Supreme Knight Carl Anderson on abortion:
"For many years, our campaign for a Culture of Life focused on abortion, and for an obvious reason: it is the greatest killing of human life in human history," said the Supreme Knight. "But today, through advances in ultrasound technology, a bright window has been opened up in the womb - and we can clearly see the unborn child's face, his or her development and even his or her personality. We know now, that this child feels pain, feels emotion, reacts to music! And still, the law of both our countries insists on a fiction - that who we see clearly as a child is somehow not yet a human being."
Australian Idol funds and promotes pro-life crisis pregnancy center.
Perhaps my favorite: Abortion Pill Crackdown in Philippines Has Police Chasing Down U.N. - Supported NGOs.
Abortion groups, funded heavily through the United Nations population control body the UNFPA, unused as they are to their agenda being effectively opposed, have complained that they feel they are being persecuted. [Papa-Lu sez: BOOOOO-HOOO HOO HOOO BOOOOOO HOO HOO.] Carolina Ruiz-Austria, of the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) said, "They were told that what they are doing is forbidden in Manila. It's unnerving." Such groups also complain that there is a growing opposition to their efforts in the Philippines and that the country is becoming more pro-life in public opinion.
Birth Control Pill May Permanently Reduce Sex Drive Study Finds.
Headlines like that would be funny if they weren't so sad. Gee, you think the daily artificial altering of your hormonal balance may have some long-term effects? I never would have thought.
Speaking of birth control: the Japanese are non-reproducing themselves into oblivion.
The only countries producing fewer children than Japan are Sweden and Italy (although, as Chris pointed out, there are many other European countries (such as Germany) undergoing the same crisis). Someone (I forget who) once made the connection that since these countries are producing so few children (that can support the elderly), the most "efficient solution to the problem" would be to increase the rate of euthanizing the elderly. The Japanese keep the Buddhist/Confucian notion of revering the elderly, so I have more hope that this will not happen there.
The Japanese government is really concerned about this situation; I've heard rumors that they might institute a program (or several) that is exactly the opposite of China's current population law.
With her ~1% Christian population and omnipresent Eastern/Western dichotomy, it's hard (for me, at least) to predict what will happen in Japan.
One night, I was flipping through the TV channels and came across a program on EWTN, in which a lecturer addressed the issue of birth control. I don't remember what her sources were, but I do remember her saying something to the effect that there had been, way back in the 50s or 60s, an experiment that tested chemical birth control for men. One man became impotent as a result, so they stopped all testing. They then went on to test chemical birth control for women. Six women *died,* but they kept going with the experiment.
:(
Janet Smith makes that point in the Contraception: Why Not? lecture.