World Family Policy Center Newsletter
* News relative to protecting the family worldwide *
Volume
3 Issue 24 - July 20, 2004
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
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Today’s Contents:
A. Editorial: Important Request
B.
Featured Articles:
1.
2.
3.
C.
Coming Events
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EDITORIAL: IMPORTANT
REQUEST FROM THE WORLD FAMILY
POLICY CENTER (WFPC)
Many
organizations and individuals are holding conferences and
meetings
to protect the family. All of these are
important, including
small
community meetings. We are assembling
brief reports of these
conferences
and meetings and invite you to send us a report of your
events. Also, as an optional consideration, if you
have anecdotal stories
to
share that show the importance of the family, we would be pleased to
have
these included with your report.
We
are receiving these reports from organizations and individuals world-
wide
to be included in a book that will be presented in celebration of the
2004
International Year of the Family at the Doha International Conference
for
the Family in Doha, Qatar November 29 _ 30, 2004. A copy of this
book will be presented to the United Nations
to show the overwhelming
support
there is for the family throughout the world.
Please E_mail reports
to
wfpc@byu.edu. We sincerely appreciate
your support in this vitally
important
effort to protect the family.
Individuals
who would like to be included by holding a community meeting,
please
visit http://www.savethefamilyworldwide.org.
Deadline
for report submissions is September 15, 2004.
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FEATURED ARTICLES
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1. What Works: Programs and Interventions
that May Influence
Outcomes for Youth and Young Children
The Child Trends DataBank now includes information for over 60
indicators about the types of programs and interventions that may influence
particular outcomes for teens and young children. To view a complete list of
DataBank indicators that include What Works tables, click here .
...................
2. Bush Administration Again Withholds UNFPA Money Due
to Abortion Link
by
Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com
Editor
July
16, 2004
Washington,
DC __ For the third year in a row, President Bush has withheld
taxpayer
funds from the United National Population Fund (UNFPA) because
of
its
ties
with China's population control program that involves forced abortions
and
sterilizations.
The
decision means $34 million in federal funds won't be sent to the U.N.
agency.
"We
have continuously called on China to end its program of coercive
abortion,"
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
The
Bush administration recently sent officials from the State Department
to
review the situation in China and determine if the UNFPA is complicit
in
the coercive population control program.
After
the fact_finding team returned, Secretary of State Colin Powell said
China
"has in place a regime of severe penalties on women who have
unapproved
births. This regime plainly operates to coerce pregnant women
to
have abortions in order to avoid the penalties and therefore amounts
to
a 'program of coercive abortion.'"
To
read entire article:
http://www.lifenews.com/nat652.html
Related Article: Missouri Partial Birth Abortion Ban Overturned
July
12, 2004
In
a blow to the pro_life movement in Missouri, a federal judge tossed
out
the state's ban on partial birth abortion in the state because of a 2000
Supreme
Court decision that ruled a similar law in Nebraska unconstitutional.
That
ruling and this one cited the need of an exception for the "health"
of
the mother.
As
pro_life advocates know, the "health of the mother" was decided in
the
Doe
v. Bolton case to include not just physical health, but mental, emotional,
and
psychological health. These different measurements have permitted
abortion
for any reason at any time during pregnancy.
To
read entire article:
Related article: European
Court Rules It's Not Desirable or Possible
to Determine If Unborn Child Is a Person
STRASBOURG,
France
July
8, 2004
LifeSiteNews.com
The
European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that a doctor
responsible
for the unintended death of a six_month_old unborn baby is
innocent,
because the 17_member court could not agree on whether
"the
unborn child was a person." The 14_2 ruling stated, "It was neither
desirable,
nor even possible . . . to answer in the abstract the question
whether
the unborn child was a person."
The
ruling comes as little surprise to pro_lifers. As LifeSiteNews.com
reported,
last year, the only two NGO's to which the European
Court
granted intervener status were Family Planning Association
(London)
and the Centre for Reproductive Rights (New York), both
pro_abortion
activist organizations..
