US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Equates Maternal Health with Abortion

Marie Smith has issued the following press release on behalf of the Parliamentary Network for Critical issues (PNCI)

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking after the meeting of foreign ministers at the G-8 in Canada, has presented all those who struggle to save unborn children from abortion and help their mothers with new reason to be alarmed. Clinton answered a question about making maternal health a priority of the G-8 and whether abortion, along with contraception, should be included in such efforts. Her answer does a grave disservice to pregnant women around the world whose very lives depend on access to life-affirming health care, especially for obstetric emergencies.

Clinton said:

“And if we’re talking about maternal health, you cannot have maternal health without reproductive health. And reproductive health includes contraception and family planning and access to legal, safe abortion.”

PNCI Director Marie Smith reacted to the news,

“Secretary Clinton is revealing to the world that a pro-abortion ideology at the highest levels of the US government has hijacked the noble goal of reducing maternal deaths by re-defining maternal health to include access to abortion.”

“To state that abortion, the deliberate ending of a life, can be considered a legitimate and acceptable part of US global maternal health policy to save the lives of mothers is not only despicable but greatly hinders the reduction of maternal deaths. Governments which value the lives of unborn children must now view with suspicion US efforts to reduce maternal mortality to ensure that access to abortion is not included in the aid package.”

Abortion in developing countries is a dangerous procedure, regardless of legal status, leading to loss of blood and infection. Blood loss is the leading cause of maternal deaths.

According to Smith,

“Maternal health is about saving the lives of mothers. Abortion is a violent act which destroys the life of the child and often injures the mother. If as much attention was paid to ensuring that women have access to health care as there is to promoting access to abortion, the world would be well on its way to reducing maternal deaths. For example, Chile lowered its rate of maternal mortality by providing skilled birth attendants and prenatal care and education to women.”

Smith explains,

“Women need access to health care, not access to abortion. The proven ways to reduce maternal death include ensuring that every pregnant woman is assisted at childbirth by a skilled birth attendant, has access to clean blood for transfusions, antibiotics to fight infection, and emergency treatment of complications. Sadly, these proven mother and baby saving measures are lacking in many countries and will be secondary to the promotion of abortion given this new definition by Secretary Clinton.”

The statement by Clinton takes place at a critical time as the Obama administration is set to reveal details of its new Global Health Initiative (GHI), expected to cost $63 billion over the next six years. One of the four goals of the GHI is to reduce the mortality of mothers and children under five.

According to Smith,

“In every pregnancy there is at least two patients—mother and child—and more if multiples are swimming in the womb. To destroy the life of the child in the womb only adds more lost lives to the millions of children who die before age five from treatable and preventable causes.”

Clinton also went as far as to state that governments should not be involved in making decisions on such areas as abortion and contraception. She explained that while people in a country can have views on such issues that reflect their conscience, religion or other basis, the government cannot.

Smith reacts,

“Mrs. Clinton is forgetting that democratic governments are supposed to reflect the will of the people, not ignore it. Such hypocrisy attempts to invalidate legal and legislative acknowledgement of the dignity of the human being in laws against abortion while embracing the destruction of life as the Clinton-approved position of a government. Mrs. Clinton needs to be reminded of the words of Thomas Jefferson who said, "The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government."


Climb for Life: Let Me Live

Pro-lifers in Ireland North and South are once again invited to take part in the annual Croagh Patrick climb for the unborn. This invitation is also extended to all our pro-life colleagues from other countries who may be able to attend.

The Climb for unborn life will be held this year on Saturday May 1st and climbers are requested to be there at 10am. The Rosary will be recited at Our Lady's Grotto at the base, prior to the ascent. Climbers should arrive early and be ready and should depart in groups. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be celebrated at the summit.

The purpose of the climb is to assist in creating awareness of the need for ongoing protection for the life of the unborn. From the moment of conception, every human being is unique, individual and unrepeatable. To interrupt the process of development of the unborn at any stage, is the taking of Innocent Human life

For our pro-life colleagues from abroad Croagh Patrick, which is situated near Westport in Co Mayo in the west of Ireland is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Ireland and attracts up to 1m. visitors annually, mostly pilgrims. For most pilgrims who visit Croagh Patrick, especially on Reek Sunday the last Sunday in July, the pilgrimage to the top of the sacred mountain is an act of penance and many climb barefoot.

Participants are encouraged to wear Pro-Life T-Shirts or other distinctive pro-life insignia as a witness but are also advised to wear appropriate foot wear, to come equipped with suitable rainwear and are also advised to ensure they have adequate hydration for the duration of the climb.

For further information contact Hilary Mc Bride at 0876311381 or by e-mail to hilarymacbride@yahoo.co.uk

Civil Partnership Bill

Further to previous blogs; 24 October 2009; 11 November 2009; 19 December 2009; 13March 2010; 16 March 2010) on the subject of the ‘Civil Partnership Bill 2009’ that is currently before the Select Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights in Ireland, here are some more thoughts on how people can become involved in an effort to put a stop to the progress of this Bill which, if enacted into law, would have very serious negative and damaging consequences for marriage and the family.

You can express your opposition to the Bill by signing an on-line Petition to Protect Marriage at www.catholicvoice.ie. Any of your friends who may not have access to this on-line petition can make their opposition known by writing to: Catholic Voice, PO Box 11559, Dublin 1. The petition will be presented to the Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, at the end of April.

