LIFEAlerts

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

Nigeria – Benefits of traditional medicine bill

Canada – Nearly eight in ten Canadians have used alternative medicines

Belgium – Catholic psychiatric hospitals ‘adjust’ view of euthanasia

Singapore – Court says parents deserve children with their own genes

UK – The IVF side effect that clinics hush up

USA – FDA green-lights more 23andMe genetic tests

USA – Transplant ethics for the 21st Century

Belgium – Euthanized organ donors can shorten waitlists say doctors

No news today

Spain – Police break up international child porn chat network Philippines – Porn’s disastrous effect on our youth

USA – Nebraska Rejects pro-LGBT bill

Australia – Becoming transgender for attention

USA – Arguments that defeated the Pro-LGBT Bill

South Africa – How many men visit sex workers?

New Zealand – Tensions between street-based prostitutes and communities

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

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.”

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

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

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

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

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

Pedophilia

No news today

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

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

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

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

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

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LIFEalerts 13 April 2017

April 13, 2017

USA – National Right to Life Academy empowers pro-life students

USA – Abortionist: Was baby born alive? It depends ‘who’s in the room’

USA – Trump cuts funding to UN agency over forced abortion support

No news today

No news today

India – Will government ban commercial surrogacy?

UK – Three-parent babies green-lighted in UK

USA – When stem cell treatments go wrong, they really go wrong

USA – Should a human-pig chimera be treated as a person

Cambodia – Country bans exports of breast milk to US

UK – Pedophiles use online techniques to hide child pornography

Canada – Child sex doll trial raises issue of what constitutes child porn

USA – Iowa House passes bill criminalizing ‘revenge porn’ USA – Bill to allow parents to sue pornographers

USA – Anti-porn group wants obscenity laws vigorously enforced

USA – The Homosexual Kingdom is falling apart

USA – Ratings flop as people keep rejecting homosexual programs

USA – Homosexual attorney parts with LGBT community

USA – Consequences of a ‘’third gender’’ called nonbinary

USA – New Michigan legislation aims to help victims of human trafficking

South Africa: 15 Child Trafficking Cases Detected At OR Tambo Airport

USA – New Legislation to Decrease Online Sex Trafficking

South Africa – The Human Trafficking Act: Is it doing the job?

http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2017/03/national-right-to-life-academy-empowers-pro-life-college-students-to-make-a-difference-2/#.WNJ1Z4F961s

USA – Attorney General Jeff Sessions says marijuana not the answer USA – Preferred Drug List Policies May Affect Methadone Overdose Rates

Abortion

USA – National Right to Life Academy empowers pro-life students

Over a five week program, pro-life students learn from the foremost leaders in the pro-life movement about abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, Planned Parenthood, legislative strategy, lobbying, politics, communication, grassroots organizing, social media and more. Graduates of the program are currently working for state pro-life groups, starting local right-to-life chapters, aiding in the efforts of crisis pregnancy centers and bringing a pro-life perspective to their workplaces in the medical, legal, and social work fields. Notable graduates include John Seago, the legislative director for Texas Right to Life. John was instrumental in the passage of the Texas pro-life omnibus bill HB-2.

USA – Abortionist: Was baby born alive? It depends ‘who’s in the room’

A new undercover video comes the day after Centre for Medical Progress head David Daleiden and co-investigator Sandra Merritt were charged with 15 felonies in California. Dr. DeShawn Taylor, previous Medical Director of Planned Parenthood of Arizona and long-time abortion provider at Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, speaks candidly to undercover investigators at a networking conference. One investigator asked if there’s “any standard procedure for verifying signs of life” after an abortion. Taylor replied, “Well, the thing is, I mean the key is, you need to pay attention to who’s in the room, right?”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-undercover-video-shows-planned-parenthood-abortionist-discussing-b

USA – Trump cuts funding to UN agency over forced abortion support

The Trump administration has withdrawn U.S. funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) because of its participation in China’s forced abortion regime. “This determination was made based on the fact that China’s family planning policies still involve the use of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization,” according to the state department. “We want to thank the Trump administration,” said Stephen Phelan, Director of Mission Communications for Human Life International. “This is wonderful news both for the people in China who are most vulnerable – the women and babies.” Now, $32.5 million, instead of going to the UNFPA, will go to a US Agency for International Development (USAID) account for “family planning and reproductive health.”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-trump-pulls-us-money-from-un-population-fund-over-forced-abortion

Alternative Medicine

No news today

Euthanasia

No news today

IVF&Surrogacy

India – Will government ban commercial surrogacy?

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released a draft bill regulating the controversial surrogacy industry. The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 proposes a complete ban on commercial surrogacy, a huge blow to the rapidly growing industry. It also restricts the clients of surrogate mothers to Indian citizens residing in India who are married but infertile; unmarried couples, single parents, and homosexuals would not be eligible. Only altruistic surrogacy will be allowed and clients would only be able to compensate women for their expenses. The surrogate must also be a close relative of the commissioning couple. The government would become more involved with the creation of a National Surrogacy Board and surrogacy boards in the states as well.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/will-india-ban-commercial-surrogacy/12256

Medical Ethics

UK – Three-parent babies green-lighted in UK

The government has given a license to Newcastle University to create three-parent embryos to combat mitochondrial diseases. Sally Cheshire, chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) said the decision represented a culmination of years of hard work by researchers, clinical experts, and regulators. But Mark Bhagwandin, of the charity ‘Life’ said they had hoped the HFEA would have listened to the thousands of people who expressed concern about three parent embryos but it approved a procedure which will alter the human genome. It is at least reckless and irresponsible given that we have absolutely no idea what the long term consequences will be of us interfering with the human genome.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/three-parent-babies-green-lighted-in-the-uk/12237

USA – When stem cell treatments go wrong, they really go wrong

Three elderly women in Florida have been blinded by an unproven treatment, as a reminder of how dangerous stem cell therapies can be. The New England Journal of Medicine reports the women signed up for a purported clinical trial in 2015, for which they paid US$5,000. Within a week, they experienced vision loss, detached retinas and hemorrhage. Before the surgery, their vision ranged from 20/30 to 20/200. They are now blind. The article is a “call to awareness for patients, physicians and regulatory agencies of the risks of this kind of minimally regulated, patient-funded research,” said co-author Jeffrey Goldberg, of Stanford University School of Medicine. “There’s no excuse for not designing a trial properly and basing it on preclinical research.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/when-stem-cell-treatments-go-wrong-they-really-go-wrong/12234

USA – Should a human-pig chimera be treated as a person

In an article in Quartz, Oxford ethicist Julian Savulescu says human-pig chimeras may be capable of feeling pain and potentially engage in higher cognitive functions and should be assessed against the criteria of personhood. Case Western Reserve University bioethicist Insoo Hyun is critical of assumptions underpinning the idea of “chimera personhood” and wrote in Plos Biology that it is entirely unclear what types of new psychological characteristics could count to elevate the moral status of a research animal above where it currently is, so that its scientific use would no longer be morally acceptable. And Executive director of the Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy Neuroscientist Lori Matthews says we should place these ethical questions within the context of ongoing animal rights “abuses”.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/should-a-human-pig-chimera-be-treated-as-a-person/12241

Cambodia – Country bans exports of breast milk to US

A Utah company has been shipping breast milk to American mothers (and possibly some body builders) but Cambodian authorities say that the business endangers the health of babies. UNICEF is adamantly opposed to the sale of breastmilk by poor women in developing countries. “Breast milk banks should never be operated by exploiting vulnerable and poor women for profit and commercial purposes,” Iman Morooka, of UNICEF in Cambodia said. “Breast milk could be considered as human tissue, the same as blood, and as such its commercialization should be banned. Malnutrition remains a threat to children’s wellbeing in Cambodia, and proper breastfeeding is one of the key factors contributing to a child’s good health and nutrition.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/cambodia-bans-exports-of-breast-milk-to-us/12245

Pedophilia

UK – Pedophiles use online techniques to hide child pornography

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) says that pedophiles of higher technical knowledge are using techniques that make detecting and removing child pornography more difficult. ‘’Masking’’ and ‘’breadcrumbing’’ allows pedophiles to follow a series of secret clues that hide behind what looks like legitimate blog sites, news sites and even fake 404 error pages which takes them to the site that holds the abusive material. In 2016, 1,572 websites were found using these methods, a 112{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} increase since 2015 when only 743 sites were identified. In 2013, only 353 websites were using this method. The IWF wants internet companies and large business to work with them to address this. Suspected child pornography can anonymously be reported through the IWF website.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/paedophilia-child-sexual-abuse-images-video-codes-keywords-clues-cookies-iwf-masking-breadcrumbing-a7661051.html

Pornography

Canada – Child sex doll trial raises issue of what constitutes child porn

The sex doll at the heart of a trial in Newfoundland that has made global headlines meets the definition of child pornography, according to a forensic psychiatrist. Dr. Peter Collins testified in provincial court in St. John’s that the doll is the size of a prepubescent child without sexually mature characteristics. Collins explained that the doll was advertised for sexual use and that such items appeal to the “pedophiliac subculture” and is meant “to be fantasized as a prepubescent child.” Key issues include whether the case constitutes child pornography if no actual child was involved. It also raises the limits of free expression and whether laws have become outmoded by technology such as animated sex acts.

http://www.news1130.com/2017/03/21/pornography-child-sex-doll-trial-raises-issue-of-what-constitutes-child-porn/

