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Monday March 15, 2004

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Pro-Life Victory at UN as Document on Women Stripped of Dangerous Language

Radical Canada once again takes complete opposite stand to US on life and family

NEW YORK, March 15, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-life lobbyists at the United Nations are rejoicing over a victory at the forty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women which concluded Friday. A summary from a LifeSiteNews.com reporter at the meeting indicated that most of the dangerous language used to advance anti-life and anti-family agendas was deleted from the concluding document.

Our reporter notes that Canada, despite having a new Prime Minister, played its usual extremely active role in attempts to force the dangerous language and served as the chair for the informal sessions. Canada worked closely with EU countries, but especially with: New Zealand, Australia, Iceland and Norway to advance an anti-life, anti-family agenda. That group was thwarted by the US working closely with the Holy See and several Muslim countries with much assistance and many prayers being offered from pro-life/family NGOs.

The term "gender stereotypes" was deleted from document. The term, according to UN pro-life lobbyists is particularly worrisome as 'mother' and 'father' are generally perceived at the UN as negative stereotypes. When the US asked that the document explicitly state that 'mother' and 'father' were not under the umbrella of the term 'negative gender stereotype', she was jeered by the EU and cut off by the Canadian chairperson.

The term "reproductive and sexual rights" were removed from the document as they are used, among other things, to promote abortion and abortifacient drugs. Also, references to adolescent males/young males/ adolescent girls/ young girls in terms of access to reproductive health services and/or programs without reference to parental rights was eliminated from the document.

Typical of the interactions at the UN, highlighting the great divide between Canada and many developing countries, a representative from Sudan became exasperated at the Canadian representative's penchant for political correctness. When discussing portrayals of women in the media and gender stereotypes, the Canadian chairperson Beatrice Maille said that countries must work together so that girls in the media aren't portrayed as playing with dolls and boys aren't seen as sports players as this perpetuates negative stereotypes. The representative from Sudan responded, "How can we prevent this portrayal of girls? Why should we prevent this? It's the reality that most little girls play with dolls. In fact, I still play with dolls on occasion!"

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Controversial Abortion Display Descends on University Campuses Across Canada

VANCOUVER, March 15, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Wednesday, March 17th university students from BC to Ontario are displaying graphic, 4x8 foot posters from the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), an exhibit that compares abortion to atrocities like the Holocaust and the Rwandan massacre.

Pro-life students at the University of British Columbia, University College of the Cariboo, Okanagan University College, University of Alberta, University of Manitoba, University of Toronto, and Carleton University in Ottawa are working in conjunction with the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform to expose the reality of abortion and stimulate debate. Pro-life students at Trinity Western University will also be exposing the atrocity of abortion through a similar display known as the Matthew 28:20 Project.

"Over 50% of Canadian abortions are committed on university-aged women (20-29 year-olds)," says Denise Schmidt of UBC's Lifeline Club. "We feel compelled to show our peers the harms of abortion that are kept hidden by society." Elaine Barber, of the University of Toronto Students for Life club agrees. "It's time Canadians see the ugliness of abortion; the posters we show are disturbing because abortion is disturbing," she said.

The first time GAP was displayed in Canada was at UBC on November 23, 1999; it was violently attacked by abortion-supporting student society leaders. The images have since been displayed more than 10 times at UBC, without further incidents of violence. This, however, has not calmed the fears of some university officials.

Several of the campuses have denied pro-life students open, outdoor space to display the images. The Vice Provost and Dean of Students at the University of Alberta, Bill Conner, said, "The level of disruption that has occurred on other campuses and the likelihood that similar disturbances will occur at the University of Alberta if GAP is displayed in a high traffic area can reasonably be expected to compromise the safety of the campus community." Chuck Marple, a student at the U of A expresses frustration at this response, "I have great difficulty in accepting that my freedom of speech ought to be denied on the basis of the actions of a few radical pro-aborts. U of A is caving into mob-rule; that sort of suppression of academic freedom is alarming, particularly at a university campus."

Marple and several pro-life activists will turn the March 17th GAP-Day into a cause for free speech as well. They will hold GAP signs just outside university grounds. All campus pro-life students East of BC will be resorting to the same approach due to suppression of free speech. GAP-Day runs from 10am to 2pm, local provincial time.

