Politics
Tuesday February 13, 2001
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Print- BILL CLINTON TO SPEAK AT FUNDRAISER FOR CANADIAN CATHOLIC HOSPITAL
- GIBBONS ARRESTED OUTSIDE TORONTO ABORTUARY
- FORMER UNITED NATIONS HEAD NOW WORKING FOR PRO-ABORTION GROUP
- CASE DROPPED AGAINST PRO-LIFE DEMONSTRATORS
- MANITOBA MOVES TO ALLOW OVER-THE-COUNTER MORNING AFTER PILLS
- MP PROTESTS $20,000 TO HOMOSEXUAL FILM FESTIVAL
- US NEWS ROUNDUP
BILL CLINTON TO SPEAK AT FUNDRAISER FOR CANADIAN CATHOLIC HOSPITAL
ALL TODAY'S HEADLINES
HAMILTON, ON, Feb 13, 2001 (LSN.ca) - LifeSite has learned that former U.S. President Bill Clinton is scheduled to speak at a fundraiser for a Catholic hospital in Hamilton, Ontario. On May 2, Clinton will deliver a speech for St. Joseph's Hospital's Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health.
Clinton has repeatedly vetoed partial-birth abortion bans passed by the U.S. Congress and Senate and strongly supported many pro-abortion initiatives and other policies seriously at odds with Catholic moral principles. He is considered by many pro-life leaders to have been by far the most pro-abortion president ever.
Campaign Life Coalition Hamilton president Dr. Carm Scime told LifeSite that this is not the first time a militantly pro-abortion U.S. politician has spoken at an event on behalf of this hospital. "Five or six years ago, (outspokenly pro-abortion) New York Governor Mario Cuomo came here to speak for the hospital and we picketed," Dr. Scime told LifeSite. At the time Hamilton Bishop Anthony Tonnos refused to attend the fundraiser and sent a letter to his priests urging them not to attend due to Cuomo's abortion stand. No one at the Hamilton Diocese was available to comment by press time today.
The hospital's website says, "We are a Catholic hospital ... committed to carrying out the healing mission of Jesus Christ." Clinton reportedly receives US$100,000 per speaking engagement.
To contact Bishop Tonnos:
Mrs. Merry Glover, Secretary
Diocese of Hamilton
700 King Street W. Hamilton, ON., L8P 1C7
[905] 528-7988 FAX [905] 528-1088
To contact the hospital:
Telephone 905.521.6036
FAX 905.577.0860
Postal address
354 King St. W. Hamilton, ON L8P 1B3
See the coverage from the Canadian Press at:
http://www.canoe.ca/WinnipegNews/ws.ws-02-13-0039.html
See the website of St. Joseph's Hospital
http://www.stjosham.on.ca/
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GIBBONS ARRESTED OUTSIDE TORONTO ABORTUARY
Reporter warned not to take photographs
TORONTO (Feb. 13, LSN.ca) - Veteran pro-life demonstrator Linda Gibbons was arrested outside the Scott Clinic abortuary in downtown Toronto this morning, in her latest challenge of an Ontario "bubble zone" injunction. On previous occasions, Gibbons has always been read the lengthy injunction and then arrested after refusing to obey a request to leave. As a result of her arrest last October she was sentenced to a probation term, as well as one day in jail in addition to time served in custody. Today, the terms of the injunction were not read to her before handcuffs were quickly applied. This was apparently because Gibbons was still covered under probation terms that forbade her from coming within certain distances of three Toronto abortuaries, including the Scott Clinic. There was no immediate word as to charges.
In the latest episode of Toronto police intimidation of media covering abortion-related incidents, a lone freelance reporter and photographer on the scene was warned by the first police officer to arrive, a Sergeant Moyer, not to take any photographs of him "under any circumstances." The reporter, fearing arrest, decided to comply, and ceased taking pictures. However, subsequent inquiries of the Toronto Police Service's corporate communications branch and a staff sergeant at 51 division revealed that the officer had no right to give such an order. A complaint is being pursued.
Three journalists had previously been arrested and charged with obstructing police while covering a demonstration by Gibbons outside the Scott Clinic in October 1999. After months of remands and thousands of dollars in legal fees, those charges were dropped. And last October, at a similar demonstration by Gibbons, a sheriff exceeded his authority by ordering a reporter to leave the area after Gibbons was arrested. Toronto police officials and the provincial Attorney General have so far not appeared to be willing to take any actions to curb the on-going harassment of reporters by 51 Division officers.