USA – Iowa House passes bill criminalizing ‘revenge porn’ Iowa would become one of a growing number of states seeking to criminalize “revenge pornography” which includes dissemination, distribution, publishing or posting of sexually graphic images of individuals without the persons consent, under a bill advanced by the House. “Disseminating someone’s nude image is a destructive invasion of their privacy that can cause irreversible harm to a person’s physical and emotional well-being, reputation and security,” according to the bill’s floor manager, Rep. Greg Heartsill. If approved, Iowa would become the 35th state with legislation aimed at preventing the spread of non-consensual pornography. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/27/iowa-house-passes-bill-criminalizing-revenge-porn/99714656/ USA – Bill to allow parents to sue pornographers A new law in Utah will soon open the door to lawsuits against pornographers. Utah will be the first state in the country to allow parents to file a lawsuit according to State Senator, Todd Weiler. This comes one year after the state declared pornography a public health crisis. The bill gives parents a chance to prove porn damaged their children emotionally or psychologically. The bill also provides a way for the porn industry to avoid liability. They must be able to prove that they warned their customers that porn can be harmful and that they made a good effort to verify the age of the child/person watching porn, Weiler continued. http://www.good4utah.com/news/local-news/new-law-will-soon-allow-utah-parents-to-sue-pornographers/686972501

USA – Anti-porn group wants obscenity laws vigorously enforced

The National Centre on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), a leading anti-pornography organization is recommending that Attorney General Jeff Sessions “vigorously enforce” anti-obscenity laws. NCOSE, which recently published its annual “Dirty Dozen” list of corporations like Comcast which profit from pornography states that child sexual abuse, pornography, sex trafficking, sexual violence, and prostitution overlap and reinforce one another. The placement of social conservatives in key positions throughout the Republican administration has given hope to NCOSE and other pro-family activists that the federal government will more aggressively prosecute sex traffickers and major hard-core pornographers.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/stop-sexploitation-anti-porn-group-asks-sessions-to-vigorously-enforce-obsc

Same Sex Attraction

USA – The Homosexual Kingdom is falling apart

In both Maine and Canada incidents occurred where a school and university celebrated diversity by raising the LGBT flag. However, transgender students burned the flag and tore it down saying it would embarrass other transgender students. A homosexual-activist wrote in a much criticised column that LGBs and Ts must go their separate ways. He said that they no longer work towards the same goals because members of the transgender community are working against their biology by changing who they are physically, whereas homosexual women and men are not trying to be anybody but themselves that prefer same sex relationships. Feminists also feel that they are being eclipsed by transgender issues with one saying that changing sex does not turn men into ‘’real women’’.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/a-distant-sound-of-breaking-alliances

USA – Ratings flop as people keep rejecting homosexual programs Even though Disney experimented with homosexual scenes in a remake of ‘Beauty & the Beast’, recent ratings flopped for a miniseries called ‘When We Rise’ which is all about the homosexual rights revolution. This confirms that people are shunning pro-homosexual programming. Despite the miniseries receiving full ad coverage, having star-studded actors and opening to positive reviews, the ratings were among the lowest of the big four networks (CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC). The Advocate magazine expressed their sorrow for the lack of interest in LGBTQ programming and urged everyone to watch. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/lgbtq-ratings-flop-americans-keep-rejecting-gay-programming

USA – Homosexual attorney parts with LGBT community

Joseph Murray is an attorney and administrator for LGBTrump, a pro-Trump homosexual group. As a member of the LGBT community he disagrees with homosexual scenes in ‘Beauty & the Beast’. He wrote: “Why do we have to expose our kids to such mature themes? Do they not have plenty of time to grow up? Or maybe the point is to make them grow up too soon and that is where I part ways with my community.” Disney’s vision to entertain children was to give them hope and optimism, and allow them to enjoy their innocence for as long as the world would permit. Murray writes that providing “affirmation” is a poor argument for subjecting kids to adult “gay” themes.

http://www.charismanews.com/culture/63615-gay-lawyer-warns-parents-beauty-and-the-beast-will-rob-kids-innocence

USA – Consequences of a ‘’third gender’’ called nonbinary

California licenses and birth certificates could have a ‘’third gender’’ check-box called ‘nonbinary’ added to documents. Senate Bill 179 would remove the requirement for making the status known of transgender people, and whether or not they have undergone body-changing surgeries or hormone therapy. Pro-family group savecalifornia.com warned if this bill becomes law, children would be lied to about nature, health and led to believe its fine to cut off their healthy body parts. It would also make it harder for police to identify criminals and easier for criminals to commit identity fraud. Imagine the arrest of a biological male whose license says ‘nonbinary’ and how it will confuse the courts and police.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/male-female-or-nonbinary-california-may-add-third-gender-option-to-licenses

Sexual Exploitation

USA – New Michigan legislation aims to help victims of human trafficking Human trafficking victims will get help rebuilding their lives after house members unanimously approved a bill that could forgive prostitution related offenses victims were forced to commit, even if they have a prior conviction. Republican Bronna Kahle says the bill would make them eligible for parole and deferral instead of jailing them so that they have a chance to become productive members of society. Victims now are only eligible for one-time deferred sentences for certain charges the victim was forced to commit if all conditions of probation have been met. It also only applies to victims who have had no previous convictions. http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/03/22/new-michigan-legislation-aims-help-victims-human-trafficking/99510468/

South Africa – 15 Child Trafficking Cases Detected At OR Tambo Airport

According to Malusi Gigaba, the previous Minister of Home Affairs, a total of 15 cases of human trafficking have so far been reported and stopped at OR Tambo International Airport.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201703300740.html

USA – New Legislation to Decrease Online Sex Trafficking

Congresswomen Ann Wagner proposes a bill that lifts barriers preventing efforts to seek justice against online facilitators of sex trafficking. In 2011 the state Attorney General said many cases of sex trafficking of children are directly related to the posting of ads on Backpage.com. In October 2016 after a three-year investigation Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer was arrested for pimping and conspiracy to commit pimping related to its website, though he was not convicted. This website is being protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The National Centre on Sexual Exploitation calls on Congress to swiftly pass the Wagner bill which removes immunities from sex trafficking websites. It’s time for Congress to stand with the victims of sex trafficking, not the tech companies that want immunity for sex trafficking or prostitution that happens on their platforms.

http://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/wagner-bill-stop-online-sex-trafficking-just-introduced/

South Africa – The Human Trafficking Act: Is it doing the job?

Here’s the good news following the implementation of new legislation according to Major Carin Holmes of the Salvation Army’s Anti-Trafficking Unit – “we’re getting there….It’s taking a while to get momentum going…. But it’s better than it was.” The Salvation Army doesn’t have capacity to set up safe houses for victims of human trafficking, so most often they function as a liaison – offering advice, contacting authorities and referring victims to relevant NGOs. “We’ve got a helpline 24/7. People phone, tell us their story, and what we do depends on what’s on the other side,” explains Holmes. There are 30,000 children in slavery in South Africa annually and 45,000 children in prostitution.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-03-16-the-human-trafficking-act-is-it-doing-the-job/#.WMvXFYGGPcs

Substance Abuse

USA – Attorney General Jeff Sessions says marijuana not the answer

In a statement Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the only way to end the heroin crisis was through tactical criminal enforcement, better treatment options and stronger prevention efforts, not by offering addicts something that’s “only slightly less awful,” like legal marijuana. He said that medical use of marijuana has “been hyped, maybe too much.” “I realize this may be an unfashionable belief in a time of growing tolerance of drug use. But too many lives are at stake to worry about being fashionable. I reject the idea that America will be a better place if marijuana is sold in every corner store. Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life.”

http://www.newsweek.com/jeff-sessions-marijuana-legalization-states-heroin-opioids-568499

USA – Preferred Drug List Policies May Affect Methadone Overdose Rates

In a study published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, researcher M. Faul and colleagues analyzed state mortality data and the state preferred drug list (PDL) and reimbursement, to compare the number of overdose deaths involving methadone with the rate of prescribing methadone. They noted that methadone overdose fatalities increased by 600{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} between 2007 and 2014 before declining by 39{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} in 2014. In states like Florida and North Carolina that include methadone on the PDL overdose rates were high. But in South Carolina where methadone is not on the PDL overdose rates were lower. The researchers concluded that drug utilization management policies such as PDL placement may help reduce methadone-related injuries and deaths.

http://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/cdc-medicaid-preferred-drug-list-policies-may-affect-methadone-overdose-rates

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

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LIFEalerts 16 March 2017

March 16, 2017

Abortion	USA – Norma McCorvey of Roe v. Wade Passes Away USA – House Votes to Overturn States Funding Planned Parenthood USA – Congressional Bill to Protect Doctors and Nurses against Abortions Africa – Women slam global ‘safe abortion’ fund as ‘new colonialism’
Alternative Medicine	Ghana – Safety issues in Herbal Medicine Nigeria – Bill to regulate traditional medicine passes 2nd reading
Euthanasia	Germany – court rules patients can access life-ending drugs
IVF& Surrogacy	Australia – Victoria’s controversial donor anonymity laws
Medical Ethics	UK – High Court rules that child must be vaccinated Australia – Women complain of ‘gender disappointment’ USA – Report gives cautious green light to gene editing USA – Anorexic woman dies after court orders end to force-feeding
Pedophilia	No news today
Pornography	USA – Is pornography a public health threat? Canada – Government to Conduct Countrywide Study on Porn’s Effects USA – Leading corporations promoting pornography USA – Porn resolution passes Tennessee Senate
Same Sex Attraction	USA – Students can’t visit ‘’anti-homosexual’’ states Canada – Regretting the vote for transgender rights bill USA – Comparing Body Dysmorphic Disorder and transgenderism USA – Pushing kids into transgenderism is medical malpractice
Sexual Exploitation	USA – The system of prostitution is a violation of human rights USA – Abolitionists legislation passes in Ireland France – New prostitution law South Africa – Lesotho boys trafficked to Cape Town
Substance Abuse	No news today

Abortion

USA – Norma McCorvey of Roe v. Wade Passes Away

Norma McCorvey, who was the Jane Roe of the infamous Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court case legalizing virtually unlimited abortion, has passed away. McCorvey never had an abortion and eventually became pro-life and dedicated her life to overturning the Supreme Court decision that bared her pseudonym.

