On Holy Innocents Day, remember the work of Good Counsel Network

It's Holy Innocents Day in the Catholic calendar - a day when Catholics and others turn their minds to the deaths recorded by St. Matthew (2:16 - 18) in the following Gospel passage:

Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry; and sending killed all the men children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying: A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

It's a day when our minds naturally turn to the countless millions of unborn children, more children than have ever been killed in the whole of human history, as a result of the policies of our modern King Herods - President Obama, the US president, Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, David Cameron, the UK's current prime minister, and so many others.

It's also a day when my mind turns to the countless courageous mothers - and fathers - who, sometimes enduring great hardship, withstand social and "moral" pressures to abort their children and, in spite of difficulties and sacrifices, look after them after they are born. I think especially of single parents who might be on their own this Christmas season. I also think of mothers and fathers who have been hurt by an abortion for which they may, or may not, have been partly responsible. I believe that their sufferings, both those who keep their babies and those who don't, can be a kind of bloodless martyrdom - a martyrdom which is providing the foundation of a new culture of life.

Also providing the foundation of a new culture of life are pro-life groups like Good Counsel Network "a life-affirming women’s organisation which offers a free pregnancy test, free advice, medical information, practical help and moral support to women seeking abortion". Good Counsel Network in London often provides help and support to mothers who get in touch with us at SPUC and we know we can always turn to them.

Here's what Stuart McCullough of the Good Counsel Network told me last week:

2012 has been an extremely busy year for the Good Counsel Network.

• We are running a new Intern Programme,
• We ran a “40 Days for Life” 24 hour a day prayer vigil outside one of the London abortuaries (see picture above)
• We continue to have a vigil 5 days a week at that abortuary.
• We’ve seen hundreds of abortion bound-women and many of them have changed their minds and continued their pregnancies, resulting in 95 babies born already this year and more due.

We have not however been able to raise sufficient funds to cover our current outgoings. At the moment we have outstanding bills of approximately £10,000. It can be difficult at times to estimate our costs as the support offered to some mothers will be very small, while others will need a lot of help. Earlier this year we met a young woman who was going into an abortion clinic to abort her twins. After a number of long counselling sessions with us it was clear that the reason for the abortion was her family’s reaction to her unmarried situation. As the girl herself said, “If I could actually marry my boyfriend in the next couple of months, I could keep the baby”. At this point we offered to help with some of the finance for her wedding. We kept everything as cheap as we could, her cake was ready-made and purchased at a local supermarket, but all in all we spent in the region of £1,000. This was not an expense that we could easily budget for as until we spoke to her we had no idea what help she would need.

Other problems we assist with include helping with rent for a short time, hiding women who are at risk from families and boyfriends, feeding and housing those without benefits, getting medical advice and care to those who cannot access it, ongoing counselling for those in distress, and for those suffering after abortion – just to name a few things. I would ask you to consider making a regular monthly donation via a standing order if you do not have one already. Be it for £5, £10, 50, or £100 per month it really does make a huge difference to our Life-Saving work. Or you can of course send us a donation however large or small. If someone were to donate £1000 at this time it would be fair to say that the twins mentioned above and other babies like them will live through God’s Grace and their generous donation. I would like to thank you for your continued support of The Good Counsel Network over the last 16 years.
God Bless,
Stuart McCullough

I warmly commend the work of Stuart and Clare McCullough and their team to the visitors to my blog. Write to them at  The Good Counsel Network, PO BOX 46679 LONDON NW9 8ZT or email: info@goodcounselnetwork.freeserve.co.uk

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Obama's hypocrisy on caring for children defies belief

I am most grateful to the wonderful blogger known to many of his readers as "Bones" for drawing my attention to LifeSite's video: Imagine if Obama were pro-life.

Barack Obama, the most pro-abortion president in US history,  made a speech which moved people throughout the world following the shocking massacre of twenty little schoolchildren and six staff members in Newtown, Connecticut. That incomprehensible tragedy was rightly marked by powerful presidential oratory and expressions of a political determination to stop such tragedies from recurring.

In his speech, Obama says: 

"This is our first task ... caring for our children ... If we don't get that right, we don't get anything right ... "

At this point it really must be said - in view of the countless children being killed right now by Obama's policies, his hypocrisy defies belief.

Few politicians anywhere espouse policies as extreme as Mr Obama’s (although Tony Blair, former UK prime minister, provides tough competition in this respect). In 2001, when as a member of the Illinois State senate, he repeatedly voted against a law requiring medical personnel to give treatment to babies who survived abortion.

In no sense could the survival of a child after an abortion be considered a threat to his or her mother yet Mr Obama believed helping such a baby to live would undermine the legal right to abortion. Explaining his opposition to the Illinois Born Alive Infant Protection Act he said:

"...whenever we define a pre-viable fetus as a person that is protected by the equal protection clause or the other elements in the Constitution, what we're really saying is, in fact, that they are persons that are entitled to the kinds of protections that would be provided to a – child, a 9-month-old – child that was delivered to term. …

"I mean, it – it would essentially bar abortions, because the equal protection clause does not allow somebody to kill a child, and if this is a child, then this would be an anti-abortion statute...".

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The Catholic Church must stand up to IPPF abortion agenda in Ireland

Tony O'Brien (pictured), one of the leading campaigners for the legalization of abortion in Ireland, and formerly chief executive of the Irish Family Planning Association, has been appointed Director General of Ireland's Health Service Executive. The Irish Family Planning Association is, of course, an affiilate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the world's largest abortion-promoting agency.

Thus, IPPF has its feet firmly under the top table of Irish government. Read the blogpost of Pat Buckley, European Life Network Ireland director, for further information about the implications of this appointment and pro-lifers' dismay.

Last year IPPF launched It's all one curriculum. A quick review of that document shows the kind of policies which the Irish government might reasonably expect an IPPF man to promote as director general of Ireland's health service executive. I urge all Irish citizens, and all those who love Ireland, to read my earlier post on it.

