 Friday, December 21, 2012Donate - Subscribe to Daily News - Unsubscribe - Update Your Info - Send News Tips | |||||
| Click here to View Full Text, With Photos, of all Today's Stories On One Page My goodness, Pope Benedict does it yet again. He has been coming out with one strong, much needed teaching after another recently, with the most politically incorrect stance on very controversial issues. He clearly understands that truth on these moral issues must now be boldly preached without any regard for human respect or encountering ridicule or hatred. Benedict is imitating the true Christ and showing the rest of the world’s bishops that they are now obliged to do the same. Bravo for Pope Benedict! And then there is Newt Gingrich. What a contrast. How sad. There was a rumour that he converted to Catholicism not too long ago. Must have been a false rumour. And then there is the bishop of Sudbury, Ontario in Canada. It is very straightforward what Bishop Plouffe’s obligation is regarding Trudeau’s visit to a Catholic school and yet the bishop does the exact opposite. Many are confounded and scandalized. Have a wonderful weekend preparing for the Good News of Christmas. Today’s blog post: | |||||
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VIDEO: Faced with 'terminal' prenatal diagnosis, single mother of five chooses life
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 21, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Meet Stephanie Spidell. She's a single mother of five children, one of whom has special needs. Now she's raising six, because when her sister was murdered, she took in her niece, as well. According to medical experts, Stephanie's youngest child shouldn't be here. Her daughter Khya was given an “incompatible with life” diagnosis while Stephanie was still pregnant with her. Khya suffers from Alobar Holoprosencephaly, a brain abnormality that often results in miscarriage, stillbirth or early death. Doctors urged Stephanie to abort. If Khya survived the delivery, the doctors said, she would only live a few minutes or hours. If she was extremely lucky, she might live six months at most. Have an abortion, they told Stephanie, to "put [Khya] out of her misery." Stephanie refused to do it. "Even before I felt her move within me," she said, "before I knew her gender or gave her a name, and especially when she was given an 'incompatible with life' diagnosis in utero, my daughter was a special gift who deserved to be loved and protected as a legal person." She resisted her caregivers' pressure to abort. Stephanie said the decision to have Khya was an easy one. "I just decided that if my child was sick and facing one of the biggest challenges in her life, that I would take that time to comfort her, to love her, to be there with her, and to help her through any transition that she was going to make," she said. Khya is now nearly two years old. "I’m very blessed and honored to be Khya’s mom," Stephanie said. "Along with my other five children, we are Khya’s full-time caregivers and we want to share her story so that people will understand that all life is precious! What the world sees as 'imperfect' or a 'mistake,' we see as our much loved little sister and daughter." She says her goals for Khya are to keep her healthy and growing so their family can keep showing her unconditional love. Stephanie wasn't always so staunchly pro-life. "Before I had Khya," she said, "I had a number of abortions. Some of them, I wasn't married at the time, and I just didn't want any more kids. And I had a few abortions in my marriage, and I found myself having a baby and being pregnant three weeks later." "It's sad to say, I used abortion as a form of birth control," Stephanie said. That's part of the reason Stephanie is so glad she gave birth to Khya. She says it feels like her path to redemption. She's hopeful it will send an important message about the value of life and unconditional love to her older children and the niece she is raising. She said she hopes they "never have to feel the guilt I still feel at times, knowing the decisions that I made." (Click “like” if you want to end abortion! )
Stephanie is now raising all six children without help from a husband or extended family. When her sister died, she said, "it tore our family apart." Instead, Stephanie has relied on pro-life advocates and the Roman Catholic Church for help. "Khya has taught us so much about faith, hope, and love," Stephanie said. "I thank God for picking me to be her mom." Back to Top | Print Article | Email Friend | View Story on LifeSiteNews.com | |||||
Planned Parenthood admits 385 'serious' complications from abortion drugs in 2009-10
