This week on the Pro-Life World View, we bring you interesting articles on a new global initiative to address the growing under-population crisis, the passage of legislation in Vanuatu banning same-sex “marriage,” a constitutional ban on assisted suicide legislation in West Virginia, the false claim that Oregon’s assisted suicide legislation provides the model for other states/countries to follow, President-elect Trump’s promise to stop the “madness” of gender ideology, and the brutal truth about the abortion industry from a pro-abortion researcher.
Clinicians urged to exercise caution prescribing puberty blockers to young people suffering gender incongruence
Michelle Kaufman – Family Life International
NZ clinicians urged to “exercise caution” when prescribing puberty blockers & consultation underway
The Ministry of Health is urging clinicians to “exercise caution” in prescribing puberty blockers to young people experiencing gender incongruence and dysphoria, citing a “lack of good quality evidence” to justify their use.
The governmental department states, “We do not have good evidence to say that the medicines used improve the longer-term outcomes for young people with gender-related health needs – nor that the potential longer-term risks are low.”
A public consultation is underway, and submissions may be made until Monday, 20 January 2025, at 5:00pm.
For links, FLI commentary and the full story, please read the article.
Mother loses baby after Pacific Radiology, midwife fail to communicate scan
Shannon Pitman – NZ Herald
Mother loses baby after failures of communication on scan results
A first-time mother with an overdue (41-week) baby girl lost her daughter in a stillbirth after failures in the process of reporting and communicating ultrasound scan results. The scan revealed clinically significant findings that should have precipitated urgent follow-up and action.
FLI comment:
The tragic death of the baby girl was probably avoidable, and our hearts go out to her parents. It is nevertheless encouraging that NZ Herald ran the story in a way that highlighted the humanity of the unborn child and her parents in a sensitively written article.
It’s about time – a pro-natalist NGO
Louis T March – Mercator
It’s about time – a pro-natalist NGO
The world is facing an under-population crisis, and a new independent global NGO, X-Y Worldwide, is responding to this challenge.
The NGO is “dedicated to solving the world’s collapsing Birth rates – the biggest threat to humanity of our time.” Jointly led by Hungary’s dynamic former President Katalin Novak, who has spearheaded public policies in support of parenthood in her native Hungary, and British pro-natalist Stephen J. Shaw, the NGO aims to help nations address what have become deep-set cultural obstacles to fertility rates. “The common factor … is an explosion in childlessness” – it seems that mothers who are having babies are giving birth to around the same number of children on average as was true two decades ago, but, at the same time, fewer and fewer women are choosing to be mothers.
FLI comment:
The only genuinely sustainable answer is protecting and promoting the natural society – marriage and the natural family. As the Catholic Catechism says:
“The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honour God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society. “ CCC §2207
Vanuatu Parliament amends Marriage Act to ban same sex marriage
Vanuatu Daily Post – as reported by Radio New Zealand
Vanuatu Parliament bans same-sex ‘marriage’
There can be no doubting the Vanuatu government’s intent on marriage. The country’s constitution defines marriage as being between a male and female, and now Parliament has amended the Marriage Act to unequivocally state that a marriage is a union between a male and female. As if that were not clear enough, attempts of marriage between two people of the same sex may not be registered.
West Virginia amends its constitution to ban ‘assisted dying’
David Albert Jones – Mercator
West Virginia amends its Constitution to ban assisted suicide
Alongside the Presidential election, ballot initiative votes at the State level have delivered some pluses and minuses for the pro-life movement. In the case of West Virginia, it was a big plus – an amendment to their State Constitution, which expressly prohibits “the practice of medically assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing of a person.”
Euthanasia and assisted suicide were already illegal in West Virginia. Still, the Constitutional amendment effectively blocks future attempts to introduce a pro-euthanasia Bill before the State legislature. It is the first State to take such preventative action.
The linked article provides further damning insights into the performance and nature of the Oregon model of providing for assisted suicide legislation.
Oregon is no model for ‘assisted dying’
David Paton – Spiked
Oregon is no model for assisted suicide
David Paton, professor of industrial economics at Nottingham University Business School in the UK, draws on his peer-reviewed research published in the European Economic Review to demonstrate the false claim that assisted suicide legislation in the US State of Oregon provides the ideal model for other countries to follow. Professor Paton shows that:
- Contrary to the claim that legislation on the Oregon model will reduce the number of non-assisted suicides, non-assisted suicides have increased by 6% in Oregon and total suicides by 18%.
- In 2023, 43 per cent of those who were helped to commit suicide in Oregon reported that one of their key concerns was being a burden on friends, family or carers.
- Contrary to the claim that Oregon-style assisted suicide legislation provides a dignified death, reports published by the Oregon Health Authority reveal that “between 2001 and 2023, 103 assisted-suicide patients (7%) took over six hours to die.”
Trump plans to eliminate government support of gender ideology
Valerie Hudson – Deseret News
Trump promises gender ideology “madness” will stop
President-Elect Donald Trump has promised that under his leadership, the gender ideology “madness” will stop, saying, “No serious country should be telling its children that they were born with the wrong gender.”
Trump has declared that:
- He will “stop the chemical, physical and emotional mutilation of our youth” through the elimination of “gender-affirming care for minor children.”
- He will support a victim’s right to sue doctors who have performed such procedures on minor children.
- He will ask Congress to pass a bill “establishing that the only genders recognized by the U.S. government are male and female, and they are assigned at birth” and protecting the right of parents forced to allow their children to assume a different gender without their consent.
- Schools whose teachers suggest to a child that they could be trapped in the wrong body may face the elimination of federal funding.
Abortionist admits abortions kill babies “We are the executioners”
Sarah Terzo – LifeNews
Abortionist Admits Abortions Kill Babies: “We are the Executioners”
This gritty book review provides unforgettable insights into the thinking of an abortionist. The book, In Necessity and Sorrow, Life and Death Inside an Abortion Hospital, published in 1978, by the late pro-abortion researcher Dr Magda Denes, features interviews with those working in the abortion industry who speak in brutally frank terms about their work. As one abortionist put it: “We just have to face it. Somebody has to do it. Unfortunately, we are the executioners.” Warning – the article may shock and appall.
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