Shock UK statistics show that many young women have multiple abortions

A number of sources report on recently released UKabortion statistics that dozens of women in the UK have had at least seven abortions, shocking new figures reveal today. See Independent Newspapers, Daily Mail and Wales on line

The reports suggest that  these findings will most likely reignite the debate into whether some women use abortion as a form of contraception.

In what can only be described as a shocking disregard for human life in England and Wales total there were 189,574 abortions in 2010, which was 0.3% more than in 2009 (189100). 

The age-standardised abortion rate was 17.5 per 1000 (resident) women aged between 15-44, 3% higher that the year 2000 and over double the rate recorded in 1970

When the figures are analyzed it becomes clear that many women have had multiple abortions 2,637 have had four abortions, 779 women had 5 and 214 women had 6 abortions. A total of 48 women had had seven or more abortions 

Most of these abortions were funded by the NHS, which paid for 94 per cent of all terminations.

Abortions were also performed on thousands of under-age girls. In total there were 3,823 abortions in under-16s. Of these 1,047 were the under 15s, 911 were 14 and 136 were under 14.

Girls aged 15 to 19 accounted for 39,020 abortions in 2009.

There were also 2,290 eugenic abortions (i.e. for children who would have been born disabled)

This included 775 for chromosomal abnormalities including Down's syndrome and 496 for problems with the nervous system.

Most abortions (91 per cent) were apparently  carried out at under 13 weeks gestation.

Improved medical care not abortion reduces maternal deaths

GENEVA, Switzerland  May 21st — Improved medical care, not abortion, is the solution to the problem of maternal deaths in the developing world, according to a new analysis of research from Chile and other sources. The analysis was released today at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Global Outreach (MCCL GO) and National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund (NRLC), an NGO based in Washington, D.C. Leaders of both organizations called for a renewed emphasis on improving health care for women as the only sure means of reducing maternal mortality.
Photograph Shows Scott Fischbach MCCL, Jeanne Head NRLC and Patrick Buckley SPUC

“We have known for decades that most maternal deaths can be prevented with adequate nutrition, basic health care, and good obstetric care throughout pregnancy, at delivery, and postpartum,” said Jeanne Head, R.N., National Right to Life vice-president for international affairs and U.N. representative. “Yet some in the international community have focused their resources primarily on legalizing abortion at the expense of women’s lives.”

“Our analysis presents clear, factual evidence to repudiate the claim that legalized abortion reduces maternal mortality,” said MCCL GO Executive Director Scott Fischbach.

The analysis, “Women’s Health & Abortion,” compares the impact of improved medical care and legalized abortion on maternal mortality rates in several countries. Maternal deaths declined sharply in the United States through the 1930s and 1940s, for example, coinciding with advancements in maternal health care, obstetric techniques, antibiotics and in the general health status of women. This occurred long before the widespread legalization of abortion.

Chile offers the most striking proof that maternal mortality is unrelated to the legal status of abortion. Chile sharply reduced its maternal mortality rate even after its prohibition of abortion in 1989, and now has the lowest maternal mortality rate in Latin America. Even maternal deaths due specifically to abortion declined—from 10.78 abortion deaths per 100,000 live births in 1989 to 0.83 in 2007, a reduction of 92.3 percent after abortion was made illegal.

In the developing world, the danger of legalized abortion is profound, the analysis found. Ms. Head explains: “Women generally at risk because they lack access to a doctor, hospital, or antibiotics before abortion’s legalization will face those same circumstances after legalization. And if legalization triggers a higher demand for abortion, as it has in most countries, more injured women will compete for those scarce medical resources. The number of abortion-related maternal deaths may actually increase.”

MCCL GO and National Right to Life called upon the WHA to focus its resources on the improvement of women’s health care in the developing world.

“We urge the World Health Assembly to adopt measures to significantly reduce maternal mortality in the developing world by improving women’s health care,” Mr. Fischbach added. “We call upon the WHA to save lives, not expend endless energy and resources in areas where there is profound disagreement, such as the legalization of abortion.”

The analysis is available at the MCCL GO website, www.mccl-go.org.

Investigating the causes of premature birth

   The Journal.ie report that new findings by Irish researchers examining the cause of premature births could form a breakthrough in the struggle to reduce infant mortality.

    The scientists at Trinity College Dublin were examining the causes of premature births and pre-eclampsia, a common pregnancy condition which in severe cases can be fatal. Premature birth is the biggest cause of infant mortality on a global scale. The research showed that mothers who give birth prematurely or develop pre-eclampsia – the key symptom of which is high blood pressure – have higher levels of their baby’s DNA in their own blood.

   This is sensed by a protein called TLR9 which can cause an inflammatory reaction, leading in turn to premature labour. However, the research found that the inflammation can be blocked by drugs including chloroquin, which is more widely known as an antimalarial.

Luke O’Neill, a biochemistry professor at Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, said:

   The normal job of TLR9 is to sense DNA from viruses and bacteria. In preterm labour however, where the baby’s DNA enters the mother’s blood, TLR9 does mischief causing early birth. Our study makes TLR9 an attractive target to stop preterm birth

    John O’Leary, professor of pathology at TCD, said research in this area was crucial.