It tells you everything you need to know as to what utterly corrupt and corrupting policies, targeted at young children, to which at least some in the Irish government appear to want to sign up.

The big question now is: Will Catholic church leaders stand up and be counted - in Ireland, or in Rome - and try to stop what is almost certain to happen to the Irish people unless they act?

Accommodation of the pro-abortion lobby, as we saw in 2009 with Archbishop Rino Fisichella, hasn't worked. It's simply served to embolden the most powerful political leaders in the world - Obama in the US, Blair and Cameron in Britain - who know that they can promote their abortion policies without fear of disapproval.

It's time to take Catholic doctrine on the sanctity of human life, on the duty to oppose the scandalisation and corruption of young people, off the shelf; shake off the dust on the pages which has accumulated after decades of lack of use; it's time to get up in the pulpits and out in the public square; it's time to speak the truth and to defend this generation's families and children - just as the Scottish bishops have done so well over the years and in recent weeks.

As my pro-life colleague in Ireland, Pat Buckley, said to me recently:

"Until now Ireland's fidelity to the Christian faith has helped it stand almost alone in Europe in prohibiting abortion.  At the same time it has led the world in the reduction of maternal mortality.  For both these reasons Ireland is hated by the forces of the culture of death which are preparing the imminent destruction of its pro-life laws."

The pro-life groups in Ireland are doing what they can. Will the Church speak out? will they help them?

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MPs who vote for Cameron gay marriage pledge will be punished at election time

SPUC has responded to David Cameron's speech, reported by The Telegraph this morning  in which he promised to enshrine same-sex marriage in law before the next general election in 2015.

As I told the media this morning, there are numerous reports that the Conservative party is already losing huge numbers of voters, members and activists because of Mr Cameron's foolish support of same-sex marriage. SPUC and its colleagues in many pro-family, Christian and Muslim groups, representing countless thousands of supporters and activists up and down the country, will ensure that same-sex marriage becomes a big general election issue, especially in marginal constituencies.

Mr Cameron's speech reveals that his understanding of marriage and religion is woefully simplistic and ignorant. His mantra of 'equality' totally ignores the nature, history and role of marriage, which is the union of one man and one woman ordered towards the procreation of children.

Redefining marriage to include same-sex couples is outside Mr Cameron's remit as a political leader. The family - not the government - is the first and vital cell and source of human society, and is therefore a pre-political institution. By seeking to redefine marriage, Mr Cameron is also seeking to redefine the family, which is based upon marriage between one man and one woman. Mr Cameron is clearly doing his best to copy Tony Blair as a social engineering guru.

SPUC's position paper on same-sex marriage explains why SPUC, as a pro-life campaigning organisation, campaigns against same-sex unions.

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Must-read pro-life news-stories, Tue 24 July

Top story:

SPUC welcomes new Catholic archbishop of Glasgow
SPUC has welcomed the appointment of Bishop Philip Tartaglia as the new Catholic archbishop of Glasgow. John Smeaton, SPUC’s chief executive, commented: “Archbishop-elect Tartaglia has been outspoken in the defence of the sanctity of human life, as well as the dignity of the family based solely on marriage between one man and one woman. We at SPUC look forward to supporting Archbishop-elect Tartaglia in his pro-life and pro-family ministry in the coming, challenging years." [SPUC, 24 July]

Other stories:

Abortion

• Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin remains to be convinced that the Oireachtas should legislate for abortion in Ireland [Pat Buckley, 23 July]
• A large group of Fine Gael deputies will oppose abortion legislation in Ireland [Pat Buckley, 23 July]
• Irish health minister predicts expert group will recommend abortion legislation [Irish Times, 22 July]
• Leading pro-life doctor slams BBC over slanted coverage [SPUC youth blog, 23 July]
• UK mother-of-two self-aborted her baby [Mail, 23 July]
• UK abortion alliance splits after attacks on ministers [Telegraph, 22 July]

Sexual ethics

• Concerned parents in Tower Hamlets hear family issues expert [John Smeaton, 23 July]
• Tony Blair confirms dissent from Catholic doctrine on gay marriage [Telegraph, 23 July]
• UK Conservative party losing members over gay marriage support [Telegraph, 21 July]
• Evidence points to the negative impact of contraception on women's health [John Smeaton, 19 July]
• Polish church, pro-life and pro-family leaders attack Council of Europe convention on gender [LifeSiteNews.com, 18 July]

General

• Sterilization of "mental defectives" defeated by Parliament 81 years ago [John Smeaton, 20 July]
• SPUC supporters conquer Britain's highest peaks [John Smeaton, 19 July]

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Must-read pro-life news-stories, Wed 14 Mar

Sarah Teather, UK govt minister

Top stories:

GMC suspends doctor filmed agreeing to abort foetus because it was baby girl 
A doctor filmed agreeing to sex-selective abortion has been suspended by the General Medical Council. Dr Raj Mohan, of the Calthorpe Clinic, Birmingham, is under investigation following revelations by The Telegraph newspaper. Two other doctors involved have also been suspended pending investigations. [Mail, 12 March]

Pro-abortion leader admits: sex-selective abortion is dilemma for 'pro-choice' lobby
The leader of Britain's oldest pro-abortion group has admitted that sex-selective abortion is a dilemma for the so-called 'pro-choice' lobby. Julia Bentley, head of the Family Planning Association (FPA), wrote that she has "felt personally conflicted on the matter" and that "I don't think there are simple answers to dilemmas of this complexity and I'm not afraid to say I certainly don't have them." [Huffington Post, 12 March] Anthony Ozimic of SPUC commented: "Ms Bentley's admission proves that the pro-abortion lobby has no convincing answers to the scandal of sex-selective abortion."

UK government calls for more contraception and sex ed to reduce teen pregnancies
British government health ministers have called for more contraception and sex education in response to higher rates of teenage pregnancies in some parts of the country. In a joint statement, Sarah Teather (pictured) and Paul Burstow said: "The evidence shows that comprehensive education about relationships and sex (SRE), combined with easy access to effective contraception are the two essential ingredients for reducing teenage pregnancy. Every young person needs decent SRE and contraception advice" [Children & Young People Now, 12 March] However, research by Professor David Paton has shown that promoting sex education and contraception does not reduce teenage pregnancy.

