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Abortion

Ireland – Women Travelling to UK for Abortions Drops for 15 Years

USA – How millennials are impacting the pro-life movement

UK – Consider What Unborn Babies Can Do in the Womb

New Zealand – Abortions Drop to Lowest Total in 25 Years

Alternative Medicine

USA – Meds Rooted in Ancient China May Help Heart

Canada – Medical journal takes aim at natural remedies

Asia – Plant compound more powerful than AZT against HIV

Euthanasia

USA – California’s assisted suicide at 500 prescriptions already

Canada – 970 People already killed after 1 year in Canada

Netherlands – Safeguards for the mentally ill and demented slipping away

IVF& Surrogacy

USA – Egg freezing on the rise in Silicon Valley

Canada – Dust-up over a child’s right to know genetic origins

Medical Ethics

USA – Organ donation debate continues

USA – Rethinking the 14 day rule

USA – Going commercial with three-parent babies

USA – Texas green-lights experimental stem-cell therapies

Pedophilia

No news today

Pornography

Ghana – Government orders TV stations to stop showing porn

USA – Computer program seeks child-pornography images

Same Sex Attraction

Sexual Exploitation

USA – Flight Attendants Learn To Recognize Sex Trafficking Victims

Malta – Legalizing prostitution would legalise violence and abuse

Philippines – Country gets higher ranking in US trafficking report

Substance Abuse

No news today

Abortion

Ireland – Women Travelling to UK for Abortions Drops for 15 Years

The Pro Life Campaign has welcomed a report issued from the British Department of Health, showing that 3,265 women travelled from Ireland to England to have an abortion in 2016.  This figure represents a decrease on the 2015 figure of 3,451 which itself was a further decrease from the figure of 3,735 in 2014. This represents a continual decline in the numbers since 2001 when the number of Irish abortions was at 6,673. Given that this is the fifteenth consecutive year that the number of Irish women seeking abortions in England has declined, it is a very welcome development.

http://www.lifenews.com/2017/06/13/number-of-women-traveling-from-ireland-to-uk-for-abortions-drops-for-15th-consecutive-year/

USA – How millennials are impacting the pro-life movement

In the 2016 March for Life, youth made up 80 percent of approximately the half-million marchers. As the most tech savvy of generations, they are perhaps least likely to be fooled by pro-abortion rhetoric. Their first baby pictures were most likely sonograms or even 3D ultrasound pictures. They have access to YouTube, Snapchat, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, etc. and know how to use them. There is no topic they don’t know how to Google search within seconds for answers. This generation is not just standing up for babies in danger of being aborted. They are also standing up for themselves. Millennials experience “survivor syndrome” and there is a growing awareness of siblings holding signs that say, I mourn my aborted sibling.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/how-millennials-are-impacting-the-pro-life-movement

UK – Consider What Unborn Babies Can Do in the Womb

Scientific studies have confirmed that foetuses can hear voices and distinguish between unique speech patterns, allowing them to recognize (and prefer) their mother’s voice over any other’s. New research from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom demonstrates that foetuses will react to face-like shapes in the same way infants do. Researchers shone different collections of red dots to foetuses while observing their responses via ultrasound and the foetuses displayed particular interest in face-like clusters. Foetuses are thought to begin to see as early as 20-24 weeks gestation, so they’ll have quite a while to watch shadowy shapes pass by before they are even born.

http://www.lifenews.com/2017/06/20/if-you-think-birth-is-when-human-life-begins-consider-that-unborn-babies-can-do-this-in-the-womb/

New Zealand – Abortions Drop to Lowest Total in 25 Years

In 2016 there were 12,823 abortions reported in New Zealand. This represents a three per cent decrease on the 13,155 abortions reported in 2015 – the lowest abortion total in 25 years. Right to Life welcomes the continued decrease and applauds the heroic and sacrificial women who choose life for their precious infants. They all deserve the generous support of the whole community.

http://www.lifenews.com/2017/06/20/new-zealand-abortions-drop-to-lowest-total-in-25-years-as-more-babies-saved-from-abortion/

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Alternative Medicine

USA – Meds Rooted in Ancient China May Help Heart

Heart disease and stroke remain major killer’s worldwide, accounting for 17.3 million deaths a year, according to the World Heart Federation. Traditional Chinese herbal medications might have a role to play in treating or preventing heart disease in the West, a research review suggests. The new report was published online June 12 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and while some U.S. experts greeted the findings with skepticism, Dr. Sidney Smith, Jr., a professor of medicine with the heart and vascular center at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill said, “This is an interesting, scholarly, well-written article”. Smith is a past-president of the American Heart Association and the World Heart Federation.

https://consumer.healthday.com/alternative-medicine-information-3/mis-alternative-medicine-news-19/meds-rooted-in-ancient-china-may-help-heart-review-723571.html

Canada – Medical journal takes aim at natural remedies

Health Canada can recall a bag of chips but doesn’t have the power to recall a natural health product’. An editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal is calling on the federal government to crack down on natural health products, which the author argues are poorly tested and can do patients more harm than good, compared to conventional medicines. The editorial urges Health Canada to stop makers of natural health products from claiming that the products are remedies, because they are not as rigorously tested as conventional, over-the-counter drugs. Shawn O’Reilly, executive director of the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors, said the editorial doesn’t accurately reflect the standards that natural health products must meet before they can be sold to the public, which she called “robust.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/medical-journal-takes-aim-at-natural-remedies-1.4174165

Asia – Plant compound more powerful than AZT against HIV

A medicinal plant collected in Vietnam has been identified as a potent anti-HIV-1 active lead from the evaluation of over 4500 plant extracts. Bioassay-guided separation of the extracts of the stems and roots of this plant led to the isolation of an anti-HIV aryl-naphthalene-lignan (ANL) glycoside patentiflorin A. Lijun Rong, professor of microbiology and immunology in the UIC College of Medicine and his colleagues zeroed in on patentiflorin A because of its ability to inhibit an enzyme needed for HIV to incorporate its genetic code into a cell’s DNA. “Patentiflorin A represents a novel anti-HIV agent that can be added to the current anti-HIV drug cocktail regimens to increase suppression of the virus and prevention of AIDS,” Rong said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170614210917.htm

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Euthanasia

USA – California’s assisted suicide at 500 prescriptions already

A pro-euthanasia lobby group is celebrating the positive reception of the laws among healthcare providers and the general public, writing in press release that “the implementation of the law has been a huge success”. However, Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, director of UC Irvine’s medical ethics program, objects that the law doesn’t mandate an evaluation by a psychiatrist. He says without it that patients are left without sufficient supports when they’re most vulnerable. Kheriaty also questions whether the lack of access to mental health and specialist care might play into a patient’s choice as access to services varies based on geography and income.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/the-first-year-of-californias-assisted-suicide-over-500-prescriptions/12335 https://www.compassionandchoices.org/celebrating-one-year-of-the-end-of-life-option-act/

Canada – 970 People already killed after 1 year in Canada

Even though we are well into 2017 data from 2016 indicates that there were 970 reported assisted deaths in Canada which repress 0.6{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of all deaths in Canada. Other than Québec, where there were 463 deaths in the full year, these deaths occurred in the 6.5 months between June 17 and December 31. The percentage of assisted deaths is highest in British Columbia, where there were 188 assisted deaths compared to 189 assisted deaths in Ontario. There may be more assisted deaths as not every province has a legal requirement to report assisted deaths. Also, Nunavut and the Yukon territories did not submit information based on privacy concerns and the small number of assisted deaths. A CBC news report stated that there have been more than 1324 assisted deaths since legalization.