“Premature birth is the biggest cause of infant mortality worldwide. Why babies are born early, as defined as less than 37 weeks gestation, is not known,” he said.

  

     Much work has also been carried out on the link between abortion and premature birth. Many studies have shown a statistically significant increase in preterm birth or low birth weight after an induced abortion. Brent Rooney and Byron Calhoun MD writing in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons as far back as 2003  on “InducedAbortion and  Risk of LaterPremature Births” pointed to 49 studies that demonstrated a statistically significant increase in premature births  or low birth weight risk in women with prior induced abortions.

Since then further research has placed the number of studies showing the connection has increased to fifty-nine (59) 

The fifty nine studies all found that there was a significant increased risk of preterm birth or low birth weight of babies in women who have had a previous induced abortion as compared to women with no previous induced abortion. Three of the studies examined the question as to whether a previous induced abortion caused an increased risk for extremely early preterm births. All three found an increased risk. Two of these studies were done in Australia and one in Europe.

 Twenty of the studies examined the question as to whether the number of previous induced abortions a woman has will increase her risk of having a subsequent preterm birth. All of these studies found that this was the case. The more induced abortions a woman had, the higher her risk of subsequent preterm births.

Guttmacher rattled by new Chilean study on maternal mortality

Dr.Elard Koch together with a group of Chilean doctors and academics recently released a major study on maternal mortality which challenged the pro-abortion mantra that abortion is necessary to reduce maternal mortality.

The scientific study which looked at data spanning a 50 year period found that access to abortion was not a factor in reducing maternal mortality, the most important factor was education and it found that even after Chile banned abortion the maternal mortality rate continued to fall.

The Guttmacher response was swift in trying to undermine the findings of the study, which were not only inconvenient truths, but challenged the entire basis on which the abortion industry's carefully constructed house of cards is based and which is nauseatingly regurgitated by Guttmacher, International Planned Parenthood and their allies in UNFPA, WHO and elsewhere.

Dr.Koch and his team were equally Swift in replying to the Guttmacher response and their press release together with a link to the full statement issued by the team are included below.

Dr. Elard Koch, leading author of the article and fellow researcher of the Universidad de Chile and Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, states that “the single conclusion that the Guttmacher Institute challenges appears to relate only to the null effect we found of abortion ban on maternal mortality trend in Chile, since this country already had restrictions of abortion in place before 1989”. Koch remarks, however, that the opinion of the Guttmacher Institute in terms of how restrictive the Chilean abortion law was before and after 1989 is essentially misinformed. Yet, even if the argumentation by the Guttmacher Institute experts stating, “Chile’s pre-1989 abortion law was already highly restrictive” was correct, this in no way invalidates that abortion restrictive laws had a null influence maternal mortality trends in Chile. “In fact, maternal mortality ratios steadily decreased over the last fifty years, mainly associated to an increase in educational level of women and maternal health facilities and regardless of the extent of abortion restrictions in the country” Koch says. Furthermore, Koch indicates that researchers from the Guttmacher Institute failed to present any actual evidence in support of any severe methodological flaw in the PLoS ONE study. In fact, Chile has a robust and reliable registry of vital and socioeconomic data, with the Chilean National Institute of Statistics being recognized as a referent in Latin America by the World Health Organization, United Nations and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Moreover, Koch explains, “ours is the first in-depth analysis of parallel time series with a sufficient number of time points, year-by-year over fifty years, of maternal deaths and the simultaneous assessment of their determinants at a country level.” Arguments by the Guttmacher Institute are mainly based on the idea that their own methodology, using data sources such as opinion surveys, can accurately estimate the amount of induced abortions in countries with abortion restrictive laws. Nevertheless, Koch et al. stress that opinion surveys are purely indirect approaches that may lead to under- or overestimations, and due to their subjective nature, can be extremely biased. “A completely different scenario is observed when calculating figures of illegal abortions on the basis of actual vital statistics, acknowledged epidemiological methods, and well known biological reproductive rates”, states Koch Koch and his colleagues extensively explored the potential discrepancies between these two methodologies when estimating figures of illegal abortion in several Latin American countries. Their findings have been recently published as a peer-review article last May 18th (http://www.nietoeditores.com.mx/ginecologia-y-obstetricia-de-mexico/5/4883-sobrestimacion-del-aborto-inducido-en-colombia-y-otros-paises-latinoamericanos.html), just a few days after the controversial article published in PLoS ONE Koch indicates, “Not surprisingly, we found that the methodology developed by scientists from the Guttmacher Institute appears to grossly overestimate the number of possible induced abortions in developing countries.” For instance, induced abortion estimates by Koch et al. in Colombia (21,978) indicate that the Guttmacher Institute likely overestimates figures in this region (400,400) at least by 18-fold. “In other words, estimates drawn through the methodology developed by the Guttmacher Institute is beyond what is empirically possible”, Koch says. In their full point-by-point rebuttal document to the criticisms by the Guttmacher Institute, Koch and colleagues conclude that “it is imperative to remark that, because abortion restrictive law in Chile is unrelated to maternal mortality and this country reached one of the lowest rates of maternal-related and abortion-related deaths of the world (at the present, 16.9 and 0.39 per 100,000 live births, respectively) without legalizing abortion, the Chilean fifty-year natural experiment provides strong evidence, for the first time, that a liberal law of abortion is unnecessary to improve maternal health: it is a matter of scientific fact in our study.” 

