SPUC's Anthony Ozimic comments on so-called "post-fertilisation contraception"

Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, has commented on recent news that scientists are developing a monthly birth-control pill as an alternative to daily birth-controls pills and the morning-after pill. Such a pill would work by killing newly-conceived human embryos. Anthony told Simon Caldwell, writing for The Catholic Times this past weekend:

"Firstly, it is both nonsensical and devious to speak of 'post-fertilisation contraception'. Contraception is something which prevents conception, which every embryology textbook teaches is the fertilisation of an egg by a sperm. The use of any drug to prevent a newly-conceived embryo from implanting in the womb, or to dislodge him or her from the womb, is abortion. Secondly, promoting chemical abortion outside of medical centres as preferable to surgical abortion inside medical centres is to promote a form of backstreet abortion. Lastly, the supposed 'benefit' of greater convenience will further fuel the already-rampant levels of promiscuity, abuse and disease which has been fuelled by mass promotion of both the ordinary contraceptive pill and the morning-after pill."

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Young pro-life women stand their ground at pro-abortion Goldsmiths University

Top stories:

Young pro-life women stand their ground at pro-abortion Goldsmiths University
On 25 September Daniel Blackman, SPUC's campaigns & education officer, and a group of five brave young women went to Goldsmiths University in London to hand out leaflets to new students. The level of hostility and harassment was appalling. What began as some simple leafleting ended with us being followed by a group of 15 aggressive pro-abortion students chanting, swearing at us, blocking us with placards, and then being followed several hundred metres down the road. [SPUC youth blog, 26 September]

Safe at School campaign to address Hounslow parents concerned about sex education in primary schools
Worried parents in Hounslow have invited Antonia Tully of SPUC's Safe at School campaign to talk to them about their rights as parents and how they can protect their children from explicit sex education. The meeting will take place on Tuesday 1 October, 7-9 pm at Wellington Day Centre, Staines Road, Hounslow, TW4 5BA. Mrs Tully said: "I will be telling parents in Hounslow that they are the experts in their children's lives. Only a parent knows when a child is ready to hear about the intimate details of human sexuality. This should be done in the privacy of the child's home, not publicly in the classroom. I will be showing parents how explicit sex education materials sexualise their children."  [SPUC, 27 September]

Protest outside abortion meeting during Labour's Brighton conference
A pro-life protest took place outside a meeting to promote abortion, during this past week's Labour's Brighton conference. 18 members of SPUC formed a silent chain of placard-holders outside a fringe meeting organised by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), one of Britain's largest chains of abortionists. Judy Law, a local SPUC activist, said: "Many post-abortive mothers are badly affected by abortion. It is vital that BPAS, the Labour party, and the people of Brighton were reminded of this sad situation. [SPUC, 25 September]

Other stories:

Abortion

• My letter on abortion in The Herald in Scotland [John Smeaton, 27 September]
• Repentant abortionist lays his surgical instruments at the feet of the Pope [ProLife Alliance, 26 September]

Euthanasia

• Bishop Egan of Portsmouth speaks out for doctors who respect life [John Smeaton, 27 September]

Population

• Resisting the population control elite hovering over Africa [LifeSiteNews.com, 26 September]

Sexual ethics

• Ex lads’ mag chief: ‘Porn most pernicious threat facing kids’ [Christian Institute, 27 September]

General

• Some texts for reflection in the light of Pope Francis's interview [John Smeaton, 26 September]

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Safe at School campaign to address Hounslow parents concerned about sex education in primary schools

Worried parents in Hounslow have invited Antonia Tully of SPUC's Safe at School campaign to talk to them about their rights as parents and how they can protect their children from explicit sex education.

Antonia told the media today:

"Parents have approached me because they are receiving confusing messages from both their children's schools and from the local authority.  For example they are being told that sex education is a compulsory part of the science curriculum. This is not true. The current science curriculum does not specify that sex is to be taught to children, a point confirmed last year by former schools' minister Nick Gibb.

Schools are interpreting the national curriculum to include sex in science lessons. Parents are understandably concerned. Their rights to withdraw their children have been stripped from them. Parents are the primary educators of their children in sexual matters, not the school or the local authority."

Safe at School, a campaign of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) www.spuc.org.uk has welcomed the new national curriculum for science at key stages 1 and 2. This makes clear that children are not expected to identify genitalia or be taught about sexual intercourse in science lessons.

Antonia continued:

"I will be telling parents in Hounslow that they are the experts in their children's lives. Only a parent knows when a child is ready to hear about the intimate details of human sexuality. This should be done in the privacy of the child's home, not publicly in the classroom. I will be showing parents how explicit sex education materials sexualise their children."

The Safe at School meeting will take place on Tuesday 1 October, 7-9 pm at Wellington Day Centre, Staines Road, Hounslow, TW4 5BA.