NEW YORK, December 21, 2012, (Operation Rescue)—A "study" released by Planned Parenthood employees and sympathizers has concluded — based on incomplete numbers — that the abortion-inducing mifepristone and misoprostol are "safe" despite admitting to a reported 385 "serious" complications, including at least one abortion pill-related death from 2009-2010. The study group consisted of two Planned Parenthood employees, one member of a Planned Parenthood advisory group, and a fourth member who receives financial compensation from Danco Laboratories, the U.S. distributor for the abortion pill mifepristone, also known as RU-486. "This is perhaps one of the most self-serving studies ever conducted," said Cheryl Sullenger, senior policy advisor for Operation Rescue. "These so-called researchers have a vested interest in protecting medication abortions because this is what they are banking on to expand abortion services and increase profits for Planned Parenthood, especially in a time when states are working at a fever pitch to defund them." In 2010, Operation Rescue uncovered Planned Parenthood's secret strategy to expand their doctorless telemed abortions to every Planned Parenthood office. Since then several states have outlawed the webcam distribution of abortion pills. Others have insisted that Planned Parenthood follow FDA protocols, which they currently ignore. That year, Planned Parenthood mandated that every affiliate have at least one office that provides abortion services, causing affiliates in Texas, Missouri, and New York to defect rather than comply. During the study period, one woman died from an undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy after a medication abortion had been attempted. Seven other women suffered serious but non-fatal complications from undiagnosed ectopic pregnancies when medication abortions were attempted. According to the statistics released, the abortion pill failed for 1,169 women. A report carried by Reuters on December 20, 2012, there were 385 serious complications reported during the study period, "including 238 who sought ER treatment, 135 who were admitted to the hospital, 114 who had a blood transfusion, and 57 who required intravenous antibiotics." "The number of women rushed to the hospital far exceeds what we originally thought or have been able to document. This shows that Planned Parenthood goes to great lengths to conceal the number of complications," said Sullenger. However, the Planned Parenthood study group acknowledges that those numbers may not be accurat,e because a large number of women failed to report back for follow-up after receiving abortion pills. Any complications those women experienced remain unknown. (Click “like” if you want to end abortion! )
"This report is the farthest thing from an unbiased study there is," said Sullenger. "In spite of the obvious spin, this data paints a frightening picture of unmonitored abortions with little to no follow up where women play the equivalent of Russian Roulette with their lives and health when they submit to medication abortions at Planned Parenthood." Reprinted from Operation Rescue. Back to Top | Print Article | Email Friend | View Story on LifeSiteNews.com | |||||
Nobel Laureate promotes human cloning
December 21, 2012, (Family Research Center)—Nobel Laureate John Gurdon of the UK has come out in support of human cloning. Gurdon was one of this year's winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with Shinya Yamanaka of Japan. Yamanaka showed that normal adult cells could be reprogrammed back to an early stem cell state, which he termed "induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells". Gurdon's work involved reprogramming by creating a new, cloned embryo. Gurdon was the first to show that cloning of vertebrates was possible, publishing his initial paper on the cloning of frogs in 1962. In giving his support for human cloning, Gurdon did admit that there were still some problems with the cloning technique:
Indeed. In fact, there would need to be many thousands of human cloned embryos created and destroyed for such improvements, using the cloned humans for experiments. Gurdon sees the replacement of a deceased human child as one application of human cloning, essentially viewing children as mere commodities. While he does admit there would be a host of ethical problems, Gurdon thinks "people would soon overcome their concerns if the technique became medically useful." Wesley Smith has some additional thoughts on his blog worth reading, regarding Gurdon's proposal. Reprinted from the Family Research Center. Back to Top | Print Article | Email Friend | View Story on LifeSiteNews.com | |||||
Pro-abortion Senator jokes about Boehner’s support for 'Plan B'