Other stories:

Abortion

• Pro-infanticide paper is disturbing, but no surprise [SPUC youth blog, 14 March]

Sexual ethics

• Report on Dublin family conference [Pat Buckley, 14 March]
• Quest gay Catholic group mocks archbishops’ defence of marriage [Protect the Pope, 13 March]
• Israeli court recognizes biological motherhood of two lesbians for one child [LifeSiteNews.com, 13 March]
• First gay couple to become fathers in UK open surrogacy centre for same-sex couples [Mail, 13 March]
• Tony Blair backs gay marriage [Independent, 11 March]

General

• SPUC was "the cavalry riding over the hill" says veteran Northern Ireland political leader [John Smeaton, 13 March]
• There isn't a debate - life begins at conception [SPUC youth blog, 13 March]
• Pro-life in East London: a landmark occasion [SPUC youth blog, 12 March]
• Kent youth rave about SPUC's youth conference [John Smeaton, 10 March]
• Report on SPUC's 5th International Pro-Life Youth Conference [SPUC youth blog, 9 March]

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Fr Leon Pereira stands up to pro-abortion Jon Cruddas MP

Fr Leon Pereira O.P.

Fr Leon Pereira (pictured at a 40 Days for Life London vigil), a Dominican priest, has spoken out against the invitation to Dr Jon Cruddas, the pro-abortion MP, to speak at a Catholic conference at Blackfriars, the Dominican hall at Oxford university tomorrow. You can read Fr Pereira's letter on the blog Catholics: Called to be faithful, not compromise. I quote some key extracts from Fr Pereira's excellent letter below.

According to an email from Fr Richard Finn O.P. of the Las Casas Institute (the conference organisers) to Daniel Blackman, Dr Cruddas is now unable to attend the conference (Fr Finn did not cite the reason for this). Nonetheless, my son Paul and other faithful pro-life/pro-family Catholics will be going ahead with a prayer vigil of reparation for the invitation to Dr Cruddas outside Blackfriars tomorrow. There is no indication that either Las Casas or Blackfriars cancelled Dr Cruddas' appearance, and therefore the purpose of praying in reparation for their invitation to Dr Cruddas remains.

From Fr Leon Pereira's letter:

"Dr Cruddas’ voting record as an MP on abortion and same sex unions is not in keeping with the teaching or mind of the Catholic Church. This matters all the more because I am given to understand that Dr Cruddas describes himself as a ‘practising Catholic’ - a designation at odds with his actions as an MP. His actions appropriate the dimension of scandal precisely because he is a public figure. Therefore what he says and does in public which is contrary to Catholic faith and morals, all the while describing himself as a ‘practising Catholic’, are a scandal to the Faithful and prone to reinforce the assumption that perhaps these things (abortion, same sex unions, etc) do not matter, and that Catholics may reasonably conform their mind to that of the age, and still somehow (mysteriously!) remain fully Catholic without incurring any penalties whatsoever. That is a grave wrong wrought against God and His Church.
...
"The invitation, although not an awards ceremony, nevertheless takes on the air of an accolade ... Is it inconceivable that he or his supporters may say that he was honoured by an invitation to Blackfriars...?"
...
"There seems to be an assumption in this country that to be Catholic is to be Labour. This naivete reached a nadir in the fawning displayed by our Church over that most reprehensible couple Tony and Cherie Blair. In Mr Blair’s case, I cannot understand how he could be received into the Church without a public abjuration of his erroneous beliefs and practices - for example, his own voting record on abortion. These were errors he committed before he became a Catholic, but they were in the public sphere, and his reception as a Catholic without any recantation is a continuing scandal."
...
"The great irony is that Dr Cruddas (who has woefully failed to stand up for the Catholic teaching on abortion by his voting) has been invited by an institute committed to ‘justice and peace’ (our normal shorthand for Catholic Social Doctrine) when the single greatest justice and peace issue in our country is abortion!"

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Vatican Radio should set the record straight about Cherie Blair

Cherie Blair, condom and pro-aborts

Vatican Radio has just broadcast (printed summary and full audio) a fawning profile of, and interview with, Cherie Blair (replete with pleasant meditative incidental music), describing her as "a devout Catholic". The interview included a discussion of how Mrs Blair met charities on a weekly basis at No.10 Downing Street when her husband Tony was prime minister. The interview made no mention of the private reception at No.10 Mrs Blair hosted in July 2003 for the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the world’s leading promoter and provider of abortion, and its “Lust for Life” fundraising campaign. The interview also failed to mention that, at the annual Labour party conference in September 2005, Mrs Blair celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Family Planning Association (fpa), the UK branch of IPPF, helping to cut a special birthday cake (and pictured here jokingly offering a condom to the camera-man.) Both IPPF and FPA endorsed the failed campaign to remove the Holy See from the United Nations.

The interview focused on Mrs Blair's work on women's issues; yet made no mention that she is notorious for claiming that her career success would not have been possible if not for contraception. In December 2009 she claimed that:

"Controlling our fertility has been one of the key reasons why women have been able to progress".

On her website, in the section "About this site", Mrs Blair writes:

"This website is dedicated to the issues that concern me, to helping improve the position of women throughout the world by sharing information and by safeguarding and promoting human rights. At the heart of the website is the Women of the World section."

On a page in the Women of the World section, Mrs Blair says:

"The [United Nations] Convention [on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) ... is the only human rights treaty which affirms the reproductive rights of women".

"Reproductive rights" is a term commonly used to include abortion on demand.

The page ends by linking to the CEDAW committee, which is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the CEDAW convention. The CEDAW committee uses the CEDAW convention to bully countries into allowing abortion, even though the convention doesn't mention abortion. The CEDAW committee issued a report calling upon the UK government to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland.

