“Eggsploitation,” a documentary on the IVF industry released by CBCN, highlights the industry’s methods of drawing in young egg donors without informing them of the consequences of fertility drug injections and the egg retrieval process. According to the film, advertisement campaigns for human egg donations appeal to the vanity and altruistic senses of college-age women in need of money. What donors don’t know is that this ‘humanitarian’ act can not only take away their ability to reproduce, but also give way to health complications that will affect them for the rest of their lives. 

“Today’s college coeds are told that the procedure is safe, when the reality is decidedly unsafe,” said Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, Director and Senior Fellow of Concerned Women for America’s (CWA) Beverly LaHaye Institute. “No young woman should be used in procedures that jeopardize her own fertility—indeed her own life—in order to line the pockets of those who promote the infertility industry’s human egg trade.”

The documentary features the stories of three young women duped by the “highly unregulated multi-billion-dollar” infertility industry. Through the egg donation process one woman lost an ovary, another suffered stroke, brain damage and loss of fertility, and the other suffers from severe ovarian hyperstimulation, which affects as many as 10 percent of women who go through in vitro fertilization. All three nearly died due to complications.

Wendy Kramer, Director and Co-Founder of the Donor Sibling Registry, approved of the film, saying, “This powerful, important and informative documentary gives viewers true insight into the egg donation industry and helps us to better understand the desperate need for regulation and oversight.”

The documentary is currently available. “Eggsploitation’s” official debut is set for August 9 at The Little Theatre in Rochester, N.Y.

http://www.eggsploitation.com/index.htm

The IFPA – the Irish branch of the massive abortion industry leader, International Planned Parenthood, - has seen its income increase massively since it became the beneficiary of taxpayer funding.

“It’s simply unacceptable that taxpayers are propping up the abortion industry to this extent,” said Íde Nic Mhathúna of Youth Defence. “The Irish people have repeatedly rejected abortion in referenda and opinion polls, but the government is quietly shovelling sack-loads of cash into the abortion industry – and all this at a time when our economy is on its knees.”

International Planned Parenthood has recently been embarrassed by allegations of discrepancies in accounting for millions of taxpayer funds in the US, while their staff has been caught on film advising a young girl they believed to be under-age to lie about the age of her much-older boyfriend.

“None of this seems to matter to the Irish government who have funnelled millions towards the IFPA,” said Youth Defence. “It’s time some hard questions were asked – and answered.”

The Irish Stem Cell Foundation is working hard to push Minister Harney for this legislation and is working through every avenue, including universities, politics, media, etc., to see that this legislation is put forth and passed through.  Now is the time for us to stand up and tell Minister Harney that we want to continue the protection of all human life from conception to natural death.  

Because this is such a current topic and has the possibility for dire circumstances, Youth Defence has decided to take to the streets and collect signatures against this pro-embryonic stem cell legislation.  We have a group of pro-lifers that will be travelling to Knock and the Clonmacnoise Festival, to collect signatures on a petition stating, “We the undersigned, want the right to life of the human embryo to be protected from conception, and demand a ban on lethal embryonic stem cell research and on the deliberate destruction of the human embryo.”  We are hoping to collect 100,000 signatures to send to Minister Harney to proclaim to her that we want the human embryo to be protected. 

If you will be in Knock or Clonmacnoise, please stop by and sign the petition.  Also, if you are available to help, please let us know.  We need as many volunteers as we can get, as we want to get as many signatures as possible.      

Mary Wagner’s mother, Jane Wagner, told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that she received a call from Mary this morning saying that she had been acquitted, but was unable to provide specific details about the judge’s decision. Attempts to contact Mary have been unsuccessful.

At a hearing earlier this month, the presiding judge in the case had said that Mary could be let out of jail immediately if she agreed to three conditions, one of which was not to stand on the sidewalk in front of the Choice in Health abortion facility, or to enter the building. The young pro-life activist, however, said that she could not agree to this condition, and so was returned to jail pending a further hearing.

While that hearing was originally not set to happen until September, Jane Wagner told LSN that earlier this week Mary’s lawyers told her that the judge had had a “change of heart,” and would hear her case today.

Mary’s path to becoming a prisoner of conscience began on Monday, March 29, during Holy Week, when she entered the "Woman's Care" abortion facility. At that time she said she was able to "speak to a few grieving Dads, whose partners had already gone in for their abortions, and let them know about project Rachael, a support system for post abortion parents."

After about 45 minutes the police arrived and escorted her away from the facility.

On Tuesday, March 30, Mary again went to witness to life, this time to the "Choice in Health" abortion center, where she said she was able to counsel women, abortion workers, and the police for nearly 45 minutes before she was carried away by officers and put in jail.

Some of the world’s greatest minds are brought together at this conference to present various new and innovative ideas.  Among all of the presenters, Ridley’s point was groundbreaking and his demonstration presented the major reality against the “overpopulation” myth. 

TEDGlobal, which gets its name from the first letters of the words technology, entertainment and design, is an organisation built upon creativity and truth. Founded in 1984, it has become a globally recognised brand and probably the best-known forum for new ideas, mostly because it has spread through the internet.  Its past speakers includes Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Bill Gates and Gordon Brown. Everyone at the TEDGlobal conference is a CEO, an entrepreneur, an innovator, an artist or the head of an NGO.

The essential message of this year’s TEDGlobal annual conference was, “The future is bright.”  The future is bright, as it has always been, simply because human beings retain the capacity to resolve our problems, no matter how impossible they may seem. 

Mr. Ridley’s point conveying that the human population is the only species that actually gets more prosperous as its numbers increase is honestly earth shattering.  There is constant hysteria these days regarding “population control” and claims that the population is having negative effects on the balance of nature.  A 2005 report of the EU Commission entitled Confronting Demographic Change highlighted the plummeting birth rates across Europe which, experts fear, will bring growth and prosperity crashing to a halt.  The UN, in a 2009 report, also warned that the number of elderly people worldwide will outnumber children for the first time in 2045.  With a shortage of children being born, what is to be said about the future of the economy, jobs, pensions, and the world? 

Europe promises jobs with the passage of the Lisbon Treaty, but how can that be true when population is decreasing, thus becoming less prosperous? 

Each year, Youth Defence organises a pro-life trek across Ireland called The National Roadshow.  Each summer, this pilgrimage brings together a group of people from various ages, backgrounds and nationalities, in order to promote the sanctity of human life.  Each person brought a different perspective, a unique background, and a zeal for the gift of life.  The volunteers came from a variety of ages, nationalities, and activist backgrounds.  People came from all over the world to participate including Ireland, France, Belgium, Poland, America, and England.

There were people who had been a part of nearly every Roadshow throughout the years and others who had never done anything actively pro-life in public before.  All of these factors brought an excitement and passion that was unique to this year, which was quite fitting, it being the 20th anniversary.  Over 70 pro-life activists hit the streets of over 20 towns throughout Ireland on the 20th National Youth Defence Roadshow.  On Wednesday July 7th, the volunteers packed their bags and hit the road on behalf of the unborn, mothers, and the respect for all human life.  Over 100,000 leaflets and booklets, feet pins, pro-life balloons, and other pro-life materials were loaded into the vans and cars, and the team headed off on their trek across the country. After 10 days on the road, stalls in 20 different towns, and over 100,000 leaflets handed out; the Roadshow proved to be a tremendous success and we have only begun to see the amazing fruits coming from this 10 day trek.

As you can imagine, each person on the Roadshow has countless stories to be shared and their own experiences to be documented.  But, one in particular that sticks out was when we were in Longford, a woman came up to the stall with her young daughter.  The woman said she was pro-abortion and expressed her disagreement with our message but, said she wanted to stop by to see what “all these young people” were doing with a stall on the main road.  After speaking to this woman for some time, one of the YD members gave the daughter a “feet pin” and explained that this is what the 11 year old girl’s feet looked like when she was a mere 10 weeks old.  The mother and daughter stood in awe.  Kate Bryan, who was one of the YD members speaking to this woman said, “It was as though I was witnessing a conversion right before my eyes.  It was astounding to see how something as simple as a 10 week old baby ‘feet pin’ could transform a person’s view on abortion.”  After speaking to the woman further, she came to the conclusion that she was actually against abortion and asked for every bit of literature she could get from us, so that she could educate herself on the issue.

This is only one of the countless stories to be told from the 10 day trek across Ireland.  The Roadshow was full of debates, conversations, and ultimate blessings.

Thank you for all of your support and prayers.  Expect to hear more Roadshow stories in the Solas and future Ezines.

In June 2009, LifeSiteNews broke the shocking story that African hospitals funded by the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) were using resources to force AIDS patients to be sterilized against their will. LSN reported this fact and that dozens of women had come forward to claim that PEPFAR-funded public hospitals in Namibia had forced or coerced them into “receiving tubal ligations because of their HIV-positive status”.  Fifteen of these women are now suing the Namibian government and other women continue to come forward with similar allegations.

One year after LifeSiteNews revealed this shocking revelation, a new report issued by the Inspector General (IG) for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) states that the Obama administration has recently spent over $23 million for activities in Kenya to influence voters there to support a new constitution that would authorize unlimited abortion throughout the nation.  The Obama administration tried to deny that this funding had been given to this campaign, but the facts present the exact opposite.  Rep. Chris Smith, a pro-life activist and a ranking member of the Africa and Global Health subcommittee, has been closely investigating grants that the Obama administration has provided to Kenyan groups promoting a “Yes” vote campaign for the new constitution.  Smith said the IG’s list shows that “U.S. tax dollar monies are flying out the door to pro-abortion groups committed to overturning pro-life laws in Kenya.” Africa’s constitution currently protects both women and unborn children from abortions, but on the 4th of August 2010, the people of Africa will vote on whether or not to overturn the pro-life laws of their country. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) said that this legislation "opens the door to abortion on demand, which is why Christian organizations that are pro-life are so opposed to that provision."

See related article

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2010/0720/1224275071637.html

Under the new informed consent provisions, women must be advised of the risks of abortion, given information about the physiological characteristics of their unborn child, and be presented with what resources are available to women who choose to bring their child to term.

Abortionists will also be required to provide a brochure proclaiming: "The life of each human being begins at conception. Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being."

Women must also be given the opportunity to view an ultrasound, learn about the pain an unborn child may feel during a late term abortion, and have access to a telephone if she is at the abortion facility under duress from a third party.  Additionally under the law, insurance plans in the soon-to-be-created federal health care exchanges which are subsidized by taxpayer dollars cannot offer abortion coverage.

"We applaud our allies in the Missouri legislature for dramatically enhancing the informed consent protections for women in Missouri and making Missouri the fifth state to opt out of taxpayer-funded abortion," said Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President & CEO of Americans United for Life (AUL). "This new law protects women, their unborn children, and taxpayers making it a win for everyone in the state."

Senate sponsor Rob Mayer said regarding the legislation, “I truly believe that anyone who can hear the heartbeat of these children, or see the pain the child goes through, and is told about the many options they have, will ultimately choose life."

This law will go into effect on the 28th of August.

The staff gathered around his bed prior to withdrawing treatment and noticed their previously unresponsive patient was able to blink his eyes for the first time.  The amazed staff decided to ask him directly what he wanted.  The doctors asked Mr Rudd three times if he wanted to carry on living

Three times he blinked “yes” in reply to their questions.

This was the first time Mr Rudd had responded to any stimuli in three weeks and the moment was captured on a BBC documentary, entitled Between Life and Death.  Far from being brain-dead, as his family had feared, Mr Rudd was perfectly aware of his situation and finally able to communicate.  Now nine months later, he can move his head from side to side and smile at his family.

“He had severe injuries to his brain and we could not communicate with him. The outcome was thought to be very bleak indeed,” said Professor David Menon, who was in charge of Mr. Rudd’s care at Addenbrooke’s.   

Mr Rudd is now in a lower dependency unit nearer his home in Worcester and hopes to go to Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he will be taught to communicate using his tongue, eyes and facial muscles.

His father spoke of the family’s relief: “His daughters are certainly glad that he's alive. They joke around in front of him, he smiles and that lifts him for ages.  His long term memory is intact, he can make facial expressions, and has an Elvis Presley twitch on one side of his mouth. But physically, he's gone.  It might not be the same Richard that we started out with, but at least he's still coping because he still smiles when we talk about the past or when he sees his children.”

Mr Rudd’s case again raises the issue of patients who express a clear wish to die but then change their minds due to their circumstances.

Read more here

In this lenthy piece by Bazelon called The New Abortion Providers, she reported how many universities now offer a 2 year programme to sharpen their students skills regarding abortion and contraception. This program is called the Family Planning Fellowship, in which students are trained here or abroad, side by side with the World Health Organisation, on abortion and contraception issues.  The main intent of  these programmes is to keep a continuity between the older abortionists (dawned by Roe v. Wade), and the younger medical students, so this practise is not lost.

According to Bazelon, the majority of funding for these programmes come from the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation.  The Buffett Foundation’s tax records reveal that most of its spending is allocated to “abortion and contraception advocacy and research.”  The Foundation has given tens of millions to Planned Parenthood and Ipas, as well as millions to other pro-abortion groups like Catholics for Choice.  Buffett has pledged to give away 99% of his estimated $47 billion assets, with most of it going to the Gates Foundation, which is infamous for its avowed emphasis on population control.

Despite Buffett’s and the rest of the pro-abortion movement’s efforts to bring abortion into the mainstream of medicine, however, pro-life leaders insist that abortionists are by nature at the bottom rung of medicine, where debauched doctors end up when they are too incompetent for any other area.

“No one goes to medical school with the intent of working in a Planned Parenthood or some other abortion clinic,” said Mark Crutcher, President of Life Dynamics Inc., last month, after an Ottawa abortionist was disciplined for his incompetence in treating 25 of his clients.  “The wash-outs from the leftovers of medicine wind up working in these abortion clinics.”

Jacobs observed: "Kenyans are literally fighting for the hope and future of their nation - the lives of unborn children.  The Constitution, which will be voted on by Kenyans on August 4, includes language which overturns current Kenyan law prohibiting abortion except to save the mother's life. It would allow abortion when the mother's 'health' is affected by a continuation of pregnancy.

"The World Health Organization (WHO) defines 'health' to include 'complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.' Thus, Section 26 of the proposed Constitution sets up a mechanism for unrestricted abortion on demand at any time during pregnancy," he said.

Africa has been targeted by international population control groups for legalized abortion despite a 47% drop in Kenyan fertility and projections that show a declining population in the next 50 years.

In recent days, the Obama administration has been accused by a group of U.S. congressmen of spending over $23 million to promote the pro-abortion Constitution.

Jacobs urged Kenyans to "carefully consider the consequences of this fatal move, which could be the first step on a road the West has followed, leading to one-quarter of all pregnancies in the U.S. ending in abortion." 

"Once again, the legacy of Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood is revealed with their racist agenda to eliminate black Africans," said Jacobs. He pointed to the history of 21st Century black genocide from abortion as chronicled in the documentary movie, Maafa21.

The pro-life information Roadshow is by now a well-established event, and is crucially important in reaching out right across the country with the pro-life message. It features cutting-edge materials and information, and organizer Rebecca Roughneen says it has made the “the maximum impact” on tens of thousands of people this year.

”We’ve been mostly blessed by good weather, the centres have been very busy, and we’ve got a tremendous amount of interest in our pro-life sessions,” said Ms Roughneen. “It’s great to get out there and meet up with local members who help to distribute information and to talk to people.”

Ms Roughneen said that the importance of the Roadshow lay in its ability to reach out to thousands of people every day who wanted to know more about abortion, and who took the opportunity to stop, to talk, and get a better understanding on the effects of abortion on women and children.”

The Roadshow has packed 100,000 informative leaflets, booklets, pins, stickers and cards, and expect to have distributed every one by the end of the tour. A newly-produced video by Youth Defence which uses beautiful images of the child in the womb captured by cutting-edge technology was also available, and proved very popular.

Ms Roughneen said that the Roadshow experience was incredibly positive but that the group welcomed debate and questions. “It’s always great to see people re-affirming their pro-life views but really we’re mostly about bringing information to people who want to know more,” she said. “We’re working at the frontline of the movement and we’re here to answer questions and provide information.”

“And she added that the Roadshow brought new life-affirming stories each year. “Every year we meet mothers, with gorgeous babies, who were considering abortion and changed their mind because they received information on the Roadshow,” she said. “It’s the best result you could possible ask for.”

Hear a radio clip that was recorded live for Live95FM in Limerick City during the Roadshow there

There are a few photos on our Facebook site, view them here. We will have a report and full photo gallery next week

The Scottish Roadshow will visit Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee and Montrose amongst other towns and pro-life stalls will run from 11am-5pm. All volunteers welcome!

The pro-life leader said that the Scottish Tour was “inspired by Youth Defence’s Roadshow” and that it was a fantastic chance to become active in the pro-life movement, help get the pro-life message out there, and meet up with fellow pro-lifers.”

O'Donnell argued against recognising the right to life of an anecephalic child in the D case in 2007, where barristers argued in the High Court that Baby D deserved no legal protection because his/her condition meant he/she was not an "unborn person".

Curiously, Judge McKechnie heard the D case, and his ruling was widely condemned by pro-life groups and disability activists when he described the baby at the centre of the case as “an aberration of nature”.

Justice McKechnie has made several controversial rulings such as the high-profile case involving the Lydia Foy transsexual case, which came before him twice. He replaces Justice Hugh Hugh Geoghegan, who retired last month.

His nomination came the day after it was announced that the Government was withdrawing its appeal against his 2007 judgment that the Civil Registration Act 2004, which did not permit the issuing of a new birth certificate to Lydia Foy, a transsexual, was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Dr Ó Domhnaill said that given the predilection of the abortion industry to use the courts in attempts to overrule pro-life laws, these most recent government nominees should be a cause of concern.

Organisers of the hugely successful Rally for Life say they were thrilled with the huge turnout for life in Belfast. Up to 4,000 people marched in the bright sunshine through the packed Belfast shopping district, which came to a standstill as the colourful and lively parade passed through.

Just after 2pm on Saturday, an enormous cheer went up from the Rally as thousands of people of all ages set off from Custom House Square through the busy city centre. The Rally organizers had issued an “open invitation to families and friends, young and old to join together to Celebrate Life”. Face-painting, balloons, music, an open top bus added a carnival-like atmosphere to the gathering, which has grown in numbers every year since its inception.

The Rally is organised by a coalition of pro-life groups including Precious Life, Youth Defence and the Life Institute. Bernadette Smyth of Precious Life who hosted the Rally this year said she was “overwhelmed” by the massive turnout of thousands of people standing together for mothers and babies. She said that "Ireland is the light of the world" in the global battle against abortion, a sentiment echoed by Fr Terry Gensemner from CEC for Life who brought a team of young people to the Rally.

Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Life Institute told the rally that the most immediate threat to Ireland’s pro-life ethos was the proposed legislation on the human embryo being brought forward by Health Minister Mary Harney in the autumn. She said that a Summer of Life campaign on the issue would begin within days and that the pro-life majority needed to work to ensure that proposed legislation would ban embryo research and the deliberate destruction of human embryos created, but not used, in IVF procedures. The Campaign hopes to reach 600,000 people in the next twelve weeks and will use pro-life stalls, an information campaign and advertising to get its message across

Ms Uí Bhriain drew cheers from the crowd when she said the message of the Rally to the governments north and south was: “You will not kill our children, at any stage, in any place, not in our country and not in our name”.

Youth Defence spokeswoman Íde Nic Mhathúna said: “We’re so delighted to see that the number of people coming out to protect life is growing every year. The Rally was a great day out for everyone – a real occasion to Celebrate Life. And most importantly it brought people together to stand against abortion, and to become part of the important work done north and south to protect human life.”

As Bernadette Smyth concluded, "The Rally for Life has given another huge boost to the pro-life cause in Ireland. We are proud to proclaim that - at a time when abortion has become the norm in so many other countries around the world - Ireland still protects and cherishes her unborn children.”

See photos of the Rally here

See Precious Life’s slideshow of the day here

The Mail writes: “When Cara Sciberras went into labour at 23 weeks, doctors warned there was only a million-to-one chance her child would survive.

But when baby Nathan arrived he surprised everyone by immediately gulping for breath before continuing to fight for his life in an incubator.

Now, more than two years on, he has not only avoided any of the health complications very premature babies often develop but is growing so fast that he is almost as tall as his four-year-old brother Joshua.

Nathan - who weighed 1lb 8oz at birth and was small enough to fit in someone's hand - now stands at 3ft 1in, just three inches less than his big brother and putting him in the top ten per cent for his height compared to other children his age.

'For weeks we worried that he wouldn't make it but now when you look at him you would never know what he has gone through,' said Mrs Sciberras, 28, from Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire.

'From the moment he came out of hospital he was a hungry baby and now he loves his food. He is taller than lots of his friends and even some of his brother's friends who are two years older.'

Mrs Sciberras was rushed to Milton Keynes Hospital on December 11, 2007, after her waters broke 17 weeks earlier than expected.She was transferred to Southampton Hospital, which had specialist equipment for premature babies, and gave birth there three days later.

'When I went into labour the doctors said the baby only had a one-in-a-million chance of surviving because he was so early and breach, which meant when he came out he would press against his umbilical cord and cut off his air supply,' she added.

‘'We were told that if he wasn't breathing when he was born they wouldn't resuscitate him as they don't help children younger than 24 weeks.’

After the traumatic birth on December 14, 2007, Mrs Sciberras and her husband Mike, 38, a car salesman, named their son Nathan, which means 'gift from God'.

Read the full story here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/http://www.youthdefence.ie/article//One-million-Baby-born-23-weeks-thriving-toddler-set-pre-school.html#ixzz0t1eIcGMm

A recent post told how a chief proponent of embryonic stem cell research has abandoned the field. Smith refers to Michael Cook over at Bioedge and quotes from his column:

“Amongst scientists who promoted the use of human embryonic stem cells five years ago, in the middle of passionate debates in the US, Australia and elsewhere, few were more influential in shaping the ethical debate than Harvard’s George Q. Daley. “We must support the vitally important applications of embryonic stem cells to medical research,” he testified to a US Congressional committee in 2005 http://www.isscr.org/public/testimony_daley.htm . He contended that work on hESCs was so important that it could not be delayed.

“Now, he has transferred the same sense of urgency and excitement to an ethical non-controversial alternative to hESC research which he dismissed before the committee – induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). At the time, he said, “Although this strategy is worth pursuing, it is extremely high-risk, and may take years to perfect, and may never work as well as nuclear transfer, which we know we can practice today.” However, in 2007 iPS cells were developed by Shinya Yamanaka. Professor Daley immediately stopped campaigning for hESCs. In an interview with Nature Medicine, he says, “Once Yamanaka solved the problem, I turned around virtually my entire program to take advantage of that breakthrough.”

As I always say, good ethics is also good science. Time will tell, but believe that IPSCs (or some other ethical approach to obtaining pluripotent stem cells), along with adult stem cells, will eventually provide almost every regenerative medical and research benefit we were once told could only come from ESCR/therapeutic cloning.

In a statement http://www.agenciasic.es/2010/07/11/impidamos-la-tirania-carta-del-arzobispo-de-burgos published on the bishops' Catholic Information Service, Gil Hellín laments the recent promulgation of the law, an "evil law which is directly opposed to right reason and the most elemental justice. Such is the law that establishes that the Spanish have the right to kill the unborn, as long as they do it before 14 weeks."

"Let us diagnose it with total clarity: this law is no law, although it is presented as such by some political and legislative bodies. And it isn't because no one has the right to eliminate an innocent. For that reason, it doesn't obligate. Even more, it demands a head-on opposition without reservation. Right reason cannot admit as a right the killing of an innocent person.

The new abortion law, which is being contested before Spain's Constitutional Tribunal, abolishes penalties for all abortions during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. It also allows minors to obtain abortions without parental permission, although they must first inform their parents of their intention to do so.

The archbishop rejects arguments that claim the law is somehow valid because it was passed by the legislature and approved according to the required legal processes.

"It is a fallacy to affirm that this law has been approved by the majority of the Parliament and that this represents the majority of the citizens, or to say that if the Constitutional Tribunal decrees its conformity [with the Constitution] it would be disobedience to oppose it, and would deserve a punishment. The fallacy consists in attributing to politicians, judges, or citizens a right that they don't have, and no one has the right to legislate that an innocent can be killed."

"What society would continue if it declared that is the right of citizens to kill innocent persons by majority [vote]? In the best scenario it would be converted into a tyranny, against which upright persons would have to react, according to this advice by Gandhi: 'As soon as one understands that obeying unjust laws is contrary to his dignity as a man, no tyranny can dominate him.'"

The archbishop's strong statements were made only days before the Constitutional Tribunal is to decide if the law will be suspended while it is under review.

A previous ruling of the Tribunal in the 1980s decreed that the right to life of the unborn child is paramount except in certain cases, including danger to health, rape, or fetal deformity.

On Monday a letter was sent to Jim Wells, Chairman of the Northern Ireland Assembly's Health Committee, from the department announcing that it has withdrawn its interim guidelines on abortion and would be launching a public consultation

Precious Life, who has spent years battling the guidelines, welcomed their withdrawal, and noted that the Department of Health have now issued and overturned or withdrawn such guidelines twice so far. In 2009, pro-life groups challenged the legality of the guidelines in the High Court. Lord Justice Girvan ruled that the guidelines issued by the Department of Health were not clear and agreed that they would be open to misinterpretation. He added that the language used in the guidelines was "ambiguous" and "a trap to the unwary” and warned that they could create problems for doctors and other medical practitioners.

“Given Justice Girvan’s remarks it was particularly objectionable that the Department of Health choose to issue very similar guidelines in February of this year,” said Bernadette Smyth of Precious Life.  She said the Department had repeatedly ignored the wishes of the pro-life majority, the motion passed by the Assembly, the evidence of medical practitioners and even the High Court to pursue an abortion agenda.

“Sheer persistence, public activity and prayer have now forced the Department to back down,” said Mrs Smyth. “We’ll be keeping a sharp eye on what happens now since they have shown that vigilance is necessary to protect mothers and unborn babies. We’ll also be making sure that pro-life voices are heard in the public consultations."

The Rally is organised by a coalition of pro-life groups including Precious Life, Youth Defence and the Life Institute. Bernadette Smyth of Precious Life said she was “delighted to see the huge crowd which had gathered for the fourth consecutive year to stand in defence of life.”

Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Life Institute told the rally that the most immediate threat to Ireland’s pro-life ethos was the proposed legislation on the human embryo being brought forward by Health Minister Mary Harney in the autumn. She said that a Summer of Life campaign on the issue would begin within days and that the pro-life majority needed to work to ensure that proposed legislation would ban embryo research and the deliberate destruction of human embryos created, but not used, in IVF procedures. The Campaign hopes to reach 600,000 people in the next twelve weeks and will use pro-life stalls, an information campaign and advertising to get its message across

Ms Uí Bhriain drew cheers from the crowd when she said the message of the Rally to the governments north and south was: “You will not kill our children, at any stage, in any place, not in our country and not in our name”.

Organisers of the Rally had issued an “open invite to families and friends, young and old to join together to Celebrate Life”. Face-painting, balloons, music, an open top bus added a carnival-like atmosphere to the gathering, which has grown in numbers every year since its inception.

Ide Nic Mhathúna of the organising committee said: “We’re so delighted to see that the number of people coming out to protect life is growing every year. The Rally was a great day out for everyone – a real occasion to Celebrate Life. And most importantly it brought people together to stand against abortion, and to become part of the important work done north and south to protect human life.”

Ms Nic Mhathúna said that international pressure was being brought to bear on Ireland’s pro-life laws, and pointed to the ABC case sponsored by the Irish Family Planning Association currently before the European Court of Human Rights. “That case seeks to overturn our pro-life laws,” she said. “The rally is an important reminder to our politicians that the majority of Irish people are pro-life”.

Bernadette Smyth of Precious Life closed the rally by telling her enthusiastic audience that they must be “a voice for the voiceless, for mothers and babies, for the Culture of Life”.

Four days after the Rally Youth Defence’s National Pro-Life Roadshow gets under way visiting twenty towns and cities in ten days of non-stop pro-life activity. Up to 70 young people will take part in the event which reaches many thousands of people each year.

"Life is our most precious gift. The ‘All-Ireland Rally for Life’ is a celebration of life. To attend or take part in it in any way is a worthwhile endeavour to pursue as Catholics. We stand up for God's gift of life," wrote Bishop Boyce.

Organisers of the Rally welcomed the message and called for pro-life people north and south to make a special effort to attend the Rally, which begins at 2pm in Custom House Square in Belfast. 

“It’s going to be a great day out for everyone – a real occasion to Celebrate Life,” said organiser Íde Nic Mhathúna. “And most importantly it’s all about bringing people together to stand up for life and to join in the important work done to protect human life.”

Ms Nic Mhathúna said that international pressure was being brought to bear on Ireland’s pro-life laws and pointed to the ABC case sponsored by the Irish Family Planning Association currently before the European Court of Human Rights. “That case seeks to overturn our pro-life laws,” she said. “The rally is an important reminder to our politicians that the majority of Irish people are pro-life”.

She added that the rally was “an exciting catalyst for pro-life people, north and south, to become involved in various campaigns to keep Ireland abortion-free.”

One of the organising groups, the Life Institute, will launch a Summer of Life campaign at the Rally, focusing on the need to ensure that legislation promised by Mary Harney on the human embryo will protect life from conception.

Two days after the Rally Youth Defence’s National Pro-Life Roadshow gets under way visiting twenty towns and cities in ten days of non-stop pro-life activity. Up to 60 young people will take part in the event which reaches many thousands of people each year.

Spokeswoman Niamh Ui Bhriain said that whether or not unborn children felt pain before 24 week was really a moot point. “It doesn’t change the fact that abortion kills a living, growing, innocent child,” she pointed out. “But the RCOG are guilty of ignoring the evidence of experts regarding fetal pain.”

She added that it was no coincidence that the RCOG’s study comes out amid hints that pro-life members of the British Parliament—possibly including Conservative Party Prime Minister David Cameron—might want to pull back the UK’s legal time limit on abortions from 24 weeks to 20 weeks.

The Royal College hasn’t dissuaded Labor MP Jim Dobbin, a leader of the pro-life movement in the House of Commons, who told the London Evening Standard, “Other experts would differ. This does not diminish the case for lowering the limit.”

“This is a nakedly political attempt by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to defend the status quo,” a spokesman for the Pro-Life Alliance said. “The RCOG are trying to stop abortion reform and will ignore the opposing side of the argument to suit their purposes.”

The Pro-Life Alliance both point to the research of American Dr. Kanwaljeet “Sunny” Anand, a researcher in pediatrics and anesthesia, who has been a leader in research suggesting that unborn children feel pain after 20 weeks in the womb.

Anand testified before Congress in 2005 that “based on evidence suggesting that the types of stimulation that will occur during abortion procedures, very likely most fetuses at 20 weeks after conception will be able to perceive that as painful, unpleasant, noxious stimulation.”

Anand “was not even consulted” in the RCOG’s study, the Pro-Life Alliance pointed out.

In the US National Right to Life accused the RCOG article as displaying a stunning lack of scholarship.

They said that “An objective expert in neurobiology would be appalled by the stunning lack of scholarship in the RCOG article. Its authors (predominantly abortion advocates and at least one abortionist) based their claim that unborn children do not experience pain before 24 weeks on the absence of complete nerve connection to the cortex before then.

“They ignore the seminal 2007 publication of “Consciousness without a cerebral cortex,” in the medical journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences and dismiss its evidence that children born missing virtually all of the cerebral cortex nonetheless experience pain.

The federal court of justice overturned a conviction yesterday against a lawyer who advised his client to remove the feeding tube of her 72-year-old mother in 2002.

Five years earlier, shortly before Erika Küllmer suffered a brain haemorrhage and lost consciousness, her daughter Elke Gloor said she had insisted she did not want to be kept alive artificially.

After consulting her lawyer, and with her own brother present, Ms Gloor cut the cable with a scissors only to have care facility staff reconnect it. Ms Küllmer died shortly after of natural causes.

The state prosecutor pressed charges against her daughter and the lawyer, Wolfgang Putz. Charges against Ms Gloor were dropped because the court ruled she had followed “mistaken” legal advice, while Mr Putz was given a nine-month suspended sentence for attempted manslaughter.

The federal court yesterday upheld the lawyer’s appeal against his conviction.

“In its ruling, the court argued that cutting the feeding tube made possible a “natural” death because it ended treatment that was being carried out against the patient’s will.

“A person’s free will must be respected, in all stages of life,” the judges ruled, insisting that “death on demand” remained a crime.

The Catholic Church said it needed more time to study the ruling, but expressed concern that the court had “not taken into account adequately the crucial ethical difference between active and passive assistance” in a suicide.

“We are concerned that not making this clear will result in ethical problems,” said the German Bishops’ Conference.

Assisted suicide is particularly controversial in Germany because of memories of the forced euthanasia programme in the Nazi era.

The Americans United for Life (AUL) Legal Team has diligently reviewed her past and her programs, and they assure us that she will be one of the worst things that could happen to the Court, and to our cause.

AUL says http://www.aul.org/2010/06/auls-kagan-file-the-case-against-kagan/ clearly that Kagan is unqualified to serve on the court for two major reasons:

She will be an agenda-driven judge who will use any source of law at her disposal to gain her desired outcome in a case. She is a pro-abortion ideologue who will take the court even further that Roe and Doe in denying protection to the unborn.