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Bishop Egan of Portsmouth speaks out for doctors who respect life

Simon Caldwell, the veteran Catholic journalist, reports in this weekend's Catholic Herald that Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth has spoken out in defence of doctors who respect life. The report reads:

"BISHOP Philip Egan of Portsmouth has accused the British Medical Association of favouring euthanasia by limiting doctors’ rights to conscientiously object to starving and dehydrating patients to death.

He spoke after revised BMA guidance told doctors that they would have the support of their union if they refused to withdraw food and fluid on religious or moral grounds – but only if they arranged for another medic to do it instead.

'It is immoral to bring about somebody’s death by withdrawing feeding and hydration,' Bishop Egan said. 'The BMA has shifted its position in favour of euthanasia rather than against it.'

He added: 'The underlying issue is that the law is out of sync with authentic morality.'

'The law in Britain is out of step with the moral foundations of caring legitimately for somebody in their last moments of life.'"

I wish to thank again Bishop Egan for preaching the Gospel of Life in the midst of Britain's culture of death.

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My letter on abortion in The Herald in Scotland

Yesterday The Herald, one of Scotland's main newspapers, published a letter from me about abortion. My letter was in reply to a column which used the incidence of backstreet abortion before the Abortion Act was passed in 1967 as an argument for legal abortion today. You can read my published reply online and my unedited original below.

The horror of abortion

The Herald, Thursday 26 September 2013

Sir,

Colette Douglas Home, in her column in the The Herald (24th September 2013), asks us to celebrate the end of the ‘horror’ of illegal ‘backstreet’ abortion.

Abortion, whether legal or illegal, is always a horror because it always results in the death of an unborn child and always carries a serious risk of physical and psychological harm to the mother.

Advocates of abortion have long exaggerated the number of women who died as a result of ‘backstreet’ abortion. During the passage of the 1967 Abortion Act MPs were led to believe that thousands of women were dying every year. In reality there were 32 tragic maternal deaths caused by abortion in 1966.

And these deaths still continue since the passage of the Abortion Act. Since 1968 at least 164 women have died following abortions. A recent heart-breaking case was the death of 19-year old Jessie-Maye Barlow, who died just before Christmas 2011, leaving behind a six-month old daughter. The recent horrific case of Kermit Gosnell, who is beginning three life sentences for crimes committed at his legal abortion clinic, shows well enough that women are not made safe simply because abortion is legally permitted.

All women deserve better than abortion.

John Smeaton
Chief executive
Society for the Protection of Unborn Children
3 Whitacre Mews
Stannary Street
London

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Some texts for reflection in the light of Pope Francis's interview

As most readers will know, Pope Francis gave a widely-reported interview recently to Jesuit publications, in which he addressed pro-life/pro-family issues and issues of church governance. His comments on these areas are similar to, and elaborations of, briefer comments he made during an in-flight press conference after World Youth Day. Below I offer some texts for reflection in the light of Pope Francis's interview, including words by Pope Francis himself. Quotations from the interview are in red;  texts for reflection are in blue.

From the interview with Pope Francis, published 19 September 2013:

“We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time."

Texts for reflection:

Pope Francis, address to Catholic doctors, 21 September 2013:

"[A]ttention to human life in its totality has become in recent times a real and proper priority of the Magisterium of the Church, particularly for life which is largely defenseless, namely, that of the disabled, the sick, the unborn, children, the elderly."
...
"[A] mandate: be witnesses and propagators of this "culture of life". Your being Catholic entails a greater responsibility: first of all, toward yourselves, for the commitment of coherence with the Christian vocation; and then towards contemporary culture, to contribute to recognize in human life the transcendent dimension, the imprint of the creative work of God, from the first instance of its conception. This is a commitment of the New Evangelization which requires often going against the current, paying as person. The Lord also counts on you to spread the “gospel of life.”"
...
"Dear doctor friends, you who are called to take care of human life in its initial phase, all of you must remember with facts and words, that this is always, in all its phases and at every age, sacred and is always of quality. And not because of a discourse of faith, but of reason and science! ."

Pope Francis, address to Italian pro-lifers, March 2013:

"I invite you to keep the attention of everyone on the important issue of respect for human life from the moment of conception."

From the interview with Pope Francis, published 19 September 2013:

“The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently."

Texts for reflection:

Pope Francis, address to Catholic doctors, 21 September 2013:

"[L]ife is...[the] primary value and primordial right of every man"
...
"'The first right of a human person is his/her life. He/she has other goods and some of them are more precious; but life is the fundamental good, condition for all the others'" (quoting Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Procured Abortion, November 18, 1974, No. 11).

Cardinal Raymond Burke, Inside Catholic, September 2009:

"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."

From the interview with Pope Francis, published 19 September 2013:

"I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else."
...
"[T]he proclamation of the saving love of God comes before moral and religious imperatives ... The message of the Gospel, therefore, is not to be reduced to some aspects that, although relevant, on their own do not show the heart of the message of Jesus Christ."