The Vatican Radio interview was conducted "after she spoke to participants at a recent conference in Rome organized by the Women’s Studies Institute at the Pontifical Atheneum Regina Apostolorum". Both Vatican Radio and Regina Apostolorum should know better than to have given Mrs Blair a platform. In 2004 the U.S. bishops approved a policy stating, in part:

“The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”

"[P]latforms which would suggest support for their actions" has been interpreted to mean "speaking invitations, as these invitations would suggest support for their actions." In February 2008 a number of prominent US Catholic leaders signed a joint letter which:

"urge[d] our fellow leaders of Catholic schools, universities, hospitals, charitable organizations, advocacy groups, media and other institutions to refrain from all activities that provide a public platform to, or imply support or even neutrality toward, political leaders and candidates who advocate positions on serious moral issues that are clearly contrary to Catholic teaching, most especially the Church’s reverence for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death."

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UK government funded international pro-abortion lobby's sinister new sex ed curriculum

Stasi - or sexual rights informers?

During the recent Commission on the Status of Women sessions at the United Nations in New York (which SPUC attended), the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the Population Council and other pro-abortion groups held a meeting to present the worldwide roll-out of “It’s All One Curriculum", a massive programme of so-called comprehensive sex education. Our colleagues at United Families International (UFI), who were at the meeting, reported that the meeting's moderator said:

"If we can just get this new comprehensive sex education program into every school and fully implemented around the globe, we can all stop working and go home!"

The curriculum guidelines describe its target audiences thus:

“It's All One Curriculum is designed primarily for curriculum developers, schoolteachers, and community educators ... A second audience for the It’s All One Curriculum kit includes health and education policymakers and school administrators ... The content of It’s All One Curriculum was developed for young people aged 15 and older, whether in or out of school. More and more, though, experts and policymakers see the necessity of starting this type of education at earlier ages ... Many educators who teach children younger than 15 can draw on this kit to create an appropriate curriculum” (pp.6-7)

But what is perhaps more significant is the list of acknowledgments:

“Finally, we thank our donors, whose financial and collegial support made It’s All One Curriculum possible. Our sincere thanks to ... the UK Department for International Development (DfID)” (p. vi)

The UK government is the only government listed as a contributor to the curriculum.

There is also a direct link with forced abortion in China. Among the Technical Review committee was: "Tang Kun (China Family Planning Association)". The China Family Planning Association, the state-run IPPF affiliate in China, is responsible for ensuring that the one-child policy is implemented.

Yet what is of greatest - and gravest - importance is the curriculum's deeply sinister content. Below is no more than a small sample of the massive curriculum itself (with my emphases in bold and followed by my brief comments).

This curriculum is a major new worldwide threat to the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the family. Pro-lifers worldwide therefore must urgently study its content, and alert:

• parents
• school governors, headteachers and other educationalists
• politicians and policy-makers
• clergy of all denominations (especially Catholic bishops due to their enormous potential influence)
• sympathetic media outlets
• other pro-lifers.

Samples from "It’s All One Curriculum"
(SPUC thanks our colleagues at United Families International (UFI) for their assistance with this material)

“Indicate a person or organization to go to or call if someone’s sexual rights are being ignored." (p.21) "[I]dentify trusted individuals (or organizations) who can help respond to incidents of discrimination" (p.32) “[J]oin organizations or groups that fight for sexual and reproductive rights using various tactics. Examples include:...community “watch groups".

This is akin to the way that people in Communist East Germany were encouraged to inform on their own family members to the Stasi secret police (Stasi monument pictured above). The Brazilian government has just set up an emergency phone line for people to report incidents of "homophobia".*

“Only when our basic rights are honored (both by governments and by other individuals) can we make meaningful choices about intimate relationships, sex, and childbearing. For example: Individuals... can have a safe abortion. They can adopt a child regardless of their marital status or sexual identity.” (p.28)

This is asserted despite the fact there is no right to abortion or homosexual adoption in international law.

"[Y]oung people who believe in "traditional" or "conservative" gender roles... tend to have more sexual health problems" (p.30)

In other words, family men are really sexually-dysfunctional hypocrites.

"Discuss how gender norms perpetuate child marriage, female genital mutilation, and violence (including sexual violence). Explain how conventional gender roles can increase the likelihood that women and girls will face HIV or other sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy. Understand that gender norms can undermine the well-being of both boys and girls." (p.43)

The curriculum exploits repeatedly concerns about health and safety in order to attack the natural family.

"Girls also suffer pressures to comply with norms of femininity, for example, to:...avoid having sex before marriage, even if they wish to." (p.49) "Rigid gender roles...contribute to suicide, violence, and many other social problems ... People who may be particularly subject to such stigma include:...women with multiple sexual partners" (p.50)

The upholding of modesty and chastity are thereby denigrated as highly dangerous.

"Despite social taboos, many young people refuse to be isolated [e.g.] sex workers." (p.57) "Around the world, women — and many men — are seeking to expand women’s and girls’ access to and control over resources [e.g.] efforts by sex workers to improve and control their working conditions."

Prostitution is therefore promoted as socially acceptable and worthy of protection.

"Marriage may also reinforce gender norms, including in ways that are unfair and harmful. Certain social movements promote greater equality and dignity within marriage. These include: movements to legalize same-sex marriage" (p.61)

Heterosexual marriage is tarred with the brush of suspicion, whereas gay marriage is lauded as great social progress.

"An educator’s own values should not interfere with teaching about sexuality ... Use respectful terms...particularly in regard to same-sex attraction, sexually active girls, and young people who do not conform to conventional gender norms ... Teachers must...respect their confidentiality." (p.81)

This is a thinly-veiled warning to teachers not to obstruct children's so-called sexual rights or children's access to secret abortions without parental knowledge or consent.

“Sexuality may be expressed by oneself ... Sexuality — expressed alone...can be a source of pleasure and meaning in life. It can enhance happiness, well-being, health, and the quality of life. (p.84) “For many people, fantasy may create or increase desire. Thinking about a sexual act is normal, not shameful.” (p.92) "[T]he rights of all persons to sexual expression. These rights include the right to seek pleasure ... Masturbation is an important way that people learn about their bodies and sexuality ... Masturbation is a safe sexual behavior. It is neither physically nor mentally harmful." (p.99)

Self-abuse is therefore regarded as a human right.

