CFAM Publications http://www.c-fam.org/rss/publications.asp This is publications from CFAM en-us (c) 2008 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:50:00 EST http://feedvalidator.org/docs/rss2.html www.eResources.com (Generator) webmaster@c-fam.org (CFAM) support@eresources.com (eResources) 60 Pro-lifer Wins Christian Party Chairmanship http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1567 Co-authored by Emanuele Rizzardi

(NEW YORK – C-FAM)  Italian pro-life politician Luca Volontè captured the chairmanship of the European People’s Party (EPP) in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) last week, besting second-place finisher Jean-Claude Mignon of France, whom socially-liberal members had rallied around after their favored candidates faded.

Immediately upon assuming the chairmanship of the EPP, the chamber’s Christian Democratic grouping, Volontè was confronted with a number of challenges on controversial social issues. Due to coordinated EPP opposition, a report on "discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity" sponsored by Swiss socialist Andreas Gross was withdrawn and referred to the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. Volontè had engineered a flood of some 70 substantive amendments to the bill, joined by Italian colleagues Renato Farina and Lorenzo Cesa, as well as Marco Gatti, representing San Marino, an independent microstate on the Italian peninsula.

]]> Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:47:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1567 UN Member States Discuss New Women’s Super-Agency Details http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1566 (NEW YORK – C-FAM)  This week at the United Nations (UN), member states will start deliberating the details of the new "super" agency for women.  The General Assembly decided last fall to reform the current "gender architecture" by consolidating the UN's four existing departments on women and establish a new office, but details regarding the new entity's mandate, structure and funding have yet to be finalized.

In anticipation of these meetings, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon released a comprehensive proposal for the new entity last month, outlining a vision for the new office that includes a half-billion dollar budget, national, regional and international advocacy work and the creation of a new under-secretary-general position to accommodate the new office's executive director.

]]> Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:28:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1566 New IPPF Document Pushes Adolescent "Sexual Rights" http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1563 Stand and Deliver(NEW YORK – C-FAM)  In its new report "Stand and Deliver," the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is demanding that governments, religious institutions and society at large provide "comprehensive sexuality education" for children as young as ten years old.

In a foreword, Bert Koenders of the Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, which helped fund the publication, asserts that, "Young people have the right to be fully informed about sexuality and to have access to contraceptives and other services. These rights are enshrined in various internationally agreed human rights convention and treaties, but – unfortunately – they are still not universally respected."

]]> Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:58:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1563 Top Legal Scholar Warns Abortion Issue Can Divide a Nation http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1562 Robert George(NEW YORK – C-FAM)  In Washington last Saturday night, a top legal scholar from Princeton University said that the United States (U.S.) Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in 1973 led to deep societal divisions as well as to unprecedented political and religious alliances, which will be called on to lead a struggle for the “soul” of the nation once the decision is overturned.

“Abortion and embryo-destructive research are at the heart of the divide between the nation’s major political parties,” Professor Robert George said, galvanizing support for the pro-life plank in the Republican Party while drawing disaffected Democrats to the Republican camp. In response, “Barack Obama is trying to win over religiously serious Catholics and Evangelicals,” he said, who united around the pro-life cause, “without altering in the slightest his support for abortion, including late-term and partial-birth abortions.” Obama’s recent attempt to woo religious leaders has support among some left-leaning Catholics who argue that collaboration would lead to fewer abortions, a prospect George called “delusional.”

]]> Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:35:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1562 Unsung Pro-Life Hero Retires from Senior Vatican Post http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1559 Cardinal Renato Martino(WASHINGTON, DC – C-FAM)  United Nations (UN) pro-lifers are saluting a man they consider one of the great, unsung heroes of the international pro-life and pro-family movements. Cardinal Renato Martino, longtime papal nuncio to the United Nations, has retired after 47 years of service to the Holy See, most of which was spent in the diplomatic service.

Cardinal Martino served as papal nuncio at the UN from 1986 to 2002, a period in which UN abortion debates reached their high water mark of divisiveness at the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994) and the Fourth World Congress on Women (Beijing, 1995).

]]> Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:40:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1559 Top Abortion Provider Cashes in on Haiti Crisis, Pro-Life Medics Respond http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1558 (NEW YORK – C-FAM)  Immediately after the earthquake that devastated Haiti last week, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) used the crisis to solicit funds for its family planning clinics in the country. At the same time, a pro-life medical team arrived in Port au Prince to provide emergency medical services and skilled birth attendants. The responses highlight a rising dispute over the current United Nations (UN) program for reducing maternal mortality which puts fertility control first, a program in which Haiti has been a main target but has nonetheless maintained one of the world’s highest rates of maternal death.
 
