17 September 2007
UK - Major London Abortion Conference
Marie Stopes International is hosting a conference in London in October to promote abortion internationally. One of the aims of the Global Conference on Safe Abortion, is to teach abortion advocates how to remove the last legal barriers to unrestricted abortion-on-demand in Britain. The Marie Stopes International website says the conference hopes to "build consensus and momentum around international efforts to reduce the unacceptable toll on women's health and lives caused by unsafe abortion. Marie Stopes is an international abortion organisation that grew directly out of the early 20’th century eugenics movement. ...[more]
Israel - Doctor Exposes Nazi Abortion Program
An Israeli doctor has recently published an account of the Nazi use of abortion, euthanasia, and sterilisation to eliminate groups they deemed "inferior stock". The article, "Doctors, Pregnancy, Childbirth and Abortion during the Third Reich," which appeared in the March issue of the Israel Medical Association Journal, shows that Hitler facilitated and promoted abortion and sterilization for "inferior genetic stock" while simultaneously practicing "positive eugenics" by prohibiting most abortions and sterilisation for "Aryan" German women. This practice reflected the same reasoning behind Margaret Sanger's famous slogan "more from the fit, less from the unfit". Dr. Tessa Chelouche, a physician with Clalit Health Services, concludes with a profound question: "Who can confront the Holocaust and not be put on alert to evaluate scientific paradigms and the implications for public policy that flow from them, so that what we, as medical professionals and as human beings, want and identify as good, will be for the sake of respecting and saving human life? … then and now the goal is to produce healthier human beings." ...[more]
return to top
UK – Green Light for 'Human-Animal' Embryos
Regulators have agreed in principle to allow human-animal embryos to be created and used for research. But scientists wanting to use hybrids will still need to make individual applications, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said. Opponents have said many people would be "horrified" by such a move. Scientists want to create hybrid embryos by merging human cells with animal eggs in a bid to extract stem cells. The embryos would then be destroyed within 14 days. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) said they "deplored" the HFEA's decision. "This is not just a case of the 'yuk' factor - there are grave ethical and moral objections to this research and the way it is being promoted." ...[more]
return to top
USA - Latest Harry Potter Book May Promote Euthanasia
The last installment of the JK Rowling series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, contains a justification of a ‘mercy-killing’ – not by the villain, but the venerable leader, headmaster Albus Dumbledore. The kind headmaster’s murder was committed by his trusted servant, Snape, in the previous book. Only in the last book do we know he was acting on Dumbledore’s orders, who requested this last ‘favour’ as he wanted a ‘quick and painless exit’ knowing he only had a year to live. When Snape raises the question of harming his own soul by killing his master, Dumbledore replies, ‘You alone know whether it will harm your soul to help an old man avoid pain and humiliation… I ask you this favour because death is coming for me… with great inevitability.” These are, of course, standard arguments for euthanasia. ...[more]
USA - Suicide Group Secretly Aid Woman Without Informing Family
Phoenix, Arizona: Two ‘death assistants’ are under murder investigation for helping a mentally ill woman commit suicide without the knowledge of her close family members. The body of Jana van Voorhis was found by her sister, Vicki. Because of her mentally unstable condition, Vicki expected pills to be lying around, but was surprised to find a ‘neat and orderly scene’ that looked ‘staged’. Now evidence has emerged that Jana contacted a radical suicide group called Final Exit Network, an offshoot of the Hemlock Society. Potential clients must pay $50 and two guides are sent to help with suicide by asphyxiation using helium (the preferred method, as traces of it are difficult to detect afterward in the blood). Recently, assisted suicide bills were introduced, but overturned, in several states, including Arizona, Vermont, California, and Hawaii. ...[more]
return to top
Nigeria - 18 men Arrested For Sodomy
Eighteen suspected homosexuals have been arrested by the police in Bauchi for alleged sodomy. The accused may be sentenced to death if convicted under the Bauchi State's Islamic Shari’ah law. Prosecuting police officer, Thadius Boboi told the court that the men, who were wearing female clothing, had come to the city from five neighbouring states to celebrate a homosexual "marriage". In a Nigerian Shari'ah state, the governor must give his approval before punishments like death and amputation, passed by Shari'ah courts, are actually carried out. The Federal Government last year banned homosexual marriage in Nigeria, a law that also bans the staging of homosexual rallies. ...[more]
return to top
Australia – Western Australia to Legalise Prostitution
New legislation to decriminalise and regulate the sex industry will be introduced in the state's parliament in the next three weeks. Western Australia's attorney-general, Jim McGinty, says the current laws are a mess and legislation to regulate the sex industry is needed. "What we want to do is give local government the power to regulate where they're located, where they operate," Mr McGinty said. "We want to give police the power to properly control activities that might be crime related, connected to brothels, and most importantly we don't want the absurd situation where police are required to turn a blind eye to any illegal activity." Archbishop Hickey has written to state MP’s, urging them to block the bill which he believes is harmful to women. "There are many reasons for opposing the legalisation of prostitution, but my biggest concern is the damage done to the girls and women who are enticed into the trade," he wrote in the open letter. ...[more]
Another article ....[read]
return to top
Scotland - Methadone Fails 97% of Drug Addicts
A key government drug policy has been exposed as a shocking failure after it emerged that giving methadone to heroin addicts has a 97% failure rate. Research found that three years after receiving methadone, only 3% of addicts remained totally drug-free. The same study, by Scotland's leading drug experts, found that there was a 29% success rate among addicts who underwent 'cold turkey' in a rehabilitation centre. Methadone has been used since the 1980’s in Scotland as a controlled and supposedly safe heroin substitute. But the programme, which costs around £12m a year, has proved increasingly controversial. The number of addicts receiving methadone quadrupled in a decade and there have been tragedies involving children overdosing on the drug. ...[more]
return to top
South Africa – KZN University Invites Herbalists to Counsel Students
In an effort to uphold “tradition and African culture”, management of the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) has invited ‘traditional healers’ and ‘Sangomas’ (herbalists) to counsel its students at its campuses to attend to the needs of African students. The management’s decision to invite the herbalists was an attempt to promote the “indigenous counselling” initiative to complement Western forms of counselling provided by the Student Counselling Centre of the university. Deputy Dean of students, Bheki Ngcobo said that plans were under way to build traditional huts for the healers. He added that some of the problems experienced by students included “being possessed, being unable to concentrate on studies owing to bad spirits, or spirits that required purification and cleansing, and madness caused by bad spirits that needed to be exorcised”. ...[more]
South Africa - Stop ‘Demonising’ Traditional Medicine
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang took a swipe at what she called a “colonial attitude” towards traditional healers. She said, “People who practised traditional medicine were labelled as wizards, while the practice itself was described as uncivilised and barbaric.” She added, “This colonial attitude towards traditional medicine continues today and is being championed by some groups who demand that the government bans the use of traditional medicine.” She claimed that traditional medicine had sustained the health of many people for years and the government would ensure it was developed and awarded the recognition it deserved. Furthermore, she said that the Traditional Health Practitioners Bill, which had undergone rigorous public scrutiny and participation, was probably the biggest milestone she expected to reach soon. ...[more]
return to top |