Kagan, who like any member of the high court, must exercise restraint in applying the law, and not impose her own personal preferences. But we have good reason to believe her decisions will be based on her own preferences.

Proof That Kagan Is Pro-Abortion Is Abundant. What confirms these fears?

Some of her favorite people include Arlen Specter, who suggests using foreign laws for some of the court’s major decisions, Judge Aharon Barak who says there is a basis for “interpretive inspiration” in decision-making, and Senate candidate Elizabeth Holtzman, a rabid supporter of abortion.

She has consistently supported pro-abortion political candidates, office-holders and judges. She has opposed any regulation on abortion. She has clerked for Abner Mikva and Justice Thurgood Marshall, worked for Michael Dukakis and Bill Clinton.

While working for Clinton, she supported partial-birth abortion even over his mild attempt to discourage funding of it, and managed to get him to fund it. She was furious when various medical associations opposed partial-birth abortion.

She supports funding for prisoners’ abortions, wants the states to pay for elective abortions, and believes that the government may make a value judgment favoring abortion over childbirth. She also supports cloning of human embryos for research and favors assisted suicide.

Solicitor General Kagan’s record is clear on the life issues. The AUL review of Kagan concludes:

Kagan’s disregard for the value of human life is at its most vulnerable state creates concern about how she will consider common sense abortion regulations and other cases that will come before the Court. She is deeply hostile to protecting the unborn, even when abortion is not an issue.

A Washington Times article calls Kagan, too political, too leftist, too inexperienced and too disrespectful towards existing law, to be confirmed for the U. S. Supreme Court. What we know about her should disturb fair-minded Americans and should embolden moderate senators of both parties to avoid rubber stamping her for a lifetime appointment. The pressure should be intense not on Republicans, but on Democrats who claim moderation and yet try to explain away Kagan’s history of leftist proselytizing.

The story points out that she has besmirched our military in time of war, is willing to undercut First Amendment free speech and much more—all bad.

We hope and pray that something will happen to prevent her from being found suitable to be another pro-abortion vote on the U. S. Supreme Court, but it looks like the cards are stacked against us.

Spokesman for Youth Defence, Dr Eoghan de Faoite, said they would be urging the thousands of people expected to attend the rally to become involved in a campaign to demand that legislation expected from Mary Harney later this year protects life from conception.

“Following the Supreme Court judgement in the RvR case involving frozen embryos, the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, has promised legislation on the human embryo. She has repeatedly referenced the report on the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction, whose recommendations would allow for embryonic stem cell research and even human cloning. We need to ensure that the pro-life majority are listened to and that human life is protected from conception,” said Dr de Faoite.

He added that Youth Defence’s campaign would kick off immediately after the Rally with a Summer of Life planned which will reach at least 600,000 people by the end of the summer. “We’re having Roadshows, information stalls, and we’ll be using advertising campaigns, all focusing on the need to lobby the government to ensure embryo killing is banned in Ireland,” he said.

To see examples of previous Youth Defence campaigns against embryo research click here

The Rally for Life is organised by the Life Institute, Youth Defence, and Precious Life with other pro-life groups. It has become a colourful event, with a carnival-like atmosphere, attracting thousands of people to Celebrate Life.

“The theme of the rally is to ‘Celebrate Life’,” said Dr de Faoite. “And we need to ensure that we inform and motivate the pro-life majority to ensure life is celebrated, and protected, at all its stages.”

This is the fourth All-Ireland Rally for Life which takes place in Dublin or Belfast each year. 4,000 people attended the Rally last year in Dublin, and organisers say a growth in volunteers for pro-life work is one welcome result of the event.

There are still seats available on our buses to Belfast. Please ring the office if you would like to come Celebrate Life on July 3rd. Bring your family and friends to take a stand against abortion. It’s going to be the pro-life event of the year.

She made her remarks on the Pat Kenny Show on Friday as part of a discussion regarding assisted human reproduction.

Niamh Ui Bhriain of the Life Institute said Ms Greer was correct to state that the IVF industry were allowed to sell the procedure as a series of success stories “when in fact success rates were very low”. She added that the ethical problems attached to IVF were absent in alternatives such as NAPRO technology, and that NAPRO had been shown in a recent study to be more successful than IVF.

Greer and Kenny also discussed the treatment of human embryos who were discarded or killed in IVF and concluded that the natural method of having babies were the most beneficial to all involved.

Listen to the interview on http://www.rte.ie/radio1/todaywithpatkenny/

Taipei City plans to start paying couples to have babies starting January 1st, 2011, the city government has said, in the latest move by the Taiwanese central government to boost one of the world's lowest birth rates.

Municipal authorities will give NT$20,000 (US$625) for every newborn baby from next year and provide monthly subsidies for children aged under five years old in lower-income families whose household net income is less than NT$1.13 million annually. The city government said 20,000 newborn babies and 90,000 children are expected to benefit from this new program. “We hope the comprehensive plan will help young couples feel more relaxed about having children,” Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin told reporters, adding the policy could cost NT$3 billion annually.

Hau said the plan would not crowd out budgets of other social welfare projects due to better tax revenues recently. In some cases, the city government will levy taxes on luxury residences next year and the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) is expected to boost Taiwan's economic recovery. Birth rates in Taipei dived to an all-time low in 2009 with only 19,403 babies being born, down 40 percent from a decade ago, according to the city government.

Various surveys have shown that many couples cited financial concerns, including rising child-care expenses, as their main reasons for not wanting to have babies.

Taiwan authorities have been offering varied incentives to encourage births amid growing concerns that a severe manpower shortage caused by low birth rates and an aging population will trigger serious social and economic problems. The nation's birth rate stood at 8.29 per 1,000 people last year, according to official figures. That compares with a global average of more than 20 births per 1,000 people, accordin

She said that previous correspondents who argued for abortion had “never stood in front of an abortion clinic, day after day, and listened to the women going in”, and pointed to poll after poll which “confirms that women who 'chose' abortion felt that they had no choice”.

“In reaction to this fear and panic, it is vital to respond with love for the gifts of motherhood and human life,” she continued. “Often, this is even more important than the practical, material help that we provide to women in a crisis pregnancy.”

“Legalising abortion, on the other hand, is a heartless and morally repugnant response that is essentially an act of aggression against women as well as their unborn children,” she wrote. “The abortion industry is a huge and extremely lucrative business with a grisly product to sell. So far, Ireland has resisted its deceptive and manipulative marketing.”

Mahoney then went on to call for the Irish people to have the courage to resist the abortion industry, saying: “If the European Court of Human Rights (backed by ideological scare-mongering from bureaucratic international NGOs) attempts to impose its pro-abortion agenda on Ireland at the conclusion of the ABC case, I hope the Irish will have the courage to resist this attack on human life.”

Ms Bradley said she spent weeks caring for her estranged husband, Leonard, as he lay dying from cancer.

In her husband’s final hours he seemed to be trying to tell his children that he loved them but was unable to speak.  Mrs. Bradley claimed that when Dr Martin turned up at their house, he “jabbed a needle” into her husband’s leg. She said her husband then tried to grab the doctor’s neck before swearing at him.

Mrs Bradley said she was already angry at Dr Martin because he had failed to turn up for a midnight appointment a few hours earlier. She said, “Dr Martin came back at lunchtime. I would not speak to him or look at him as I was so angry about what had happened. I heard him trying to explain to the children why he had not come back when he said he would.

“I then went upstairs with Dr Martin and I think [my daughter] Vicky was present. I recall clearly that Dr Martin jabbed a needle in my husband’s leg very forcefully. My husband shot up in bed and went for Dr Martin and said: 'You ------- -------.’”

“Those were my husband’s last words.”

Mrs Bradley said Dr Martin behaved strangely on his first visit the day before. “He sat at the kitchen table for at least half an hour and talked about various things including his son [who had died of cancer],” she said. When the GP went upstairs he pinched Mr Bradley and asked if he had a commode.

“We then came downstairs and Dr Martin discussed giving my husband an injection. He said it would make him go to sleep. He did not discuss this with my husband at all. “I asked Dr Martin what he meant. Dr Martin said he would not wake up again and I should telephone all of the family and get them round. “He said not to tell anyone else as this would make more paperwork for him.”

The doctor gave Mr Bradley an injection and left the syringe on a window sill. He failed to turn up at midnight. At 5am the following day Mr Bradley appeared to suffer a massive reaction.

Mrs. Bradley stated, “I do not think my husband wanted to die without seeing his children. He did not deserve to die like that.

Prepared by the UK’s Christine McCafferty for the PACE Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, the draft declaration calls for the establishment of “comprehensive and clear legal and policy framework governing the practice of conscientious objection by healthcare providers” with an “effective oversight and complaint mechanism.”

Under the document’s guidelines, doctors would be obliged to provide patients with information on “all treatment options available” and to refer patients upon request. Moreover, in cases of “emergency” or “when referral to another healthcare provider is not possible,” the doctor with the conscientious objection would be obliged to “provide the desired treatment” against his will.

In a move that could have massive impact on Catholic health institutions, many of which receive state funding, the draft declaration also proposes that the “guarantee” for the right to conscientious objection should only be afforded to “individual healthcare providers directly involved in the performance of the procedure” and not to “public/state institutions such as public hospitals and clinics as a whole.”

“While recognising the right of an individual to conscientiously object to performing a certain medical procedure,” it says, the Parliamentary Assembly “is deeply concerned about the increasing and largely unregulated occurrence” of doctors and other health care workers refusing to provide “certain health services based on religious, moral or philosophical objections.”

This practice, the draft document says, is especially of concern “in the field of reproductive health care.” It speaks of the “need to balance the right of conscientious objection” with “the responsibility of the profession and the right of each patient to access lawful medical care in a timely manner.”

Apart from abortion, the document calls into question physicians’ conscience rights on providing artificial contraceptives and abortifacients such as the morning-after pill, assisted reproduction treatments, preimplantation diagnosis and prenatal “screening,” which often includes advice on abortion.

The document “invites” the 47 member states of the Council of Europe to “develop comprehensive and clear regulations that define and regulate conscientious objection.” It will be debated by the Parliamentary Assembly during its next Autumn plenary Session.

A draft document on “regulating” individual conscience is much in keeping with previous decisions by PACE which passed a resolution in 2008 declaring unlimited legal abortion an “unconditional right.”

The Minister has stated that she intends to bring forward legislation on the human embryo later this year. She has repeatedly referenced the recommendations of Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction, but those recommendations would allow embryo killing, embryo experimentation and even human cloning. We can’t allow that to happen.

We’ve spent ten years campaigning hard to raise awareness on these issues – and this summer Youth Defence plans a whole Summer of Life to protect the human embryo.

“We’ll be hosting information outreaches that will reach up to 600,000 people,” said Dr Eoghan de Faoite of Youth Defence. “We’ve produced a campaign every year on protecting human life from conception, including some massively successful advertising and information campaigns, but now we need to make sure our work culminates in a ban on embryo research and embryo destruction.

If you would like to help with YD’s Summer of Life Campaign please call 01 8730463

A new report from the Life Institute entitled Dirty Tricks: Who’s behind the push for embryo research in Ireland will be launched next month.

In a statement which revealed a complete lack of medical understanding, Choice Ireland, a tiny grouping with links to the Labour Party, called for abortion legislation and claimed that mothers were being denied treatment for ectopic pregnancy and other conditions in Ireland. Needless to say, they offered no evidence of that claim. Other abortion campaigners fumed that the adverts contained an “anti-choice message” that would be seen by “huge numbers of women”.

Several pro-abortion blogs also fretted that the pro-life adverts were also prominent on the popular social networking website, Facebook. "We are delighted that our striking advert was seen by hundreds of thousands of people on the web – and that we received more than 4,000 information hits from the Facebook campaign alone", said Katie, a spokeswoman for YD.

Christian doctors also claimed the statistics demonstrated the failure of liberal sex education policies.

The Department of Health figures for 2009 show that, for the first time, more than a third (34 per cent) of abortions were performed on women who had already been persuaded to have one or more of their babies killed.

Across all ages, more than 1,000 women or girls were on at least their fifth abortion, including 214 on their sixth, 70 on their seventh and 48 who underwent the procedure for at least the eighth time. Youth Defence spokeswoman Rebecca Roughneen described the figures as “deeply shocking”.

Dr Peter Saunders, from the Christian Medical Fellowship, which represents Christian doctors, said that the figures were profoundly depressing. “It is increasingly clear that abortion is simply being used as a form of contraception by a growing percentage of girls and women, and that tired policies of values-free sex education, condoms and morning-after pills are not working,” he said.

The total number of abortions in England and Wales last year, 189,100, fell slightly on the previous year. Of those, 63,390 involved women who had previously ended a pregnancy, compared with 51,987 a decade ago — a rise of 22 per cent.

Almost 18,000 abortions were carried out on girls aged under 18, including more than 1,000 on girls aged 14 or under. The statistics follow controversy last month about Britain’s first television advertisement for abortion services.

Greetings from the dusty, cactus filled town of Globe, Arizona, about 70 miles west of Phoenix and 50 miles from the New Mexico border. It is with throbbing blisters and bloated calves that I find myself updating you on my experiences so far as part of the southern Crossroads walk. Despite these minor physical complaints common among the walkers, spirits remain high as we struggle to reach our daily target of 60 miles per day in the 45 degree daytime heat of the Arizona desert. The day itself is broken up into day and night shifts with 5 people walking as part of a shift. My prayers this week are those of thanksgiving as I find myself on night shift, where this pale-skinned Paddy can avoid the unmerciful rays of the midday sun. Instead my shift walks along largely deserted highways lit up by beautiful star-filled skies, doing our best to tiptoe past the many rattlesnakes inhabiting the shoulders of the roads. Once finished for the night, its a quick lift in the support vehicle back to the RV for Mass, breakfast and a much needed sleep.

Come weekends we find ourselves in some of the bigger towns and cities, praying outside abortion clinics and promoting the pro-life movement, and Crossroads in particular, in the various parishes. Resolve and unity among the group were also strengthened last week with the sad news that the sister of one walker suffered a miscarriage, thus giving us further motivation to end the holocaust of abortion in which babies are kept or thrown away according to the desires of their parents.

Many thanks to all at Youth Defence for their support and encouragement. Please keep us in your prayers.

God bless,

Tim Jackson

In California, researchers at the University of California in Irvine say they have discovered the method and mechanisms by which adult stem-cells can repair and replace damaged tissue in the brain. The discovery could lead to treatments for individuals with multiple sclerosis and other brain inflammation diseases.

“Previously, we’ve seen that adult neural stem cells injected into the spinal column knew, amazingly, exactly where to go,” said Tom Lane, a professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, and co-author with Kevin Carbajal of the new study. “We wanted to find what directed them to the right injury spots.”

Lane and Carbajal’s team experimented with mice whose central nervous systems were damaged by viruses in a way that imitated the effects of MS. The virus destroys myelin, a protective tissue that covers the nerves, resulting in chronic pain and loss of motor function.

They injected adult neural stem cells into the mice and observed that the inflamed cells activated receptors on the adult stem cells called CXCR-4 receptors. These receptors then gathered “chemokine proteins” (CXCL-12), which guided the adult stem cells to the damaged cells in need of repair.

As the adult stem cells made their journey through the brain, they transformed into precursor cells for oligodendrocytes, a key building block for myelin, that can both repair or replace the damaged tissues. Once latched onto the affected sites, the stem cells continued to differentiate, and after three weeks 90% of the cells had transformed into mature oligodendrocytes.

Lane stressed that not only did the work reaffirm the power of adult neural stem cells to improve the brain’s motor function, but also provided a crucial stem cell roadmap for researchers looking to develop therapies for those suffering with MS.

“In this study, we’ve taken an important step by showing the navigational cues in an inflammatory environment like MS that guide stem cells,” explained Lane. “Hopefully, these cues can be incorporated into stem cell-based treatments to enhance their ability to repair injury.”

While advances have been made in treating the diseases of the head, a young girl is undergoing an experimental adult stem cell treatment that, if successful, would finally allow her to overcome a rare disease of the heart called Eisenmenger syndrome.

The News Tribune reports  that Washington State resident Mailia Goforth, 16, has suffered from the disease since birth. The condition is caused by a structural defect in the heart, where blood flows through a hole in the heart wall. Additionally she suffers from secondary pulmonary hypertension because too much blood flows to her lungs; the blood vessels then constrict, putting even more strain on the heart. In Mailia’s case, doctors identified her condition too late for normal surgical repair or even the more drastic measure of a double lung and heart replacement.

The teenager, however, is being treated in the Dominican Republic with stem cells derived from her own blood, which are injected into her lungs via a small catheter. If successful, the therapy – developed by Dr. Zannos Grekos, MD – would significantly reduce the pressure on Mailia’s heart, and enable her to breathe freely. It would also theoretically allow surgeons to repair her heart.

The treatment has so far cost Mailia’s parents $64,000. Forty-seven thousand of that amount was raised by the parents, with the rest being covered by a private charity. The family, however, expects that Mailia will need a second round of stem cell treatments in addition to the surgeries, which Grekos speculated to the Tribune could enable her to play sports one day.

The Tribune reports that the family has just $33 left, but they have set up a website MailiasMiracle.com, which lets people know Mailia’s story and how they can help.

As reported by Lifesitenews (see below) a large volume of complaints were subsequently received – and we are now encouraging you to make your voice heard if you have not already done so.

Complaints made be made to the British Advertising Standards Authority on 00 44 20 7492 2222 or at enquiries@asa.org.uk, or online at http://www.asa.org.uk/Complaints-and-ASA-action/How-to-complain/Online-Form.aspx.

SPUC has also asked that as many people as possible contact Jeremy Hunt MP, the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The Secretary of State has the power to stop the ad through his powers relating to the Broadcasting Authority, Ofcom. Urge him to use that power.

Email him directly at jeremy@localconservatives.org or call on at 00 44 14 2860 9416.

You can also contact his Department at enquiries@culture.gov.uk or call 00 44 20 7211 6000.

90% of Marie Stopes' business is the grisly business of abortion and, like other so-called charities in the UK, it profits handsomely from killing babies and exploiting women.

It is outrageous that the UK authorities have allowed Marie Stopes to present itself as a caring champion of women when it is in fact a global player in the abortion industry. The advert allows that industry to sell their grisly trade - and to present that trade in an untruthful and deceptive fashion.

You could mention that the ad encourages abortion services, at a time when the government is meant to be trying to bring the appalling number of UK abortions down. Another point is that the Broadcasting Act 1990 requires that advertising is not offensive or harmful. Abortion is offensive to the countless women damaged by abortion; and lethally harmful to the hundreds of unborn children aborted every day.

More on this in your next ezine, but in the meantime volunteers are always welcome every day at Youth Defence's work outside the Marie Stopes clinic in Dublin. Call 01 8730463 for more details.

Read the Lifesite News Report here

Bocelli tells his story in a YouTube video where he plays piano as he recounts how a young woman who had been hospitalized and treated for a “simple attack of appendicitis,” when she was advised to abort her child.

“But the young brave wife decided not to abort, and the child was born,” tells Bocelli. “That woman was my mother, and I was the child.”

Bocelli was born in 1958 to Alessandro and Edi Bocelli. At his birth, doctors diagnosed him as having congenital glaucoma, and by age 12 he was completely blind

“Maybe I am partisan, but I can say it was the right choice,” said Bocelli.

Millions of Bocelli’s fans worldwide could also agree. In spite of this disability, Bocelli developed a passion for music, that would lead to a career of international hit singles, eight operas, and 70 million copies of his albums.

For years Bocelli used to be an agnostic, but returned to his Christian Catholic faith in 1994 in part due to reading the works of Leo Tolstoy, which are said to have convinced him that life was not random chance, but had a purpose.

Bocelli said he hoped that the story of his brave mother “could encourage many mothers that find themselves in difficult situations in those moments when life is complicated, but want to save the life of their baby.”

The video is part of a project of the Whole Life Initiative, which is dedicated to promoting “a respect for the intrinsic dignity of the human person regardless of ability, age, status, ethnicity or sex.”

Queries sent to the office from the public included concerns about cardiac disease arising during pregnancy and treatment for cancer. Many callers commended the advert for clarifying what had been a confusing issue because of media misreporting and pro-abortion propaganda.

“As a medical practitioner I know just how crucial this advert is,” said Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill of the Life Institute. “Pro-abortion campaigners have done their best to frighten women and to make the public believe that abortion saves lives, when the exact opposite is true, it just kills a baby. The volume of queries and requests for more information is not surprising at all. ”

Dr Ó Domhnaill said that the advert had shown that leading practitioners, including the former Chairman of the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, had stated that abortion was not medically necessary.

Mr Alex Redpath announced his resignation as Deputy of the NUS/USI because of the organisation’s decision to reaffirm its pro-abortion policy. Mr Redpath made his resignation on BBC Radio Ulster's religious affairs programme, Sunday Sequence

Mr Redpath, who is also Co-President of the Pro Life Society at Belfast’s Queen’s University, said he was quitting the key students’ movement post “as a matter of conscience”.

He emphasised: “As a member of the movement’s National Executive, I am duty bound to implement the union’s policies. This particular policy on reaffirming the union’s position in supporting the heinous tragedy of abortion is one which I cannot in all conscience support.

“I was elected Deputy President on a wave of pro-life support after changing Queen’s University’s policy on abortion to one of neutrality. I agreed to serve as Deputy President on the condition that I would not be expected to promote abortion, and in expectation of a change in NUS/USI’s policy.

“However, our disappointing defeat at the union’s national conference has put me in an impossible position. We could have won, we should have won, but because of the absence of certain students’ unions, we did not.

“Perhaps my resignation will remind several campuses of their own policies regarding abortion and may make them attend at the next national conference to vote for an end to this divisive and ineffective policy.

“There is no point in a national students’ union having an abortion policy. All this achieves is to divide students when we should be uniting against a powerful anti-student lobby whose sole objective is the marketisation of education, such as increasing fees.

“This pro-abortion policy is nothing more than self-indulgence by the extreme left who have for too long held the whip hand in the students’ movement,” said Mr Redpath.

Director of Precious Life Bernadette Smyth said, "We commend the courageous action of Alex Redpath in making a principled stand for life. He has exposed the hypocrisy of an organisation that claims it's mission and core values are "...to promote social justice" and "...treat individuals with dignity and respect." Abortion is the greatest social injustice and every individual unborn child killed by abortion is given no respect or dignity. We will continue offering Alex every help and support in his role as Co-President of the Pro Life Society at Belfast’s Queen’s University.

Khadka was 10 weeks pregnant, according to the Nepalese newspaper Republica. Police are investigating and have detained the facility owner, Chitra Bahadur Karki.

By its own admission, Marie Stopes International was responsible for the deaths of at least 920,000 unborn children by abortions, both surgical and drug induced, around the world last year - a massive increase of 56 per cent since 2008. Marie Stopes, with such abortion giants as International Planned Parenthood Federation and the United Nations Population Fund, is a major player in the international population control movement that is targeting poor countries in Asia, including Nepal.

In 2001, Nepal gave in to pressure from the United Nations and legalized abortion in cases of pregnancy due to rape or incest up to ten weeks after conception, and at any time “where pregnancy poses any danger to the physical or mental health of the mother or if the child will be disabled.” In 2009, Marie Stopes International, active in Nepal since 1994 with 61 facilities, boasted that its presence in the country had reduced the fertility rate between 2001 and 2006, from 4.1 to 3.1 births per woman.

Sunaolo Parivar Nepal (SPN), the local Marie Stopes affiliate, committed 70 per cent of all abortions between 2004 and 2007, making it the largest abortionist group in the country. Between 2001 and 2006, SPN had also conducted 50 per cent of all female sterilizations and 45 per cent of all (male and female) sterilizations in Nepal. Overall, the group said, sterilizations have risen in Nepal from 11,453 to 35,278 during those years.

The ready availability of abortion, however, has started to come under scrutiny for its role in the massive gender imbalances in many Asian countries. In 2000, Nepal was named in a UN report on the Asian gender imbalance caused by sex-selective abortion.

The easy availability of abortion has also been identified as a key link in the trafficking of Asian women for sexual slavery in India, a problem that is especially acute in Nepal. Tara Bhattarai, writing in 2007 for the Press Institute for Women in the Developing World, relates the story of a Nepalese woman, Geeta Tamang, who was sold into sexual slavery in India at the age of ten.

Tamang said that the pregnant women in her brothel were routinely taken by the brothel owner to a local abortion facility in Pune, the city where she was enslaved. After an abortion in the morning, Tamang said, “it was common for those women to be forced to take clients by the evening.”

The kidnapping and trafficking of women for forced prostitution in India is rampant in Nepal where poverty will sometimes drive relatives to sell young girls over the open Indian border. Local anti-trafficking NGOs estimated in 2007 that 7000 girls between the ages of 10 and 16 were trafficked into the Indian sex trade annually.

This week, while the Marie Stopes ads were airing on British television, the advocacy group Tibet Truth blasted the group for ignoring the “medical atrocities,” including forced abortion and sterilizations, committed against Asian women in the name of “family planning.” Tibet Truth participated in a demonstration against Marie Stopes at their London headquarters where the group was hosting Li Bin, the official responsible for enforcing China’s coercive one child policy.

Marie Stopes maintains five facilities in China, and lists the country’s various local “Family Planning Commissions” as partners in their work.

Tibet Truth said, “Like its ‘sister’ organizations the United Nations Fund for Population and the International Planned Parenthood Federation, [Marie Stopes International], though acutely aware of China’s program of forced sterilizations and forced abortions, which have traumatized countless women in China and occupied regions such as Tibet and East Turkestan, seems unable to offer a word of public condemnation, concern or opposition to such medical atrocities.”

Former conservative MP Ann Widdecombe said that the figures showed children are being treated like “designer goods.”

“If the law was applied properly, people wouldn't be able to get an abortion just because they changed their minds,” Widdecombe said.

The figures show that about half of the abortions are performed out for mothers aged between 18 and 34, the age at which it is easier for women to conceive and carry children to term. The figures included those children aborted for “selective reduction,” in which one or more children are killed when too many embryos have survived implantation in the womb.

Prof. Bill Ledger, a member of the HFEA, said, “I had no idea there were so many post-IVF abortions and each one is a tragedy.”

IVF and other artificial means of procreation have been in use in Britain since the technique was pioneered with the birth of Louise Brown, touted in the media as the world’s “first” “test-tube baby,” in 1978. Since then, Britain has led the world in developing the new reproductive technologies, including cloning and genetic manipulation of embryos. The technologies have grown directly out of IVF research.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act was passed in 1990. By 1997, 1 in 80 children (1.2%) born in Britain was the result of IVF treatment.

The women would have to prove they are in financial hardship in order to qualify for the 18 monthly payments. The policy has been welcomed by pro-life campaigners, including the Italian Bishops' Conference who responded to the new policy by saying: "Anything that respects life is to be applauded."

Mr Formigoni, a political ally of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, said he wanted to support "the family, motherhood and births". Recently Italy was shocked by the death of a child left to die after a failed abortion

Abortion has been legal in Italy since 1978.

The ad is part of Youth Defence's new advertising campaign which aims to set the record straight by explaining that abortion is never medically necessary.

Right now in Ireland, pro-abortion campaigners are expending considerable effort in spinning a particularly obnoxious piece of propaganda – attempting to frighten women into believing that a ban on abortion would endanger their lives. Worst of all, they are pretending that treatments for conditions such as cancer or ectopic pregnancy are abortion, when the truth is that they are no such thing.

That’s why these adverts spell out the truth – and bring real-life stories to the attention of the public so that they can understand that abortion campaigners are not only being dishonest, they are hurting mothers who have tragically lost their children.

The adverts also highlight the evidence of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists - the doctors who care for expectant mothers. As the Institute’s then Chairman, Prof John Bonner, told a Dáil Committee in 2001: “It would never cross an obstetrician’s mind that intervening in a case of pre-eclampsia, cancer of the cervix or ectopic pregnancy is abortion. They are not abortion as far as the professional is concerned, these are medical treatments that are essential to save the life of the mother.”

The striking advert is being complemented by the nationwide distribution of our Set the Record Straight leaflets and by a series of public events and media interviews. This essential campaign is cutting through the confusion - and laying the truth bare.

Right now in Ireland, pro-abortion campaigners are expending considerable effort in spinning a particularly obnoxious piece of propaganda – attempting to frighten women into believing that a ban on abortion would endanger their lives. Worst of all, they are pretending that treatments for conditions such as cancer or ectopic pregnancy are abortion, when the truth is that they are no such thing.

That’s why these adverts spell out the truth – and bring real-life stories to the attention of the public so that they can understand that abortion campaigners are not only being dishonest, they are hurting mothers who have tragically lost their children.

The adverts also highlight the evidence of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists - the doctors who care for expectant mothers. As the Institute’s then Chairman, Prof John Bonner, told a Dáil Committee in 2001:

“It would never cross an obstetrician’s mind that intervening in a case of pre-eclampsia, cancer of the cervix or ectopic pregnancy is abortion. They are not abortion as far as the professional is concerned, these are medical treatments that are essential to save the life of the mother.”

The striking advert is being complemented by the nationwide distribution of our Set the Record Straight leaflets and by a series of public events and media interviews. This essential campaign is cutting through the confusion - and laying the truth bare.

We’re also highlighting the welcome news that the UN has said that Ireland is the safest place in the world for a mother to have a baby. Pro-life medical care benefits mother and baby by making medicine about caring and curing not killing.

The Set the Record Straight campaign has a dedicated section on our popular website campaign and we’re highlighting women’s stories, medical evidence, and the need to stand up for life. Special thanks to the mothers who shared their stories. As Rene said in the advert, those babies were precious and their deaths should not be used to push for abortion.

90% of Marie Stopes' business is the grisly business of abortion and, like other so-called charities in the UK, it profits handsomely from killing babies and exploiting women.

It is outrageous that the UK authorities have allowed Marie Stopes to present itself as a caring champion of women when it is in fact a global player in the abortion industry. The advert allows that industry to sell their grisly trade - and to present that trade in an untruthful and deceptive fashion.

SPUC have asked that as many people as possible contact Jeremy Hunt MP, the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The Secretary of State has the power to stop the ad through his powers relating to the Broadcasting Authority, Ofcom. Urge him to use that power.

Email him directly at jeremy@localconservatives.org or call on at 00 44 14 2860 9416.

You can also call his Department at enquiries@culture.gov.uk or call 00 44 20 7211 6000

You could mention that the ad encourages abortion services, at a time when the government is meant to be trying to bring the appalling number of UK abortions down. Another point is that the Broadcasting Act 1990 requires that advertising is not offensive or harmful. Abortion is offensive to the countless women damaged by abortion; and lethally harmful to the hundreds of unborn children aborted every day.

More on this in your next ezine, but in the meantime volunteers are always welcome every day at Youth Defence's work outside the Marie Stopes clinic in Dublin. Call 01 8730463 for more details.

Niamh Ui Bhriain of the Life Institute wrote to the group editor and its manager saying that” Maria Daly’s article on abortion was considerably imbalanced, and amounted, on the whole, to a promotion of one point of view. …..I would respectfully ask that a right to reply of equal prominence be given. Amongst the important points to be made would be:

• Abortion takes a child’s life, and we cannot leave the child out of consideration when debating this issue.
• Evidence of the harm caused to women by abortion is now undeniable, but goes unreported in the main.
• Abortion clinics are a powerful industry which make millions from an exploitative and grisly trade. They should not be allowed to present a false front through soft-soap TV advertising.”

Aoife Hayden of Cóir wrote that the “tirade against the Cathlolic Church” and the “promotion of abortion did not reach any standard of decent journalism.” She continued “You have offended 70% of the Irish citizens who in a professional MRBI poll last month, stated quite clearly that they do not support abortion in this Country.”

Ms Hayden also pointed out to Ms Daly that “It is not just Catholics who object to the killing of unborn, many non-Catholics I know do not support abortion as it is recognised across different ethnic, religious and secular groups that it is wrong to directly kill an innocent human being.”

The editor has now agreed to a lengthy rebuttal of the original article.

Well done to all who wrote and called to speak up for life – and a particular thanks to Donal O’Sullivan for bringing it to everyone’s attention, and to Ray McIntyre for his persistence!

But the subhead--"Professional Obstacles, Not Fear of Harassment, Primary Barrier to Provision"--now THAT was a shocker. Not because pro-lifers didn't already know this to be true but because an organization which is pro-abortion up to and including its acronym admitted that the determinative pressures come from the inside, not from outsiders.

The received wisdom espoused in the abortion community--mindlessly passed along by the media--has been that more doctors don't trade their stethoscopes in for curettages because of a fear of harassment. To find out why there are so few abortionists (that's my guess was the real motivation), Lori Freedman, Uta Landy, Philip Darney, and Jody Steinauer conducted their study.

In 2006 they did in-depth interviews "with 30 obstetrician-gynecologists who had graduated 5–10 years earlier from residency programs that included abortion training," we read in a synopsis of Obstacles to the Integration of Abortion Into Obstetrics and Gynecology Practice. "Eighteen physicians had wanted to offer elective abortions after residency, but only three were doing so at the time of the interview."

Why? Bear in mind I am working from a press release (you have to be a subscriber to Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health to access the full article which appear in the journal's September issue), but the major reasons seem to boil down to three.

One--"The majority reported that they were unable to provide abortions because of the formal and informal policies restricting abortion provision imposed by their private group practices, employers and hospitals." Sometimes they knew this going in, other times they learned after they'd "joined a practice or institution." This included opposition to "moonlighting"--performing abortions after hours, so to speak.

