World Family Policy Center Newsletter
* News
relative to protecting the family worldwide *
Volume 4 Issue 30 - August 8, 2005
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Quote of the Day: "The trust
inherited from one's parents is the capital with which one begins life. It must be shown to each before each is able
to earn it, so that he learns to trust in the earning of it. Who will succeed in showing trust to those
who walk marked with their fathers' shame?
How are they to learn to earn trust?"
-- Otto Ludwig 19th
Century German author
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Today’s Contents:
A. Featured Articles:
1. Unmarried families are
more likely to fall apart
2. Congress Leaves Behind Pro-Family Legislation
3. Senate Lacks
Votes for Stem Cell Override
4. Father faces
trial over school's 'pro-gay' book
5. Doctor Claims
RU-486 Can Cause Lethal Septic Shock
6. Proponents Say Calif. AG's Actions Undermining Pro-Marriage
Ballot Initiative
7.
Pro-Life Groups Say Torres Baby's Birth Will Sway Opposition
Special
Notice - This new Web site can help young teens decide not
to drink alcohol
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FEATURED ARTICLES
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1. Unmarried families are more likely to fall apart
By Alexandra Frean,
Britain
February 05, 2005
THREE QUARTERS of all family breakdowns affecting
young children now involve unmarried parents, new research suggests.
The findings indicate that family breakdown is no
longer driven by divorce, but by the collapse of unmarried partnerships.
An estimated 88,000 children aged under 5 were
affected by the separation of their unmarried parents in 2003, compared with
about 31,000 children under 5 whose married parents divorced, the research
concludes. According to the 2001 census, 59 per cent of households with
children are married, 11 per cent are co-habiting and 22 per cent lone parent
families.
The study is likely to provoke heated discussion among
family policy specialists. While it argues for the Government to do more
actively to promote marriage, critics say that encouraging parents who do not
want to marry to do so simply does not work.
Harry Benson, author of the research and director of
the Bristol Community Family Trust, an independent relationship education and
research body, based his findings on Office for National Statistics data on
divorce and jointly registered births, together with ONS research on the ratio
between breakdown rates for married and unmarried families.
To read entire article:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1471297,00.html
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2. Congress Leaves Behind Pro-Family
Legislation
CitizenLink
August 1, 2005
Capitol Hill was abuzz last week with last minute
politicking on several pieces of legislation just prior to the annual August
recess. But in the rush, many family-friendly bills were left behind -- tabled
until the fall session begins in September.
Tom McClusky, director of government affairs at the
Family Research Council, has a short list of what he believes Congress will
pass when it reconvenes, including The Child Interstate Abortion Notification
Act and the permanent elimination of the death tax. He said the House and
Senate could also take up the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act. . . .
Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family
Institute said . . . pro-family groups will step up their efforts when
lawmakers return in September and they've already made a list of their favorite
proposals.
"Number one on the plate would be a Federal
Marriage Amendment," he said. "Number two would be a stem-cell bill
gotten through the Senate to ban embryonic stem-cell research. We also need
legislation protecting pastors' freedom of speech to discuss political matters
and finally cable choice."
To read entire article:
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0037406.cfm
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3. Senate Lacks Votes for Stem Cell Override
ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 01, 2005
WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate supporters of a measure to
ease restrictions on embryonic stem cell research lack the votes to override a
threatened veto by President Bush, a top proponent of the research says.
A favorable Senate vote is considered more likely now
that Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has reversed his position to support
more federal dollars for research. However, a Senate vote would not matter if,
as lawmakers predicted, a Bush veto stands in the House.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who is sponsoring a bill
easing restrictions that Bush put in place, said Frist gave his side "a
big boost." A vote on the measure could come in September.
While a bill would pass the Senate with a simple
majority, 67 senators would be needed to fend off a veto by Bush if all 100
senators voted.
"My analysis is that we have 62 votes at the
present time, and we've got about 15 more people who are thinking it
over," Specter said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." "I
believe that by the time the vote comes up, we'll have 67."
To read entire article:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-cong/2005/aug/01/080100995.html
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4. Father faces trial over school's 'pro-gay' book
Arrested after objecting to kindergartner's reading
material
August 4, 2005
WorldNetDaily.com
David Parker, parent of kindergartner, stands before
Judge Robert McKenna in Concord District Court April 28 after spending the
night in jail (Photo: Article 8 Alliance)
A Massachusetts man faces a court trial over a dispute
about the teaching of homosexuality in his son's kindergarten class.
David Parker, of Lexington, spent a night in jail and
was charged with criminal trespassing after refusing to leave a scheduled
meeting with school officials April 27, unless they gave him the option of
pulling his child out of certain classes.