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Senate Agrees to Hold No-Filibuster Vote on Unborn Victims of Violence Act

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tn.) has succeeded in winning agreement of the full Senate to vote on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as "Laci and Conner's Law," as early as the week of March 22.

The agreement limits debate to six and one-half hours. However, Senate Democrats insisted on the right to offer two killer amendments, and supporters of Laci and Conner's Law must defeat those amendments. If the two killer amendments are defeated, then the bill can be sent directly to President Bush for his signature, since the House of Representatives already passed it on February 26, 254-163.

The bill would include a "child in utero" as a victim when he or she is injured or killed during commission of a violent federal crime against his or her mother. The bill applies to specific existing federal laws, such as military crimes, crimes in federal jurisdictions, terrorism, and stalking across state lines.

One amendment, the Feinstein Substitute Amendment, would increase penalties for a federal crime that interferes with a "pregnancy," but also codify the doctrine that such a crime has only a single victim -- the pregnant woman. The other amendment is a 157-page bill known to be little more than an attempt to mire the UVVA into a procedural dead-end.

See the extensive resources on the UVVA from the National Right to Life Committee:
http://www.nrlc.org/Unborn_victims/index.html

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Condom Warnings Considered by US President

Rep says "the only way to be protected is abstinence. That's not ideology -- it's fact."

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The White House is considering adding warning labels to condom packages, warning users that the device does not offer protection against all sexually transmitted diseases.

Condoms do not offer protection against Human Papilloma Virus, the virus associated with 4,000 cervical cancer deaths in America each year. "HPV infection can occur in both male and female genital areas that are covered or protected by a latex condom," a Center for Disease Control report released earlier this year warned. Former US President Bill Clinton passed a law in 2000 directing the CDC to provide a report on the best ways to combat HPV infection. The FDA was directed to ensure that condom labels are "medically accurate" regarding the lack of effectiveness in preventing HPV infection. Neither agency has complied with these legal mandates.

Dr. Daniel G. Schultz, director of the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Device Evaluation, said Thursday that the FDA "has developed a regulatory plan to provide condom users with a consistent labeling message and the protection they should expect from condom use." He also told members of a House Government Reform subcommittee that the FDA was "preparing new guidance on condom labeling to address these issues."

Although condoms are not protective against Human Immunodeficiency Virus either, no mention is made of a plan to include warnings to this effect. Dr. Norman Hearst of the University of California - San Francisco revealed statistics on Kenya, Botswana, and other countries, which show an alarming pattern of increased condom sale correlation with rising HIV prevalence by year. According to Hearst, the effectiveness of condoms to prevent infection are 80 to 90 percent. "The most recent Met-analysis came up with 80%, but even if it is 90%, over time it's the question of when, not if," he told medical experts gathered for a conference regarding the HIV Pandemic in Washington, DC in January.

In his State of the Union address this year, President Bush announced a doubling of budget allocation -- from $135 million to $270 million -- on programs which encourage teens to abstain from sex.

Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Virginia, in response to criticism from Democrat Henry Waxman, D-California that condom warnings would discourage women from using them at all, said: "This is not about social ideology, or religious ideology. It's about informing women. ... And truly, the only way to be protected is abstinence. That's not ideology -- it's fact."

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
"CDC Called on the Carpet for Failure to Place HPV Warnings on Condoms" at: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/dec/03122309.html
"New Research Confirms Condoms Not Effective in HIV Prevention" at: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jan/04011408.html
"HPV leading STI: Latest CDC Findings Report that Condoms Not Protective" at: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/feb/04020305.html

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UK Sex-Ed Backfire: Survey Reveals Increased Pregnancy Rates in Teens Subjected to Program

LONDON, UK, March 15, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new survey conducted in the UK has revealed that teenage pregnancy rates are highest in areas that have been most aggressive in promoting sex education. The report revealed that explicit sex education and providing condoms to young girls simply encourages them to become sexually active.

The report, titled Sex Education or Indoctrination?, was conducted by the UK's Family Education Trust, as revealed in the Telegraph yesterday.