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 21, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com – A pro-abortion senator found levity in the fiscal cliff negotiations, tying Speaker John Boehner’s financial proposals to an abortion-inducing drug. Boehner and President Obama are locked in negotiations to avoid a series of mandated tax increases and spending cuts that will take place if the government cannot come to an agreement. The President wants to raise taxes on Americans making more than $250,000 a year. The Speaker labeled his counter-offer – to raise taxes on people earning a million dollars or more – "Plan B." That is also the brand name for one version of the morning-after pill. “I actually got really excited when I heard Speaker Boehner tracking up ‘Plan B,’" Senator Patty Murray, D-WA, said at a press conference on Thursday. "I thought, ‘Finally, they’ve made progress on a really important women’s health issue that I’ve been working on.’” “That was not the case,” Sen. Murray joked. The House has made no efforts to ban so-called "emergency contraception," which can work as an abortifacient by thinning the endometrium and preventing a newly conceived embryo from implanting in the uterus. (Click “like” if you want to end abortion! )
Ultimately, it was Boehner’s Plan B that was aborted. He pulled his proposal after a group of House conservatives, citing the nation’s desire to cut spending rather than raise taxes, indicated they would not vote for it. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council said, “I commend the leadership exhibited by U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan, R-OH; Louie Gohmert, R-TX; and Tim Huelskamp, R-KS." At a press conference, Huelskamp said, "Our leadership has proposed a trillion-dollar revenue increase over the next 10 years, and I think that's overwhelmingly opposed by most Republicans." Boehner recently denied leadership positions to Huelskamp, Walter Jones, Justin Amash, and David Schweikert because they did not vote the party line often enough. Conservative leader Richard Viguerie went further in his criticism than Huelskamp. "The only way we conservatives are going to…advance the conservative agenda, let alone change the trajectory of spending, is to get a new Speaker," he said. Back to Top | Print Article | Email Friend | View Story on LifeSiteNews.com | |||||
Family time is the best present this holiday season
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 21, 2012, (The Heritage Foundation) - Christmas, the quintessential celebration of family time, and New Year's, a day of resolutions, provide a great opportunity for parents to ensure that family togetherness lasts the whole year—by pledging to spend more time with their children and their activities. As decades of research have revealed, the more time and activities families share together, the more likely children are to thrive. From a child's earliest years, a mother and father's involvement sets the stage for academic achievement. Preschoolers whose parents read to them often typically score higher in terms of cognitive development. And, on average, those children who receive more cognitive stimulation at home score higher on IQ tests and are less likely to exhibit hyperactive or antisocial behavior. In addition, children whose parents are more involved with their activities during elementary school are more likely to graduate from high school, while adolescents with more involved parents are more likely to pursue higher education. Children of all races and ethnic backgrounds are more likely to succeed academically if their parents are more involved. Even parental involvement in simple leisure activities is associated with an increase in children's academic performance. Parental involvement, communication, and supervision are, likewise, linked to youths' behavior. Adolescents whose parents talk with them about standards of sexual behavior and monitor their activities are less likely to become sexually active. In addition, youths whose parents talk with them about their concerns and encourage their interests are less likely to exhibit behavioral problems or to engage in acts of violence. Likewise, teens who frequently have dinner with their families are less likely to use drugs or alcohol. Click “like” if you want to defend true marriage. Finally, mom and dad's involvement is also linked to the emotional well-being of children. Youths whose parents are present in the home when they come home from school, at dinnertime, and when they go to bed are less likely to experience emotional distress, and those with responsive and involved parents tend to have higher self-esteem and are less susceptible to peer pressure. Parents' concern, involvement, and communication are truly priceless gifts and ones that they, alone, can give. At the same time, public policy—ranging from initiatives to strengthen marriage and augment parents' role in educational decisions—should be forged to promote the unique and essential role that parents play in their children's lives. As families gather over the next few weeks to celebrate Christmas and New Year's, policymakers should remember and honor the most effective social program in the nation: strong families. From decreasing risky teenage behavior to increasing children's academic success, intact, married families are integral to maintaining a thriving civil society. Reprinted with permission from The Heritage Foundation. Back to Top | Print Article | Email Friend | View Story on LifeSiteNews.com | |||||