Texts for reflection:

 Pope Francis, address to Catholic doctors, 21 September 2013:

"[Human life] is always, in all its phases and at every age, sacred and is always of quality. And not because of a discourse of faith, but of reason and science!"
...
"Each one of us is called to recognize in the fragile human being the face of the Lord, who in his human flesh experienced indifference and loneliness to which we often condemn the poorest, be it in developing countries, be it in well-off societies. Every unborn child, condemned unjustly to being aborted, has the face of the Lord, who before being born, and then when he was just born, experienced the rejection of the world. And every elderly person, even if he/she is sick or at the end of his/her days, bears in him/herself the face of Christ."
...
"'If personal and social sensibility is lost to welcoming a new life, other forms of reception useful to social life are hardened. The reception of life tempers moral energies and makes possible mutual help'" (quoting Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, no.28).

Pope Francis, message to the Knights of Columbus, August 2013:

"Conscious of the specific responsibility which the lay faithful have for the Church’s mission, he invites each Knight, and every Council, to bear witness to the authentic nature of marriage and the family, the sanctity and inviolable dignity of human life, and the beauty and truth of human sexuality. In this time of rapid social and cultural changes, the protection of God’s gifts cannot fail to include the affirmation and defense of the great patrimony of moral truths taught by the Gospel and confirmed by right reason, which serve as the bedrock of a just and well-ordered society."

Cardinal Jorge Maria Bergoglio (now Pope Francis), letter to Carmelites about same-sex marriage, July 2010:

"At stake is the total rejection of God’s law engraved in our hearts. Let us not be naive: this is not simply a political struggle, but it is an attempt to destroy God’s plan."

From the interview with Pope Francis, published 19 September 2013:

"I also consider the situation of a woman with a failed marriage in her past and who also had an abortion. Then this woman remarries, and she is now happy and has five children. That abortion in her past weighs heavily on her conscience and she sincerely regrets it. She would like to move forward in her Christian life. What is the confessor to do?"

Texts for reflection:

Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 99:

"I would now like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost and you will also be able to ask forgiveness from your child, who is now living in the Lord. With the friendly and expert help and advice of other people, and as a result of your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone's right to life. Through your commitment to life, whether by accepting the birth of other children or by welcoming and caring for those most in need of someone to be close to them, you will become promoters of a new way of looking at human life."

 From the interview with Pope Francis, published 19 September 2013:

"We must...investigate further the role of women in the church."

Texts for reflection:

Pope Francis, address to Catholic doctors, 21 September 2013:

"[M]aternity [i]s the fundamental mission of woman, be it in poor countries where birth is still risky for life, be it in those more well-off where often maternity is not adequately considered or promoted."

From the interview with Pope Francis, published 19 September 2013:

"It is amazing to see the denunciations for lack of orthodoxy that come to Rome. I think the cases should be investigated by the local bishops’ conferences, which can get valuable assistance from Rome. These cases, in fact, are much better dealt with locally."

Texts for reflection:

The Age, 21 September 2013:

"Dissident priest Greg Reynolds has been both defrocked and excommunicated over his support for women priests and gays - the first person ever excommunicated in Melbourne, he believes. The order comes direct from the Vatican, not at the request of Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart... Archbishop Hart said Father Reynolds was excommunicated because after his priestly faculties were withdrawn he continued to celebrate the Eucharist publicly and preach contrary to the teachings of the church."

St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, IIa IIae, Q. 33, A. 4:

"There being an imminent danger for the Faith, prelates must be questioned, even publicly, by their subjects."

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Protest outside abortion meeting during Labour's Brighton conference

A protest took place yesterday outside a meeting to promote abortion, during Labour's Brighton conference.

18 members of SPUC formed a silent chain of placard-holders (see photos below) outside a fringe meeting organised by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), one of Britain's largest chains of abortionists. The fringe meeting, entitled "The politics of motherhood", was addressed by Kate Green MP, Labour's shadow women and equalities minster, and was held at The Old Ship Hotel.

The SPUC placards read: "Women do regret abortion", "Abortion kills children" and "Is this a choice or a child?".

Judy Law, a local SPUC activist, said:

"Many post-abortive mothers are badly affected by abortion. It is vital that BPAS, the Labour party, and the people of Brighton were reminded of this sad situation. It's a situation funded largely by taxpayers' money which is used to pay for almost all abortions."

Trevor Stauss, another local SPUC activist, said:

"It is disingenuous of BPAS to use motherhood to further their radical pro-abortion agenda in this way. It is important that we offer a pro-life witness and denounce the evil of abortion in our local areas."

Daniel Blackman, SPUC's campaigns & education officer, said:

"BPAS has a dangerous agenda. Ann Furedi, the head of BPAS, has recently defended sex-selective abortion. We must offer continual resistance on behalf of unborn children, the ones who cannot speak up or defend themselves."

