World Family Policy Center Newsletter

*News relative to protecting the family worldwide*

Volume 7 Issue 147 - April 18, 2007

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Quote of the Day: "Endure defeat because defeat is never final,

and setbacks are only momentary.”

—Winston Churchill

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Today’s Contents:

A. Special Announcement: World Congress of Families IV, Warsaw, Poland

B. Featured Scholars:

Patcharawalai Wongboonsin, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, ThailandKua Wongboonsin, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

C. Featured News Articles

1. Federal partial birth abortion ban upheld by Supreme Court

2. Ex-Gays, African-Americans Unite Against 'Thought Crimes' Bill

D. Coming Events: Eighth World Family Policy Forum

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

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WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES IV

Warsaw, Poland - May 11-13, 2007

The World Congress of Families IV, in Warsaw, Poland, May 11-13 will be a major gathering of international pro-family leaders and concerned citizens. Representatives from the World Family Policy Center will be there to share research on issues relating to protecting the family worldwide. We hope you can join us there and lend your support.

Allan Carlson, founder and chairman of The World Congress of Families, announced that Polish President Lech Kaczynski will give the opening address. He has also agreed to serve as Honorary Patron of the Congress, which is expected to bring more than 3,500 pro-family leaders, scholars, parliamentarians, and NGOs.

Carlson expressed his delight with Kaczynski’s involvement. “We are honored to have President Kaczynski as the keynote speaker and Patron of the Congress,” Carlson declared. “His well-known commitment to the family is very much in keeping with the theme of World Congress of Families IV – Beyond Demographic Winter: The Natural Family And The Springtime for Nations.”

President Kaczynski has been critical of gay activism, recently noting that if the homosexual “approach to sexual life were to be promoted on a grand scale, the human race would disappear.”

Kaczynski has also expressed concern about falling birthrates across Europe and voiced strong support for religious values and the natural family.

For a list of the presenting speakers:

http://www.worldcongress.org/WCF4/wcf4.spkrs.htm

For more information and to register:

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The World Family Policy Center encourages you to attend, if at all possible.

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FEATURED SCHOLARS

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Patcharawalai Wongboonsin, Senior Researcher, Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Kua Wongboonsin, Professor of Demography, College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Modern Populations Trends and the Family

Introduction

There are three major challenges associated with modern population trends: First, they take pace in increasingly complex societies. Second, they are in transition from a demographic population dividend to a demographic deficit. Third, modern population trends are related to changes in the family.

The term “demographic dividend” refers to a feature of societal age structure whereby the working-age population tends to grow more rapidly than the overall population as fertility begins to decline. It normally occurs only once in the middle phase of the demographic transition and lasts for just a few decades. The rising proportion of the population at labor-force ages relative to the population at dependent ages is considered a window of opportunity to accrue economic benefits both to the society and to each individual population segment (Mason, 2002) And increase in the dependency ration signals the fading away of the opportunity to capitalize on the demographic conditions for a demographic dividend. During such periods, due to low fertility and stable mortality, there is an increasing proportion of the population who are elderly (Wongboonsin & Guest, 2005). When extreme, this situation, which places heavy burdens on society, on the family, and on individual population segments, is called a “demographic onus” (Ogawa, Kondo, & Matsukura, 2004).

This study maintains that demographic transition alone does not automatically result in a demographic dividend. If a state is not equipped with appropriate policies and supporting institutions, it may face a burden rather than a dividend, or it may lose the chance to maximize the benefits of a demographic dividend in time to provide resources for the future.

(This chapter can be found in the book The Family in the New Millennium, Volume 1, p. 153, Praeger Perspectives. Westport, Connecticut, and London, 2007)

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FEATURED NEWS ARTICLES

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1. Federal partial birth abortion ban upheld by Supreme Court

Columbus Telegram

Associated Press

April 18, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court upheld the nationwide ban on a controversial abortion procedure Wednesday, handing abortion opponents the long-awaited victory they expected from a more conservative bench.

The 5-4 ruling said the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act that Congress passed and President Bush signed into law in 2003 does not violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.

The opponents of the act “have not demonstrated that the Act would be unconstitutional in a large fraction of relevant cases,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion.

The administration defended the law as drawing a bright line between abortion and infanticide.

The abortion ban was challenged by Bellevue, Neb., abortion doctor LeRoy Carhart, who testified before the Supreme Court in November.

“The only way women come close to achieving equality is if they can control their fertility,” the 65-year-old Carhart said in a December interview. “Abortion rights for men have been available since the beginning of time. When they're unhappy with a pregnancy, they walk away; it doesn't matter whether it's the day after conception or when the child is 10 years old.”

In 2000, the high court ruled for Carhart in striking down a similar Nebraska law because it lacked an exception to preserve a woman's health and encompassed a more common abortion method.

Carhart did not immediately return calls Wednesday from The Associated Press.

The decision pitted the court's conservatives against its liberals, with President Bush's two appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, siding with the majority.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia also were in the majority.

It was the first time the court banned a specific procedure in a case over how - not whether - to perform an abortion.

Abortion rights groups as well as the leading association of obstetricians and gynecologists have said the procedure sometimes is the safest for a woman. They also said that such a ruling could threaten most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, although government lawyers and others who favor the ban said there are alternate, more widely used procedures that remain legal.

The outcome is likely to spur efforts at the state level to place more restrictions on abortions.

“I applaud the Court for its ruling today, and my hope is that it sets the stage for further progress in the fight to ensure our nation's laws respect the sanctity of unborn human life,” said Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, Republican leader in the House of Representatives.

To read entire report:

http://www.columbustelegram.com/articles/2007/04/18/news/news3abortion.txt

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2. Ex-Gays, African-Americans Unite Against 'Thought Crimes' Bill

by Wendy Cloyd, assistant editor

Sexual orientation is not the same as race.

African-American leaders will join Exodus International on Tuesday for a news conference in opposition to hate-crimes legislation in the U.S. House. If passed, the bill would add federal penalties for crimes involving sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was introduced last Thursday.

Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International – a ministry to people dealing with unwanted same-sex attraction – called the legislation “irrational ‘victim ranking.’ ”

“H.R. 1592 would make a new protected class based on sexual behavior equal with race, color, religion and national origin – a premise civil-rights leaders find untenable,” he said.

The law already provides protection under the law, Chambers added.

"Thought crimes laws establish an unjust system where victims are treated differently based on the 'actual or perceived' class or group with which they identify," he said. "Such laws do not equally protect citizens."

To read entire article:

http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004382.cfm

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COMING EVENTS

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EIGHTH WORLD FAMILY POLICY FORUM

July 9 - 11, 2007

Provo, Utah

Sponsored by the World Family Policy Center, Brigham Young University. The

theme for this year's Forum is "Achieving Development Without Losing Our Families." Participation and attendance at the Forum is by invitation only. For further information, contact Sarah Stewart 801-422-5192.

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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.

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Newsletter created and distributed by:

World Family Policy Center (www.worldfamilypolicy.org)

J. Reuben Clark Law School

Brigham Young University

Acting Managing Director: A. Scott Loveless

Newsletter Editors: Joy S. Lundberg and Gary B. Lundberg

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circulated through the WFPC News network, you may submit them to

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