This week on the Pro-Life World View, we bring you interesting articles on so-called “assisted dying” legislation in the UK, the sad news of the death of a truly prophetic figure in the pro-life movement, an article detailing the fundamental moral problems of in vitro fertilisation, and the proposed ideological brainwashing of children from the age of 3 by means of the French government’s new sex education curriculum.
A Black Friday to remember in the UK
Ann Farmer – Mercator
Doublespeak about assisted suicide
Paul Yowell – The Critic
Doublespeak on so-called “assisted dying” triumphs in British parliamentary debate on assisted suicide
According to Ann Farmer, a leading author on eugenics, November 29 was indeed a “Black Friday” in the UK, with the British Parliament voting in favour of the second reading of what is called the Assisted Dying Bill (330 votes to 275). “Cosy euphemisms” dominated the debate on legislation, which is “essentially” about “the State helping dying people to kill themselves,” Ann Farmer says.
In a linked article, Kim Leadbeater MP, the Assisted Dying Bill’s sponsor, is quoted as complaining that the term “assisted suicide” to describe her Bill was “offensive.” However, as Paul Yowell, the author, points out, the extended title of her Bill “refers to providing terminally ill adults’ with assistance to end their own life’. This is physician-assisted suicide. Assisted dying is a misleading term and was likely chosen for that purpose.”
Michelle Kaufman, National Director of Family Life International, commented: “Let us pray for the UK that sufficient voices will be raised to stop the disaster of euthanasia and assisted suicide, already a scourge in New Zealand, will not become legal there.”
RIP: Priest took different approach to pro-life work
John Burger – Aleteia
Remembering Monsignor Philip Reilly
Dame Colleen Bayer, DSG – Family Life International NZ
We must all stand outside
John Smeaton
Monsignor Philip J. Reilly, a great pro-life hero, has died. May he rest in peace.
A great pro-life hero has gone to his eternal rest. Monsignor Philip Reilly, the Founder of the pro-life prayer and sidewalk counselling group, the Helper’s of God’s Precious Infants, went to his eternal reward on November 30, 2024.
If you have ever participated in one of Family Life International’s prayer vigils, then you have experienced the legacy of Monsignor Reilly. FLI embraced his philosophy of being physically present at the modern-day Calvary – the sites where God’s precious infants are killed – praying in reparation for this great crime, for the conversion of those who participate in the evil of abortion, and pleading for the lives of these little ones.
Colleen Bayer, FLI’s Founder, recalls how big an impact Monsignor Reilly had. “[His] humility, steadfastness, and total love of God—the great author and giver of life—touched the hearts and souls of countless people around the globe. Mothers have been healed, and babies have lived and grown up to love their Mums and take care of them in return.”
“May you rest in peace, Monsignor Reilly, and enjoy your eternal reward. Thank you for touching our lives in unimaginable and beautiful ways that brought us closer to God, making our commitment to the Catholic pro-life cause the very essence of our lives. So many have their life because of your faithfulness, love of the Holy Eucharist, and of the natural law.”
John Smeaton, a board member of Family Life International New Zealand based in the UK, has described Monsignor Reilly as “one of the most outstanding and prophetic figures in the pro-life movement.”
IVF helps people have kids so what’s the problem?
Margaret Peppiatt – Population Research Institute
The real cost of IVF in New Zealand: human life
Michelle Kaufman – Family Life International NZ
IVF helps people have kids … So what’s the problem?
Sadly, both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris expressed strong support for In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) during the recent US presidential campaign. The vast majority of the public considers IVF to be a morally good option for couples experiencing heartrending difficulties in conceiving a child naturally. However, as this Population Research Institute (PRI) article points out, there are fundamental moral problems with IVF, including:
- IVF involves couples engaging in immoral actions through the provision of sperm and eggs, which are united in a petri dish.
- Far more human embryos are created, each one with his or her right to life, than will be transferred to the womb.
- Additional human embryos are discarded, frozen, or used in research, with an estimated 1.5 million human embryos in frozen storage in US laboratories alone.
- The child is conceived by the technical process of IVF rather than as a gift of the spousal “one flesh” union and is more vulnerable to being selected and discarded through eugenic pre-implantation genetic testing and to be brought up by parents who are not related to them, including by same-sex couples.
The article points out that NaproTechnology is a compassionate and ethical response to infertility, which respects the dignity of children and their parents.
See also The real cost of IVF in New Zealand: human life by Michelle Kaufman, the National Director of Family Life International New Zealand.
French family associations call new sex-education programme ideological brainwashing
Helene de Lauzun – The European Conservative
French family associations call new sex education programme “ideological brainwashing”
The Family Union, a group in France campaigning in defence of the family, has attacked the French government’s new relationship and sex education curriculum as “ideological brainwashing from the age of three.” The Family Union’s president said bluntly, “Adults talking to children about sex without their consent. That’s a problem.” The secretary general of Catholic Education also denounced the programme, saying it is “unsuited to the mentality of children” and is “replacing the educational responsibility of parents.”
The French government’s new sex education programme resembles the curriculum in New Zealand, with gender ideology to the fore (including the proposed use of outside speakers, thereby opening the door to LGBTQ activists), the exclusion of parents, the encouragement for children to explore their own body and for them to “deconstruct” so-called “gender stereotypes” (that is, encouraging small children to question the objective reality that there are only two genders).
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