http://www.lifenews.com/2017/06/20/one-year-after-canada-legalized-assisted-suicide-970-people-have-already-killed-themselves/

Netherlands – Safeguards for the mentally ill and demented slipping away

After 25 years, Dr Chabot, a pioneer of Dutch euthanasia looks back and is horrified. He says that legal safeguards for euthanasia are slowly eroding and that the law no longer protects people with psychiatric conditions and dementia. The Dutch are complacent about their famous law, he says but there is no room for complacency. As euthanasia has sunk its roots deeper and deeper into Dutch medicine, the conditions for euthanasia have shriveled up. Patients now define what is unbearable and they define what a reasonable alternative is. Unhappiness can be unbearable and a nursing home may not be a reasonable alternative. Autonomy has trumped medicine. As a result, the number of euthanasia cases roughly tripled between 2007 and 2016, from 2000 to 6000. After surveying the wreckage of the euthanasia law, Dr Chabot concludes bitterly, I don’t see how we can get the genie back in the bottle. It would already mean a lot if we’d acknowledge he’s out.

https://www.mercatornet.com/careful/view/a-dutch-euthanasia-pioneer-surveys-the-wreckage-and-despairs/19992

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IVF&Surrogacy

USA – Egg freezing on the rise in Silicon Valley

In what some say is a bid by companies to keep young women at work, companies from Apple, Facebook and Time are paying for female employees to have their unfertilized eggs stored for the future. Although a cycle costs around 12,000$ “storage”, around 5{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of large employers in the US cover egg freezing in employee health plans. Brigitte Adams, who runs an online egg-freezing information forum said “I am pro the idea, but there is not a lot of realism. Egg freezing is highly marketed – and not all doctors are being transparent with the data.” A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests egg freezing may actually reduce a woman’s odds of success with IVF.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/egg-freezing-on-the-rise-in-silicon-valley/12345

Canada – Dust-up over a child’s right to know genetic origins

University of Ghent bioethicist Guido Pennings recently published an article in BioNews titled “Donor children do not benefit from being told about their conception”. However, Vardit Ravitsky and three other Canadian bioethicists argue that concealing genetic origins is indefensible. This does not necessarily mean that “all or most donor-conceived people will necessarily find their genetic origins of great importance, but rather that they are entitled to make that determination for themselves.” The right to know one’s genetic origins is a human right based on “people’s fundamental interest in having access to information that may be crucial to their identity, relationships and health – an interest well recognized in adoption law … “Respect for persons is central in ethics and requires clinics and governments to make it possible for people to know the truth about their origins.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/dust-up-over-a-childs-right-to-know-genetic-origins/12341

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Medical Ethics

USA – Organ donation debate continues

A controversial organ donation case in the US has sparked debate about the ethical criteria for organ procurement. Authorities are investigating the death of 8-year-old Cole Hartman in a Los Angeles Hospital after doctors withdrew life support and administered the drug fentanyl – an opioid that can be fatal. The 2014 case was brought to public attention when the coroner brought a lawsuit against her superiors who she said were attempting to cover up the findings. The coroner alleges that the dose of fentanyl was a “significant cause” of Hartman’s death. Many hospitals, including the one in which the boy died, prohibit doctors from administering opioids with the intention of hastening the death of the patient. And there is significant community concern about the medical hastening of death to harvest organs. Organ donation has for decades been understood to be ethical only after brain death has occurred, yet, an article in The Atlantic recently highlighted support for changing the criteria to or “organ donation after circulatory death” (cardiac death).

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/organ-donation-debate-continues/12344

USA – Rethinking the 14 day rule

Policy analysts in the United States and UK are calling for a “reconsideration” of the decades-old 14-day embryo experimentation rule requiring scientists to terminate any embryo in vitro before it reaches two weeks of development. Scientists can now grow embryos in a culture dish well past 14 days, permitting research into early human development and various diseases. An article in this month’s Hastings Center Report calls for “a new public discussion” of the longstanding regulation, suggesting in particular that we take into account new scientific and social perspectives on embryo research.“ However, Baroness Mary Warnock, a moral philosopher and one of the original proponents of the rule, has cautioned against change. According to her, the rule provides a way of allowing for embryo research, while still addressing slippery slope concerns: “you cannot successfully block a slippery slope except by a fixed and invariable obstacle, which is what the 14-day rule provided.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/rethinking-the-14-day-rule/12336

USA – Going commercial with three-parent babies

The same doctor who delivered the first “three parent baby” is now attempting to commercialize mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT). At the heart of Zhang’s entrepreneurial project is the idea that the cause of infertility in older women is defective mitochondrial DNA. Zhang’s experimental procedure involves inserting the nucleus of an older woman’s oocyte into a young egg with healthy mitochondrial DNA. In doing so, he believes he will allow older women to produce viable embryos. “This is a biologically extreme and risky procedure,” says Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society. “If you’re talking about using these techniques for age-related infertility, that’s really moving the human experimentation to a very large scale.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/going-commercial-with-three-parent-babies/12358

USA – Texas green-lights experimental stem-cell therapies

Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed new legislation allowing clinics to by-pass FDA approval for investigational stem cell treatments for patients with certain severe chronic diseases or terminal illnesses. The legislation gives desperate patients access to therapies that provide hope after traditional medical treatments have failed. University of Minnesota bioethicist Leigh Turner said he was skeptical about whether clinics would be adequately monitored, while NYU Langone Medical Center bioethicist Beth Roxland said it was insufficient to have the therapies tested in clinical trials while by-passing FDA approval. “You could gain access to something [as long as it’s] being studied in a human … somewhere on the planet,” Roxland told Science, “which in the stem cell area makes it really very scary.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/texas-gives-green-light-for-experimental-stem-cell-therapies/12360

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Pedophilia

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Pornography

Ghana – Government orders TV stations to stop showing porn

The Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), Kwasi Gyan Apenteng, has ordered three local television stations (Ice TV, Thunder TV and TV XYZ) alleged to be broadcasting pornographic materials to immediately cease such broadcasts. The statement further noted that, “the Commission examined the broadcast of the three stations and concluded that the content complained about did not meet the standards of decency required by the Broadcasting Standards of the Commission.” According to the NMC’s statement, the three stations have apologized for their actions and have committed themselves to ceasing broadcast of pornographic movies.

https://citifmonline.com/2017/06/23/stop-showing-porn-nmc-orders-tv-xyz-others/

USA – Computer program seeks child-pornography images

There’s a new program created by a child-protection group, crawling around the internet in search of child pornography. Project Arachnid is an automated system that crawls links on sites previously reported to Cybertip.ca that contained child sexual abuse material and detects where these images/videos are publicly available on the Internet. If illegal content is detected, a notice is sent to the provider hosting the content to request its removal. Child pornography victims say that beyond the sexual abuse, knowing that images of them could be in tens of thousands of computers and phones worldwide means the pain never subsides. Signy Arnason, associate executive director of The Canadian Centre for Child Protection, stated that it operates Project Arachnid through its Cybertip.ca tip line, where electronic providers and the public can report online sexual exploitation of children.

http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170618/computer-program-seeks-destroys-child-pornography-images

https://www.cybertip.ca/app/en/projects-arachnid

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Same Sex Attraction

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Sexual Exploitation

USA – Flight Attendants Learn To Recognize Sex Trafficking Victims

Sex trafficking is a $100 billion industry that some are calling a new form of slavery and flight attendants  are looking for victims hidden in plain sight. According to investigators, sex traffickers often move their victims through airports and on airplanes. That’s why flight attendant Sherry Martin Peters says employees in the air travel business have to learn to spot the signs and report it. She recently ran a training course at Logan Airport to teach airline employees what to look for. “They are branding the girls,” she said pointing to the back of her neck where traffickers often place identifying marks on their victims. This is part of a program Sherry launched with the help of the Department of Homeland Security.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/06/15/sex-trafficking-flight-attendants-training/