"In terms of sex, no one way to look or behave is correct, so long as consent and safety are assured." (p.87) 

This could include incest or adultery.

“Most governments, and most people, recognize the benefits of contraception and the right to use it. Most governments and health services provide contraceptive services to any individual who requests them (regardless of age, gender, or marital status)." (p.206)

Thus the youngest children should have access to artificial birth control - which then makes it all the easier for child sex abusers to conceal their crimes.

"Emergency contraception is useful ... Emergency contraception is not a method of abortion." (p.213)

Getting governmental, judicial and professional authorities to exclude morning-after pills from the category of abortion is the one of the main ways the pro-abortion lobby has been using to promote them.

“People and governments may oppose access to abortion because they ... believe that women should not have control over their own lives and fertility [or] wrongly think that making abortion safe and legal will increase sexual promiscuity or will increase abortion rates.” (p.216)

The curriculum thus shows itself to be nakedly polemical rather than educational.

"People can join national campaigns to achieve fairness and equality. Such campaigns may include those to:...save girls’ and women’s lives by decriminalizing abortion [and] ensure enforcement of laws that protect gender equality (including in the face of opposition by conservative or religious movements). ... People ecan support or join movements for social change at the global level. For example:...youth-led networks for sexual and reproductive rights and services." (p.231)

This reminds me of Tony Blair's pledge to "sweep away the forces of conservatism" and his repeated promotion of "change" and youth - campaigns which he has revived to undermine Catholic pro-life/pro-family teaching.

* Why are homosexual issues relevant to the pro-life movement? The late Pope John Paul II, the great pro-life champion, taught in no. 97 of his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae 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 sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection.

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David Attenborough's speech shows why pro-lifers should support Humanae Vitae

Sir David Attenborough, the famous naturalist, gave a speech yesterday promoting population control. He said:

"Stop population increase – stop the escalator – and we have some chance of reaching the top – that is to say a decent life for all.
...
In my view all countries should develop a population policy – some 70 countries already have them in one form or another – and give it priority. The essential common factor is to make family planning and other reproductive health services freely available to every one and empower and encourage them to use it – though of course without any kind of coercion.
...
If you belong to a Church – and especially if you are a Catholic because its doctrine on contraception is a major factor in this problem – suggest they consider the ethical issues involved."

To my mind it is clear that Sir David's speech shows why pro-lifers should support the Catholic Church's prohibition on contraception. In Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI wrote:

"[C]areful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone."

In other words, once it's regarded as good that individual couples should have access to contraception, and necessary that humans reduce their numbers, then the imposition of population control becomes inevitable. China and Vietnam already have long-standing forced abortion programmes, and India and Peru have had forced sterilisation programmes in the recent past.

The high incidence of abortion around the world, whether voluntary or forced abortion, has been created and fuelled by the contraceptive mentality, which thinks that children are usually a burden to be avoided. If the Catholic Church worldwide - the world's largest religious denomination, comprising at least one in seven of the world's population - were to concede that contraception (or even those prophylactics which impede conception e.g. condoms) were licit, then both abortion and mandatory population control would become irreversible worldwide.

That is why pro-lifers should fall four-square behind Humanae Vitae, and why the undermining of Humanae Vitae by Catholic bishops, by high-profile Catholics such as Tony & Cherie Blair, and by Catholic publications such as The Tablet, is of grave concern even to secular pro-life groups such as SPUC.

And so it is very interesting to read, reproduced in this weekend's Tablet, this Tablet report from exactly 50 years ago today:

"The cardinals and archbishops of France, who assembled in Paris last week for their annual spring meeting, published when it was over a statement on the subject of birth control ... They made it equally clear that the Church condemns the artificial prevention of births by the use of contraceptives, as she also condemns sterilisation and abortion ... The unnatural limitation of births, they went on, is not the remedy for overpopulation and hunger; the remedy lies in the provision of more and better housing, and of all that is necessary for the normal development of family life."

P.S. You can find resources to rebut Sir David's bogus arguments for population control listed in my blog of 9 February.

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Pope Benedict says that life and family come before the environment

Pope Benedict, in a message to Brazil's bishops yesterday, said:

"[T]he first ecology to be defended is 'human ecology'. This is to say that, without a clear defence of human life from conception until natural death; without a defence of the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman...we will never be able to speak of authentic protection of the environment."

Yesterday's message echoes Pope Benedict's address to the diplomatic corps in January last year, in which he said:

"If we wish to build true peace, how can we separate, or even set at odds, the protection of the environment and the protection of human life, including the life of the unborn? It is in man’s respect for himself that his sense of responsibility for creation is shown. As Saint Thomas Aquinas has taught, man represents all that is most noble in the universe (cf. Summa Theologiae, I, q. 29, a. 3)."

It also echoes his opening address of his visit to Australia in 2008, in which he said:

"The concerns for non-violence, sustainable development, justice and peace, and care for our environment are of vital importance for humanity. They cannot, however, be understood apart from a profound reflection upon the innate dignity of every human life from conception to natural death: a dignity conferred by God himself and thus inviolable."

Pope Benedict is clearly calling upon Catholic groups and individuals who campaign on environmental issues (especially those ones who ignore or even actively undermine life and family, e.g. the Catholic bishops' conference of England and Wales, CAFOD, Progressio, Caritas, The Tablet, Tony Blair) to reject the "seamless garment" error, so well debunked in September 2009 by Cardinal Burke, who said:

"The moral questions pertaining to the safeguarding and fostering of human life are all related to one another but they are not of the same weight. To use the image of the garment, they are not all of the same cloth."