I recently came across an interesting website – www.campaignforconscience.org. - which well deserves a reading. A representative of the group has been standing at the gates of Dáil Éireann in the last week, hoping to alert passers-by and the public generally to the dangers contained in the ‘Civil Partnership Bill’. "

Marxist Feminist Ideology at the United Nations

A colleague sent me a link to an article in the Brussels Journal by Dr Axelandra Colen which gives some rare insight into the processes of the UN system and how they are cynically used and abused by ideologues in their social engineering strategies.

Dr Colen who, in her capacity as MP Chair of the Belgian Equal Opportunities Committee of the Belgian Parliament attended This years session of the Commission on the Status of Women at UN headquarters in New York. Writes,

“At the recent conference on the Status of Women at the United Nations I represented Belgium. I observed that with the Obama administration the United States has joined the hardcore Marxist social engineers.”

Dr Colen describes the different stages of the process which actually starts with preliminary preparation sessions in each member state.
My observation, Dr Colen writes,

“started at home, where I attended some of the preparatory meetings to define my government’s position on the main theme of the conference. These meetings were attended by civil servants from the ministries and representatives from a plethora of equal opportunities institutes and NGOs, all lavishly subsidized and accountable to no-one. In the name of “women’s empowerment” they were chiefly concerned with the continuation of attention (and funding), on the part of the government and the UN, for their own activities. Through this system of “consultation” at the preparatory level the NGOs themselves provide the input for the “agreed conclusions”, concrete recommendations of the UN for measures to be implemented by governments and various institutions at all levels, from international to local.

Dr Colen tells us that she followed the informal consultations on a draft resolution entitled “Eliminating Maternal Mortality and Morbidity through the Empowerment of Women”.

“Clearly the problem of maternal mortality was only being used as a peg to (re)iterate positions relating to the “empowerment of women”. The resolution was submitted by the new administration of the United States which wanted to make its mark on the UN conference with a very liberal text that included contraception and abortion as means to be promoted and funded by the UN (and by governments at all levels) in efforts to reduce maternal mortality around the world. The Obama administration wanted to enter the world of “women’s rights” apparatchiks and lobbyists with a flourish and immediately take the lead in the feminist cause. Hillary Clinton was returning to the US specially to be present when the resolution, a top priority for the new administration, was officially tabled and accepted on the last day of the conference. Clearly the mood was to be one of triumph. But before that moment the US had to chair endless “informal consultations” to achieve a text which could be accepted by all the UN members.”

The chair was a hard, impatient woman who led the meetings aggressively and would have rammed her text down the negotiators’ throats if she could. The US strategy was consummate. They had found a cross-regional alliance of co-sponsors to submit the draft resolution along with them. A number of these were countries from sub-Saharan Africa: a clever move, as this way the African countries could not form a bloc to obstruct the resolution. Other co-sponsors were Belarus, Colombia, Thailand and Indonesia, and Israel.

Dr Colen commented on the fact that Ireland Poland and Malta objected to “sexual and reproductive rights.” terminology being inserted into the document but notes that neither Ireland or Poland were sufficiently strong in their objections which is a cause for concern.

The spokesperson for the European Union would have loved to introduce such terminology. However, she had to abide by the consensus which the 27 European Union members negotiated in separate informal consultations, held every morning at the headquarters of the EU Representation to the UN and chaired by a delegate from Spain, which currently chairs the EU. Here a similar battle raged, with the Spanish chair pressing for what she called “strong language.” She had prepared a “package on sexual health and sexual rights” for the EU members to agree on, a text which slyly attempted to introduce references to abortion and to “sexual and reproductive rights.” Malta, especially, was in the defense. Ireland, too, stipulated that it could not accept references to sexual and reproductive “rights” but only “health”. In general, though, the Irish representative seemed quite meek. In one informal moment it was mentioned that Ireland and Poland were “coming round”. The sweetness, which the chair bestowed upon them was telling compared with the undisguised mockery that greeted the representative from Malta whenever he asked to speak. On more than one occasion he was subjected to scathing comments on the part of the chair. Informally Malta was referred to as a “hardliner.” Obviously the pro-abortion majority in the room did not regard themselves as hardliners, and could not imagine that others might not share their “enlightened” views.

The activists according to Dr Colen consistently behave with responsibility not to the taxpayers who fund the systems within which they operate, but to their own agenda. This March in New York, the issue was not the plight of ill and dying mothers,

Link to full article

Good News for Northern Ireland on the Pro-Life front

In these difficult days good news is rare on the pro-life front and when it comes it should be made known as widely as possible.

we welcome the devolution of criminal justice from the Westminster parliament to the Stormont Assembly in Northern Ireland.

According to SPUC director John Smeaton a number of pro-life issues will now become the responsibility of the assembly. The Abortion Act he points out thankfully does not apply to Northern Ireland. From 12 April (when the devolved powers take effect) the assembly will be able to amend the existing legislation in respect of abortion, or not, as it sees fit. Sex education is already a devolved matter, but end-of-life issues are subject to Part II of the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1966. From 12 April the Northern Ireland assembly will assume responsibility for them.

There are still battles to be fought, not least the Health Board's determination to issue abortion information in contravention of a recent High Court ruling but the threat of a UK Government imposing abortion on an unwilling Northern Ireland has been removed

Human egg offered as first prize in a raffle

I have BLOGGED many times on the immorality of IVF and assisted human reproduction and the problems associated with it but rarely have I come across such a blatant commercialism of human life as the raffling of a human egg by a fertility clinic.
see Daily Mail Report

This new debasement of human procreation has apparently been arranged as a joint venture between a US and a UK Fertility Clinic, which together offered a human egg as a first prize in a raffle that took place at a London fertility seminar. The winner we are told will get a chance to select an ideal donor egg worth £13,000 and will also be given the choice of viewing the childhood pictures of potential donors before making her choice.
The IVF procedure will take place in America in order to circulate British Fertility laws which are more stringent.

Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics CORE is reported as saying,

"The capacity of the IVF industry to commodify human life reaches a new low with this latest deplorable initiative".

UK "Children, Schools and Families Bill" and broader implications

In his continuing very informative blogs on the ‘Children, Schools and Families Bill’, that is at present making its way through the UK Parliament, SPUC Director John Smeaton refers to the ‘values clarification’ infecting this and other so-called ‘sex education programmes’.

He also gives a link to an interesting and important article on the Catholic Insight website, relating to the activities of what was known as the ‘Frankfort School’. The article is well worth reading from beginning to end, and I give here just a small flavour of it – a list of some of the aims and objects of those involved in the ideology of the Frankfort School, founded in the 1920s, and one of whose main ideas was to exploit Freud’s idea of ‘pansexualism’:

The creation of racism offences
Continual change to create confusion
The teaching of sex and homosexuality to children
The undermining of schools’ and teachers’ authority
Huge immigration to destroy identity
The promotion of excessive drinking
Emptying of churches
An unreliable legal system with bias against victims of crime
Dependency on the state or state benefits
Control and dumbing down of media
Encouraging the breakdown of the family

Sounds familiar?
Much of the above owed a lot to the ideas of Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and William Coulson, psychologists whose ideologies flourished in this part of the world from the middle of the twentieth century. One of them, however, Dr. William Coulson, who later came to realise the dangers – particularly to children, but also to adults – of Maslow’s and Rogers’ plans, travelled throughout the world warning parents, and people generally, not to accept their teachings, and pointing out the destructive results that followed the application of those ideologies.

In Ireland, for instance, the ‘Stay Safe’ programme (related to the UK ‘Kidscape’ programme) was based on ‘values clarification’. In a paper entitled ‘The Use of the School to Secularize our Way of Life’ (1993) it was pointed out, quoting from a Green Paper issued by the Irish Government on the subject of The Role of Schools in Promoting Health and Well-being, that the State was increasingly trying to take over the role of parents:

‘Health Education in Primary Schools aims at providing each child with a foundation for healthy living in all its aspects. It is concerned with the social, mental and spiritual development of the child as an individual and as a member of society, in the communal and global sense.’

Really?

The 1993 paper continues:

‘Under Programmes called Family Life Education/Personal and Social Development/Health Education/Lifeskills/ etc. our school children are being conditioned into a new psycho-sexual/social ethic. This ethic, its theoretical roots premised on research emanating from the now discredited Kinsey Institute, is diametrically opposed to the moral teaching of the Christian Churches – chastity before marriage and fidelity within. Yet this new ethic has been and is promoted as the basis for a socially healthy lifestyle throughout Irish education.
‘Defining this new ethic and devising the strategies that will bring the attitudes, values and behaviour of young people into conformity with it is the mission of a powerful lobby, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) which represents those interests which seek to control the growth of population globally. […]
‘Through mandatory Sexuality Education Programmes which use the internationally developed decision-making/values clarification/problem solving techniques, these Health Education type programmes introduce our children, who have already been helped towards autonomy and self-empowerment, to pagan lifestyles such as early sexual activity, including homosexuality and bisexuality. […]
‘As part of how IPPF sees its central role in the development of a new psycho-sexual/social ethic, it has been campaigning worldwide for children to have legal access to Family Planning information and services including the right to legal abortion without the need for parental knowledge or consent. It is worth noting the IPPF’s affiliate, the Irish Family Planning Association, has been to the fore in promoting Health Education type programmes and in campaigning for Sexuality Education to be included in the curriculum; for young people to have easy access to contraceptives and for abortion to be legalized. It is also playing a role in ‘Child Abuse Prevention’. […]’

Fr Paul Marx “Apostle of Life”

The death has taken place of Fr. Paul Marx at the St. John's Benedictine Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. Fr Marx who held a Doctorate in Sociology was a giant of the pro-life movement and was the founder of both Human Life International (HLI) and the Population Research Institute (PRI). He was almost 90.

Pope John Paul II called him the “Apostle of Life” and told him,

“You must bring this pro-life, pro-family movement all over the earth; and if you do that, you will be doing the most important work on earth."

Fr Marx brought the pro-life message to every corner of the globe visiting over 90 countries and setting up pro-life groups wherever he went making Human Life International the largest pro-life organization in the world but he also recognized the necessity of countering population decline hence his setting up of PRI.

When asked why he founded PRI he said; “I saw the need for an organization to combat the myth of overpopulation. I wanted to publicize the dramatic fall in birth rates, especially in the developed countries. As you well know, about half the countries in the world, including all the developed countries in the world, now have a non-reproductive birthrate. Entire nations are dying out.”

1999 Interview with Steve Mosher

May he rest in peace

Congress approves “Obamacare”

In a major about face the US House of Representatives approved President Obama’s controversial Healthcare Bill. The Democrats led by Rep Bart Stupak who had held out until the bitter end, finally succumbed to the promise of an executive order by President Obama to address concerns about abortion funding.

Pro-Life organizations have been unanimous in their condemnation of the outcome.