See the entire rebuttal document by Koch et al on this link

Holy See intervention on World Health Assembly debate on Early Marriages, adolescent and young pregnancies

We blogged on a report by the World Health Organisation on Agenda Item  13.4: “Early Marriages, adolescent and young pregnancies”. We now report on the Holy See intervention on the issue delivered by Monsignor Robert Vitillo. Mr. Chairman, Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this important topic. The Holy See Delegation understands the serious risks incurred by young women and men when they are influenced or, worse yet, forced to contract marriage before they have developed the physical and affective maturity to make and keep a permanent and mutually faithful commitment as husband and wife.   The report prepared by the Secretariat already points out the necessity to influence family and community norms related to delay of marriage among young people, to the retention of girls in school, especially at primary and secondary levels, and to the encouragement of men and boys to call into question prevailing norms and stereotypes that can be harmful to women, girls, families, and communities.   Our delegation wishes to register its serious concern, however, with regard to the recommendations in the Secretariat report that promote access to so-called “emergency contraceptives” and to so-called “safe abortion care”. Re-affirming that human life begins at the moment of conception and that life must be defended and protected, the Holy See can never condone abortion or policies that favour abortion.   Mr. Chairman, our delegation … does not consider abortion or abortion services to be a dimension of reproductive health or reproductive health services … [nor does it] endorse any form of legislation which gives legal recognition to abortion,” which is the very antithesis of human rights.  

Finland tells UK that women in Northern Ireland should be entitled to safe legal abortion without having to travel

The 13th session of the Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review (UPR) meeting in Geneva today reviewed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The UK was represented by a team led by H.E. Lord Mc Nally, Minister of State, Ministry of Justice.

A summary of the submissions  of 75 stakeholders prepared by Office of the High Commissioner for human rights, under the heading  Right to Health, says that one of the submissions it received JS 6 a joint statement by a number of groups,  claimed that in Northern Ireland the legislation on abortion hindered women from realising the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

During the proceedings Mr Stefan Lee the delegate from Finland told the meeting that women in NI were discriminated against and that they should be entitled to safe legal abortion without having to travel  in a similar manner to women in rest of UK.

A submission by the Scottish Transgender Alliance STA stated that the "Gender Recognition Act 2004 prevented intersex people from accessing legal gender recognition The STA also said that intersex people cannot be confident that their rights will be adequately respected by medical professionals, as there were no rights-based intersex healthcare protocols.

A further submission by a group called SexYOUality (SY) stated that teachers have not been adequately trained to respond to homophobic bullying in schools.

In response Lord Mc Nally told the meeting that he had no time for violence relating to sexual orientation and the UK had passed very strong laws in that regard. He told the meeting that there is cross government action to combat transphobic and homophobic hate crime. He also said that £9 million had recently been committed by Scotland to deal with this issue

World Health Assembly report on early marriages, adolescent and young pregnancies

The 65th World Health Assembly(WHA)meeting this week in Geneva is considering a number of reports one of which deals with 'Early marriages, adolescent and young pregnancies'.

The report issued by the WHA Secretariat is unacceptable on a number of grounds. First it targets children from age 10 upwards and calls for what is termed "effective sexuality education" which in reality is pornographic in content. Second the report seems to treat pregnancy as a disease.

The report ignores issues such as abstinence and fidelity and assumes that all young people will be sexually active so they must be facilitated with comprehensive information and then when pregnancy results, termination must be readily available without any barriers, completely ignoring the fact that the unborn baby is the ultimate victim. The report says that most people initiate sexual activity between 15 and 19 and it recommends that political leaders should provide increased access to contraceptives for adolescents including so called "emergency contraceptives" meaning that access should be made available to early medical abortion.

The report also  says that adolescents should have access to what is termed safe abortion care and it criticises legislation in some countries that uphold parental rights in regard to medical care for minor children particularly in respect of access to so called 'sexual and reproductive health services'. There are some good ideas in the report for example it calls for political leaders to find ways to reduce coerced sex among adolescents and recommends punishment of perpetrators. It also calls for increasing access to skilled antenatal, childbirth and postnatal care for adolescents who become pregnant. The report also calls for availability of information on STI's and HIV/AIDS

The Demographic Bomb

We reported recently on the World Congress of Families which will take place in Madrid later this week. One of the topics to be dealt with during the Congress is the evil of population control.
This is in advance of a UN meeting the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development which will be held in Rio De Janerio next month and already UN agencies such as UNFPA are detetrmined to include population control, under various guises, in the conference as one of the ways of reducing so called global warming and its effects by decreasing human activity.
Of course when the global warming proved to be an unsustainable name it was renamed "climate change" This approach was previously put forward by the Chinese government in 2009 during a summit which took place in Copenhagen.

The coersive and draconian population control methods of the Chinese are well known and rejected by all right thinking people and yet they are now being proposed as the solution. Sadly we have heard of solutions like this before and even a so called "final solution". World governments must not go down this pathway.

