Pro-LIFE NEWS

Vol. 8 No.2 - Winter Edition 1991                            Print Post Approved - 33L385/00042

Contents:

- A Pro-Lifer In Parliament
- Editorial Emphasis
- Roe V Wade
- Global Action
- New President
- Unborn Child Rights
- Future: Holland's Slippery Slide
- New Educational Packs
- Victim's Stories
- World View

"Thanks Mum and Dad for getting me here safely"
Pro-Life: Because life is worth caring about.

On June 6th, over 150 people in Melbourne gathered to listen to Mr Alasdair Webster, Member of the House of Representatives, speak on the recent events of the "Abolition of Abortion Funding" Bill. The meeting was sponsored by Endeavour Forum, and members of the audience included representatives of several church denominations in Melbourne, Christian groups and representatives of Pro-Life Victoria and Right to Life Australia.

Mr Webster, who introduced the Bill into Federal Parliament, said that taxpayers money was underpinning a defacto "abortion on demand" industry in Australia, even though most states still had abortion carried out for no legitimate medical reason as a criminal act on its law books. And that since the inception of the Medicare legislation, 80 million dollars had been used to extinguish approximately 750,000 unborn lives.

He also warned that the rate of abortion had nearly outstripped the rate of births in Australia, and that abortion had seriously affected the age structure of the nation.

‘‘Federal parliamentarians have continually ducked the subject of abortion and related issues." he said. "We are willing to debate nearly all other issues, but when it comes to the plight of the unborn, we seem to have run out of energy and compassion as national legislators."

During May, the Webster Bill was debated for approximately 30 minutes. (It took a lot of lobbying of the Selection Committee to gain this small amount of time.) Mr Webster and two other Opposition members spoke in favour of the legislation, as well as Government member, Mr Lloyd O’Neil, Member for Grey, S.A..

The Australian Pro-Life Parliamentary Group has approximately 40 members at the moment; and pressure is slowly building on the Speaker of the House, Mr Kim Beazley, to allow more debating time on the issue, which Mr Webster hopes will come in the Spring session of parliament.

One of the major reasons, Mr Webster believes, the legislation is being suppressed from debates is because opponents have become frightened that the Bill has a fair chance of being passed through the House of Representatives.

Mr Webster said that he was encouraged by the thousands of letters thanking him for his actions and amazed that he had only received a handful of letters criticizing his stance.

Continue to support the ‘Abortion Funding Abolition’ Bill; if you need more card packs, write or phone Pro-Life Victoria’s Office.

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Now is the time for all pro-lifers to make their appointments with their Federal M.P’s. seeking their support for Alasdair Webster’s Abortion Funding Abolition Bill.

Parliament is in recess until the 20th August and politicians are most likely to be back in their electorates. Even if they are not, please make sure you have your name put on his appointment waiting list - and keep checking with his secretary right up until the Bill is defeated.

Our last Newsletter featured a strong editorial on how essential personal delegations to M.P’s. are to the

success of the Webster Bill. Since that time eleven delegations have taken place in Victoria.

One courageous young mother actually took her toddler and ten month old baby with her to see her member, demonstrating the maxim "where there’s a wilt there s a way."

I really do appreciate the effort required to organize these meetings. All of our lives are so full. But if we seriously want to stop funding abortions, this is what we have to do. So sincere thanks to all those who have gone - your efforts have spurred us to increase our efforts to achieve 100% coverage of all Victorian electorates.

Remember, if you need help in organizing a delegation or can report on one, please phone me on 387 7065 (after hours).

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In the light of the telemovie Roe Versus Wade aired on channel 7 recently, which centred on Jane Roe’s attempts to overturn U.S. antiabortion laws, readers may be interested to learn of a little known fact about Jane Roe and her offspring.

At the time of the shooting of the telemovie (1989), Jane Roe (really, Norma McCorvey) was desperately seeking her now nineteen year old daughter. Not surprisingly, her daughter, who was happily adopted, had no desire to meet the mother who would have aborted her had the law permitted it.

This small piece of information is perhaps the best commentary on the telemovie and the events it portrayed.

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In 1984 President Reagan introduced the "Mexico City Policy" into U.S. foreign aid affairs. According to the policy, the United States refused to fund any programme in the developing world which included abortion. The U.S. Planned Parenthood and the International Planned Parenthood Federation were strongly opposed to this.