Malta – Legalizing prostitution would legalise violence and abuse

The legalization of prostitution would legalise violence and abuse, according to the chair of the National Centre for Freedom from Addictions. On the other hand, finding alternative jobs for sex workers and education could lead to less demand for prostitution and to fewer women on the streets, according to Dr Anna Vella. Dr Vella spoke during a summit about best practices to end modern slavery organised by the Amersi Foundation, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society. Dr Vella, who has been working with prostitutes for 22 years, is against the legalization of prostitution and believes in the Nordic model. Children and young men have to be educated about prostitution and taught that it is a form of abuse.

https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20170615/local/legalising-prostitution-would-legalise-violence-and-abuse.650768

Philippines – Country gets higher ranking in US trafficking report

The Philippines ranked high in terms of enforcement against human trafficking. But the same report also made considerable reference to the Philippines in terms of the various crimes under human trafficking, particularly sex trafficking. “Some judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials throughout the world accept bribes for reducing sentences of perpetrators, leaking information to suspects under investigation, or ignoring potential cases,” US Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said. “The introduction of this year’s Report focuses on the responsibility of governments to criminalize human trafficking and hold offenders accountable. The report acknowledged the Philippines’ sustained law enforcement efforts, as it cited, among others, the country’s Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 and Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012.

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=philippines-gets-positive-ranking-in-us-human-trafficking-report&id=147475

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Substance Abuse

No news today

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Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International

Abortion

Croatia – Anti-abortion march draws twenty thousand

Alternative Medicine

No news today

Euthanasia

Canada – Ontario passes assisted dying law

USA – Existential distress’, not pain, drives euthanasia

IVF& Surrogacy

USA – Cheap, effective alternative to IVF is possible

UK – IVF vs natural conception: babies have same cognitive ability

Medical Ethics

USA – Unexpected mutations after CRISPR gene-editing

Pedophilia

No news today

Pornography

Same Sex Attraction

USA – Is the media encouraging hate

USA – Homosexual Teens with HIV make up 92{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}

Sexual Exploitation

USA – Disturbing Link between Sex Trafficking and Abortion

Substance Abuse

UK – Cannabis is reaffirmed as gateway drug

Abortion

Croatia – Anti-abortion march draws twenty thousand

According to organizers this march was to “draw attention to respect of every human life – from conception to natural death”. Under a law dating back to 1978, when Croatia was still part of the communist Yugoslavia, abortion is legal until the 10th week of pregnancy. The constitutional court also ordered parliament to adopt a new law on abortion regulations within the next two years, ruling that the current legislation was outdated. Nearly 90{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of Croatia’s population of 4.2 million is Roman Catholics.

http://www.news24.com/World/News/croatia-anti-abortion-march-draws-20-000-20170521

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Alternative Medicine

No news today

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Euthanasia

Canada – Ontario passes assisted dying law

Lawmakers have voted in favour of what is known as “Bill 84” – a bill that amends several Ontario laws that potentially impede the implementation of federal law on euthanasia. A group of Ontario-based healthcare professionals held a press conference at the Ontario Legislative Building early this week, telling reporters that this law could force practitioners to leave the profession because of their conscientious objection to euthanasia.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/ontario-passes-assisted-dying-law/12312#disqus_thread

USA – Existential distress’, not pain, drives euthanasia

According to Madeline Li principal author of a study, and other researchers, in the New England Journal of Medicine, the primary reason why patients requested assisted dying was to relieve “existential distress”. But in an article in the Medical Journal of Australia, American bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel argued that the presence of existential distress in assisted dying cases counts as a reason not to legalise euthanasia: “What is then the great impetus to legalise interventions to end lives for a small minority of patients who are depressed, worried about losing autonomy and being tired of life? We should end the focus on the media frenzy about euthanasia and Physician Assisted suicide as if it were the panacea to improving end-of-life care.”

https://www.mercatornet.com/careful/view/existential-distress-not-pain-drives-euthanasia/19881 http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMms1700606

https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2017/206/8/euthanasia-and-physician-assisted-suicide-focus-data

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IVF&Surrogacy

USA – Cheap, effective alternative to IVF is possible

A 100-year-old medical technique of flushing a woman’s fallopian tubes with iodized poppy seed oil has proven to have significant benefits for fertility, according to research in the New England Journal of Medicine. Hysterosalpingography (HSG) is a dye test of the fallopian tubes conducted under X-ray first carried out in 1917. “In our study, 40{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of women undergoing HSG with an oil-based contrast achieved a successful pregnancy within six months said Professor Mol.” “Our results have been even more exciting than we could have predicted, helping to confirm that an age-old medical technique still has an important place in modern medicine,” he said. The oil-based product used in the study was Lipiodol® Ultra-Fluid, an iodized solution of fatty acids from poppy seeds. This product is currently available in 47 countries around the world.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/cheap-effective-alternative-to-ivf-may-be-possible/12305

UK – IVF vs natural conception: babies have same cognitive ability

A new study by researchers from Oxford University suggests that IVF babies have the same cognitive ability as naturally-conceived children. Sociology Professor Melinda Mills studied data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, a nationally representative group of 18,552 families. Over 12,000 children were part of the study (150-180 through IVF), with cognitive ability tests performed at 3, 5, 7 and 11 years. The researchers found that, in early years, the IVF-conceived children actually scored higher on the tests, with the disparity narrowing in later years of development. “The findings suggest that the positive effect of the family background of children conceived through artificial reproduction techniques “overrides” the risks of related poor health impairing their cognitive ability,” said professor Mills.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/ivf-v-natural-conception-babies-have-same-cognitive-ability-says-new-study/12331

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Medical Ethics

USA – Unexpected mutations after CRISPR gene-editing

A study by investigators at Columbia University Medical Center suggests that CRISPR gene-editing technology can introduce hundreds of unintended mutations into the human genome. According to Kellie Schaefer, a Stanford co-author of the study, the genomes of two independent gene therapy recipients had sustained more than 1,500 single-nucleotide mutations and 100 larger deletions and insertions. Dr. Stephen Tsang, geneticist and co-author of the study said “Researchers who aren’t using whole genome sequencing to find off-target effects may be missing potentially important mutations”. “Even a single nucleotide change can have a huge impact.” The researchers remained positive about CRISPR technology but suggest that whole-genome sequencing should be used to determine the safety and accuracy of their CRISPR gene-editing methods.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/unexpected-mutations-after-crispr-gene-editing-experiments/12330

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Pedophilia

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Pornography

UK – Theresa May to create new internet controlled by government

Prime Minister Theresa May, is planning to introduce regulations allowing the government to decide what is said and watched online. The plans will allow Britain to become the global leader in the regulation of the use of personal data and the internet. It comes just soon after the Investigatory Powers Act came into law. That legislation allowed the government to force internet companies to keep records on their customers’ browsing histories, as well as giving ministers the power to break apps like WhatsApp so that messages can be read. This is to ensure that there is no “safe space for terrorists to be able to communicate online”. The new rules will make it harder than ever to access pornographic websites.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/theresa-may-internet-conservatives-government-a7744176.html

USA – Florida Authorities Demolish Child Porn Devices

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement demolished dozens of confiscated electronics that once produced or shared child porn. “Operation Crush Cyber Crime” smashed all evidence that has been used in the successful prosecution of child predators in the region. According to a Florida statute, all evidence that once held child pornography must be destroyed after prosecution. Some seized evidence without explicit images can be donated. Officials say the agency investigated 53 cases in central Florida and about 117 cases are pending.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/florida/articles/2017-05-18/florida-authorities-demolish-child-porn-devices

