St Charbel for Life News for Dec 2001

St Charbel for Life News for Dec 2001

IRISH BISHOPS SUPPORT ABORTION LEGISLATION CONDEMNED BY VATICAN
CANADA BIRTH RATE HITS NEW LOW - CONTINUES NINE YEAR DECLINE
FRENCH DOCTORS TO STRIKE OVER RULING ON RIGHT NOT TO BE BORN
FRENCH COURT AFFIRMS RIGHT TO NOT BE BORN

IRISH BISHOPS SUPPORT ABORTION LEGISLATION CONDEMNED BY VATICAN

DUBLIN, December 13, 2001 (LSN.ca) - In a shocking move, the Catholic Bishops of Ireland are publicly supporting abortion legislation which the Vatican has explicitly opposed. A release issued by the Irish Episcopal Conference Wednesday said "We welcome and support the new proposal." The proposal in question is the Human Life and Pregnancy Bill, which has already passed one of the Houses of Irish Parliament.

The bill has one positive aspect in that it overrules the Supreme Court ruling which allowed abortion in the case of a threat to the life of the mother, but included a mother's threat of suicide as allowable grounds. However, the new Bill's unacceptability for many is that it defines abortion to be the destruction of unborn human life after "implantation" in the womb. The wording would effectively allow the use of the abortifacient morning after pill. It would give significant legal reinforcement to the international effort by abortion supporters to arbitrarily and unscientifically re-define human life as beginning at implantation rather than fertilization. The law would also continue to permit dissemination of information on abortion and travel abroad to countries where it is legal. The legislation calls for a referendum in the spring to accordingly amend the pro-life Constitution and underpin the new legislation.

Immediately after the Vatican criticized the legislation at a Rome conference, an Irish pro-life group told media that a source within the Irish hierarchy revealed that the Irish Bishops would support the legislation. Cardinal Alfonso Trujillo, the President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, said of the Irish legislation: "The situation is delicate in Ireland but we expect that the Bishops will react against the proposals". The unidentified source told the Pro-Life Campaign Trujillo's comments "do not represent the views of the Hierarchy."

The Irish Episcopal Conference argued that the pro-life constitution is interpreted in accordance with the Supreme court ruling allowing abortion for the threat of suicide and thus the legislation, in banning this exception would be preferable to the status quo. The UK Society for the Protection of Unborn Children responded with consternation to the decision of the Irish bishops to support the new proposal and thus completely undermine pro-life organization efforts on the matter. The National Director of SPUC in the UK, John Smeaton, said: "The action of the Bishops in supporting the wording of this referendum is deplorable. They are giving credence to a proposal that suggests that early abortion can be discounted. The suggested wording has other serious flaws besides." SPUC urges "the Irish people to stand by their prophetic commitment to the rights of the unborn child."

SPUC recalled that in the 1992 referendum on abortion, the Irish Bishops advised that people could legitimately vote to allow advertising and travel arrangements for abortions abroad. "These proposals were successful, and appear to have had a damaging impact on the number of Irish women travelling to Britain for abortions," charges SPUC.

See the text of the Irish Episcopal Conference release:
http://www.catholiccommunications.ie/Pressrel/12-december-2001.html

See the SPUC release on the issue:
http://www.spuc.org.uk/releases/20011212.htm
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2001/dec/011213.html#2

CANADA BIRTH RATE HITS NEW LOW - CONTINUES NINE YEAR DECLINE

OTTAWA, December 10, 2001 (LSN.ca) - Statistics Canada released its data on births for 1999 today revealing that Canada has reached an all-time low fertility rate of 1.528, where the replacement rate is 2.1. In total, 337,249 babies were born in 1999, down 1.5% from 1998. This was the ninth year of decline in live births.

The fertility rate, which estimates the average number of children a woman will have in her lifetime, continued its nine-year fall to a new low in 1999 of 1,528 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 49. While women aged 25 to 29 had the highest fertility rate, 100.3 live births per 1,000 women that age, their fertility rate has decreased 24% since 1990.

The report indicates more women are delaying their first pregnancies into their 30s. In 1983, women in their 30s and older accounted for only 14% of live births to first-time mothers. By 1999, this proportion had more than doubled to 32%.

High levels of immigration are the main reason that Canada's overall population has not yet begun to decline. Canadian governments appear to have a strong preference for immigration to stabilize the population and meet labour force demands while at the same time maintaining policies that strongly discourage Canadians from having children.

See the Stats Can report at:
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/011210/d011210b.htm
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2001/dec/011210.html#5

FRENCH DOCTORS TO STRIKE OVER RULING ON RIGHT NOT TO BE BORN

PARIS, Dec 7, 01 (LSN.ca/CWNews.com) - Top prenatal doctors in France pledged to strike due to a decision by the country's top court last week, which held that when doctors fail to detect deformities in unborn disabled children and do not suggest abortion to their parents, the doctors can be held liable.

In a letter to the daily Le Monde, 11 specialists at eight hospitals said that from January 1 they would refuse to carry out any ultrasounds and other tests that can show whether an unborn child has any abnormalities. Reuters reports that the doctors hoped many others would join them and pledged to continue the strike until the law was altered.

"(The ruling) encourages doctors to worry about their own protection rather than that of their patient," said the letter. "It is impossible for us now to perform our work, which moreover will become uninsurable very soon." The decision last week reaffirmed a decision of the court made earlier this year. At the time doctors said the fear of being sued for a misdiagnosis would encourage them to recommend abortions at the smallest hint of a disability. "The ruling means that the handicapped have no place in our society," said Yves Richard, a lawyer representing the medical profession. "There is a real risk of this starting a process that ends with the search for the perfect child."

Reuters reports that Jean-Francois Mattei, a doctor and Liberal member of parliament, has drawn up a bill to amend the law making it impossible to seek compensation for having been born. Disability groups and the national Ethics Committee have criticized the court's decision.
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=21723

FRENCH COURT AFFIRMS RIGHT TO NOT BE BORN

PARIS, (LSN.ca/CWNews.com) 5-Dec-2001 The highest appeals court in France ruled Wednesday that children suffering from Down's syndrome have a legal right never to have been born.

The Cour de Cassation ruled that a doctor was liable for all the costs of the specialized care the child requires since the doctor failed to warn an expectant mother that her unborn child showed symptoms of Down's syndrome. The mother was thus deprived of the option of abortion. The amount of compensation is to be announced later.

Bishop Andre Vingt-Trois of Tours, the president of the French bishops' family committee, commented on the case: "I think with great sadness of all families who have welcomed Down's children, who have showered them with love and received great love in return. This ruling amounts to a declaration that such love was worthless." Echoing his comments, Xavier Mirabel, of the Collective Against Handiphobia, said: "Certain judges still believe that it is better to be dead than to be handicapped."

http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=21636

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