President Bush has consistently vetoed any legislation that has tried to water down or nullify the "Mexico City Policy"; but the U.S. Congress is being lobbied more and more by a coalition of pro-abortion, environmental and population control groups to overturn the policy.

The World Council for Life and Family is inviting pro-lifers around the world to express their opposition to any organization that promotes abortion as a method of population control, to the U.S. Congress.

People can write to Congressman Robert Dornan, Home Office Building, Washington, DC 20515; and Senator Jesse Helms, Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510. Both these men are reliable pro-life supporters.

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A former Lieutenant Colonel of the Australian Army has been elected to the presidency of Pro-Life Victoria. David Millie, M.B.E., succeeds Peter Coventry, whose term has expired.

David, a family man with four sons, grew up in Melbourne, and in 1956 entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon. In 1968/69 he served in the Quong-Tri Province of South Vietnam with the Australian Army Training Team as an advisor to the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces. He received a MBE for his service.

He has also worked as a deputy director for the Department of Defence in Canberra, taught military management at the Australian Staff College and written two books on military training.

In community affairs he has been involved in scouts, and various school and church organizations. He is also a member of Melbourne Legacy and for four years was president of the Indo-China Refugee Association (ACT).

Today, David is employed by the Australian Valuations Office as a property valuer and is a member of the Australian Institute of Valuers and Land Economists.

David says he is excited about taking the presidency of Pro-Life Victoria, and he is looking forward to helping expand the Pro-Life branch network throughout the state and pursuing the organization’s educational and political goals.

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In late April, The International Right to Life Federation met in Japan to ratify the Declaration On The Rights Of The Unborn Child. The "Congress for Life", held in Tokyo, was attended by Pro-Life delegates from 28 countries, including Australia. The declaration was debated and then accepted by popular vote by all the representatives.

The IRTL is the only Right-to-Life organization recognized by the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with Observer Status. This enables it to monitor development relevant to Pro-Life issues at UN and other international meetings.

Listed below, in full, are the articles of the Declaration On The Rights Of The Unborn Child.

INTRODUCTION:

because each individual human being has an inherent dignity and unique value from the moment of conception/fertilisation until natural death, the parties to this Declaration publicly agree to the following six articles:

ARTICLE 1:

We affirm the scientific fact that every unborn child is a human being at each stage of his/her development from conception/fertilisation;

ARTICLE 2:

We shall respect the rights set forth in the present Declaration without discrimination on the basis of race, age, sex, nationality, religion, socio-economic origin or degree of perfection or for any other reason;

ARTICLE 3:

We affirm that the unborn child has the same fundamental rights as all other human beings, including the right to life, as stated in the United Nations 1948 Declaration of Human Rights. We demand that these rights be recognised by statutory legislation;

ARTICLE 4:

We recognise that every unborn child has the right to a healthy gestational environment which must include the right to adequate ante-natal care for the mother and support for the parents;

ARTICLE 5:

We affirm that an unborn child shall have the right not to be subject to scientific, medical or non-medical experiments or uses from the time of conception/fertilisation onwards, unless such experimentation or use would benefit the unborn child directly;

ARTICLE 6:

We shall strive to promote education regarding the scientific facts of foetal development and other related issues. We shall also strive to improve the social, economic and legal conditions which make it difficult for women to bear and raise their children;

ARTICLE 7:

Now therefore, the parties to the present Declaration urge all international bodies, governments, organisations and all people of good will to ratify and implement the Articles contained herein.

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Those who argue in favour of euthanasia, and for its legalisation in Australia, often refer to current practices in the Netherlands. They say or imply that these represent an ideal of progressive social reform. It has been difficult to obtain reliable information about what precisely is occurring there, because material in the popular media has been confusing, and because the language barrier is formidable.

This has now been rectified by the publication, during the past few years, of English translations of original articles by Dutch organisations, doctors and lawyers, on euthanasia in the Netherlands.

While practices there commenced with voluntary active euthanasia, which is the stated aim of Voluntary Euthanasia Societies the world over, this objective has been lost in the uncontrolled spread of undisciplined actions. The practice of actively killing on request has increased in frequency, and been facilitated by the courts, while it remained an offence under the penal code.

The Development of Euthanasia in the Netherlands

In 1970, the State Secretary of Social Affairs and Health sought guidance on life and death issues. It reported in 1973 that euthanasia could be divided into active & passive. Active euthanasia should not be allowed, because it is and must remain forbidden; but that passive euthanasia may sometimes be permitted.