  


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Senior US cardinal laments the silence of Catholics on pro-life, pro-family issues

Cardinal Raymond Burke, the most senior US cardinal and head of the Catholic Church's highest court, has lamented the silence of Catholics on pro-life and pro-family issues. In an interview he said: "There is far too much silence — people do not want to talk about [issues such as same-sex marriage] because the topic is not ‘politically correct. But we cannot be silent any longer or we will find ourselves in a situation that will be very difficult to reverse." He said that pro-abortion politicians must be denied Holy Communion, honours by Catholic universities and public Catholic funerals. [LifeSiteNews.com, 19 September]

Other stories:

Abortion

• Pro-abortion journalist argues that sex-selective is a woman's right [Guardian, 19 September]
• Abortion, same-sex unions are "diseases" which represent the "pseudo-values" of a "teenage" world, says Catholic patriarch of Ukraine [Religious Information Service of Ukraine, 19 September]

Euthanasia

• BBC accused of ’bias’ in favour of assisted suicide [Telegraph, 21 September]
• Queensland Australia will not legalize euthanasia [Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, 20 September]

Embryology

• Profile of Indian surrogacy centre used by British couples [Telegraph, 21 September]
• Boys born by ‘three-parent’ IVF therapy face fertility and health risks, says study [Times, 20 September]

General

• London South Bank University student leafleting: the message must not be silenced [SPUC youth blog, 20 September]
• Queen Mary University of London: opposition and hope [SPUC youth blog, 19 September]

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Must-read pro-life news-stories, Wed 18 Sep

Top story:

Pope Francis: population that neglects elderly and children has no future
Pope Francis has sent a strong pro-life and pro-family message to the participants in the annual Social Week for Italian Catholics, held this past weekend in Turin on the theme of "The Family: Hope and Future for Italian Society”. He said: "A population that does not take care of the elderly and of children and the young has no future, because it abuses both its memory and its promise”.  He also said that the family based on opposite-sex marriage open to life is the basis of society. [John Smeaton, 16 September]

Other stories:

Abortion

• Thousands of U.S. pro-life mourners gathered at hundreds of graves of aborted babies on Saturday [LifeSiteNews.com, 17 September]
• 84-year-old pro-lifer fined 10,000 euro for seeking to counsel women at abortion clinic: France [LifeSiteNews.com, 17 September]
• Prosecute pro-life websites that provide ‘ambiguous’ abortion info: French gov. report [LifeSiteNews.com, 17 September]
• Archbishop: abortion, contraception, gay ‘marriage’ threaten ‘the stability of our civilization’ [LifeSiteNews.com, 17 September]
• Doctors told me to abort my baby, but now she’s the light of my life [LifeSiteNews.com, 17 September]
• Leading UK abortion boss defends legality of sex-selective abortions [Spiked, 16 September]

Euthanasia

• Stephen Hawking's advice on decriminalising assisted suicide should be given short shrift [Peter Saunders, 17 September]
• 67% of American doctors oppose the legalisation of physician assisted suicide [Peter Saunders, 16 September]
• Research article confirms - Belgian euthanasia law is significantly abused [Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, 16 September]

Population

• Sir David Attenborough: If we do not control population, the natural world will [Telegraph, 18 September]
• Nigeria's Catholic bishops speak out against foreign promotion of abortion, condoms, same-sex unions [Culture of Life Africa, 16 September]

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Must-read pro-life news-stories, Mon 16 September

Top stories:

Hillary Clinton should not have been honoured by St Andrews University
The University of St. Andrews has awarded former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton an honorary doctorate for her (alleged) championing of "education, human rights, democracy, civil society and promoting opportunities for females around the world." [BBC, 13 September] However, Clinton is radically pro-abortion and works to promote abortion in the developing world. Abortion is contrary to human rights and opportunities for females, born and unborn. Hillary Clinton supports the killing of unborn children in the developing world. She should not have been awarded a doctorate by the University of St. Andrews. [John Smeaton, 13 September]

Local Authorities should tell primary schools: no more sex ed in science lessons, says Safe at School
Local Authorities should advise that primary schools will not be permitted to include sex education in Key Stage 1 and 2 science lessons under the new National Curriculum, said the Safe at School campaign, which supports parents facing unacceptable sex education in their child's school. Antonia Tully of SPUC's Safe at School campaign said: "Every parent should now feel confident that their primary-aged child will not be subjected to graphic information about sex in compulsory science lessons. Where local authorities advise schools of the requirements of the national curriculum, from 2014 they must stop advising both schools and parents that there is mandatory sex education in science lessons." [SPUC, 13 September]

Other stories:

Abortion

• My letter in The Telegraph on sex-selective abortion [John Smeaton, 12 September]

Euthanasia

• UK health service patients 50% more likely to die of neglect than in US, suggests study [Mail, 12 September]

Population

• David Attenborough praises China’s one-child policy: criticized for ignoring ‘demographic winter’ [LifeSiteNews.com, 11 September]

Sexual ethics

• Free Church issues strong warning on gay marriage [Times, 12 September]
• Planned Parenthood’s gender insanity: where normal is the new abnormal [LifeSiteNews.com, 11 September]

General

• Pro-life message was at the heart of Attraction’s success in Britain’s Got Talent [LifeSiteNews.com, 11 September]

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Pope Francis: family based on opposite-sex marriage open to life is the basis of society

Pope Francis has sent a strong pro-life and pro-family message to the participants in the annual Social Week for Italian Catholics, held this past weekend in Turin on the theme of "The Family: Hope and Future for Italian Society”. The Vatican Information Service (VIS) reports that he commended the participants for their choice of theme, and said that the family is a "path for generations through which faith, love and fundamental moral values are transmitted". He taught:

"A population that does not take care of the elderly and of children and the young has no future, because it abuses both its memory and its promise”.