http://www.lifenews.com/2017/02/18/norma-mccorvey-jane-roe-of-roe-v-wade-passes-away-she-never-had-an-abortion-and-became-pro-life/

USA – House Votes to Overturn States Funding Planned Parenthood

The House of Representatives voted 230-188 to overturn Obama’s anti-defunding rule with Republicans voting 227-2 for it and Democrats voting 186-2 against it. Several states receiving family planning Federal grants have opted to direct those funds to county health departments, community health centers or other types of providers. Senator Joni Ernst and Rep. Diane Black filed bills to overturn the rule and the House passed the measure. “State legislatures around the country have spoken out about their preference for prioritizing more comprehensive primary and preventative care providers for the receipt of Title X funding and their voice should be respected by bureaucrats in the federal government.”

http://www.lifenews.com/2017/02/16/house-votes-to-overturn-obama-rule-forcing-states-to-fund-planned-parenthood/

USA – Congressional Bill to Protect Doctors and Nurses against Abortions

The Conscience Protection Act of 2017 was introduced in Congress last year and it passed the U.S. House but was not voted on in the U.S. Senate. The measure also protects health insurance companies that oppose abortion and would rather not cover the procedure. The Department of Health and Human Services civil rights office declared that faith based organizations in California were mandated to provide abortion coverage. Because of that, key pro-life groups want Congress to take action. “This bill is needed to give health care providers the right to provide medical care without violating their deeply held beliefs,” says Oklahoma U.S. Senator James Lankford, who co-sponsored the bill.

http://www.lifenews.com/2017/02/15/congressional-bill-would-protect-doctors-and-nurses-who-refuse-to-assist-abortions/

Africa – Women slam global ‘safe abortion’ fund as ‘new colonialism’ A majority of Africans see abortion as morally unacceptable yet it is being foisted upon them as part of a “new colonialism” and “dictatorship of the wealthy donor” in a massive Dutch-initiated global funding effort. After President Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy which denies U.S. funding to any organization that promotes or provides abortions in their international work, “many countries in the West, including Canada and the Netherlands, have decided to come together to raise funds,” says Obianuju Ekeocha, of UK-based Culture of Life Africa. Thirteen countries, including Canada, Finland, Luxembourg, Belgium and Sweden have signed to support the Dutch abortion initiative. The fund aims to donate €600 million to abortion services to people in Africa and the developing world. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/global-campaign-to-provide-abortions-for-african-women-not-fun

Alternative Medicine

Ghana – Safety issues in Herbal Medicine

The World Health Organization recognizes two criteria for assessing the safety of herbal medicines. First is a long period of traditional use of the herbal medicine without documented or reported adverse effect or harm, and second is scientific-based evidence. However, in the absence of documentation of long historical use or where there is uncertainty about the safety of herbal medicine, additional toxicity studies should be performed. The Point of Difference from the research and marketing perspective is that the safety and efficacy as well as the performance of a well-researched herbal medicine can be empirically and scientifically attested to, as opposed to that which has not been properly researched, tried and tested.

http://www.myjoyonline.com/lifestyle/2017/march-8th/safety-issues-in-herbal-medicine.php

Nigeria – Bill to regulate traditional medicine passes 2nd reading

A Bill for an Act to provide for the establishment of complementary and alternative medicine commission passed for a third reading in the House of Representatives. The consolidated bills sponsored by Rep. Nasiru Garo and two other lawmakers, seek to encourage, promote and regulate traditional medicine practice in Nigeria. He said the World Health Organisation (WHO), which Nigeria belongs to, made recommendations to all member countries at a congress of traditional medicine held in Beijing China. The recommendations were that each nation should have national policy on complementary and alternative medicine as well as national regulation of traditional and herbal medicine.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/03/bill-regulate-promote-traditional-medicine-nigeria-passes-2nd-reading/

Euthanasia

Germany – Court rules patients can access life-ending drugs

For more than a decade a 74-year-old man fought for legal access to fatal drugs for his paralyzed, now-deceased, wife. The federal administrative court in Leipzig ruled in favour of “the right for a patient who is suffering and incurably ill to decide how and when their life should end”, provided the patient “can freely express their will and act accordingly”. The German Foundation for the Protection of Patients said the judgment was “a blow to the cause of suicide prevention in Germany”. Board member Eugen Brysch said the definition of “what an intolerable condition of suffering is remains open”. Suffering is “neither objectively measurable nor legally universally defined”.

http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/euthanasia-german-court-rules-patients-can-access-life-ending-drugs

IVF & Surrogacy

Australia – Victoria’s controversial donor anonymity laws

New Victorian legislation allows donor conceived children to access information about their biological father, even where the donor requested anonymity. Donor children can apply to the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority, to access the name, birth date and donor code of their male blood-parent. The laws have been heavily criticized, with Vice-President of the Australian Medical Association Tony Bartone saying that we risk undermining the integrity of consent procedures: “All patients must feel confident that when they see a doctor and undergo a medical procedure their privacy will be upheld, both now and in the future.” Yet some say provisions in the law preventing donor children from contacting their male blood-parent are sufficient to protect the rights of donors.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/victorias-controversial-donor-anonymity-laws-come-into-effect/12210

Medical Ethics

UK – High Court rules that child must be vaccinated

A British High Court Judge has ordered that a 7-month-old boy be given a meningitis vaccine despite his mother’s objections. The London mother’s three older children had all experienced significant side-effects from the injection (including swollen leg, ear infection and rash). Yet Mr Justice McDonald of the Family Division of the High Court said “I am satisfied that the balance of risk as between administering the outstanding Hib vaccine and the PCV vaccine and not doing so plainly favors immunization”. Barrister Rosalind English said “The current non-coercive vaccination regime under the UK Immunization Schedule is probably a good compromise, but a consistent approach by the courts such as illustrated by the growing case law favoring immunization is to be welcomed.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/british-child-must-be-vaccinated-court-rules/12184

Australia – Women complain of ‘gender disappointment’

“Gender disappointment” is not a recognized medical condition. But many Australia women – where gender selection is illegal attribute their depression to it. A woman described it as “a guilt-ridden, debilitating depression”. She has two boys and she desperately wants a daughter. An ethics committee of Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council is currently reviewing guidelines for assisted reproductive technology and may recommend the legalization of sex selection. Critics say that sex selection is the first step on a slippery slope to designer babies.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/australian-women-complain-of-gender-disappointment/12177

USA – Report gives cautious green light to gene editing

A controversial report released by the US National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine outlines criteria for germline genome editing including: “strict clinical oversight, credible pre-clinical data on risk and health benefits, and the assurance of “long-term multigenerational follow-up”. Trials should only be conducted for “treating or preventing serious disease or disabilities”. Unlike human genome editing, which takes place in children or adults and cannot be inherited, germline genome editing takes place in gametes or embryos and the altered genes can be inherited. Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society said: “Although [the recommendations] are couched in apparently cautionary language, they actually constitute a green light for proceeding with efforts to modify the human germline, that is, to engineer the genes and traits that are passed on to future children and generations.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/us-academy-gives-cautious-green-light-to-gene-editing/12190

USA – Anorexic woman dies after court orders end to force-feeding

A 30-year-old anorexic woman has died in hospital just three months after a court denied a request that she be force-fed. The women had suffered from anorexia nervosa and depression for over a decade and had been in hospital since 2014. In 2016 the state Department of Human Health Services took her to court requesting she be force-fed, yet Superior Court Judge Paul Armstrong ruled she be moved to palliative care. “Whether grounded in common law or constitutional law, our courts have uniformly recognized a patient’s right to refuse medical treatment as a fundamental tenet of respect for patient autonomy, dignity and self-determination.” The woman told the judge she would resist force-feedings through the nose.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/anorexic-and-bulimic-woman-dies-after-court-orders-end-to-force-feeding/12196

Pedophilia

No news today

Pornography

USA – Is pornography a public health threat?

According to the website Paint Bottle, 30 percent of all data transferred online is porn. In a 2015 info-graphic the porn site detailed that 70 percent of men consume the content compared to 30 percent of women and that the number of people consuming porn is rapidly increasing every week. According to Dr. William Struthers, a psychology professor at Wheaton College, any kind of pornography research is incredibly muddy water. “The unfortunate truth is that we can’t keep up with the pornography that is being produced.” Ian Kerner, a licensed psychotherapist, argued that excessive porn viewing often presents as co-morbidity with another health issue such as anxiety, depression or bipolar disorder.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2017/02/16/is-pornography-public-health-threat.html

Canada – Government to Conduct Countrywide Study on Porn’s Effects

The Canadian government has given the green light to Motion M-47 introduced by MP Arnold Viersen. This will lead to examining the harmful effects of pornography on Canadian citizens and explore options to protect children from sexually explicit online material. The motion was unanimously adopted by the House of Commons. An important fact that helped pass the motion was that parliament has not studied the impact of sexually explicit material since 1985 – before the internet was invented.

http://fightthenewdrug.org/breaking-news-canada-passes-motion-to-conduct-countrywide-study-on-porns-effects/

USA – Leading corporations promoting pornography

Amazon, HBO, Comcast, Snapchat, Twitter, and the American Library Association are among the nation’s leading corporations promoting pornography and sexual exploitation, according to the annual “Dirty Dozen” list released by National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), a leading organization fighting porn. No corporation or organization should profit from or facilitate sexual exploitation according to NCOSE executive director, Dawn Hawkins. She continued that the disturbing truth is that many well-established brands, companies, and organizations in America are major perpetrators of sexual harm.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/dirty-dozen-porn-profiteers-amazon-comcast-twitter-american-library-associa

USA – Porn resolution passes Tennessee Senate

A joint resolution in the Tennessee General Assembly condemning pornography as a “public health crisis” that is making men less interested in marrying passed unanimously in the Senate. The nonbinding resolution was sponsored by Sen. Mae Beavers, and was passed without any discussion on the Senate floor. It calls for education, policy change, prevention and research on the negative effects of pornography. Specifically, the resolution says that more millennials are exposed to porn at a younger age, causing eating disorders, and that “children and youth are exposed to pornography that many times serves as their sex education and shapes their sexual templates.” The resolution now needs to pass the House before it’s sent to Gov. Bill Haslam’s desk.