Nine of 10 miss Trudeau’s talk: God intervened when the bishop would not
SUDBURY, Ontario, December 21, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-abortion Liberal leadership hopeful Justin Trudeau "surprised" students and staff at a Sudbury Catholic high school on Friday morning by showing up for his address despite weather-induced bus cancellations. But most of the students did not return the favor. The school board had announced that the talk at St. Charles College would be cancelled if the weather was poor, so Trudeau was not expected after buses were cancelled Friday morning. But the school board says he made an "impromptu" visit and then agreed to offer his talk in the amphitheatre. The school says they had originally expected around 1,000 students, but in the end there were only about 100 attendees, including staff. Despite the weather, local Catholics showed up early Friday morning to protest, but left after the school principal and other staff members told them the event was cancelled. "God is good. He spared 900 Catholic youth from being potentially influenced by Justin's immoral views in support of abortion and homosexual marriage," said Kevin Murphy, a Catholic ratepayer and one of the protesters who stood outside the board office and St. Charles College for four days. (Click “like” if you want to end abortion! )
Suresh Dominic, a spokesperson for Campaign Life Catholics, a division of Campaign Life Coalition, who helped organize the protests, added, "We continue to disapprove of the board's decision to allow Justin to speak at the school, but we are thankful for the weather that limited Justin's exposure to only 100 people." Despite pro-life opposition, the event went ahead on the urging of Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe who said it was "important" and would inspire students. Trudeau "is not estranged from the Church in any way," he told the school board in a statement, adding that "in many ways he can be a source of inspiration to the youth." But Teresa Pierre, president of Parents as First Educators, said in a press release that the bishop's stance is inexplicable. "How can we tell our children that they must obey the church’s teachings on marriage and the family when the church itself lionizes and brings into its schools people such as Justin Trudeau who publicly criticize those teachings?" she asked. Pierre noted that Pope Benedict XVI has insisted politicians who support the "alleged right to abortion" should be denied Communion, and that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has a policy forbidding Catholic institutions to grant these politicians a platform. "The Canadian hierarchy is bound by the teachings of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (s. 2287) not to give scandal to the faithful," she said. "For the bishops not to insist - as the U.S. church has done - that pro-choice politicians not be supported by church institutions and organizations has disheartened and scandalized residents of Sudbury and the wider church in Ontario." LifeSiteNews.com has been unable to get comment on the Trudeau event from the Sudbury Catholic District School Board after numerous attempts. School board chair Barry MacDonald told LifeSiteNews on Tuesday he was "not interested" in speaking to LifeSiteNews. They have claimed there was no risk of scandal to the teens, because Trudeau would be focusing his remarks on youth leadership and so would not address points on which he opposes Church teaching. But Murphy says "that's ludicrous." "There's widespread public knowledge of Justin's opposition to these Catholic teachings, so giving him a platform, regardless of the topic, can be interpreted by kids to mean that the Board is supportive of all that Justin stands for," he explained. Trudeau threw his hat into the federal Liberal leadership race in October and immediately assumed the role of presumed frontrunner. Five other candidates have officially registered so far. The leader will be picked April 14th. The 40-year-old son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau has focused much of his campaign rhetoric on the need to engage youth. For years, he has built up a coalition of youth as a frequent speaker at schools, including Catholic schools across Ontario. The Montreal MP complained to media in 2011 after Tory MP Dean Del Mastro questioned why he was so frequently invited to Catholic schools even though he openly opposes the Church's teachings. Trudeau said he was "surprisingly upset" that someone would accuse him of being a "bad Catholic." "My own personal faith is an extremely important part of who I am and the values that I try to lead with," he told the Canadian press at the time. However, he admitted in 2009 that while he is a Catholic, he holds "political positions on gay marriage and on abortion that don't at all resemble those of the Catholic Church." Earlier this year, Trudeau said he would support Quebec's separation from Canada if Parliament moved to restrict abortion or same-sex "marriage." "I always say, if at a certain point, I believe that Canada was really the Canada of Stephen Harper – that we were going against abortion, and we were going against gay marriage, and we were going backwards in 10,000 different ways – maybe I would think about wanting to make Quebec a country," he told Radio-Canada in February. In June, he called the Catholic Church's opposition to gay-straight alliances "repulsive" in a talk to high school students. Back to Top | Print Article | Email Friend | View Story on LifeSiteNews.com | |||||
Pope’s Christmas message warns gender theory is a denial of God and the Bible
VATICAN, December 21, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com)—The gender theory, which is behind the homosexual revolution and the attack on the family was highlighted in Pope Benedict's Christmas message to Vatican prelates this morning. "There is no denying the crisis that threatens," the family "to its foundations – especially in the Western world," he said. Crediting the Chief Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, for the research, Pope Benedict XVI said "the attack we are currently experiencing on the true structure of the family, made up of father, mother, and child, goes much deeper" than was originally believed. "While up to now we regarded a false understanding of the nature of human freedom as one cause of the crisis of the family, it is now becoming clear that the very notion of being – of what being human really means – is being called into question." According to "the 'gender' philosophy," explained the Pope, "sex is no longer a given element of nature, that man has to accept and personally make sense of: it is a social role that we choose for ourselves, while in the past it was chosen for us by society." The Holy Father added: "The profound falsehood of this theory and of the anthropological revolution contained within it is obvious."
Click “like” if you want to defend true marriage. Pope Benedict XVI concluded, "When the freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God, as the image of God at the core of his being. The defence of the family is about man himself. And it becomes clear that when God is denied, human dignity also disappears. Whoever defends God is defending man." You may read the pope's full address here. Back to Top | Print Article | Email Friend | View Story on LifeSiteNews.com | |||||
British boys getting their 'sex education' from online porn: MPs report
LONDON, December 21, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Boys are receiving the bulk of their "sex education" from online porn, a report by a cross-party parliamentary group has warned, which leads young people to have "unprotected" sex without condoms, which in turn leads to unplanned pregnancies. Porn has "negated the primacy of relationships whilst promoting a self-centered focus of sex," the report added. The government is also proposing to create automatic prompts for porn filters to be offered by internet service providers. Click “like” if you want to defend true marriage. In 2006-07, the most recent available statistics, there were 3,500 suspensions and 140 expulsions from English schools for sexual misconduct. Offenses ranged from creating explicit graffiti to rape. Two hundred and eighty of those cases were from primary schools and in 20 cases the child responsible was just five years old, the BBC reported. Back to Top | Print Article | Email Friend | View Story on LifeSiteNews.com | |||||
Wantedness has become the arbiter of life and death
December 21, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com)—A British wag would say, Royals have babies. We commoners have fetae. The very sad fact is that "wanted" preborn children are granted personhood and life. The "unwanted" are consigned to a cruel death and burial in a garbage can. Wantedness has become the arbiter of life and death, personhood or being a nonentity, the widening experience of living or maceration and body parts. This isn't lost on the surviving children. Small wonder they struggle to please then give up in disgust, or suicide. A welcome is diametrically opposite to the condition of being wanted. Welcome is unconditional. You welcome people as they are, whoever they are, whenever they arrive. Wanted is conditional, in the sense that one may say, "I want you to be an extension of me and my family, the fulfillment of my frustrated dreams and ambitions." Welcome acknowledges a person's right to life, their God-given opportunity to be all the God intended for them. Wanted perpetuates dependency. It infers, "You can live as long as I want you, which depends on how well you satisfy my wants." Wantedness results in insecurity which promotes a poor self image,fears for the future, dislike of having children. Welcome contributes to wholeness, optimism, and Godliness. For when spoken by parents to their children, the children will feel a freely given gratitude to God who gave them existence and family. (Click “like” if you want to end abortion! )