To
read entire article:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jul/04070803.html
Related article: UNICEF
Leaves Unborn Out of Abortion Debate
in Nicaragua
CNA
Managua,
Micaragua
July
13, 2004
Entire
article below:
An
official from the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Gary Stahl, has gotten
involved in the debate on the legalization of abortion in Nicaragua, with a
call to defend young girls who do not want to be mothers, even though this
implies the death of the unborn.
During
debate in parliament on the reform of the Penal Code, which is focused on
abortion
to “save the life of the mother,” Stahl emphasized that “issues such as
those
related to the rights of children and the effects of sexual abuse are not being
taken
into account.”
Although
he sad that UNICEF has not taken a position regarding the debate in
parliament,
his statements indicated the contrary.
“I
think that in this debate the victims are being somewhat overlooked, we are
talking
about a problem which is abortion and I think the national debate would be
improved
if we concentrated more on the fact that this is a flagrant violation of the
rights
of children,” he said.
Stahl’s
definition of “victims” appears to exclude the unborn.
“We
need to look at the issue of their mental health, their physical health in
general. Instead of seeing it as a debate, a
controversy between the left and the
right,
between one party and another, we should see it from the perspective of the
rights
of children, because the perspective of the children themselves is being
somewhat
lost,” he added.
Pro_life
sources told CNA that the statements by Stahl only reinforce the long_held
belief
that the UNICEF is one of the most pro_abortion international
organizations.
For
UNICEF, to defend children is to give them the right to abort, but it forgets
that
the unborn are also children that deserve protection.
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3. Round Two for Marriage Protection
By
Susan Jones
CNSNews.com
Morning Editor
July
19, 2004
(CNSNews.com)
_ The effort to protect marriage has entered round two,
says
the conservative Campaign for California Families.
The
group notes that this week __ on July 21 or 22 __ the Marriage Protection
Act
(H.R. 3313) is expected to come up for a vote on House floor.
CCF
is urging Americans to call their elected representatives today _
regardless
of whether they are Republican or Democrat. "Urge them
to
protect marriage for a man and a woman," CCF said in a press release.
The
Marriage Protection Act, sponsored by Rep. John Hostettler (R_Ind.)
is
intended to curb the power of activist judges by prohibiting federal
judges,
federal appeals courts, and even the U.S. Supreme Court from
overturning
the Defense of Marriage Act, which Congress passed in 1966.
To
read entire article:
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200407\CUL20040719a.html
Bush 'Disappointed' By Gay Marriage Ban's Defeat
July
15, 2004
CNN
Sen.
John Cornyn, R_Texas, and other amendment supporters speak at
a
news conference after the Senate action Wednesday.
WASHINGTON
(CNN) __ President Bush says he is "disappointed" that
a
move to effectively ban same_sex marriage was "temporarily blocked"
in
the Senate, and he is urging the House to take up the matter.
"Activist
judges and local officials in some parts of the country are not letting
up
in their efforts to redefine marriage for the rest of America, and neither
should
defenders of traditional marriage flag in their efforts," Bush
said
in a statement.
"It
is important for our country to continue the debate on this important issue,
and
I urge the House of Representatives to pass this amendment."
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/15/samesex.marriage/index.html
Related Article: Marriage Amendment Protects Federalism
by
Edwin Meese, III
WebMemo
#531
July
12, 2004 |
In
our system of law, the powers of government are divided between the
federal
and state governments. The framers rightly left marriage policy,
as
so many other things, with the states.
Yet
the fundamental definition of marriage is no mere policy issue. We’re
talking
about the very integrity and meaning of one of the primary
elements
of civil society.
Nor is this a matter for state_by_state
experimentation. Society isn’t harmed
when
high_tax states live side by side with low_tax states. The market adjusts
to
the inconsistency. Not so with marriage. A highly integrated society such
as
ours—with questions of property ownership, tax and economic liability,
inheritance,
and child custody crossing state lines—requires a uniform
definition
of marriage.