Official figures reveal that teenage pregnancies rose in Britain by an annual rate of 800 from 38,439 in 2001 to 39,286 in 2002, despite the £15 million being spent to counter the situation. The pregnancies led to 17,682 of the children being aborted in 2001.

The number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases has also risen by an alarming 62 percent between 1997's 25,143 cases and 2002's 40,821 cases.

In a bid to counter Western Europe's highest teenage pregnancy rate -- one in ten babies born are to teenage mothers -- the UK government implemented the Teenage Pregnancy Unit in 1999. The goal of the Unit is to reduce teenage pregnancies by 50 percent by 2010, and 15 percent by the end of 2004. The Family Education Trust analysis revealed that the Teenage Pregnancy Unit strategy involves explicit sex education by nurses in schools, during which teachers are often not present; free condoms; and sending girls a birthday card on their 14th birthday inviting them to a confidential medical examination without consent from their parents.

Valerie Riches, author of the report, said that "The Government's teenage pregnancy strategy is based on the premise that it is unrealistic to expect young people to abstain from sex. They have embarked on a damage-limitation exercise dependent on condom use and the use of the morning-after pill. The figures show, however, that it might be wiser to support the majority in abstinence and demonstrate to the minority the physical, emotional and psychological benefits of delaying sex until marriage."

Riches criticized the Teenage Pregnancy Unit's resources, produced by the UK's Family Planning Association, including a guide called "4 Girls", that informs teenagers on how to obtain contraception. Another pamphlet tells girls "Contraceptive advice and supplies are free to everyone. It doesn't matter how old you are . . . there's no right age to have sex." She told the UK Telegraph that "The Family Planning Association sows confusion in a child's mind about right and wrong and presents only one moral absolute - the use of condoms."

The report also highlights the success of the abstinence-promotion program in the US, which has realized a 10 percent reduction in teenage pregnancy rates.

Read the related LifeSiteNews.com report "Major New U.S. Study Proves that Abstinence Works," which revealed that among unmarried girls, abstinence accounted for a 67 percent drop in pregnancy rate at:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/apr/03041402.html

See also Abstinence Until Marriage: The Best Message for Teens
http://www.frc.org/get/is03b1.cfm

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Michigan Judge Orders Abortion Records Release to Justice Dept.

DETROIT, March 15, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A federal judge Friday ordered the release of records from the University of Michigan Health System. The order was in response to a continued obstruction to medical files by the plaintiffs -- abortionists and hospitals challenging the constitutionality of the partial-birth abortion ban. The US Justice Department seeks to substantiate the claim by abortionists that partial-birth abortions were necessary for the health of the mother.

The Justice Department is defending the Ban introduced by President Bush last November that states, in part, that "partial-birth abortion is a gruesome and inhumane procedure that is never medically necessary."

U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn in Detroit ordered the U-M hospital to make the records available to abortionist Timothy Johnson, chair of U-M's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, one of seven abortionists who launched the suit. The records are to be sent to U.S. District Judge Richard Casey for use in the trial in New York, set to commence March 29.

Read local coverage:
http://www.freep.com/news/health/abort13_20040313.htm

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
"Activist Judge Bars US Justice Department Access to Medical Files":
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/mar/04030901.html
"US Department of Justice Thwarted in Bid to Secure Women's Records in Partial Birth Abortion Ban Defence:"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/feb/04022707.html

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LifeSiteNews NewsBytes

China Suffering From Aids
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/bate200403150919.asp

Spam continues to lure readers: Study
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040315....

POLL: 80 percent of Alabamians oppose gay marriage
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200...

NY ministers charged for marrying gays
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=22827...

Abortions in Singapore falls to lowest level in nearly 30 years 12,749 in 2002
http://thestaronline.com/news/story.asp?file=/2004/3/15/late...

EU Regulators Rule Microsoft an Abusive Monopolist
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0312euregul.html

Cheney Friend Entangled in Web of World Government
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=375...

Canadian Reproductive technology agency still years away
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/03/13/canada/reprodtech040313

Sexual Abuse by Educators appears to "far exceed" Catholic priest abuse scandal says scholar who prepared US Education Dept report
http://edweek.com/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=26Abuse.h23

Rabbis Say Critics of 'The Passion' Endanger Jews
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/3/12/174216.shtml

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