SYS_HYPERTEXT;

—General Eva Burrows, Salvation Army Officer, Australia

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Today’s Contents:

A. Featured Articles

1. Michigan governor to sign ultrasound bill

Related Article: Province Abortion Rate Up

2. Gay Straight Clubs About Promotion, Not Protection

3. PTC Lauds FCC’s Indecency Rulings

4. Two more women die after taking 'abortion pill'

Related Article: Australia ends abortion drug 'ban'

5. Kids' prescriptions for anti-psychotic drugs skyrockets

B. Coming Events:

• World Congress of Families IV - Warsaw, Poland

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

FEATURED ARTICLES

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1. Michigan governor to sign ultrasound bill

USA Today

March 20, 2006

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Jennifer Granholm will sign a bill requiring abortion providers to give pregnant women the option to see ultrasound images of their fetuses, a spokeswoman says.

Granholm generally has opposed anti-abortion legislation, but the bill was amended so it no longer requires pregnant women to see the ultrasound images, spokeswoman Liz Boyd said Sunday.

Until now, Michigan law has required that women seeking abortions be allowed to review diagrams and descriptions showing a developing fetus, but not their own.

Abortion opponents hailed the new law. Right to Life of Michigan said it ensures that pregnant women have fuller access to accurate information before having abortions.

To read entire article:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-03-20-ultrasound-abortion-bill_x.htm

Related Article: Province Abortion Rate Up

By Adam Clayton

The Winnepeg Sun

March 16, 2006

A record number of abortions were performed on Manitoba women in 2003, bucking a national trend.

A study released yesterday showed 3,670 Manitoba women received abortions in 2003, the most since Statistics Canada began keeping track of the procedure in 1970. The numbers for Manitoba jumped by 12.3% compared with 2002 -- the largest increase in Canada -- even though the total number of abortions performed on Canadian women actually fell by 1.3%.

Of the approximately 400 additional abortions that took place in Manitoba in 2003 compared with the previous year, the vast majority were performed at a private clinic run by Dr. Henry Morgentaler. The clinic was purchased by a group of local women and renamed Jane's Clinic in 2004.

One possible explanation for the jump in 2003 could have been a decision by the Morgentaler Clinic to halve the fee for abortions in February of that year, said NDP Healthy Living Minister Theresa Oswald.

To read entire article:

http://winnipegsun.com/News/Manitoba/2006/03/16/1490635-sun.html

......................

2. 'Twin Bills of Destruction' Threaten Family Values in California Schools

By Jim Brown

March 20, 2006

(AgapePress) - A California pro-family activist is warning against two education bills in the state legislature that advance a radical pro-homosexual agenda. One of the bills would make school textbooks gender-neutral, while the other threatens schools financially if they choose not to promote homosexuality.

Assembly Bill 606 would allow the state schools chief to defund schools that do not support the homosexual agenda in textbooks, presentations, and instructional materials. The measure also calls for school districts to "establish and publicize an anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy" that prohibits discrimination and harassment based on specified characteristics, "including, but not limited to, actual or perceived gender identify and sexual orientation." Introduced by State Assemblymember Lloyd Levine, AB 606 has already passed the California Assembly.

Senate Bill 1437, sponsored by lesbian activist Senator Sheila Kuehl, declares that public school curriculum could not "reflect adversely" on homosexuality, trans-sexuality, or bisexuality. This measure would amend three sections of existing state education code to prohibit instruction, textbooks, or material that reflect "adversely upon persons because of their race or ethnicity, gender, disability, nationality, sexual orientation, or religion." The bill has yet to receive a hearing.

The Sacramento-based Campaign for Children and Families says AB 606 "forces every California school to be a transsexual, bisexual and homosexual school, or else suffer crippling financial consequences." As for SB 1437, CCF describes it as "a sexual-agenda bomb dressed up as a child-caring Easter egg." CCF executive director Randy Thomasson adds his own description, calling the pieces of legislation "twin bills of destruction of family values" in the state's school system.

To read entire article:

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/202006a.as

Related Article: Gay Straight Clubs About Promotion, Not Protection

By Jim Brown

March 13, 2006

(AgapePress) - A pro-family advocate says leaders of Gay Straight Alliance clubs in schools falsely claim their main focus is fighting discrimination. She contends those clubs are more concerned about getting young people involved in homosexuality.

Last week a private high school in Santa Monica, California, held a "Free Queer Movie Night" that was sponsored by its Gay Straight Alliance club. At the event, the GSA screened a sexually explicit film about a lesbian relationship involving a German Jew and a Nazi sympathizer during World War II. According to Linda Harvey of the Ohio-based pro-family group Mission America, such events are standard fare for GSA clubs in both private and public schools.

"Movie nights are real popular -- and they are almost always movies about two young people who are homosexual who begin having a homosexual relationship," Harvey shares. "And they're almost all rated R or worse." She adds that the typical homosexual club will network with other homosexual teens in the area, either from other high school clubs or even middle schools.

The pro-family activist contends it is extremely dishonest for GSAs to claim they exist merely to promote tolerance and diversity when, in fact, they are promoting homosexuality immorality to young people. She notes that a brief search of websites like GSANetwork.org or SafeSchoolsCoalition.org supports her contention.