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Cherie Blair is a danger for women and unborn children in the developing world

The Telegraph reports that Cherie Blair:

"has been asked by Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, to examine how the United Kingdom can help women in poor countries get involved in business and public life ... Westminster insiders suggested that the appointment could be a first step towards becoming a peer ... Three years ago, [she] set up the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women ... "Mrs Blair said that ... '[T]here are so many barriers faced by women and girls in the developing world that they are often unable to participate in economic or political life and struggle to get access to health care...'."

Mrs Blair's new role, and the possibility of a peerage, poses a fresh danger for women and unborn children in the developing world.

Mrs Blair is notorious for claiming that her career success would not have been possible if not for contraception. Also, in December 2009 she claimed that:

"Controlling our fertility has been one of the key reasons why women have been able to progress".

On her website, in the section "About this site", Mrs Blair writes:

"This website is dedicated to the issues that concern me, to helping improve the position of women throughout the world by sharing information and by safeguarding and promoting human rights. At the heart of the website is the Women of the World section."

On a page in the Women of the World section, Mrs Blair says:

"The [United Nations] Convention [on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) ... is the only human rights treaty which affirms the reproductive rights of women".

"Reproductive rights" is a term commonly used to include abortion on demand.

The page ends by linking to the CEDAW committee, which is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the CEDAW convention. The CEDAW committee uses the CEDAW convention to bully countries into allowing abortion, even though the convention doesn't mention abortion. The CEDAW committee issued a report calling upon the UK government to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland.

In July 2003, Mrs Blair endorsed the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the world’s leading promoter and provider of abortion, by hosting a private reception at 10 Downing Street (the prime minister’s residence) for IPPF’s “Lust for Life” fundraising campaign. At the annual Labour party conference in September 2005, Mrs Blair celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Family Planning Association (fpa), the UK branch of IPPF, helping to cut a special birthday cake (and pictured here jokingly offering a condom to the camera-man.) Both IPPF and FPA endorsed the failed campaign to remove the Holy See from the United Nations.

Cherie Blair has tried disingenuously to distance herself from abortion. Pro-lifers, especially Catholics, should be under no illusions about her and her husband Tony and their continuing campaign to undermine the right to life, and the dignity of the family upon which the protection of the right to life depends. As a report in The Daily Mail last week said so well, Tony Blair is a "morally dispossessed" collaborator with those who have little respect for the sanctity of human life - and the same can be said of Cherie Blair. I will be watching her closely in her new role.

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New study shows that artificial birth control doesn't reduce abortions, pregnancies or infections among minors

David Paton, professor of industrial economics at Nottingham University Business School, has co-authored a new study into the free provision of morning-after pills via pharmacies. Dr Paton told today's Telegraph:

“We find that offering the morning-after pill free of charge didn’t have the intended effect of cutting teenage pregnancies but did have the unfortunate side of effect of increasing sexually transmitted infections. By focusing on sexually transmitted infections, it allows us to test whether there is an impact on sexual risk-taking, and that seems to be the implication.”

And as Dr Paton says in the study itself:

"Empirical studies to date suggest that schemes to increase access to [morning-after pills] have failed to result in observable decreases in unwanted pregnancy or abortion rates ... [O]n average, the presence of a pharmacy [morning-after pill] scheme in a local authority is associated with an increase in the rate of STI diagnoses amongst teenagers of about 5%. The equivalent figure for U16s is even larger at 12%."

Time and again we see how the culture of death does young people a grave disservice, telling them that:

• losing their virginity before marriage is inevitable
• sex using artificial birth control is consequence-free; and
• abortion is always there as a back-up.

As a result the UK has stubbornly highest rates of teenage pregnancy, teenage sexually-transmitted infection and teenage abortion.

Dr Paton has provided a reliable basis upon which David Cameron's government can safely throw the Labour government's Teenage Pregnancy Strategy - which emphasised increased morning-after pills access (personally endorsed by Tony Blair*) - into the dustbin of history marked "Failed".

*foreword, Teenage Pregnancy Report, Social Exclusion Unit, 1999.

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We need pro-life bishops who are not respecters of persons

Today Catholics celebrate the Conversion of St Paul. In his Epistle to the Romans, St Paul says (2:11):

"For there is no respect of persons with God"

Respecting persons is rejected in numerous other places in Sacred Scripture. It means that God's law applies equally to all persons, rich or poor, strong or weak, famous or obscure. God is not impressed with flowery words, studied artifice or manufactured sentiments, but with loving obedience to His commandments, not least "Thou shalt not kill".

That's why I am very grateful to Bishop Thomas Tobin of Rhode Island, America, who has punctured the balloon of President Barack Obama's rhetoric. In his local Catholic newspaper, Bishop Tobin wrote about Mr Obama's words in response to the recent shooting in Tucson, Arizona:

"[T]here was something that left me cold, unimpressed and unmoved ... President Obama’s persistent and willful promotion of abortion renders his compassionate gestures and soaring rhetoric completely disingenuous ... As he stood on the stage in Tucson, he was a prophet without credentials; his speech, a song without a soul."

Bishop Tobin's cutting criticism of Mr Obama is in stark contrast to the silence of the Catholic bishops of England and Wales in response to British pro-abortion leaders. For example, none of the bishops are on record as pointing out the hypocrisy of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown or David Cameron. I believe this is because the policy of the Catholic bishops' conference of England and Wales is to respect persons in government and officialdom. This is evidenced by:

• the reception of Tony Blair into the Catholic Church by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, despite Mr Blair's failure to repudiate (before or since) his anti-life/anti-family political record;
• the co-operation between Archbishop Peter Smith and Lord Falconer, then Lord Chancellor, in the passage of the pro-euthanasia Mental Capacity Act (Lord Falconer has since gone on to be a prominent advocate of assisted suicide)
• the whitewashing by Archbishop Smith of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)'s policy on assisted suicide

Rather, we need more bishops like Thomas Tobin who, like St Thomas More, are "the King's good servant, but God's first".

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We must speak out for children abused by homosexual parenting

The late Pope John Paul II, the great pro-life champion, taught (Evangelium Vitae, 1995, para.97) that it is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not offer our children an authentic education in sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection.