“As the Church, we offer a concept of the family rooted in the Book of Genesis, of the unity in the difference between man and woman, and the fruitfulness of this complementarity, and we recognise it as an asset for all, as the first natural society. … The family understood in this way remains the first and principle building block of society and of an economy on a human scale. … The consequences, positive or negative, of decisions of a principally cultural or political nature in relation to the family touch upon the various areas of the life of a society and a country”.

"[We must remember the] simple, but beautiful and courageous witness given by many families, who experience matrimony and parenthood with joy..."

Pope Francis's message that the family is based on opposite-sex marriage open to life also appeared in his first encyclical Lumen Fidei - see my blog of 5 July. Also see my blogs about other pro-life and pro-family statements by Pope Francis:

• Pope Francis issues pro-life/pro-family mission statements for all Catholics 
• Pope's guidance to bishops on abortion has serious implications for Ireland's Catholic politicians
• Welcome Pope Francis, defender of parents, children and marriage

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Hillary Clinton should not have been honoured by St Andrews University

Hillary Clinton (left) at St Andrews

Today the University of St. Andrews awarded former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton an honorary doctorate for her (alleged) championing of:

“education, human rights, democracy, civil society and promoting opportunities for females around the world”.

However, Clinton is radically pro-abortion and works to promote abortion in the developing world. Abortion is contrary to human rights and opportunities for females, born and unborn. Hillary Clinton supports the killing of unborn children in the developing world. She should not have been awarded a doctorate by the University of St. Andrews.

Hillary Clinton supports the appalling procedure of partial-birth abortion. The child is delivered up to the neck; then a sharp instrument is inserted into the back of the head to kill the child; then an aspirator is used to suck out the brain so the head can be crushed and pass through the cervix.

Hillary Clinton received the Planned Parenthood ‘Margaret Sanger Award’ in 2009. Clinton said of Sanger:

“I admire Margaret Sanger enormously... I am really in awe of her.”

Margaret Sanger believed the following:

• "The most merciful thing that the large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it." Woman and the New Race
• "The most immoral practice of the day is breeding too many children”. “The large family... is therefore a greater evil than any one of them [war, poverty, child labour, prostitution]."
• "Keep the doors of immigration closed to the entrance of certain aliens whose condition is known to be detrimental to the stamina of the race, such as the feeble-minded, idiots, morons, insane, syphilitic, epileptic, criminal, professional prostitutes, and others in this class."
• "Apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is tainted."
• "Feeble-minded persons, habitual congenital criminals, those afflicted with inheritable disease, and others found biologically unfit by authorities qualified to judge should be sterilized or, in cases of doubt, should be so isolated as to prevent the perpetuation of their afflictions by breeding." America Needs a Baby Code.

Clinton opposed plans for conscientious objection for healthcare professionals to abortion.

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Local Authorities should tell primary schools: no more sex ed in science lessons, says Safe at School

Local Authorities should advise that primary schools will not be permitted to include sex education in Key Stage 1 and 2 science lessons under the new National Curriculum, said SPUC's Safe at School campaign, which supports parents facing unacceptable sex education in their child's school.

Antonia Tully of Safe at School told the media today:

"Every parent should now feel confident that their primary-aged child will not be subjected to graphic information about sex in compulsory science lessons. Where local authorities advise schools of the requirements of the national curriculum, from 2014 they must stop advising both schools and parents that there is mandatory sex education in science lessons.

The outgoing primary science curriculum contains the word 'reproduction' in the statutory requirement for teaching the human life-cycle. Schools are viewing this as a green light to teach children about sexual intercourse in science lessons from which their parents could not withdraw them. Similarly under the outgoing curriculum, many schools are teaching children at Key Stage 1 (aged 5-7 years old) to identify their sexual organs. The incoming curriculum does not mandate schools to teach children about human genitalia or sexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction is only covered with reference to animals, with the suggestion that children should hatch and rear chicks to observe this. (See notes below for relevant extracts from the new curriculum).

Safe at School is warning parents that vigilance by parents is still needed. The new science curriculum does suggest that Year 5 children (aged 9-10) could be taught about "the changes experienced in puberty". Parents must ask their child's teacher to show them exactly what will be shown in class if this is covered.

Meanwhile thousands of primary schools will have to update their Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) policy before 2014 to state clearly that no part of sex education is taught in science lessons. Safe at School will be advising parents and governors on this matter." 