"You can quickly find out that these clubs are about homosexual sex -- about getting kids connected with people who are already involved in sexual activity, about promoting the books, the movies, and all of the contacts that are very sexual in nature," Harvey says. "That is very disingenuous -- and there is a problem here, in that people need to do the research and stand up and say what the truth is."

To read entire article:

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/132006e.asp

.....................

3. PTC Lauds FCC’s Indecency Rulings

Parents Television Council Publications

March 15, 2006

LOS ANGELES (March 15, 2006) – Parents Television Council Executive Director Tim Winter released a statement about today’s FCC decisions, one of which fined CBS and its affiliates over $3 million for re-airing an episode of Without a Trace. The episode included graphic scenes of a teen orgy party.

Indecency complaints about the initial airing of Without a Trace were lumped into a bundle of complaints that were dismissed, without adjudication, by the FCC’s November 2004 Consent Decree in exchange for a $3.5 million payment by CBS. The second airing of the same episode of Without a Trace was shown just weeks after the Consent Decree was agreed to by CBS’ parent company, Viacom.

Part of the Consent Decree states: “Viacom will also conduct training with respect to the Indecency Laws for all of its on-air talent and employees who materially participate in programming decisions. If a Viacom-owned station receives a Notice of Apparent Liability for a broadcast occurring after the Effective Date which relates to violation of the Indecency Laws, all employees airing and/or materially participating in the decision to air such material will be suspended and an investigation will immediately be undertaken by Viacom.”

“The broadcast airwaves are public property and belong to the American people, and as such the broadcast industry must abide by community standards of decency while using the public airwaves between 6:00 am and 10:00 pm. This is not a proposal; this is law – well-settled law that was affirmed by the Supreme Court three decades ago. The airwaves must remain safe for families when children are likely to be in the audience. Those who violate the public trust are breaking the law and must be punished accordingly,” said Tim Winter, executive director of the PTC.

To read entire article:

http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/publications/release/2006/0315.asp

...............

4. Two more women die after taking 'abortion pill'

CNN

March 17, 2006

INFECTION WARNING: The Food and Drug Administration warns

doctors to watch for a rare but deadly infection previously

implicated in four other deaths of women who had taken the drug.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two more women have died after using the so-called "abortion pill" RU-486, regulators said Friday in a warning that brought renewed calls for pulling the drug combination from the market.

The organization that provided the drugs to the two women said it would start following the approved instructions for their use.

The Food and Drug Administration warned doctors to watch for a rare but deadly infection previously implicated in four deaths of women who had taken RU-486.

To read entire article:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/03/17/ru486.deaths.ap/index.html

Related Article: Australia ends abortion drug 'ban'

BBC News

February 16, 2006

The drug is already available in several countries

The Australian parliament has taken away regulatory control of a controversial abortion drug from the country's conservative health minister.

The move is set to end an effective nationwide ban on the drug, RU486.

Current Health Minister Tony Abbott is a staunch Roman Catholic who has not allowed the use of the drug.

Future requests from doctors to prescribe the drug will now be decided by a regulatory body, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

The TGA already regulates the use of other drugs and medical devices.

The House of Representatives approved the measure on Thursday. No vote was actually taken, because it was clear that the majority of MPs supported the change.

Australia's Senate had already voted to take control of the drug away from the government.

To read entire article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4718674.stm

......................

5. Kids' prescriptions for anti-psychotic drugs skyrockets

USA Today

March 16, 2006

CHICAGO (AP) — Soaring numbers of American children are being prescribed anti-psychotic drugs — in many cases, for attention deficit disorder or other behavioral problems for which these medications have not been proven to work, a study found.

The annual number of children prescribed anti-psychotic drugs jumped fivefold between 1995 and 2002, to an estimated 2.5 million, the study said. That is an increase from 8.6 out of every 1,000 children in the mid-1990s to nearly 40 out of 1,000.

But more than half of the prescriptions were for attention deficit and other non-psychotic conditions, the researchers said.

The findings are worrisome "because it looks like these medications are being used for large numbers of children in a setting where we don't know if they work," said lead author Dr. William Cooper, a pediatrician at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.

The increasing use of anti-psychotics since the mid-1990s corresponds with the introduction of costly and heavily marketed medications such as Zyprexa and Risperdal. The packaging information for both says their safety and effectiveness in children have not been established.

To read entire article:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-03-16-kids-drugs_x.htm

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

COMING EVENTS

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES IV

Warsaw, Poland - 2007

Meeting in Rockford, Illinois (October 23-25), a planning committee of the World Congress of Families chose Warsaw, Poland as the site of the 4th World Congress. The Warsaw Congress will be held in May, 2007.

The Polish Federation of Pro-Life Movements, an organization with over 130 affiliates throughout the nation, will serve as the local host for WCF IV.

For more information: http://www.profam.org/press/thc.pr.051027.htm

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Note: The Featured Articles excerpts are highlights of current events and

do not necessarily represent the views of the World Family Policy Center

or Brigham Young University.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Newsletter created and distributed by:

World Family Policy Center

J. Reuben Clark Law School

Brigham Young University

Acting 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".