This morning's newspapers carry extensive coverage of the news that Elton John and David Furnish are now the legal parents of a baby boy. Full details have not been confirmed, but it seems that Mr Furnish provided sperm which was used to fertilise a donated egg, and the resulting child was gestated by a surrogate mother. Sir Elton and Mr Furnish evaded UK restrictions on surrogacy by paying for the surrogacy arrangement in California.

In May 2006 Sir Elton blamed the Catholic Church's perennial prohibition on all condom use for AIDS-related deaths among his friends. Later that year he said that he would "ban religion completely". Earlier this year he claimed that Jesus was gay. Most disturbing was Sir Elton's 1999 concert celebrating the 10th anniversary celebration of Stonewall, the UK’s main homosexualist organisation. Sir Elton's performace featured homo-erotic dancers dressed as Boy Scouts. That performance was attended by Tony and Cherie Blair who, like Sir Elton, continue to attack the Catholic Church's teaching on sexual ethics.

Sir Elton's acquisition of a child is thus deeply disturbing. We have a duty to speak out against surrogacy and against homosexual parenting on behalf of the children involved, who are voiceless. Silence on our part would be consent. I hope that religious leaders will speak out in defence of the newborn child - including Catholic bishops. Please let me know if you hear anything. Unfortunately Catholic bishops in England and Wales have given vocal support to homosexualist goals, groups and publications. Both Archbishop Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Bernard Longley have attacked faithful pro-life/pro-family Catholics for telling inconvenient truths about the Soho Masses. One of those truths is the support for homosexual parenting among the Soho Masses organisers. Terence Weldon, a member of the Soho Masses Pastoral Council who distributes Holy Communion at the Masses, is also a homosexualist blogger who writes in favour of homosexual parenting.

Well-informed parents - not least those active locally or nationally in the pro-life movement - must make their voices heard with or without episcopal support. We owe it to the children.

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My address on human rights to this week's pro-life congress in Rome

Below is an abridged version of the address I gave on Thursday at the World Prayer Congress for Life in Rome, organised by Human Life International (HLI). The full version can be found on SPUC's website in the original English, plus translations into German, Italian and Spanish.

Human rights: truth and illusion in Europe

Rights which are incompatible with natural law are not only invalid, but their promotion demands the subjugation of some human beings in order to advance the interests of others. Almost on a weekly basis we see such alleged rights invoked to justify public policies which threaten the most vulnerable in society or used to silence those who speak out in defence of Christian values and natural law. Nowhere is this more clearly seen than with the attempts to separate the right to life from the principles of natural law.

Despite attempts to distort them, international agreements like the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognise the right to life of all members of the human family “without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” This also includes the distinction of personhood and non-personhood held by some, including thus far, European courts, to apply to the unborn child.

We must call upon governments and human rights institutions to return to the original meaning of these documents which were drafted in response to the atrocities revealed by the Nuremburg Tribunals. To do this, we must become more familiar with the international agreements which were intended to protect all human beings at every stage of life. We must resist injustice and continue to speak out for those who cannot defend themselves.

Tragically, abortion is legal in the vast majority of the Council of Europe member states. For many years in Britain, our government has been pursuing a policy of providing access to abortion and birth control drugs and devices for children under the age of sixteen without parental knowledge or consent. Similar policies are being pursued by the Spanish government. Tragically, over 60 years on from the Universal Declaration and the Second World War, it seems that the lessons have not been learned, not in Britain by the British government, not in Spain, by the Spanish government, and the same pressures are developing in Ireland and, without doubt, in other countries in Europe.

Europe is under intense attack and the pro-life and pro-family movement and Catholic Church leaders must be in the front line of resistance. This is World War Three and it's primarily a war on the unborn and on parents as the primary educators of their children. There is in fact a worldwide attack on unborn children, on marriage and the family, and on parents as the primary educators of their children. It's being led by the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the world's largest abortion-promoting agency, which has its headquarters in London. This attack is also promoted by the pro-abortion lobby in the European institutions, including the European Commission which is the world's largest multilateral donor to International Planned Parenthood Federation.

This attack on the unborn and on families is also supported by leading international pro-abortion figures such as Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister, who is clearly exploiting his entry into the Catholic Church in order to undermine Catholic teaching on the sanctity of human life, on marriage and on human sexuality, together with his wife Cherie Blair, who is also a Catholic; and by US President Barack Obama's administration. In Britain, this attack on unborn children, marriage and the family is also being supported by the Catholic bishops’ conference of England and Wales.

Sadly, the situation is made even worse by church leaders who appear to have imbibed the spirit of the age. Sadly, more and more Catholic parents are telling us at the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children about terrible experiences in Catholic schools, both at secondary and primary school level.

Disunity continues to grow in the Church throughout Europe because its leaders persist in failing to teach the doctrine and prophetic message of Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI's encyclical on the transmission of human life. The use of contraceptive drugs and devices by so many Catholics, which may, according to the manufacturers, cause an early abortion, is draining the pro-life movement of the support of the community most likely to support the battle against abortion. Couples who may be turning a blind eye to the practice of abortifacient birth control in the intimacy of their married lives may well find it difficult to support our unequivocal campaigns against abortion, IVF, human embryo research and euthanasia.

I believe that the values of Nobel Prize Winner Mother Teresa who said in her acceptance speech: ""[T]he greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion" will prevail over the values of Nobel Prize Winner, Barack Obama who has called for abortion on demand to be legalized throughout the world. Through our work in the years ahead, the dignity and inviolability of every human life will once again be reflected in people's consciences and national law, just as it's deeply entrenched in universally-binding human rights agreements. On the other hand, the values of the pro-abortion, pro-human embryo research lobby, reflected in the callous rhetoric of choice which tramples on human lives, born and unborn, will be consigned in the not so very distant future to a tragic chapter of human history.

The acceptance and implementation of the prophetic teaching of Humanae Vitae will only be possible if there is a radical change in the nomination policy of Bishops throughout Europe. The nominations of bishops who do not have a sustained and genuine track record of fidelity to the teachings of the Magisterium on the transmission of human life (Humanae Vitae) must stop. Such nominations must stop because the cost in babies' lives is simply too great.