"ObamaCare" according to Concerned Women for America (CWA) Creates the "Largest Expansion of Abortion Since 'Roe v. Wade'" Americans according to CWA spoke loud and clear as they repeatedly urged Congress to "Kill the Bill. Congress instead gave them a massive government takeover of the nation's health care system. The sweeping government takeover of health care will according to CWA -

fund abortion, ration care, cut benefits to seniors, raise taxes on small business and middle-class American families, force all Americans to buy insurance or pay taxes,create over a hundred new government bureaucracies, and,give special backroom deals to legislators in certain states.

The CWA statement continued

"This is the biggest expansion of abortion funding since Roe v. Wade. And a flimsy promise of an executive order from the President may make it more comfortable for "pro- life" Democrats like Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Michigan) to vote for the bill, but in the end, such an illusory promise is not even worth the paper on which it's written. Backroom deals and compromises will not soften the blow of this attack on life and liberty as we know and enjoy it. Americans will not forget those Members of Congress who refused to listen to them. They will make their voices heard in November."

The full statement can be viewed on this link


Americans United for Life in a statement said

"Today, Congress ignored the explicit wishes of the American people by voting to establish taxpayer- funded abortion. This reversal of long-standing federal policy will not stand. Furthermore, the assurance by the White House to address the problem of abortion funding in the health care bill through use of an executive order is an open acknowledgement that the bill just passed is pro-abortion legislation.


"The AUL legal team has concluded that an executive order is not an adequate fix to mitigate this legislation's establishment of taxpayer-funded abortion. An executive order, for example, cannot prevent insurance companies that pay for abortions in the exchanges from receiving federal subsidies.
"We will work to dismantle taxpayer-funded abortion at the federal level and begin an aggressive, state-by- state campaign to help states opt out of subsidizing plans that cover abortions through their exchanges. We will also seek every opportunity to litigate this matter in the courts. Given that seven out of ten voters agree that no public funds should pay for abortion, I am confident that with hard work we will succeed.

AUL also issued a statement explaining why the Executive order is inadequate in preventing tax funded abortion

Susan B Anthony list President Marjorie Dannenfelser, in response to Rep. Bart Stupak's announcement that he and the other Democrats who had held out against the measure would vote in favor of it with the promise of an Executive Order from the White House to address their concerns about abortion funding, issued the following statement:



"This Wednesday night is our third annual Campaign for Life Gala, where we were planning to honor Congressman Stupak for his efforts to keep abortion-funding out of health care reform-We will no longer be doing so. By accepting this deal from the most pro-abortion President in American history, Stupak has not only failed to stand strong for unborn children, but also for his constituents and pro-life voters across the country.

"

Dr Nitsche in Ireland

The following account will bring my readers up-to-date on the continuing saga about the Australian promoter of ‘assisted suicide’ who came to Ireland for the purpose of ‘informing’ Irish people how to take their own lives.

Having been barred from four different venues – as a result of lobbying on the part of pro-life people against the holding of his ‘event’ in Dublin – Dr Nitschke finally succeeded in finding space in a small centre that describes itself as an ‘autonomous social centre’ run by a ‘non-hierarchical, anti-capitalist collective on a not-for-profit basis’ in central Dublin. The meeting is reported as having taken place there on 19 March, with about forty people and a good sprinkling of journalists present. The average age of those who came along was evidently about 60 years, and Dr. Nitschke announced that he plans to return to Ireland in the near future to carry out further ‘work-shops’ on how to commit suicide, or to ‘help’ others to do so.

Sadly Dr Nitschke was also given an opportunity to air his anti life views by RTE the Irish TV Station.

It is no harm to remember that 18 March marked the fifth anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo, R.I.P., through dehydration and starvation – brought about by the ‘legal’ strategies of her husband.

Childbirth past and present

For quite some time now there has been a controversy about the medical procedure called symphysiotomy which was performed in a number of maternity hospitals – usually Catholic - in Ireland some decades ago. This involved the widening of the pelvis so that the passage of the baby into this world was made easier for the mother and, presumably, for the baby. Horror stories abound about the subsequent pain and disability in later life that often followed the procedure. The general attitude and response to the accounts of suffering by women who underwent the procedure was, and still is, one of utmost anger and disbelief that a mother could be subjected to such a barbaric practice.
A recent letter in the Irish Times, however, gives another interesting (and frightening) side to the story:

‘Symphysiotomy may appear now as a horror weapon of the past, but it actually saved the lives of many babies.
‘I trained as a midwife in the Rotunda [one of the main maternity hospitals in Dublin, not under Catholic management] around 1956-58. We had lectures on the history of obstetrics but symphysiotomy was not performed there at that period or ever. Rather, what happened there, prior to successful Caesarean sections, was perforation of the skull of the infant and death of the infant to save the mother.
‘Do not forget, when C-sections first became a way of dealing with difficult births, it was rarely chosen, as the mother usually haemorrhaged to death.
‘Why? Because those who operated were not aware that the uterus had to be sutured prior to the closing of the abdominal gap. So in the 1950-60s obstetricians performed under the dark cloud of C-sections and certain death of the mother.
‘To enable mother and child to survive, symphysiotomy was the only answer. It was very rarely necessary.
‘Please see the good work and effort of the past as an advance from dark and appalling suffering misery of the pre-Famine millions in Ireland and elsewhere.
‘Yes, a few were crippled, but they were survivors. Those doctors and obstetricians gave of their best for their patients at that time, most of them have now passed on. I speak for them, may they rest in peace.’

"Abortion is the foundational human rights issue of our lifetime"

Archbishop Charles Chaput, of Denver, Colorado, USA, was speaking recently at Houston Baptist University. The subject of the Archbishop’s talk was: The vocation of Christians in American Public Life.