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New Australian archbishop has clear pro-life/pro-family messages

The Vatican announced today that Pope Francis has chosen Bishop Christopher Prowse to be the new Catholic archbishop of Canberra-Goulburn, Australia. Bishop Prowse is currently bishop of Sale, Victoria, and was previously an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne. He holds a doctorate in moral theology from the Lateran in Rome. Below are some clear pro-life/pro-family messages from Bishop Prowse in recent years:

Abortion

"The Victorian Abortion Reform Bill should be rejected by Parliament and the community as a breach of fundamental human rights. Good legislation is supposed to protect the weak, but this is a death sentence to many of the tiniest Victorians in the womb, right up to 40 weeks' gestation. ... The existence of each person, their capacity to enjoy life and all other rights, the viability of community and the common good depend profoundly on the right to life ... Catholic hospitals will not perform abortions and will not provide referrals for the purpose of abortion ... The Bill ignores the fact that there are two persons, not just one, affected by every choice about abortion."

"A mockery of human rights", Herald Sun, 9 September 2008

Euthanasia

"Those whose lives are diminished through suffering deserve special respect. The sick and those people with handicaps are deserving of special help. Euthanasia is never acceptable and is morally inadmissible. (CCC 2276-2277) It is an offence against the dignity of the human person and is an insult to the giver of all life, God."

Paper on death and dying, April 2010

Marriage

"Proposals to give same-sex relationships legal marital recognition is something the Catholic Church will never endorse. Such ideas are an attack on the institution of marriage that has served us so well for millennia – long before Christianity ... We believe that marriage is between a man and a woman who intend a permanent bond of love that is open to the possibility of the gift of children. In other words, it is both love sharing and life giving. This stance is based on reason – what we call the natural moral law. However, Christians see the institution of marriage in the light of faith. We see marriage in the light of God’s plan for man and woman. ... Children have human rights too. They are rarely mentioned in the current debate. Tragically, they are not mentioned much either in the abortion issue that stills troubles the social conscience. But children have rights to have a mother and father. Marriage and family life are already very fragile societal institutions. For the sake of peace and stability in the world, we must do all that we can to protect it."

"Marriage, family and the World Youth Day", Catholic Life, August 2011

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My letter in The Telegraph on sex-selective abortion

Andrew Lansley, former health secretary

Yesterday The Telegraph published a letter from me about sex-selective abortion and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)'s decision not to launch prosecutions. The letter as published was edited - see the Letters page for 11 September and scroll down 12 letters to "Abortion law". Here is the original version submitted for publication:

SIR - Andrew Lansley told Parliament yesterday that dealing with breaches of the abortion law was “the responsibility of the prosecuting authorities.” No doubt he meant the decision about whether to prosecute individual doctors, and he has a reasonable point.

The Telegraph reported (22 March 2012), http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9161735/One-in-five-abortion-clinics-breaks-law.html , that:

Mr Lansley warned that so-called abortion on demand was not acceptable. “It’s not what Parliament intended and it’s not what the law provides for,” he said. “My job is to enforce the law.”

At the time he was health secretary. And he did not enforce the law – abortion for any reason at all was, and continues to be, the order of the day at the department of health. The department enforces only protocols aimed at reducing (maternal) fatalities to an acceptable level. The requirements for a medical reason for any abortion were and are routinely disregarded.

So why are “wrong-sex” abortions controversial, if any other reason will do? It may be because the advocates of abortion on demand are maddened by women using freedom of choice to choose against their own kind.

John Smeaton
Chief executive, Society for the Protection of Unborn Children
London SE11

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Parliamentarians & pro-family groups will "fiercely resist" Daily Telegraph sex education campaign

Yesterday's Daily Telegraph newspaper  published a joint letter by parliamentarians and civil society pro-family groups, who oppose the Daily Telegraph’s campaign to “bring sex education into the 21st Century”. The entire letter is reproduced below.

Commenting on the Daily Telegraph campaign, Antonia Tully (pictured), Coordinator of SPUC's Safe at School, said

“Any change to the sex education guidelines could be dangerous in the current climate of calls for the inclusion of pornography in sex education. The Sex Education Forum has published an online magazine showing teachers how to introduce children and teenagers to pornography. These lesson ideas are not about teaching children and teenagers about how to avoid pornography, but normalising it. The Daily Telegraph campaign is calling for so-called sex education "experts" to teach children.  It's time to recognise that parents are the experts when it comes to their own children. As readers will see, the joint letter is signed by a range of parliamentarians and pro-family groups, demonstrating the broad body of individuals and groups who are opposed parents being undermined. Safe at School  will fiercely resist the Daily Telegraph campaign”.  

Sir,

The “Telegraph Wonder Women” campaign to “bring sex education into the 21st century” by redrawing the official guidelines on teaching sex education, makes scant reference to parents.

 Any moves to redraw these guidelines must involve organisations which recognise parents as the primary educators of their children on sexual matters.  