The following trailer for the Demographic Bomb gives another side to the story

Chen Guangcheng in New York

Chen Guangcheng the blind Chinese lawyer who has been a courageous advocate for Chinese women and their unborn babies has finally been allowed to leave China with his family. Chen told his supporters and the media when he arrived at Newark airport that he was grateful to the US Embassy and the embassies of France,Canada and Switzerland and especially his friends in the media for their assistance, he also expressed concern for his extended family especially his nephew Chen Kegui. Chen was met by Congressman Chris Smith who told the media,

"After years of enduring physical and psychological torture,imprisonment and hate, the man Chen Guangcheng, who defended Chinese women from the crime of forced abortion is finally free".

Chen who has accepted a fellowship in New York University will live in lower Manhattan.

Stop Eugenics Now

The following article is posted on the "Stop Eugenics Now" website and signatures are being sought for a declaration from everyone who believes in the sanctity of all human life.

Should the elimination of one’s unborn baby because it has Down syndrome be regarded as a human fundamental right? That is the serious issue in a case before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which has been called upon to rule on whether parents have a fundamental right to the prenatal screening and elimination of sick or disabled children.

A favourable ruling by the Court would amount to recognising as a fundamental right eugenic solutions to disabled people.

The Court is called upon to rule on the complaint (KRUZMANE versus Latvia) filed by a woman against her doctor who, allegedly, did not prescribe a screening test for Down syndrome for her during her pregnancy, which would have shown that her child had Down syndrome and enabled her to have an abortion.

Faced with the danger of prenatal screening and elimination becoming enshrined and consecrated as a human right, the signatories of this declaration (associations, families and those close to Down syndrome and disabled people) appeal to the conscience of the Court and to European institutions to recognise the humanity, and protect the right to life, of Down syndrome and disabled people.

Recognising as a human right the elimination of Down syndrome children before their birth amounts to stigmatising a human group selected on the basis of their genome. A favourable ruling would deny purely and simply the humanity of the persons with disabilities and setup in law the mechanism for their elimination.

Already, the systematic elimination of Down syndrome children in Europe constitutes a real violation of human rights. Not the fact that some may have escaped this selection because there was a failure to identify them before birth.

We (associations, disabled people and their families), call up on the Court to reaffirm the principle of the prohibition of eugenics, and the obligation of the Member States to protect the life of every person, including of the disabled before their birth. What is at stake is how our European society defines humanity.

the website can be accessed on this link

"Eggsploitation" at Cambridge

We have previously reported on the issue of fertility firms targeting women and paying them for egg donation a practice that has been tagged as "eggsploitation".

In what can only be described as a new attempt at “eggsploitation” in the UK the Daily Mail reported on May 13^th that a fertility firm is targeting Cambridge University students seeking egg donation and offering £750 for their eggs.

The report says that thousands of Cambridge students have been targeted by the firm and that leaflets were stuck in their university pigeonholes, making an emotional plea to help a couple unable to have children. It said: ‘We are looking for a real-life angel to be our egg donor.’

The development according to the report appears to be a result of an increase in the amount of ‘compensation’ that can be given to donors, and may confirm fears of a rise in ‘egg brokers’ profiting from dealing in human lives.

The targeting of elite students also raises concerns about attempts to create ‘superbabies’.

Last night critics warned that young women are often unaware of the risks of egg donation, and a fertility expert said the firm’s tactics were ‘unacceptable’. Donors have to take drugs to stimulate egg production, and complications may cause death in rare cases.

At the beginning of the summer term two weeks ago, Cambridge students found the company’s leaflets stuffed in their pigeonholes, asking: ‘If you are compassionate, kind, healthy and between 18 and 35 years old, could you help us? We can imagine no greater gift than the chance to love a child.’

The flyers said the couple, themselves Cambridge graduates, were unable to have children because of ‘a rare genetic disorder that causes repeated miscarriages’.

The leaflets were produced by Altrui, an egg broking company based in Hawes, North Yorkshire. It was established two years ago by Alison Bagshawe, 56, a former NHS fertility counsellor, and her businessman husband, also 56.

They do not make clear Altrui is a profit-making company that charges desperate couples £1,300 to try to find them a donor.

Infertile couples also have to pay a donor’s ‘compensation’ of up to £750, giving them a total bill of more than £2,000 even before they are put in touch with a clinic that extracts the donated eggs for use in the would-be mother.

On the firm’s website, potential donors are told: ‘It is illegal to accept any payment for your egg donation in the UK. ‘Having said that, in order that you should not be out of pocket, compensation is permitted.

‘The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority recently reviewed the situation. In recognition of the inconvenience, commitment and time given by an egg donor in going through the donation process, they raised the maximum compensation to £750.This came into effect on April 1, 2012.’

The disastrous implications of the practice are set out  on the "Eggsploitation" website

Perinatal Hospice; sad but beautiful video

A diagnosis, that her unborn baby has a terminal condition such as anencephaly, trisomy 13 or trisomy 18, can be devastating for a mother and there can be pressure on her from some quarters to terminate the life of her baby. Sadly some take this road but there is another way, a better way and there are many possibilities even in the face of a fatal diagnosis.