In the course of his address the Archbishop said:

‘I’m here as a Catholic Christian and an American citizen – in that order. Both of these identities are important. They don’t need to conflict. They are not, however, the same thing. And they do not have the same weight. I love my country. I revere the genius of its founding documents and its public institutions. But no nation, not even the one I love, has a right to my allegiance, or my silence, in matters that belong to God or that undermine the dignity of the human persons He created. …’

He goes on mention a third point to which he referred earlier in his talk, relating to the realities we face today, and what Christians need to do about them.

[…] I listed all the urgent issues that demand our attention as believers: abortion; immigration; our obligations to the poor, the elderly and the disabled; questions of war and peace; our national confusion about sexual identity and human nature, and the attacks on marriage and family life that flow from this confusion; the growing disconnection of our science and technology from real moral reflection; the erosion of freedom of conscience in our national health-care debates; the content and quality of the schools that form our children.

‘The list is long. I believe abortion is the foundational human rights issue of our lifetime. We need to do everything we can to support women in their pregnancies and to end the legal killing of unborn children. We may want to remember that the Romans had a visceral hatred for Carthage not because Carthage was a commercial rival, or because its people had a different language and customs. The Romans hated Carthage above all because its people sacrificed their infants to Ba’al. For the Romans, who themselves were a hard people, that was a unique kind of wickedness and barbarism. As a nation, we might profitably ask ourselves whom and what we’ve really been worshipping in our 40 million “legal” abortions since 1973. […]’

Strong words – but all too necessary in today’s world. I am reminded of the words of St. Thomas More, Patron Saint of Politicians, when he said that he was ‘The King’s good servant, but God’s first.’

Euthanasia workshop to go ahead after all

We understand that the Euthanasia workshop on which we previously BLOGGED has not been cancelled after all. Truth TV report that he organisers have found a new venue willing to host the event and that the pro-euthanasia workshop will proceed after all.

NOTE since posting this BLOG we have learned that Buswell's Hotel management have cancelled the booking but that the organisers of the workshop are still actively seeking another alternative venue

we reprint below the Truth TV urgent post and would ask readers to contact the Buswells Hotel management asking for the cancellation of the event and to contact the Gardai as euthanasia and assisted suicide is illegal in Ireland

This is an urgent update in regard to the ‘DIY-Euthanasia Workshop’ which, we have now confirmed, will go ahead in a new venue, Buswells Hotel in Dublin, this Friday, March 19th.

See below for our previous report on this sick ‘workshop’, which is seriously objectionable on many levels. The ‘workshop’ explains to sick and elderly people how to commit suicide by taking a lethal dose of a veterinary medicine, Nembutal, which is unapproved in Ireland.

Please make your voice heard. Last week this ‘workshop’ was cancelled from a venue in Capel Street following an alert by the Life Institute. We’re now asking everyone to call Buswells Hotel on 01 6146500 and respectfully ask the manager, Paul Gallagher, to withdraw the venue for this disturbing and illegal workshop.

Assisted suicide is illegal in Ireland and we have also contacted the Garda Superintendent in the area on the matter. We’ll keep you informed.

Opposition to civil partnership bill

Opposition to the Irish Governments plans to introduce civil partnerships legislation is growing. In the interest of protecting the constitutional position of the family based on marriage and the protection of democratic principles it is essential for members of the public to express their views before it is too late.

Readers of my blog in Ireland may like to know that it is not too late to let their politicians know their views in relation to the measure known as the ‘Civil Partnership Bill 2009’. I have written about this obnoxious and destructive Bill on a number of occasions (17 Oct 2009, 24 October 2009, 19 December 2009, 13 March 2010).

It is reported that the Bill will shortly be placed before the Select Committee on Justice, Equality and Defence and Women’s Rights for discussion, and I understand that individual citizens may write to: Deputy Brendan Kenneally, Chairman, Joint/Select Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights, Houses of the Oireachtas, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, setting out (politely, of course!) their objections to the content of the Bill. It is advisable, also, to send a copy of all submissions to Mr. Alan Guidon, Clerk to the Committee, at the same address.

My life is in your hands

Fr Finigan, in his blog for 9 March 2010, brings to our attention the fact that the Spanish Conference of Bishops has launched a new campaign against the liberalisation of abortion (see my blog for 6 March 2010 about King Juan Carlos having signed a new law, which allows for a wide-ranging provision of abortion in Spain). Part of the Bishops’ campaign – which will culminate in a ‘Day for Life’ – is the provision of 13,000 billboards that will be erected in seventeen cities throughout Spain.

The billboards carry a photograph of a baby, supported on the hands of two people, and the message is: ‘Es mi vida! Esta en tus manos. Jornada por la vida, 25 Marzo’. In translation, this says: ‘My life is in your hands. Day for Life, 25 March’.

I know that many Bishops’ Conference around the world are doing great work to bring the pro-life message to their people, but wouldn’t it be just wonderful if every Bishops’ Conference were to follow the lead and example of the Spanish Bishops!

Ireland’s Catholic Bishops “very concerned” about the Civil Partnership Bill

The statement by Ireland's Catholic Bishops on Civil Partnerships is to be welcomed. The Bishops told a press conference on Thursday that there is an obligation to protect and promote marriage and family life in Ireland. The Bishops in a comprehensive statement titled “Why Marriage Matters”, released on Thursday describe the provisions in the Civil Partnership Bill currently before the Dail ( Irish Parliament) as

“an extraordinary and far-reaching attack on freedom of conscience and the free practices of religion – which are guaranteed to every citizen under the Constitution”.

