SYS_HYPERTEXT;
World Family Policy Center Newsletter
* News
relative to protecting the family worldwide *
Volume 4 Issue 10 - March 23, 2005
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Quote of the Day: “We sometimes feel that what we do is just a drop
in the ocean, but the ocean would be less because of
that missing drop.”
—
Karen Hughes (Ten Minutes from Normal,
Penguin Books 2004, p. 333)
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Today’s Contents:
A. Featured Articles:
1.
B. Coming Events
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FEATURED ARTICLES
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1.
Lawsuit Over an Embryo Fuels Debate on When Life
Begins
An Illinois judge allows a wrongful-death suit
involving a 'pre-embryo' to go forward, deepening a moral divide.
By Amanda Paulson
The Christian Science Monitor
March 23, 2005
CHICAGO – When Alison Miller and Todd Parrish filed a
wrongful-death suit for the destruction of their frozen embryos by a fertility
clinic, they just wanted some compensation for their disappointed hopes.
But when a Chicago judge broke precedents by letting
the suit stand last month, the decision's ramifications for reproductive
technology, stem-cell research, and abortion stirred debate across the nation.
Judge Jeffrey Lawrence's decision is almost certain to
be overturned. But it does serve the purpose of underscoring just how sensitive
the issue of "personhood" has become in the highly charged world of
reproductive rights.
Central to the emotional and philosophical debate over
abortion is defining when an embryo or fetus becomes a whole person. Including
a frozen "pre-embryo" in that definition, some say, is only the
latest development in a wider struggle over reconciling the law with scientific
advances.
To read entire article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0323/p02s02-ussc.html
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2.
Abortion Debate Flares in UK Election Campaign
By Nicola Brent
CNSNews.com Correspondent
March 21, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - In an unusual shift for Britain,
abortion is emerging as an issue in the run-up to a general election expected
in May, with the country's two largest Christian denominations wading into the
debate.
Attempts by Prime Minister Tony Blair to sideline
abortion as an issue were dealt a blow at the weekend when the head of the
Church of England and titular head of the world's 70 million Anglicans spoke
out about a "groundswell of distaste" about the country's abortion
laws.
Writing in the Sunday Times, Archbishop of Canterbury
Rowan Williams argued that regardless of religious conviction, the trend was
"inexorably towards a sharper recognition of the fetus as a natural
candidate for 'rights' of some kind."
"It would be a real failure if agreeing that it
was not an electoral issue provided an alibi for taking it seriously as a
public issue."
The archbishop's comments came after a week of
gathering political debate, sparked after a women's magazine asked Blair and
official opposition Conservative Party leader Michael Howard for their views on
abortion.
To read entire article:
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200503\FOR20050321c.html
Related Article: Senate Rejects Morning
After Pill Promotion, Abortion Advocates Upset
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by Maria Vitale Gallagher
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
March 22, 2005
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The U.S. Senate last
week rejected an effort to promote the morning-after pill, also known as emergency
contraception. Pro-life groups oppose the drug because it sometimes acts as an
abortion agent.
The head of the pro-abortion lobbying group known as
NARAL blasted the Senate's decision to reject a morning-after pill amendment
proposed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton (D-NY).
“They (the Senators) will be held accountable for
blocking funding to raise awareness of emergency contraceptive services for
women whose primary contraception fails," said Nancy Keenan, president of
NARAL.
The Senate rejected the amendment to the FY 2006
Congressional budget resolution by a vote of 53 to 47. The Reid-Clinton
amendment would have funded a public education campaign to boost public
awareness of the morning-after pill.
The measure would have also funded teen pregnancy
prevention programs involving the discussion of sexually explicit material. The
amendment would have also expanded a birth control program for low-income women
and expanded health insurance coverage of contraception.
To read entire article:
http://www.lifenews.com/nat1240.html
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3.
Differences: For Boys and Girls, Go Single-sex
By Rich Lowry
JewishWorldReview.com
March 18, 2005
Your 8-year-old son who has trouble reading or little
interest in picking up a book could benefit from the Larry Summers controversy.
That's because from out of the ashes of the Harvard
conflagration is rising a nugget of something valuable. The Harvard president,
as everyone now knows, speculated at a seminar that men might be
overrepresented for genetic reasons in the top jobs in science and engineering
at universities. While Summers surely would now retract his comments, if
nothing else, he struck a blow against the dreary orthodoxy of gender sameness.