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Austen Ivereigh clarifies his comments on Tony Blair and I respond

I'm glad to publish the following clarification from Dr Austen Ivereigh following my blog-post commenting on his Guardian article "Churches can help Labour's renewal":

"John,

You rightly point out that the SORs came in under Blair, not Brown. But you fail to say that Blair (and Ruth Kelly) sought an exemption for the Catholic adoption agencies but were outvoted by the secularists in the cabinet. This was a key turning-point.

You try to make out that my Guardian article seeks to justify Blair's record in relation to church teaching. But it doesn't. It says (first paragraph) that Blair 'did God' "not in the sense of agreeing with what the churches said, or enacting policy on that basis, but in granting exemptions and opt-outs from equality laws for faith-based organisations in order to preserve their integrity and independence." The first sentence makes your whole list of the Blair Government's offences against Catholic teaching, which you try to claim my article justifies, wholly redundant - in fact, it makes your whole post redundant. I haven't attempted any whitewash.

Best wishes

Austen"

My responses to Dr Ivereigh's clarification:

Dr Ivereigh:

"you fail to say that Blair (and Ruth Kelly) sought an exemption for the Catholic adoption agencies but were outvoted by the secularists in the cabinet."

My response:

• I am unaware of any actual proof that this is what really happened in the Blair cabinet. Also, there is no evidence (at least that I am aware of) that either Mr Blair or Mrs Kelly were prepared to take any further principled action on the matter. Mr Blair could have removed the regulations from the government's legislative programme, or challenged the cabinet to back him or sack him, or simply resigned. Mrs Kelly could have resigned (I and SPUC have commented on other evasions of moral responsibility by Mrs Kelly as a Catholic politician.) Such principled action is the minimum required of a Christian politician when faced with the evil of homosexual* adoption. In any case, homosexual adoption is evil per se, not just for Catholic adoption agencies. SPUC is fighting for the culture of life and of authentic love on behalf of both Catholics and non-Catholics. What was ethically required of Mr Blair and Mrs Kelly was not so much "exemptions and opt-outs" but moves to stop homosexual adoption altogether.

Dr Ivereigh:

"This was a key turning-point."

My response:

• I really didn't detect any notable difference between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown regarding the ethics of pro-life/pro-family issues.
• Dr Ivereigh doesn't actually detail what "exemptions and opt-outs" were in fact granted under Mr Blair, whilst neglecting to detail the numerous examples (see list below) of how Mr Blair and his government violated the integrity, independence, conscience and beliefs of people of faith and their organisations.

Dr Ivereigh:

"[M]y Guardian article...says (first paragraph) that Blair 'did God' "not in the sense of agreeing with what the churches said, or enacting policy on that basis, but in granting exemptions and opt-outs from equality laws for faith-based organisations in order to preserve their integrity and independence."

My response:

• "Granting exemptions and opt-outs" is hardly evidence that New Labour under Tony Blair did God "a lot".
• In the second and third sentences of his Guardian article, Dr Ivereigh wrote that under New Labour under Tony Blair: "There was respect for conscience and belief. Blair's ears were tuned to faith." If New Labour under Tony Blair really had done "God a lot" in any sense, really had had "respect for conscience and belief", and Mr Blair's ears really had been "tuned to faith", then Mr Blair and his government would have "agree[d] with what the churches said" and "enact[ed] policy on that basis". Instead, the New Labour government marked itself out as the most anti-life and anti-family government in British history, even before Mr Blair was replaced by Mr Brown.
• Dr Ivereigh doesn't actually detail what "exemptions and opt-outs" were in fact granted under Mr Blair, whilst neglecting to detail the numerous examples (see list below) of how Mr Blair and his government violated the integrity, independence, conscience and beliefs of people of faith and their organisations.

So I stand by my original post in its entirety. As prime minister Tony Blair

• did not "d[o] God a lot", in any sense
• did not manifest "respect for conscience and belief"
• did not have "ears...tuned to faith"

not least for the reasons I listed in my original post, which I list again below.

It seems to me that Dr Ivereigh has a defective perception of Christian politicians and their moral responsibilities on ethico-legal matters.

Some key facts about Mr Blair's time as prime minister which every British Christian needs to know:

• the Labour government passed the Sexual Orientation Regulations 2007 through parliament, because of which the Catholic Church was effectively stopped from providing adoption services.
• Mr Blair personally championed destructive experiments on human embryos (2000, 2004, August and September 2006)
• Mr Blair personally endorsed his government’s policy of supplying abortion and birth control drugs and devices to schoolgirls as young as 11 without parental knowledge or consent (Foreword, Teenage Pregnancy Report, Social Exclusion Unit, 1999)
• Mr Blair's government introduced legislation which led to a law which allows, and in certain circumstances requires, doctors to starve and dehydrate to death vulnerable patients (The Mental Capacity Act 2005). There is no conscience clause in the Mental Capacity Act. Mr Blair personally defended the legislation.
• Mr Blair's government in 2005 endorsed Recommended Standards for Sexual Health Services, drawn up by a coalition of pro-abortion advocates and abortion providers. The policy includes arm-twisting doctors who are reluctant to refer for abortion. Many GPs wish to refuse to refer women for abortions on medical grounds, or for religious or conscientious reasons. The Department of Health brooked none of these objections, but insisted that every woman who enquires about abortion is immediately referred for abortion.
• Mr Blair's government was committed to the promotion of abortion on demand as a universal fundamental human right (Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, A position paper, Department for International Development, 2004)
• Mr Blair's government passed through parliament the Civil Partnerships Act, which contains no conscience clause e.g. for registrars. In his memoirs published earlier this month Mr Blair made repeated references to his support for the homosexual agenda, such as: "Just before Christmas [2005] the Civil Partnership Act came into force ... I was really proud of that."

* The late Pope John Paul II, the great pro-life champion, taught in paragraph 97 of his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae 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 sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection.

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