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/06/porn-resolution-passes-tennessee-senate/98830004/

Same Sex Attraction

USA – Students can’t visit ‘’anti-homosexual’’ states

A new law forces California university students who planned on attending an undergraduate research conference in Tennessee from visiting four states marked by attorney general Xavier Becerra, including Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee. With effect from 01 January 2017, the state prohibits state-funded travels to states that do not promote the homosexual agenda.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/22/california-bans-students-from-traveling-to-anti-lgbt-states/

Canada – Regretting the vote for transgender rights bill

Conservative leader Maxime Bernier has stopped supporting the liberal transgender anti-discrimination bill C-16. Psychology Professor Peterson of the University of Toronto got entangled with university authorities for opposing the push on staff members to use Tran’s pronouns when referring to transgender people. LGBT activists want everybody to use pronouns like ‘’ze’’ or ‘’xyr’’ when talking to transgender people identifying as something other than male or female. It forces Canadians to speak as if there were 30-50 different genders. Bernier who agrees with Peterson points out that these bills violate everyone’s fundamental right to believe in or criticize whatever they want to.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/tory-leadership-hopeful-bernier-regrets-decision-to-vote-for-canadian-trans

USA – Comparing Body Dysmorphic Disorder and transgenderism

Mark Narankevicius Jr. An author for The Federalist argues a very interesting point on Body Dysmorphic Disorder and Gender Dysmorphic Disorder. He debates the incident of Rodrigo Alves aka ‘The Human Ken Doll’ who had over 50 surgeries to transform himself into Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken. These surgeries have caused Alves to end up in hospital due to breathing difficulties and Necrosis. Narankevicius asks the question; how is this different from transgender people who inject foreign hormones and swap genitals? Transgender people suffer terrible side-effects from these surgeries like heart disease, damaged organs, high risk of depression and suicide that don’t disappear after sex reassignment surgery.

http://thefederalist.com/2017/03/01/transgender-people-need-much-help-human-ken-doll/

USA – Pushing children into transgenderism is medical malpractice

Endocrinologist Dr. Charles Ihlenfeld warns society of the unhappiness and suicides among transgender people undergoing surgeries. Washington State public schools want to teach gender expression to children in kindergarten already. The children are encouraged by educators and medical practitioners to experiment with transgenderism and as a result, many children are questioning their gender identity at an alarmingly increasing rate. Dr. Ihlenfeld said based on his experience of treating over 500 transgender patients, “There is too much unhappiness among people who have had the surgery. Too many of them end as suicides.”

http://thefederalist.com/2016/09/21/pushing-kids-transgenderism-medical-malpractice/

Sexual Exploitation

USA – The system of prostitution is a violation of human rights

The UN 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) asks state parties to “take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women”. Prostitution is indeed incompatible with articles 3 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which state that “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person” and “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.

http://www.cap-international.org/prostitution.html

USA – Abolitionists legislation passes in Ireland

The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) commends the Republic of Ireland for the historic passage of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill which decriminalizes prostituted people and penalizes the purchase of sex. The new Irish law will help efforts to end demand by holding sex buyers accountable and will also ensure that prostituted individuals and survivors can access comprehensive support services. In addition, it strengthens national laws against sexual grooming, child pornography and sexual harassment in the Republic of Ireland. The Republic of Ireland follows the example of Sweden, the first country to legally recognize prostitution as a form of violence and discrimination against women in 1999.

http://catwinternational.org/Home/Article/687-abolitionist-legislation-passes-in-irelan

France – New prostitution law

The new prostitution law ends the repression of victims of prostitution by abolishing the offense of solicitation. It ensures protection and support to all victims, including non-citizens. It also creates access to exit pathways out of prostitution nationwide and prohibits the purchase of sex.

http://www.cap-international.org/uploads/4/0/6/7/40678459/fr_law__short_en__pdf.pdf

South Africa – Lesotho boys trafficked to Cape Town

Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, former deputy minister in the defense and health ministry’s whose NGO helps prostitutes and sex trafficking victims leave prostitution, says her organisation has reliably learnt from the UN that young boys are being trafficked from Lesotho to Cape Town for sex work. Furthermore, she said more than 250 women had visited Embrace Dignity’s offices in Woodstock Cape town over the past year, seeking support to leave prostitution.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/lesotho-boys-trafficked-to-cape-town-says-ngo-8051082

Substance Abuse

No news today

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

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LIFEalerts 16 February 2017

February 16, 2017

Sweden – Nurse fired for refusing abortions sues for discrimination

Ireland – Europe Using Abortion to Create a “Down Syndrome Free” World

UK – Dangerous British Abortion Clinics Turning Away Women from Ireland

No news today

Canada – Euthanasia could save Canada millions

Netherlands – Woman euthanized while fighting for her life

No news today

USA – Using patents to restrict harmful applications of CRISPR

USA – Scientists closer to growing human organs in pigs

USA – Trump SCOTUS Nominee is ‘bioethicist’

Australia – Leading Adult Stem Cell Researcher named Australian of Year

UK – Conference says sex with children ‘natural’

USA – Pornography declared health crisis by South Dakota

USA – An industry that fears the next four years

UK – What the future of pornography will look like

UK – Porn laws a year on

Canada – Curiosity killed your true sexuality

Australia – Father fights for children not to be exposed to naked men

India – Actress Ashley Judd advocates for abolition of prostitution

USA – Global Community Rejects Normalized Violence in 50 Shades

Germany – Mother jailed for selling sex with daughter online

USA – Tackle demand at the Super Bowl

http://www.lifenews.com/2017/01/30/nurse-fired-three-times-because-she-wouldnt-help-kill-babies-in-abortions-files-lawsuit/

USA – Hardly any proof of Dagga’s medical benefits

Abortion

Sweden – Nurse fired for refusing abortions sues for discrimination

A Swedish midwife, Ellinor Grimmark, is suing healthcare officials for discrimination. Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers, which represents Grimmark, argue that European Union law protects healthcare professionals’ “freedom of conscience” on issues like abortion. In 2016, a Swedish court ruled against her, saying that women’s access to abortion was more important than healthcare professionals’ conscience rights. Grimmark has been denied a job ever since she first began refusing to participate in abortions, even though there was a shortage of midwives. Sweden is the only country in the European Union that does not have legal conscience protections.

Ireland – Europe Using Abortion to Create a “Down Syndrome Free” World

Dr. Peter McParland, an obstetrician from the National Maternity Hospital, explained how prenatal testing is leading to a near extinction of children with Down syndrome and other disabilities. According to McParland’s research, not one baby with Down syndrome has been born in Iceland in the past five years. Statistics from England indicate as many as 90 percent of babies with the condition are aborted. Abortion has become a modern method of eugenics, a way to discriminate against the most vulnerable in society. Irish mother Anne Trainer whose son Kevin who has Down syndrome said, “The Eighth Amendment protected my son, and he was deserving of that protection.”

http://www.lifenews.com/2017/02/07/european-nations-are-using-abortion-to-create-a-down-syndrome-free-world/

UK – Dangerous British Abortion Clinics Turning Away Women from Ireland

The Life Institute, spokeswoman Niamh Uí Bhriain has said a decision by Marie Stopes to begin turning Irish women away from its abortion clinics had the potential to save both mothers and babies. “Most women go for an abortion in fear and panic because they have not been given other life-affirming options,” she said. British abortion clinics know this, and that’s why they are openly campaigning to have abortion legalised in Ireland and bring their disturbing industry here.” “We’ve seen an almost 50{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} fall in the number of women from Ireland travelling for abortions in the past decade, and that’s a good thing. This industry is aggressively seeking to expand to Ireland, and attacking the 8^th amendment to do so.

http://www.lifenews.com/2017/02/08/pro-life-victory-dangerous-british-abortion-clinics-turning-away-women-from-ireland/

Alternative Medicine

No news today

Euthanasia

Canada – Euthanasia could save Canada millions

It only became legal in June and already about 800 people have received a lethal injection at the hands of a doctor. In December two Quebec bioethicists argued in the Journal of Medical Ethics that combining euthanasia with organ donation would be an excellent idea. And last week researchers from the University of Calgary calculated that when euthanasia reaches the level of Belgium and the Netherlands, the health system could save up to up to C$139 million every year. “Exceeding the $1.5–$14.8 million in direct costs associated with its implementation of Euthanasia,” they wrote in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

https://www.mercatornet.com/careful/view/euthanasia-could-save-canada-millions-in-healthcare-costs/19285 http://www.cmaj.ca/content/189/3/E101.abstract

Netherlands – Woman euthanized while fighting for her life

A Dutch euthanasia doctor has been rebuked by a Regional Review Committee after she gave a lethal injection to a demented patient who appeared to be struggling to stop the procedure. An 80-year-old woman with dementia entered a nursing home because her husband could no longer care for her. Based on her previous statements, the doctor decided that euthanasia was appropriate. With members of her family in attendance, the doctor approached to give her a lethal injection. The woman was agitated, so the doctor slipped a sedative into her coffee. This did not work, so she gave her an injection. With all these drugs, the woman dosed off. But when the needle for the lethal injection appeared, she started to struggle. The doctor had to ask the family members to hold her down so that she could continue with the injection. The woman died soon afterwards.