USA – State lawmakers want to crack down on child porn requests

It’s not against Wisconsin law to ask for nude photos from children, but two Republican state lawmakers say it should be. Rep. Andre Jacque and Sen. Van Wanggaard are circulating a bill that would make it a crime for adults to solicit nude or sexually explicit photos. Jacque says current law allows sexual predators to groom children over an extended period of time, often without getting in trouble until they actually gain possession of child pornography. Under the bill, an adult who solicits an “intimate or private representation” from someone under age 18 could face a maximum fine of $10,000 and up to nine months in jail. Individuals who attempts to obtain child pornography can also be charged under federal laws.

http://www.hngnews.com/sun_prairie_star/news/article_04c78ee4-3b06-11e7-b101-73d46d38acd6.html

USA – Views differ on making child pornography an act of violence

The highest court in West Virginia ruled to make the distribution and exhibition of child pornography an act of violence because the person exploited in child pornography is hurt every time that image is shown, according to Maryland Del. Brett Wilson who has prosecuted many of the county’s sexual abuse cases. Child pornography can cause real damage to the subject. The ruling means that a child pornography defendant who is deemed incompetent to stand trial can remain under the trial court’s jurisdiction for more than 50 years for appropriate treatment and supervision. District Attorney Matt Fogal said that victims of child pornography also suffer from knowing that their images can be traded and viewed worldwide is irretrievable and can continue to circulate forever.

http://www.heraldmailmedia.com/news/local/views-differ-on-making-child-pornography-an-act-of-violence/article_2ba90316-3d91-11e7-ba8d-ab1831a59b47.html

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Same Sex Attraction

USA – Is the media encouraging hate

Ben Shapiro is a political commentator, nationally syndicated columnist, author, radio talk show host, and attorney who argues why we shouldn’t see it as being courageous when someone comes out about being homosexual and that the media should stop making it a big deal. This interview with Ben was based on Michael Sam an American Football player for the NFL whose story the media used to create a milestone. Ben said the media is portraying homosexuality and “coming out” as an act of heroism and using it to create the impression that there are all these people that hate homosexuals when in reality this is not true. Even the football player himself said it’s no big deal. The media makes it seem that the vast majority of the population is against homosexuals and therefore creating fear. The FBI statistics show that they’re about the same number of attacks on Jews in the country as there are on homosexuals and this is not a country that discriminates against Jews or homosexuals. The more casually people treat homosexuals as opposed to a nation-wide celebration, they won’t have to feel like there’s this mythical challenge they have to face from conservative establishments or this phantom discrimination they have to overcome.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=812VJQvBBPY

USA – Children are too young to consent to transgenderism

Does it make any sense to believe that children fourteen and younger can consent to puberty blockers, toxic sex hormones, and mutilating sex reassignment surgery when they can’t even cross the street safely? A report from the National Center for Statistics and Analysis finds more than 200 children under the age of fourteen, died in the US in 2014 after being struck by a car. Another 8,000 suffered injuries. Michelle Cretella, president of the American College of Paediatricians pointed out that cognitive immaturity during adolescence has always been obvious, that’s why society has age restrictions for consenting to medical procedures, driving, voting and joining the military. It becomes clear that Pro-LGBT medical institutions like the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) ignore these scientific facts and are not concerned for the well being of these children.

https://world.wng.org/2017/05/too_young_to_cross_a_street_but_old_enough_for_a_sex_change

USA – Homosexual Teens with HIV make up 92{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}

A new report called “HIV Among Gay and Bisexual Men” by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows more than 9 in 10 new HIV cases among men and boys ages 13 to 24 in the U.S. occur among homosexuals and bisexuals. This report offers clear evidence of how extreme the health risks are for homosexual sex. Dr. Michelle Cretella, president of the American College of Paediatricians (ACPeds) said these facts need to reach the youth taking sex-ed classes across the country. But too often politically correct teachers and sex-ed curricula downplay the risks linked to homosexuality. “These statistics are proof that ‘comprehensive sex education’ aimed at promoting condoms among youth has not worked,” she said. “Even when used perfectly correctly, condoms and lubricants cannot make anal sex, an inherently traumatic act, safe. Our children deserve to know the truth. Their health and very lives depend upon it.” Texas pro-family education activist Donna Garner agreed and said “Students need to be told of the huge risks that follow their choice to participate in LGBT sexual activities; and if schools offer sex education courses, they need to state clearly the medical, psychological, and emotional dangers of choosing the LGBT lifestyle.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/gay-teens-make-up-92-percent-of-hiv-cases-in-their-age-group

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Sexual Exploitation

USA – Disturbing Link between Sex Trafficking and Abortion

The prevalence of forced abortions is an especially disturbing trend in sex trafficking said Laura J. Lederer, the Senior Adviser on Trafficking for the US State Department. What has often been ignored by the media is the link between forced prostitution and forced abortion. In their groundbreaking study ‘The Health Consequences of Sex Trafficking and Their Implications for Identifying Victims in Healthcare Facilities’, Laura J. Lederer and Christopher A. Wetzel examined the stories of sixty-six victims of sex trafficking. They found that fifty-five percent of these women had undergone at least one abortion while being trafficked and more than thirty percent underwent multiple abortions.

https://www.care-net.org/abundant-life-blog/researchers-uncover-disturbing-link-between-sex-trafficking-and- abortion?utm_campaign=Weekend{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}20Update&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=52682885&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-

USA – New legislation to prevent sex trafficking

Anti-trafficking leaders and organizations from around the world namely; the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Exodus Cry, the National Centre for Sexual Exploitation and Shared Hope International are calling on legislators to include an important sex trafficking demand reduction provision. Bill HR466 amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and states that if a government has the authority to prohibit the purchase of commercial sex acts, but fails to do so, it shall be deemed a failure to make serious and sustained efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts, irrespective of other efforts the government may have made. This important change will make a country’s efforts to combat demand for prostitution a meaningful part of the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Annual Report in which countries around the world are assessed and ranked. Linda Smith, Shared Hope International President and Founder stated that demand is at the heart of sex trafficking – without a buyer there would be no seller, no victim and the Act affirms this link and would expose those nations taking a backseat in combating this force that drives sex trafficking markets.

http://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/new-legislation-seeks-prevent-sex-trafficking/

USA – Activist to combat sex trafficking with billboard campaign

A new billboard has appeared in Wisconsin directly opposite a “sex store” and it proclaims: “Sex Trafficking: Porn Creates Demand.” The billboard is part of NCOSE’s City Blitz campaign, which raises awareness in cities across the country about the harms of pornography, including links to other forms of sexual exploitation and the disintegration of the family. This billboard is sponsored by 5-Stones, a non-profit organization that combats sex trafficking through their “five stones” of awareness, education, prevention, networking and collaboration. It has caused a stir from the store and its patrons who took offense to the message and complained about the “church people” who were doing them. Despite the negative feedback, the campaign hopes to get people to do some self analyzing regarding behaviours at home and private lives as well.

 http://endsexualexploitation.org/cityblitz/

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Substance Abuse

UK – Cannabis is reaffirmed as gateway drug

Teenagers who regularly smoke cannabis are 26 times more likely to turn to other drugs by the age of 21. The study of the lives of more than 5,000 teenagers produced resounding evidence that cannabis is a gateway to cocaine, amphetamines, hallucinogens and heroin. It also discovered that teenage cannabis smokers are 37 times more likely to be hooked on nicotine and three times more likely to be problem drinkers than non-users of the drug. The findings from Bristol University, led by Dr Michelle Taylor, provide authoritative support for those warning against the liberalization of drugs laws. Medical researchers have argued for years that cannabis is far from harmless and instead carries serious mental health risks. The Bristol evidence was gathered from a long-term survey and large UK cohort followed from birth, the’ Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children’. The survey was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4582548/Proof-cannabis-DOES-lead-teenagers-harder-drugs.html