Children and teenagers accessing online pornography is a problem which urgently needs to be addressed.  Parents have a vital role in teaching their children about how to avoid pornography. The government should be supporting parents in this task.

Current government guidelines on teaching sex education contains over 90 references to the importantance of involving parents in teaching children about sexual issues.  Any new guidelines should place the same emphasis on parents.

Yours faithfully,

Antonia Tully, SPUC Safe at School
Norman Wells, Family Education Trust
Colin Harte, Director, Christian Institute
The Lord Carey of Clifton
Philip Davies MP
Mary Glindon MP
Jim Shannon MP
Revd  Andrew Symes, Executive Secretary, Anglican Mainstream
Dr Chris Richards, MB BS FRCPCH, Lovewise
Professor David Paton, Nottingham University Business School
Dr Trevor Stammers FRCGP
Kathy Gyngell, Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Studies
James Wiltshire, Campaign to Protect Children
Dr Lisa Nolland
Yusuf Patel, SRE Islamic
Marie Peacock, Chair, Mothers at Home Matter
Edmund P Adamus, Director for Marriage & Family Life, Diocese of Westminster
Imam Sulaiman Gani
Tahera Ayazi, Tower Hamlets' Parents Action Group - SRE
Sue Relf, Challenge Team UK

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Daily Telegraph sex ed campaign is misleading parents

The Daily Telegraph's campaign calling for school lessons about the dangers of pornography is misleading, according to SPUC's Safe at School campaign, which supports and advises parents whose children are subjected to unacceptable sex education in school.

Antonia Tully, national co-ordinator of Safe at School, told the media earlier today:

“What the Daily Telegraph campaign doesn't say is what will actually be taught in schools. My fear is that parents, and many people who have signed their petition, don't realise that current proposals for teaching children and teenagers about pornography are not about warning them of the dangers.

The influential Sex Education Forum has published an online magazine showing teachers how to introduce children and teenagers to pornography. These lesson ideas are not about teaching children and teenagers about how to avoid pornography, but normalising it.

The prime minister has pointed to the fact that most internet access among children takes place at home. This means that parents are literally best placed to protect their children from pornography. The Daily Telegraph campaign is calling for so-called sex education 'experts' to teach children. It's time to recognise that parents are the experts when it comes to their own children.”

David Cameron has rejected The Telegraph's call for sex education guidelines to be withdrawn, saying that “teachers can talk about porn within the existing guidelines”.

Safe at School has said that any change to the sex education guidelines could be extremely dangerous in the light of the Sex Education Forum's proposals for the inclusion of pornography in sex education.

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SPUC challenges CPS decision not to prosecute sex-selective abortionists

SPUC's general secretray and senior political officer Paul Tully has sent me the folllowing commentary:

The announcement by the Crown Prosecution Service that it is not going to charge doctors for offering ‘sex-selection’ abortion smacks of a politically influenced decision.

There is little appetite in the pro-life movement for vindictive prosecution of doctors or others who kill babies, but we should expect the rule of law to be upheld, fairly and justly.

The CPS’ decision that it is not ‘in the public interest’ to bring charges is clearly wrong by at least six of the seven points in its code of practice, The Code for Crown Prosecutors, CPS, Jan 2013.  This spells out (section 4.12) seven questions to help determine whether a prosecution is in the public interest. How do they apply in this case?

Here are the questions, with my comments:

“a) How serious is the offence committed?”
These doctors planned to kill children. Whether charged under the law on abortion or the law on child destruction, the crime carries a life sentence. It is among the most serious crimes on the statute book. 

“b) What is the level of culpability of the suspect?”
The suspects (the doctors) in these cases were professionally trained, and were evidently prepared to falsify statutory declarations (abortion registration forms) to achieve their purpose. It is hard to think of any situation where a higher degree of culpability could be shown.

“c) What are the circumstances of and the harm caused to the victim?”
The intended victims would technically have been ‘under the care’ of the doctors aborting them; and the harm intended was to kill them.

“d) Was the suspect under 18?”
No.

“e) What is the impact on the community?”
A lack of prosecution may suggest to the communities that seek sex-selection abortions that they can continue breaking the law with impunity (see The Telegraph report "The abortion of unwanted girls taking place in the UK").

“f) Is prosecution a proportionate response?”
The Code for Crown Prosecutors makes clear in its explanatory notes that the concern here is that some prosecutions are very expensive to mount, involve complex crimes like fraud, and take months and months in court.  None of that seems likely to apply here.

“g) Do the sources of information require protecting?”
The sources of key information are named journalists who published the story in the national press – of course they don’t need protecting. While clearly wrong, the decision is less hypocritical than the faux prosecution of Dr Anthony Hamilton in 1980, who was charged with attempted murder (but not abortion or child destruction) after aborting a disabled baby well over the legal time limit which then prevailed.  The prosecution failed, predictably, for lack of evidence of intent to commit murder.

