Obama-Clinton's worldwide abortion propaganda unit

The US House of Representatives is due to vote this week on the establishment of an Office of Global Women’s Issues within the US State Department. The office will be responsible for coordinating efforts “relating to gender integration and women’s empowerment in United States foreign policy.” The head of the new office is Melanne Verveer (pictured), former chief of staff to Hillary Clinton, and reported to be pro-abortion Catholic. With Barack Obama as President and Mrs Clinton as Secretary of State, we can expect this new office to engage in a worldwide campaign to make abortion on demand a universal human right.

This is yet more evidence that, for Obama and Clinton, a pro-abortion position is not just something to be expected of a Democratic party administration. They now appear to be making the promotion of a so-called right to abortion among the highest priorities of US domestic and foreign policy, something the mainstream media has generally failed to report. The courageous opposition, however, of thousands of people, including scores of bishops, to Notre Dame university honouring Obama turned the world's spotlight on Obama's anti-life reputation. That is why at Notre Dame Obama felt it necessary to try to spin convincingly about common ground. All the more reason why we must debunk his spin and warn the world about the abortion-centred new world order he is working to create.

Political leaders who've misunderstood human sexuality

It was reported recently that David Cameron, the Conservative party leader, will be the first Tory party leader to attend the London's annual Gay Pride march this summer. In a similar move, President Obama recently proclaimed June to be "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month".

These political leaders believe that they are advancing an agenda of respect for individuals relating to choice around sexuality. In this they are, unfortunately, misguided and in error: they have misunderstood the true nature and purpose of human sexuality. They also posit a false choice and a false freedom.

In Evangelium Vitae paragraph 97, Pope John Paul II taught that it is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not offer adolescents and young adults an authentic education in the true nature and purpose of sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their natural interconnectedness. These political leaders are also raising very profound questions which anthropologists must begin to address - in addition to the analysis and commentary given by courageous theologians, clergy and demographers.

The truth of Pope John Paul II's teaching can be understood in moves to recognize marriage between same sex couples by changing the natural and legal meaning of marriage. The achievement of such an objective necessarily involves changing the nature and understanding of sexual intercourse, so that the conception of children through sexual intercourse becomes all the more clearly an optional add-on, yet another manifestation of personal choice in the individualistic society in which we now live. In such a social environment unborn children are certain to become all the more disposable.

History shows just how quickly and comprehensively a society can move to disposing of human beings once it abandons pro-life and historical family values for centuries upheld by the world's major religions. Mr Obama himself saw proof of this when he visited (pictured) the remains of Buchenwald, the Nazi concentration camp.

SPUC in Northern Ireland goes to court to challenge abortion guidelines

SPUC in Northern Ireland is going to court to challenge government guidelines on abortion. Liam Gibson of SPUC Northern Ireland says: "The law in Northern Ireland not only safeguards the lives of unborn children but also protects women from the terrible damage which abortion can cause. By issuing guidance that distorts the law, the department of health has created a grave threat to unborn children, to the safety of women and to the rights of medical professionals." You can read more about our challenge in an SPUC press release, which includes links to relevant documents.

Nancy Pelosi's stem cell spin wins her the latest George Orwell Prize

Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives has implied that embryonic stem cell research has saved lives. Paying tribute to Nancy Reagan (pictured with Pelosi), widow of Ronald Reagan, the pro-life former president, Mrs Pelosi said:

"Your support for stem cell research has made a significant difference in the lives of many American people. It has saved lives, it has found cures, it has given hope to people."

Mrs Reagan is a prominent promoter of embryonic stem cell research.

Yet, as has been pointed out repeatedly, embryonic stem cell research has yet to produce any benefits in human patients.

One suspects that Mrs Pelosi was trying to mislead people about embryonic stem cell research, just as she tried to mislead people about Catholic teaching on abortion. So for her spin I've awarded Mrs Pelosi the latest George Orwell Prize.