Two--"Respondents indicated that the strain abortion provision might put on their relationships with superiors and coworkers was also a deterrent."

Three--a combination of the absence of bargaining power, peer support, and experience at negotiating the tensions that crop up when some physicians decide they want to be abortionists, full or part-time.

Even though "new physicians often lack the professional support and autonomy necessary to perform abortions," there is hope. We read,

"[T]raining programs may be able to help prepare them to continue providing abortions as they make the transition from residency programs to practice."

 The authors "suggest that training new physicians in contract negotiation and leadership skills related to conflict management, as well as linking them with colleagues and community members who support abortion provision, could be beneficial."

However what's really intriguing is what you find under "conclusions" found in the abstract: "The stigma and ideological contention surrounding abortion manifest themselves in professional environments as barriers to the integration of abortion into medical practice." That's quite a bit more revealing than the bland press release.

There is a "stigma" to killing unborn babies which contributes to an "ideological contention" making for "barriers" to weaving a death-prompting practice into a profession rooted in caring for and saving lives.

The comments were made by Dr. Abraham Alberto Hodari to medical students at Wayne University. Hodari currently is facing a lawsuit for allegedly forcing a woman to submit to an abortion after she had changed her mind, killing the unborn baby that she had decided she wanted.

“My wife says we doctors have a license to lie, and it’s true, it’s absolutely true. Sometimes you need to lie to a patient about things that they want to do or no,” Hodari told a gathering at Wayne State University on November 9, 2007.

He said it was not so much the case today, saying that the reason is that women “are more educated, between CNN and the internet, the patients are more educated about what we do.” He then added, “I have great satisfaction about what I do, and I never feel bad or worried about doing abortions.”

Hodari’s remarks have only added more ammunition to the lawsuit pending against him in Genessee County Circuit Court. NBC25 reported on the comments and asked for an explanation from the abortionist. Hodari claimed that he was only referring to situations where the woman’s life would be in danger, and said that a doctor must “never” tell a patient “you’re going to die.” “And in that respect, yes, we lie,” insisted Hodari.

However, the context of Hodari’s remarks, in which he mentioned how proud he was to be an abortionist, had nothing to do with telling women that they were dying.

Caitlin Bruce is one ex-client of Hodari, who claims he did exactly to her what he told the Wayne medical students: lied to her, and forced her to abort a baby she wanted. Bruce that Hodari and his assistant forcibly held her down to the operating table and "ripped the life out of me that day."

Bruce’s alleged forced abortion happened at Hodari’s Flint abortion center, the Feminine Health Care Clinic. Tom R. Pabst, Bruce’s attorney, told NBC25 that Hodari violated Bruce’s right to back out of a medical procedure and the video will serve as evidence against him.

"Whether it's a sexual advance or a medical procedure, if she says, ‘No, stop,’ that's the end of it," Pabst told the local news station.

"What he’s saying is that he knows what’s better for your body than you do, and he’s going to go ahead and do what he thinks is best for a woman’s body, not the woman. To me he’s got it flipped."

Bruce's story aligns with testimonies from other women who have described similar horror stories of coerced abortions at Hodari's hands. A report by Operation Rescue shows Hodari has a record of 49 documented lawsuits over a span of decades.

Hodari's practice has also been implicated in the deaths of at least four women from abortion-related complications. In June 2009, the Disciplinary Subcommittee of Michigan's Board of Medicine fined Hodari $10,000 for negligence in connection with the botched abortion death of Regina Johnson.

Numerous complaints have been filed against the abortionist for improper disposal of human remains and abortion records found in Hodari's dumpster. Hodari received a sentence of six months' probation on one such count in February.

In November, Hodari put his abortion clinics on the market along with his collection of expensive classic cars and hastily filed for divorce from his wife of 29 years. Local activists told Operation Rescue that it appeared that he was attempting to liquidate his assets so he could flee the country, possibly to his former home in Argentina.

Spokeswoman for the Life Institute, Niamh Uí Bhriain, said that ethical approval could not be given to research which involved the destruction of human life. “UCC may invoke ethics in this decision, but it’s a misnomer, since a decision that results in the destruction of human life cannot be ethical”. However, she said that it was possible that the research would be delayed in any case since Mary Harney is expected to bring forward legislation in this area later this year.

Professor Peter Kennedy, Vice President of Research in UCC, refused either to identify the name of the research project or the members of the advisory sub-committee of the UREB who had approved the research. “There is so much secrecy and subterfuge going on in relation to the push for embryo research in Ireland,” said Ms Uí Bhriain. “Taxpayers are being asked to fund this research but are being denied information about what’s actually happening.”

Next month will see the launch of a new report uncovering the machinations behind the push for embryonic stem cell research in Ireland.

Meanwhile, last night’s Prime Time programme on stem cells featured the usual loaded report and an imbalanced studio debate with two pro-embryo research speakers (Deirdre Madden and Dr Stephen Sullivan) lined up against ethical stem cell expert Dr Martin Clynes, one of Ireland’s leading bio-chemists. Dr Clynes stated clearly that embryonic stem cell research had not produced any medical treatments to date.

She continues “And how are they doing this? By pursuing a determined programme of sex selection, either by aborting female foetuses or, increasingly - particularly among more affluent families - by doing everything in their power to ensure that the fertilised egg implanted in the mother's womb is a male one. This can be done by a technique known as 'sperm sorting' - where sperm carrying the male Y chromosome are separated from those carrying the female X chromosome - or, more reliably, by IVF.”

Although gender selection in this way has been outlawed, Ms Desai claims that “the practice goes on, with wealthier British Indian families travelling to the U.S., Europe or indeed to India in their efforts to have a male child.”

She notes that with abortion being available on demand the child sex ratio is in danger of becoming as skewed in the UK as it is in India. In 1991, the child sex ratio was already a depressed 945 girls per 1,000 boys in India - instead of the usual 950. But by 2001 it was down to 927, and in some of the worst regions, such as Punjab and Delhi, it's heading towards 800. One particular hospital in the Punjab has not registered the birth of any baby girls at all.

“Estimates vary as to how many Indian women are now 'missing' from the population, but it's thought to be somewhere between ten and 35million over the past 20 years. Female foeticide, gendercide - call it what you will - it's a terrible and chilling statistic,” writes Ms Desai.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/http://www.youthdefence.ie/article//Britains-hidden-gendercide-How-Britains-Asians-copying-Indian-cousins-aborting-girls.html

Vicki Evans, Respect Life coordinator for the Archdiocese of San Francisco's Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns, is the author of the study, "Commercial Markets Created by Abortion: Profiting From the Fetal Distribution Chain." The study doubled as her thesis for the licentiate in bio-ethics she received from the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude.

Evans told Catholic San Francisco, the newspaper for the Archdiocese of San Francisco that she wanted to use her training as a certified public accountant to “follow the money” between the abortion industry and commercial enterprise.

“I wanted to come up with a body of knowledge that nobody else had thought of before,” she told Catholic San Francisco. “In following the money and seeing who gets paid for what and how much they get paid, and how unregulated these areas are, I found a lot of facts that a lot of people wouldn’t have noticed or wouldn’t have thought to look for.”

In her 72-page study, Evans wanted to find out how “special interests” or “commercial cause” was now driving the abortion industry and keeping it free from transparency or regulation.

“Putting aside the ideological question for the moment, it appears that abortion-related businesses, silently springing up and maturing over the past forty years, could now be influencing the abortion debate,” she wrote.

Evans’ findings note that between the fiscal years 2003 and 2008, the abortion industry – 1,787 abortion providers in the United States in 2005 – grew from an 810 million dollar business to 1.038 billion dollar industry.

Over this time period, Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s abortion market share dramatically increased from 245,092 abortions ($88.2 million in 2003) to 305,310 abortions ($122.1 million in 2007). By 2008, PPFA had taken 25 percent of the abortion market, more than doubling its market share since 1997 (then 12 percent).

Evans also noted how PPFA is involved with many clinical trials conducted by pharmaceutical companies, and said “thirty percent of its clinical trials included teens, age thirteen to eighteen.”

“Attracting teenagers to contraceptive use is a component of the abortion industry’s business plan, as is offering abortion as a remedy for failed birth control.”

Evans also noted in her thesis that, “When abortion became legal in the United States, no one anticipated that it would give rise to a tremendous market in fetal parts, tissues and cells.”

Evans’ study revealed that the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and biologics sectors are the main industries engaged in fetal tissue research. The commercial use of fetal tissue is evolving from the mere production of childhood vaccines into the productions of vaccines that treat influenza, HIV, and others.

The cosmetics industry also has an “enormous and increasing demand” for “fetal cell technologies.” This began first with treating burn victims, said Evans, and has now made its way into the anti-aging market, a $30 billion industry: this includes miracle creams developed using fetal-cell technologies, to face lifts and cosmetic procedures derived from injecting aborted fetal tissue. The only limit to the demand for the “fetal anti-aging market” is “the amount of money available to be spent for products and procedures promising youth, beauty and vitality.”

But ultimately the demand for fetal parts and organs for scientific and commercial purposes could not have happened without the legal and cultural protections that surround abortion. Despite the fact that the aborted bodies of “millions of fetuses” cannot technically be bought or sold, a clandestine market for them exists, she said.

“It is important to shine a light on these practices that take place behind closed doors,” wrote Evans. “There are powerful forces conspiring to keep this information from the public and the media with the ostensible conviction that they are protecting a woman’s right to choose. However, it is becoming obvious that many ideological groups are being used as pawns by powerful financial interests.”

Society has to address the problem of the commercialization of abortion, Evans warned, because it had perilous implications for human identity and relations.

“Habitual participation in immoral acts inevitably leads to personal desensitization, self-deception and rationalization about what it means to be human,” Evans stated.

“When morality is excluded from a civil society, the weak and vulnerable are easily exploited for the benefit of the strong and powerful. This is the worst brand of injustice. It deserves to be brought to light.”

The complete study can be found here

He made the comments to Catholic educators, social workers and others after celebrating Mass before an estimated 500,000 people in Fatima, Portugal, one of the most important shrines in Christianity.

Thousands had slept outside in order to be able to attend the giant open-air mass in Fatima, and cheering crowds welcomed the pontiff, waving flags of their countries and shouting: 'Long live the pope!'

In his homily, the pope urged humanity to turn from selfishness, death and terror to the love of God.

'At a time when the human family was ready to sacrifice all that was most sacred on the altar of the petty and selfish interests of nations, races, ideologies, groups and individuals, our Blessed Mother came from heaven,' Benedict said, referring to the apparition of Our Lady to three Portuguese shepherd children in Fatima on May, 13, 1917, during World War I.

Youth Defence spokeswoman Carolyn Johnston said that at a time when the world was increasingly concerned with the economic downturn it was uplifting to hear these encouraging words from the Holy Father.

Eugenia Roccella, a junior health minister, has promised a government inquiry. "The Minister of Health will send inspectors to the hospital in Rossano Calabro to investigate what actually happened, and to see if the Law 194, which prohibits abortion when there is a possibility of the foetus living separately from the mother," she said. Miss Roccella added: "We must remember that a baby, once born, is an Italian citizen equal to all the others, and is entitled to all fundamental rights, including the right to health and therefore to be given full support."

Most abortions at 22 weeks involve the induction of the birth which normally results in the death of the child. The case is causing uproar in Italy because it is the second involving a 22-week baby surviving the procedure in just three years. The other involved a baby in Florence who weighed just 17oz when he was aborted because of a suspected genetic disorder. He lived for three days

The case of the boy who was wrapped in a sheet and left to die should shake people's consciences, said Italian Archbishop Santo Marciano of Rossano.

The abortion was carried out on Saturday April 24 at the Nicola Giannattasio Hospital hospital in Rossano Calabro in the south of the country. On Sunday Fr Antonio Martello, the hospital chaplain, went to pray beside the body and saw the sheet move. He called for help and the baby, weighing just 11oz, was transferred to a hospital with a neonatal intensive care unit in nearby Cosenza. The baby died on Monday morning.

The mother, who was 22 weeks pregnant with her first child, opted for an abortion because a scan had revealed the child had a cleft lip and palate, a condition which can be rectified by minor surgery.

Archbishop Marciano condemned the killing of the child in an interview with Vatican Radio last week. "We need to begin to reflect on how the practice of abortion is favouring a superficial and unjust approach to the intangible value of human life," he said. "This episode must truly shake people's consciences. It is not possible that a foetus aborted at the 22nd week, still alive, is left to die. This is something truly abhorrent. I would define this as barbaric."

http://liveaction.org/blog/no-concern-for-human-fetus/

“In the run up to the Westminster election Precious Life volunteers were out everyday tirelessly canvassing for life. We encouraged all pro-lifers to bombard their political parties and their candidates with telephone calls, emails and letters, asking them to oppose abortion and defend the right-to-life of our unborn children”, the pro-life group said.

Bernadette Smyth said “this massive lobby campaign showed the politicians that the right-to-life is a most important issue to the people of Northern Ireland. ”Today’s election result reflects the strong pro-life views of the majority of people here. We also have the assurance from newly elected politicians that they will speak out and defend the right to life of our unborn children at Westminster.”

The Examiner led with an emotive headline: "Varadkar opposed to abortion for rape victims" while the Herald contacted a rape victim to prompt a response to the TD’s statement.

Mr Varadkar said in a Sunday Independent interview that he wouldn’t be in favour of aborting children conceived through rape.

"I wouldn’t be in favour of it in that case, and, you know, first of all, it isn’t the child’s fault that they’re the child of rape."

"I think where that’s been brought in countries it has more or less led to abortion on demand," he continued. “You can say the same thing about disabled children. You know, some people would make that argument in favour of abortion. It’s not their fault they’re disabled. I wouldn’t be in favour of it in those circumstances either."

And Mr Varadkar said that the fact that some women travel for abortions was not a reason to legalise abortion here. "People travel overseas to do things overseas that aren’t legal in Ireland all the time. You know, are we going to stop people going to Las Vegas? Are we going to stop people going to Amsterdam? There are things that are illegal in Ireland and we don’t prevent people from travelling overseas to avail of them."

'22 weeks' director Ángel Soto has announced the 22-minute picture will air at Cannes.

The pro-life blogger Jill Stanek, who worked with Soto during the 2008 election campaign to expose Barack Obama's opposition to the Born Alive Act said that getting '22 Weeks' aired during Cannes was "quite a breakthrough."

"22 Weeks dramatizes the true story of a mother whose baby was horrifically aborted alive," Stanek told Life News. She said staff at the abortion facility "turned ambulance workers away at the door, who the mother had called for help from the bathroom where she delivered when staff refused to give her baby emergency medical care."

"The horror of late-term abortions and abandoned survivors will now reach a worldwide audience," Stanek added. "Well deserved congratulations to Ángel."

The Cannes appearance and the possibility of more awards would add to the ones 22 Weeks has already won, Stanek explained. They include winning Angel Awards 2009; won Silver Angel Telly Awards 2009; won Bronze Telly Redemptive Film Festival 2009; won Best Storytelling 2do FICCAG 2009; won Best Int' Short, Best Nat' Short, People's Choice.

The bill generated heated discussion in the Florida House, but pro-life leaders welcomed the move. Jim Finnegan, a pro-life blogger and activist, described it as "a common sense requirement to better serve mothers contemplating abortion.

"Sadly, abortion remains the most common surgery in America today, with over 1,300,000 annually. It also remains the surgery least discussed with the "patient" as to its physical and mental ramifications to both mother and child," he added

Under the new measure, women would have the right not to view the ultrasound if they sign a waiver, but the doctor would still be required to describe the image.

Supporters of the bill said it would offer women the latest medical technology with 3-D images and the best information for a very important decision.

On that date in 1981, the Dutch Senate approved the Pregnancy Termination Bill, by the narrowest possible margin of thirty-eight votes in favor to thirty-seven against. The bill had been adopted earlier by the House of Representatives.

In the Netherlands, which is well known for its liberal views, each year the lives of approximately 30,000 unborn are terminated in the womb and discarded as medical waste. Abortion is possible up to the 24th week, with the result that foreign women often visit Holland for late-term abortions not allowed in the countries of their origin.

Many tourists paused and watched the growing field of models, while expressing their approval. People attracted by the beautiful spring weather left the Square after pausing and listening to explanations as to what effect abortion has on mothers, fathers and children.

However, as a pro-life representative attempted to explain the issue to a group of forty junior students, he was interrupted by their teacher, who ordered her students to continue their walk.

Prayer and worship was lead by Cry for Life President, Dr. L.P. Dorenbos. He said that he is convinced that the blood of the aborted lives cries out for vengeance and is determined to see an end to abortion by prayer and fasting. Later Astrid Mechielsen gave her testimony of how her abortion affected her life and the life of her six-month-old son Daniel.

During the demonstration police removed a small group of pro-abortion counter-protesters, who shouted slogans against Cry for Life.

See the demonstration here: www.schreeuwomleven.nl/index.php?paginaID=33

Dr Ó Domhnaill made his remarks when responding to an article in last week’s Sunday Times which promoted legislation to allow lethal research on human embryos.

He wrote:

“It is richly ironic that last week’s Sunday Times article favouring human embryonic stem cell research was written by the editor of a magazine entitled Science Spin, since it is precisely spin, and neither science nor ethics, that is driving the push for embryo research in Ireland.

The article contained several glaring logical fallacies, not least Mr Duke’s assertion that the lack of legislation in Ireland was evidence of demand to carry out embryonic stem cell research. In fact, it is precisely the opposite; as opinion polls and several major public consultations have shown public opinion is very much opposed to any form of embryo research being carried out in this country. They overwhelming reason for this view is that most people accept the scientifically established fact that life begins at conception, and that embryonic stem cell research destroys human life at its earliest stage.”

Dr Ó Domhnaill said that the Science Spin editor Seán Duke “described the British position – which allows for cloning, embryo research and even animal-human hybrids – as a ‘clear, ethical position, and one that Ireland could follow’. It is my fervent hope that Ireland instead holds fast to her protection of human life. The horrors of the Second World War should have taught even the most ambitious scientist that when it comes to experiments on human life, we should say ‘never again’. And it is simply disingenuous to pretend that ethical adult stem cell research, which harms no-one, is not working. More than 70 successful treatments have been published involving adult stem cell research and that should be a cause for celebration, not spin,” he wrote.

The Life Institute spokesman added that “In any case, it seems as if time has caught up with supporters of embryo research. Embryonic stem cell research has failed abysmally in providing any useful treatments and investors are leaving this research in their droves. A search of the world’s largest registry for clinical trials (www.clinicaltrials.gov) shows more than 2,000 current adult stem cell transplantation trials versus four embryonic stem cell transplantation trials respectively. Ireland should blaze a trail by focusing on what works – ethical adult stem cell research.”

The Italian Sub Secretary of State, Eugenia Roccella has said that "If reports are correct, we are talking about a grave case of theraputic abandonment of a very premature newborn, probably also with some form of disability - and act against the sense of human pity but also against all ethics of medical practice."

Italian law states that if there is a risk of death to the mother in an advanced stage of pregnancy, but the child in the womb holds some chance of survival, the abortion is forbidden, and the physician makes her give birth, to save the life of the mother, while making every effort to save that of the child's also.

As in this case, the mother claimed a 'risk to her health' as the reason for having an abortion. However, it is more likely that the child was aborted due to being previously diagnosed with a disability

"The taking of this little one's life appears more to do with eugenics, than any genuine medical intervention, which sadly seems to be the reality for the large majority of late-term abortions that take place", said Rebecca Roughneen from Youth Defence. "And it just goes to show the injustice in calling these types of abortion 'theraputic'.

A State investigation will begin this week, and if they can prove a case of 'malice and indifference to the child's survival' a case of voluntary homicide may be brought against those who carried out the abortion.

With voters set to go to the polls on 6th May, thousands of Precious Life’s Vote For Life are being distributed by members of Precious Life across the north. The leaflet urges voters to ask candidates to promise to speak out and defend the right to life of unborn children.

In the week before the election (Wednesday 28th April - Thursday 6th May) Precious Life will step up the campaign again in a Lobby for Life push, encouraging the millions of pro-lifers in Northern Ireland and Britain to bombard the political parties and their candidates with telephone calls, emails and letters, asking them to oppose abortion. This campaign will show the politicians that the right to life is a crucially important issue when voting in elections.

“Ask the candidates to promise to defend the right to life of our unborn children. If they are unable to make this promise, tell them you cannot consider them as a suitable candidate for political office, no matter how appealing their other policies may be,” said Precious Life Director, Bernadette Smyth.

 “We acknowledge that abortion is not the only issue facing voters but the right to life must be foremost - for on that right, all other rights depend,” the pro-life leader continued.

Meanwhile Precious Life’s conference at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Belfast on 19th April heard from medical and legal experts who addressed the topic “Is Abortion Medically Necessary?

The Conference was sponsored by representatives of the All Party Pro-Life Group of the Assembly and heard from Dr. Eamon O'Dwyer, OB Professor at Galway University Hospital, who explained that abortion is never necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman. He stated that never in his over 40 years as a gynaecologist had he ever encountered a case where a mother’s life could only be saved by killing her unborn child.

Prof Patricia Casey of the Department of Psychiatry UCD and Mater University Hospital spoke about how abortion causes women tremendous psychological and mental health problems, and that women need to be told of the health risks like depression, addiction to drugs or alcohol, and suicide.

Speaking on the law was Mrs Johanna Higgins LLB, a criminal barrister with over 15 years experience as a senior public prosecutor. Mrs Higgins dispelled the myth that abortion is legal in Northern Ireland “in certain circumstances” and explained that only in circumstances to save a pregnant woman’s life, it is legal for doctors to provide medical treatment that may cause the unintentional death of the unborn child.

“The Examiner’s editorial said that it wished to make a contribution to the abortion debate and that they wanted to ‘act as a conduit for all views, but do not advocate or endorse any’. But that is simply not true,” said Niamh Uí Bhriain. “They have repeatedly made voices heard which advocate abortion or which tell why they believe abortion was the ‘right choice’. But why are they not giving women hurt by abortion a voice? The evidence shows that the vast majority of women are hurt by abortion, but the Examiner doesn’t allow their stories to be heard because it doesn’t suite their agenda.”

Ms Uí Bhriain said that if the Examiner wanted to make a meaningful contribution to the debate they should at least provide balanced, fair coverage and allow all voices to be heard.

Nancy Keenan, the President of NARAL -Pro Choice told a conference that the pro-life movement was becoming successful and was attracting young people – causing concern to the abortion industry in the US. NARAL promotes abortion both in the U.S. and elsewhere, and sponsors lawsuits and donates large sums of money to politicians supportive of abortion rights through its political action committee.

The Newsweek article, titled "Remember Roe!" describes NARAL President Nancy Keenan's reaction when she arrived in Washington on January 22 of this year, the day of America’s March for Life and the 37th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v Wade decision. When she got off the train, she was greeted by huge numbers of people who came to the nation's capital for the annual the March.

"I just thought, my gosh, they are so young," Keenan is quoted as saying. "There are so many of them and they are so young." More troubling for the pro aborts is was what NARAL calls the "intensity gap" among young Americans. A survey of 700 voters under 30, conducted by the group and released to Newsweek, shows more than half ( 51 percent) of the young voters who oppose legalization of abortion consider it a "very important" voting issue, while just 26 percent of abortion supporters feel the same.

According to the article, pro-aborts believe the pro life movement have managed to bring about a change in the popular perception of abortion by focusing the debate on the life of the baby - rather than on the woman's "right to choose." And ultrasound images of fetuses in various stages of development have made it increasingly difficult to argue persuasively that the tiny being in the pictures is only a part of the woman's own body.

Dr Eoghan De Faoite of YD commented, “ Ms. Keenan is right to be worried, as more and more young people are getting involved with the Pro Life movement; Youth Defence are 100% committed to keeping the next generation pro-life by educating, training and activating young people and bringing them to the pro-life movement.”

He continued “This article shows the importance of investing in educating our young people, by holding conferences, media courses and training weekends among many other activities to produce articulate and confident pro-life activists”.

Dr de Faoite added that Youth Defence’s focus on presenting the humanity of the unborn child and the reality of abortion, and the evidence of the harm caused to mothers who undergo abortion, was clearly a strategy that bore results in Ireland and elsewhere.

Despite official apologies, Catholic leaders and commentators have reacted angrily to the document that they say typifies the attitude of the Labour government towards Christianity, and to Catholicism in particular.

According to the statement by the Foreign Office, the document was the work of a group of “junior civil servants” given the task of brainstorming ideas for the papal visit in September. A spokesman said, “This is clearly a foolish document that does not in any way reflect UK Government or Foreign Office policy or views. Many of the ideas in the document are clearly ill-judged, naive and disrespectful.”

“The individual responsible has been transferred to other duties. He has been told orally and in writing that this was a serious error of judgment and has accepted this view. The Foreign Office very much regrets this incident and is deeply sorry for the offence which it has caused.”

The Daily Telegraph quotes one official saying, “As soon as adults found out about it, he was moved sideways and down.” Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy, the MP in charge of planning the visit and a Catholic, said the proposals were “absolutely despicable” and “vile.” “They’re insulting, they’re an embarrassment, and on behalf of I think the whole of the United Kingdom we’d want to apologize to his Holiness the Pope,” he said.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was “appalled” and called it “a colossal failure of judgment,” and the UK's ambassador to the Vatican, Francis Campbell, has offered an apology to senior officials of the Holy See.

Bishop Malcolm McMahon of the Nottingham diocese told media he was astonished by the proposals and called it a case of “appalling manners.” “You don’t invite someone to your country and then disrespect them in this way. It’s outlandish and outrageous to assume that any of the ideas are in any way suitable for the Pope.”

McMahon said he hoped the memo was meant to be “light hearted,” and added that Catholics would probably not be too upset by it since they “are used to getting a bad press.”

But commentators on both sides of the Channel are not letting the government off so easily, calling the document an indication of the ideological commitment of the British political class to fashionable secularist anti-Catholicism.

Damian Thompson, editor of the Catholic Herald and blogs editor for the Daily Telegraph, rhetorically asked the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, “What did you expect?” The document may have been disowned by the Foreign Office, said Thompson, but it does “reflect the attitudes of Brown’s government and its politically correct employees” towards Catholicism.

Mr Gilmore's constitutional reform plan would also open up a host of issues like the recognition of God, property rights, the definition of the family, and the EU.

In his recent keynote address to the pro-abortion Labour party conference, he announced his intention to "develop a new constitution"

"There is much about it that has served us well, but it is a document written in the 1930s for the 1930s," he said. "A time when one church was considered to have a special position and women were considered to be second-class citizens."

Labour has a long-standing policy on abortion. As a matter of policy, the Labour Party supports legalized abortion in cases of "a risk to the life or health of the mother" and in cases where the child might be stillborn. Amongst its members are Ireland's chief abortion advocates, Prionsias de Rossa and Ivana Bacik.

This policy follows a vote at the Labour conference in 2001 to support a woman's 'right to choose' on the issue, which was carried against the wishes of the party leadership.

Yet again Labour's complete disregard for human life and lack of compassion towards women who find themselves in difficult pregnancies is evident. Mr.Gilmore seems to have forgotten that Ireland is the safest place in the world for a mother to have a baby . Women in Ireland are far from being treated as second-class citizens in 2010, it is well accepted that Irish maternal mortality figures are amongst the lowest in the world.

Read more here

Fr. Sylvester Mann, writing in the recently founded magazine Catholic Voice, has asked whether CURA, which is receiving state funding through the Irish Health Services Executive (HSE), has not been forced to compromise its Catholic pro-life principles. Calling it a simple case of moral relativism, Mann wrote that CURA’s use of the “non-directive counseling” technique undermines their commitment to Catholic teaching on abortion.

CURA, an agency of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, states on its website that it “upholds the right of every child to be born and to have his or her right to life recognised and respected.” The group is listed by the CPA as an approved crisis pregnancy counseling service, and operates 19 centres around the country.

Several years ago, a huge controversy arose when it emerges that CURA has instructed its volunteers to use Positive Options leaflets which direct women towards abortion referal agencies such as the IFPA.

CURA still receives funding under the auspices of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA), a program of the HSE, which, Fr. Mann wrote, “despite its deceptive claims, actually facilitates abortions” despite abortion and pro-abortion counseling being illegal in the Irish Republic. CPA runs a program called Positive Options, that maintains a list of government-approved crisis pregnancy centres, only one of which, CURA, is run by the Catholic Church.

CURA defends its membership in the Positive Options coalition, saying that Positive Options brochures help women to find out about CURA.

Mann wrote that what is at issue is CURA’s refusal to guide women away from abortion and its use of so-called “non-directive” counseling techniques. He pointed to the pro-life Irish Constitution and to the Regulation of Information Act of 1995 that “specifically directs that abortion-minded women be given pro-life information.”

Catholic Voice correspondent Gareth Peoples also interviewed Charlotte Keary at CURA’s annual conference in March, where she said that CURA has the support of the Catholic Bishops of Ireland and “works with a Catholic ethos, but we are professional and non-judgmental.”

Asked whether CURA considers equally the life of the unborn child with the needs of the mother, Keary told Peoples, “The needs of the woman always come first because the woman is the person who has come to us with the crisis pregnancy.”

Fr. Mann, a member of the New York-based Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, wrote, “When human lives — and souls — are at stake, one cannot escape the question: Is the HSE is not paying CURA to remain silent in individual cases that come before their counselors?”

“Sadly, CURA has seemingly accepted the notion that being professional and being Catholic is a dichotomy, as if one cannot possibly be both,” he added.

“It can be hard to keep on top of the orders!” said Katie Robinson of YD. This is the only complete programme of its kind in Ireland, but now we’re finding that in other countries the demand is growing all the time for a program of this quality.”

Scottish schools now have a team delivering the schools program and the materials and website is also often used in crisis pregnancy centers. Central to the programme is the student materials, featuring glossy, full-colour leaflets and attention-grabbing work quizzes, but the new powerful and informative DVD which has great ultrasound footage of the baby in the womb, is what really sets it apart. The programme uses advanced technology and medical footage to give a startlingly beautiful window into the womb; revealing the amazing humanity and development of the unborn child from conception up until birth.

“Just last week we got an email from a worker in a pro-life crisis pregnancy center in Illinois, who requested copies of our DVD and worksheets. She wrote in to us saying she had spent the day looking online for material appropriate for a school presentation they are working on and when she came across the website she said: ‘I was so excited and amazed to view such a well put together DVD - it was exactly what we were looking for, nothing else measures up to what is on the website’ It’s good to hear the program is so effective and popular,” said Katie Robinson.

“With our materials and presentations constantly being updated to include the most recent information and footage, we hope to be a leading force in bringing the pro-life message to young students and the internet community,” she added. “It’s so exciting to see our program become an international success”.

Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill said that the result emphasised the need for the government to stand for the people and against the abortion industry. Currently the Irish Family Planning Association, affiliate of the world’s largest abortion providers, have taken Ireland’s pro-life laws before the European Court of Human Rights by sponsoring the ABC case which seeks to overturn our pro-life laws.

“This result also shows the impact of persistent, committed pro-life educational work,” added Dr Ó Domhnaill. “Pro-life volunteers in Youth Defence have been holding public street information stalls every week, rain, hail or snow, for almost 20 years, throughout the country. It’s a marvellous achievement, and the commitment and the educational effect achieved, is paying rich dividends. It’s great to see that, in a climate where naked hostility to the pro-life message is to the fore in the media, young people are joining up to defend and protect life.””

Rebecca Roughneen that while the poll was encouraging, it took a huge number of voluntary hours to maintain a pro-life majority. “A lot of YD’s work in advertising, and our new projects in colleges and on the internet are showing great results amongst young people,” she said. “But at the end of the day, the commitment to the daily and weekly work at abortion and referral agencies and on the street is so important.”

To assist with YD’s many pro-life projects call Katie on 01 8730463

"With only 2% of abortions being carried out after 20 weeks, this would do little to hold back the rising number of abortions taking place in the UK each year", said Caroline from Youth Defence. "And if this legislation is brought in, it is likely that the few remaining restrictions on social abortions would be removed. I use the term 'social abortions', as abortions for handicapped children can be performed at any time, right up to birth. These could include an abortion for reasons as minor as a cleft palate."

Cameron himself is a supporter of late-term abortions for the handicapped, as he explained in an interview last year. When he was asked "If in power, would you favour measures to reverse this discrimination by giving unborn children who are disabled the same protection under the law as currently enjoyed by all other children?" His response was, "My personal view about that is no." He goes on to say that he would not want to "put myself in the position" of telling parents they cannot abort such a child.

"What makes his remarks all the more shocking, is that he himself was the father of child with cerebral palsy, who passed away last year at the age of 6", said YD member Caroline. "He says that he is not is a position to tell parents what to do, when in fact, he is in the unique position of being able to do assist and advise parents, and to protect people with disabilities. He should be telling all of Britain what a blessing his child was, and not making him out to be a mere product of 'choice'."

The voters go to the polls in May and David Cameron and the Conservatives look set to win the next election. They have been gaining much support since he first became leader of the party in 2008. However, the polls show that his popularity is beginning to wane. He angered many of his followers when he reneged on his promise to give them an election on the Lisbon Treaty, and his 'centre-left' style of leadership has not gone down well with the more traditional, older conservatives.