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Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International

Abortion

USA – Kentucky on its way to become first abortion free state

There is only one abortion clinic left in the Kentucky and Gov. Matt Bevin is working to end access to abortion in the state. EMW Women’s Clinic is in violation of regulations that mandate the clinic obtain ambulance and hospital admittance privileges from a local hospital. “The Bevin administration is working diligently to protect the health, welfare and lives of women in Kentucky,” state spokesman Doug Hogan said, adding that the regulations are not new and have been in place since 1998.

http://www.christianheadlines.com/blog/kentucky-on-its-way-to-becoming-first-abortion-free-state.html

Australia – Massive pro-life petition stuns in NSW parliament

The Legislative Council of the New South Wales parliament was brought to a shocked silence as one of the largest official parliamentary petitions in its history was tabled by the Hon. Greg Donnelly. The petition with 56,559 signatures opposed the Abortion Law Reform (Miscellaneous Acts Amendment) Bill 2016. The Bill aims to “repeal offenses relating to abortion, to specify a ground of unsatisfactory professional conduct by a medical practitioner with respect to abortion, and to establish exclusion zones in order to prohibit certain behaviour near premises at which abortions are provided.” “It was much bigger than expected. I never thought we would get that many. We were really hoping to get 10,000” said petition coordinator Rebecca Gosper from Youth For Life.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/massive-pro-life-petition-stuns-parliament-in-new-south-wales

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Alternative Medicine

UK – Charities may have to prove complementary therapies work

UK charities that provide complementary and alternative medicines fear losing their charitable status over possible measures that will raise the bar for proving their therapies work. “We think it’s great the charity commission is looking at this issue,” says Tracey Brown, director of the campaigning group Sense about Science.” So we’re very interested in a peer-review system using existing medical standards bodies such as the royal colleges to help the commission to evaluate.” Complementary providers argue that it’s unfair to be judged purely on evidence in mainstream medical journals, as demanded by the Good Thinking Society.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2131216-uk-may-force-charities-to-prove-complementary-therapies-work/

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Euthanasia

No news today

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IVF&Surrogacy

UK – IVF providers trading “free treatment” for egg donation

The Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has announced an investigation into UK IVF clinics as women are being pressuring into donating eggs in exchange for free IVF treatment. In one case, a doctor said a Daily Mail reporter could trade her healthy eggs for cash and use the money to fund her own IVF treatment. In other instances reporters were told by nurses that an egg “isn’t a baby” and that donating gametes was “just like giving blood”. IVF pioneer Lord Robert Winston said that the women in question were “under duress” and that they “cannot appreciate the consequences of what they’re agreeing to”. “These patients are vulnerable and anxious and likely to be worried about money”, he said.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/uk-ivf-providers-trading-free-treatment-for-egg-donation/12288

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Medical Ethics

USA – Two doctors charged with FGM in US first

In a US first, two Detroit-based Muslim doctors have been charged with carrying out female genital mutilation – a crime under federal law that carries a sentence of up life imprisonment. The doctors allegedly carried out FGM on two young girls at a small private medical clinic in Michigan in February. Both doctors are members of an Indian-Muslim community known as Dawoodi Bohra, a group known to practice FGM. The girls said that they were told they were receiving treatment for “tummy aches”. Acting US attorney Daniel Lemisch said in a statement. “The practice has no place in modern society and those who perform FGM on minors will be held accountable under federal law.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/two-doctors-charged-with-fgm-in-us-first/12287

USA – National Academies respond to conflict of interest claims

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine are strengthening their conflict of interest policy after authors of two major reports failed to disclose industry links. A 2016 review published in Plos One found that 6 out of 20 panel members of a report had one or more undisclosed reportable financial conflicts of interest. This followed a 2014 analysis by MedPage Today of a 2011 study by the Institute of Medicine on managing chronic, pain where 9 of a 19-expert panel had connections to companies manufacturing narcotic painkillers. In response to the damning reviews, The National Academies said it will now publish disclosures of conflicts of interest of the scientists who author academy reports in the documents themselves.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/national-academies-respond-to-conflict-of-interest-claims/12289

USA – Conscience wars intensify in the US

An article on conscientious objection in the New England Journal of Medicine has sparked outcry among conservative bioethicists. University of Pennsylvania bioethicists Ronit Stahl and Ezekiel Emanuel argue that medical societies should “declare conscientious objection unethical” and remove conscience clauses from their codes of ethics, “Objection to providing patients interventions …that the profession deems to be effective, ethical, and standard treatments…are unjustifiable”. Bioethicist Wesley Smith slammed the article, suggesting that opponents of conscientious objection want to “weaponize medicine to impose secular individualistic and utilitarian values on all of society”. Smith suggested that the article is indicative of a concerted campaign to “cleanse health care of all those who would dare to practice medicine in accord with sanctity-of-life moral viewpoints”.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/conscience-wars-intensify-in-the-us/12294

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Pedophilia

No news today

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Pornography

UK – New law wants you to register at the Post Office before watching porn

New regulations could make mandatory age verification a reality, forcing UK internet users to prove they are older than 18 before they’re allowed to access any adult only content, and not by just marking a tick box. Instead, those looking to access pornographic content will need to prove their age by entering their credit card details or sharing their mobile phone contract information. To make it more difficult and help to fight porn, people will also have to approve their device for porn access in person by making a trip to the Post Office. The move comes as The Digital Economy Act has finally received royal assent. This means that the controversial Act has now been ratified and will be enforced in the UK.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/tech/news/611386/Online-porn-laws-digital-economy-act-proof-of-age

USA – Porn star wants to block porn websites to children

The most famous male pornography star of the year admits not only that children view his “crazy stuff,” but that the porn industry would go out of business if it were truly “adults only.” James Deen commented that “there is an ethical dilemma in porn.” One click” accessibility online is hurting children and youth. He advocates for a mandatory paywall like putting in a credit card for legal age verification to keep kids away from online pornography. You can’t just say, ‘Yes, I’m 18’, you actually have to put in something, the best you can, to create an 18 and older environment.”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/porn-star-wants-to-block-kids-from-adult-websites-…-but-knows-it-will-des

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Same Sex Attraction

Israel – Science destroys transgender Arguments

A study, titled ‘The landscape of sex-differential transcriptome and its consequent selection in human adults”, was published in BMC Biology earlier this year. Science disproves the transgender claims of “gender does not match what was assigned at birth”, by uncovering 1,500 genetic differences between males & females which relate to sex organs and surprisingly to the brain, skin and heart as well. The way in which these thousands of genes replicate to make proteins in both sexes is significantly different. Stephen Stathis, a psychiatrist in Australia, is concerned that even children are over diagnosed and should undergo intensive mental screening. Walter Heyer, the author and speaker of several books and an extensive researcher went through sex-change twice and testified it changed nothing. He explains the history of gender reassignment and why we shouldn’t be so quick to push people with gender dysphoria into it. He says that Over 60{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of people who desire a sex-change are suffering from co-morbid psychological/psychiatric disorders which are often separation anxiety, schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, associative disorder, personality disorders or narcissism.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/researchers-find-over-1500-genes-that-make-men-and-women-different

https://heatst.com/culture-wars/gender-expert-teens-are-trying-to-be-transgender-because-its-trendy/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9jC34sk_3I

USA – Why are so many lesbians falling pregnant?