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FORMER UNITED NATIONS HEAD NOW WORKING FOR PRO-ABORTION GROUP
NEW YORK, Feb 13, 2001 (LSN.ca) - The charade is over for Dr. Nafis Sadik, the former Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The UN organization under Ms. Sadik always protested that it is not pro-abortion, despite the extensive evidence that it is one of the most powerful and prominent abortion-pushing agencies in the world. With Sadik's leadership term at an end she was free to devote herself more candidly to pro-abortion activism.
On February 6 it was announced that Sadik has joined the Board of Directors for the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRLP). The CRLP, the legal arm of the pro-abortion movement in the U.S., has launched lawsuits for every imaginable pro-abortion cause and only yesterday announced the first lawsuit against Michigan for its law to restrict the use of RU-486 abortions.
"As women, we must be courageous in speaking out on the issues that concern us: we must not bend under the weight of spurious arguments invoking cultural or traditional values," said Sadik in the CRLP release announcing her involvement.
See the CRLP releases about Sadik and RU-486:
http://www.crlp.org/pr_01_0212mimife.html
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CASE DROPPED AGAINST PRO-LIFE DEMONSTRATORS
STURGEON FALLS, Feb 13. 2001 (LSN.ca) - Pro-lifers who were arrested and charged in October 1999 over a "Show the Truth" demonstration outside a Sturgeon Falls high school emerged from a court battle last week with a positive result. The lawyer for the pro-lifers, Blaise MacLean, told LifeSite that the Crown in the case agreed to withdraw all charges against the demonstrators after a peace bond was negotiated.
The Crown attempted to show that since one of the high school protests in question was across the street from an elementary school, the demonstrators were also effectively picketing the elementary school with their large graphic photos of aborted babies. After Assistant Crown Attorney John Benson found Judge Cohen to be less than receptive to his case, he agreed to a deal. The Show the Truth members have agreed, for six months, not to picket in a way that might be construed as targeting an elementary school. There was no admission of guilt of any kind on the part of the pro-lifers, and Show the Truth is free to continue to its demonstrations.
For LifeSite's original report on the arrest see:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1999/oct/99102901.html
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MANITOBA MOVES TO ALLOW OVER-THE-COUNTER MORNING AFTER PILLS
WINNIPEG, Feb 13, 2001 (LSN.ca) - The Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association has appealed to the provincial government to allow over-the-counter sale of the abortifacient morning-after-pill. The Winnipeg Free Press reported February 3 that the government is open to the move. "We usually go with recommendations of the pharmaceutical association," assistant deputy health minister Rick Dedi told the Free Press. "I don't see that there's any particular obstacles in the way of that."
(with files from Frank Stirk, Focus on the Family Canada)
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MP PROTESTS $20,000 TO HOMOSEXUAL FILM FESTIVAL
WINNIPEG, Feb 13, 2001 (LSN.ca) - Last Wednesday, Canadian Alliance MP Jim Pankiw objected to the $20,000 public funding for a homosexual film festival in Saskatchewan. In the House of Commons Pankiw called the funding of the Queer City Cinema film festival a "strange misuse of taxpayers' money" by the Canada Council.
The Globe and Mail reported Friday that the festival began in Saskatoon and moved to Winnipeg this week. Christian Truth Activists CTA, a group protesting the meeting, has distributed a leaflet noting that the films depict bondage, necrophilia and "the violent raping of children." Gary Varro, the festival's artistic director, claims the leaflet's accusations are false. Bill Whatcott of CTA, who was on-site to protest the festival said that it drew far fewer people than last year.
(Globe and Mail, Friday, February 9, 2001)
To voice concerns to the Canada Council:
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US NEWS ROUNDUP
Catholic News Service reports that Bishop Vincent De Paul Breen of Metuchen wrote all the priests of his diocese and 32 other U.S. bishops this January. He asked them to support a federal court challenge and prayer and action movement begun by three New Jersey women seeking to overturn Roe vs. Wade and its companion decision, Doe vs. Bolton.
AP reports that Gov. Jesse Ventura has received the Jane Hodgson Reproductive Freedom award from the Minnesota chapter of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.
http://www2.startribune.com/stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisStory=83543966
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