The review committee said the doctor acted in good faith, but had erred in several respects.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/struggling-woman-with-dementia-euthanised-in-netherlands/12173

https://www.euthanasiecommissie.nl/uitspraken-en-uitleg/d/dementie/documenten/publicaties/oordelen/2016/niet-gehandeld-overeenkomstig-de-zorgvuldigheidseisen/oordeel-2016-85

IVF&Surrogacy

No news today

Medical Ethics

USA – Using patents to restrict harmful applications of CRISPR

Writing in Nature Biotechnology, academics from Baylor College of Medicine and New York Law School, suggest that ethical licensing by CRISPR gene-editing technology patent holders is necessary. “We do not mean to suggest that licensing bans are preferable, or should be used to the exclusion of policymaking or professional standards setting. Rather, we believe that the promotion of private efforts as a complement to public efforts is worthy of serious consideration,” says Baylor ethicist Christi Guerrini. When the Broad Institute licensed CRISPR technology to Editas Medicine it was provided they did not use it to modify human germ cells or embryos or modify animal cells for the creation or commercialization of organs suitable for transplantation into humans.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/using-patents-to-restrict-harmful-applications-of-crispr/12152

USA – Scientists closer to growing human organs in pigs

The journal Cell reports that Salk Institute geneticists injected pig embryos with human induced pluripotent stem cells then returned them to a sow for gestation. After 28 days some of the cells developed into precursors of tissue types, including heart, liver and neurons. Dr David King, of Human Genetics Alert said: “I find these experiments disturbing… mixing species touches something deep in the human psyche and our culture that is hard to put into words.” But Insoo Hyun, ethicist at Case Western Reserve University said “There isn’t a need to get into a debate about moral humanization if scientists target the organs where the human cells will go”. “Scientists are not making chimeras just for fun; it’s to relieve the dire shortage of transplantable organs”.

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/scientists-closer-to-growing-human-organs-in-pigs/12156

USA – Trump SCOTUS Nominee is ‘bioethicist’

Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, made his name at the elite law firm Kellogg, Huber and Hansen but also has a doctorate in legal philosophy from Oxford University writing extensively on end of life issues. Gorsuch says that judges should use “text, structure and history” to understand what the law is, “not to decide cases based on their own moral convictions or policy consequences they believe might serve society best”. While Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards tweeted, “Neil Gorsuch has an alarming history of interfering with reproductive health and rights”, Princeton philosopher and conservative commentator Robert George described Gorsuch as an ‘intellectual giant’: “[his] combination of outstanding intellectual and personal qualities places him in the top rank of American jurists.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/trump-scotus-nominee-is-a-bioethicist/12172

Australia – Leading Adult Stem Cell Researcher named Australian of Year

Alan Makay-Sim is the first scientist in the world to use olfactory ensheathing cells to bring about spinal regeneration in humans, a procedure used by researchers in 2012 to help a man paralyzed from the chest down walk again. In the early 2000s, IVF pioneer Alan Trounson led a campaign for a massive government funded embryonic stem cell research initiative but Mackay-Sim’s work was often used as evidence against funding the Trounson project. Columnist Angela Shanahan remarked: “By concentrating on the use of adult stem cells rather than embryonic stem cells, Mackay-Sim’s research bypassed the most contentious ethical debates, and, what is more, he did this with very limited funds. He and his team deserve full credit for that.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/leading-adult-stem-cell-researcher-named-australian-of-the-year/12169

Pedophilia

UK – Conference says sex with children ‘natural’ An academic conference held at the University of Cambridge said that having sex with children is normal and natural. These views were expressed to discuss the classification of sexuality in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). This is a standard international psychiatric manual used by the legal system. A number of speakers at the conference spoke in favour of child-sex. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) responsible for the DSM has been in a battle over whether Hebephilia, the attraction to children in early puberty, typically 11-14, should be included as a disorder. http://thestarsandstripes.info/liberals-trying-to-legalize-pedophilia-this-time-university-academics-say-pedophilia-is-natural#

Pornography

USA – Pornography declared health crisis by South Dakota

Senators in South Dakota have passed a resolution declaring pornography a public health crisis, joining Virginia and Utah among that states stepping up efforts to highlight the dangers of x-rated adult material. According to resolution SCR4, passed in South Dakota, porn leads to risky sexual activity, low self-esteem and sometimes eating disorders. Advances in technology are exposing young children to pornography “at an alarming rate,” and pornography is “linked to a lessening desire in young person’s to marry,” the resolution states.

https://www.rt.com/usa/375054-porn-south-dakota-crisis/

USA – An industry that fears the next four years

Anxiety abounded in the days and weeks following the US election. One group, the porn industry, is fighting for its survival. It’s an industry that does not discriminate as to who consumes and has no target audience. Adult actor Jesse Jackman says there is concern in the porn industry that future laws may become aggressive, and possibly even draconic. Adult actors’ fears did not start the day after the election, but rather in July 11 in Cleveland when the Republican Party amended its platform to say that pornography is a public health crisis. The pervasiveness of porn has saturated our society. In fact, most teens and young adults believe that porn is not all that bad.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/an-industry-that-fears-the-next-four-years

UK – What the future of pornography will look like

According to Dr Chauntelle Tibballs a sociologist and the author of ‘Exposure: A Sociologist Explores Sex, Society, and adult Entertainment’, robots might replace sexual partners. The internet made pornography easier to access and some people may definitely be using virtual reality headsets to add further depth and dimension to sexual fantasy. Sex is always changing and evolving, and it always has.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/porn-future-how-to-prepare-sex-videos-pronography-expert-dr-chauntelle-tibbals-virtual-reality-a7546331.html

UK – New porn laws a year later

A year after laws restricting online pornography in the UK were introduced, two women reveal how the regulations have affected their lives and the industry. Pandora Blake, 31, who describes herself as a “one-woman business” and a London-based feminist pornographer said that because her fantasy was banned she had to take her online business down. But Megara Furie, a 32-year-old dominatrix based in Glasgow, holds the view that laws should only be aimed at protecting children. Not causing people to lose money.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/uk-porn-laws-a-year-on-a-porn-actress-and-dominatrix-on-destroyed-businesses-and-censorship-a6755171.html

Same Sex Attraction

Canada – Curiosity killed your true sexuality

An excerpt from LM Diamond, PhD, a professor of developmental psychology and health psychology at the University of Utah points out in her study that following the modern ideas and style culture provides a different set of gender-specific contexts that potentially trigger same-sex sexuality. Specifically, the past decade revealed evidence of an undeniable increase in television and movie portrayals of heterosexual women that experiment with homosexual behaviour, with few negative social consequences.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.352.3974&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Australia – Father fights for children not to be exposed to naked men

Bernard Gaynor, a father, former military man and outspoken free-speech campaigner won a court battle over charges brought against him for publicly objecting to naked homosexual men exposing themselves to children at a homosexual parade in Toronto, Canada. Bernard also pointed out remarks made by a judge that legitimized incest because of the cultural embrace of homosexuality. A homosexual, anti free-speech activist lodged 32 complaints against Bernard but despite this, Bernard continues to stand for family values; while challenging in court, the anti-discrimination body that is acting outside the law.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/father-of-sevens-three-year-court-battle-results-in-smashing-victory-for-fr

Sexual Exploitation

India – Actress Ashley Judd advocates for abolition of prostitution

Prostitutes in India have slammed a global conference on the abolition of prostitution. Hollywood actress Ashley Judd, attending the conference as a strong advocate for prostitution to be abolished, said women and girls were being bought and sold like commodities and that action had to be taken to end the global sex trade. “We need to put on the onus and shame where it belongs – which is on the perpetrator, the aggressor and the person who thinks that women and girl’s bodies are purchasable.” “We are not commodities, we are human beings and we are entitled to bodily integrity, sexual dignity and the right to be free from all forms of body invasion.”

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/BigStory10/idUSKBN15F1WF

USA – Global Community Rejects Normalized Violence in 50 Shades

The London Abused Women’s Centre, Canada; Collective Shout, Australia; Culture Reframed, USA; and The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), USA are collaborating for the second time to reject the normalization of violence and abuse against women portrayed in the movie Fifty Shades Darker. Dozens of groups from around the world are speaking out against the Fifty Shades trilogy ahead of the release of Fifty Shades Darker in February. The campaign Facebook page highlights how the movie normalizes and even romanticizes sexual and domestic violence. The partnering organizations urge the public to support survivors of men’s violence and help educate the public on the realities of Fifty Shades relationships.

http://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/global-community-rejects-normalized-violence-movie-fifty-shades-darker/

Germany – Mother jailed for selling sex with daughter online

A German court sentenced a woman to four years in jail after she admitted to charges including selling sex with her teenage daughter online. The 37-year-old was jailed on charges of serious sexual abuse of children and procuration. The state court in Hildesheim, Saxony found that the woman had offered her teenage daughter, then 16, for sex online over a period of six months. Court proceedings only began in January this year, although the older daughter had gone to the police in July 2013. “The sentences are an important signal and compensation for the girls,” the lawyer for the two daughters said after the hearing.

http://news.iafrica.com/afp/1044584.html

USA – Tackling demand at the Super Bowl

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), in collaboration with more than twenty-five supporting organizations, conducted a nation-wide social media awareness campaign to #Tackle Demand for sex trafficking at the Super Bowl and beyond. Executive Director Dawn Hawkins stated that many people believe that sex trafficking is perpetuated by traffickers but in reality it’s the demand, the sex buyer, that keeps the market going and that typically sex buyers are unable or unwilling to recognize if a person is trafficked for sex. Payment for sex in itself constitutes an act of sexual coercion, whether it takes place in connection with the Super Bowl or for no special occasion at all.

http://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/tackle-demand_sex-trafficking_super-bowl/