Bishop Christopher Jones of Elphin, according to an Irish Times report told the press conference, “We are really very concerned that the Civil Partnership Bill is going to undermine marriage by conferring all the rights on same-sex unions as marriage, equating same-sex union to marriage itself.”

On the refusal by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern to allow an opt-out clause for people who had conscience problems when it came to association or involvement with same-sex ceremonies, he said the bishops were “very worried about that. Very worried.” They (The Bishops) had expressed these concerns to the secretary general of the Department of Justice and his officials, he said.

In the Why Marriage Matters statement, the bishop said anyone “who conscientiously refuses to carry out such a (same-sex) ceremony will face a fine and up to six months in prison”.

It was he said, “a grave injustice if the State ignores the unique and proper place of husbands and wives, the place of mothers and fathers, and especially the rights of children, who deserve from society a clear understanding of marriage as they grow to sexual maturity.”

[…] “A same-sex couple cannot be husband and wife. A same-sex couple cannot procreate a child through the sexual act which expresses married love.

see my previous BLOGS on this issue from last October and December

UK, Children, Schools and Families Bill

Grave concern is being expressed by many groups about the Children, Schools and Families Bill that is going through the British Parliament at the moment. If the Bill becomes law, it will mean that children from primary school age will be taught explicit and immoral sex education, including information on access to abortion.

You will find plenty of information on all aspects of this shocking Bill on www.spuc-director.blogspot.com and www.spuc.org.uk. Readers in the UK are particularly urged to contact and lobby their MPs about the Bill, pointing out the harm that will be done to children, and society as a whole, if this Bill proceeds any further in the legislative process.

The Good Counsel Network (UK) is asking for a special Extra National Day of Prayer and Fasting on Monday, 15 March next the purpose of which is for the defeat of this immoral bill.

The Good Counsel Network can be contacted on [UK] 020 7723 1740
We would point out, too, that it is not only the United Kingdom that will be affected by the Bill – if it should be passed into law – but other countries, everywhere, can be, and are being, easily infected by a similar type of indoctrination and abuse of children.

Thomas More Institute Meetings

The Thomas More Institute has given notice on its website about two very interesting meetings that are planned to take place shortly. They are as follows:

29 March 2010 – Symposium on ‘Life and Death Matters: Disability Rights and Incapacity’. This Symposium will be held at the London Metropolitan University, 16 Goulston Street, London E1 7TP.

The Institute tells us that:

‘In the context of an increasing ageing population, limited financial resources, an ongoing need for organs and research subjects, there are continuing calls for the legalisation of physician assisted suicide. This symposium will consider issues in end-of-life care, both proposals for active euthanasia and non-treatment decisions particularly where the patient is no longer competent. It will do so bearing in mind the plethora of financial, medical and research interests that there are in the human body, the costs of healthcare as well as the psychological, moral, and social implications of current and proposed law. Of special interest are the implications of such law on healthcare professionals, patient trust, forensics, disability rights and attitudes of care and protection of the vulnerable.
‘This symposium aims to promote a critical evaluation of healthcare provision for the elderly and incapacitated, thereby creating a forum for a wide range of interested parties, including lawyers, patient advocacy groups, policy makers, students, the disabled and health care professionals.’

Further details from Dr Jacqueline Laing at j.laing@londonmet.ac.uk
or Claire Keefe at c.keefe@londonmet.ac.uk

The second meeting – seminar on ‘Pain, Suffering and “Loss of Dignity”: Valid Reasons for Killing?’ – is announced for 28 April 2010, at the Thomas More Institute, 18b Netherhall Gardens, London NW3 5 TH

The speaker at the seminar will be Dr Michael Platt, Senior Consultant and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Pain Medicine and Anaesthetics at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (UK). He practises in the area of pain medicine and palliative care, with a special interest in medical ethics and education.

Further information is available from Dr Andrew Hegarty atajh@thomasmoreinstitute.org.uk

Nitsche euthanasia lecture cancelled

It was announced in the media recently that Dr Philip Nitschke was to hold a ‘DIT Euthanasia workshop’ in Dublin on 19 March next. An Australian, Dr Nitschke is a well-known campaigner for euthanasia, and he heads up an organisation called ‘Exit International’ which assists people to commit suicide. The ‘event’ was advertised as taking place at a Health Board Executive (HSE)-funded venue in central Dublin – and, as well as the fact that the HSE was facilitating such a gathering, the HSE, in so doing, was also using tax-payers’ money to promote euthanasia.

Many organizations wrote to the HSE, to the Chief Executive of the HSE, and to the Irish Medicines Board about the proposed event, and voiced their objections to its taking place. We are glad to report that, following the representations from the various organizations, the so-called ‘workshop’ will not now be held at the planned venue. The situation, however, will be closely monitored.

Niamh Uí Bhriain, of the Life Institute one of the organizations that raised objections to Dr Nitsche's visit, said:

‘This objectionable “workshop” comes at a time when there is a huge push by pro-euthanasia activists worldwide to introduce the legal killing of the elderly, the sick and the vulnerable. Philip Nitschke is a most controversial figure, and he stands accused of exploiting people with mental illness who commit suicide under his guidance when what they need is professional help and understanding. This workshop is illegal, deeply disturbing. We’re currently investigating the new venue proposed for the workshop.’