By 1973, the courts were becoming active in making determinations about cases before them. The courts determined that euthanasia was acceptable if the disease was incurable, the suffering unbearable, the patient’s condition terminal and if the patient had requested death.

A Health Council Commission on Medical Ethics determined in 1975 that both active and passive euthanasia of the newborn were permissible under certain conditions.

In Rotterdam in 1981 and 1983, two court judgements which inclined to the possibility of active euthanasia being permissible, under strict conditions, similar to the 1973 decision, with the addition that suffering must be continuous.

In October 1982, a State Commission on Euthanasia was set up to give advice on future government policy on euthanasia and assistance in "self-killing". The Commission reported that "a doctor, who terminates the life of a patient at the latter’s expressed and serious desire, no longer should be punishable, providing that a number of conditions had been met." These were that the illness must be without hope of recovery, the request must be voluntary and that termination take place within the framework of "careful medical practice."

In June 1984, the Dutch medical association, issued a paper on its "Position on Euthanasia", supporting the legalisation of voluntary active euthanasia. In another statement, the same Board later supported involuntary active euthanasia.

About this time, two separate Bills were introduced to alter the penal code, but neither succeeded. Both had contained a clause which allowed a doctor to withdraw from a euthanasia case on grounds of conscience. This provision was widely criticised, presumably because it was thought that doctors should comply with the patient’s wishes, regardless of their own beliefs.

In 1987, the Royal Dutch Society of Pharmacology compiled and printed an official list of drugs to be used in performing active euthanasia.

The General Health Council, the same year, issued numerous guidelines regarding the indications for and the performance of euthanasia. This proposal did not require a terminal illness, it sanctioned the killing of incompetent persons (if there is a previously written document requesting termination) and it allowed the killing of minors, without parental consent. A leading paediatric oncologist, Professor P.A. Voute, revealed that since the early 1980’s, he had provided his patients with doses of poi son to commit suicide when they requested it.

In April 1988, the Dutch Medical Association issued a discussion paper, setting out indications for infanticide. Among these were: when the prognosis is bad, the baby may be killed (a bad prognosis would include Down’s syndrome, spin a bifida and mental retardation); the doctor can act if he was 70% sure of the diagnosis; and when the parents requested death, the doctor must comply.

The early requirement of the courts that consent be in writing had now been discarded.

The Situation Today

The incidence of euthanasia in the Netherlands has been quoted as between 5000 and 20,000 per year, but the truth is that nobody knows the real incidence. The government relies on doctors to report the occasions of euthanasia, but there is systematic avoidance of this responsibility, not the fear of prosecution, but to avoid administrative hassle.

Whenever euthanasia is reported, the Public Prosecutor examines the report. If he has no misgiving, he records a finding of guilty, but without penalty.

The boundaries for the performance of euthanasia are continually being expanded by determinations of the courts. A decision of the High Court of The Hague in October 1986 introduced new dimensions. It declared that (i) the dire distress of a non-terminal patient in the advanced stages of multiple sclerosis may justify euthanasia and (ii) the mental duress of a doctor may be an acceptable defence to prosecution for committing euthanasia.

The traditional requirement of an adult’s legal responsibility for his considered actions has thus been rejected, and replaced with a defence which would invite scorn and derision in any other setting.

With the media, the government, professional bodies and the courts all providing encouragement to euthanasia, it is not surprising that it has become common. What may have been unexpected is the rapid extension of practice, from voluntary to involuntary euthanasia, and its acceptance. This is the killing of those who cannot give their consent, on account of immaturity or mental incapacity, or of those who could give their opinion, but are not asked. Two criminologists estimated in 1986 that involuntary euthanasia is now two to five times more common than voluntary. It is no longer regarded as an abuse. It is widely supported by sections of the community that life-saving equipment should be denied to the severely handicapped, the elderly and perhaps to persons without families.

Euthanasia in the Netherlands is now an alarming practice that oversteps ethical bounds and administrative controls, compromising doctors’ moral commitment to healing by allowing them to become medical killers.

Next issue we will look at Euthanasia in Australia.

Each year the Pro-Life office receives many requests from school students for information and project material about abortion. For the last six months Nanette Lorimer and Denise Cameron have been developing a new student education pack to meet this need.

The packs include a wide selection of articles that state the reasons for the pro-life position, as well as booklets, pictures and a colour poster of a child within the womb. About a hundred packs are now ready to be mailed out.