In response to the flap, Time magazine ran a cover
story featuring the work of Leonard Sax, author of the new book "Why
Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know About the Emerging
Science of Sex Differences." Sax might simply have been dismissed as a
Neanderthal not too long ago. The Washington Post ran a piece exploring the
different ways boys and girls learn to read. (Click HERE to purchase. Sales
help fund JWR.)
As Sax explains, at the heart of the debate about
gender is a paradox: To ignore the hard-wired differences between boys and
girls is to perpetuate gender stereotypes. That's because ignoring those
differences means we will continue to fail to teach many boys how to read and
many girls how to do math and science. Reaching a reasonable accommodation
requires some give from both sides of America's culture wars.
To read entire article:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0305/lowry031805.php3
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4.
Blagojevich Focuses Ire on Drug-based Game
By Maureen O'donnell
Chicago Sun-Times
March 22, 2005
Gov. Blagojevich is using the roll-out of
"Narc,'' a new video game set in the drug underworld, to promote
legislation that would ban the sale of violent and sexually explicit games to
minors.
"These kinds of games teach kids to do the very
things that in real life, we put people in jail for,'' Blagojevich said during
a news conference Monday at Glenview's Springman Middle School. "Just as
we don't allow kids to buy pornography or alcohol or tobacco, we shouldn't
allow them to buy these games.''
The governor and other legislative backers of the bill
showed a taped promo for "Narc,'' an M-rated game that features various
fictitious characters of the drug demimonde, including narcotics officers faced
with its temptations. Midway, the Chicago-based maker of the game said its dark
look was influenced by films such as "Traffic," "Training
Day" and "Rush."
To read entire article:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-narc22.html
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5. Blair Embraces Faith; But Not in
Politics
By Al Webb
The Washington Times
March 23, 2005
LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a rare open
foray into matters of faith, said yesterday that religion should play a greater
part in his nation's life, but he warned against allowing it to assume the same
role in British politics that it has in the United States.
Mr. Blair
told an audience of religious and community organizations in London that
although religion can make a "visible, tangible difference" in
British society, it would be "unhealthy" if it moved to center stage
on the country's political scene.
"I do not want to end up with an American style
of politics, with us going out there beating our chest about our faith,"
the prime minister said -- a remark not likely to go down well in the United
States, where religion traditionally figures prominently in politics.
"Politics and religion -- it is not that they do
not have a lot in common," Mr. Blair added, "but if it ends up being
used in the political process, I think that is a bit unhealthy."
His lecture was organized by the Faithworks Movement,
which is pushing to make faith a hotly contested issue in Britain's upcoming
general election, widely expected to be set for May. Mr. Blair is seeking
election to a third consecutive term as prime minister.
Political experts say that Mr. Blair is far from keen
on making religion a political issue, but that he has come under pressure from
political opponents and church leaders to make so-called "life
issues" such as abortion, euthanasia and stem-cell research part of a
national debate.
To read entire article:
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20050323-120717-2180r.htm
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6. ADL slams Christian school-board
candidate
Unhappy because she ran as believer 'engaging the
culture'
March 23, 2005
WorldNetDaily.com
The Anti-Defamation League chastised a school-board
candidate because she wrote to pastors appealing for support as a
"Christian engaging the culture."
In reply, the Illinois Family Institute condemned the
ADL for ostracizing people "who bring a traditional Christian or religious
worldview to the public debate."
"They fear greater involvement of faith-based
conservatives in politics, and obviously have singled out Leslie Pinney
because, like President Bush, she talks honestly about her faith rather than
hiding it in the closet," said Peter LaBarbera, IFI's executive director.
Linney, a candidate for the District 214 School Board
in Arlington Heights, Ill., wrote to local pastors in a March 3 letter:
"Controversial political issues are being taught
and those students with conservative, Christian positions are being labeled as
intolerant and hate-filled. We must hang on to our freedoms and our children
must not be wronged for their Biblical beliefs. … My position … [would be] one
of bringing my Christian beliefs into all decision-making while on the board.
This means carefully weighing all decisions and votes, praying about them … and
providing the best stewardship of the tax dollars the community provides to
us."
To read entire article:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43438
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COMING EVENTS
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Sixth World Family Policy Forum
July 11 - 13, 2005
Provo, Utah
Sponsored by the World Family Policy Center, Brigham
Young University
For information contact Emily Parks 801-422-8549
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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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