To
read entire article:
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Family/wm531.cfm
Related article: Dobson: Senators 'Cowed' By Homosexual Lobbyists
July
14, 2004
WorldNetDaily.com
As
the Senate debates the Federal Marriage Amendment, supporters of the
measure
charge a number of lawmakers are afraid to vote according
to
their inclinations because they fear the homosexual lobby.
"Many
of them are bobbing and weaving from day to day," says James
Dobson,
chose new political lobby group, Focus Action, has taken on the
proposed
amendment as its first issue.
"A
distressing number of U.S. senators and congressmen are being cowed
by
the homosexual lobby and are afraid to support the amendment," Dobson
said
in a letter to supporters of the lobby group yesterday. "Indeed, many
of
them who ran as conservatives are running instead for the tall grass."
To
read entire article:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39429
Related article: House to
Consider New Marriage MeasureJuly 16,
2004
by
Keith Peters, Washington, D.C., correspondent
The
Marriage Protection Act would limit courts' ability to strike down
the
federal Defense of Marriage Act.
Now
that the Senate is on record about the Federal Marriage Amendment,
the
House is poised to vote next week on another piece of legislation that
seeks
to protect traditional marriage.
The
Marriage Protection Act, HR 3313 — authored by Rep. John
Hostettler,
R_Ind., — would stop federal courts from striking down the
1996
Defense of Marriage Act. Robert Knight, director of the Culture
and
Family Institute at Concerned Women for America, said Hostettler's
legislation
is the right medicine at the right moment.
To
read entire article:
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0032900.cfm
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COMING EVENTS
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August 23-25m, 2004
The European Family Dialogue
Geneva,
Switzerland
A
gathering of invited scholars will present their research on issues
concerning
marriage and the family in preparation for The Doha
International
Conference for the Family.
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October 11-13, 2004
The Asian/Pacific Dialogue
Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia
A
gathering of invited scholars will present their research on issues
concerning
marriage and the family in preparation for The Doha
International
Conference for the Family.
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November 29_30, 2004
The Doha International Conference for the Family
Doha,
Qatar
The
Doha International Conference for the Family follows upon the
celebration
of the International Year of the Family and will be a
two_day
conference in Doha, Qatar, under the patronage of Her
Highness
Sheikha Mouza Bint Nasser Al_Misnad., Consort of His
Highness
The Emir of Qatar and President of Supreme Council for
Family
Affairs, State of Qatar.
The
conference represents an international assemblage, bringing
together
international VIPs, governmental and non_governmental
organizations
(NGOs), scholars, academicians, and civil society
leaders
who will be invited by the State of Qatar to participate in
a
family conference. This conference will
call upon all nations of
the
world to restate the principles related to family life embodied
in
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to adhere to
values
and endeavor to promote the role of the family as it is the
natural
and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to
protection
by society and state.
Announcing Other Family Conferences Around the World
Regional Conference on the Family
In Africa – 27 – 28 July 2004
Cotonou
– Benin
The
African Regional Conference on the 10th Anniversary of the International Year
of the Family will be held in Benin on 27 and 28 July. A plan of action on the
family in Africa will be launch on the 27th. The theme of the conference is :
Strategies for the implementation of the African plan of Action.
Worldwide Organization for Women
September 17018, 2004
Salt
Lake City, Utah
Keynote
speaker: Ambassador Ellen Sauerbrey
(More
details coming)
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Note:
The preceding article excerpts are highlights of current events and
do
not necessarily represent the views of the World Family Policy Center
or
Brigham Young University.
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Newsletter
created and distributed by:
World
Family Policy Center
J.
Reuben Clark Law School
Brigham
Young University
Managing
Director: Richard Wilkins
Executive
Director: A. Scott Loveless
Newsletter
Editors: Joy S. Lundberg and Gary B. Lundberg
If
you have any articles, editorials, or papers you would like
circulated
through the WFPC News network, you may submit them to
lundberg@lawgate.byu.edu
If
you do not wish to receive a copy of WFPC News you may unsubscribe
by
sending an email to listserv@listserv.byu.edu. The subject should be
left blank and the body should read, "unsubscribe wfpc_news".