The parents of Jesus found themselves in a very awkward spot. Being pregnant before marriage could result in stoning unless the father acknowledged his child, weds the mother, and commits to welcome and raise the child. Their example is for all of us. Welcome every child, regardless of the circumstances. This is pragmatic. For when we welcome our children, we are welcoming parts of ourselves. We will expand and mature because of our attitude to welcome. Welcome Lord, Baby Jesus. I welcome you in my name, Philip. Back to Top | Print Article | Email Friend | View Story on LifeSiteNews.com | |||||
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights strikes down Costa Rica’s in vitro fertilization ban
December 21, 2012, (C-FAM) - Late on Thursday, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights released a lengthy opinion (Murillo et al. v. Costa Rica, dated November 28, 2012) holding that Costa Rica's law which protects life at its earliest stages by prohibiting in vitro fertilization violates the American Convention on Human Life. In so doing, the Court turned the Convention, which protects the right to life "from conception," on its head. Costa Rica banned a technique which results in the destruction of "spare" embryos as inconsistent with its legal protection of unborn life. A Costa Rican Supreme Court decision in 2000 upheld the ban, noting that it was consistent with the Convention, which protected life "from conception." (For the background, see here.) A preliminary reading of the ruling, which the Court has yet to post online and is only available in Spanish, indicates that the Court elevated secondary rights – such as the right to privacy, a right to personal autonomy, and a right to sexual and reproductive health – above the right to life, which by necessity takes precedence over all other rights. The Court engaged in linguistic deconstruction to get around the general protection of life "from conception" in the Convention. (Click “like” if you want to end abortion! )
While reciting the weight of authority that holds that "conception" is the equivalent of "fertilization," the Court noted that there are those who would say conception only occurs at "implantation," and apparently relied on this redefinition to help it reach the result it desired. This is not only bad science, but it is also bad law, for it rejects the pro homine principle, which holds that any ambiguity must be decided in a manner most protective of human life. Thursday's result is unsurprising, as a number of six judges prior to ascending to the Inter-American bench had indicated their support for abortion rights. The linguistic engineering used in reinterpreting treaties by courts and transnational bodies is a phenomenon we have commented on before. Beyond the impact this decision will have on the protection of life at its most vulnerable stages, it will also lead to an erosion of respect for the authority Court, which in previous decades had been lauded for helping establish rule of law in Latin America following decades of authoritarian rule. With results-oriented decisions such as this, the Court is squandering its accumulated moral capital. The Alliance Defending Freedom, C-FAM, and Americans United for Life submitted an amicus brief to the Court on article 4 of the American Convention, which is the article containing protection of life "from conception." Reprinted from Back to Top | Print Article | Email Friend | View Story on LifeSiteNews.com | |||||
Pope’s greeting of Uganda speaker blasted by homosexuals
ROME, December 21, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Homosexual lobbyists are in an uproar over the warm reception given by Pope Benedict XVI to leading Ugandan politician Rebecca Kadaga, who brought a delegation of Ugandan legislators on a state visit to the Holy See. Kadaga, the speaker of the Ugandan parliament, and the group of politicians were in Rome earlier this month to attend the meeting of the International Criminal Court and the World Parliamentary Conference on Human Rights. Readers on the site left a slew of anti-Catholic comments. One wrote, "What an evil old man! Is it not time for the UK to repeal the Catholic Emancipation Acts?" Click “like” if you want to defend true marriage. Ugandan laws outlawing homosexual activity are among the strongest in the world, with "carnal knowledge against the order of nature" carrying a potential penalty of life imprisonment. And there is little public interest in loosening the law, with a 2007 Pew research survey finding 96 percent of 1,122 respondents believing the "homosexual lifestyle" is unacceptable. Another poll, taken in 2010 and comparing social attitudes of Christians and Muslims in East African countries, showed that 11 percent of Christians in Uganda believed homosexual behavior was "morally acceptable" and 80 percent said it was "morally wrong." Five percent said it is not a moral issue. The divide among Muslim Ugandans was about the same, with 12 percent believing it morally acceptable, 77 percent not accepting and six percent believing it is not a moral issue. Back to Top | Print Article | Email Friend | View Story on LifeSiteNews.com | |||||