“Political language ... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." George Orwell

Thanks that cardinal won't be joining Blair foundation

I've relieved to read that Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the former archbishop of Westminster, will not, as previously announced, be joining the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. I've blogged before about the dangers that the Blairs and the Foundation pose to life and family. I hope the cardinal's decision marks the beginning of the end of the Blairs' campaign to inveigle themselves into high ecclesiatical places, and will help convert them into true pro-life/pro-family advocates.

Standing up for life around the world

People all around the world are prepared to stand up for life, as can be seen from the following news:

• Legislators in the Dominican Republic vote to modify the constitution to guarantee the right to life from conception to natural death. Catholics pray that those legislators who voted against the pro-life move will "reflect upon their decision".
• Thousands of Poles brave a torrential downpour to march for life through the centre of Warsaw, the capital (pictured).
  
• Polls in Spain find that a majority of Spaniards are against the government's plan to allow abortions for children without parental consent.

So there's every reason for hope when there are so many people around the world who support pro-life values.

Video of 2nd International Student Pro-Life Conference, March 2009

In March, SPUC Scotland organised the 2nd International Student Pro-Life Conference. Attendance was up markedly on last year's well-attended conference and it was judged a great success. Do watch the video summarising the conference clicking below.

Extreme pro-abortion anti-family report presented at Human Rights Council meeting

A report into violence against women has been used to promote an extreme pro-abortion agenda at the United Nations Human Rights Council, currently meeting in Geneva. The report, by Yakin Ertürk, the council's special rapporteur on violence against women, attempts to link bans on abortion with violence against women. The report is entitled "15 Years of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences (1994-2009), a critical review".

Pat Buckley, representing SPUC at the council meeting, commented:

"Irrespective of what the report says, there is not and never can be a human right to abortion. The idea of trying to create a right to terminate the life of the most vulnerable human beings, by tearing them from their mothers' wombs, is in fact the very essence of violence against women and their babies."

The report refers to "violations related to reproductive rights pertain[ing] to violence occurring directly and indirectly as a result of State action/inaction in the context of reproductive health policy", such as "criminal sanctions against all forms of abortions".

The report has yet to be approved by the council, which will meet until 19 June. SPUC is urging government representatives to study the report carefully, as it appears to contain many unacceptable and disturbing claims against the value of human life, the status of the family and the dignity of women.

Culture of neglect of the elderly will add to assisted suicide death-toll

An inquest into the death of Harry Denton (pictured), an elderly man with Alzheimer's, has heard claims that carers left him alone at home without food or drink for five days before he died in hospital of pneumonia. As the case is currently under inquest, I don't propose to comment further on the reported claims. What I wish to underscore is that there is evidence of a culture of neglect in Britain of elderly, disabled and vulnerable people; and that such neglect will become more common if assisted suicide is allowed.

People with degenerative diseases, or in advanced age, will feel under pressure to agree to an assisted suicide, with the implicit or even explicit message that it's better that they agree to die before they become too much of a burden. As Baroness Warnock said in September:

"If you're demented, you're wasting people's lives – your family's lives – and you're wasting the resources of the National Health Service ... [I]f somebody absolutely, desperately wants to die because they're a burden to their family, or the state, then I think they too should be allowed to die ... [T]here's nothing wrong with feeling you ought to do so for the sake of others as well as yourself."

Dame Joan Bakewell, the anti-life broadcaster appointed by Harriet Harman to be a 'Voice for Older People', has referred sinisterly to "an old age that brings with it all the humiliations of being helpless, incontinent and in pain."

And in a parliamentary debate in November, Baroness Greengross spoke of people "losing their dignity at the end of life".

So some of the most prominent and senior figures in our society are already trying to convince the vulnerable that they would be better off dead, shamelessly exploiting them for political capital in the parliamentary campaign to legalise assisted suicide. Let's stop that campaign in its tracks - please see and act today upon SPUC's action alert on the Coroners and Justice bill.