Carmen Barroso, regional director for IPPF, the world’s top abortion provider, justified the fund drive for the IPPF affiliate, Profamil, saying “Since 1984, PROFAMIL has worked to improve sexual and reproductive healthcare in Haiti, often providing the only healthcare available in some areas.” Abortion is legal but highly restricted in Haiti. Profamil boasts delivering 600,000 condoms in a single year in 2005 and IPPF awarded the group for keeping up an aggressive contraceptive campaign from 2003-2005 during a period of political and economic instability.

]]> Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:37:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1558 Secretary Clinton Announces 5-year Funding Push, Including Abortion http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1553

(NEW YORK – C-FAM)  In Washington last week, United States (U.S.) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the United States would engage in a massive funding push over the next five years to promote “reproductive health care and family planning” as a “basic right” around the word. Clinton has previously stated for the record that this includes abortion. The plan includes potentially siphoning off funds currently directed towards fighting HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis and malaria.

Commemorating the fifteenth anniversary of the controversial International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Clinton said there were only five years left to achieve ICPD’s goal that “all governments will make access to reproductive healthcare and family planning services a basic right.”

]]> Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:30:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1553 Battle for Christian Party Chairmanship in Council of Europe Draws Lines on Social Issues http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1554 Co-authored by Emanuele Rizzardi

Luca Volonte(NEW YORK – C-FAM)  A battle over leadership of the European People's Party (EPP), the Christian Democratic grouping in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), is pitting an Italian pro-life stalwart against socially-liberal counterparts from Holland and Sweden.

The leading social conservative candidate is Luca Volontè, currently the chairman of the Italian Christian Democratic caucus within the Italian national parliament. He is a long-time associate of Europe's best-known Catholic politician, Rocco Buttiglione, sharing similar political positions and collaborating in the promotion of academic workshops on Catholic social thought.

]]> Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:00:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1554 General Assembly "Sexual Orientation" Vote Reveals Defection by Catholic Nations http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1549 (NEW YORK – C-FAM) An analysis of how countries voted with respect to novel non-discrimination categories based on "sexual orientation and gender identity" in a United Nations (UN) General Assembly (GA) resolution last month reveals an emerging global line-up on contentious social issues that has traditionally-Catholic nations aligned with social "progressives."

Voting to delete reference to a treaty body "General Comment" was a victorious coalition of socially-conservative nations centered in Africa, the Islamic world and parts of the English-speaking Caribbean.  The losing side was led by Global North nations – European Union states, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. What is significant, however, is the defection to this group by most traditionally-Catholic nations.

]]> Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:23:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1549 IWHC Releases 2009 Top Ten Women’s Rights "Wins" http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1550 (NEW YORK – C-FAM) The abortion advocacy group, International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC), capped off 2009 by releasing its list of top ten "wins" on "women's health and rights." Apart from "reproductive rights" gains, the IWHC list also heralds victories on gay rights and the decriminalization of prostitution.

IWHC's definition of "reproductive rights" includes abortion, which the organization claims is "fundamental" to a woman's "ability to exercise her rights to control her body, to self-determination, and to maintain her health."

]]> Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:14:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1550 Former U.S. UN Ambassador Warns of Hidden Dangers in Copenhagen Deal http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1545 (NEW YORK – C-FAM)  Former United States representative to the United Nations (UN) John Bolton recently warned that the failure to reach a legally-binding treaty on climate change in Copenhagen may make the outcome document more dangerous to national interests in the long term.

“Precisely because many states will see a document only politically rather than legally binding as less consequential, their guard will be down,” the former diplomat said in a recent article in the Spectator UK online. “They will be more inclined to score points with the global warming crowd by agreeing to language they would have otherwise resisted, believing they can avoid making ‘legal' commitments in the ‘real' treaty,” he said.

]]> Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:49:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1545 IPPF Pushes For Abortion Market Share Amid Economic Downturn http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1544 (NEW YORK – C-FAM)  International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) recently released its annual performance report for 2008-2009. Despite an economic downturn and a slight decrease in annual income, the abortion industry giant boasts of increased activity across all of its lines of work, including condom distribution, advocacy and abortion services.

IPPF’s overall income for 2008 was US$119.7 million, down from over $120 million the previous year. While IPPF's total financial intake dipped, its abortion business boomed.  The organization provided almost 428,000 “abortion services” to young people alone, with a staggering 1,134,549 total number of such services – almost double the number from 2007 – across the globe.

]]> Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:20:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1544 General Assembly Votes to Delete Reference to "Sexual Orientation" http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1540 (NEW YORK – C-FAM)  In an unexpected defeat for homosexual advocates, the United Nations General Assembly (GA) voted to delete a reference to a highly controversial interpretation of a major UN human rights treaty.

The UN committee that monitors the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights' (ICESCR) took it upon itself last summer to reinterpret the treaty to say that “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” are new categories of non-discrimination and that nations are bound by international law to recognize.