It is expected that the pack materials will be used in projects, essays, student reports and on posters adorning classroom walls, promoting pro-life messages to a large inquisitive populace. Nanette said; ‘This is an effective way to win young minds to the pro-life position, as well as educating them about the miracle of life."

The executive, on behalf of the movement, wish to thank Nanette and Denise for their hard work.

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Robin Johnson, President of Living Life Ministries - an inter-denominational literature and outreach ministry, campaigning against abortion - has launched a unique project. He and his wife, Janette, are asking women who have suffered the trauma of an abortion to write their story down and send it to them.

Robin is typing up the stories and sending the testimonies to every politician who supports abortion. Robin says that he and his wife have openly wept over some of the letters he has received. All the original manuscripts are kept confidential and the woman’s name is reduced to initials on the published copy. There is also a possibility that the stories may be eventually tabled into a book. Currently, Living Life Ministries are developing a seminar to teach local churches how to reach out and help the living victims of abortion - women.

If you have a story to tell, write it a simply and succinctly as possible. You can mail your letter to ...

Living Life Ministries
International Inc.
P.O. Box 380,
Boronia, Victoria, 3155.

A one day conference which will look at reasons, motivation and answers for abortion in Australia has been jointly organized by L.L.M.I. and Reachout Christian Centre. It will be held on Saturday 31st August 1991, with a special pro-life youth rally in the evening. If you want more information or wish to register for the conference, ring 762 7639.

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CANADA: Under a Canadian law, two midwives have escaped conviction, on a charge of criminal negligence, that of causing a child’s death - because a living child being born is neither a "person" nor a "human being".

NEW ZEALAND: More than 3500 Christ-church Christians, from 110 churches, formed New Zealand’s first Life Chain on April 28.

Leaders from all main denominations stood with their congregations for over an hour on a 10 kilometre route, holding signs declaring that "Abortion Kills Children" and "Jesus Forgive and Heals".

WESTERN AUSTRALIA: On December 21st, 1990, a thirteen year old girl was given an abortion at Zera Clinic in Midland without her parent’s knowledge or consent. The girl revealed months later that she was referred to the Zera Clinic by a Family Planning Association, and that she was never questioned on her actions, by the association or the clinic.

AMERICA: In 1987, 27 in every 1000 American women had an abortion; while in 1980, 29 in every 1000 did so.

FRANCE: Officials of the French Ministry of Health were reported to have met on April 10 to discuss the use of the abortion drug RU 486 in the light of the recently announced death of an expectant mother during an RU 486 abortion.

New rules were likely to include: a prohibition of RU 486 abortions for all women who smoke or are over the age of 35, and the alteration of the dosage and administration of the prostaglandin which is used in conjunction with the RU 486 drug.

POLAND: Over one and a half million people wrote to the Polish Parliament to express their support for the proposed law which would overturn Poland’s current pro-abortion law.

USA: There are over 178 family planning clinics currently operating in U.S. schools, according to the U.S. National Right to Life. A survey of their activities shows that 91% of them offer "pregnancy counselling’ and 93% offer "pregnancy tests". The clinics are known to "funnel a captive clientele of pregnant girls into abortion facilities without parental knowledge or consent".

HUNGARY: The Hungarian Society for the Protection of Unborn Children reports that it has made substantial progress in the past year. Since February, the Society’s pregnancy counselling service has been operating every afternoon, including weekends. A national day of penance for the victims of abortion was held on December 28 in cooperation with religious communities throughout the country.

ITALY: Italian pro-life movement, Movimento per Ia vita, held its annual ‘Week for Life" celebrations on May 19 to 26. The movement is also collaborating with an Italian radio station to implement a pro-life radio education project.

USA: A university professor who refused to pay fees to a trade union because some of the money would be used to promote abortion, and had been fired from his job as a result, has been reinstated and awarded almost $100,000 in back wages.

FRANCE: The Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, has approved the continuation of monthly prayers and fasting by members of the pro-life movement in the city.

BRITAIN: The British government has approved the use of RU 486 throughout its nation in July last.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA: "One has to start off with the attitude that you accept the criticism that this is murder. Abortion is murder - I agree with that. You’re extinguishing life and if you don’t face up to that, you’re not being honest with yourself".

Quotation made by Dr Robert Jones, a doctor appointed by Adelaide’s Queen Victoria Hospital to do abortions.

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