Readers will recall a similar event – in which the HSE was also involved – that nearly took place in Cork early last year, when Professor Len Doyal was ready to promote euthanasia in Ireland. See my blogs for 29 March 2009, 13 April 2009

This is a sinister development and the fact that this is now the second time such an event has been arranged is causing significant concern. The question of why the HSE persists in arranging such anti life lectures must therefore be asked, and straight answers must be given to this question.

Unethical Stem Cell Research versus Ethical Research

A new group, the Irish Stem Cell Foundation, was established during last year. At the time, I had hoped that perhaps the motives behind the setting up of this group might prove to be benign. However, it has now emerged that such is not the case, and that it is not the objective authority that it initially purported to be. The organisation was founded by a leading advocate of lethal research on human embryos. Dr Stephen Sullivan, Youth Defence reports, returned to Ireland from abroad in 2007 with the purpose of setting up a laboratory that would involve using human embryos for research. Although the ISCF put itself forward as a body whose ‘primary objective is to educate about stem cells’, it seems that it is now pushing for research on human embryos. Dr Sullivan has reportedly claimed that his research at Harvard University had used human embryos that were ‘left over’ from IVF procedures, and that these ‘cells’ would ‘never become a foetus, let alone a baby or a human being.’

Had Dr Sullivan heard what Professor Robert George and Professor William Hurlbut had to say about unethical stem cell research, and its uselessness – apart altogether from the immorality of killing human embryos – he might have learned a thing or two about the endless possibilities available from the use of ethical stem cells obtained from adults, from cord blood, etc. Professor George (professor of Jurisprudence, Politics and Philosophy at Princeton University, USA) and Professor Hurlbut (Stanford University, USA, and former member of the US President’s Council for Bioethics) were speaking at a conference in Dublin on 5 March last, held under the auspices of the Pro-Life Campaign and Family and Life. There was a very large attendance at the conference, so much so that it continued for about an hour after the scheduled finishing time as many people present wanted to put questions to the two speakers, who were more than enthusiastic in promoting the value and dignity of human life from its very beginnings.

Spain's King Juan Carlos signs new abortion legislation

We reported in Dec 2009 and January 2010 on the recently approved wide-ranging abortion law approved by the Spanish Government.

The final act needed for the new legislation to enter into force was the signature of the Spanish King Juan Carlos
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, said

"The world is watching to see whether Spain's Head of State, Juan Carlos de Borbón, will abdicate his moral leadership of the nation and sign the death warrants of millions more Spanish babies who will be killed by abortion," he told LifeNews.com. "He has already been complicit, by his signature, in the deaths of millions in the first abortion law he signed in 1985."

Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro in a new statement says that by signing the act the Spanish King automatically excommunicated himself from the Catholic Church

The full text of Monsignor Barreiro's article is reprinted below

We are very much disappointed to hear of the Spanish Head of State's signature of this terrible law that expands in a significant way the amount of children that can be killed by abortion. Yet, because he has signed other legislation in the past that undermines the moral law and Catholic teaching, this sad decision does not come as a surprise.

We reiterate that regardless of his constitutional status, Juan Carlos de Borbón absolutely retains the basic human right to follow his properly formed conscience. It should be evident to any person of good will, that positive law cannot remove this fundamental freedom for any human person, much less for a person that should be the moral guide of his nation. We have to remember that the legitimacy of a King is grounded in the way in which he follows the Law of God. Other European royalty have recently demonstrated both the awareness of this basic moral precept and the courage to abstain from endorsing unjust laws. So while Spanish positive law may require his endorsement, both natural and divine law require that he reject the endorsement of any immoral legislation, especially that which will result in the deaths of untold numbers of unborn human beings.

We have to remember that in 2005 when the current Head of State sanctioned a law authorizing same sex marriage this office presented this same line of argumentation to the Spanish authorities.

Further, we believe that Juan Carlos de Borbón has incurred a laetae sententiae excommunication, as his action directly resulted in the enactment of this gravely immoral expansion of abortion. (We draw this conclusion logically from the clear teaching of the Church as articulated by Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke, the current Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, Canon 915: The Discipline Regarding the Denial of Holy Communion to Those Obstinately Persevering in Manifest Grave Sin, Periodica De Re Canonica, vol. 96 (2007) pp. 3-58.)

In the wake of last year's Recife Affair, wherein the mere appearance of vacillation on the Church's unchangeable teaching on abortion was used by pro-abortion extremists to forward their cause, it is more important than ever for the Church to clearly articulate the consequences of such capitulation by public figures with regard to abortion.

Last but not least we ask for prayers for the conversion of the current Head of State of Spain. May he return to the Faith that was practised by many of his ancestors in better centuries, before the entry in Spain of liberal ideology.

Another Member of the Pontifical Academy of Life seeks Archbishop Fisichella resignation

LifeSiteNews reports that Judie Brown, President of the American Life League, and a three-term member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, is the latest member of the Academy (together with five others) to question some of Archbishop Rino Fisichella’s statements in relation to the involvement of the Archbishop of Recife, Brazil, in the sad story of the young Brazilian girl who had been raped – resulting in her becoming pregnant with twins.

The story, including the subsequent abortion of her unborn babies, has been well documented on John Smeaton’s blog (www.spuc-director.blogspot.com).

See, especially, his blogs for 17 February 2010, 19 March 2009. 11 July 2009
Also, you might like to re-read my blogs for March 27th 2009 8th July 2009 and 9th February 2010

Dublin annual commemoration for baby X

A Date for your Diary!

On Saturday next, 6 March 2010, the annual commemoration of Baby X will take place at the GPO (General Post Office), in O’Connell Street, Dublin, at 2 p.m. It is important that a big number of people are present on the occasion, so please do your very best to be there.