Fighting the culture of contraception in Uganda
December 21, 2012, (HLI Worldwatch)—In Uganda, as in most parts of Africa, the culture is one in which life is respected and family is at the center. But like most of Africa, the culture is under constant attack from outside forces pressuring the government to embrace the "reproductive health" agenda of abortion and contraception. Billboards, television commercials, and radio ads pushing contraceptives are very common. I experienced firsthand the propaganda effort underway in Uganda during a missionary trip this past November. Uganda used to be a model in the fight against HIV/AIDS because President Yoweri Museveni implemented a policy throughout the country which focused on the only real way to stem the spread of the deadly virus: asking people to change their risky sexual behavior by abstaining from sex before marriage and by being faithful to their partner. When President Museveni's ABC policy (Abstain before marriage, Be faithful after, and use condoms only when absolutely necessary) was implemented in 1992, the adult HIV/AIDS infection rate was 30 percent in the capital of Kampala and other large urban areas, and the national life expectancy for the entire country was only 44 years. But in the next decade, the adult HIV/AIDS infection rate dropped 80 percent in just 10 years, to six percent in 2002, and the life expectancy rose by eight years. Unfortunately, Western governments and NGOs have been successful in their attempts to destroy the ABC program by forcing an acceptance of greater condom use, leading to more risky sexual behavior, and the HIV/AIDS rate is again on the rise. Shortly after I arrived in Uganda, Human Life International (HLI) country director Father Jonathan Opio took me to Namugongo, also known as the Shrine of the Ugandan Martyrs, in Kampala where St. Charles Lwanga was martyred for the faith and the virtue of chastity. At Namugongo, we prayed for the people of Africa to resist the contraceptive mentality that is destroying their country and to embrace the culture of life. (Click “like” if you want to end abortion! )
Fr. Opio and I met with a group of women in the city of Tororo who were victims of the push for greater access to contraceptives in Uganda. The women told story after story in about the health problems they were experiencing because of IUDs, Norplant and Depo Provera. Each one of these long-term hormonal contraceptives carries great risks to women's health that is not often discussed in public. Depo Provera for instance has been shown to double the risk of HIV but is still heavily promoted across Africa. A local government health official was in attendance and heard the women's stories, but his response to the women was that they were suffering side effects from the contraception because they had been unfaithful to their husbands! The women began shouting at him as a group and blamed him for the pain they were now experiencing. I was astounded that he seemed not to have grasped what the women were saying, and that as a government health official he didn't understand the negative side effects of the contraceptives he was determined to promote. As we spoke more with the women not only about the health risks of contraception, but also about the moral teachings of the Catholic Church against their use, the government official seemed to imply that Fr. Opio and I could find ourselves in trouble with the authorities if we continued to spread our message without first seeking approval from the government. Needless to say, the thinly veiled threat did not have its intended effect. At another meeting I was able to address a group of about 50 political and community leaders including the Mayor of Tororo, representatives of President Museveni and administrators of two local hospitals. Fr. Opio and I gave a presentation about the population control agenda in Africa and how Western governments and NGOs are using great sums of money and influence to destroy the traditionally life-loving African culture. Not everyone in the room was pro-life and they asked some challenging questions, but the dialogue was very respectful and we ate dinner together afterwards. A highlight of this trip was hearing the stories of a group of women whose children were saved from abortion by the HLI Uganda team. The mothers gave moving testimonies