientists may legally kill embryonic human beings and justify it by the utilitarian calculation that much good will come from it. And they were moved to do so by the legal approval of killing the unborn child in abortion, again on utilitarian grounds. If you can kill a 12 week old foetus, an embryo is a mere bagatelle by comparison.

So Chinese scientists think they can do the same. Why should other scientists be so upset?

The upset is not remorse for the killings of human beings. Their concern is about what might happen if these experiments in the end give rise to the bringing of these “improved” or “edited” human beings to term. What if we then discover it has all gone wrong, that every cell in the body of these human beings is in some way contaminated or distorted with catastrophic implications for the physical and/or psychological health of these persons who are now lifetime experimental subjects, and made so without their knowledge and consent?

Even worse, what if the problems associated with such procedures are not discovered for a couple of generations, and these people have spread their defective genes to others by being involved in the conception of new human life?

Reputations of scientists will be called into question with some even questioning the scientific project as a whole. And stand by for litigation for alleged failures of duty of care and negligence! That mustn’t be allowed to happen, must it! Reputation and money are of far greater importance than the killings of the weak and defenceless.

Critic and research scientist Edward Lanphier says “we need to pause this research”. He doesn’t say ban, he just wants a “pause”.

George Q. Daley, a stem cell researcher at Harvard, referring to in vitro fertilization, said: “Their study should give pause to any practitioner who thinks the technology is ready for testing to eradicate disease genes during I.V.F.”. “This is an unsafe procedure and should not be practiced at this time, and perhaps never.”

Well, that is what Lanphiere and Daley think. But they are not really against it, are they? No, but should just be a “pause”, and it just shouldn’t happen “at this time”. The “perhaps never” Daley adds as an afterthought is hardly reassuring. Others, and especially the Chinese, may well disagree with him. And since the medical and scientific communities have successfully abandoned their previous commitment never to do harm to human beings, how can they now, with straight faces, condemn others who are equally ethically challenged.

And law makers in the UK and elsewhere were only too willing to be seduced both by the use of spurious and emotionally charged non-scientific arguments and by the promise of spectacularly successful new treatments for all kinds of serious conditions.

But, unless there is a willingness for world communities to retrace their steps, to again be committed to the idea that science and medicine are there not to harm human beings but to benefit them, then we can expect more of what our mass media so uncritically applauds as “world first”, “the latest breakthrough”, the “last taboo overcome”, and the promise of utopia at the hands of our Dr Strangeloves.

While it is time (past time) for us to wake up from our ethical somnolence, there is no evidence yet that we have the political leaders in the UK who are prepared to face up to the mess they themselves have created. Instead we continue to be governed by those who are deaf, dumb and blind where the great challenges to human life are concerned, challenges to human life that they themselves have allowed, funded, and promoted.

Scientific researchers may not, at this stage, be prepared to go where the Chinese have gone, although I seriously doubt that. Nothing much seems to hold them back. And their own ethical logic suggests that they have no sensible ethical boundaries left to prevent developments in this kind of research.

Their hubris seems unlimited. And as research scientist Edward Lanphier concedes: “The ubiquitous access to and simplicity of creating CRISPRs creates opportunities for scientists in any part of the world to do any kind of experiments they want.”

If you are allowed to experiment on human embryos there will be many groups of researchers (four already in China) that will not be able to resist the megalomaniacal desire to recreate human beings in what they imagine is in humanity’s best interests and according to their own utopian prejudices.

Got that?

Lanphier is really conceding that once scientists are allowed to experiment on human embryos there is no way that you can stop the very experiments which they now say alarm them.

When that argument was used by those who objected to legalising experiments on embryonic human beings, it was laughed out of court as “scare mongering”. Well, some scientists are scared now, but not enough to make them rethink the very basis of their own moral position.

The great Renaissance thinker and writer, Michel de Montaigne (1553-92), in his famous classic Raymond Sebond, made this perceptive observation about hubris:

“Can anything be imagined so ridiculous, that this miserable and wretched creature [man], who is not so much as master of himself, but subject to the injuries of all things, should call himself master and emperor of the world, of which he has not power to know the least part, much less to command the whole?”

Dr John I Fleming
4 May 2015

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