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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’ |
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Ghana – Safety issues in Herbal Medicine Nigeria – Bill to regulate traditional medicine passes 2nd reading |
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Germany – court rules patients can access life-ending drugs |
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Australia – Victoria’s controversial donor anonymity laws |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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USA – The system of prostitution is a violation of human rights USA – Abolitionists legislation passes in IrelandFrance – New prostitution law South Africa – Lesotho boys trafficked to Cape Town |
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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.”
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.
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-funAlternative 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.
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”.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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