"The 'New Conservatives' within the party seem eager to water down important issues, and be more in line with EU policies and attitudes. What would be best for the party would be for David Cameron to lose the election. Only in this way could the real conservatives get rid of Cameron and the rest of his cohorts, and return to the more Judeo-Christian ethic, which is synonymous with the Conservatives."

In the video Lila poses as a 14 year old mother who is reportedly 6-8 weeks, she asks an abortion clinic worker, "What's a fetus?"

"The fetus is the developing embryo inside you" answers the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic worker, and continues "But at this point there's nothing developed at all. There's no legs, no arms, no heart, no head, no brain." She later states that the unborn child at 6 to 8 weeks has no "identifiable parts" and is just "fetal matter."

The Planned Parenthood worker then advises the young woman of the difficulty of adoption, and urges her to avail of the abortion as soon as possible.

Dr de Faoite of Youth Defence commended Lila Rose and Live Action for their investigative work which he said had "revealed the exploitative and dangerous nature of the abortion industry". He said that the continued taxpayer-funding of Planned Parenthood's Irish affiliate should be immediately investigated by the Irish government.

The newspaper revealed that “By day, Marc Garlasco was a HRW’s military expert, the person that its Emergencies Division would send to conflict zones to investigate alleged war crimes. …But by night, Garlasco was "Flak88", an obsessive contributor to internet forums on Third Reich memorabilia and an avid collector of badges and medals emblazoned with swastikas and eagles.

"On members-only sites such as Wehrmachtawards.com he was writing comments like “VERY nice Hitler signature selection”; “That is so cool! The leather SS jacket makes my blood go cold it is so COOL!"

Following a public furore Garlasco seems to have resigned from HRW but the organization – which ironically calls for openness and transparency from governments – is remaining tight lipped on the scandal.

The project uses three posters for public display – one featuring an unborn baby boy, and two featuring YD members.

One poster reads: Cormac, 23. Business Student. Loves Spicy Food. Mad about Hip Hop. Volunteers with Youth Defence to protect mothers and babies from abortion. You can too.

It continues: Youth Defence. Because Life is Worth It. The poster and the accompanying leaflet and cards give contact information for volunteers and encourage them to get involved. See the posters here: www.youthdefence.ie/campaigns/life-is-worth-it/

“It’s an important project, because pro-life volunteers make a huge difference to attitudes towards the unborn child,” said Rebecca Roughneen of YD. “We’re always looking for new members because its up to young people to ensure our pro-life traditions and ethos can continue to keep Ireland abortion-free.”

A video promo for the annual YD Pro-Life Roadshow will also be launched on Facebook soon. See the promo here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwy6MYqMUHs

The report was compiled by the Milan-based International Center for Family Studies that identified the reason for Italians’ reluctance to procreate as “economic reasons.” 19.5 per cent of families interviewed cited the lack of money for not having more children. 8.9 per cent said it is their inability to juggle families and jobs and 0.3 per cent blamed insufficient housing space.

An examination of the effects of the global economic crisis, however, showed that only 16.4 per cent of families could be described as “below the poverty line.” But 37.2 per cent of the respondents claimed that they had trouble making it to the end of the month, with a further 22 per cent saying they sometimes had financial trouble.

The report found that the average monthly expenditure for dependent children is 35.3 per cent of the total family expenditure.

Others cited the small size of their homes, the precariousness of their job situations and lack of available childcare. However, the statistics in the report show that a massive 57.8 per cent of childless households merely said they had no children out of “personal choice.” Reasons for this personal choice, the report said, include a general sense of uncertainty about the future and the inherent difficulties involved in raising children.

The report made several suggestions for dealing with this national crisis, including increasing government family allowances and reforming personal income tax deductions.

Speaking at the report’s presentation in Milan, Gianfranco Fini, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, said there should be a fast-track procedure for children born in Italy of foreign parents to become Italian citizens. “Talking about a seven, ten or even 12-year wait is fine for adults but this is not acceptable for children,” he said.

Italy’s demographics show that it is following the same depopulation trends of most western countries since the 1960s. With decades of a below-replacement level birth rate, population growth in Italy has petered out, despite continued foreign immigration, with 2009 statistics showing -0.047 per cent increase.

The post-WWI economic boom saw a large part of the traditionally rural population move into the cities, but urbanization did not immediately result in a drop in the birth rate. It was not until the global “Sexual Revolution” in the 1970s, with its introduction of artificial contraceptives and, later, legalized and state-funded abortion that the fertility rate suddenly plunged below replacement.

It has only been since the introduction of millions of non-Italian immigrants that the birth rate has seen any recovery. According to government statistics, about 7.5 per cent of the population of Italy are recent immigrants.

Since joining the Euro, the personal wealth of Italians has grown, while the birth rate continues to fall and life expectancy increases. The overall average life expectancy in Italy is 80.2 years. The result, as with most western countries, has been a demographic shift towards an aging population with few young people entering the work force to support them.

Families in Italy continue to be tight-knit, with many children living with parents well into adulthood. Fewer Italians are getting married and those who do are waiting until later in life.

As of 2009, the median age for women in Italy was 44.8 years, the age at which conception is less likely.

Government efforts to stop the decline, mostly in the form of offers of cash for children, have largely failed. In 2003, Roberto Maroni, labor and welfare minister in Silvio Berlusconi's administration, offered 1000 Euros to every woman who had a second child. The bonus was paid to only 190,000 women.

In “The Shadow Practice,” journalist William Heisel argues that Rutland sought to overcome years of bad press, brought on by his involvement in the deaths of two babies and resulting in a five-year suspension of his medical license, by offering his abortion "services" to recent immigrants who were unaware of his past.

“It’s an ignoble tradition,” writes Heisel in the first installment (http://www.reportingonhealth.org/blogs/shadow-practice-part-1-disciplined-doctor-found-exile-community-immigrant-health-care) of the series, “where the patients can’t read about their doctors’ misdeeds because they don’t know the language or the customs for finding that information. And the doctors who can’t treat anyone else turn to treat some of the most vulnerable members of society.”

Rutland recently made headlines yet again for his involvement in the abortion death of Ying Chen, and for operating in solo practice in violation of restrictions on his medical license.

Rutland had committed a second trimester abortion on Chen in July 2009, at an unlicensed office in San Gabriel, CA, during which he administered an overdose of lidocaine. He was accused of failing to recognize the symptoms of the overdose before the patient went into cardiac arrest. After a “significant delay" in contacting 911, Chen was transported to a local hospital where she died.

While the Medical Board sought emergency suspension of Rutland’s license, a judge allowed him to continue operating as long as he refrains from performing surgeries.

In his six-part series, Heisel observes that Rutland’s clinic where the ill-fated abortion took place is called “Clinica Para La Mujer,” and has a sign in Spanish and Chinese, but not in English – an indication of the immigrant clientele that he targeted.

Heisel also exposes the fact that in 2007, when the five year suspension of his license gave out, Rutland went in search of a clinic where he could perform abortions along with another doctor – since one condition of the reinstatement of his license was that he could not practice solo medicine. The clinic that Rutland ultimately settled on had been owned by Bertha Bugarin who is currently serving a 3-year prison term for performing abortions without a medical degree.

Also, according to Heisel, when Rutland sought to set up an abortion practice in Chula Vista in 1977, he borrowed $50,000 from another abortionist friend of his, Dr. W. Constantine Mitchell. Heisel reveals that Dr. Mitchell has had his own troubles - he had his license suspended for 30 days, and was put on probation for 2 years, after he was caught running an unlicensed clinic.

Much like Rutland, Mitchell also targeted low-income immigrants with his abortion practice. Heisel reports that "Mitchell was one of a small group of doctors who agreed to act as 'practice partners' with Rutland so that Rutland would not be caught working alone, a key restriction placed on his license when the medical board allowed him to return to medicine in 2007."

The pro-life organization Operation Rescue has lauded Heisel’s series, saying that, “For those who wish to understand the true nature of the crisis that exists at America’s abortion mills, this series is a must read!”

“Heisel’s report exposes the links between Rutland and a group of shoddy abortionists and other troubled doctors who are able to continue practicing by slipping out of the mainstream and into the shadows by working at cash only clinics in primarily immigrant neighborhoods," stated the group.

"That is so they can operate under the radar with little chance that a patient who does not understand English and may be in the country illegally will report their abuses to the authorities.”

The paper said that the Crohn’s disease study is only one of a number of exciting clinical trials due to start at the HRB Clinical Research Facility (CRF) in Galway, according to interim director of the facility, Prof Larry Egan.

The report follows news of groundbreaking surgery carried out by doctors in the UK to rebuild the windpipe of a 10-year-old British boy from his own stem cells. Researchers believe that the surgery could lead to a revolution in regenerative medicine.

The nine-hour operation at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, involved transplanting a bioengineering trachea (airway) into the boy whose windpipe was too narrow for him to breathe unaided.

Martin Birchall, head of regenerative medicine at University College London (UCL), said the new approach – using the patient’s own cells and body as a “bioreactor” – could transform transplant surgery over the next few years.

The Financial Times reported that “the team obtained about 30ml – a couple of tablespoons – of stem cells (from the boy’s bone marrow) and injected them into a donated trachea, with a biochemical cocktail of ‘growth factors’, before stitching it into the patient in place of his own severely defective windpipe.

“The boy was doing well, four days after the operation, according to Martin Elliott who led the surgical team. ‘He is breathing completely for himself and speaking,’ said Mr Elliott. ‘He says it’s easier for him to breathe than it has been for years’.”

The Anglo-Italian team, working with Spanish colleagues, carried out a similar tracheal stem cell transplant in 2008 on 30-year-old Claudia Castillo in Barcelona. But they said that the procedure had been much improved and simplified since then – making it potentially useful for a far wider range of transplants.

In Ms Castillo’s case, the new windpipe was created over several months in the laboratory by treating a non-living tubular scaffold with stem cells. In the latest case, the patient’s own cells will do most of the work in the body after the initial stem cell seeding. Because they are derived from his own tissue, there is no danger of the newly grown cells triggering an immune response.

Consultant paediatric surgeon at the hospital, Edward Kiely, said the twins were sedated but stable, and that the team were pleased with how the operation went. Cork-born Mr Kiely carried out the operation along with a team of up to 30 doctors. The twins were joined at the chest but do not share vital organs.

The Telegraph reported that the boy’s parents Angie and Azzedine Benhaffaf said in a statement: “The sun is shining today for our two little fighters, who have won the battle of their lives! Words cannot express the relief and love we feel for our two boys,” the boys' parents said in a statement this afternoon.

“Words cannot express the relief and love we feel for our two boys. We thank God, we thank the surgeons and the gifted team at Great Ormond Street Hospital, and we thank from the bottom of our hearts the Irish nation and everyone who prayed for our beloved twins," they said

Dr Kiely said the survival rate at the hospital for planned separations – where the children involved were stable and separation could be carried out at a suitable time – was about 80 per cent, and under these circumstances both twins usually survived and had a good quality of life.

The study, which was done at the behest of the French Right to Life Alliance (l’Alliance pour les droits de la vie - ADV), found that 83% of women believe that abortion does lasting psychological damage, and 61% believe that there are too many abortions in France.

Sixty-seven percent said that women should be educated about the possibility of putting their children up for adoption as an alternative to abortion.

At the same time a large majority, 85%, also said that they supported the "right" to have an abortion, although the question submitted to them did not specify in which cases it would apply.

Moreover, the study also showed that increasing numbers of French women believe that the skyrocketing abortion rate among French youth is due to premature sexual intercourse, the rise of pornography, and lack of parental guidance.

The abortion rate among French minors increased 30% between 2001 and 2007, and more than 200,000 unborn children are killed in their mothers' wombs by surgical abortion every year in France, according to statistics reported by the newspaper La Croix.

However, increasing numbers also agreed with the notion that the problem is related to the rejection of contraceptives, which are offered free to French youth.

The poll received answers from a representative sample of 1006 women, taken between February 19 and 23 of this year.

The French media have widely reported the large percentage of respondents in favor of the "right" to abortion, but have mentioned little of the rest of the poll to their readers

Related Links:

Full Study Result Chart http://www.la-croix.com/illustrations/Multimedia/Actu/2010/3/3/infographie-avortement_grand.jpg

The March began at the Cathedral at Place Royal in Brussels where a number of pro-life personalities addressed the enthusiastic crowd. Monseigneur André-Joseph Léonard gave strong words of encouragement and told the gathering that the most important thing they could do is to get involved with this debate. A number of young pro-life women and men, representing international pro-life groups from around the world, also addressed the March for Life and offered words of support to the pro-life people of Belgium in their battle for life. Youth Defence also had the opportunity to address the crowd, and Katie Robinson said that any attempt by the EU to interfere in Ireland’s pro-life laws would be vigorously opposed.

The March for Life progressed from the Place Royal to the Palace of Justice where 800 red and white roses were laid in remembrance of the victims of abortion. There, the rally was brought to a rousing close with addresses from organisations such as Stand True, Silent No More and the March for Life committee.

Overall the March for Life was a tremendous success and a testament to the hard work, commitment, and passion of the new generation of pro-lifers that is emerging across the world.

For more information and pictures of the event, click here

The previous weekend members of YD had joined with other young pro-life activists at the 3rd International Student Conference hosted by SPUC (Society for the Protection of Unborn Children) in Scotland . The weekend certainly lived up to the high standards set last year, with delegates attending from all over the world and a very impressive range of speakers

This year's theme of the conference was 'I exist, therefore I am” Experts and international speakers covered subjects from a wide range of issues such as bioethics, philosophy, human rights and activism. Among many other speakers the Rev. Arnold Culbreath of Protecting Black Life gave a very insightful talk on abortion and Black Americans; Alex Schadenberg, spoke on the topic of Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide which I found particularly interesting as we have been dealing with ‘Dr. Death’ visiting Ireland; Cristina Barba of Generation Life gave great practical tips to delegates on setting up a university pro-life group and being active on campus.

Speaking to the attendees at the YD stall throughout the day, it was great to see their enthusiasm, and eagerness to be active. One of the aims of the conference was to motivate people to go back to their college campuses and set up pro-life societies there, and many people seemed to be keen to do just that!

YD will be hosting our 2nd International Youth Conference in October this year. Anyone interested in attending please call 01 8730463.

Every week, YD members stand outside abortion referral agencies to give real information about abortion to mothers. Come rain, hail or snow, our volunteers offer mothers real advice to help them through their unplanned pregnancy, and provide a voice for the unborn child. We tell women the truth; that abortion leaves two victims in its wake; one dead and one wounded.

In Dublin there are a number of these agencies that refer women to England to have their unborn children killed. One such clinic, Marie Stopes ‘Reproductive Choices’, refers girls onto their chain of abortion clinics in England. They are the second largest killers of unborn children in the UK. This clinic profits financially from the pain and suffering of women, and form the deaths of thousands of babies annually.

Because we’ve had additional volunteers we’ve managed to put in more hours outside these referral centres, which has meant we’re talking to more mothers and – thank God - saving babies. Here’s one example:

One Friday as YD volunteers stood outside the Marie Stopes agency, a young woman walked towards the doors of the clinic. One of our girls approached her with some pro-life literature and talked to her about her situation. It turned out that the young woman had arranged an appointment at the clinic because she had discovered she was pregnant, felt alone, and didn’t want to tell her family in case they would be ashamed of her.

We listened and talked to her for some time, explaining that help was available and that her baby was a living, growing human being. She decided not to keep her appointment with the clinic, and we gave her our contact numbers and offered support and prayers. A few days later, we were delighted to hear from this young girl again. She hadn’t gone through with the abortion, saying once she knew all the facts she decided to keep her baby. It was great news! Every baby and mother saved is like a little miracle.

Pro-life volunteer, Carolyn Johnston, gives up a lot of her free time to be outside this clinic. She said, “Every week, I see young women in desperate situations who believe they have no other option but to come to Marie Stopes seeking an abortion. I believe that this clinic exploits these women and preys on their vulnerability for financial profit. These girls will not get the truth about abortion or the real help and advice they need behind the doors of clinic.”

Thanks to everyone who has given, and continues to give, so much of their time, energy and prayers in this area of YD’s pro-life activity. If you would like to help, please contact Katie in the YD office on 01 8730463.

Director of Precious Life, Bernadette Smyth said, “During our 40 Days for Life Campaign, Precious Life is proactively taking the pro-life message to every corner of the community with a number of special events.”

“Today, Catholic members of Precious Life in Derry have organised a “Pro-Life Rosary Procession” for the Feast of the Annunciation This event will give special attention to the pro-life meaning of the Feast Day. This Feast marks the moment at which the Incarnation took place. At Mary’s ‘Yes’, God began existing in a human nature - a human nature at the earliest stages of its development within Mary’s body. We pray that any woman who feels troubled by a pregnancy will say ‘Yes’ to life.”

The event was led by the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and began with Mass in St.Columba’s Church, Longtower. After Mass, the people walked in a Rosary Procession to Carlisle Road behind the banner of ‘Our Lady of Guadalupe - Patroness of the Unborn’. At Carlisle Road, a Prayer Vigil was held outside the FPA Abortion Referral Agency.

Mrs Smyth added “We are praying for babies in danger of abortion at this agency; praying for, and offering support to women using the agency; and praying for the conversion of those who work in the agency.

After the Prayer Vigil, the procession retuned to St.Columba’s Friary where the Franciscan Friars gave a special blessing for the work of Precious Life.

Bernadette Smyth concluded, “At a time when the world is beset with the evil of abortion, and when the human embryo is treated as a mere object for scientific research, Precious Life believes that the celebration of the Feast of the Annunciation is more important than ever. By celebrating this Feast with special solemnity, people will be even more solidly rooted in their pro-life convictions, and spurred on to effective action in defence of life.”

Being needed by young children can increase their feelings of self-worth, researchers believe. They found that having children can cut the chances that a woman will commit suicide.

The risks fell further the more children she had, the study found.

Part of the reason could be an increased sense of happiness and self-esteem that woman feel after giving birth, according to researchers. Mothers often have more supportive social networks than women who do not have children, they add.

The research team set out to study the theory that parenthood protects against suicide. First suggested by renowned sociologist Emile Durkheim in 1897, studies have found the theory difficult to prove because of the relatively low number of people who take their own lives.

Journalist Kate Devlin reported that in one of the largest studies of its kind, researchers looked at data involving 1,292,462 women over 20 years.

Their findings show that motherhood does indeed have a protective effect. And that effect increases the number of children that a women has, according to the study, published in the CMAJ, the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Women who had two children were 39pc less likely to take their own lives than women who had just one. And that figure rose to 60pc among women who had three children.

"A clear tendency was found toward decreasing suicide rates with increasing number of children after controlling for age at first birth, marital status, years of schooling, and place of delivery," said Dr Chun-Yuh Yang , from Kaoshiung Medical University in Taiwan, who led the study.

“Given that the women included in this study were young (the large majority of suicide-related deaths occurred before premenopausal age) and were among the youngest reported for any country, this finding is particularly noteworthy."

He added: “The presence of young children may increase the mother’s feelings of self-worth, possibly based on her perception of being needed.

Nitschke courts controversy and had doubtless heard that, while the ugly business of euthanasia has reared its head of late in Ireland, it had met with determined opposition. It seems however that he had not expected such widespread public resistance to his distasteful campaign: he lamented to the Irish Times that “he had never encountered such resistance to his meetings”. That resistance led to four venues being canceled and to Nitschke’s reliance on the oddballs in an Seomra Spraoi to come to his aid.

Nitschke’s first publicized booking was with the Outhouse in Capel Street. It’s a community venue purchased and maintained by the HSE for homosexual activists. The Life Institute called the HSE and made a formal complaint. We then called the office of the CEO of the HSE, Professor Brendan Drumm, and pointed out that it was not acceptable that a taxpayer-funded venue be used for this objectionable event. We also called Dublin City Council, and we sent out an alert encouraging others to do the same. Within 48 the event had been cancelled in that venue.

Nitschke then moved to Buswell’s Hote. We called the hotel and sent out another alert. Pro-life people started calling in growing numbers. Buswells also cancelled the booking. Nitschke then moved his “workshop” to Macro Community Centre in Dublin 7 – another taxpayer-funded venue. On St Patrick’s day we sent out another alert and a press release saying “It is absolutely unacceptable that our taxes would be used to give a platform to this organization. What they are doing is dangerous and exploitative. Many families in Ireland have been touched by suicide and mental illness and this ‘workshop’ is cruel, illegal and disgusting.”

The Irish Daily Mail ran a front cover saying “Dr Death is on his way”. Pat Kenny picked up on the story and conducted a sympathetic interview with Nitschke, although the Australian revealed a little of his motivations when he said that he had taken on this ‘cause’ since it was ‘better than writing prescriptions.’

The Macro Centre received a pile of complaints about the proposed “suicide workshop” as did the co-sponsors of the centre, Pobal and Dublin City Council. They cancelled the booking.

Another booking in the Carmicheal Centre only lasted a matter of hours. Nitschke was lashing out at this stage, accusing pro-life people of a “well-orchestrated campaign of censorship”. The Life Institute responded by saying that this was not simply a matter of free speech and that encouraging suicide was illegal in Ireland. Niamh Uí Bhriain used radio interviews to call on Dermot Ahern as Minister for Justice to ensure the law was enforced to protect elderly and vulnerable people.

At this point an organization called Atheist Ireland got involved. They circulated an email decrying the efforts of “anti-choice” campaigners and called for Nitschke to be supported. At the last minute Nitschke was offered an Seomra Spraoi, a pretty scruffy backroom venue owned by a left-wing organization.

He was also brought onto RTÉ’s Prime Time and handled with kid gloves. At no point did the reporter or the presenter question him about his controversial past, in particular regarding the very dubious circumstances surrounding the “assisted” death of several mentally ill patients in Nitschke’s native Australia. Deirdre Madden, the UCC lecturer who devotes considerable time to supporting embryo research also featured on the program and was supportive of Nitschke.

Another alert was issued by the Life Institute calling on the Justice Minister to intervene. Niamh Uí Bhriain said that Dermot Ahern was now obliged to act, and to instruct the Gardai to stop the suicide ‘workshop’. She also said that the owners of the Seomra Spraoi should hold themselves accountable for the subsequent harm or death brought about by or to elderly or mentally ill persons because of the platform granted to Nitschke.

“All week the people of Ireland have made their voices heard in opposition to this gruesome and disturbing event,” she said. “This workshop which counsels and assists in the procurement of suicide is illegal under the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act 1993 and the Minister now needs to instruct the Gardai to get involved.”

The Act states that ‘A person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another, or an attempt by another to commit suicide, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years’. “Clearly what Nitschke proposes is against the law - and with good reason. ,” said Ms Uí Bhriain. “This law was written to protect vulnerable people from fanatics who believe that suicide should be a widely-considered and offered option. Nitschke’s workshop is not just morally wrong, it’s illegal.”

We’re going to keep the pressure on Minister Ahern to enforce the law. Nitschke says that he will be back, but also that his operation got “record” opposition in Ireland, and we’re determined he won’t be allowed to run these utterly objectionable, illegal workshops here again.

Professor Doyal was strongly opposed when he went to deliver a speech at Cork University Hospital last year. Pro-life activists in Galway had said that they would attend the debate to speak up when the topic was put to the floor.

Maria Mahoney, auditor of Life Soc, said that she was opposed to Doyal’s agenda. “Not only is he advocating suicide but involuntary euthanasia, whereby doctors can kill patients at their discretion, rather than with their consent. He has drawn criticism from even from pro-euthanasia groups because his agenda is so far over the top.”

Ms Mahoney said that the pro-life society would have “similar objections” to the protestors who succeeded in driving Prof Doyal from the auditorium in Cork last year, but identified a distinction in that he is appearing at NUI Galway to participate in a debate. Families of sick and terminally ill patients in Cork were particularly upset that Doyal was to give a lecture to medical professionals without the opposing view being presented.

Other interesting posts on this topic:

Glad mum didn’t kill herself  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/http://www.youthdefence.ie/article//Mum-wanted-die-convincing-live-gave-gift-measure-.html

Stop Assisted Suicide  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/7313579/Assisted-suicide-must-not-be-legalised-through-the-back-door.html

According to the Irish Times the reforms will also include the introduction of a new mandatory “auto-enrolment” pension for middle- and lower-income workers in the private sector.

These changes are part of the National Pension Framework announced by the Government, which envisages that most workers aged over 22 will be automatically enrolled in a pension scheme which will provide additional retirement income on top of the State pension, unless they are already members of an occupational scheme. Employees will contribute 4 per cent of salary to the new defined-contribution scheme with employers paying 2 per cent and the State another 2 per cent.

Minister Mary Hanafin told RTÉ radio that the changes were necessary because of the changes in our demographic profile with far fewer young people now supporting a growing number of older people drawing pensions.

The qualification age for the State pension will rise from 65 to 66 in 2014. It will go up again to 67 in 2021 and up to 68 in 2028. In tandem with raising the pension age, in 2014 the regulation which prevented people from continuing in employment after the age of 65 will be removed.

Launching the plan, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said that at present there were about six people at work to support every pensioner but, by 2060, that figure would be less than two. Spending on public pensions would increase from 5.5 per cent of gross domestic product in 2008 to almost 15 per cent in 2050. The Life Institute said that tinkering with pensions was not going to resolve the enormous problem that had been created by anti-family and anti-child policies which would led to the decline of Europe on the world stage.

The findings by the Cochrane Library Review caused fresh criticisms of the British government’s decision to promote emergency contraception as part of its Teenage Pregnancy Strategy.

Labour ministers in the UK argue that easier access to morning-after pills through pharmacies and even schools would bring down rates of unplanned pregnancies and abortions. But the Review pointed out that in 1996, six percent of women who requested an abortion had tried emergency contraception first. By 2002, this figure had doubled to 12 percent.

The review concludes that women who receive an advance supply of the morning-after pill have an equal chance of becoming pregnant as those who do not have early access to the contraceptive.

The Life Institute has called on the Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern to enforce the law and intervene to stop a dangerous and illegal workshop which counsels suicide to the elderly, the sick and the vulnerable. Following a public outcry, which saw the cancellation of the event in four other venues, Dr Phillip Nitschke's 'suicide workshop' will now go ahead in a Dublin venue, the Seomra Spraoi.

Speaking on RTÉ news, Niamh Ui Bhriain of the Life Institute said that the Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern was now obliged to act, and to instruct the Gardai to stop the suicide ‘workshop’. She also said that the owners of the Seomra Spraoi should hold themselves accountable for the subsequent harm or death brought about by or to elderly or mentally ill persons because of the platform granted to Nitschke.

“All week the people of Ireland have made their voices heard in opposition to this gruesome and disturbing event,” she said. “This workshop which counsels and assists in the procurement of suicide is illegal under the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act 1993 and the Minister now needs to instruct the Gardai to get involved.”

The Act states that ‘A person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another, or an attempt by another to commit suicide, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years’.

“Clearly what Nitschke proposes is against the law - and with good reason,” said Ms Uí Bhriain. “This law was written to protect vulnerable people from fanatics who believe that suicide should be a widely-considered and offered option. Nitschke’s workshop is not just morally wrong, it’s illegal.”

The Life Institute spokeswoman said that if Dermot Ahern refused to act on this workshop now it was very likely that a death would occur at some stage in the future as a direct consequence.

Philip Nitschke told the Irish Times that he “had never encountered such resistance to his meetings” and accused pro-life people of running a “well-orchestrated campaign” against him. The Life Institute said it was in discussion with the Department of Justice and the Gardai on the matter and would continue to fight to have the meeting cancelled.

Thanks to everyone who made so many calls on this during the week. A full report on this next week.

On March 6th Youth Defence held the annual Commemoration for Baby X marking the Supreme Court ruling which sentenced Baby ‘X' to death in 1992. More than 150 people gathered in O’Connell St in Dublin to commemorate Baby ‘X' and other children who have been brought to their deaths by the HSE and the Irish state. Our theme for the day was “One Life, One person. Gone but not forgotten.”

Three small white coffins were placed on a table at the centre of the event to remind the public of all the babies who are victims of the lies spread by the pro-abortion lobby, remembering especially Baby X, Baby C and Baby D whose mothers were exploited by the abortion industry.

We also emphasised our new Set the Record Straight campaign, and young women held a banner saying: Abortion never saves a mothers life, it just kills a baby. Volunteers passed out the new YD leaflet, which highlights the fact that abortion is never necessary to save a woman’s life.

A strong statement was sent out to the public on O’ Connell Street against the culture of death which anti-life forces are determined to introduce to our country and we illustrated that we will not stand silent as Irish babies are sent to their deaths in England. At the end of the commemoration prayers were offered for mothers and babies and volunteers were urged to continue to be a witness against the terrible injustice of abortion.

After two months of incessant and torrential rain, the sun finally broke through as YD Spain gathered with many others in the Plaza del Caballo in Jerez de la Frontera in the south of Spain to protest against the new abortion law which the Socialist government had just passed through parliament. People of all ages and walks of life, taking advantage of the unexpected sunshine, brought banners, music, balloons, the customary giant pro-life beachball (which was bounced over the crowds heads and caused a mild panic amongst parents whenever it fell into the fountain followed by a swarm of over-eager children), and well-informed leaflets and brochures which were handed out to passers-by.

More than a thousand people attended the demonstration in this formed part of a nationwide (and international) day of protest, with demonstrations in 90 towns and cities throughout Spain, complemented by pickets of spanish embassies in cities such as Paris, London and Buenas Aires. Organisers Hazteoir say the sheer number of protesters will force the government to take notice, with 600,000 taking part in the capital Madrid and up to 60,000 convening in every other big city such as Valencia, Bilbao and Seville.

The so-called Law of Voluntary Interrupcion (!), drawn up by the minister for equality, Bibiana Aido, has sparked widespread anger and indignation, including from within the ranks of the incumbent socialist party, as it relaxes previous restrictions, forces universities to teach abortion procedures and allows girls as young as sixteen to kill their babies without their parents consent

In the face of this adversity, the over twenty Spanish pro life organizacions have never been more organised, with regular protests, street sessions and pickets taking place throughout Spain, including an unprecedented picket on Minister Aidos house, which was joined by some of her neighbours. Judging the current climate, the opposition Popular Party (who are currently well ahead of the rival Socialists in opinion polls) have promised to overturn the law if they return to power.

Addressing the rally in Jerez, gynaecologist Walter Velazquez attacked the typical cowardice of the pro-death movement and their use of euphemisms such as ´voluntary interruption´ to mask the terrible truth of abortion. “We must unmask their lies,” he stated, “We will make every person aware that the unborn child is a human being that must be protected, not an “interruption” or a “choice””.

Fellow speaker and organizer of Hazteoir in Jerez, Rogelio Muñoz, inspired by the new-found unity and determination in the pro-life movement, said “ It doesn’t matter if and when this law is overturned, we´re going to march every month until the entire abortion law is overturned and human life is once again respected and protected in Spain”

In thanking people for turning out, he also thanked “the Lord, for holding off the rain for these couple of hours at least!”, just as the heavens re-opened and young and old scurried for cover. (from Ana Cabeza in Spain)

“Before we sent out our alert, the poll was at 64% Yes 36% No,” said Precious Life.

“We had to take action because Marie Stopes would have exploited a large YES vote to claim that the Irish people want abortion legalised. They were already using results from another of their online polls to say that there was growing support for abortion in Ireland. They were making this false claim based on a result of 87% respondents who they said agreed that termination of pregnancy should be permitted if the pregnancy seriously endangers the woman’s life.

“The day after we sent out our Action Alert the NO vote had shot up to 82%. This was fantastic ammunition for us to use during a radio interview about Marie Stopes’ other poll.

“On Tuesday 9th March, Director of Precious Life Bernadette Smyth went head to head with an agent of Marie Stopes on an Irish radio station. Bernadette let the Marie Stopes agent dig her own trap by allowing her to say their first poll result “.had to be taken seriously”; “..the government had to act on it”; “..87% of people couldn’t be ignored”; …etc, etc.

“But then Bernadette sprung the trap by asking “What about the 82% of people who are currently voting on your website poll saying NO, abortion should not be legalised in Ireland?” The hypocrisy of Marie Stopes was exposed live on air when their agent said that poll result could not be taken seriously. Bernadette retorted “Then why are you taking your first poll results seriously? Why are Marie Stopes not issuing press releases stating that that 82% of Irish people don’t want abortion legalised? Do Marie Stopes only issue poll results when it suits them?” The Marie Stopes agent was totally lost for words. She tried to change the subject but Bernadette kept the pressure on. It was only the radio interviewer that saved the Marie Stopes agent from the embarrassing humiliation by moving on to another question.

“Over the following days the vote in the poll steadily increased, and by Thursday it was a massive 94% No. Marie Stopes then removed the poll from their website. No doubt they couldn’t cope with this massive life-affirming vote. They didn’t issue any press releases announcing that 94% of Irish people say abortion should not be legal in Ireland. Marie Stopes International simply wiped out the result. Hardly surprising when you consider their business is “wiping out” little babies.”

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy conducted the new survey, first reported in the Washington City Paper. The campaign surveyed thousands of young men and women, ages 18-29, about their thoughts on pregnancy. Those who answered that it was “very important or somewhat important” to avoid pregnancy right now were then asked how they'd feel about an unplanned pregnancy. The question was worded: “If you found out today that (you were/your partner was) pregnant, how would you feel: Very upset, a little upset, a little pleased, very pleased, wouldn't care.”