These conditions have sometimes been described as incompatible with life however this is not always the case and babies having such conditions can usually survive birth and live for a short time. The average for both Trisomy 13 and 18  is 14.5 days but many will survive for more than a month. One Irish girl  Elaine Fagan with Trisomy 18 (Edward's syndrome) actually lived for 25years. The majority of babies born with anencephaly will die shortly after birth but once again, some survive for up 5 days while a small percentage can live up to 28 days. Two babies with anencephaly lived for a period in excess of two years

Most women will want to ensure the survival of their babies for as long as possible and to the maximum possible extent.

First accurate information is essential so that a couple can plan for even the shortest time span of their baby's life. Second there should never be pressure on a mother to terminate the life of her baby, on the contrary everything should be done to allow her to know and hold her baby and to celebrate this short life, even in these saddest of circumstances.  No matter how short a baby's life may be, he or she is a unique individual possessing human dignity and a mother needs a caring environment in which she is free to get to know her baby no matter how short a lifespan and to be able to grieve his or her passing.

One way in which this can be achieved is through Perinatal Hospice deliveries, which provide a helpful caring oasis in which everything that should be done can be done to assist a couple during this intimate time of birth, of getting to meet and to know their baby in the short time available to them and grieving their loss at his or her untimely death

Canadian March for Life smashes previous attendance records

LifeSiteNews.com report a significant increase in  attendance at the recent Canadian March for Life

Under the constant threat of rain that failed to materialize, an exuberant and record-breaking crowd of nearly 20,000 pro-life activists gathered on Parliament Hill today in Ottawa.

The annual event marks the passage of Trudeau’s infamous “Omnibus Bill” in 1969, which struck down Canada’s ban on abortion and paved the way for abortion-on-demand.

As he does every year, Jim Hughes, national president of Campaign Life Coalition, stood on the side of the road counting individual marchers as they walked by. Hughes told LifeSiteNews that he began doing the head count years ago because he was concerned about distorted estimates from both sides of the issue. Today he counted a record-breaking 19,500 attendees, smashing the previous record, set at last year’s event, of 15,000.

“It was wonderful to see so many people dedicated to restoring the right to life to all human beings in Ottawa today,” Hughes told LifeSiteNews. “It is such a joyful and upbeat crowd.  I want to thank all the people that made a great effort to get here.  May it make for an even larger march next year and encourage all the provincial marches commemorating the death of four million Canadian children before birth.”

A group of about 75 pro-abortion counter-protesters were also present.

The annual March for Life, which is now the largest annual rally on Parliament Hill, has steadily grown from a few thousand in 1999, to today’s record-breaking numbers.

The boisterous and notably youthful crowd was energized with dynamic music by Survive 88, which blared out across Parliament Hill and into the streets.  The young band are made up of alumni and students from Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy, a Catholic college in Barry’s Bay, Ontario.

Long-time March organizer Margie Mountain opened the event with a dedication to the late Fr. Bob Bedard, an Ottawa native who founded of the Companions of the Cross community of priests, and a revered man of faith with strong and outspoken pro-life convictions.

Masters of Ceremony Alissa Golob and Matthew Wojciechowski of Campaign Life Coalition then welcomed Sharon Milan to lead the national anthem, followed by Don Hutchinson, vice president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, who opened the event with a prayer.

“We stand together in awe and wonder at the miracle of life,” Hutchinson said. “And we pray that the day will come when this gathering will not be necessary; when justice will be restored for the innocent voiceless; and our nation will be renewed in its foundation of dignity and respect for all human beings.

As always, the rally before the March featured addresses from numerous pro-life Members of Parliament, including Tory MP Stephen Woodworth (Kitchener Centre), who has put forward an historic motion calling for Parliament to re-examine the humanity of the unborn.

The speakers’ list also included numerous pro-life leaders, including Fr. Shenan Boquet, president of Human Life International; Steve Mosher, president of Population Research Institute; Rev. Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition; Bob Cayea, Supreme Director of the Knights of Columbus; Janet Morana and Angelina Steenstra of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign; Stephen Jalsevac, managing director of LifeSiteNews.com; and Jim Hughes, national president of Campaign Life Coalition.

Religious leaders that spoke included Bruce Clemenger, president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada; Most Rev. Terrence Prendergast, Catholic Archbishop of Ottawa; Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto, and others.

The youngest speaker was 17-year-old pro-life activist Alexandra Jezierski, who launched a bold campaign in March called Letters4Life with the goal of sending 100,000 letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper by the March for Life urging him to reverse his stance against debating abortion.

'Biological Clock' cannot be rewound

The Medical Press report that women cannot rewind the 'biological clock'.

Many women they say do not fully appreciate the consequences of delaying motherhood, and expect that assisted reproductive technologies can reverse their aged ovarian function, Yale researchers reported in a study published in a recent issue of Fertility and Sterility.

 According to the report,

"There is an alarming misconception about fertility among women," said Pasquale Patrizio, M.D., professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Yale School of Medicine and director of the Yale Fertility Center. "We also found a lack of knowledge about steps women can take early in their reproductive years to preserve the possibility of conception later in life."