]]> Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:25:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1540 Irish Supreme Court Asserts that Constitution Trumps European Convention on Human Rights http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1541 (NEW YORK – C-FAM)  Ireland's Supreme Court has handed down a "landmark decision" in favor of the natural family, asserting that Ireland's constitution trumps the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The decision holds a child generally benefits from having a connection with his biological father – even one who is a sperm donor for a child being raised by the mother and her lesbian partner.

A five-judge panel of the Irish Supreme Court unanimously overruled an intermediate court decision that had denied a homosexual sperm donor guardianship and access to his son. The lower court ruling was based in part on Article 8 of the ECHR, which provides for a right to family life, and had held that the lesbian couple had constituted a "de facto family" with rights under the ECHR.

]]> Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:11:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1541 Italian Supreme Court Decision Signals Sovereign Resistance to European Overreach http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1537 (NEW YORK – C-FAM)  A little-publicized decision by Italy's Constitutional Court last month may have significant implications concerning the direction of Europe, strengthening national sovereignty as a bulwark against transnational overreach by European institutions. It also signals the continued importance of national constitutions, despite the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty earlier this month.

In Sentenza N. 311, the Italian Constitutional Court stated that where rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) conflict with provisions of the Italian Constitution, such rulings "lack legitimacy."  Sources close to the Italian judiciary told the Friday Fax that the decision was intended as a warning that activist rulings by the Strasbourg-based ECHR overstepping jurisdictional boundaries will not be given deference.

]]> Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:04:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1537 New Paper Links UN Promotion of "Safe" Abortion to Maternal Deaths http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1536 Indian women(NEW YORK – C-FAM)  A recent submission to the United Nations (UN) Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) provides evidence of the potentially fatal consequences of "safe" abortion promoted by UN agencies, and includes a list of 113 studies linking abortion dangerous complications such as pre-term birth in subsequent pregnancies.

"The encouragement by [the UN Population Fund] UNFPA and [the World Health Organization] WHO of the use of mifepristone (RU-486, Mifegyne) and misoprostol (Cytotec) as ‘safe’ abortifacients in medically resource poor nations is unconscionable" the paper says, "and a violation of the human right to health of women."

]]> Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:13:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 13 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1536 Permissive Abortion Laws May Be Hazardous To Mothers’ Health, Per New Report http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1533 (NEW YORK – C-FAM)  A new report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) shows that countries with restrictive abortion laws are often the leaders in reducing maternal mortality, and those with permissive laws often lag. According to the report, the pro-life nation of Ireland has topped the global rankings once again with the best maternal health performance.

Abortion advocates have attempted to push an international "right to abortion," claiming that restrictive laws force women to seek unsafe abortion, which in turn leads to high maternal mortality.  In October, the Guttmacher Institute released a report on global abortion calling on states to "expand access to legal abortion and ensure that safe, legal abortion services are available to women in need." Sharon Camp, president of the Guttmacher Institute, asserted that "in much of the developing world, abortion remains highly restricted, and unsafe abortion is common and continues to damage women's health and threaten their survival."

]]> Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:20:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 12 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1533 Mexican Victories Underscore Global Pro-Life Trend http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1532 (NEW YORK – C-FAM)  Mexican pro-lifers were elated when the Vera Cruz amended its state constitution last month to protect life from the moment of conception, joining 16 other Mexican states. The vote set the stage for a possible amendment to the federal constitution: under Mexico's constitution, approval by a majority of the 32 state legislatures and two-thirds of the bicameral Congress is a prerequisite for any federal amendment.

Mexican abortion advocates who cheered last year's limited Supreme Court decision upholding a liberalized Mexico City law did not foresee such a popular reaction in favor of life. The court there had deferred to the legislature while declining to hold that abortion is a constitutional right.

]]> Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:16:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 12 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1532 European Court of Human Rights Puts Pro-life Ireland in Hot Seat http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1525 (NEW YORK – C-FAM)  Irish abortion laws and sovereignty stand in the dock next week when the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) hears a challenge to Ireland's constitutional protection of life "from conception."

Three petitioners in the case A, B & C v. Ireland allege that they were forced to travel overseas to obtain abortions, undergoing unnecessary expenses and hardship due to the nation's pro-life laws. They claim violations of various rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

]]> Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:12:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 12 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1525 UNFPA Pushing for Hundreds of Billions for Family Planning As ICPD Era Draws to a Close http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1524 (NEW YORK – C-FAM)  At the United Nations this week, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) organized a commemorative seminar on the 1995 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and, in a look ahead, urged states to renew their commitment to the program, calling for over $200 billion (US) in funding for "sexual and reproductive health and family planning" alone.

UNFPA's Ann Pawliczko gave a financial perspective of the ICPD Program of Action and presented a "revised ICPD Global Cost Estimate" for 2009 through 2015, when the ICPD program is scheduled to end.  Apart from $212 billion (US) for "sexual and reproductive health / family planning," UNFPA estimates that another $22.5 billion would be needed for "family planning direct costs" for the same time period.

]]> Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:50:00 EST Friday Fax Volume 12 http://www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1524