The Witherspoon Institute is a research centre located in Princeton, New Jersey. Research from multiple studies and different nations find that pregnancies and abortions are doubled among homosexual men whom have impregnated a women and lesbians, than that of heterosexual peers. If one’s sexual orientation is unchangeable and supposedly “Born that way” like sex, race or ethnicity, then the high pregnancy rates among homosexuals confuse that narrative. These identities called “gay” and “lesbian” seem less clear whether they actually exist in functional reality even though they exist as political or social identities.

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2017/04/19022/

Australia – Transgenderism is a dangerous fashion

2GB Australian radio talk show interview recording:

John Whitehall, a professor of paediatrics at Western Sydney University has been working with children for over 50 years; he makes a few strong points backed up by scientific research. The first point he raises is that courts are consistently saying that hormone blockers are safe and reversible when in fact, the effects have been analysed and reveal a significant reduction in executive brain function. The reason so many young people are wanting to transition is because the media is giving it so much attention and Safe Schools have programs make it seem like it is something brave, courageous and fashionable to go through – and then the children get sucked into that idea which is a difficult state of mind to reverse. Dr. John’s statement is proved by a poll he did on 28 paediatricians with an accumulative experience of 931 years, who remembered only twelve such cases of which two were grossly abused sexually, for a long period. The other ten cases were suffering from co-morbid mental conditions. Today about 250 cases a year are reported. All these ideas of pushing children into transgenderism are conducted and promoted by idea logs – that is, without scientific substance or commons sense. There is, however, evidence that the vast majority of children who are a bit confused about their sexuality will orientate to the sex that they were to determined to have from 6 weeks post-conceptual age, by the time they reach puberty. Dr. Whitehall closes by exposing the dangers of the media and the courts that just go along with these idea logs without questioning them. He reviewed the court cases and mentions a case where one mother there said “I knew my child was transgender because at nine months of age he preferred the company of the opposite sex” these are the statements that are not being challenged by common sense because every nine month old child sits in a nappy and doesn’t know what’s going on.

http://www.2gb.com/podcast/gender-transitioning-a-dangerous-fad/

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Sexual Exploitation

South Africa – Prostitutes HIV rate 12 times higher than general norm

More than one in three Cape Town sex workers carry on with sex after a condom breaks or slips. The same number stop and replace the condom and only 13{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} stop the sex altogether according to a research by Ferdinand Mukumbang, PhD student in HIV/AIDS Management at the University of the Western Cape. Writing in the Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine, he asked 100 prostitutes what they did within 24hours of a condom failing with more than half responding they did nothing, 25{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} going to a clinic and 3{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} taking alcohol or drugs to forget the incident. HIV prevalence among prostitutes is estimated to be 12 times greater than among general population and 40{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of Cape Town’s 7500 prostitutes were thought to be HIV positive. Prostitutes, sex partners and clients account for about 20{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of all new HIV infections.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2017/05/15/Sex-worker-HIV-rate-12-times-higher-than-general-

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Substance Abuse

USA – Legalizing weed is a dangerous idea

“Those pushing for legalization of marijuana constantly push the notion that it is no different than alcohol”, wrote Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation. He said that “extensive medical studies and the experience of nearly every human culture show that isn’t true – legalizing marijuana is a dangerous idea.” In an op-ed to the Washington Examiner he cited studies including from the National Institutes of Health that have shown that long-term marijuana use impairs the immune system, causes short-term memory loss, and has toxic properties that can result in birth defects, pain, respiratory systems damage, brain damage, and stroke. It may cause cognitive degradation, and is associated with lower test scores and lower educational attainment. It is particularly damaging to the brain development of young people. When it comes to comparing alcohol to marijuana, which pro-pot advocates often do, he said “unlike alcohol, which is broken down relatively quickly in the human body, THC, the main active chemical in marijuana, stays in the body for days and even weeks after its consumption. Equating marijuana use with alcohol consumption is uninformed and misleading. They differ in every way that counts: addictiveness, toxicity, health effects, and the risk of intoxication. All that legalization does is increase demand for the drug and cause a wide variety of unintended but predictable consequences, including more crime, not less” Spakovsky said.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sorry-420-smokers-legalizing-weed-is-a-dangerous-idea/article/2620824

USA – Addiction Meds Are “Substituting One Opioid for Another”

USA’s Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said that medications to treat opioid addiction are “just substituting one opioid for another.” His comments about run counter to years of using medications such as buprenorphine or methadone in substitution therapy, called Medicine Assisted Treatment (MAT). When he was asked about drug treatment options, Price recommended faith-based programs while showing less support for substitution therapy programs. “If we’re just substituting one opioid for another, we’re not moving the dial much,” he said. “Folks need to be cured so they can be productive members of society and realize their dreams.”

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/05/tom-price-opioid-addiction-treament

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Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International

Abortion

USA – Trump Signs Bill to Overturn Obama Rule

USA – “Lumberjacks for Life” empower pregnant and parenting students

Canada – $300 Abortion drug for free

USA – University puts abortion pills in vending machine

Alternative Medicine

Nigeria – Benefits of traditional medicine bill

Canada – Nearly eight in ten Canadians have used alternative medicines

Euthanasia

Belgium – Catholic psychiatric hospitals ‘adjust’ view of euthanasia

IVF& Surrogacy

Singapore – Court says parents deserve children with their own genes

UK – The IVF side effect that clinics hush up

Medical Ethics

USA – FDA green-lights more 23andMe genetic tests

USA – Transplant ethics for the 21st Century

Belgium – Euthanized organ donors can shorten waitlists say doctors

Pedophilia

No news today

Pornography

Same Sex Attraction

USA – Nebraska Rejects pro-LGBT bill

Australia – Becoming transgender for attention

USA – Arguments that defeated the Pro-LGBT Bill

Sexual Exploitation

South Africa – How many men visit sex workers?

New Zealand – Tensions between street-based prostitutes and communities

Substance Abuse

USA – Protecting our children: Born addicted

Abortion

USA – Trump Signs Bill to Overturn Obama Rule

The rule of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) prevented states from blocking Title X funding to abortion companies like Planned Parenthood. After the House first passed the measure, the Senate voted 50-50 for the bill. The tie vote made it so pro-life Vice-President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote to approve the measure. Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said: “The resolution signed simply ensures that states are not forced to fund an abortion business with taxpayer dollars. Rather, states have the option to spend Title X money on comprehensive health care clinics that better serve women and girls.”

http://www.lifenews.com/2017/04/13/president-donald-trump-to-sign-bill-to-overturn-obama-rule-forcing-states-to-fund-planned-parenthood/

USA – “Lumberjacks for Life” empower pregnant and parenting students

The Pro-Life student group, Lumberjacks for Life, works to bring the culture of life to their community. In 2009, Lumberjacks for Life embarked on an exciting initiative when they became the first Pro-Life group in Texas to establish a scholarship for pregnant and parenting students. Jessica Michalowski explained, “The recipient of the scholarship can be female or male. We distribute this scholarship to someone whom we feel needs it. They choose to keep going to college while being parents. To us that is so important because it is hard to do and to balance.” Knowing that their peers recognize their struggles and support them can make a tremendous difference in a pregnant or parenting students’ decision to finish their education.

http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2017/04/lumberjacks-for-life-work-to-empower-pregnant-and-parenting-students-on-campus/#.WPdKK9R961s