The report stemmed from the observations Patrizio and colleagues made that more women are coming to the fertility clinic at age 43 or older expecting that pregnancy can be instantly achieved, and they're disappointed to learn that it can't be done easily. "We are really seeing more and more patients 'upset' after failing in having their own biological child after age 43 so we had to report on this," said Patrizio. "Their typical reaction is, 'what do you mean you cannot help me? I am healthy, I exercise, and I cannot have my own baby?' 

Once again when dealing with the subject of IVF and all other forms of ART (assisted reproductive technology) it more imperative than ever, now, to promote, encourage and recognise the natural alternative NaPro technology

NaPro technology, apart altogether from its moral and ethical base, has been shown to be far more successful than conventional, IVF, technologies. You can find more information about NaPro on www.naprotechnology.com and www.fertilitycare.ie. I have dealt with this issue in many previous blogs, see for example (1 March 2010; 18 February 2010; 28 June 2009; 29 May 2009) which give further information

Interview with an unborn child

This is a powerful but heart rending video

Death of Phyllis Bowman one of the founder members and first National Director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children SPUC

SPUC has expressed its sadness at the death of Phyllis Bowman, the Society’s first national director. In a joint statement, SPUC’s leading national officers said: 

“We regret to learn of the death on Monday 7 May 2012 of Mrs Phyllis Bowman, SPUC's former National Director. Phyllis Bowman inspired and led the growth of SPUC, the world’s first pro-life organisation of its kind, from its foundation in 1967 until she stepped down as national director in 1996. She was present, and as a successful journalist was appointed press secretary, at the founding meeting of SPUC at the Wig and Pen Club, on 11 January 1967. She became SPUC’s first national director in the early 1970s. We will always remember and be grateful for her energetic and inspiring pro-life leadership over three decades in Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as for her leading role in the development of the pro-life movement internationally. We extend our deep sympathy to Jerry, her husband, who always supported Phyllis in her pro-life work, and to her family.”

We join with our colleagues in SPUC in expressing our sadness at her death

The Prince of Liechtenstein is upholding natural justice in his threat to veto a law legalising abortion

We reported on Sept. 30th 2011 that Prince Alois of Liechtenstein threatened to use his veto power to block a proposal to legalise abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy, or if a child is severely disabled. In the event this was unnecessary because the proposal was rejected when it  came to a vote. 

The Catholic Herald reports however that there is an ongoing attempt to remove the Prince’s power of veto by holding a referendum to change the constitution and open the way to the approval of a new attempt to legislate for abortion. Under Liechtenstein’s constitution 1,500 signatures  are necessary in order to call the referendum and it appears from the article that there is a time limit on this of May 10th.

Prince Alois has, courageously said he is prepared to abdicate if this proposal is accepted.

Birth defects associated with assisted reproductive technology

Science Daily reports that a University of Adelaide study has identified the risk of major birth defects associated with different types of assisted reproductive technology.

In the most comprehensive study of its kind in the world, researchers from the University's Robinson Institute have compared the risk of major birth defects for each of the reproductive therapies commonly available internationally, such as: IVF (in vitro fertilization), ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) and ovulation induction. They also compared the risk of birth defects after fresh and frozen embryo transfer.

The results are being published May 5 in the New England Journal of Medicine, and presented in Barcelona, Spain at the World Congress on Building Consensus in Gynecology, Infertility and Perinatology.

"While assisted reproductive technologies are associated with an increased risk of major birth defects overall, we found significant differences in risk between available treatments," says the lead author of the study, Associate Professor Michael Davies from the University of Adelaide's Robinson Institute and School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health.

Researchers linked a census of more than 6100 assisted reproductive technology births in South Australia to a registry of more than 300,000 births and 18,000 birth defects. They compared risks of birth defects across all infertility treatments to pregnancies in women with no record of infertility. They also compared successive pregnancies for women.

Previous studies have identified an increased risk of birth defects associated with infertility treatment, but this is the first study to compare all forms of available treatment. This is also the first study to compare pregnancies within women by the treatments received.

"The unadjusted risk of any birth defect in pregnancies involving assisted conception was 8.3% (513 defects), compared with 5.8% for pregnancies not involving assisted conception (17,546 defects)," Associate Professor Davies says.

"The risk of birth defects for IVF was 7.2% (165 birth defects); and the rate for ICSI was higher at 9.9% (139 defects).

"A history of infertility, either with or without assisted conception, was also significantly associated with birth defects. While factors associated with the causes of infertility explained the excess risk associated with IVF, the increased risk for a number of other treatments could not readily be explained by patient factors. ICSI, for instance, had a 57% increase in the odds of major defect, although the absolute size of the risk remained relatively small," he says.

The complete article can be found on this link

There can no doubt that interference with nature is inadvisable. The entire IVF industry is based on dangerous, unethical and unacceptable practices which involve the destruction of around 96% of all the embryos brought into being using this technology, it now appears that a very high percentage of those who come to birth will be affected by the process throughout their entire lives.