Parker says the officials had indicated they would
agree to a notification policy then suddenly refused. He insists he has done
nothing wrong and is willing to contest the charge rather than plea-bargain.
At a hearing Tuesday, Parker's trial date was set for
Sept. 21.
The Lexington School Board contends Parker
deliberately set out to be arrested and make national headlines.
Parker's attorney, Jeffrey Denner, rejected that claim
as supporters picketed outside the courthouse.
"That is simply untrue. I don't speak for the
school, but that is simply untrue," he said. "He was invited to come
in, he came in, there was a dialogue going back and forth, there were faxes
sent back and forth, from the school to the school committee. His intent was
absolutely not to be arrested. His intent was to establish a dialogue to
protect his own children and other children as well."
The dispute began last spring when Parker's
then-5-year-old son brought home a book to be shared with his parents titled,
"Who's in a Family?" The optional reading material, which came in a
"Diversity Book Bag," depicted at least two households led by
homosexual partners.
To read entire article:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45594
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5. Doctor Claims RU-486 Can Cause Lethal Septic Shock
By Alexa Moutevelis
CNSNews.com
August 04, 2005
A Brown University professor has issued fresh
allegations about the dangers related to the abortion drug regimen RU-486,
asserting that one of the ingredients - mifepristone -- can produce fatal
septic shock in a woman in the course of ending her pregnancy.
Dr. Ralph P. Miech discusses the link between
mifepristone, which is marketed in the U.S. as Mifeprex, and lethal septic
shock in an article published in the September issue of "The Annals of
Pharmacotherapy."
RU-486 combines two drugs -- mifepristone and
misoprostol - and allows women to chemically abort their unborn children at any
time during the first seven weeks of pregnancy.
In mid-July, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA)
issued a public health warning regarding RU-486 following the report from
Mifeprex drug maker Danco Laboratories that five women in the U.S. and Canada
had died since 2000 due to serious bacterial infection. In at least three of
the cases, the bacteria Clostridium sordellii caused the septic shock.
Miech told Cybercast News Service that he is certain
"it is the RU-486 that weakens the innate immune system that allows the
bacteria to grow and multiply and secrete its toxins and cause septic
shock."
To read entire article:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200508\CUL20050804a.html
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6. Proponents Say Calif. AG's Actions Undermining Pro-Marriage
Ballot Initiative
By Allie Martin and Jody Brown
August 4, 2005
(AgapePress) - A hearing will be held today in a
California courtroom in an effort to force that state's attorney general to
change the title and wording of a proposed constitutional amendment protecting
traditional marriage.
Next year California voters will decide the fate of a
proposed constitutional amendment that would recognize marriage as only between
a man and a woman. However, pro-family activists are upset over the title and
summary assigned by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer for the ballot
measure. They argue that he has issued an "inaccurate and
prejudicial" ballot title and summary.
According to Liberty Counsel, which has filed a
lawsuit in Sacramento challenging the attorney general's actions, Lockyer has
failed to carry out his duty to prepare a title and summary that is accurate,
that reflects the chief purpose and points, and is not prejudicial toward the
proposed amendment. Randy Thomasson, an organizer of the initiative, puts it
this way: "True to his liberal bias, but untrue to his constitutional
duty, Bill Lockyer has dumped on us an inaccurate and prejudicial paragraph
that is anything but impartial and fair as the law requires."
To read entire article:
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/8/42005a.asp
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7.
Pro-Life Groups Say Torres Baby's Birth Will Sway Opposition
By Carolyn Bolls
CNSNews.com
August 04, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - Two
days after the birth of Susan Anne Catherine Torres and the death of her
brain-dead mother, pro-life groups now believe this "miracle baby"
will help preserve life and convince abortion rights supporters to switch
sides.
"It will cause
people to stop and think twice about abortion and what the truth and the
reality of it is," Amber Dolle, media director for the pro-life group,
American Life League, told Cybercast News Service.
"[The birth of
Susan Anne Catherine] really helps people that maybe have sat on the fence and
don't know if the child living in the womb is really a person ... to see that
this is a living human person [who] we need to do all we can to protect by
nature and by law in this country," Dolle said.
"It has shown
the humanity of the child in the womb," she added.
Abortion rights
groups such as Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America have remained
silent regarding the baby's birth. The silence "tells me that these groups
don't recognize that in a situation like this, this child ... had every right
for her life to be protected ... as would any other person living outside the
womb," Dolle said.
To read entire
article:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200508\CUL20050804c.html
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Special
Notice - This new Web site can help young teens decide not
to drink alcohol: http://www.thecoolspot.gov/index.asp
.................
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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
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