While only 20 percent of women responded that they'd be “a little pleased” or “very pleased,” a larger 43 percent of young men answered the same. Among the 18-19 year old age range, 34 percent of men said they'd be pleased. That number jumps to 42 percent for 20-24-year olds, and more than 50 percent for guys aged 25-29. Only 16 percent of women ages 18-24 would be pleased by a surprise pregnancy. The percentage soars to 29 for 25-29 year-old women.

Youth Defence Spain marched with other pro-lifers in Seville and Madrid, and said that even in smaller towns such as Jerez up to a 1000 people had protested. “Zapatero is ignoring the people, but we will continue to speak out for life,” said Ana Cabeza.

In Madrid, families with young children carried banners, flags and balloons and chanted "No to abortion! Yes to life!" The bill has galvanised opposition to Spain's minority Socialist government and its Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero , criticised for his handling of a deep economic crisis marked by high unemployment.

Demonstrators, many waving Spanish flags, marched under banners reading: "ZP (Zapatero) 007: Licence to kill" and "Spaniards in support of life."

To see photos of the rallies go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/hazteoir/sets/72157623572266248/show/

“Recently, I embarked on an adventure into the world of pro-abortion Ireland. Choice Ireland were holding their Annual conference this past weekend and I decided to attend, so I went undercover along with another member of YD, to keep an eye on the activity of this organization, in hopes that we may better serve the pro-life community as well as strive to convert the hearts of pro-abortion activists.

Upon entering the venue, I was struck by the lack of people at their supposed ‘annual conference’. There were just barely 20 people there, and that was including the two of us undercover pro-lifers. The speakers were all approximately two generations older than me. The speakers included: Dr. Anne Rossitter, who spoke of the UK ‘abortion experience; Sandra McEvoy, who gave a history of abortion from the 1861 Act onwards; Dr. Ailbhe Smyth, who spoke extensively about her homosexual escapades as well as 1983 Amendment; and then the leader of Choice Ireland Sinead Ahern who went on at length about the current abortion situation and the future of the pro-abortion movement in Ireland. I was not surprised by anything that was discussed, although I was disgusted by the way that abortion was approached by these people who claim to be promoting human rights.

At no stage was a man even mentioned, except in a derogatory sense. One speaker bizarrely claimed that “men and society force women to be mothers”. I do not have any children myself (yet), but it was laughable to think that motherhood is usually “forced” upon women. To this conference, motherhood and children are not gifts, but rather curses. Secondly, the baby was never mentioned. Abortion was likened to a ‘tumour’ to be removed or some disease that needed to be remedied. The child in the womb is not a tumor, nor a parasite to be destroyed, and it was disturbing that this is how it was presented at the conference.

A surprising revelation coming out of the conference is that pro-aborts plan to rally for another abortion referendum in 2012. They highlighted the history of referenda in 1992, 2002, and now they have their sights set on the next 10 year mark, which would be 2012. They have decided, (without any input from reality, it seems) that every time there is an abortion referendum, the public view of abortion softens. No concrete plans for moving forward were suggested but they said they intended to rally politicians and political parties to help push a referendum campaign to the forefront. They also intend to continue their battle against ‘rogue pregnancy counselling centers’ (as they call them) and they are passionate about rallying against ‘the Lifers’, which was their nickname for pro-life activists. ( I actually kind of love that nickname! The Lifers!) Bitter comments were made by delegates in regard to the ubiquitous campaigning by Youth Defence, and delegates were urged to match YD’s commitment to the cause.

Overall, the whole experience made me sad for these women (and the one man in attendance at the conference), who are obviously hurting and completely misguided. It also made me see how blessed I am to be a part of a movement that is so zealous, joyful, and that revolves around love. We must continue to rise up, stronger than ever. We must strive to convert hearts, in order to change minds. Love conquers all, thus we have nothing to worry about when it comes to these pro-abortionists who are in search of nothing more than a soapbox to rail from.”

In an article titled: Gendercide, the war on baby girls, the newspaper notes with alarm that “Killed, aborted or neglected, at least 100m girls have disappeared—and the number is rising”.

It continues:

“Imagine you are one half of a young couple expecting your first child in a fast-growing, poor country. You are part of the new middle class; your income is rising; you want a small family. But traditional mores hold sway around you, most important in the preference for sons over daughters. …

“Now imagine that you have had an ultrasound scan; it costs $12, but you can afford that. The scan says the unborn child is a girl. You yourself would prefer a boy; the rest of your family clamours for one. You would never dream of killing a baby daughter, as they do out in the villages. But an abortion seems different. What do you do?

For millions of couples, the answer is: abort the daughter, try for a son. In China and northern India more than 120 boys are being born for every 100 girls. Nature dictates that slightly more males are born than females to offset boys’ greater susceptibility to infant disease. But nothing on this scale.

For those who oppose abortion, this is mass murder. For those such as this newspaper, who think abortion should be “safe, legal and rare” (to use Bill Clinton’s phrase), a lot depends on the circumstances, but the cumulative consequence for societies of such individual actions is catastrophic. China alone stands to have as many unmarried young men—“bare branches”, as they are known—as the entire population of young men in America. In any country rootless young males spell trouble; in Asian societies, where marriage and children are the recognised routes into society, single men are almost like outlaws. Crime rates, bride trafficking, sexual violence, even female suicide rates are all rising and will rise further as the lopsided generations reach their maturity.

It is no exaggeration to call this gendercide. Women are missing in their millions—aborted, killed, neglected to death. In 1990 an Indian economist, Amartya Sen, put the number at 100m; the toll is higher now. The crumb of comfort is that countries can mitigate the hurt, and that one, South Korea, has shown the worst can be avoided. Others need to learn from it if they are to stop the carnage.”

What The Economist refuses to acknowledge is that this gendercide is the ultimate expression of the “right to choose” it has so steadfastly supported, for families are simply exercising that right to “choose” to kill off their baby girls. Once abortion is legal, gendercide is becoming the norm. So much for women’s rights.

The newspaper quotes partial-birth abortion advocate Bill Clinton who tried to position himself in the middle ground by saying abortion should be "safe, legal and rare". But abortion is never "safe" for the unborn child, it poses significant risks to the mother, and why make abortion "rare" if it legally sanctioned and unrestricted.

Read the entire article at http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15606229

According Dr. Elard Koch, an epidemiologist on the faculty of medicine at the University of Chile, Chile's promotion of "safe pregnancy" measures such as "prenatal detection" and accessibility to professional birth attendants in a hospital setting are primarily responsible for the decrease in maternal mortality.

The maternal mortality rate declined from 275 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 1960 to 18.7 deaths in 2000, the largest reduction in any Latin country.

Because Chile is a nation that protects unborn life in its penal laws and constitution, the decline is therefore not attributable to access to legal abortion. In fact, the preliminary study shows, maternal mortality in Chile declined over the last century regardless of whether abortion was legal or illegal. Chile tightened its restrictions on abortion in the late 1980s.

According to Dr. Koch, "From 1960 onwards, there has been a breakthrough in the public health system and primary care" in Chile, with resources devoted to the development of "highly trained personnel, the construction of many primary health centers and the increase of schooling of the population.”

Education appeared to be a primary factor in the country’s improved maternal health. Chile today touts a maternal health record comparable to those of developed nations.

Statistics released the World Health Organization (WHO) support such conclusions. In South America, according to WHO, Chile boasts of the lowest rate of maternal mortality, whereas Guyana, which significantly liberalized its laws in the mis citing concern over maternal deaths, has the highest.

Indeed, perhaps the most comprehensive analysis of the decline of maternal death rates in the developed world, a peer-reviewed article by Irvine Loudon appearing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2000 confirms that the “sudden and dramatic decline in maternal mortality rates, which occurred after 1937, took place in all developed countries and eliminated the previously wide country-level differences in national mortality rates. The main factors that led to this decline seem to have been successive improvements in maternal care.”

As with Chile today, these strides in the developed world occurred at a time before access to abortion had been liberalized. Thus it appears that improving access to quality maternal health care, rather than permissive abortion laws, is what drives reductions in maternal death during pregnancy and delivery.

Maternal health experts such as noted obstetrician Donna Harrison, MD, point out that introducing abortion in a developing world setting without first improving basic maternal health care increases the risk of maternal death since health systems cannot adequately respond to complications from invasive surgical procedures such as abortion.

Indeed, nations such as South Africa, which has one of the continent’s most liberal abortion regimes, has seen an increase in maternal deaths attributable in part to complications arising from legal abortion.

Dr. Koch presented his initial findings at the inaugural meeting of the International Working Group for Global Women's Health Research last month in Washington, DC. They follow a 2000 article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by Dr Irvine Loudon which found that successive improvements in maternal care has lead to deaths of mothers having children falling dramatically in developed countries since the late 1960s.

Precious Life said the results from the abortion group's online survey were completely false and did not represent the views of the Irish people. Youth Defence pointed out that Marie Stopes had designed the misleading questions asked in the poll to give a skewed depiction of opinion on abortion.

The internet poll was undertaken December 3-8, 2009 by YouGov Plc. at the behest of Marie Stopes International. The total sample size was 1002 adults. According to Marie Stopes International the results showed “growing support for abortion in Ireland."

Director of Precious Life, Bernadette Smyth, said, “Marie Stopes International has issued press releases to the world’s media boasting the results of their poll showed growing support for abortion in Ireland. This is a completely false. Marie Stopes claim their research “suggests that the majority of men and women from Ireland agree that abortion should be permitted in Ireland”. They base this on their result which found approximately nine out 10 respondents (87%) agreed that termination of pregnancy should be permitted if the pregnancy seriously endangers the woman’s life.

“It must first be noted that abortion is never medically necessary to save a woman’s life. This is a classic tactic of the pro-abortion industry that tries to cause confusion by saying legitimate medical treatment to save a mothers life (which may result in the unintentional death of the unborn child) is abortion. This is NOT true. Doctors in Ireland can carry out every medical treatment to save a woman’s life without resorting to abortion.”

Mrs Smyth added “The sheer hypocrisy of Marie Stopes International is exposed when you consider they are currently conducting another online poll on their own Irish website asking “Should abortion be legal in Ireland?” On the same day Marie Stopes are claiming one of their polls shows support for abortion in Ireland, they’re ignoring their other poll showing 82% have voted NO. Why are Marie Stopes not issuing press releases stating that that 82% of Irish people don’t want abortion legalised? Do they only issue poll results when it suits them?”

Bernadette Smyth concluded “All this brings to mind the old cliché of “Lies, damn lies and statistics!”. The Irish people will see through Marie Stopes’ attempt to use the persuasive power of number and percentages to bolster their weak arguments. The Irish people will never accept the killing of our unborn children.”

"Mr. President, put it in there," the Michigan Democrat urged, referring to placing his amendment into the Senate bill, in an appearance on FOX Business.

Stupak pointed out that every poll on the topic of public funding for abortion in the U.S. has found the majority in favor of his funding restrictions. Therefore, he said, the president should show the same level of openness to his amendment that he boasted he had shown to some Republican ideas that were included in the bill.

"If we're trying to reflect the will of the American people," he said, "this certainly is one amendment where you can show your flexibility and actually do what the American people want: no public funding for abortion."

Stupak also asserted that, "in its present form, the Senate health care bill is going nowhere in the House of Representatives." On Thursday, Stupak confirmed to NBC's Chris Matthews that about a dozen lawmakers who voted for the House bill would kill the abortion-expanding Senate version if it lacked his amendment.

Shifts in the House demographic since passing the House health bill last year means Democrat leaders need to net about four more votes from members of their own party who had previously voted against the House bill, to pass the Senate bill - in addition to winning over those dissatisfied with the upper chamber's vastly more liberal version.

Tempers also appear to be rising elsewhere on Capitol Hill: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday shot back at the notion that she lacked the votes to push the Senate bill through the House, and expressed frustration when faced with the abortion issue.

"Let me say this: This is not about abortion! This is a bill about providing quality, affordable health care for all Americans,” Pelosi said Thursday.

Capitol Hill insiders cited by the Financial Times indicated that Pelosi may rely on threats to strip uncooperative Democrats of committee chairmanships.

Stupak's challenge came the same day President Obama held a press conference to push the unpopular bill to the finish line, complete with a backdrop of white-coated individuals whom he introduced as medical professionals "who understand how important it is for us to make much needed changes in our health care system."

A so-called “DIY Euthanasia workshop” was advertised as taking place on March 19th in Outhouse in Capel Street, a centre which was purchased at the cost of €860,000 by the HSE, and which continues to be almost entirely funded by the HSE to the tune of €200,000 every year. The Outhouse has now said the event will not take place there.

Australian euthanasia” campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke, was to host the event. Nitschke heads up Australian outfit Exit International which assists people in committing suicide, usually by taking a lethal dose of a veterinary medicine, Nembutal.

Yesterday the Life Institute wrote to the HSE asking them to have the venue withdrawn and to investigate the matter. Niamh Uí Bhriain said “I would respectfully request that this taxpayer-funded venue be withdrawn from use by this most objectionable organisation, for what is, most likely, an illegal workshop.

Ms Uí Bhriain also called the office of the HSE Chief Executive, Professor Brendan Drumm, and wrote to both Professor Drumm and the Irish Medicines Board regarding the proposed event. The Irish Medicines Board confirmed that Nembutal is not approved for use in Ireland.

“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,” said Ms Uí Bhriain. “Philip Nitschke is a most controversial figure.” Exit International say they are looking for another venue in Dublin, but the Life Institute said the workshop is not welcome in Ireland, and are “keeping tabs on the situation”.

An article from the Australian Herald Sun reveals that when euthanasia was briefly legal in the Northern Territory, Nitschke was then the doctor of seven people who had applied for permission to die.

Columnist Andrew Bolt wrote “You’d have sworn they were in great pain or days from death, but I later read the truth in Nitschke’s own account in an article he co-wrote for The Lancet. In fact, none of the seven had severe pain, only two were married, and a co-author of The Lancet piece, palliative care expert Prof David Kissane, believes some just needed better medical and psychiatric care. The saddest example is Martha Alfonso-Bowes, who’d announced she had bowel cancer and “there is no hope for me”. In her suicide note, she claimed “I have maybe a few months to live”.

Only in The Lancet did he publicly finally reveal Alfonso-Bowes actually knew surgery could cure her, and her “prognosis was good”. Her real sickness was of the heart. She was 68 and divorced. Her daughter died young, and now she was estranged from her son. “

The Life Institute said that the controversy came less than twelve months after the controversy when Cork University Hospital funded a lecture entitled “Why euthanasia should be legalised”.

“We’re seeing a disturbing trend here,” said Niamh Uí Bhriain. “The push to kill the elderly, the sick and the vulnerable is led by people who advocate a twisted form of utilitarianism; who think that caring for the terminally ill or the aged is a waste of resources. We’ve seen examples of that in the UK campaigner Baroness Warnock who said that people with dementia had ‘a duty to die’ and that treating premature babies was a ‘waste of resources’’. Is that now the HSE’s view? It’s good to see that they’ve withdrawn this tax-payer funded venue in response to complaints but there are still questions to be answered.”

For more on Philip Nitschke read Andrew Bolts article at http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/column_the_merchant_of_death

Despite the poor attendance, the Irish Times was keen to give coverage to the conference, and to continue describing legitimate medical treatments as abortions. The paper quoted one speaker as saying that: “Doctors have stated it is not absolutely clear-cut when an abortion can be performed to save the life of a woman, she said. “And as a result no doctor is willing to take a risk. And even though the ethical guidelines of the medical council of Ireland do admit that abortion is available where there is a grave risk to the life of the mother, doctors are given no guidance as to how they might make that assessment

In response Dr Seán O Domhnaill of the Life Institute wrote: “Sinead Ahern of the organisation Choice Ireland (Irish Times, March 1st 2010) is clearly not a medical professional, nor an practitioner in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. That would explain her lack of knowledge of the very clear direction given to doctors by the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 2001, which stated that life-saving medical treatments for cancer and other conditions were not abortions. The Institute's then Chairman Professor John Bonner told an Oireachtas Committee "We have never regarded these interventions as abortion. It would never cross an obstetrician's mind that intervening in a case of pre-eclampsia, cancer of the cervix or ectopic pregnancy is abortion. They are not abortion as far as the professional is concerned, these are medical treatments that are essentialto save the life of the mother.

“The crude and crassly manipulative attempt by Choice Ireland to label life-saving medical treatments as abortions is to be deplored. It is dishonest, deliberately causes confusions, attempts to frighten women, and adds to the trauma of women who have tragically lost their children to ectopic pregnancy or other conditions arising in pregnancy,” he continued.

At a previous conference also attended by YD spies-for-life pro-aborts lamented that the pro-abort movement was unable to attract activists “to compete with Youth Defence”.

Our campaign - Let’s set the Record straight: Abortion never saves a mothers life, it just kills a baby - is benefiting from the upturn in volunteers and our thanks to everyone who is helping out with the campaign and getting leaflets out the length and breadth of the country.

This campaign will be stepping up in the next few weeks so we’ll be looking for more support and prayers then.

View the leaflet here

This March, we again take this opportunity to ask you to join with us in commemorating child killed by abortion. 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.

What: Annual Commemoration for Baby X

When: Saturday 6th of March @ 2pm

Where: G.P.O., O’Connell Street, Dublin

It is very important that we do not let this significant  date in the pro-life calendar slip by without notice. At this critical time Irish unborn children are under threat as never before. Bring your friends and family. See you there!

The latest edition of Scannal dealing with the 1992 X case (broadcast on RTÉ 1 this week) came as no surprise then. Some 90% of the programme was taken up with the usual talking heads lamenting our pro-life laws, with solid agreement on the need for politicians to be “courageous” and to introduce legislation. Journalist Fintan O’Toole talked about political cowardice and about facing up to the abortion issue. Had any pro-life person been allowed to respond they would, of course, have agreed. There is an urgent need for the likes of O’Toole, and the other hacks who churn out these lame propaganda pieces, to face up to what they are actually advocating, and there is a need for politicians of courage who will defend the right to life of our most vulnerable and innocent citizens. O’Toole slipped up when he described the baby at the centre of the X case as a child (a look of annoyance crossing his face); a more honest programme would have described what that child’s fate was to be in a British abortion clinic.

Neither was the mounting evidence concerning the harm done to women by abortion mentioned. Scannal’s producers may claim that this was not the programme to deal with such evidence, but the point is that RTÉ persistently ignores the compelling evidence against abortion, and usually makes but a passing reference to the entire pro-life viewpoint, when making any programme on abortion.

We were also treated to the horrible spectacle of abortion supporters pretending that their concern during the X case was for the terrible situation the young rape victim was dealing with. Last year’s revelations regarding Miss C, who was dragged to social workers for an abortion without her knowledge or consent, has blown that particular pretence out of the water.

One of the few honest pieces in the programme was the interview with former Attorney General, Harry Whelehan, who explained why he defended the right to life of Baby X. "The problem was stark. There was an unborn child with a constitutional right to life. There was nobody to advocate the right of that child to be born other than the Attorney General.”

He also made the point that all the talking heads choose to ignore "I was very disappointed by the level of hysteria. It created an atmosphere which I think was very unhealthy."

The English translation of the sign says: “Abortion for Polish women introduced by Hitler on March 9, 1943.”

A 1942 Nazi policy statement on "racial hygiene" said, "In view of the large families of the Slav native population, it could only suit us if girls and women there had as many abortions as possible. We are not interested in seeing the non-German population multiply.

"We must use every means to instill in the population the idea that it is harmful to have several children, the expenses that they cause and the dangerous effect on woman's health.

"It will be necessary to open special institutions for abortions and doctors must be able to help out there in case there is any question of this being a breach of their professional ethics."

Israeli doctor Dr. Tessa Chelouche has done a major academic study, titled "Doctors, Pregnancy, Childbirth and Abortion during the Third Reich," http://www.ima.org.il/imaj/ar07mar-23.pdf on the Nazis' use of abortion in their "final solution" and writes, "Abortion was used as a weapon of mass destruction in Eastern Europe," where "it has been estimated that tens of thousands of Polish and Russian women were compelled to abort not because of health reasons, but because of Nazi dogma."

Mariusz Dzierzawski of the Polish CBR told LifeSiteNews (LSN) that he hopes to have the huge billboard (22.5m x 10m) in place in the center of the large city of Poznan by February 26th.

The article said that a scientific meeting has heard that “some are more prone to high blood pressure, type II diabetes and obesity”.

Reliance on these technologies has also allowed otherwise infertile couples to have children that would have been impossible in the past. This in turn may produce offspring who are themselves infertile, a session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual meeting in San Diego heard.

Louise Brown, the world’s first baby conceived using assisted reproductive technologies was born on July 25th, 1978.

Researchers have wondered since then whether unforeseen long term health issues might arise. “We are doing a big experiment here,” stated Prof Carmen Sapienza of the Fels Institute for Cancer Research at Temple University in Philadelphia.

While the great majority of those born using ART are healthy and well, these individuals do have a slightly higher risk of diseases related to how they burn sugars and fats, Prof Sapienza said.

It was essential that long term follow up studies were done in order to spot any differences between children conceived naturally and those conceived using ART, stated Prof Andre Van Steirteghem of the Brussels Free University Centre for Reproductive Medicine.

“Several millions of children have been born around the world after reproductive technology. In some countries they represent 3 to 5 per cent of all births. Overall the children do well so this is a positive,” he said.

“Yet there are a few problems for these children.” Researchers are trying to separate out the causes for this slightly increased risk of metabolic disorders. Prof Sapienza is doing genetic analysis looking for differences between those conceived by conventional versus Art means.

He has found several changes in genes in some individuals associated with metabolic conditions such as diabetes.

Questions also remain over whether the infertility in parents who rely on Art will in turn perpetuate this infertility, stated Prof Dolores Lamb of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She is an expert in male infertility and described how “extreme measures” can be used to locate just a few viable sperms in an otherwise sterile man in order to help him have children. “What we don’t know is whether these children will be infertile like their parents,” she said.

Asked whether this might lead to increased incidence of male infertility, Prof Steirteghem said: “The answer to that is maybe yes. That may mean the next generation will be infertile as well. If there is a genetic origin then this may be transmitted to the next generation.”

Lots of new members came to the Street Session for the first time, and many of those had been previously trained up and given essential information at YD’s Youth Conference and the recent Training Day. They were all keen to make sure that street sessions happen as often as possible in Galway.

Each week Youth Defence are hearing from more and more young people who want to get involved with street sessions and information days, and many more days are taking place around the country. Rebecca Roughneen of YD commented “It’s great to see so many new pro-life volunteers being informed and inspired, and coming together against abortion.”

A group of young teenage actors just out from filming spent an hour with us in Galway, and took the pro-life material they said they planned to use for their school project.

Meanwhile the NUIG Life Society has announced a pro-life creative competition - ‘Life: The Ultimate Work of Art’ - for secondary school students, NUIG students, and the general public. Artists in any genre (including, but not limited to, plays, films, paintings, poems, prose, drawings, music, sculptures, graphic designs, songs, photographs, engravings, and speeches) may submit original work into one of the three categories. Irish language submissions are especially welcome.

The closing date to submit entry forms is 12 March and the competition will conclude on 19 March. Contact Maria on lifesoc@socs.nuigalway.ie.

The ideal submission should be moving, beautiful, and unique. The winning artist will receive a plaque as well as a cash prize of 150 euro.

A new media campaign in Georgia links the racism of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, with the disproportionate numbers of African-American abortions performed in the United States every year.

The campaign features billboards stating that "Black Children are an Endangered Species," and which direct viewers to the website toomanyaborted.com.

"Women are being lied to by ... Planned Parenthood," said Ryan Bomberger, founder of the Radiance Foundation, which is sponsoring the ads. "And that's what toomanyaborted.com is about. It’s about exposing these things; using the facts; using Margaret Sanger's own word's."

The Radiance Foundation’s  aim is “inspire people to live a life of meaning” by helping people realize that all are created with a God-given purpose.

Their website www.toomanyaborted.com outlines how Margaret Sanger founded the “Negro Project” to reduce the number of African-American births. It also links her to the eugenics movement, which advocated the sterilization of the unfit and was closely related to racist Nazi ideology.

“Abortions increase where clinics are located and where are those clinics located?" asked Dr. La Verne Tolbert, former board member of Planned Parenthood. "Ninety-four percent of the clinics are located in urban areas where blacks reside. In my own neighborhood which is an African-American neighborhood in California, there are three abortion clinics strategically located all in the same area.”

Some have accused the ad’s sponsors themselves of racism for targeting a specific demographic group in their attempts to reduce abortions.

But Bomberger responded that, “This is not a campaign that targets black women. It’s a campaign that exposes an industry that we believe targets African-Americans.”

"We emphasize how abortion is a tragedy, it’s a human issue, it’s not race-specific,” he said on the Laura Ingraham show. "This campaign was launched, however, because of the extreme disparity in the numbers."

African-Americans accounted for the majority of abortions in Georgia in 2006, although they make up just a third of the state's population. Roughly 40% of African-American pregnancies in the United States end in abortion.

“Black children are aborted at three times the rate of all other populations,” said Catherine Davis, Director of Minority Outreach for Georgia Right to Life, which is also sponsoring the ads. “Georgia leads the country in the number of reported abortions performed on black women, 18,901 in 2008 alone.”

The campaign began with billboards in Dekalb and Fulton counties; according to Catherine Davis, over two-thirds of the abortions in Georgia occur in those two counties.

In related news, last Tuesday Georgia representative Barry Loudermilk introduced the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act.

“This legislation would make it illegal to conduct selective human abortions based on the sex, race or color of a child,” he said. “It applies the same standards of non-discrimination that is current law regarding employment, education, government and housing, to the practice of human abortion. It also gives the mother the right to seek civil damages against any abortion doctor or clinic who conducts an illegal abortion in the state of Georgia.”

Every little helps; you’ll make a real difference. Here’s how you can help.

• We’re running three major campaigns during Lent and would love to have you on board
• Sign up to help deliver our new leaflet - Abortion never saves a mother’s life; it just kills a baby.
• Help out with our Next Generation project – recruiting, training and empowering the next generation of pro-life leaders.
• Join us in stopping embryo research in UCC
• Assist at one of YD’s weekly pro-life information stalls.
• Join us in counseling outside abortion referral agencies.
• Distribute pro-life leaflets in your neighbourhood or at your church.
• Volunteer for our busy pro-life office or for one of our schools programmes.
• Host a pro-life evening to inform your friends and family – we can provide a speaker and top-quality information.

Call the Youth Defence office on 01 8730463 for assistance with any of these suggestions.

• Offer your Lenten sacrifices up for the protection of human life.
• Consider making a Lenten donation to our pro-life work. In these tough times, protecting the unborn child needs to remain a priority.

• Offer up Lenten prayers that the right to life of unborn children is protected in Ireland, and for mothers in crisis pregnancies.
• Ask others to join you in this Lenten Campaign of Prayer for Life - perhaps your friends, or your prayer group

Three Irish MEPs - Proinsias De Rossa and Nessa Childers of Labour and Socialist party Joe Higgins voted in favour of the motion. While de Rossa and Higgins are long-time abortion advocates, Childers had denied during the recent EU election that she would support any EU interference in Irish abortion law.

Fianna Fáil's Brian Crowley and Labour's Alan Kelly were not present for the vote. All the other Irish MEPs voted against the motion.

The motion, drafted by Marc Tarabella, a Belgian Socialist MEP, on behalf of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, says women must have “easy access to contraception and abortion,” that they “must have access free of charge to consultation on abortion” and member states must “improve women’s access to sexual and reproductive health services.”

During the recent Lisbon referendum campaign, supporters of the treaty had argued that the EU would not attempt to interfere in Ireland’s abortion laws.

The Irish Stem Cell Foundation has marketed itself as a body “whose primary objective is to educate about stem cells”, yet even a quick browse of its website reveals that the Foundation is pushing for embryo research. Its chief spokesman is Stephen Sullivan who is the author of “Human Embryonic Stem Cells: The Practical Handbook”. In a 2007 press release Dr Sullivan said that his research at Harvard University had used embryos which he described as being “left-over” from the IVF process. He claimed these “cells” would “never become a foetus, let alone a baby or a human being”.

“Dr Sullivan’s mindset is very clear from his statement,” said Rebecca of YD. “He denies the humanity of the embryo, and implies that one is only a human being after birth. Life is a continuum, from conception until death, every scientist knows this.”

Meanwhile, in a further response to the ongoing debate on embryo research in the Irish Times, another UCC professor has supported Professor William Reville in his opposition to embryo research. Professor Tommie McCarthy wrote that “In response to Dr Dolores Dooley’s dismissal of adult and induced pluripotent stem-cell (IPSC) research as good and ethical alternatives to human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research a search of the world’s largest registry for clinical trials (www.clinicaltrials.gov) shows more than 1,900 current adult stem cell versus three hESC transplantation trials respectively.”

He also rubbished Dr Dooley’s argument that hESCs are required as controls for adult stem-cell research. Professor McCarthy said that this was “incorrect, since adult stem-cell research has been in progress for decades without hESCs. Dr Dooley’s argument that hESCs are required as controls for IPSC research is purely relative since human IPSC research (which has emanated from equivalent research in mice) will advance rapidly irrespective of the existence of hESCs.”

Dr Eoghan de Faoite welcomed the clarification and said that embryo research was unethical and could not be justified.

The group is attracting attention from people with disabilities and supporters, one of whom wrote:

“I just found this group ! wonderful !! I was born with a disability that’s not noticeable although my life expectancy at the time was probably 20. I proved them wrong. But I have always wondered why people have such an issue with someone who has a disability. So why do we have to prove that we have a right to live?”

To join go to http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=191988687875

In the article under question, the author says that “the killing of the newborn is in fact the same as an abortion or super-late term abortion” and calls disabled newborns “defective blanks” and “newborn idiots”. He states that depriving disabled infants of life is “true humanism”.

The Union of Russian Journalists has accused the author of the article of breaching professional ethics.

The Union Board’s criticism comes from the fact that, instead of discussing the right for free choice of a disabled newborns’ fate, the author claims the only rational way is to deprive them of life. The board concluded that the article entrenches upon extremism.

The board added that the author of the article should have realized that he is humiliating people who are already bringing up disabled kids.

“The author is not raising a disabled child – that is why his generalized conclusions about the life of disabled people and their families… are just speculations. As a mother of a disabled child, and based on my experience, I state that these speculations have nothing to do with the reality,” said Svetlana Shtarkova, who, along with another disabled child’s mother, Snezhana Mitina, has written a letter to the Union of Russian Journalists’ Board.

According to statistics, there are 545,000 disabled kids in Russia. Only 12.2% of them live in foster homes, 23.6% of these children have various organ diseases and/or metabolic disorders, 23.1% have motor disabilities, and 21.3% have mental disabilities.

Madam,

Daragh McDowell applauds Human Rights Watch for taking the Irish people to task because of their opposition to abortion (January 30th). I do not agree that any “kudos” is due. Leaving aside the extraordinary arrogance in assuming the right to scold a sovereign nation, it is ridiculous that any discussion of human rights would choose not only to exclude unborn children, but to deliberately target them for destruction.

As a young Irish women, I take grave exception to the claim by Human Rights Watch that I need abortion to “enjoy” my human rights. Abortion neither serves mother nor baby, and it is time ideology-addled abortion supporters were honest about the nature of this procedure.

The Human Rights Watch report made some extraordinary illiberal recommendations in order to promote abortion. It suggested that the right to conscientious objection should be diminished, compelling doctors and other medical practitioners to partake in arranging or providing an abortion.

Moreover, it urged the Government to increase public support for abortion by influencing public discourse. It should also be noted that no pro-life doctors, campaigners or citizens were approached for interview while compiling this short-sighted, partial and hectoring report. – Yours, etc,

Íde Nic Mhathúna of Youth Defence was also interviewed by France 24 on the HRW report. To see the interview click here: http://www.france24.com/en/20100128-Ireland-accused-of-violating-womens-human-rights

As explained in last week’s YD ezine, the advert, which is to be aired by CBS on Superbowl Sunday will focus on the story of Tebow's birth. The football star’s mother, Pam Tebow, rejected a doctor's suggestion to get an abortion when she became ill on a missions trip to the Philippines during her pregnancy. Tebow gave birth to Tim, who subsequently famously won the 2007 Heisman Trophy and led the Florida Gators to a college football championship.

Abortion advocates, such as the National Organisation for Women have called on CBS to cancel its plans to allow the ad to air before and after the Super Bowl. One columnist, Gloria Allred, made the bizarre claim that Pam Tebow made up her story about rejecting an abortion.

The New York Times unexpectedly weighed in on the debate in an official editorial titled "Super Bowl Censorship."

"The National Organization for Women, NARAL Pro-Choice America and other voices ... have called on CBS to yank it," it wrote. "Their protest is puzzling and dismaying."

The Times noted how the Women’s Media Center (for a collection of pro-abortion groups) sent a letter to CBS calling for rejecting the ad, saying the commercial “uses one family’s story to dictate morality to the American public, and encourages young women to disregard medical advice, putting their lives at risk."

Responding to the claim, the Times called it "a lame attempt to portray the ad as life-threatening", and accused the “would-be censors” of being on “the wrong track”.  

Ultimately, the Times said abortion advocates should exercise their so-called right to choose whether or not to see the ad when it airs.

"After the network screens ads for accuracy and taste, viewers can watch and judge for themselves. Or they can get up from the couch and get a sandwich," the newspaper conclude

Two weeks ago our Training Day in Dublin was booked out. Attendees came from across the country for a motivating seminar given by Bernie Smyth of Precious Life and Rebecca Roughneen of YD. Bernie brought young activists through the important steps undertaken in counselling at abortion referral agencies; we explained the tried and tested methodology of pro-life street sessions; and the question and answer session went down really well with the newer pro-lifers, as they got the chance to discuss the issues raised.