I have BLOGGED many times on the ethical alternative to treatment of infertility NaproTechnology which is safer for women, avoids immoral practices, produces excellent results and does not involve destruction of embryos

Chilean scientific study shows, despite pro-abortion claims, that abortion access is not a factor in reducing maternal mortality

Chile Outperforms U.S. and Dramatically Reduces Maternal Deaths by Increasing Women's Educational Level

Concepción, Chile, May 5 - A scientific analysis of 50 years of maternal mortality data from Chile has found that the most important factor in reducing maternal mortality is the educational level of women. “Educating women enhances women’s ability to access existing health care resources, including skilled attendants for childbirth, and directly leads to a reduction in her risk of dying during pregnancy and childbirth,” according to Dr Elard Koch, epidemiologist and leading author of the study.

The research entitled  “Women’s Education Level, Maternal Health Facilities, Abortion Legislation and Maternal Deaths: a Natural Experiment in Chile from 1957 to 2007” was conducted by researchers Dr Elard Koch, Dr John Thorp and Dr Sebastian Gatica on behalf of the Chilean Maternal Mortality Research Initiative (CMMRI) and published in the Friday, May 4 issue of PLoS ONE. (http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036613).

Using 50 years of official data from Chile’s National Institute of Statistics (1957-2007), the authors looked at factors likely to affect maternal mortality, such as years of education, per capita income, total fertility rate, birth order, clean water supply, sanitary sewer, and childbirth delivery by skilled attendants. They also analyze the effect of historical educational and maternal health policies, including legislation that has prohibited abortion in Chile since 1989, on maternal mortality.

During the fifty-year study period, the overall Maternal Mortality Ratio or MMR (the number of maternal deaths related to childbearing divided by the number of live births) dramatically declined by 93.8%, from 270.7 to 18.2 deaths per 100,000 live births between 1957 and 2007, making Chile a paragon for maternal health in other countries. “In fact, during 2008, the overall MMR declined again, to 16.5 per 100,000 live births, positioning Chile as the country with the second lowest MMR in the American continent after Canada and with at least two points lower MMR than United States” said Koch.

One of the most significant findings is that, contrary to widely-held assumptions, making abortion illegal in Chile did not result in an increase in maternal mortality. In fact, after abortion was made illegal in 1989, the MMR continued to decrease from 41.3 to 12.7 per 100,000 live births (69.2% reduction). “Definitively, the legal prohibition of abortion is unrelated to overall maternal mortality rates” emphasized Koch.  

The variables affecting this decrease included the predictable factors of delivery by skilled attendants, complementary nutrition for pregnant women and their children in the primary care clinics and schools, clean facilities, and fertility. But the most important factor and the one which increased the effect of all others was the educational level of women. For every additional year of maternal education there was a corresponding decrease in the MMR of 29.3 per 100,000 live births.

The picture for Chile includes a transition of leading causes of death along with an accelerated decline of fertility and delayed motherhood. Koch explained that direct causes –those directly attributable to pregnancy condition– were the rule before 1990, but from then, indirect causes –i.e. non-obstetric chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes among others– rise as the most prevalent, hindering the decline on maternal mortality.

“This study uncovers an ongoing ‘fertility paradox’ in maternal health: education is the major modulator that has helped Chile to reach one of the safest motherhood in the world, but also contributes to decrease fertility, excessively delaying motherhood and puts mothers on risk because of their older age.” Thus, an emerging problem nowadays “is not a question of how many children a mother has, but a question of when a mother has her children, specially the first of them” concluded Koch.

Chen Guangcheng addresses US Congressional Hearing by telephone

Congressman Chris Smith reports that the blind Chinese human rights defender Chen Guangcheng  surprised the world by testifying via telephone before the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, joining other human rights organizations around the world decrying human rights abuses associated with the Chinese government's brutal one-child policy that includes forced abortions and forced sterilizations, at a hearing held today by Commission Chairman Chris Smith (NJ-04).

Due to a timely phone call, Chen, who last week found refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Bejing to highlight his and his families' suffering at the hands of the Chinese government, testified at the hearing by speaking through a translator—former Chinese prisoner Bob Fu of ChinaAid.

"I'm really afraid for my other family members lives," Chen said from his hospital room. "I want to meet with Secretary Clinton, I hope I can get more help from her. I also want to thank her face-to-face. I really feared for my other family members' lives."

Chen testified that his home has numerous video cameras surrounding it and an electric fence. Chen said he wanted "to make the request to have my freedom of travel guaranteed." He told Smith he wanted to come to the United States with his family, Smith said.

"The thing of most concern right now is the safety of my mother and brother; I really want to know what's going on with them," Chen said.

Smith told Chen that the hearing was being held with high hopes for his wellbeing.

"You have a panel of people who have just testified on your behalf, all of whom deeply, deeply care about you and your family as well as those who helped you," Smith said. "I think the word is getting out and there are members of National and International press here, that your case is the test, the test, of Chinese commitment to protect you, which they've given—we're very dubious about those assurances—but also the test of the United States as to whether or not human rights really do matter. Your plea that the Secretary of State who did not meet with you in the embassy, go to your hospital room and meet with you. You and your family and your supporters need to be on a plane coming to the United States for, as you put it, that rest that you so richly deserve."