Substance Abuse

USA – Hardly any proof of Dagga’s medical benefits More than 10,700 scientific studies have been conducted by the National Academics of Science, Engineering, and Medicine that found benefits for only two disorders that can be verified, such as chronic pain, nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy. Although many people support the legalization of Dagga the studies found many serious health and social consequences for the use of Dagga. Researchers found Dagga use to be associated with the development of schizophrenia and other psychoses, existing disorders of mania and bi-polar increase and the risk of committing suicide increases. Social anxiety disorder can develop and negatively affect learning, memory and attention span. https://world.wng.org/2017/01/national_study_finds_little_proof_of_pot_s_medical_benefits#.WIoU9iNbtZo.facebook

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

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LIFEalerts 25 January 2017

January 25, 2017

USA – Iowa Bill to Allow Women to Sue for Emotional Grief Northern Ireland – 100,000 People Alive Today Because Abortion illegal USA – Abortions Decline in the USA

USA – Massachusetts Governor Signs Naturopathic Medicine Bill

Canada – More than 744 physician assisted deaths in Canada since new law USA – American psychiatrists speak out on euthanasia at last Canada – Bioethicists call for organ donor euthanasia

Netherlands – IVF clinics should do better Czechoslovakia – Women implanted with wrong embryos

UK – All boxes ticked, UK rolls out 3-parent embryo treatment

India – Sex offenders should be on national register

No news today

South Africa – Activists launch organization to protect family values USA – Survey reveals the struggle of transgender lifestyle USA – The homosexual lifestyle is way more violent

Germany – Politicians Want To Fund Sex Workers For Elderly and Disabled USA – Website blocks prostitution ads in the USA USA – Detroit Program Helps Women Exit Sex Work

http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2017-01-17/new-report-abortions-in-us-drop-to-lowest-level-since-1974

No news today

Abortion

USA – Iowa Bill to Allow Women to Sue for Emotional Grief Iowa Senate File 26, sponsored by state Sen. Mark Chelgren, would expand medical malpractice provisions in the state to include mental distress caused by an abortion practitioner’s “negligence or failure to obtain informed consent prior to performance of the abortion.” A group of Iowa Democrats criticized the bill, saying the measure could make it more difficult for abortion practitioners to get medical malpractice insurance because of the increased liability. State Sen. Nate Boulton, said the bill would “run providers out of our state.” Whether such a law would withstand a legal challenge is difficult to say. http://www.lifenews.com/2017/01/18/iowa-bill-would-allow-women-to-sue-the-abortionist-for-emotional-grief-after-an-abortion/ Northern Ireland – 100,000 People Alive Today Because Abortion illegal

Spokeswoman Dawn McAvoy of Both Lives Matter, a new collaborative movement of individuals and organisations seeking to reframe the abortion debate in Northern Ireland said: “There are people alive in Northern Ireland today who would not have been born if the 1967 Abortion Act had been introduced here.” The figure was calculated using termination rates across the rest of the UK. “Using a statistically cautious approach, we estimate there are 100,000 people alive today who would not be had we introduced the 1967 Abortion Act.” http://www.lifenews.com/2017/01/18/100000-people-are-alive-today-because-northern-ireland-didnt-legalize-abortion/

USA – Abortions Decline in the USA

Even as the election outcome intensifies America’s abortion debate, a comprehensive new survey finds the annual number of abortions in the U.S has dropped to well under 1 million, the lowest level since 1974. According to the Guttmacher Institute report, the abortion rate was 14.6 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44, the lowest rate since abortion was legalized nationally in 1973 by the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. The decline was likely the result of two main factors: the increased availability of affordable, long-lasting contraceptives that have reduced unintended pregnancies, and the surge of abortion restrictions in many states that have forced some clinics to close and hindered many women’s access to the procedure.

Alternative Medicine

USA – Massachusetts Governor Signs Naturopathic Medicine Bill

Governor Baker added Massachusetts to the list of states that acknowledge the value of alternative healthcare from a qualified professional. The new law ensures patients can trust that their wellness professional holds a graduate degree from an accredited naturopathic medical school. Amy Rothenberg, N.D., and president of the Massachusetts Society of Naturopathic Doctors (MSND), says, “This law allows the people of Massachusetts access to well-educated and trained naturopathic doctors and their expertise in both preventative medicine and natural integrative care.” Under the new law, the terms Naturopathic Doctor and N.D. would be reserved exclusively for those who have attended four-year, post-graduate level programs at institutions recognized by the United States Department of Education.

https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/01/12/905464/0/en/Massachusetts-Governor-Signs-Naturopathic-Medicine-Bill.html

Euthanasia

Canada – More than 744 physician assisted deaths in Canada since law

More than 744 terminally ill people chose to end their lives with the doctor’s help across Canada in 2016 and more are expected to follow as the procedure became legal. It seems, on average, that two Canadians per day had chosen to be euthanized between June 17 and December 16. “I know that it will increase. I expect that we’ll get to the point of the Netherlands and Belgium because their laws are similar to ours, and that would mean about 5 percent of all deaths,” stated Dr. Ellen Wiebe, a Vancouver doctor who has assisted 40 patients this year.

http://stocknewsusa.com/2016/12/29/744-doctor-assisted-deaths-canada-since-law-passed/

USA – American psychiatrists speak out on euthanasia at last

Euthanasia is allowed in Belgium and the Netherlands since early in the 21st century, and has expanded rapidly beyond cases of terminal physical illness, such as cancer, to encompass non-terminal illnesses including psychiatric conditions such as depression or bipolar disorder. The American Psychiatric Association (APA), in concert with the American Medical Association’s position on medical euthanasia, holds that a psychiatrist should not prescribe or administer any intervention to a non-terminally ill person for the purpose of causing death. Obviously, this is of little immediate practical effect in the United States, because non-terminal cases are not eligible for assisted death but given the potential slippery slope in this area, the APA statement lays down an important marker for the future.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/12/15/at-last-american-psychiatrists-speak-out-on-euthanasia/?utm_term=.80effe60f5ef

Canada – Bioethicists call for organ donor euthanasia

Well, that didn’t take long, did it? Quebec bioethicists had already published an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics calling for organ donation after euthanasia. The author, Julie Allard and Marie-Chantal Fortin, at the University of Montreal, say, “MAID (medical aid in dying) has the potential to provide additional organs available for transplantation. Accepting to procure organ donation after MAID is a way to respect the autonomy of patients for whom organ donation is an important value. Organ donation after MAID would be ethically acceptable if the patient who has offered to donate is competent and not under any external pressure to choose MAID or organ donation”.

https://www.mercatornet.com/careful/view/canadian-bioethicists-call-for-organ-donor-euthanasia/19205 http://jme.bmj.com/content/early/2016/12/28/medethics-2016-103460.abstract

IVF&Surrogacy

Netherlands – IVF clinics should do better

University Medical Centre (UMC) in Utrecht has warned 26 women their eggs may have been fertilized with the wrong sperm. Nine have already given birth and four are pregnant. The embryos were created with ICSI, a popular method in Europe, although with a slightly elevated risk, where single sperm is injected into the egg with a very fine pipette. Jesper Smeenk, spokesman for the Dutch Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said that the mistake was rare. “I’m a little bit worried that the general population will have the idea that IVF is something that isn’t safe or hasn’t been safe or will not be safe anymore.” “In this case, a human error occurred because one person didn’t follow the protocols.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/dutch-ivf-clinic-tries-hard-could-do-better/12144

Czechoslovakia – Women implanted with wrong embryos

A procedure at an IVF clinic has resulted in two children in the wrong wombs. At Reprofit, a clinic which is popular with British couples, it was discovered that two foreign women had been implanted with an embryo meant for another couple. Under Czech law, the birth mother is the legal mother. “It was a human error, not a system failure,” said a clinic official. “The people who manipulated the embryos are suspended.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/dutch-ivf-clinic-tries-hard-could-do-better/12144

Medical Ethics

UK – All boxes ticked, UK rolls out 3-parent embryo treatment

The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority have given a green light to the creation of three-parent embryos to combat mitochondrial disease. The media was jubilant, with The Independent commenting it was “the best possible news for many families this Christmas.” However, Marcy Darnovsky, of the Center for Genetics and Society, in California, criticized the decision, describing it as a first step toward genetic engineering. “The HFEA decision is part of a disturbing trend toward the normalization of an experimental technology that is still widely considered unsafe, and whose implications for future generations are unknown. Allowing mitochondrial manipulation in humans could open the door to other forms of human inheritable genetic modification, banned in more than 40 countries worldwide.”

https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/all-boxes-ticked-uk-rolls-out-3-parent-embryo-treatment/12136

Pedophilia

India – Sex offenders should be on national register

Many countries, such as the United States, Britain and South Africa keep a record of people who have been convicted of paedophilia and rape. In India, Maneka Gandhi, the minister for women and child development said it’s been two years since she has suggested that the country make use of a register that keeps record of sex offenders as the above mentioned countries do. Currently Gandhi’s proposal is with Home Affairs which is planning a national register for all criminals including sex offenders to be kept. Latest data from India’s National crime records show 34,651 rapes were reported in 2015, a 36{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} increase from 22,172 reports in 2010.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/after-convicted-paedophile-arrested-indian-minister-calls-for-s/3445652.html

Pornography

No news today

Same Sex Attraction

South Africa – Activists launch organization to protect family values

The International Organization for the Family led and taken over by Brian Brown of the US’s National Organisation of Marriage along with international conservatives, signed a declaration in Cape Town on 10 December 2016, pledging to defend the institution of marriage from homosexual couples, uniting groups and leaders from over 20 countries which vow to resist pornography, adultery, divorce and every push to redefine marriage: including same-sex or group bonds, or sexually open or temporary ones. Names on the declaration include Russian politician Victor Zubarev, a member of Putin’s party that brought in an anti-gay propaganda law in 2014, and Errol Naidoo, a prominent opponent to homosexual behaviour in SA.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/lanesainty/anti-lgbt-activists-launch-new-international-organization?utm_term=.nc5axdLBQ#.walpqPeQk