on how they chose life instead of abortion, and how their beautiful bouncing babies are sources of hope and consolation. While the laws in Uganda are mostly respectful of life, there is still widespread immorality and illegal abortions. In October of 2011, HLI Uganda was involved in a case that led to the arrest of a medic who performed an illegal abortion on his girlfriend, and in the process almost killed her. I had the chance to meet one of the police officers who was instrumental in bringing the young woman's assailant to justice. As a Catholic apostolate, HLI endeavors to work closely with the Church in every country in which we operate. Fr. Opio was able to arrange for us to give a special presentation to the Ugandan bishops during my trip. A number of topics were discussed, but there was a heavy focus on the influence of population control groups in Africa and what these groups are doing to undermine the moral authority of the bishops. We advised the bishops on some strategies they could undertake to combat this deadly influence. I had the impression that the bishops were very supportive of our message, and there was great optimism about what we could achieve together for the protection of life in the future. As HLI Founder Father Paul Marx said many times, "In every country, contraception always leads to massive abortion." While the West is falling into decay, we have in Uganda and other parts of Africa people hungering for the Gospel of Life who have so far been able to stop the tidal wave of legalized abortion. But the increased push for contraception is a continual threat. I hope HLI and the Catholic Church in Uganda can work even more closely together in defeating the contraceptive mentality to get Uganda back on the right track to saving lives from HIV/AIDS, and to stop abortion from ever being legalized. Father Peter West is the vice president for missions at Human Life International. Reprinted from HLI Worldwatch. Back to Top | Print Article | Email Friend | View Story on LifeSiteNews.com | |||||
'Gender neutral' toys: A poor economic decision
December 21, 2012, (Acton Institute)—Writing over at The Atlantic, American Enterprise Institute scholar Christina Hoff Sommers shares the unsettling story of what a growing number of Swedish activist groups and political factions are attempting to do to "traditional" gender roles.
It's easy to laugh off such seemingly ludicrous things as this, but we're talking real indoctrination of precious and impressionable "hearts and minds" here. And the Swedish government is directly involved.
Did you catch the "gender watchdogs" bit in there? Don't see anything draconian about that! The culture implications of such "progressive" measures are innumerable and deserve further discussion elsewhere, but I wanted to highlight this story today on the Power Blog because of an important economic lesson that also emerges from it. Twenty years ago, Hasbro, a major American toy manufacturing company, tested a playhouse it hoped to market to both boys and girls. It soon emerged that girls and boys did not interact with the structure in the same way. The girls dressed the dolls, kissed them, and played house. The boys catapulted the toy baby carriage from the roof. A Hasbro manager came up with a novel explanation: "Boys and girls are different." Sommers' began her piece recounting the pressure that groups have put on toy-makers to change their advertising to include gender-neutral promotion of their products. Here she points out that, of their own volition, toy companies have explored similar territory in the recent past. What went wrong? No parent was willing to spend money on toys they knew their sons and daughters would not play with.
Hasbro, a large corporation, was not particularly concerned with the cultural implications of their product. They thought they might be able to make a buck by building playhouses for little boys. It was the open and (largely) free marketplace of goods, services and ideas that verified their playhouse to be a rubbish idea. Perhaps a time is coming – and may already be here – when society has so watered-down the Creator-endowed uniqueness of the respective genders that a burgeoning market for neutered toys can thrive due to demand. But that isn't good enough for many Western progressives. They seek to engineer not only their own home environment, but the environment that you and your children are forced to co-exist in. They don't care if something is economically disastrous for an entire nation (see: Cap-and-Trade), let alone a single company (probably run by one of those nasty 1%-ers!). It becomes their religion and economic realities stand little chance in the face of their zealous crusade to fundamentally transform society. Reprinted with permission from the Acton Institute. Back to Top | Print Article | Email Friend | View Story on LifeSiteNews.com | |||||
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