Discrimination

In the more detailed notes, under question (c) the Code says:

Prosecutors must also have regard to whether the offence was  motivated by any form of discrimination against the victim’s  ethnic or national origin, gender, disability, age, religion or  belief, sexual orientation or gender identity; or the suspect  demonstrated hostility towards the victim based on any of  those characteristics. The presence of any such motivation  or hostility will mean that it is more likely that prosecution is required.

Does hostility toward a baby girl, motivated explicitly by her gender, and perhaps also by her age, not merit prosecution in this situation?

The fact that the child is in her mother’s womb makes a difference in the eyes of the law, but not for the doctor who must kill her either surgically (by means such as dismemberment), or more commonly now, by use of chemical agents.

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Advertising Standards Authority accused of gross interference in political free speech

SPUC has accused the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of "gross interference in political free speech", following a ruling issued today against an advertisement opposing same-sex marriage.

The ASA's ruling applies to an advertisement published earlier this year by SPUC, which predicted some of the negative consequences govermment's Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill (now Act) 2013.

SPUC's advertisement warned that "gay relationships will be promoted in schools" and that "NHS-endorsed websites, which promote high-risk sexual practices, will be mainstreamed in secondary schools". The ASA has deemed the advertisement "misleading", taking issue with the words 'promoted' and 'NHS-endorsed'.

SPUC stands by every word we included in the advertisment.

As I told the press today:

This ruling is ridiculous. It is based on semantics, as if it was an exercise in proper English usage totally removed from what will happen in practice as the bill is implemented. Are we to receive a list of acceptable adverbs and adjectives?

There is no logic to the ASA's conclusion. The ASA fails to address the whole rationale of the Bill - that there is to be equality between same-sex and different-sex marriage. If it is 'misleading' to state that same-sex marriage will be promoted, then it must be also be 'misleading' to say that different-sex marriage will be promoted.

The ASA's position is fatuous. Is the ASA going to monitor how the legislation works in practice? The ASA should not seek to police the public debate about forthcoming legislation.

SPUC has cited the conflict of interest at the top of the ASA, which is chaired by Lord (Chris) Smith, the former Labour minister and prominent homosexual, who is also chairman of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality. It is axiomatic that an organisation’s   chairman will take a direct interest in its affairs. It is just too simplistic to say that the issue of bias is addressed by stating that Lord Smith took no part in this ruling. The complaints, the decision to select them for consideration and the ruling itself are plainly consistent with Lord Smith’s political views. The ASA, with or without Lord Smith’s direct involvement, is well aware of those views and of where he stands in the debate. In no other sphere would this be considered acceptable or consistent with the absence of actual or perceived bias. If the ASA intends to seek to police the political debate, then common sense dictates that it cannot be run by a politician.

The ASA said that SPUC's advertisement was "misleading" in describing third-party websites listed on the NHS website as "NHS-endorsed". The NHS website carried no disclaimer regarding the third-party websites. If a group posted a link to a third-party site offering bomb-making advice, the police would not excuse the group on the basis that it was not responsible for the third-party site.

It is dispiriting that in an area of fundamental free speech we have been reduced to debating semantics with an organisation who believe that politics can be reduced to measurable objectivity, as if it was a spat between Tesco and Sainsbury’s. Advertising is not our business and in the future we would certainly question the wisdom of engaging with the ASA on any level.

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Telegraph campaign for better sex ed “a slap in the face for parents” says leading parent advocacy group

The “Telegraph Wonder Women” campaign for better sex education is a slap in the face for every parent in

this country, said Antonia Tully of Safe at School, a campaign of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children which supports and advises parents facing unacceptable sex education in their children's schools. Antonia told the press today that:

“Children and teenagers accessing online pornography is a growing problem which urgently needs to be addressed, but I have no confidence that including pornography in updated sex education, as the NSPCC recommends, will make young people safer” .

Antonia continued:

“The NSPCC is a member of the Sex Education Forum (SEF) which has published an online magazine about how to teach school pupils about pornography. The content of the SEF magazine makes it abundantly clear that pornography lessons will not be about how to avoid pornography. These lessons are all about dangling pornography in front of teenagers with the absurd expectation that aroused adolescents will calmly analyse whether the images they are looking are “real” or photo-shopped. This madness will drive teenagers further into pornography.”

Claire Perry MP, an adviser to David Cameron on “preventing commercialisation and sexualisation” of children, is calling for government guidelines on teaching sex education to be redrawn. The current guidelines on sex and relationships education include numerous references to the importance of involving parents in teaching children about sexual issues. Safe at School believes that the government should be emphasising these guidelines and supporting parents, particularly in teaching their children about how to avoid pornography.

Mrs Tully said:

“Parents have been systematically side-lined on sex education and have been made to feel that they are too stupid and inadequate to talk to their own children about sexual issues. No wonder, according to The Daily Telegraph, school children are three times more likely to go online for advice on sex and relationships rather than their parents.”

SPUC Safe at School launched a nationwide petition in July calling on the Secretary of State for Education to prohibit the promotion of pornography in schools.


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