USA – Survey reveals the struggle of transgender lifestyle

The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) surveyed 27,715 transgender people in 2015 and analyzed their experiences. 47{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} had been sexually abused but no questions were asked to probe whether being sexually abused caused the lifestyle. 39{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} has serious psychological stress (8x the 5{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} rate of the average person). 40{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} attempted suicide, 9x more common than the average person (4.6{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}). The survey confirmed the very high rates of HIV infection: 5x the general population (1.4{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} vs. 0.3{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4}). 12{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} prostituted themselves, 77{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} experienced partner violence and 30{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} experienced homelessness. Foundation for Moral Law Senior Counsel Col. John A. Eidsmoe said; “Whatever the cause and effect may be, we should think twice about adopting policies that could encourage people to enter into the transgender lifestyle.”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/transgender-survey-reveals-high-rates-of-sexual-assault-suicide-hiv-prostit

USA – The homosexual lifestyle is way more violent

The Centres for Disease Control (CDC) report; The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey concluded that those in the homosexual lifestyle experience far greater violence among one another than heterosexual relationships, and homosexual women more than the men, of whom 44{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of women were raped, physically abused and stalked by their intimate partners. 37 percent of bisexual women indicated they were stalked, more than double the rate that heterosexual women from their male partners. 26 percent of homosexual men experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking by their intimate partner’s bisexual men experience these types of assaults at a rate of 37 percent. Even though the government agency would not make an official determination that such early exposure to sexual violence was the cause of men and women ultimately choosing to engage in homosexual behaviour, the statistics themselves appear to point to such a connection. Even LGBT leaders have conceded that those in the homosexual community tend to ignore the prevalence of sexual violence between its members. National Center for Lesbian Rights Reproductive Justice Fellow Lauren Paulk admitted. “A particularly disturbing dynamic arises when the assaults are by other LGBT community members.” Paulk says that the LGBT community has rationalized or ignored such violence. “Denial, misrecognition and the dismissal of outside-the-community concern as hidden homophobia are examples of responses to sexual assault that occurs between members of the LGBT community.”

https://www.onenewsnow.com/culture/2015/12/13/cdc-report-homosexual-lifestyle-extremely-violent

Sexual Exploitation

Germany – Politicians Want to Fund Sex Workers For Elderly and Disabled

Germany’s Green Party wants its government to fund the services of sex workers for the elderly and the disabled, under the idea that the prescribed sexual relief would improve their quality of life. Elisabeth Scharfenber said she “could imagine” authorities funding “sexual assistance” for patients requiring nursing care with a medical condition that might benefit from sex. Karl Lauterbach of the governing Social Democrats said that Germany does not “need paid prostitution in homes for the elderly, and certainly not on prescription,” and the New York Times quotes the German Patient Protection Foundation as saying, “People who have to fight for help on basic matters such as washing and eating have other concerns.

http://www.glamour.com/story/german-sex-workers-funded-elderly-disabled

USA – Website blocks prostitution ads in the USA

Backpage.com, a large classified ad website notorious for facilitating prostitution and sex trafficking, blocked its prostitution ads in the U.S under mounting pressure for its role as a facilitator of sex trafficking. Backpage.com is one of the largest websites that hosts ads for the prostitution and sex trafficking of adults and children alike and has blocked its prostitution advertising in America. Its prostitution pages now greet visitors with the message: “The government has unconstitutionally censored this content.” This change occurred the night before the CEO and founders were scheduled to testify to the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in their investigation into sex trafficking occurring on the website.

http://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/backpage-com-blocks-prostitution-ads-u-s-pressure-sex-trafficking

USA – Detroit Program Helps Women Exit Sex Work

The Detroit based Alternatives for Girls’ New Choices Project helps women exit prostitution but getting out of prostitution can be a challenge for career prostitutes, many of whom have criminal pasts and little professional work history..Celia Williamson, an assistant professor at the University of Toledo’s social work department, has researched street prostitution in various cities. The longer women are in prostitution, the harder it is to leave, especially since many women have cut ties with their families, she said. New Choices provides services such as life skills training, recreational and cultural activities, educational workshops, mentoring and counseling.

http://www.thebody.com/content/art27960.html

Substance Abuse

No news today

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

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LIFEalerts 19 December 2016

December 19, 2016

USA – Abortions are continuing to drop

USA – Texas will require aborted babies to be cremated or buried

USA – Ohio to Deny Access to Abortion as Early as 6 Weeks

Malawi – People in March against Legislation of Abortion

No news today

Netherlands – Euthanasia for alcoholics, the last one for the road

Netherlands – Suicide doctor advances ‘militant pro-euthanasia position’

Switzerland – 26{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} increase in assisted suicide deaths

South Africa – Bloemfontein Supreme Court of Appeal rejects euthanasia

UK – Staggering discarded embryo figures released USA – More Homosexual couples using surrogates Australia – Pressure mounts for commercial surrogacy

UK – Staggering discarded embryo figures released in UK

The Netherlands – Team of anatomists create 3D atlas of human embryo

UK – Last minute hitch with 3-parent embryo trials

No news today

Canada – Hundreds of children rescued in child pornography investigation

No news today

South Africa – Inn Town Lodge human traffickers jailed for 85

USA – What will protect sex workers?

USA – San Diego University Event Raises Awareness of Human Trafficking

USA – Targeting the Brain’s Cannabinoid System USA – Effects Of Smoking Marijuana On The Human Brain USA – Recreational marijuana use on the rise among adults over 50

Abortion

USA – Abortions are continuing to drop The U.S. Centres for Disease Control released its abortion figures for 47 states that exclude, New Hampshire and California (most populous state). The CDC’s “Abortion Surveillance Report” lists 664,435 abortions reported from those states. Not all states report on abortion because they depend on abortion businesses’ claims as an all-cash industry. Prolife organisations are nevertheless encouraged because their efforts such as Right to life legislative, educational and outreach efforts to increase awareness of the unborn child’s humanity make an impact because reports evidently reveal a decline in abortions as mentioned in a press release by National Right to Life (NRTL) Director of education and research, Dr. RK O’Bannon. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cdc-u.s.-abortions-are-continuing-to-drop USA – Texas will require aborted babies to be cremated or buried Aborted baby body parts will now be buried or cremated instead of being dumped in sanitary landfills. Health officials finalized the new rules prohibiting hospitals, abortion clinics and other health care facilities from disposing of aborted babies’ bodies – regardless of the period of gestation. Rules will take effect 19th of December according to Health Officials. These requirements do not apply to miscarriages or abortions done at home and there are no birth or death certificates required to be filed. Other states have passed restrictions on the use of foetal remains. South Dakota made it illegal to use aborted foetal tissue in research. In Idaho and Alabama it is illegal to buy, sell, donate or experiment on such remains. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/29/despite-months-of-outcry-texas-will-require-aborted-fetustes-to-be-cremated-or-buried/?utm_term=.d96372706b98 USA – Ohio to Deny Access to Abortion as Early as 6 Weeks Both the Ohio State Senate and Ohio State House of Representatives passed a bill that would prevent abortions if a fetal heart beat is detected, often around six weeks into a pregnancy. The “heartbeat” bill now stands with Ohio Gov. John Kasich. If signed into law, it would become one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. Republican State Senate President Keith Faber said that the “heartbeat” bill, which had been defeated twice before by state lawmakers, was put forward again in part because of President-elect Donald Trump’s victory and that he could appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court. “I think it has a better chance [of becoming law] than it did before,” he said. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ohio-lawmakers-pass-bill-deny-access-abortion-early/story?id=44059782 Malawi – People in March against Legislation of Abortion Thousands of people in Malawi marched for the rights of unborn babies. The Episcopal Conference of Malawi and the Evangelical Association of Malawi organized the marches. The theme was “Lighting the Candle.” A large banner at one location proclaimed that “Life is sacred” and “Life must be protected from conception. “We cannot install a culture of death in our country,” said one Catholic Christian who joined people donning all white t-shirts in the ‘march for life’. For years the Malawi government, as with many African governments, has been told by Western allies to reduce their population. Though Malawi restricts abortion, there is a strong campaign to legalize abortion as a medically viable treatment with strong funding by pro-abortion lobbies. http://www.lifenews.com/2016/12/07/thousands-of-pro-life-people-in-malawi-march-against-legislation-to-legalize-abortion/

Alternative Medicine

No news today

Euthanasia

Netherlands – Euthanasia for alcoholics, the last one for the road Journalist Marcel Langedijk describes the grim life and death of his brother Mark, a hopeless alcoholic. After eight years and 21 stints in hospital or rehab, Mark decided that he had enough. His parents cared for him and he had plenty of family support, but he was unable to dry out. Finally he asked for euthanasia. He met the minimum criteria for euthanasia in the Netherlands. A woman doctor in a black dress and sneakers arrived to give him his lethal injection. She confirmed his decision and then gave him three doses. He died quickly. Will Dutch drug addicts be encouraged to take the cheapest drug rehabilitation program ever? Just one needle and you are “cured” forever? https://www.mercatornet.com/careful/view/netherlands-offers-euthanasia-for-alcoholics/19066 Netherlands – Suicide doctor advances ‘militant pro-euthanasia position’ Nitschke, who now lives in the Netherlands, where he operates Exit International, announced Sunday the formation of Exit Action with the goal of promoting a “militant pro-euthanasia position” to bring about legislative change. Nitschke’s position of “ration suicide” flies directly in the face of the social and medical view that suicidal people should automatically receive psychological counselling on the presumption that they are irrational because of depression or some other mental illness. Typically, Nitschke has promised Exit Action will be organizing an online “buyer’s club” to sell fatal drugs and gear. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/suicide-doctor-out-to-advance-militant-pro-euthanasia-position-with-new-org Switzerland – 26{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} increase in assisted suicide deaths The Federal Statistical Office reports that in 2014 Switzerland saw 742 cases of assisted suicide, more than 2.5 times as many as five years previously. In the latest statistics, assisted suicide accounted for 1.2{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of all deaths in Switzerland that year. In April 2013, Pietro D’Amico, a 62-year-old magistrate from Calabria Italy, died by assisted suicide at a suicide clinic in Basel Switzerland. His autopsy showed that he had a wrong diagnosis. The Swiss assisted suicide stats prove that when assisted suicide is accepted, deaths by assisted suicide continually increase and the reasons for assisted suicide multiply. http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2016/12/switzerland-26-increase-in-assisted-suicide-deaths/#.WElE2H0ppNU South Africa – Bloemfontein Supreme Court of Appeal rejects euthanasia Doctors for Life International is delighted with the outcome of this court case which was the culmination of decades of conferences, educating health professionals and the public, taking part in debates, and finally this legal battle to prevent legislation that would use the SA public as guinea pigs in a tragic social experiment. Legalizing physician assisted suicide would have created a legal precedent that would have led to floods of euthanasia contagion. The judgment will serve to protect the sick, the aged and the vulnerable in SA who are the ones who would be most harmed through such a law. http://www.rootshosting.co.za/docforlife/bloemfontein-supreme-court-appeal-upholds-appeal-rejects-active-euthanasia/