After the talks everyone put the information into action and hit Dublin’s busy O’Connell Street for a great street session. And with so many new people becoming active and trained up with essential information since YD’s Youth Conference and the Training Day, more and more street sessions and information days are taking place around the country. “For example, a large street session was held in Tralee last week, many of the people who helped out had never done it before but they are now keen to make sure that street sessions happen as often as possible in their area,” said Rebecca. “The Training Day was a great follow-up for those who have recently got involved with through the conference and it’s great to see new pro-life volunteers being informed and inspired, and coming  together against abortion.

Our Next Generation Project is now in full swing, as we're informing, training and motivating young pro-lifer; we are looking forward to launching a new advertising campaign focusing on informing young people and encouraging them to be active.

The group also estimated that the economic impact has risen to $38.5 trillion in lost U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) since 1970.

“This year alone, the impact involved another $2.45 trillion, or roughly equal to half the GDP of Germany and France combined,” said the Movement in a press release.

MBA President Dennis Howard, who has been researching the economic impact of abortion since 1992, said, “The number of lives lost to surgical abortion has reached 17% of the total U.S. population of 307,000,000. So it’s not surprising that this year’s increase is equal to 17% of U.S. GDP.”

The estimates are based on average GDP per year since 1970 after abortion became legal in our largest states and the cumulative number of abortions.

The estimates do not include babies lost to abortifacients and contraception because of the lack of public data. Said Howard: “However, the economic impact of these is similar to abortion. My guess is they would double the impact based on abortion alone.”

Howard has been warning since the mi’s that the US faced a major financial crisis based on ongoing demographic trends. In 1997, he wrote: “I see little hope that we can avoid an eventual crash on Wall Street that will make the 1930’s looking like cashing in your cards after a bad game of Monopoly.”

He even gave percentages as to when a crash would occur. He wrote then: “I’d give it a 50% chance of happening by the year 2000, an 80% chance by the year 2010, and a 100% chance of happening by 2020.”

Howard cited the collapse of the former Soviet Union as an example of the impact of demographics on economies. “The main reason for their collapse was internal – 300 abortions for every 100 live births for decades ... Right now, there are not enough younger women to reverse their population decline. They could lose another 40 million people by 2050.”

Pro-life forces are responding swiftly to the fierce pro-abortion campaign that is being waged against Focus on the Family's pro-life ad featuring football superstar Tim Tebow, which is set to air on CBS during the Super Bowl on the 7th of February.

In the past few days, pro-abortion groups have generated over 120,000 letters to CBS, NFL, and Super Bowl advertising executives, asking that they scrap the ad, which has yet to be unveiled. In response, a petition was launched today by Life Site News (LSN) whereby pro-lifers can express support to CBS for its decision to air the ad, and exhort the network not to cave to pressure to drop the ad. The names of those who sign the petition will be forwarded on to CBS executives. (To sign the petition, click https://secure.lifesitenews.com/np/clients/lifesitenews_us/campaign.jsp?campaign=20)

The ad is expected to feature the story of how Tebow’s mother refused to abort him despite being advised to do so by physicians for health reasons. Pam Tebow eventually gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby, who has gone on to become one of the most-recognized sports stars in America.

Despite its hopeful message, the ad has infuriated pro-abortion forces, who argue that it is tantamount to revoking women’s “right to choose.” On Wednesday, a number of pro-abortion groups launched an all-out campaign to pressure CBS into cancelling the ad.

“CBS needs to hear the voices of those who support life and family as well,” said LSN editor, John-Henry Westen. “Therefore LSN is launching this petition addressed to CBS, asking them not to cave in to pressure to pull the Focus on the Family ad.”

In a recent press release Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life commented on the war over the ad. "Why should it bother people who call themselves pro-choice if women watch Pam Tebow and her son Tim on Super Bowl Sunday and freely decide to choose life? Would fewer abortions be a bad thing?" he asked.

In a document released today, the organization, Human Rights Watch (HRW), claims that “interpretations of international law recognize that obtaining a safe and legal abortion is crucial to women’s effective enjoyment and exercise of their human rights." Youth Defence spokeswoman Rebecca Roughneen said that the claim was “nonsense” and that “no amount of euphemism made abortion anything but the deliberate killing of a child; a killing which also left women deeply wounded.”

Ms Roughneen said that “as a young Irish woman, I find the claims of this organization most disingenuous and deeply insulting. Neither I, nor the majority of Irish women, need abortion to ‘enjoy’ our human rights.” She added that “the Irish people, not some unelected, unrepresentative body, will decide Ireland’s abortion laws” and pointed to the timing of the HRW report, which comes as a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights is expected on the ABC case regarding abortion.

“There’s more than a whiff of a choreographed sequence of events here,” said Ms Roughneen. “As we await a ruling from one foreign body on our laws, another external organization weighs in with a criticism of Ireland because we protect our mothers and babies from abortion.”

The Human Rights Watch document, urges the government to act so that doctors be legally obliged to refer their patients to an abortionist, that publicly-funded health institutions be required to assist in abortion provision and that that conscientious objection to abortion be limited.

The organization previously attacked Nicaragua when that country moved to ban abortion with the popular support of its people. Youth Defence said it was “deeply ironic that an organization which claimed to work for human rights should agitate for the abortion industry’s right to kill babies.”

The YD office has received calls from supporters requesting the contact details of HRW. One activist told us “I informed them that this call for legalized abortion had made a joke of their mission. How can you campaign for the right to kill people and call yourself a human rights body?”

Contact details for the HRW are: 2nd Floor, 2-12 Pentonville Road, London N1 9HF, UK

Tel: 00-44-20-7713-1995, Fax: 00-44-20-7713-1800, E-mail: hrwuk@hrw.org

The survey, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, finds Baby Boomers (those aged 45-64) are the least pro-life, with 51 percent saying abortion is "morally wrong."

But the good news for the pro-life movement is the next two generations of Americans are pro-life.

Millennials, those young Americans between the ages of 18-29, have 59 percent of their generation saying abortion is morally wrong. Members of Generation X (30-44 years of age) say abortion is morally wrong at a 60% clip.

More than 6 in 10 of the Greatest Generation (those 65+) feel the same about opposing abortion.

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson told LifeNews.com that the survey results are exciting to him because it represents hope for an abortion-free future.

"Americans of all ages - and younger people in even greater numbers than their parents - see abortion as something morally wrong," he said. "Advances in technology show clearly  and ever more clearly - that an unborn child is completely a human being. That, coupled with the large number of Americans who know one of the many people who has been negatively affected by abortion are certainly two of the reasons that Americans are increasingly uncomfortable with Roe v. Wade's legacy of abortion, and with abortion generally," Anderson continued.

"The majority of Americans now understand that abortion has consequences, and that those consequences are not good," he said.

The 37th annual March for Life which takes place on the anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion throughout the United States, was the biggest and most enthusiastic yet! The number of marchers who made the journey to our nation’s capital to “Stand Up Now and Unite for the Life Principles” exceeded the record number of participants that attended last year.

We arrived the day before the March and joined up with our friends in CEC for Life in the evening for a motivational talk from pro-life advocate Star Parker who works with the group CURE (Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education) where she reminded us that abortion not only scars women and kill babies but affects the entire nation, and our whole culture.

The next day we joined Americans of all ages and races who had traveled from all over the States to flood the capital for the March to express their opposition to the destruction of more than 52 million unborn children. They carried signs ranging from "Defend Life" to "Abortion is Not Health Care" to "Stop Abortion Now."

I was so impressed seeing so many young people at the March with whole schools and universities turned out to stand up for their beliefs.

Some of the greatest leaders in the pro-life world were present; Joe Scheidler, Pat Mahoney, Fr Frank Pavone and others who have achieved so much against the odds. What was remarkable however, was that of the thousands of people we met, most wanted to congratulate us on Ireland’s pro-life stance. It was a great affirmation of the work we do together here in Ireland. Speaking at several March for Life events along with Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill, we shared some of the strategies and activities used to keep Ireland abortion-free.

The following day we went to a Planned Parenthood Clinic. This was my first time outside a clinic and it was truly a chilling experience, as we prayed outside we saw young mothers being taken inside by the pro-abort “Escorts”. Pro Lifers weren’t allowed to speak to the women or give them information. All we could do was be a silent witness to the babies being brutally killed inside this clinic.

However many Americans are very hopeful for the future. The day before the March a new survey was released that shows a strong majority of Americans believe abortion to be "morally wrong." Rev. Pat Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defence Coalition, is starting out with a new strategy: he and others have located the American states with only one or two Planned Parenthood clinics, the idea is to close down each of these clinics so the state will be abortion free. They will start working in Mississippi in the next few months.

We had an inspiring experience in Washington and it was fantastic meeting so many incredible people who are working tirelessly to try and end abortion in America. But this trip was also a warning to all of us as to what will happen in Ireland if we don’t give our all to the pro-life cause. Despite the best efforts of so many brave and good people in the US, they have seen firsthand when abortion becomes legal it produces a mindset that is very difficult to reverse.

January is a major month for pro-life marches and walks not only all over the United States, in Denver, Colorado and San Francisco, but also in Europe, where the 6th annual Marche pour la Vie took place in France. It was a huge success with around 25,000 pro-lifers, consisting largely of families and youth, marching peacefully against abortion on the 35th anniversary of the legalization of abortion in the country. Cécile Edel, president of Choisir La Vie, called upon her countrymen to reflect upon "the disastrous result" of 35 years of legal abortion: the "unspeakable sufferings" of millions of women, and the "blatant injustice" towards millions of their unborn brothers and sisters.

Writing in support of Prof Reville, Prof McSweeney, of the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences wrote:

“I read with disappointment the criticism by Dr Dolores Dooley (a philosopher) of Prof William Reville’s (a biochemist) views of the science of embryo research (January 28th).

The truth of Prof Reville’s assertion that ethically uncontroversial adult stem-cell research has paid back handsomely is to be seen daily in our hospitals; despite more than a decade of research, embryonic stem-cell research has not led to any therapy. Indeed, even its supporters tacitly admit that the value of embryonic stem-cell research is now less in terms of curing disease in the near future and more in terms of basic developmental biology. Such fundamental research is very valuable and important but alternatives to the use of human embryos exist in the form of ethically uncomplicated induced pluripotent stem cells (essentially “reprogrammed” skin cells).

Prof Reville’s central point was that it is a simple, if uncomfortable, fact of biology that the embryo is a living human being, albeit at the earliest stage of development. Indeed, Dr Dooley’s own Irish Council for Bioethics has acknowledged this fact, although it concluded that embryos lacked “full moral status” to save them from deliberate destruction through experimentation.

Bearing in mind legislation to protect animals used in experimentation, by a combination of judicial fiat and legislative inertia, the human embryo now literally has less protection under Irish law than does a laboratory rat.

The Government should legislate as a matter of urgency to afford protection from deliberate destruction to human embryos as exists for human beings at all other stages of the continuum of life. As Prof Reville rightly pointed out, such protection need not be incompatible with IVF.”

Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Miranda Devine quoted one feminist as writing that ‘'I would rather eat my first born than vote for Abbott . . . what concerns me most [is] his anti-free choice views  . .we are outraged that a man with Abbott's beliefs could possibly head up a major political party in Australia in 2009.'’

But Ms Devine pointed out that polls showed Abbott to be somewhat more popular among women than men. She wrote “The fact is, Abbott's so-called woman trouble is with a particular subset of female - the aggressively secular, paleo-feminist, emasculating Australian broad” and said such women were “unrepresentative of women, and disproportionately influential, because they either work in the media or politics or have high-profile, heavily networked careers, which mean they are quoted in the media, and their opinions sought after.”

For them, abortion on demand, no matter what the circumstances, is a bedrock article of faith. This is the essence of their visceral, red-fanged rage against him. They hold firm to an outdated, 1970s view of feminism that requires unquestioning belief in abortion as a social good.

Abbott said in 2006 that “Every abortion is a tragedy and up to 100,000 abortions a year is this generation's legacy of unutterable shame”.

YD leaders, along with Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill of the Life Institute, have spoken at several key pro-life events leading up to the March, and say the event allows for opportunities for pro-life strategists to share and explore new avenues.

A key issue for marchers is the U.S. health care bill which pro-lifers warn would include federal funding for abortion. Charmaine Yoest, president and CEO of Americans United for Life, said that “with a health care bill that includes taxpayer funding for abortion hanging in the balance, this is an important, historic opportunity to get the attention of politicians in Washington."

"In this critical moment, every American must be heard regardless of where you are," she continued. "How many more lives will be lost if the congressional majority rolls back existing law that protects life and protects us from having our tax dollars used to fund abortion?

The opening segment of the clip from the popular show featured a powerful testimony about her family of 12 children, and her brothers with Down syndrome - one biological (Jonny) and three adopted (Jesse, Daniel, and Justin).

Maddy explained that her parents, Tripp and Barbara, adopted their first, Jesse, so that Jonathan would have “more of a companion.” After their first adoption, they served as a resource to counsel couples whose babies were diagnosed with Down syndrome, which led to two more adoptions.

About her disabled brothers, Maddy said, as tears welled up in her eyes, that, “I think some people are a little sceptical of Down syndrome. Those four boys bring out the best in every person they meet. They see the world in colors, and we need to see the world that way.”

In the audition, Maddy sang a beautiful rendition of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah', yielding praise even from the normally-critical Simon Cowell. "Very good,” he said. “You've got a nice voice. Bit of soul in there, Maddy."

Her parish priest told LifeSiteNews that the Maddy’s family were a “very, very pro-life” family, who, he said, “don't just preach about it, [but] actually live it.” Barbara, the mother of the family, is a professional writer and pro-life speaker who runs a popular pro-life blog http://mommylife.net/

Fr. Escalante believes the Curtis’ witness on American Idol was “just a grace of God.” “Every time I watch, I tell you, I get teary-eyed, because [Maddy] really got a lot more out of it than just being an audition,” he said. “She was able to showcase how good it is to be growing up with Down syndrome brothers. ... I thought this was a good exposure to plug in on a well-watched national and international setting – a chance for people to see these kids are beautiful kids.”

“My personal opinion is, anybody who would have been contemplating to get an abortion because they were diagnosed [with a Down syndrome baby],” he observed, “would probably think on that, because they really presented her story so well.”

Writing in the Irish Times this week the UCC Associate Professor of Biochemistry said that he was opposed to human embryonic stem cell research on “ethical and practical grounds”. He wrote: “Biology shows that human life begins at conception when sperm and egg unite to form an embryo, thereby initiating a continuum of development that ends only in death. Science does not deal in ethics and cannot place a moral value on human life at any stage along the continuum. Many scientists believe, myself included, that human life has full moral value from the moment of conception, or at least sufficient moral value that it should not be deliberately destroyed. Many other scientists, probably a majority, believe that full moral value is only reached later along the continuum – at implantation in the womb or later. As the human embryo must be killed to obtain embryonic stem cells, I am opposed to HESCR.”

Professor Reville quoted Dr James Thomson, who discovered how to isolate human embryonic stem cells in 1998, as saying: “If human embryonic stem-cell research does not make you at least a little bit uncomfortable, then you have not thought about it enough.”

And he also laid bare the flaws in the argument that so-called “surplus” embryos should be used for experimentation “…people point to “surplus” human embryos left over from IVF procedures and ask why not use them for useful HESCR as they are destined to die anyway? Well, we are all destined to die, but this gives nobody the right to kill us prematurely and use our bodies for research. Also, “surplus” IVF embryos never asked to be created – they are an unfortunate by-product of IVF procedures. IVF techniques should be developed that do not generate “surplus” embryos and the embryos that already exist should be either adopted or allowed to die with dignity,” he wrote.

Professor Reville warned that advocates of lethal research on human embryos hoped that the judgment in the recent RvR case would give the green light to such research in Ireland.

Youth Defence has led opposition to embryo research and plans a follow up campaign to the nationwide campaign shortly.

To read the article in full go to http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sciencetoday/2010/0121/1224262767052.html

This weekend in Dublin we're hosting the first of our Training Days for 2010 - where we're focusing on smaller groups of young activists and providing the training they're looking for to become fully engaged in pro-life work. It's a great opportunity for young pro lifers to be activated and trained up with essential information to speak effectively and persuasively about important Life issues.

The Youth Defence seminar will feature leading activist Bernadette Smyth, Director of Precious Life. Her workshop will help new activist to learn how to counsel a woman using an abortion referral agency; and we'll also be providing training on how to speak up for Life; how to deal with the public; and the most effective way of getting the message out on the streets/ in college etc.

Youth Defence has almost 18 years of experience in pro-life activism. We need to pass that knowledge on - the more equipped we are as pro-lifers, the more babies we will save!

Young people from all across Ireland, are attending the training day, it will be a wonderful opportunity for those who have recently got involved with pro life activities and events to meet with other pro-life volunteers and to be informed and inspired together against abortion. Rebecca Roughneen of YD, who is helping to organize the event added; “with out a doubt this training day will help respond to the big increase in demand for pro-life street sessions and counselling outside clinics. As new talent comes on board, activists will help with a range of exciting projects, we are looking forward to working together in 2010”

O'Donnell argued against recognising the right to life of an anecephalic child in the D case, where barristers argued in the High Court that Baby D deserved no legal protection because his/her condition meant he/she was not an "unborn person". Judge McKechnie ruled in the D case, to his eternal shame, that the innocent child was “an aberration of nature”.

O'Donnell also argued that the Constitution did not give protection to the embryo outside the womb in the recent RvR case.

Curiously the only previous such leapfrog" appointment was when Justice Adrian Hardiman was also jumped from the Bar to the highest court in the land in 2000. Hardiman was previously the Chairman of the Anti-Amendment Campaign which opposed the pro-life amendment in 1983, and was also a founding member of the Progressive Democrats.

According to the report http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/WPA2009/WPA2009_WorkingPaper.pdf , “World Population Ageing 2009,” 22% of the world's population will be older than 60 years within forty years - a jump from 11% in 2009, and 8% in 1950.

A trend of low birth rates perpetuated worldwide with the ascendancy of contraception and abortion has caused the elderly population to increase by 2.6% per year - three times faster than the overall world population growth. The 60+ age group will triple its size at the beginning of the millenium, reaching 2 billion by 2050.

The UN noted that the imbalance will have a major impact on the worldwide working-age community - upon whom it will fall to support the disproportionately aged population. The dramatic shift in demographics, they said, will impact life in various aspects, including economic growth, investment, consumption, pensions, taxation, and health care.

“As children account for a declining proportion of the population, there may be a reduction in the number of schools just as the increasing share of the older population begins to require more long-term care facilities,” wrote the authors of the report. “In the political arena, population aging may shape voting patterns and political representation.”

Pro-family leaders have warned of a coming free-fall of birth rates and the attendant economic devastation, saying it "could result in the greatest crisis humanity will confront in this century."

They point out that the children missing from today's low birth rate, who would have otherwise had children and grandchildren of their own, "will create an ever-accelerating downward spiral" of population, where schools will be turned into nursing homes. Playgrounds will become graveyards," - words echoed in the UN report.

In an experimental treatment devised by doctors at the North East England Stem Cell Institute in Newcastle, stem cells were taken from Turnbull's healthy eye and grown on a layer of amniotic tissue, which is routinely used as a burn dressing. The NHS banks amniotic sacs donated by women who have had a Caesarean section. When the cells had covered the membrane, a piece the size of a postage stamp was transplanted onto Turnbull's damaged eye. Two months later the membrane had broken down, leaving his damaged eye with a fresh supply of healthy stem cells, which repaired the cornea. Eye tests six months after surgery showed that Turnbull's vision was nearly as good as it had been before the attack.

Do these medical terms matter? “Absolutely, or medical terminology becomes a nonsense, where practitioners describe a tonsillectomy as an amputation,” says Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill of the Life Institute. “But the intent of the treatment is also of paramount importance. Where a mother suffers an ectopic pregnancy or cancer during pregnancy, she is fully entitled to the medical treatment even if that treatment may unintentionally cause the death of her unborn child. The intent is to cure, not to kill the baby, and the death of the child is an unfortunate and unintended side-effect.”

The four Irish professors of obstetricians and gynaecology stated this fact in 1992, and confirmed that abortion is never medically necessary. The IFPA through the ABC case, and with the help of the media, are now attempting to cause confusion and to have the Irish people believe that medical treatment is “lawful abortion” when it is no such thing. In doing so they are adding considerably to the distress suffered by mothers who have lost their unborn children through no fault of their own, by insisting that the legitimate medical treatment they received was an abortion. For the self-styled champions of women’s rights, that doesn’t seem to be a consideration.

An April 2009 study by Jessica Dolle et al. of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center examining the relationship between oral contraceptives (OCs) and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive form of breast cancer associated with high mortality, in women under age 45, contained an admission from Dr. Brinton and her colleagues that abortion raises breast cancer risk by 40%.

The study found that "a statistically significant 40% increased risk for women who have abortions" exists, and that a " 270% increased risk of triple negative breast cancer (an aggressive form of breast cancer associated with high mortality) among those who used oral contraceptives while under age 18 and a 320% increased risk of triple negative breast cancer among recent users (within 1-5 years) of oral contraceptives," also exists.

This means that women who start using OCs before age 18 multiply their risk of TNBC by 3.7 times and recent users of OCs within the last one to five years multiply their risk by 4.2 times.

"Although the study was published nine months ago," stated Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, in a press release, "the NCI, the American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and other cancer fundraising businesses have made no efforts to reduce breast cancer rates by issuing nationwide warnings to women."

"Obviously, more women will die of breast cancer if the NCI fails in its duty to warn about the risks of OCs and abortion and if government funds are used to pay for both as a part of any healthcare bill," said Mrs. Malec.

Last year, studies from Turkey and China also reported statistically significant risk increases for women who had abortions.

The Turkish study reported a 66% increased risk of breast cancer for women with abortions while the Chinese study found a statistically significant 17% increased breast cancer risk among Chinese women who had induced abortions.

Mrs. Malec said, "The Chinese and the Turkish studies are relevant considering the debate over government-funded abortion through healthcare reform" in the US. "Government-funded abortion means more dead American women from breast cancer."

Dr Eoghan de Faoite said that the results were consistent with similar surveys carried out every year since 2005, and that government should now respect the wishes of the people and move to protect human life in the wake of the RvR case.

He added that “the view of the majority of Irish people has been ignored by quangos such as the Commission for Assisted Human Reproduction who favour embryo destruction and lethal research on human life. However, it is the view of the people which must be respected by the legislature in a democracy.

In the RvR case the Irish Supreme Court decided to uphold the High Court’s findings that embryos are not the "unborn" within the meaning of Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution and therefore not entitled to Constitutional protection, saying that the "unborn" referred to a child within the womb and not pre-implanted embryos.

Youth Defence said that in doing so the Supreme Court has upheld an erroneous decision by Justice McGovern in the High Court, in which the judge had ruled that it was not the intention of the electorate in 1983 to extend protection to the human embryo outside the womb.

It can be viewed here: http://www.youthdefence.ie/am_cms_media/embryo-leaflet-dec-2009.pdf

“We’re really pleased that the effort put in is paying off and that the leaflets are getting into doors so rapidly,” said Rebecca Roughneen of YD. “We’ve a long way to go with this campaign, and all assistance is greatly appreciated, so we’re urging anyone who would like to get involved to call us on 01 8730463.”

You can also view more information on the embryo court ruling on our site here :

http://www.youthdefence.ie/campaigns/stem-cell-ethics/embryo-court-judgment/

Last October the New York Times published graphic photos of aborted babies, described by Stanek as a “mainstream media breakthrough”. She added that “pro-life activists would have preferred the NYT show younger babies aborted by current methods rather than rarer late-term victims murdered via the antiquated saline procedure, but it marks the start of an honest nationwide visual conversation about the reality of abortion.”

Despite much criticism pro-life activists throughout the world have refused to desist from showing the truth about abortion. It has meant that an entire generation has become better informed as to the reality of the procedure. In 2009, the leading US pollsters Gallup released a poll showing that for the first time since it began asking the question in 1995, a 51 percent majority of Americans consider themselves "pro-life" as opposed to 42 percent "pro-choice."

John of Salisbury wrote, said Benedict XVI, that natural law is "an objective and immutable truth, the origin of which is in God, a truth accessible to human reason and which concerns practical and social activities." From natural law, he added, "human legislation, and political and religious authorities, must draw inspiration in order to promote the common good."

The Holy Father explained that the 12th century Bishop wrote of "equity," a property of natural law, by which is meant "giving each person his rights."

"John of Salisbury would remind us today," said the Pope, "that the only 'equitable' laws are those that defend the sacredness of human life and reject the legitimacy of abortion, euthanasia and unrestrained genetic experimentation; the laws that respect the dignity of marriage between a man and a woman, that are inspired by a correct understanding of the secularism of the State - a secularism that must always include the safeguarding of religious freedom - and that seek subsidiarity and solidarity at the national and international level."

Otherwise, said the Holy Father, we end up with "the dictatorship of relativism" which he explained, "recognises nothing as definite and has as its ultimate measure only the self and its own desires.

Youth Defence has said that a sustained, nationwide response is now required to ensure that the government moves to protect the human embryo following last Tuesday's Supreme Court judgment in the RvR case which wiped out the legal rights of the human embryo outside the womb.

“We’re in the middle of contacting 10,000 people to get the ball rolling for a nationwide campaign, and we’ll be working right through Christmas,” said Rebecca Roughneen of Youth Defence. “This case has smashed the rights of pre-implanted embryonic unborn children and we need to act to ensure that the government hears the pro-life message and acts to protect these children.”

Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Life Institute said that the government needed to hear that any attempt to legislate in this area based on the recommendations of the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction (CAHR) would be “utterly unacceptable to the people”. She said the CAHR was a “quango established to produce a pre-arranged set of recommendations which would make Ireland one of the most liberal countries in the world when it came to embryo research and would allow for experiments of human life, and for cloning.” Mrs Uí Bhriain pointed out that the CAHR asked for submissions from the public on the treatment of early human life and that “on both occasions the vast majority of public submissions supported protecting human life from conception and said that any form of lethal experiments on embryonic life should be absolutely banned.” She added that opinion polls consistently showed that a considerable majority – up to 70% of the Irish people – supported protecting the embryo.

“What’s clear now is that the government needs to act to restore the protection to the human embryo,” said Rebecca Roughneen. “We’re making sure that people know the facts, and make their voices heard.”

“The hard fact is nobody wants to be disabled, but unfortunately, a certain percentage of pregnancies will result in a person being born with a congenital disability,” its states.  “How you deal with this reality will greatly impact on the quality of life you can expect to have as a living disabled person. As a society, we should be striving to create an open world free from prejudice and discrimination, where disabled people are given every equal opportunity to participate in life to the fullest of their ability. What they don’t need is to be subjected to the totally negative viewpoint constantly perpetuated by abortion proponents/eugenicists that abortion is the only answer to solving “the disabled problem”. It isn’t. Now is the time to fight back and challenge them!”

The group’s message is particularly welcome at  this time, given the push to promote abortion for the disabled in the D case and in a recent RTÉ Prime Time programme. The site has inspirational stories and promises sharp commentary on crucial issues.

To join go to http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=191988687875

Mexican abortion advocates who cheered last year's limited Supreme Court decision upholding a liberalized Mexico City abortion law did not foresee such a popular reaction in favor of life. The court there had deferred to the legislature while declining to hold that abortion is a constitutional right.

Nor is Mexico's experience unique – it is consistent with a string of victories in favor of life this past year around the globe that has heartened defenders of the unborn. These victories undercut the argument that a liberalized "customary" global norm on abortion is evolving.

First and foremost was this summer's successful reform of the Dominican Republic's constitution, which now declares that "the right to life is inviolable from conception until death." The nation also tightened its penal law protection of unborn life.

East Timor's parliament likewise rejected a liberalized abortion law in June, passing instead a very tight law recognizing that life "from the moment of conception" is entitled to protection.

Honduras' legislature passed a law banning use of "emergency contraception," the high-hormone "morning after" pill, over concern that it may function as an abortifacient by preventing implantation.

The Constitutional Court of Peru similarly found due to the morning after pill's possible abortifacient effects, the drug could not be distributed in public health facilities. Both Peru's and Honduras' constitutions protect pre-natal life.

Concern over demographic collapse has spurred South Korea to stop turning a blind eye to violations of its abortion law. And at this year's United Nations Commission on Population and Development meeting, Japan and Russia issued strong statements, reflecting similar concerns.

Not wishing to overstate matters themselves, some Mexican pro-lifers, though buoyed by the state-level developments, caution that congressional support may not be sufficient for a federal amendment. They also note that the Supreme Court has yet to rule on a challenge to Baja California's state amendment.

On balance, however, the trend toward protection of life this past year has been marked.

In Sentenza N. 311, the Italian Constitutional Court stated that where rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) conflict with provisions of the Italian Constitution, such rulings "lack legitimacy." sources close to the Italian judiciary told the Friday Fax that the decision was intended as a warning that activist rulings by the Strasbourg-based ECHR overstepping jurisdictional boundaries will not be given deference.

Sources point to the timing of the decision, which followed an early November ECHR ruling, Lautsi v. Italy, directing that crucifixes be removed from the Italian classroom. The Italian government is appealing that decision to the full Grand Chamber.

According to Roger Kiska, European legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, Lautsi is flawed on a number of grounds, including overreach – the ECHR is not a constitutional court – and its disregard for "the cultural sovereignty of each Member State." The Constitutional Court decision – which deals with civil service matters entirely unrelated to the crucifix case – signals that Italy may be prepared to break with the ECHR if it were to lose its appeal.

Kiska also notes that the ECHR recently heard arguments in the case A, B, & C v. Ireland, which involves a direct challenge to Ireland's constitutional protection of unborn life. Commentators suggest the Italian court decision could embolden Ireland's Supreme Court in the event of an adverse decision.

Underlying the debate is the question of what role "subsidiarity" will play in post-Lisbon Europe. Subsidiarity is the notion that decisions are best made at the local level closest to the people affected by them, guaranteeing that national norms and values will not be overrun by top-down-dictates.

Youth Defence has called on the government to respect the wishes of the people and to move to protect human life from the moment of conception. The pro-life organization made its call as the Supreme Court today dismissed an appeal by a mother of two against the High Court's refusal to order a Dublin clinic to release three frozen embryos to her against the wishes of her estranged husband.

The five judge court found that consent was required to proceed with the implantation. They also decided to uphold the High Court’s findings that the embryos are not the "unborn" within the meaning of Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution and therefore not entitled to Constitutional protection, saying that the "unborn" referred to a child within the womb and not pre-implanted embryos.

Youth Defence said that in doing so the Supreme Court has upheld an erroneous decision by Justice McGovern in the High Court, in which the judge had ruled that it was not the intention of the electorate in 1983 to extend protection to the human embryo outside the womb. “With all due respect, Justice McGovern had no crystal ball which allowed him to see into the minds of more than a million people and to decipher the intentions of each and every one,” said Íde Nic Mhathúna of Youth Defence. “Test-tube babies had been born prior to the 1983 amendment and there was no mention of restricting the right to life at any stages from conception. It is disappointing to see the Supreme Court now uphold that erroneous ruling.”

Ms Nic Mhathúna said it was now crucial that the Government move to protect human life from conception. “Two separate bodies, the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction and the Irish Council for Bio-ethics, asked for submissions from the public on the treatment of early human life,” she said. “And on both occasions the vast majority of public submissions supported protecting human life from conception and said that any form of lethal experiments on embryonic life should be absolutely banned. But then both bodies ignored the public’s view and instead recommended legislation that would have made us one of the most liberal countries in the world in regulating this area – even allowing for the creation of human embryos for experimentation, and for cloning.”

“What’s clear now is that the government needs to act to restore the protection to the human embryo which the pro-life majority presumes existed since 1983,” she added. Ms Nic Mhathúna said that any attempt to use the RvR judgment to introduce embryo research would be “unacceptable, and would ultimately fail since it would be very strongly opposed.”

Precious Life also staged a demonstration outside the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital in Belfast last Friday 11 December, in protest against abortions which were carried out in the hospital. We plan to stage similar protests at other hospitals in the New Year.

The protests follow the release of official figures from the Department of Health in November which revealed that 92 abortions were carried out in Northern Ireland during 2008. Precious Life have called for the circumstances behind the abortions to be opened to public scrutiny and investigated by the police.

In a statement to the media, Director of the Precious Life Bernadette Smyth said that abortion was illegal in the province and that "It is a very serious offence to cause the death of an unborn child. The only defence medical staff have is to prove the death of the child occurred as an unintentional result of providing life saving treatment to the mother.”

“We have evidence that unborn babies are being intentionally killed by abortion in the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital simply because they may be disabled. We held this protest today to expose this illegal practice.”

After the hour long protest, Precious Life moved their demonstration to the Belfast office of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and then moved to the open-top bus. Car after car at the busy junction of Howard Street and Great Victoria Street "honked their horns" in support of the pro-life message.

See photos from Precious Life's bus here:

Candles will be provided and all are welcome. Last year’s vigil received a warm response from passers-by and is more crucial than ever this year as we face the threat of the ABC case, the embryo case judgment and more.