Anniversary highlights government role in abortion history

Today is the 42nd anniversary of the first day of the Report stage of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill, the bill authored by David Steel which became the Abortion Act 1967. The bill was effectively talked out by a small group of dedicated pro-life MPs, who easily managed to keep the debate going until 4pm. Had the Labour government of the day not been persuaded by Roy Jenkins MP, the anti-life Home Secretary, to provide additional parliamentary time, the bill would have fallen on this day. (The full debate can be found here.)

SPUC in assisted suicide case in Lords today

SPUC will today be represented in a House of Lords hearing which concerns assisted suicide.

SPUC is the intervenor in Ms Debbie Purdy's appeal concerning whether her husband will be prosecuted if he takes her overseas to commit suicide.

SPUC argues against weakening the law which prohibits assisted suicide, as this would seriously undermine legal protection of the right to life. One result of this would be to threaten vulnerable people.

The principal issue is whether the Law Lords will overturn the ruling of the High Court and the Court of Appeal that the Director of Public Prosecutions is not required to issue a prosecuting policy on assisted suicide. The judges have so far held that the way the existing law is applied is sufficiently clear to enable Ms Purdy and her husband to know the likely outcome of their proposed actions.

Surprising support from the green left on population control

Further to my blog on the threat of population control in Australia, an interesting article has appeared on an Australian website called Green Left Online. Simon Butler, the author, starts by arguing that man-made climate change is a great danger. Unlike David Attenborough, however, Mr Butler gives ten reasons why population control is not the answer. Below are the ten reasons, but do read the arguments for them in full. I don't agree with some of the article's points, not least because not all them are pro-life/pro-family, but it is refreshing that some people on the green left are opposed to population control.

From "Ten reasons why population control can’t stop climate change", Simon Butler, Green Left Online, 31 May 2009:

1. Population does not cause climate change
2. The world is not 'full'
3. Social justice and women’s equality are the best contraception (JS: though, of course, actual contraception and a contraceptive mentality are, as I've argued before, bad for humanity.)
4. The climate emergency demands immediate, transformative action now
5. Population arguments wrongly downplay the potential to win
6. Population control is an old argument tacked onto a new issue
7. Arguing for tighter migration restrictions in Australia is a dangerous policy
8. Population control has a disturbing history
9. People in the global South are part of the solution, not the problem
10. Who holds political power is the real ‘population’ issue

Life is not a disposable consumer product

George Pitcher, the religion editor of the Daily Telegraph, has an excellent article on why assisted suicide is wrong. Among other things, he says:

"Fear leads us to consider that life can be treated as a consumer product, to be disposed of when it turns rotten, and to kid ourselves that there is 'dignity' in doing so ... The mistake is in thinking that our life is our own, to do with as we wish, when actually it is only defined in relationship to those around us. To commoditise life is to disown it and to deny others their duty of care."

It is therefore disturbing to read in the Guardian that there are almost 800 British members of Dignitas, the Swiss suicide company, with 34 of them ready to travel to Zurich and take a lethal drug overdose.

We have seen how abortion and IVF are now regarded are public services, with a focus by government on waiting times, waiting lists, equitable provision in all regions, etc. Without a prohibition on assisted suicide, the culture of death will spread yet further from the unborn to the born. This is something which is already happening in various ways, of course, but it will acclerate if an amendment is passed to the Coroners and Justice bill next week - please see and act today upon SPUC's action alert.

SPUC condemns shooting of Dr George Tiller

SPUC has condemned the shooting in Kansas, USA of George Tiller, a prominent abortion provider.

Although the motivation behind the killing of Dr Tiller has yet to be established, SPUC, in common with other pro-life groups, condemns his killing as a crime against life. SPUC has always condemned violence, whether against abortionists or unborn babies. Acts of violence towards the staff of abortion facilities are isolated. Those responsible have on each occasion acted as individuals, and not members of any pro-life group.

Our sympathy goes out to Dr Tiller's family.