IVF&Surrogacy

UK – Staggering discarded embryo figures released New official figures indicate that close to 2.5 million embryos have been discarded in the UK since IVF was brought under a comprehensive regulatory framework in 1991.The records of the UK’s fertility watchdog, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority show that 1,687,260 embryos have been transferred to uteri since 1991, and 2,315,262 destroyed. In 1991, 6,146 women received 6,609 IVF treatments, resulting in 1,226 live births. By 2013 this had risen to 52,288 women receiving 67,708 cycles of IVF, from which 15,283 babies were born. Just because fertilization takes place in a lab and not a womb doesn’t make them any less human, to just be discarded or killed. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/staggering-discarded-embryo-figures-released-in-uk/12107#sthash.1bDAGvze.dpuf USA – More Homosexual couples using surrogates An informal study by a fertility data service suggests an increasing number of homosexual couples in the US are turning to surrogacy. The study conducted by Fertility IQ involved data from fertility clinics in more than 10 cities. The results as reported indicate that 10 to 20{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of donor eggs are going to homosexual men having babies via surrogacy, and in a lot of places the numbers are up 50{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} from 5 years ago. Surrogacy for homosexual men in the US was “unheard of” five years ago, says Eve Feinberg, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at North-Western University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/more-gay-couples-using-surrogates-in-us/12106#sthash.IuzlKLAw.dpuf Australia – Pressure mounts for commercial surrogacy In an article in the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, an IVF doctor and a surrogacy broker argue that most Australians support commercial surrogacy and that the laws should be changed to permit it if it is carefully regulated. Co-author Professor Kelton Tremellen said that if legalisation were in place Australians could find a local surrogate “instead of being desperate and going to developing countries”. Professional guidelines could include age restrictions on surrogates, mental health checks, mandatory cooling-off periods and adequate counselling. https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/pressure-mounts-for-commercial-surrogacy-in-australia/12116

Medical Ethics

UK – Staggering discarded embryo figures released in UK New official figures indicate that close to 2.5 million embryos have been discarded in the UK since IVF was brought under a comprehensive regulatory framework in 1991. The figures were released by Lord Prior of Brampton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, in response to a written question from Lord Alton of Liverpool. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/staggering-discarded-embryo-figures-released-in-uk/12107 Netherlands – Team of anatomists create 3D atlas of human embryo Dutch anatomists have published a 3D atlas of the human embryo. Their website offers 14 interactive three-dimensional models of human embryology and a database of 34 embryos spanning the first two months of human development. About 15,000 histological sections were analyzed by students under expert supervision, and about 150 organs and structures were identified and digitally labeled in each section. The labeled structures were then spatially reconstructed in such a way that the relation between the reconstruction and the original images was preserved. http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/dutch-team-creates-3d-atlas-of-human-embryo/12101 Download 3D images from: http://www.3dembryoatlas.com/ UK – Last minute hitch with 3-parent embryo trials In the technique nuclear DNA is removed from an egg cell, leaving the diseased mitochondria behind; then the DNA is inserted into another woman’s denucleated egg to make use of her mitochondria; then the egg is fertilized. The resulting embryo will grow, hopefully, into a disease-free infant with three genetic parents. However, a paper published in Nature by mitochondrial geneticist Shoukhrat Mitalipov, at Oregon Health & Science University says the DNA carrying the disease sometimes “out-competes” the healthy mitochondrial DNA and could cause the disease. “It’s not perfect. There’s this chance of something going wrong,” Robin Lovell-Badge, a leading UK stem cell scientist, told Nature. Patients “must understand it’s impossible to ensure total safety until clinical trials have taken place”. https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/is-there-a-last-minute-hitch-with-3-parent-embryo-trials/12114

Pedophilia

No news today

Pornography

Canada – Hundreds of children rescued in child pornography investigation Nearly 400 children have been rescued and 348 adults arrested following an “extraordinary” international child pornography investigation in Canada. The three-year undercover project, named Project Spade, began in 2010 and eventually discovered a child porn production company in Toronto, run by 42-year old Brian Way. Investigators catalogued hundreds of thousands of images and videos of horrific sexual acts against very young children. Most alarming was that many of the arrests were of people who worked or interacted with children. Among those arrested were 40 school teachers, nine doctors and nurses, six law enforcement personnel, nine pastors and priests and three foster parents. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/nearly-400-children-rescued-348-adults-arrested-canadian-child-pornography-f2D11599561

Same Sex Attraction

No news today

Sexual Exploitation

South Africa – Inn Town Lodge human traffickers jailed for 85 years Three men convicted of human trafficking and running a brothel with girls as young as 12 years old have been sentenced to an effective 85 years in jail. Durban Regional Court Magistrate Simphiwe Hlophe sentenced three men, who were in March this year found guilty of a host of charges related to the prostitution ring operated from a Durban Hotel. “Human trafficking is one of the world’s most shameful crimes,” said Magistrate Hlophe. “What these girls endured was difficult and painful.” He said that it became apparent that the only way the girls could deal with the prostitution was to take drugs. Doctors For Life International reached out to the women at Inn Town lodge several times in the past. http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/inn-town-lodge-human-traffickers-jailed-for-85-years-2091958 USA – What will protect sex workers? Trading sex for survival, that’s what millions of teens in “food insecure” households may be facing according to a new study by the Urban Institute and Feeding America. In discussions held in 10 communities across the U.S. to find out more about the conditions facing the 6.8 million 10 to 17 year olds who regularly don’t get enough to eat, researchers say teens at all 10 of the study locations talked about girls having sex for money. Many teens have relationships with older men who provided food, housing, or money in return for sex. 68 percent meet the standard for suffering post-traumatic stress disorder. Nearly 90 percent said they wanted out of prostitution, but had no other means of survival. https://socialistworker.org/2016/11/21/what-will-protect-sex-workers USA – San Diego University Event Raises Awareness of Human Trafficking The University of San Diego hosted an event, “Walk in Their Shoes: Standing with Survivors of Sex Trafficking,” in December to raise awareness. They spoke through art, music, testimonies and other organizations. The event presented visual elements that stirred emotions and offered ways to be united with victims suffering emotionally and physically and suffering from PTSD, said Rachel Robitz MD and co-chief of the combined psychiatry and family medicine resident at UCSD. Survivors spoke of being forced into prostitution by an abusive boyfriend, some were molested by family relatives at a young age, while others who grew up in a broken home were led into a deeper abyss. http://www.sandiego.edu/news/detail.php?_focus=58103

Substance Abuse

USA – Targeting the Brain’s Cannabinoid System Indiana University (IU) neuroscientist Andrea Hohmann took the stage in San Diego to discuss research that has found evidence that the brain’s cannabis receptors may be used to treat chronic pain, without the side effects associated with opioid-based pain relievers or medical marijuana. The study was discussed during the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health. The IU study found that a compound that modulates the activity of the brain’s receptors for THC and endocannabinoids reduced chronic pain. These modulating compounds, called positive allosteric modulators or PAMs, work by binding to a recently discovered site on a cannabinoid receptor in the brain. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161115085503.htm USA – Effects of Smoking Marijuana on The Human Brain Numerous studies tout marijuana for its brain protective benefits, from helping brain cells grow to shielding the brain from chronic stress. However, a new study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease suggests long-term marijuana use may reduce blood flow to the brain, specifically the hippocampus, and increase the susceptibility for Alzheimer’s disease.”As a physician who routinely sees marijuana users, what struck me was not only the global reduction in blood flow in the marijuana users’ brains, but that the hippocampus was the most affected region due to its role in memory and Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Elisabeth Jorandby, co-author of the study. The study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. 2016. http://www.medicaldaily.com/effects-smoking-marijuana-human-brain-drug-reduces-blood-flow-hippocampus-405131?rel=most_shared1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27886010 USA – Recreational marijuana use on the rise among adults over 50 Dr. Han and his team led a study called, “Demographic Trends among Older Cannabis Users in the United States, 2006-2013”, published in the journal, Addiction. The study sought to determine the trends in the prevalence and patterns of cannabis use, attitudes towards cannabis use, and determine correlates of use among adults over the age of 50. The authors found a 71{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} increase in marijuana use among adults aged 50 and older between 2006 and 2013. Adults ages 65 and older had a significantly lower prevalence of marijuana use compared to those ages 50-64, but prevalence of use increased two and a half times over eight years. Overall, prevalence was higher among men than women through all years. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161205091216.htm

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

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LIFEalerts 02 December 2016

December 2, 2016