The following is a compilation of pro-life news from across the world:
China Abortions reach 9.2 Million in 2008, Maybe Higher
According to a government tally, 9.2 million abortions were performed in 2008, up from 7.6 million in 2007. But the count only includes hospitals, and state media report the total could be as high as 13 million. If accurate, that would give China among the highest abortion rates in the world.
Many blame the trend on newly liberal attitudes toward premarital sex, and lagging sex education. Bureaucratic red tape and social stigma also deter single women from having a child on their own, and laws bar women from marriage until they are 20, making teen pregnancy virtually unheard of.
These factors and a lack of stigma surrounding abortion, or “artificial miscarriage,” as it’s known here, have helped make it a relatively cheap, widely available option for birth control.
“The moral outrage over having a child before marriage in our society is much stronger than the shame associated with abortion,” said Zhou Anqin, the manager at the clinic in Xi’an, which performs about 60 abortions each month, mostly on students aged 24 or younger. (more)
Couple Desperate for Girl in IVF Have Abortion of Twin Boys
Australia — A couple so desperate for a baby girl that they killed twin boys are fighting to choose the sex of their next child
The couple, who have three sons and still grieve for a daughter they lost soon after birth, are going to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to win the right to select sex by IVF treatment. They say they want the opportunity to have the baby daughter they were tragically denied.
An independent panel, known as the Patient Review Panel, recently rejected the couple’s bid to choose the sex of their next child using IVF.
They have gone to VCAT in a bid to have that decision overturned. VCAT recently ruled that it has the power to review the Patient Review Panel decision. It will hear the couple’s case in March. (more)
Chinese Woman Who Has Abortion Dies Several Hours Later
China Press reported that a woman who underwent abortion died several hours later at a private clinic in Klang here. The woman, a mother-of-four known as Rajeswari, was two months pregnant.
According to the daily, she had either died of excessive bleeding or from lack of oxygen during the operation. Rajeswari, 35, was earlier accompanied by her husband to the clinic at 9.40am on Saturday. Her husband received a call at about 2pm informing him that his wife had died. (The Star/Asia News)
Abrotion Illegal in Uganda But Clinics Sell Abortion Drug
Kampala, Uganda – Abortion is still illegal in Uganda but major clinics and pharmacies in Kampala sell abortion drugs at cheaper prices. Nurses and pharmacists sell a packet of cytotec (misoprostol drugs), the drugs used to carry out abortions at 30,000 shillings. A senior pharmacist in Kampala, who preferred anonymity, tells this reporter that they sell the drugs because they are on high demand. The pharmacist says the main purpose of the drugs is not to carry out abortion but Ugandan women use it to have one.
Cytotec drugs interfere with the progress of the pregnancy and cause a miscarriage. However, cytotec drugs cause severe bleeding, seizures, drowsiness and abdominal pain in women. Efforts to get a comment from the Minister of Uganda in charge of health, Dr. Stephen Malinga were futile by press time. (Uganda Press)
Dr. John Haas Appointed to Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers
The Vatican (LifeNews.com) — On Tuesday, January 4, Dr. John M. Haas, NCBC President was notified by Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, President of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, that the Holy Father had appointed him a Consultor to the Council. In 2006 Pope Benedict XVI appointed Dr. Haas an Ordinary Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life and then in June 2010 named him to the eight member Governing Council of the Academy.
The Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers was established by Pope John Paul II in 1985 to coordinate the activities of different dicasteries of the Roman Curia as they relate to the health care sector. It spreads, explains and defends the teachings of the Church on health issues and upholds the moral teaching of the Church in health care practice. It also maintains contacts with the local Churches and especially with the various national bishops’ conferences as they interact with the health care industry in their respective countries.
Montana Doctor Supports Bill to Ban Assisted Suicide in Montana
Kalispell, MT — Annie Bukacek, MD of Kalispell has written a letter to the editor supporting a bill to ban assisted suicide in Montana:
For over 20 years, I have been an internal medicine physician with a high percentage of older patients. I have had the painful misfortune of personally observing countless instances of elder abuse. I write in support of Sen. Greg Hinkle’s bill to prohibit assisted suicide and thereby prevent new paths of such abuse in Montana.
Elder abuse is horrific and on the rise. Perpetrators of the abuse include hired caregivers, neighbors and family members. In my experience, the motive is usually financial gain. This was true in the case of one of my patients, where a much younger man obtained financial control (became payee for Social Security and retirement benefits) by taking advantage of an elderly woman’s loneliness and dementia. He feigned romantic interest in her, flattering her to the point she became isolated as she took his side against her family members. She became isolated and totally dependent on him. After many months, Adult Protective Services was able to provide a guardian.
This same motive of greed could lead to coerced assisted suicide if there was anticipated financial gain, and death could occur quickly if assisted suicide was legal — before protection could be put in place.
Elder abuse is already a huge problem in Montana. For references regarding elder abuse and other grave concerns about assisted suicide, the Hinkle Report is available here: https://www.margaretdore.com/pdf/HinkleReport.pdf.I urge everyone to contact their legislators and ask them to support Hinkle’s bill that will prohibit assisted suicide.
Barcelona Man Committs Assisted Suicide in Switzerland
An 80-year-old Barcelona man with severe respiratory problems has perished in Switzerland in an “assisted suicide” overseen by the Dignitas association and with the help of his two daughters. Núria, one of the daughters, told journalists from “El Periódico de Catalunya” today that her Her dad had perished on October 18th in a house in a little village to and from Basel and Zürich. (The Reader)