Canada – $300 Abortion drug for free

The New Brunswick government has announced it will provide the controversial abortion pill combination Mifegymiso free of charge. “By making Mifegymiso available free of charge for all New Brunswick women, our government is ensuring that financial barriers do not stand in the way of a woman’s right to choose,” said Health Minister Victor Boudreau. Surgical abortions are covered by the provincial health plan, but usually drugs are not. “This is very sad news that the region of Canada that has shown the greatest respect for life is now showing the greatest hostility to it,” said Jack Fonseca of the Campaign Life Coalition.

http://www.breakingchristiannews.com/articles/display_art.html?ID=21077

USA – University puts abortion pills in vending machine

A California university’s decision to make abortifacient drugs available to students via a “Wellness to Go” vending machine, has prompted criticism from pro-life and family groups. It dispenses the Plan B drug, also known as the “morning after pill” along with Advil, tampons, pregnancy tests and condoms. “Colleges and universities should be offering pregnant and parenting students options of housing, financial aid, diaper decks, and childcare instead of handing over abortion drugs,” Students for Life Executive Director Kristan Hawkins said. The “Wellness to Go” machine was the product of two years’ efforts by former student Parteek Singh. The vending machine makes the California university one of about four campuses nationally to offer similar emergency contraception.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/wellness-to-go-california-university-puts-abortion-pills-in-vending-machine

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Alternative Medicine

Nigeria – Benefits of traditional medicine bill

The President of the Nigerian Council of Physicians of Natural Medicine, Prof Magnus Adeyemihas has said that traditional medicine practitioners have been waiting for regulatory laws for over two decades. A new Bill, when passed, will address regulation, quackery, advertising and qualifications and will also open a new vista for traditional/complementary medicine, including foreign exchange. A significant subject that the bill will address is the issue of the intellectual property rights. The systemic failure of not properly acknowledging persons, traditions and practices of communities where they originated will be addressed by the bill.

http://thenationonlineng.net/benefits-traditional-medicine-bill/

Canada – Nearly eight in ten Canadians have used alternative medicines

More and more Canadians are using complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) and therapies such as massage, yoga, acupuncture and chiropractic care, and they’re using them more frequently, finds a new survey by Nadeem Esmail, Fraser Institute senior fellow and co-author of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The updated survey of 2,000 Canadians finds more than three-quarters of Canadians, 79 per cent, have used at least one CAM or therapy sometime in their lives. That’s an increase from 74 per cent in 2006 and 73 per cent in 1997, when two previous similar surveys were conducted.

http://canadafreepress.com/article/nearly-eight-in-ten-canadians-have-used-alternative-medicines-survey

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Euthanasia

Belgium – Catholic psychiatric hospitals ‘adjust’ view of euthanasia

One of the last substantial barriers of euthanasia cases for non-terminally-ill psychiatric patients in Belgium seems to have crumbled. In a statement posted on their website the Brothers of Charity explain, “We take seriously unbearable and hopeless suffering and patients’ requests for euthanasia. On the other hand, we do want to protect lives and ensure that euthanasia is performed only if there is no more possibility to provide a reasonable perspective to treat the patient”. Euthanasia for psychiatric patients has already happened dozens of times in Belgium. But from now on it will probably be easier for people suffering from schizophrenia, personality disorders, depression, autism, or loneliness to access it.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/belgian-catholic-psychiatric-hospitals-adjust-their-view-of-euthanasia/12276

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IVF&Surrogacy

Singapore – Court says parents deserve children with their own genes

A court ruled that parents have a strong interest in genetic affinity with their children in a decision regarding a couple who had their gametes mixed up with a donor sperm when undergoing IVF with Singaporean company Thompson Medical. While the court was careful not base the decision on the controversial notion of “wrongful birth”, it did acknowledge the parents had a strong interest in being genetically related to their children, and Thomson Medical had violated this interest. Thomson was ordered to pay damages – including 30{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of the child’s upkeep costs till 21. Ethicist G. Owen Schaefer from the National University of Singapore said the decision may have far-reaching implications for future cases involving negligence and assisted reproduction.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/parents-deserve-kids-with-their-own-genes-singapore-court/12262

UK – The IVF side effect that clinics hush up

Doctors are legally obliged to report “severe” cases of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), when IVF drugs cause women’s ovaries to expand dangerously. In one year, clinics reported just 16 cases but there had been almost 700 emergency hospital admissions for the condition and at least four women died. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) Chairman Sally Cheshire said they are “very concerned” fertility doctors might be under-reporting and MPs called for a legislation overhaul to protect women. IVF expert Dr John Parsons, retired consultant at King’s College Hospital, said: “The definition of ‘severe’ is so vague. If the HFEA wants a true picture of OHSS it should insist that clinics report all cases when the patient has to be hospitalized.”

http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/family/pregnancy/the-ivf-side-effect-that-uk-clinics-hush-up-8949376

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Medical Ethics

USA – FDA green-lights more 23andMe genetic tests

The US Food and Drug Administration will allow genetic testing company 23andMe to market tests for 10 serious disease and conditions, in a move that marks an about-face on the 2013 moratorium. The screening services are the first direct-to-consumer tests authorized by the FDA that provide information on an individual’s genetic predisposition to medical diseases or conditions. While some have welcomed the FDA approval, others are wary of direct-to-consumer genetic testing. Speaking with the New York Times, James Beck, chief scientific officer of the Parkinson’s Foundation, said the decision set a dangerous precedent for the disclosure of information without prior genetic counseling. “Once you get the test and read the results, there is no going back,” Dr. Beck said.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/fda-green-lights-more-23andme-genetic-tests/12259

USA – Transplant ethics for the 21st Century

Bioethicists Arthur Caplan and Duncan Purves explore the novel ethical questions arising from the “quiet revolution” in human organ transplantation in the Journal of Medical Ethics. New techniques include uterus, penis and larynx transplantations, and soon, attempts to transplant testicle, ovary and fallopian tubes. “Novel forms of transplantation carry with them all of the risks of reconstructive surgery like death from anesthesia and post-surgery complications like infection, but also increase the risk of infection because they rely on immunosuppressives, with long-term cancer risk and organ failure. Because the threat to quantity of life is so great in the transplant context, special attention must be paid to ensure that the expected improvements in quality of life are sufficient to outweigh it.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/transplant-ethics-for-the-21st-century/12272

Belgium – Euthanized organ donors can shorten waitlists say doctors

Belgian physicians argue in JAMA that encouraging organ donation after euthanasia will reduce organ waitlists. An estimated 10.1{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of all patients undergoing euthanasia could potentially donate at least 1 organ. However, they acknowledge that this novel method has its limitations. Patients need to agree to donate their organs and have to die in hospital settings, while people prefer to die at home. Organ donation after euthanasia, they say, is only allowed in Belgium and the Netherlands, and is uncommon, but it may be happening in Canada as well. The article does not take into account the type of patient who undergoes euthanasia. But if euthanasia becomes common for psychiatric conditions younger patients might expand the pool of organs.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/euthanised-organ-donors-could-dramatically-shorten-waitlists-in-belgium-say/12268

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Pedophilia

No news today

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Pornography

Spain – Police break up international child porn chat network

An international law enforcement crackdown on a network that allegedly distributed child pornography via popular online chat application WhatsApp resulted in the arrests of over three dozen people in 10 countries. The network operated some 100 chat groups with 135 identified users in Europe, Central and South America, a statement issued by Spanish police said. Files retrieved during an investigation conducted in coordination with Interpol and Europol depicted images of children up to 8 years old being brutally abused. Steven Wilson, head of Europol’s European Cybercrime Center, told the Associated Press that Spanish police discovered a group of individuals using closed groups in the chat application to distribute the pornographic material. Police had intercepted 360,000 files so far.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/spain-police-break-international-child-porn-chat-network-46859081