The commemoration, organised by Youth Defence (YD), is to keep alive the memory of the little unborn child who was done to death because of the decision of the Irish Supreme Court in 1992.

YD says: ‘

This March, we again take this opportunity to ask you to join with us once more in honouring the life and death of this tiny child. In so doing, we also make a statement against the Culture of Death, which anti-life forces are determined to introduce to our country.

‘At this time, we are working harder than ever to ensure that we can dispel the lies that are being put forth by the pro-abortion lobby. They are using fear to promote abortion, and hurting women in the process. They are claiming that life-saving medical treatments are actually abortions. We know that’s simply not true. Because abortion remains illegal, Ireland, according to the UN, is the safest place in the world for a mother to have a baby. We must stand against this renewed effort to fool the people into believing that abortion is medically necessary to save a mother’s life. It’s time we set the record straight. … At this critical time Irish unborn children are under threat as never before.’

Please pray for little Baby X and for her mother.

More on IVF

I blogged recently (18 February 2010) about the possible dangers posed through the use of IVF procedures and, in particular, the procedure known as ‘ICSI’ which scientists believe may cause infertility in boys who are born as a result of that method. The head of the Belgian team that was responsible for the first pregnancies following from the use of ICSI, nearly twenty years ago, when asked about the long-term effects arising from the procedure and whether IVF might be storing up infertility problems for future generations, is reported as having said: ‘Well, yes. The answer to that is maybe yes. There are genetic causes of infertility that you can bypass with assisted reproductive technology [AHR], but that may mean that the next generation may be infertile as well. This is something that all clinics should mention to patients.’

In Ireland, currently, there are calls for legislation to ‘regulate’ AHR and related technologies. Why, oh why, will Health Minister Mary Harney (who is ultimately responsible for the introduction of such legislation) not listen to the facts that – day after day- are emerging, and being acknowledged, by experts in the field throughout the world? Instead, it appears that she will rely on the agenda-driven arguments of those who want to promote and have widespread availability and use of all forms of ART (assisted reproductive technologies) in Ireland.

Once again, I would like to refer to NaPro Technology which, rather than trying to bypass the causes of infertility, aims to identify and treat such causes. NaPro is non-invasive, and it does not impinge on any moral or ethical considerations. Apart from all of this, too, NaPro has been seen to be extraordinarily successful in helping to achieve pregnancy.

Proposed Kenyan Constitution Fails to Protect Unborn

The Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues (PNCI) reports that the process for constitutional reform in Kenya is nearing final action in the Parliament and is likely to open the floodgates to abortion on demand if not amended. The long awaited final draft of a new constitution has been submitted by the Committee of Experts to the Parliamentary Select Committee tasked with oversight of the new constitution.

According to PNCI Director, Marie Smith (Wife of Congressman Chris Smith), "Regrettably, this final draft contains some of the most deceptive and dangerous language on abortion ever seen in a constitution. It presents constitutional protection for the unborn child by acknowledging in section 26 on Right to Life that "Every person has the right to life" and that "The life of a person begins at conception."

"However, the next statement completely reverses protection for the unborn by allowing abortion when in the "opinion of a trained health professional, there is need for emergency treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other written law."

Smith continues, "The reversal of previous policy on abortion- which required the opinion of two medical doctors who agreed that abortion was necessary for the life of the mother- will likely open the door to abortion on demand if the broad US definition of health is used in Kenya.

"The change in law and policy to allow non-physician abortion also opens the door to distribution by health care workers of the abortion-inducing drug misoprostol for use by women at home. This abortion method is increasingly used by NGOs despite its serious complications which include blood loss, the leading cause of maternal deaths in Africa."

Of additional concern is the creation in the constitution of the Kenya National Human Rights and Equality Commission to "act as the principal organ of the State in ensuring compliance with obligations under treaties and conventions relating to human rights." Smith sees such actions as attempts to usurp the authority and power of the Parliament to set law and policy on abortion as determined by the population conference at Cairo.

According to Smith, "There is absolutely no universal right to abortion and abortion is not a human right. The world rejected such beliefs at Cairo and clearly stated so in the Program of Action- "Any measures or changes related to abortion within the health system can only be determined at the national or local level according to the national legislative process." However, anti-life activists falsely interpret UN treaties and conventions to pressure countries to change their pro-life laws. Such a Commission as proposed in this draft constitution, if composed of abortion agitators, could impose pro-abortion actions on Kenya."

PNCI is hopeful that the Kenyan Parliament will reject the pro-abortion language submitted by the Committee of Experts and return to the pro-life language originally placed in the draft constitution by the Parliamentary Select Committee.

Smith explains, "The Committee of Experts took the draft constitution that the freely elected members of Parliament serving on the Parliamentary Select Committee had harmonized from various submissions and reversed the intent of the lawmakers to protect the right to life from conception-creating total disharmony. This appointed Committee of Experts includes ardent abortion activists from both inside and outside Kenya who are intent on advancing global abortion on demand."

"It is now up to the entire Kenyan Parliament to hold firm to authentic African values which revere the family and instill those principles in the constitution to ensure that unborn children and their mothers are protected from the violence of abortion."

Pro-life advocates, including medical and religious coalitions, are preparing to lobby the Parliament to amend the draft to ensure that it continues long-standing Kenyan respect for life and prohibition of abortion. The draft is expected to be filed in Parliament by March 7 for further discussion, debate and vote before it is presented for a referendum in July.

The draft constitution can be read at the website of the Committee of Experts.