Update on Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng

We reported last week on the escape from house arrest of Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng. It seems that with the assistance of fellow dissident He "Pearl" Peirong Chen found his way to the American Embassy. We understand that Chen left the Embassy in the company of US Embassy personnel for medical treatment and there is some doubt about his current status and that of his family. We also understand that there will be an emergency Congressional hearing into the entire affair.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers report that controversy surrounds the latest news of Chen’s decision to leave the safety of the U.S. embassy in Beijing after escaping there from house arrest on April 22. The U.S. government purports that it was necessary for him to seek medical treatment and that the Chinese government promised Chen and his family safe conduct. Human rights activists have doubts about his wellbeing and China's intent, stating that his condition was not critical, and that the U.S. government should have welcomed the Chen's family into the safety of the compound until a more satisfactory deal could be made.

Meanwhile, activists are unable to contact He "Pearl" Peirong, a fellow dissident who assisted Chen in reaching the safety of the U.S. embassy in Beijing. They worry that she has now been detained because of her assistance to Chen.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers President, Women's Rights Without Frontiers and Bob Fu President, China Aid have called a press conference to be held  later today at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C to give an update and a Q&A session on the current status of Chen, his family and his colleagues.

Bob Fu, President of China Aid and Tiananmen Square student leader, along with Reggie Littlejohn of Women's Rights Without Frontiers have long established relationships with Chen and He. Fu has marked this as a watershed moment for United States credibility in the defense of freedom and rule of law.

Fu and Littlejohn are in Washington to testify before an emergency hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China to discuss the recent developments in the Cheng Guangcheng case.

UN radical agenda for youth

The Commission on Population and Development meeting in its 45^th session in New York last week considered issues relating to adolescents and youth. 

Negotiations commenced on the text of a resolution, which sought to group together all young people between the ages of 10 – 24 despite the fact that those at the lower end of the scale are immature children while those in their early twenties are young adults with substantially different needs.  

The initial document cited issues such as abortion, reproductive health and choice and ignored the importance of parental involvement in children’s lives, but as negotiations developed it became clear that various member states and pro-abortion organisations were determined to implement a very radical agenda including the removal of all legal and other barriers in order to provide unrestricted access to abortion and contraception for young people without parental knowledge or consent hence their insistence on grouping 10 year olds with 24 year olds. One of the major goals of the pro-abortion organizations was to sideline parents and to abolish parental consent laws.

The document also called for so called “comprehensive sexuality education”, and sought to establish rights to sexual orientation and gender identity.

In the pitch battle that ensued the Holy See and several member states opposed the radical agenda by seeking the removal of the offending paragraphs and inserting alternative language into the document.

The Holy See delegate Fr Bene had to keep pointing out that the paragraphs, which called for reproductive health services and commodities were  inappropriate for 10 year olds and he stressed the importance of making a distinction throughout the document between 10 year olds and 24 year olds.

Negotiations commenced on Thursday April 19 and by the following Thursday April 26^th member state delegates had reached the 11th version of the draft text. By then it was clear that there would never be consensus as the document, which was supposed to focus on population and development, focused more on the area of sexuality.

The Chairman of the meeting at this point set aside the document which had been under negotiation and produced his own “chair’s text’ which was presented to the meeting on a take it or leave it basis. The Chairman made it clear that no alterations would be countenanced to his text apart from grammatical errors or other unimportant issues, which did not affect the substance of the text.

Many delegations were happy to proceed on this basis but others still had major concerns. The Holy See delegate Fr Bene made the following intervention.

“Regarding the proposed chair's text, my delegation expresses serious reservations with this draft which attempts to promote abortion, contraceptives and so-called "comprehensive" "education" and "information" "on human sexuality" and thus immoral behaviours to children.  The theme for this session is supposed to be on "youth and adolescents" which UN offices and agencies have interpreted to be as young as 10 years of age.  However--and this is most shocking--the prior rights, responsibilities and duties of parents regarding their children is missing from this text.  Article 26, 3, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights--on which international consensus exists--states that "parents have the prior right to choose the kind of education to be given to their children."  Lack of the prior right of parents regarding their children makes this document unacceptable to my delegation.  Here my delegation thinks especially of OP7, OP21, OP22, and OP23.

My delegation especially rejects the proposed inclusion of so-called "reproductive rights," a term on which no international consensus exists. The life of the unborn child is very dear to my delegation and many delegations. For this reason my delegation must point out that abortion kills the life of the unborn child and harms the mother. Abortion can never be considered "safe."  Furthermore, my delegation rejects the proposed inclusion of so-called "comprehensive education on human sexuality" which, according to the literature, promotes immoral and reckless behaviours and lifestyles.

My delegation encourages delegations, to reject this and similar language, and only accept a document which addresses the wellbeing of youth and adolescents by providing access to healthcare, education, and vocational training for employment--elements which have been proposed and supported by numerous delegations--and thus realization of the right to development.”

In the final analysis delegates were successful in limiting the references to abortion to those set out in the 1994 platform for action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) despite the efforts of the pro-abortion organizations and they also succeeded in ensuring there is no reference to sexual rights, sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI) in the document.

The finally approved text of the resolution also reaffirmed the sovereign right of each country to implement recommendations of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development or other proposals in the resolution, consistent with national laws and development priorities, with full respect for the various religious and ethical values and cultural backgrounds of its people, and in conformity with universally recognized international human rights.