With so many threats to human life, it’s important that we join together and speak up for Life at a time when the grace of the Christ-Child is so badly needed.

Please bring your family and friends. We can all play our part in keeping Ireland abortion-free.

The report flatly contradicts claims by abortion advocates that restrictive laws force women to seek unsafe abortion, which in turn leads to high maternal mortality. In October, the Guttmacher Institute released a report on global abortion calling on states to "expand access to legal abortion and ensure that safe, legal abortion services are available to women in need." Sharon Camp, president of the Guttmacher Institute, asserted that "in much of the developing world, abortion remains highly restricted, and unsafe abortion is common and continues to damage women's health and threaten their survival."

An examination and comparison of several countries included in the WEF survey shows that legal abortion does not mean lower maternal mortality rates.

Both Ireland and Poland, favorite targets of the abortion lobby for their strong restrictions on abortion, have better maternal mortality ratios than the United States. Ireland ranks first in the survey with 1 death for every 100,000 live births. In recent years Poland has tightened its abortion law and ranks number 27 on the list with 8 deaths per 100,000. In the United States where there are virtually no restrictions on abortion, the maternal mortality ratio is 17 out of 100,000 live births.

Other regions of the world show similar trends. The African nation with the lowest maternal mortality rate is Mauritius, a country with some of the continent's most protective laws for the unborn. On the other end of the spectrum is Ethiopia, which has decriminalized abortion in recent years in response to global abortion lobby pressure. Ethiopia's maternal death rate is 48 times higher than in Mauritius. South Africa has the continent's most liberal abortion laws and also a high maternal mortality ratio of 400 deaths per 100,000.

Chile, with constitutional protection for the unborn, outranks all other South American countries as the safest place for women to bear children. The country with the highest maternal mortality is Guyana, with a rate 30 times higher than in Chile. Guyana has allowed abortion without almost any restriction since in 1995. Ironically, one of two main justifications used for liberalizing Guyana’s law was to enhance the "attainment of safe motherhood" by eliminating deaths and complications associated with unsafe abortion.

Similarly in Asia, Nepal, where there is no restriction on the procedure, has one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates. The lowest in the region is Sri Lanka, with a rate fourteen times lower than that of Nepal. According to the pro-abortion public interest law firm Center for Reproductive Rights, Sri Lanka has among the most restrictive abortion laws in the world.

Pro-lifers emphasize that the WEF report reinforces their contention that skilled birth attendants and access to emergency obstetric care should be the focus of maternal mortality reduction efforts, rather than increasing access to legal abortion.

http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2009.pdf

The hearing of the case began on December 9th before the Strasbourg court’s grand chamber of 17 judges. Members of Youth Defence join with international pro-life friends in organising a protest outside the court, telling the international media that “the IFPA and the ECHR have no right to interfere in the democratic decisions made by the Irish people who wish to keep Ireland abortion-free.”

Three petitioners in the case, only named as A, B & C, allege that they were forced to travel overseas to obtain abortions, undergoing “unnecessary expenses and hardship” due to the nation's pro-life laws. They claim that the State’s abortion law violates a key article of the European Convention on Human Rights - Article 8 which says a person has the “right to respect for private and family life”.

In the Court, the Irish Attorney General gave a strong defence of Ireland’s values and our pro-life laws, insisting that Ireland’s legal position on abortion had been endorsed in three referendums. (This was in stark contrast to the pro-abortion arguments of his office during the D case, and is most likely a result of the hundreds of complaints his office received when Youth Defence made his position at that time widely known.)

The European Court will give its judgment on the case in January. ACTION REQUIRED:

We need to urge the government to:

1) Continue to vigorously oppose the claims made in the ABC case and to defend the right to life of the unborn child.

2) Point out to the ECHR that our pro-life laws have made Ireland, according to the World Health Organisation, the safest place in the world to have a baby.

3) The government should also issue a statement confirming that any anti-life ruling by the European Court of Human Rights is rejected vigorously by the government on behalf of the pro-life majority.

We strongly urge you to call your TDs TODAY and to ensure that our government is doing just that.

In addition we urge you to call:

Micheál Martin, Minister for Foreign Affairs on 021 4320088 or 01 6312333 or email him at michealmartintd@eircom.net

And

Dermot Ahern, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on 042 9339609/042 9329023 or email him at dermot@dermotahern.ie

You can see a live webcast of the court procedings at this link

http://www.echr.coe.int/ECHR/EN/Header/Press/Multimedia/Webcasts+of+public+hearings/webcastEN_media?&p_url=20091209-1/en/

Ms Looney said that she had “got a lot of personal abuse” for making her pro-life views known. Another journalist on the programme, Sineád Ryan, said that she had been “pro-choice” until she had seen the scan of her first child in utero.

However, Ms Ryan and most of the other guests confused ethical medical treatments with abortion – citing ectopic pregnancy, for example, as a reason for abortion legislation when, in reality, ectopic pregnancy, cancer of the uterus, and all other medical conditions arising during pregnancy can be fully treated in Ireland since they do not deliberately attack the unborn child.

It was noted that of the four guests on the panel, the two younger women were more pro-life, indicative perhaps of the growing knowledge of the humanity of the unborn child.

One caller into the show said that she deeply regretted her abortion and that the abortion industry treated women like cattle. Other described abortion as the holocaust of our time.

 Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Life Institute (formerly Mother and Child Campaign) wrote:

I see the Irish Times has reported that representatives of the organisation Choice Ireland, which enjoys no significant public support, was invited to make a presentation to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children. They then used that opportunity to make allegations concerning crisis pregnancy counsellors and to promote their case for legislative change.

I would like to know:

I await your reply.

Please make comments to the Committee the secretary at sinead.mccann@oireachtas.ie

The case is being sponsored by the Irish Family Planning Association with the express intention of using a foreign court to overturn Irish pro-life laws and the pro-life ethos of the majority of Irish people.

The hearing of the case begins tomorrow, December 9th, before the Strasbourg court’s grand chamber of 17 judges. The plaintiffs in the case claim that our ban on abortion violates their human rights. The human rights of the person whose life is being ultimately judged – the unborn child - are being ignored.

The three petitioners in the case, only named as A, B & C, allege that they were forced to travel overseas to obtain abortions, undergoing unnecessary expenses and hardship due to the nation's pro-life laws.

Youth Defence said in a statement that any decision on abortion could only be made by the Irish people who had the sovereign right to decide on issues of national importance. “This is not a matter for a foreign court to decide,” said Rebecca of Youth Defence, adding that “the IFPA had failed to persuade the people of Ireland of the validity of the abortion’s industry’s claims and were now seeking to have abortion imposed on the country.”

Previous judgements made by the ECHR include the ruling in Tysiac v Poland case in 2007, where the court ignored the evidence of eight medical experts where a woman who claimed that a ‘therapeutic’ abortion could have saved her eyesight. Youth Defence said that this gave rise to doubts on the impartiality of the court’s judgements in relation to the right-to-life.

Ms Roughneen said that “A, B and C are claiming that their rights to procure an abortion on Irish soil were denied on a number of instances. But their advisors in the IFPA are deliberately confusing legitimate medical treatment with abortion.” She pointed out that the medical treatment for an ectopic pregnancy, for example, is called a salpingectomy, and is a perfectly legitimate procedure in Ireland. “This treatment is the removal of an ectopic pregnancy where the baby may die, but the baby is not deliberately killed. It’s not a surgical abortion which deliberately and violently ends the unborn child’s life,” she said, adding that “abortion is not healthcare, it is the denial of the most basic human right; the right to life.”

Youth Defence said they wanted to emphasise that medical treatment is never refused in Ireland for cancer, ectopic pregnancy, or any other condition for a pregnant woman who needs it. They accused the IFPA of attempting to frighten women in order to have abortion legalised.

Prayers are asked for the continued protection of mothers and babies and for the case against Ireland to be dismissed.

In 2007, Lucy met some Youth Defence members at a conference she organised in Scotland for young people, and was introduced to our beautifully designed, ground-breaking schools programme. The programme uses advanced technology and medical footage to give a startlingly beautiful window into the womb; revealing the amazing humanity and development of the unborn child from conception up until birth. She was so impressed with the presentation that she decided to try and incorporate it into her schools presentation in Scotland.

And so, in Scotland, YD’s schools programme on developing life was piloted first in Glasgow schools , to acclaim from teachers and students. Lucy has done great work in presenting the programme to Scottish Catholic Head Teachers, and most of the Head Teachers booked her for a presentation. She also contacted diocesan primary RE advisors for their approval and is now sending a copy of our new DVD, along with a speaker request form, to all 350+ Catholic primary schools in Scotland.

Lucy’s passion in bringing the truth to young people through this schools programme is really impressive and we wish her all the best with her fantastic work. Our schools programme is truly an international success.

“He told his assistant, you know, ‘Hold her down.’ You know? They had my arm pinned, his weight was all on my chest, and then he took his hand and he had it so tight on my mouth that it was muffled. I was screaming and I was crying,” said Bruce.

“They ripped the life out of me that day.”

Hodari denies any wrong doing, but in the meantime, he has put his abortion clinics up for sale along with his expensive classic car collection, and filed for a hasty divorce from his wife of 29 years. Many local pro-lifers, including Judy Climer of Flint Right to Life, who has been working with Operation Rescue in a joint effort to expose Hodari, believe that the liquidation of assets may be a precursor to his fleeing the country.

According to Operation Rescue, Hodari has a long history of misconduct. He was involved in at least four abortion-related maternal deaths, was convicted of illegally dumping private medical records, and has boasted that abortionists have a “license to lie.”

“Hodari is a menace to the public and the sooner he is held accountable for his atrocities in a court of law, the better,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “It is shocking and wrong that this quack is still in business. We ask that the Michigan Attorney General’s office launch a criminal investigation into Hodari’s shop of horrors, and will be filing a formal request to that effect this week.”

Below is a transcript of the interview provided by ABC affiliate WJRT.

Allegations have been brought against a Flint doctor by a Genesee County teenager who says that doctor physically forced her to have an abortion.

She has filed a civil lawsuit against the doctor, and that lawsuit is now drawing national attention from anti-abortion groups.

It is a controversial lawsuit. Caitlin Bruce says she is seeking justice with the lawsuit she filed in June against the doctor who she says went too far.

That Flint doctor says he had no choice and did nothing wrong. “They ripped the life out of me that day,” Bruce said.

Bruce was just 18 years old and 6 weeks pregnant when she says walked into the Feminine Health Care Clinic in Flint last year.

“I was nervous and I really didn’t have the moral support I needed. And I just didn’t know what to do,” Bruce said. Bruce says she wrestled with her decision in the waiting room.

“They started the ultrasound. The lady turned the ultrasound toward me and said, ‘This is your baby. This is the heart flicker,’” Bruce said.

Bruce says that’s when she changed her mind. But she claims Dr. Abraham Hodari did the procedure anyway.

“He told his assistant, ‘Hold her down.’ They had my arm pinned,” Bruce said. “His weight was all on my chest and then he took his hand and he had it so tight on my mouth that it was muffled. I was trying to scream, ‘Stop!’

“I was screaming. I was crying. It felt like they were ripping a life out of me. When he was done, he looked at me. He gave me a smirk and he left he room.”

We tried to reach Hodari at his clinic on South Saginaw Street, but he wasn’t available.

In court documents, Hodari denies the plaintiff’s claims and says they are untrue and defends his actions, saying: “The surgical instrument was inside her uterus and she was already bleeding when she verbalized any misgivings.”

“My client acted properly under the circumstance. This was an abortion that was consented to,” said Steve Weiss, Hodari’s attorney. “When the patient first expressed misgivings about it, it was too far along for Dr. Hodari to stop.”

Bruce’s lawyer admits Hodari has long been a target for anti-abortion groups, but he says that shouldn’t matter.

“This is shockingly wrong no matter what camp you’re in,” said Tom Pabst, the plaintiff’s attorney. “This shouldn’t have happened. If a woman says stop, it should’ve stopped.”

On November 24th we received calls from residents of Dublin’s northside who were shocked and angry to see a full-page ad in the free newspaper for abortion referral agents, Marie Stopes, who were touting for business to boost their share of their grisly abortion industry.

We told callers to make a complaint to the Northside People immediately and sent out an Urgent Action Required ezine to our supporters to do the same. Marie Stopes International is one of the largest abortion providers in the world, and Youth Defence issued a statement that the inclusion of the ad was “deeply inappropriate”, was “clearly not welcomed by readers of the newspaper” and “allowed an abortion agency to tout for business”.

Later that day the newspaper group confirmed they would no longer be running the ad.

“We’re very glad to see this ad has been pulled,” said Rebecca of YD. “Marie Stopes is increasing its Irish advertising and we need to make sure that people are aware of, and responding to, this development. At the end of the day newspapers won’t carry ads that upset their readers.”

One woman who rang the office told Youth Defence that several years ago she had been persuaded to have an abortion by Marie Stopes. Following the abortion, she was deeply upset and returned to Marie Stopes seeking counseling. They told her they could provide the counseling – at a price of €60 an hour. She said her experience has been devastating, and to see the advert in her local paper was very upsetting.

Our sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to make their voice heard for mothers and babies. Well done!!

Dr de Faoite pointed that unborn children urgently needed young activists to stand up for Life, because the victims were the most helpless and the ones dying in the greatest numbers. “More than 50 million children die from abortion every year,” he said. “That’s more than from war, from famine, or from any other social injustice.”

The Viva la Vida! conference, organised by Youth Defence, also heard from Niamh Uí Bhriain and Bernadette Smyth who had previously founded youth pro-life groups. They told the audience that they believed the future of the pro-life movement would be safe in their hands, and urged them to become active daily in Youth Defence’s pro-life projects.

More than 250 young people attended the weekend, and for many of them it was their first time at any pro-life event. Lila Rose, the young student who has done so much to expose the workings of the abortion industry, proved an inspirational first speaker on Saturday morning, while the conference had officially begun with a rousing talk from Brian Kemper of Stand True who specialises in activating young people against abortion.

“I thought all the speakers were great,” said Delia Bryan from Kildare. “They all had something to teach us, or said something to motivate us. It was a brilliant weekend”.

Also speaking was Dr Tony Levantino, a former abortionist, Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill who addressed stem cell ethics, and John Pridmore, the former gangster who has now dedicated his life to God. Gianna Jessen, the young woman who survived an abortion, drew a huge crowd to hear her wonderful testimony on Saturday night.

Central to the conference was an Activation Session – where young pro-life leaders explained the different pro-life activities, from schools’ projects to street sessions to counselling, that young activists could get involved in. “We need you to become part of building a pro-life future,” Carolyn Johnson of Youth Defence explained. “We need you to participate and to bring your peers to the pro-life message.”

Conference organiser, Íde Nic Mhathúna said that the weekend was a “huge, huge, success, better than we had hoped and prayed for. It gives us great hope for the future of the pro-life movement,” she said.

The Academy of Medical Sciences said in announcing the study, "Consideration of this rapidly advancing area of science is needed to ensure that research into our understanding of diseases and their treatment can take place in the UK within a robust ethical and regulatory framework." The Academy wants the study to examine not only the "ethics" of such research, but "how it is perceived by the public" and has issued an "open call" for evidence.

But Dr. Irving told LifeSiteNews.com that such studies are often necessarily handicapped by an anti-human bias that is rampant and uncritically accepted in the medical research community. Irving said that the announcement "shows all the classic signs" of the methods used by bioethicists who use "public yuck factor" to manipulate opinion and create public acceptance.

"The point," she told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN), "is that none of this research should be done, not 'How far can we go?'"

The scientific research community, with the help of the media, has re-written the language of embryo research so that what is being done in labs is never clearly described to the public or to parliamentarians, who are normally told that such research will result in cures for dreaded diseases. The pressure to fund unethical research using living human embryos as subjects comes from emotional manipulation, said Irving, not facts.

Prof. Martin Bobrow, who chairs the working group conducting the study, said it is "supported by parliamentarians": "It is important to ensure that this exciting research can progress within limits that scientists, the government and the public support."

Bobrow asked if such "constructs" as mouse embryos containing human genes "challenge our idea of what it is to be human." "It is important that we consider these questions now so that appropriate boundaries are recognised and research is able to fulfil its potential," Bobrow said.

Irving, who has written extensively on the ethics of such research, however, says that ethics committees are typically "stacked" with members who already agree that such research must continue and who then reframe the debate "so that the desired results are inevitable."

"The real 'yuck factors' here are those who would perform and promote such scientifically questionable and ethically dubious research," Irving continued.

Irving says there are "legitimate scientific reasons" why the creation of human/animal hybrids should be banned outright by the British authorities. She points to a statement by Dr. Sebastien Farnaud, Science Director for non-animal medical research charity the Dr. Hadwen Trust, who said that genetically modified animal models of cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy have led to inconclusive results in which the "fundamental differences between species lead to different symptoms or no symptoms at all" rendering the project useless.

But ethically, she said, the bottom line is that such research normally involves "destruction of real live human beings for the benefit of other human beings, without their consent, and for some concocted 'greater good.'"

Irving had a number of hard questions for the Academy, "What are the real reasons for doing such disgusting and scientifically unsound research? Is it for grant monies, for fame and Nobel prizes, for career advancements, or just because the challenge is 'there'?" Or, more ominously, Irving asks, "Is this really eugenics-in-disguise?"

A Judicial Review http://www.preciouslife.com/?va=1&vc=684 of the Guidelines was heard in October on the grounds they were misleading and legally inaccurate. On Monday, November 1st, the High Court ruled the guidelines be withdrawn. The court found the guidelines failed to deal properly with conscientious objection to abortion and counselling on abortion. The judge said the guidelines were open to misinterpretation; the language was "ambiguous" and left doctors and staff unclear as to what was expected of them. The judge said the guidance needed to be absolutely clear otherwise it represented "a trap to the unwary".

Speaking from outside the court, Liam Gibson of SPUC Northern Ireland told the media: "We are very pleased that the court has highlighted some of the problems with the health department’s abortion guidance. We hope that the department will now take seriously many of the concerns which were largely disregarded when the guidelines were being drafted. "

Precious Life said "the court decision today is a victory for our unborn children. Precious Life has been running a Petition Campaign calling for the withdrawal of these Guidelines. Our assessment that the guidelines were legally and medically flawed has been vindicated. They were an attempt to change the interpretation of the law and would have effectively legalised abortion in Northern Ireland ‘through the back door '."

The guidelines stated that health professional do not have the right to have a conscientious objection to take part in an abortion. However, the judge has ruled they do have that right, on religious or moral grounds.

The judge also ruled that the Department of Health’s guidance on abortion counselling was flawed because people could offer counselling which is arguably, unlawful. He stated that if a woman developed a life-threatening complication in pregnancy then she needs to be medically accessed, not offered counselling on abortion which is inappropriate in such circumstances.

The judge also recognised that abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland. Any medical procedure that may cause the death of an unborn child is only permissible in very rare circumstances when the mother’s life is in grave danger.

Precious Life said it would continue to campaign vigorously to ensure that if any future guidance is issued by Department of Health, it must be a simple clear statement of the illegality of abortion, acknowledging the right to life of our unborn children and their protection in law.

The University of Otago team examined the medical history of over 500 women and concluded having an abortion generally “leads to significant distress in some” women who have them.

It noted women reporting adverse reactions to their abortions were up to 80 percent more likely to have mental health problems and risk of mental illness was “proportional to the degree of distress” associated with the abortion.

The study, which appears in the latest issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry, examined data from women who had been interviewed six times between the ages of 15 and 30 and who were asked if they were pregnant and, if so, the outcome of the pregnancy.

More than 85 percent of women reported negative reactions to their abortions including sorrow, sadness, guilt, regret, grief and disappointment.

The study revealed that women who have abortions face more negative mental health problems resulting from that pregnancy outcome as compared with women who keep their baby and carry to term. Women having abortions had rates of mental health problems “approximately 1.4 to 1.8 times higher than women not exposed to abortion."

Ultimately, Fergusson and his team said there is little justification for saying that legal abortions should be promoted on the basis of a improving a woman's mental health. “Collectively, this evidence raises important questions about the practice of justifying termination of pregnancy on the grounds that this procedure will reduce risks of mental health problems in women having unwanted pregnancy," the team wrote.

The team said the study showed no reason to “support strong pro-choice positions that claim unwanted pregnancy terminated by abortion is without mental health risks.”

The new study is a follow-up to previous studies Fergusson and his team conducted showing women who have abortions are more likely to become severely depressed.

The original 2006 study found some 42 percent of the women who had abortions had experienced major depression within the last four years. That's almost double the rate of women who never became pregnant. The risk of anxiety disorders also doubled.

According to the study, women who have abortions were twice as likely to drink alcohol at dangerous levels and three times as likely to be addicted to illegal drugs.

A second study Fergusson's team released found that women who had abortions had rates of mental health problems about 30% higher than other women. The conditions most associated with abortion included anxiety disorders and substance abuse disorders.

The authors concluded that anywhere from 1.5 to 5.5 percent of all mental health disorders seen in New Zealand result from women having abortions.

The report states that “Forced abortions in China are not a thing of the past. Under the one child policy, many women in late term pregnancy are still forced to abort their children. Chinese provincial authorities are responsible for mass forced sterilizations, and abortions are often performed by people with inadequate training in unsterile conditions”.

"The one child policy causes more violence toward women and girls than any other policy on the face of the earth," said Reggie Littlejohn, a one child policy expert and president of the newly-founded Women's Rights Without Frontiers." Many women develop critical health problems for the rest of their lives and the emotional impact resulting from forced abortions contributes to the high rate of female suicides, she says.

Wei Linrong from Guangxi Province, a devout Christian and anti-abortionist, was forcibly injected with poison that killed her unborn child, according to a National Public Radio (NPR) report. Ten family planning officials visited her home and drove Wei and her husband to a maternity hospital.

Wei was put through nearly 16 hours of contractions before a stillborn emerged, blackened by the effects of drugs. The body was then thrown away like “rubbish” by nurses, according to NPR. Wei was seven months pregnant.

He Caigan, an unmarried 19-year-old, was forced to abort her child at nine months in the same manner, according to the report by NPR. The operation caused her prolonged physical pain and emotional trauma.

China Daily, a state-controlled newspaper, recently published annual abortion figures of 13 million and a live birth rate of 20 million, as recorded by China’s National Family Planning Commission. Experts say that most of the abortions are due to the one child policy.

"[We are] fairly certain most of [the 13 million] are forced abortions," says Colin Mason, who conducted field work in Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces in March this year for the nonprofit Virginia-based Population Research Institute. The two provinces are “models” in China, where the one child policy is strictly enforced and all birth quotas are met. Based on his experience in China, he said most people would have more than one child if they could.

The most immediate effect of the one child policy is the harm it does to women and children.

Forced sterilizations and abortions are often done by people with inadequate training, and conditions are often unsterile. Many women develop critical health problems for the rest of their lives, according to Littlejohn. She added that the emotional impact resulting from abortions contributes to the high rate of female suicides in China.

Under China’s one child policy, couples must apply for a birth permit before having a child. Single women are forbidden to bear children, married women with one child are given an Intra-Uterine Device (IUD), and women with two or more children or a single son are sometimes forcibly sterilized.

Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid, a U.S.-based nonprofit Christian organization focused on human rights in China, said the one child policy endangered his family.

He was an English teacher at the Beijing School for the Communist Party when his wife became pregnant. The couple did not have a birth permit issued from their work unit under quota. They escaped to Hong Kong shortly to evade official pressures.

Fu's sister-in-law also became pregnant outside of the one child policy's sanctions. Though she escaped from family planning officials by running away from home, her husband was taken to the village office in the middle of the night and brutally beaten, said Fu.

If one person in a family is accused of an unplanned pregnancy, the rest of family is also liable—neighbors, parents, grandparents can all be caught and put in jail or pressured economically.

"Life is not good for the Chinese people, not because of overpopulation, but because of government policy," Fu said.

Officials have emphasized that the one child policy will remain unchanged in most parts of China and continue to be "strictly enforced as a means of controlling births for decades to come as overpopulation is still a major concern," according to state-run media Xinhua.

Not so, says Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist, demographer, and senior adviser to the National Board of Asian Research. He says that China’s fertility patterns are below the level needed for long term population stability in the absence of migration for the next two decades.

Furthermore, there will be a large population of unmarriageable, restless young men in the coming decades, he said.

A study published in the British Medical Journal in 2005 shows that males under age 20 exceeded females of the same age group by 32 million.

Normally, between 103 and 105 baby boys are born for every 100 baby girls, said Eberstadt. However, in China, the "biological hinges have been knocked off the door."

The gender ratio in some rural provinces are as high as 130 baby boys for every 100 baby girls.

In accordance with cultural customs, families prefer boys over girls because they believe males can better support a family when parents age. This cultural preference, combined with the one child policy has created a slew of excess men, said Eberstadt.

Download Conference Programme here

Viva la Vida Conference Page

“We’ve been lucky enough to get really inspiring young speakers,” said Rebecca of Youth Defence. “The response has been brilliant and we’re looking forward to building on that positive feedback.”

One of the speakers featured has already addressed student in NUIG Galway this week. Lila Rose, a 21-year-old history major has made headlines in the US for her exposure of abortion providers’ wrongdoings.

Since 2006, Rose has orchestrated undercover ‘stings’ at abortion clinics in Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Bloomington, Tucson, Phoenix and Memphis. Secretly videotaping their interactions with abortion providers, she and a friend have posed as under-age teens impregnated by older men. The videos - posted on Rose's website, LiveAction.org, and YouTube – show abortion providers coaching what they believe to be young teenage girls in how to obtain with an abortion without reporting statutory rape.

In one instance Rose captures a staff member at a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Tennessee telling what she believed to be a 13-year old girl to lie about the age of her 31-year-old boyfriend in order to obtain a secret abortion. Other videos on the LiveAction.org website show abortion clinics coaching teenagers in what to say to avoid parental consent for an underage abortion.

Lila Rose’s new-media twist on exposing the abortion industry has put her front and center of a new generation of pro-life activists. Legal inquiries and grant suspension have followed her undercover exposés of US abortion providers.

Also speaking at the conference is Gianna Jessen, an amazing young woman who survived a saline abortion at seven months gestation. She has delivered her testimony to both the US Congress and the UK House of Commons. Gianna puts a human face to the abortion debate, which so often forgets that, in every abortion, a unique human being’s life is ended.

The conference will also hear from John Pridmore, the former gangster who went, in his own words, from “gangland to promised land”; and a former abortionist Dr Tony Levantino, amongst others.

For more on these speakers please go to http://www.youthdefence.ie/conference-09/ . Speakers are available for interview: please call Youth Defence on 01 8730463 for further details.

This year, a rape victim who had been brought to England by the HSE to have an abortion spoke out on RTÉ. She revealed that she had never wanted the abortion; that social workers had arranged it without her full knowledge or consent, and that 12 years later, she still grieves for her aborted child. Just 13 when she became pregnant following a brutal assault, she was taken for the abortion against her parents’ wishes by HSE social workers. The HSE had sworn in court that the young girl had said she would kill herself if she was denied an abortion. It’s now clear that the HSE lied, and that this young girl and her baby were being abused to further the agenda of abortion supporters.

On November 22nd, we remember Baby C, who has now been named Shannon by her mother, and stand in solidarity with this young woman, known as Miss C, whose courage has revealed the appalling behaviour of abortion campaigners. We’re call for a public inquiry into the behaviour and agenda of the HSE who continue to bring young girl in care for abortions. Please join us on Sunday to remember Baby C.

For more on the C case and the revelation on the Pat Kenny Show go to http://www.youthdefence.ie/archived-news/c-case-girl-on-pat-kenny-she-didnt-know-what-abortion-was-and-would-have-wanted-her-baby-adopted/

A chromosome abnormality is thought to be the cause and the likelihood of having a Down’s Syndrome baby increases as a mother’s age increases. So why then such an increase in the last 20 years in Down’s Syndrome babies – is this only due to age or could there be other risk factors?

Research has shown that smoking, use of oral contraceptives commonly known as ‘the pill’ and use of fertility drugs may also be risk factors.

“Younger mothers (<35 years) who smoke and have meiotic II error are at an increased risk of having children with Down syndrome. The combined use of cigarettes and oral contraceptives increased the risk even further.”(2)

The patient information leaflet for Clomid a common drug used for infertility states:

“Population based reports have been published on possible elevation of risk of Down's Syndrome in ovulation induction cases and of increase in trisomy defects among spontaneously aborted foetuses from subfertile women receiving ovulation inducing drugs.” (3)

Exposure to radiation has also been noted as potentially increasing the risk of a Down’s Syndrome baby. This includes x-rays, other medical tests and radiation from nuclear power plants. (4) Indeed some would argue that Down’s Syndrome is an environmental condition and not associated with age and is chiefly caused by radiation and toxins such as petrochemicals. (5)

There are a number of tests for Down’s Syndrome during pregnancy. With the amniocentesis test there is 1 in 200 chance of miscarriage. The chorionic villous sampling (CVS) test has a 1 in 100 chance of miscarriage. Test results are not 100% accurate with a higher rate of false positives for Asian women. (5) Ultrasound is deemed to be a poor predictor of Down’s Syndrome. (6) What if the diagnosis of a Down’s Syndrome pregnancy is incorrect on some occasions and some of those 92% of mothers aborted a perfectly healthy child? If you are going to have and love your child no matter what - are these tests worth the risk of miscarriage and stress?

There is actually some evidence that a nutritional approach and other treatments may improve the quality of life of a Down’s Syndrome child. Indeed good nutrition before and during pregnancy may also be beneficial. (8) (9)

Many people talk about the joy that a Down’s Syndrome child can bring as they usually very loving. As one parent said “you realise it's just another human being who happens to be a little bit different” and perhaps people are misinformed.

It is worth remembering that all children are precious gifts from God and can bring much joy. Think about the consequences of your actions and the potential longer term effects of smoking, ‘the pill’ and fertility drugs. No doubt other risk factors may be discovered in time to come. If you do get a diagnosis of a Down’s Syndrome pregnancy please don’t let your extra special child be the missing part of your life.

Information sources:

Due do huge demand the Viva la Vida Pro Life Youth Conference, completely sold out a few days ago, with delegates coming from as far away as America especially to hear an amazing line up of speakers," said Rebecca of Youth Defence.

"However, we managed to get a much bigger room next door, and we're looking forward to a great weekend. It looks as if the maximum number young people will be able to attend, to be motivated and educated by the great line up of speakers," she added.

Speakers for the conference include the ever-inspirational and courageous Gianna Jessen, who survived an abortion and Lila Rose, the young journalist making headlines across the US for her exposure of the abortion industry.

"We're also looking forward to such brilliant speakers as Dr. Tony Levatino a former abortion provider, Bryan Kemper, and the always-popular John Pridmore, amongst others, said Rebecca. "We are delighted with the huge response we've got so far, and such great reaction from delegates."

These speakers and others will address young people from every Irish county, attracted to Youth Defence's pro-life work through information sessions, on campus or on the web. The conference is organised for young people, by young people and is key to building a pro-life future. The venue is St Patrick's College, Maynooth and the date: 20 - 22 November 2009.

If you plan on attending the conference please book as soon as possible at : http://www.youthdefence.ie/events/ as there are very few places left! This promises to be an unforgettable weekend with some exciting surprises in store

That’s according to the National Catholic Register, a popular US newspaper, which reviewed the current situation in Ireland in the wake of the Lisbon Treaty referendum.

Having interviewed Niamh Uí Bhriain and Bernadette Smyth, journalist Justin Bell said that “Pro-lifers worldwide look to Ireland with hope, as the country has held legalized abortion at bay.” Describing Youth Defence’s online work, he wrote that they “have had an engaging, colorful and regularly updated website for years” adding “the group and its spin-offs have launched highly organized campaigns to bring awareness of life issues to the forefront of Irish society”.

Bell also described Precious Life as a “serious pro-life force in the north, quoting Bernie Smyth as saying that nine out of 10 pregnant women in Northern Ireland considering abortion would choose life if given the right information and opportunity.

TO READ THE ARTICLE IN FULL

http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/irelands_pro-lifers_wary_of_treaty

Pro-life supporters spoke up for life at last Thursday's conference in NUI Galway co-hosted by the Irish Centre for Human Rights (ICHR) and the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) which exclusively featured pro-abortion speakers. Youth Defence members present said that apart from pro-life attendees, only a handful had registered for the event which was used as a platform to attack Ireland’s protection of human life.

 During the Question and Answer session representatives from Youth Defence and the Life Society challenged the panel of speakers as to why the rights of the unborn child were completely ignored during this conference. Cormac Feeney said it was “troubling that the Irish Centre for Human Rights would choose to associate itself with organizations that are lobbying to legalize abortion here in Ireland and that fund coercive programs abroad.”

“In addition to minimizing the rights of unborn children, the speakers displayed an insulting attitude of condescension towards the Irish people. Eileen Fegan, while explaining why the 1967 British abortion act ‘still’ did not apply to the six counties, quoted a source claiming that Britain did not want to ‘stir up the tribal elders.’ Joanna Erdman, who comes from Canada where (as some of the speakers noted) there are absolutely no restrictions on abortion up through the nine months and even during delivery (partial birth abortion), had the audacity to declare Europe’s restrictions on abortion ‘burdensome’ and then to berate Ireland for not imitating Europe in legalizing abortion,” he said.