Philippines – Porn’s disastrous effect on our youth

The Philippine Commission on Population discovered from respondent’s data that pornography is driving the youth toward earlier sexual activity. With the country experiencing rising rates of teenage pregnancy plus an alarming increase in HIV infections, policymakers would do well to incorporate a serious, intensified crackdown on pornography in their programs. Studies across the world have shown the numerous negative consequences of porn use – addiction, sexual dysfunction, destruction of marital relations, escalation to more violent and degrading forms of pornography, and contribution to worldwide human trafficking. Pornography is a $97-billion industry, $3 billion of which is revenue from child pornography. The Philippines still has cinemas that specialize in porn films while the most popular magazine is a soft-porn publication.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/opinion/letter_to_editor/30312504

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Same Sex Attraction

USA – Nebraska Rejects pro-LGBT bill

Nebraska joined 14 other states and 70 cities that rejected the LB 173 bill that would add ‘’sexual orientation’’ and ‘’gender identity’’ to the state’s employment non-discrimination laws. According to the Liberty Counsel that rejected the bill, it has only been used to demand lawsuits and actions that target and criminalise anyone who is against homosexuality. While it is wrong to force homosexuals into intimate situations with the opposite sex, it is also wrong to force people to deny their moral convictions on human sexuality. Despite pressure from the LGBT lobby, a group called Mass Resistance went from town to town across the state, educating citizens and business owners about the bill. The legislative leadership got the message and stopped it.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/nebraska-rejects-pro-lgbtq-bill-enacts-first-pro-life-law-since-2011

Australia – Becoming transgender for attention

One of Australia’s top gender experts, psychiatrist Stephen Stathis, said that he had concerns that teens are over diagnosed as transgender. Adolescents are ‘’trying it out to be transgender’’ to stand out or gain attention from their peers. Dr. Stephen said one child said ‘’Dr. Steve … I want to be transgender, it’s the new black’’ Before he prescribes hormone-blockers, Stathis requires children and adolescents to undergo intensive mental-health screenings with multiple psychiatrists. They also must show that they have “socially transitioned” to their preferred gender for at least six months.

https://heatst.com/culture-wars/gender-expert-teens-are-trying-to-be-transgender-because-its-trendy/

USA – Arguments that defeated Pro-LGBT Bill

This article link has an audio attached of a US Senate Committee hearing where Mass Resistance Colorado and other Pro-family groups expressed very strong arguments that got Colorado bill, H17-1156, rejected. The bill is part of a big push by the radical LGBT lobby in state legislatures across the country. It would deny needed therapy for children who were sexually molested or had unwanted homosexual or transgender psychological issues. Doctor Robyn Patterson representing Colorado Mass Resistance testified to schools having asked 11 year old children to self identify their sexual orientation and gender perception for posters that would hang outside the classroom in the passage. Another classroom had links to graphic porn including bestiality and orgies embedded in social study lessons. A 12 year old child was exposed to an art lesson with stick figures depicting men in sexual poses to show children about homosexual practises and promote the concept of promiscuity as ‘’an act of friendship and love’’. Who will teach these children the truth about promiscuity and that it’s a one way trip to contracting a variety of sexually transmitted diseases? All this was done without informing the parents and blocking any attempt to give therapy to children who might need it after being exposed to such graphic material.

The Colorado schools were found to knowingly distribute obscene content that welcomed BDSM play to children, instructions for DIY sex toys and links to hardcore porn through online information services such as Elton B. Stephens Co (EBSCO). The National Centre on Sexual Exploitation recently named EBSCO to its Dirty Dozen list as a major contributor to the sexual exploitation of women and children. Megan Molaneric a sexual abuse survivor said everyone would agree that children struggling with anger, loneliness, depression, suicidal thoughts, PTSD or any kind of mental disturbance or unwanted desires should be able to seek help. Most children who seek help for unwanted same-sex attractions are victims of sexual abuse, rape or over-exposure to pornography. She said that when she was raped at 7 years old by her 9 year old cousin (whom she believes was also molested) she struggled with unwanted and all types of sexual desires and PTSD symptoms.

The United States Department of Justice stated that more than 62,000 children were sexually abused in 2012 alone and has estimated that these numbers have gone up every year since. Drew Patterson testifying as a concerned father pointed out that the LGBT community has demanded that society and the government stay out of their relationships, homes and bedrooms. Society has largely done so, now it seems that the LGBT lobby is doing the very thing it asked society not to do. He said the LGBT community is interfering with the most important relationship, that between a parent and their child. Parents alone have the right in consultation with their child’s physician to determine the right method and course of any suggested therapy. It’s not for the LGBT movement or the government to attempt to deny any form of treatment recommended by a licensed professional. It was pointed out that the Bill only supports therapy in favour of LGBT transition and not for a child that wishes to go in the opposite direction.

Click link for audio:

http://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen3/17b/MR-CO-vs-anti-therapy-032217/index.html

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Sexual Exploitation

South Africa – How many men visit sex workers?

The Citizen reports that a Johannesburg sex worker makes between R3 000 and R4 000 a month, charging R100 for straight sex. An Advocacy group estimates that there are between 31 000 and 94 000 sex workers in Gauteng, with the majority being black South African women and a significant percentage from Zimbabwe. The Cheating website found that 80{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of men will book a sex worker for one hour to “get it over and done with as quickly as possible”. And 50.1{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of men find the experience unsatisfying because the prostitute “lacked enthusiasm”, while 26.3{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} said the escort was less attractive than her picture suggested.

http://www.w24.co.za/Love/Sex/how-many-sa-men-visit-sex-workers-and-what-is-the-impact-on-sa-women-20170420

New Zealand – Tensions between street-based prostitutes and communities

Better understanding tensions between street-based prostitutes and communities are part of a new study by Associate Professor Gillian Abe of the University of Otago, Christchurch, into the impact of decriminalization on the country. Research carried out before decriminalization found 57 per cent of street-based prostitutes surveyed said they started before age 18. Fewer than 10 per cent of this group reported being forced into prostitution, compared to 2 per cent of those over 18 years. Many young prostitutes pay minders, boyfriends or pimps a portion of their money. The Lottery Commission funded research will look at the relationship between prostitutes and their pimps and whether coercion to work happens.

http://www.otago.ac.nz/news/news/otago645234.html

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Substance Abuse

USA – Protecting our children: Born addicted

Treating an infant born addicted to the drugs its mother was using was a rare occurrence 20 years ago. Dr. John Chan, head of Conemaugh Medical Centre’s neonatal/prenatal medicine unit, has watched the number of drug-addicted babies grow from a few a year to several each week. “Every year we’re going up,” he said. A statewide analysis by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council found that hospital stays for newborns diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) rose 870 percent between 2000 and 2015, increasing from 1.6 to 16.0 per 1,000 neonatal stays. A lot of these babies are born to mothers addicted to methadone, a drug often given to them as a substitute to heroin. Methadone substitution therapy has become ever more controversial, especially in countries like Scotland where studies have indicated millions of taxpayer pounds are spent “parking” heroin addicts on free methadone treatment with little positive results. This comes at a time when celebrities and pro-drug lobbying groups are pushing to decriminalize/legalise drugs across the world with much being said about ‘the drug addicts rights’ while touting that using drugs is a private matter. Babies being dumped into addiction while still in the mothers’ womb clearly show it is not a private matter. What about the rights of these children? The question that should be asked is whether government should stand back while reckless parents force their own children into the hell of drug abuse right from the outset. Moreover, should governments encourage this behavior by providing free methadone to mothers?

http://www.mynbc5.com/article/methadone-babies-treatment-methods-explained/9247927

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Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International