“With issues like these unresolved, these international organizations are in no position to be making “recommendations to Ireland”—a phrase many of the speakers introduced throughout the conference, as if Ireland were somehow bound by a whim from external influences to reverse its own existing laws. Ireland has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the world and can be proud of its record on human rights. Ireland has taken its responsibilities seriously in regard to helping women in crisis pregnancies, giving due respect to both mother and child. It is Ireland, rather, who should be making recommendations to the rest of the world,” continued the YD activist.

Maria Mahoney of the Life Society added that “the attacks on children with disabilities were especially disturbing. (Speaker) Natalie McDonnell, for instance, spoke of anencephalic children as ‘incompatible with life’, an inaccurate phrase that seems reminiscent of World War II propaganda. Other speakers mentioned 'foetal abnormalities' as a legal ground for abortion. Rather than using disabled children to justify abortion, the conference should have denounced the recent news that 92% of children with Down’s syndrome are being destroyed before they are born. There is a hierarchy of rights, and without the right to life, no other right is possible."

Meanwhile the conference organisers have not yet answered queries raised by Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill of the Life Institute who asked:

• Does the Irish Centre for Human Rights receive any taxpayer funding from any State department, from NUI, or from any other source
• Who is funding this conference – Global and local perspectives on abortion – and who made the decision to exclude any pro-life speakers?

 In an email response an organiser with the ICHR said she “ was not prepared to answer your question on funding” and denied the conference had excluded pro-life speakers.

Dr Ó Domhnaill responded: “If the ICHR is interested in academic perspectives rather than advocacy, then why is the conference co-hosted by the most outspoken campaigners for abortion on demand in this jurisdiction? And surely, if the aim of the conference is to hear local and international perspectives and developments, it makes no sense to hear exclusively from those who advocate abortion? It ill behoves the ICHR to establish such a narrow platform, and to exclude differing perspectives, when looking at such an important issue.

The fact remains that every one of your speakers shares the view that abortion should be legal. This is unlikely to be a coincidence, and most likely to reflect the agenda of the ICHR, which, given your title, is disappointing.”

The Life Institute has now taken up the matter with the Director of the ICHR – Professor William Schabas. You can email Prof Schabas with concerns about the conference at william.schabas@nuigalway.ie

Eric Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League said that “Hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers across the country called their Reps in Washington demanding that abortion funding be stripped from the health care bill, and it worked.”

Last weekend, the US House of Representatives passed the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which explicitly requires no federal funds be used to pay for abortion under the new healthcare reform bill.

Representatives from both the Republican and Democrat parties were taken aback by the flood of calls and emails from supporters of the pro-life amendment

Planned Parenthood and the pro-abortion lobby fought hard to keep abortion funding loopholes in the bill. “But they failed,” said Eric Scheidler because they didn’t have the grassroots, the huge number of supporters, the pro-life movement has.

But he warned:” Of course, there are still major problems with this legislation as it moves on to the Senate, and Planned Parenthood will redouble their effort to get an abortion mandate back in there.”

National Right to Life's Douglas Johnson agreed that the victory was not total. "Today's bipartisan House vote is a sharp blow to the White House's pro-abortion smuggling operation," he said."But we know that the White House and pro-abortion congressional Democratic leaders will keep trying to enact government funding of abortion, and will keep trying to conceal their true intentions, so there is a long battle ahead."

Pro-abort leaders across America flew into a rage as the pro-life Stupak amendment, unexpectedly approved for consideration at the last minute, went on to gain an easy victory Saturday. "I feel certain [the Stupak amendment] will come out of the bill before it comes back from committee," pro-abortion California Democrat Lynn Woolsey told The Hill. "I will insist that it come out."

And Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins warned: "The Speaker's bill still allows rationing of health care for seniors, raises health costs for families, mandates that families purchase under threat of fines and penalties, encourages counseling for assisted suicide in some states, does not offer broad conscience protections for health care workers and seeks to insert the federal government into all aspects of citizen's lives."

'When I was working at Planned Parenthood I was extremely pro-choice," Johnson told FoxNews.com. But after seeing the internal workings of the procedure for the first time on an ultrasound monitor, "I would say there was a definite conversion in my heart ... a spiritual conversion."

 Johnson said she became disillusioned with her job after her bosses pressured her for months to increase profits by performing more and more abortions, which cost patients between $505 and $695.

"Every meeting that we had was, 'We don't have enough money, we don't have enough money — we've got to keep these abortions coming,'" Johnson told FoxNews.com. "It's a very lucrative business and that's why they want to increase numbers."

A spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood told FoxNews.com that it offers a range of services at it 850 health centers nationwide, providing pregnancy tests, vaccinations and women's health services, "including wellness exams, breast and cervical cancer screenings, contraception, and STD testing and treatment."

"Planned Parenthood's focus is on prevention," wrote Diane Quest, the group's National Media Director. "Nationwide, more than 90% of the health care Planned Parenthood affiliates provide is preventive in nature," explaining that a "core component the organization's mission is to help women plan healthy pregnancies and prevent unintended pregnancies."

But Johnson said her bosses told her to change her "priorities" and focus on abortions, which she said made money for the office at a time when the recession has left them hurting.

"For them there's not a lot of money in education," she said. "There's as not as much money in family planning as there is abortion."

Without a doctor in residence, she said, her clinic offered abortions only two days a month, but the doctor could perform 30 to 40 procedures on each day he was there. Johnson estimated that each abortion could net the branch about $350, adding up to more than $10,000 a month.

"The majority of the money was going to the facility," she said.

The latest official figures were released in response to an assembly question by SDLP MLA Pat Ramsey who asked the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety how many terminations of pregnancies have been carried out in the last five years. A similar question was asked in December 2008 by DUP MLA Mr Simon Hamilton.

Precious Life are calling for the circumstances behind the abortions in Northern Ireland hospitals to be opened to public scrutiny. They also said that the doctors who performed the abortions must be challenged about the legality of their actions and also called for police investigations into any believed to have been carried out illegally.

Director of the Precious Life, Bernadette Smyth, said: “These figures raise all sorts of questions. In Northern Ireland, abortion still comes under the criminal law. It is a very serious offence to take the life of an unborn child. The only defence is when the death of the child occurs as an unintentional result of providing life saving treatment to the mother. We want to know why each and every one of these abortions were carried out.”

“We also want to know what happened to the bodies of the babies and whether birth certificates or death certificates were issued. If any of the abortions were illegal, the medical staff involved must be questioned by police and charged.”

Mrs Smyth also challenged the Health Minister Mr Michael McGimpsey to explain the discrepancies between the latest figures and the figures he released in December 2008.

“In a written answer last December, Mr McGimpsey said that in Northern Ireland there were 59 abortions carried out in 2004, 82 in 2005, 69 in 2006, and 99 in 2007* (*the 2007 figure was provisional and subject to change). But now, only eleven months later he says there were 67 abortions carried out in 2004, 64 in 2005, 80 in 2006, and 79 in 2007” she said.

Bernadette Smyth concluded, “At best, this smacks of sheer incompetence. At worst, it smacks of a cover-up. Has the Department something to hide? Are they covering up illegal abortions? If his Department cannot explain the discrepancies in the figures, then Mr McGimpsey should resign.”

Christie fought a hard-won battle against the incumbent Corzine and third-party candidate Chris Daggett, winning 49 percent of the vote. Corzine, whose bid for re-election received huge assistance from President Barack Obama, who personally campaigned for him in New Jersey, came in second with 45 percent of the vote, with Daggett trailing in third with six percent.

President Obama had attempted to rally support behind Corzine by tapping into the popularity that garnered the President 57 percent of the vote in New Jersey in 2008. However neither Obama's personal charisma, nor Corzine's outspending Christie by almost 3-1 - $30 million to $11.5 million - could save the incumbent governor from defeat in an election.

Christie accepted Corzine's concession of defeat around 11 p.m. on Tuesday and took to the podium with Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" playing in the background. "Tomorrow we will take back New Jersey back for our families. Tomorrow we will take back New Jersey for our friends," Christie told cheering supporters. "Tomorrow we begin to build that greater New Jersey for our children and grandchildren. I want my children to raise their children in this state. I want your children to raise their children in this great state."

Social issues - especially life-related issues and same-sex "marriage" - also played a supporting role in the gubernatorial campaign.

During the brutal campaign fight, Corzine, who was endorsed by abortion-provider Planned Parenthood, had attacked Christie in ads for the latter's support of a constitutional amendment banning abortion and his opposition to embryonic stem-cell research.

New Jersey's governor-elect told New Jersey's Star-Ledger on the campaign trail that he favors common-sense restrictions on abortion, such as the partial-birth abortion ban, parental notification laws, and a mandatory 24-hour waiting period for women considering aborting their unborn children.

Pro-life Republican Bob McDonnell handily beat his pro-abortion Democratic opponent Creigh Deeds. Election night returns showed McDonnell cruising to victory, garnering 59 percent of the vote to Deeds' 41 percent with 99 percent of precincts reporting in.

"I thank God for his grace goodness and divine providence in my life," continued McDonnell, before pledging to go to work for Virginia.

McDonnell's victory marks the first time since 1997 that a Republican has won the Virginia governorship. McDonnell replaces out-going Democratic governor Tim Kaine, who was prevented from seeking re-election by Virginia's term-limits.

Dr Ó Domhnaill wrote:

“We note that the Irish Centre for Human Rights is hosting a conference on abortion on Thursday November 5th, but that it has entirely excluded any speaker(s) who would protect the human right-to-life of every unborn child.

Can you explain why a centre which claims to be “one of the world’s premier university-based institutions for the study and promotion of human rights” would entirely ignore the rights of the unborn child to the point where it would deny these children any representation or advocacy? It is easy to set oneself up as a human rights advocate: it is harder to actually give meaning to the term by including those members of the human family who are most vulnerable and most at risk from the abortion industry. Then again representatives of the abortion industry, who never let human rights interfere with their profit margin, are co-hosting your conference. You are also ignoring the perspective of the majority of the Irish people – the “locals” referred to in your conference title – who oppose abortion.

It is deeply ironic that your next conference, to be held 19-20 November – is entitled “Forgotten Rights, Forgotten Concepts”, since you have so clearly forgotten the first right – the right to life, from which all other rights stem.

We would like to know:

Perhaps you could, even at this late stage, show your openness to a real commitment to human rights by including a speaker who believes that all human life should be afforded protection.”

During the first day of the legal battle, the pro-life barrister Mr James Dingemans QC argued that the guidelines failed to deal with the rights of the unborn child and provided inadequate advice for conscientious objectors within the medical profession.

The Department of Health's attitude towards the unborn child was revealed when their legal representative tried to argue the “foetus” had no rights

However, Mr Dingemans said that, despite the health department's claims, unborn children in Northern Ireland had rights which are safeguarded in both the Offences Against the Person Act and the Northern Ireland Criminal Justice Act.

Mr Dingemans outlined to Lord Justice Girvan why the government's guidance was inadequate and needed to be withdrawn and re-examined so that it dealt more adequately with the issues. He drew attention to the issue of informed consent. He also highlighted the lack of information in the guidance which doctors could pass on to their patients about the risks and other potential consequences of abortion, in particular the mental health impact.

Mr Dingemans said that women were entitled to treatment which protected their lives, but it was wholly misleading for the health department to portray the law as allowing so-called termination of pregnancy services. He also pointed out that media commentators had mistakenly concluded that the government's guidance suggested that abortion had been liberalized in Northern Ireland.

He said that the right to non-participation in abortion was not addressed by the health department's document in the area of questionable cases where two doctors disagreed over the lawfulness of an abortion.

Mr Dingemans restated that the court of appeal had found that the health department had failed in its duty to issue guidance but, once that court had ruled, the guidance had to be proper guidance.He added that abortion was always illegal; what was legal was an intervention to save a mother's life.

Mr Dingemans pointed out that the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ guidance on late term abortion said that the child must not be born alive, or the doctor risked prosecution if his actions after the delivery resulted in the child's death. It would be quite wrong to suggest that obstetricians and gynaecologists should read and apply this principle in the north of Ireland.

Lord Justice Girvan reserved his judgement until after November.

Precious Life’s Petition Campaign continues with our volunteers collecting signatures across Northern Ireland calling on the Stormont Executive to withdraw their approval of the guidelines and restore protection to our unborn children.

For years Children of God for Life has been a watchdog on pharmaceutical companies using aborted fetal cell lines in medical products and they have received thousands of inquiries from the public on the use of aborted fetal material in cosmetics.

However, the group says that this is the first time they have encountered any company bold enough to put the information right on their own website and product literature.

"It is absolutely deplorable that Neocutis would resort to exploiting the remains of a deliberately slaughtered baby for nothing other than pure vanity and financial gain," stated Executive Director Debi Vinnedge. "There is simply no moral justification for this."

Neocutis' key ingredient, known as "Processed Skin Proteins," was developed at the University of Luasanne from the skin tissue of a 14-week gestation electively-aborted male baby donated by the University Hospital in Switzerland. Subsequently, a working cell bank was established, containing several billion cultured skin cells to produce the human growth factor needed to restore aging skin. The list of products using the cell line include: Bio-Gel, Journee, Bio-Serum, Prevedem, Bio Restorative Skin Cream and Lumiere.

Vinnedge is calling for a full boycott of all Neocutis products, regardless of their source.

"There is absolutely no reason to use aborted babies for such selfish motives," Vinnedge said. "It is anti-life, anti-woman and counter-productive as Neocutis is about to find out!"

Children of God for Life is advising women who are using Neocutis products to throw them in the garbage and to contact the company to express their concerns.

The pro-life group has also said that they will give free publicity to cosmetic companies who are not using immoral ingredients in their products.

"We know there are companies using moral sources for collagen and skin proteins. We intend to publicly promote these other cosmetic companies competing with Neocutis that are willing to step forward and contact us."

Spokeswoman Rebecca Roughneen made her remarks as Fergal Malone, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Rotunda Hospital and the Royal College of Surgeons, confirmed the trend to The Irish Times when commenting on the findings of a UK study which revealed that more than 90 per cent of women in England and Wales who found out during screening they were carrying babies with Down syndrome had an abortion.

Youth Defence affiliate LifeAbility, said that the findings showed the need for organizations representing people with disabilities to make it clear that the first right was the right-to-life and that all other rights could only be obtained once that right was enshrined in law and protected.

“As we have said before, what’s the point in having wheelchair access if we don’t have the right to be born,” said spokesman Joe Kearney. “This is a disturbing finding.”

The amendments failed to secure enough votes for approval: there were 316 votes against Amendment 733, which would have explicitly prevented funding of coercive abortion, with 305 MEPs voting for the amendment.

In the case of Amendment 732, which would have prevented EU funding being used for projects which fund sex selective abortions, there were 300 votes against and 304 votes in favour. However, at this stage a majority of 365 votes would have been needed to pass the amendments.

The amendments were opposed by the National Council of Women in Ireland (NCWI) – a taxpayer funded outfit which does not consult the members of its affiliates before taking such positions. In a letter to its members, the NCWI made it clear that it supported the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) that opposed the amendments on the grounds that they were part of what they described as a ‘wider agenda’.

The EU budget is now open to funding programmes such as those supported by groups like International Planned Parenthood Federation who assist the Communist government of China in their coercive population control programme, involving forced abortions.

The EWL also opposed the amendment outlawing gender-based abortion on the basis that “it seeks to lay a basis for considering that a foetus has rights from the ‘moment of conception’ and therefore undermine national provisions which regulate access to termination of pregnancy as well to emergency contraception.”

The EWL also argues that the phrase “at any point after conception” used in the amendment “is a phrase used by some extremist, religiously-inspired groups and individuals who oppose access to legal abortion.”

The Irish Times stated that “University College Cork’s governors voted last October to agree a code of practice to allow embryonic stem cell research. Trinity College Dublin is drafting a similar code.”

Youth Defence has written to the college today to ask the governing body if the report is accurate and will be acting accordingly. UCC’s decision to allow embryonic stem cell research was the source of huge controversy last year, and was met with widespread opposition, led by Youth Defence’s advertising and information campaign, which featured expert speakers such as Dr David Prentice.

Youth Defence spokeswoman Rebecca Roughneen said today that, “As soon as we have ascertained what is happening in Trinity, we’ll be informing our supporters as to what needs to be done.”

We’re just back from Spain where we joined with more than 1.5 million people in a simply colossal Rally for Life in Madrid. At our July rally in Dublin we heard from Marta Serranillos, a member of one of the organizing groups. Derecho a Vivir and we decided that a contingent from Ireland should go to Madrid to stand in solidarity with the Spanish pro-life movement.

The sheer size of the crowd was breathtaking - upwards of 1.5 million people speaking up for life is truly a sight to behold. Huge numbers of young families and students were present and the atmosphere was upbeat and joyful. We were warmly welcomed by the Spanish people, who said that their aim was to be like Ireland; to be abortion-free. On spotting the Irish flag many marchers thanked us for travelling to be part of the rally and we joined in the singing, dancing and chanting as we marched alongside them in unseasonally warm October sunshine.

At the march we met up with members of Youth Defence Espana, and their spokesman Séamus Mac Mathúna was interviewed live by Spanish national television, where he said that it was important for pro-life groups to work together, on a national and international level.

The Rally was called in opposition to plans by the Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to introduce abortion on demand. Most controversially, the draft law currently before parliament would also permit girls aged 16 and 17 to have an abortion without their parents' knowledge. As the huge crowd marched, they chanted together: "Zapatero! Stand down!", "Avorto No! Vida Si!". The main theme for the rally was "Cada Vida Importa - Every life matters" and this was emblazoned across an enormous 2-storey tall banner. It took the huge crowd nearly 3 hours to move from Peurto del Sol to the end point at Peurto de Alcalá. We were hugely impressed by the passion, energy and dedication of the rally attendees who had literally travelled for hours from the four corners of Spain to be there. Trains were literally booked up on the day! Young and old alike waved flags, danced and chanted for hours on end and made our short flight to Madrid seem like nothing. If the Spanish organise a follow-up event, the Youth Defece contingent will be the first ones there!

A great many organisations came together to make the Rally such a success, and it was also supported by several political parties. However, many marchers pointed out that the main opposition party, the People’s Party had done little to rid Spain of abortion during their terms in power. “If the PP takes office again we will hold them to the statements they made here at this march,” one activist Ana Cabeza told us. “But many pro-life people feel their track record means they are not to be trusted. The Socialists are dreadful, but the PP is not, in practice, much better.”

It was wonderful to be in Spain and to be part of this huge, colourful and determined expression of pro-life opposition to abortion. Following on from our Rally for Life, it brought the realization that the pro-life movement is very much alive and kicking, and co-operating to best protect mothers and babies.

The Guttmacher Institute was an official affiliate of Planned Parenthood, where Alan Guttmacher was a former president, until it disassociated itself with the abortion business to win some badly-needed credibility. The organization, which works to see abortion legalized worldwide, issued a report this week claiming as many as 70,000 women die from illegal abortions every year.

The claim was described as false by Bernie Smith of Precious Life who pointed out that the Guttmacher report could not be described as independent academic research but was “propaganda from the pro-abortion lobby.”

“Guttmacher admits that the abortion numbers they give for the developing world are based on conjecture and are therefore unreliable,” she pointed out. “But they use their own guesstimates to argue that abortion will help women when the opposite is true.”

Anthony Ozimic, the communications director for SPUC, the British pro-life group, said the pro-abortion lobby has a proven track record of exaggerating illegal abortions numbers. “Abortion numbers in Britain today are many times higher than before the 1967 Abortion Act, despite ever-increasing access to birth control drugs and devices," he added.

Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill of the Life Institute said that the millions spent by Guttmacher in promoting abortion could be better used in improving health care in the developing nations. “Mothers don’t need abortion, they need to be lifted out of poverty and provided with better health care,” he argued. “That’s modern medicine and the correct solution to the problems faced by women in developing countries. Abortion is medieval medicine, and it’s shocking to see so much money wasted on promoting this failed solution.”

Our thanks again to everyone who worked so hard to make this such a great event, bringing everyone together to rally for life and send such a powerful and important message.

“We were contacted by people who have given very generously to Concern in the past and who felt that the move to appoint Ms Bacik as a “Woman of Concern” was wholly inappropriate for two reasons: Firstly, she is an advocate of abortion on demand – the most widespread human rights violation in the world. Secondly, the aim of “Women for Concern” is to empower women, but Ms Bacik believes that to mean changing the law to introduce abortion, a position that would not be shared by the majority of Concern’s donors,” said Katie Robinson of YD.  

“I think Concern donors have the right to know whether or not Ms Bacik will have an influence on Concern’s policies and actions when it comes to issues such as abortion,” said Ms Robinson. “Concern says that ‘when a woman is healthy, educated, and empowered, she’s in a position to help herself, her family and her community’. We agree. But we also would ask them to remember that half of all babies killed by abortion are women denied even the right to life, that abortion harms mothers, and those who push to see the law protecting human life in Ireland and elsewhere struck down have no place in representing a charity such as Concern.”

The newly-launched Life Institute (previously the Mother and Child Campaign) will write to the charity this week to point out that the appointment is inappropriate.

The government must report the abortion numbers next month after a complex legal battle that began six years previously. The battle began when two doctors carried out an abortion on a baby with a cleft palate and were not prosecuted for doing so. The case only came to light when pro-life advocates discerned what had happened from official abortion records. Since then, figures detailing the numbers of abortions carried out on children with disabilities have been sketchy, making it difficult to determine if babies are being killed specifically because they have some sort of potentially minor disability.

The Information Tribunal, in its ruling, indicated it was satisfied that the personal information concerning the abortion would not be made public from statistics alone. It said the potential "is so remote that disclosure of the disputed information would not be unwarranted," describing it as "very unlikely." The Pro Life Alliance told LifeNews.com that it was pleased by the decision. "The Pro Life Alliance was today informed that we have won a case in the Information Tribunal against the Department of Health and have therefore obtained the right to full disclosure of statistics relating to abortion," Julianna Tolan said.

"This is a significant victory for the pro-life movement given the emphasis in the judgement of how serious abortion is and therefore the need for transparency in order to satisfy a legitimate public interest," Tolan added.

Members of Youth Defence are delighted to be flying over to attend and show solidarity with their European counterparts who are fighting against abortion. “A group of YD members attended the Paris March for Life, where we were asked to speak about our work here in Ireland”, said Rebecca Roughneen. “And Marta Serranillos from the Spanish organising group, Derecho a Vivir, spoke at our own Rally for Life in July in Dublin. Pro-life activists across Europe say that they look to Ireland as their inspiration, because we have managed to keep our country abortion-free. While we should be proud of that achievement, we cannot forget about the children being killed in other countries; it’s so important that we all support each other as best we can”.

The March leaves from the Puerto del Sol in Madrid this Saturday the 17th  of October at 5pm.

Members of Youth Defence Espana will also travel to take party in the March for Life. Spokeswoman Ana Cabeza said that “The crisis in Spain had brought many groups and individuals together to become active against abortion”.

With an impressive line-up of speakers, including Gianna Jessen, Lila Rose, Bryan Kemper, Dr Tony Levatino, John Pridmore, Bernie Smyth and more, it will be a truly informative and motivational weekend. And, of course, the craic is guaranteed.

Lila Rose is a young journalist whose undercover investigations have exposed the secrets of the abortion industry, including their cover-up of statutory rape and breach of laws protecting minors. Gianna Jessen is an amazing young woman who survived an abortion and whose eloquent and moving testimony has won many converts to the pro-life cause.

These speakers and others will address young people from every Irish county, attracted to Youth Defence’s pro-life work through information sessions, on campus or on the web. The conference is organised for young people, by young people and is key to building a pro-life future. The venue is St Patrick’s College, Maynooth and the date: 20 -22 November 2009.

If you plan on attending the conference you be pleased to know that you can book your place online right now at : http://www.youthdefence.ie/events/  Please book now as places are limited! This promises to be an unforgettable weekend with some exciting surprises in store.

Caviezel gave an interview with the US magazine Catholic Digest, in which he spoke about the challenge he received from a colleague to adopt a disabled child as a demonstration of his well-publicized pro-life stand. Earlier this year Caviezel adopted his second child - a five-year-old girl with a brain tumour from the Guangzhou region of China.

Reflecting on the 51.5 million surgical abortions to date in the US since Roe v. Wade, Caviezel began by saying, "I was listening to Johnny Mathis the other day and I said, 'What an amazing voice'. I have yet to hear another person sound like Johnny Mathis.

"Look, I am for helping women. I just don't see abortion as helping women. And I don't love my career that much to say, 'I'm going to remain silent on this'. I'm defending every single baby who has never been born. And every voice that would have been unique like Johnny Mathis's. How do we know that we didn't kill the very child who could have created a particular type of medicine that saves other lives?"

Caviezel told interviewer Julie L. Rattey that the Christian is obliged to act in accordance with his faith, regardless of the risks. "When you go to church on Sunday, it's absolutely worthless unless you apply what you've learned to your everyday life. What I hope they take away is the same story Jesus tried to tell years ago, which was the Good Samaritan. At some point, we all play a character in the Bible. We all think of ourselves, Oh, I'm Peter. I'm Paul. I'm John. I'm Jesus (laughs).

"But nobody says, 'I'm Pontius Pilate'."

Fiorella Nash worked with the NGO until it decided two years ago to move from neutrality on the issue of abortion to support for the procedure.  Ms Nash, who works for the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child in the UK, said, “My family owes a huge debt to Amnesty International.  When my father was imprisoned in Malta during the Mintoff government, they saved his life.  For years and years, we supported their work, rattling tins in street collections in the rain, and organising fund-raising events.

“But now Amnesty has betrayed its beliefs.  It’s not just that the policy on abortion has changed – it’s the way it was done.  Only pro-abortion material was circulated and, at the meeting in London, all the speakers were pro-abortion.  There was no attempt at a fair debate."

Since its founding by Catholic British lawyer Peter Benenson, Amnesty has been one of the human rights groups that was most supported by Catholic and Protestant believers in the United Kingdom.  When August 2007 rolled around, Amnesty raised the ire of some of its strongest supporters by revealing its intention to campaign for access to abortion.  The decision to move from not having a position on abortion to campaigning for it led  bishops and lay people around the world to withdraw their membership from the organisation, calling the abortion agenda a betrayal of the group's founding principles.

Amnesty has focused a recent campaign on the government of Nicaragua, accusing it of being responsible for the deaths of pregnant adult and teen women because of its laws against abortion.  Nash was pregnant when Amnesty publicly revealed its pro-abortion slant.  “I was pregnant with my first son and I thought, ‘When my father was in a defenceless situation I helped him.  What am I doing now to help the equally defenceless unborn?’”

Welcoming the Archbishop’s comments Dr Eoghan de Faoite said that the Cardinal had pointed to the central issue in the debate on embryonic stem cell research: that it was always wrong to conduct lethal experiments on human life. “The humanity of the embryo means that this new life has automatic rights, which should not and cannot be waived to satisfy scientific curiosity,” he said. Dr de Faoite said that while Youth Defence had worked to reveal the fact that it was ethical adult stem research which provided successful medical treatments, the primary cause for opposition to embryo research was the humanity of the child.

“The fact is that embryonic stem cell research has proved a failure,” he explained. “But irregardless of success or failure, it remains morally wrong. The right to life must be upheld and respected”.

Youth Defence has led the campaign against embryonic stem cell research in Ireland, with a massive billboard campaign opposing UCC’s plans to begin this lethal research, and a high-profile speaking tour featuring experts Dr David Prentice and Wesley Smith. “We need to keep this pressure on,” said Dr Eoghan de Faoite. “Engaging the public and raising opposition to lethal research is absolutely crucial.”

The paper states:

Research has shown that abortion and other ethical issues, such as euthanasia and family law, were of serious concern to voters who rejected the Lisbon Treaty. The Irish Government has sought assurances on these issues from the EU Council and has promised that the EU will allow a protocol on abortion to be attached to a future treaty at some future date.

But the assurances given by the EU Council are not legally binding in EU law, because they are not part of any treaty. They are simply political promises. As High Court Judge and Chairman of the Referendum Commission, Frank Clarke has confirmed, they won’t change the Lisbon Treaty.

If a protocol on abortion is obtained at a future date (although no-one knows at this point what it will actually say), it is unlikely that, if the Lisbon Treaty is passed, such a protocol would stand against a legal challenge. This is because the power of the European Court of Justice to decide on human rights issues, such as abortion, will be vastly increased by the Charter of Rights attached to the Lisbon Treaty.

This is the core of the problem. Any protocol on the right to life (or on family law) can come into conflict with the Charter – and the European Court of Justice can use the Charter to overrule a conflicting protocol and impose abortion on the Irish people. In other words, the matter will still be in the hands of the European Court of Justice if Lisbon is passed.

Not a dot or comma of the Lisbon Treaty has been changed by these assurances – it’s still the same bad treaty we rejected in June 2008. Neither will any reference be made to assurances in the amendment to be put to the people on October 2nd.

To read the paper in full go here

If you’d like to receive Cóir’s regular ezine update contact info@coircampaign.org

While deaths attributable to HIV/AIDS account for the biggest portion of maternal deaths in South Africa, IPPF acknowledges that a portion of deaths are "due to complications of abortion" in a country where the procedure is legal and widely available.

Developing countries have been badgered in recent years by various United Nations agencies and pro-abortion civil society organizations, including IPPF, to decriminalize abortion as a measure to reduce maternal mortality rates. However, the latest IPPF revelation is the latest fact in a growing body of evidence showing the opposite relationship in which legal abortion and high maternal deaths coincide.

To illustrate, the nation with the lowest African maternal mortality rate is Mauritius, according to a 2009 World Health Organization (WHO) report. Mauritius' laws are among the most protective of the African countries for the unborn. The report further shows how countries that have decriminalized abortion in recent years in response to pressure, such as Ethiopia, have failed to lower dramatic maternal death rates. Ethiopia's maternal death rate is 48 times higher than in Mauritius.

According to WHO, the country with the lowest maternal mortality rate in South America is Chile, which protects unborn life in its constitution. The country with the highest is Guyana, with a maternal mortality rate 30 times higher than in Chile. Guyana has allowed abortion without almost any restriction since in 1995. Ironically, one of two main justifications used in liberalizing Guyana’s law was to enhance the "attainment of safe motherhood" by eliminating deaths and complications associated with unsafe abortion.

Nicaragua has been in the crosshairs of the international pro-abortion lobby since it amended its law three years ago to grant full protection to prenatal life. Sweden, for example, reportedly cut over $20 million in foreign aid as a result. More recently, Amnesty International issued a report claiming maternal death rates increased following Nicaragua's law going into effect. Media critics, however, have contested the veracity of Amnesty's claims, and Nicaraguan government statistics show a decline in maternal deaths since 2006.

Similarly, WHO statistics for the South East Asia region show Nepal, where there is no restriction on the procedure, has the region's highest rate of maternal mortality. The lowest in the region is Sri Lanka, with a rate fourteen times lower than that of Nepal. According to the pro-abortion public interest law firm Center for Reproductive Rights, Sri Lanka has among the most restrictive abortion laws in the world.

Worldwide, the country with the lowest maternal death rate is Ireland, a nation that prohibits abortion and whose constitution explicitly protects the rights of the unborn.

His comments come after attempts by the HSE to bring euthanasia campaigner Len Doyal to lecture health professionals on “Why euthanasia should be legalized”, and as the IFPA sponsor a case before the European Court of Justice attempting to force abortion on Ireland.

Welcoming Cardinal Brady’s remarks Eoghan of Youth Defence said that the pro-life majority needed to be vigilant and active in opposing such threats and bringing them to the attention of the public.

Meanwhile Cóir, the pro-sovereignty organization campaigning against the Lisbon Treaty re-run has said that the assurances offered by the EU on the Lisbon treaty on abortion are worthless.

“While the Government is desperate to use these assurances as a sweetener for Lisbon 2, the truth is that they are, in fact, utterly worthless. They are not part of any treaty and therefore have no legal effect in EU law. Writing about these assurances on July 30th 2009, High Court Judge and Chairman of the Referendum Commission, Frank Clarke wrote that “these do not change the treaty”. He also described the assurances as “statements” – rather than using the deliberately misleading description of “guarantee” being bandied about by the Government and by Yes campaigners,” said Cóir in their newly-released position paper on the issue.

“That’s because these statements are not guarantees – they are not legally binding on the EU Court of Justice, which is the only body that decides on and interprets EU treaties; despite the government’s insistence that lodging them with the United Nations gives them legal standing. But the United Nations has no jurisdiction to enforce EU guarantees, and the European Court does not have to consider any other law besides EU law, which these statements are most definitely not. The “guarantees” will not be referenced in the amendment which is now to be put before the Irish people on October 2nd – the planned date for the second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. This just confirms what we know to be true: these guarantees can have no effect on Irish or EU law, “ the paper continues.

To read the paper in full here on the Cóir site

“The situation is quite extraordinary in that no matter how much babies and mothers suffer, the abortion agencies profit,” said Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Life Institute. “We’re constantly being told that, while the babt always dies, abortion is a safe procedure for women, yet we know that the complications can lead to infertility and even death, while the literature is proves beyond doubt that abortion comes with a high psychological cost.

“But abortion referral agencies charge the taxpayer to arrange abortions. Then they charge the taxpayer further to provide counseling when women are traumatized by the very procedure which the agencies themselves arranged – even though they conceal the likelihood of this trauma during so-called counseling when arranging the abortion.”

Ms Uí Bhriain said that instead of attacking pro-life counselors the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, which channels taxpayer funds to abortion referral agencies, should be running advertising campaigns telling the truth about the real nature of abortion and its effects on mothers