World Family Policy Center Newsletter
*News relative to protecting the family worldwide*
Volume 7 Issue 158 - August 22, 2007
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Quote of the
Day:
"Real freedom is the ability to pause between a stimulus and
response and in that pause choose."
—Rollo
May
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Today’s Contents:
A. Featured Scholar: Paul T. Mero
B. Featured News Articles
1. Poll: Family ties key
to youth happiness
2. Why Civil Unions Hurt
Marriage
3. Planned Parenthood
Sues to Strike Down Missouri Abortion Law
Related Article: The girl of 18 who has had
SIX abortions
Related Article: Teenage abortions sweeping across Wales
Related Article: Abortionists Seek to Avoid
Ban by Killing Baby First
4. Group: Parents Are Not
Talking Enough about the Dangers of Drugs
C. Coming Events
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FEATURED SCHOLAR: Paul
T. Mero, president of the Sutherland Institute, a conservative public policy
think tank in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mr.
Mero is the co-author of The Natural Family: A Manifesto, published by
Spence Publishing. He presented a version of the following essay at the World
Congress of Families IV, held in Warsaw, Poland, May 11-13, 2007
The Physics of the Natural Family: Why Families Don’t
Fall Down
By Paul T. Mero, from The Family in America, a publication of The
Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society
Excerpts from the essay:
. . . [W]hen families fail, and society is left to pick up the pieces
and clear the rubble, we don’t often analyze what has happened by applying
scientific reasoning to the structures of the failed families. Nor do we often apply such scientific logic
when analyzing the success of other families.
. . . Ideology is defenseless against truth, and the ideologies denying
the strength and durability of the natural family structure are as delusional
and arrogant as the Babylonian effort to build a tower to heaven.
. . . The natural family structure is highly elastic. Single-parent homes are not very
elastic. That is, the natural family
structure can bear tremendous loads of force by bending, but not breaking. A single-parent family structure is not
equipped for the heavy loads of force life will impose upon it.
. . . In the culture of
individualism, we see a narcissism that is as destructive to humans as disuse
is to non-human elastic structures. If a
person is not striving to create a natural family structure, that person may
well become self-destructive.
To read the entire essay:
http://www.profam.org/pub/fia/fia.2105.htm
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FEATURED NEWS ARTICLES
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1. Poll:
Family ties key to youth happiness
By Jocelyn Noveck and Trevor
Tompson, Associated Press, Aug 19, 2007
NEW
YORK - So you're between the ages of 13 and 24. What makes you happy? A
worried, weary parent might imagine the answer to sound something like this:
Sex, drugs, a little rock 'n' roll. Maybe some cash, or at least the car keys.
Turns out the real answer is
quite different. Spending time with family was the top answer to that
open-ended question, according to an extensive survey — more than 100 questions
asked of 1,280 people ages 13-24 — conducted by The Associated Press and MTV on
the nature of happiness among America's young people.
Next
was spending time with friends, followed by time with a significant other. And
even better for parents: Nearly three-quarters of young people say their
relationship with their parents makes them happy.
"They're
my foundation," says Kristiana St. John, 17, a high-school student from
Queens in New York. "My mom tells me that even if I do something stupid,
she's still going to love me no matter what. Just knowing that makes me feel
very happy and blessed."
. .
. And sex? Yes, we were getting to that. Being sexually active actually leads
to less happiness among 13-17 year olds, according to the survey. If you're 18
to 24, sex might lead to more happiness in the moment, but not in general.
From
the body to the soul: Close to half say religion and spirituality are very
important. And more than half say they believe there is a higher power that has
an influence over things that make them happy. Beyond religion, simply
belonging to an organized religious group makes people happier.
And
parents, here's some more for you: Most young people in school say it makes
them happy. Overwhelmingly, young people think marriage would make them happy
and want to be married some day. Most also want to have kids.
To read entire article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070819/ap_on_re_us/youth_poll_happiness
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2. Why Civil
Unions Hurt Marriage
By RoseMarie Briggs, Family
Leader, August 17, 2007
On August 9, 2007, an
historic event happened in the United States. This event was not a medical
breakthrough or the discovery of a new planet. The event was an historic marker
for how fast America is falling away from the core belief and social science
proof that homes headed by a mother and a father are good for adults, good for
children and good for society as a whole.
On August 9th nearly all of
the Democratic presidential candidates, including the three front runners,
publicly declared their support for same-sex marriage or its legal equivalent,
civil unions, in a forum sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, HRC, the
nation's largest gay advocacy group and by Logo, the gay-oriented cable
channel. Logo provided a live telecast of the event to its 27 million homes and
an internet simulcast.
While two of the underdog
candidates, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel,
publicly endorse national recognition for same-sex marriage, Sen. Hillary
Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, former Sen. John Edwards and Gov. Bill Richardson
all support civil unions.
Likewise HRC offered all the
Republican presidential candidates the same forum, but all have declined. Among
the Republican candidates, former New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani has shown the
most support for legal recognition of same-sex relationships. In 1998 he signed
into law a domestic partnership bill for New York City.
What is the Difference
between Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships?
Depending on how the
legislation is written the answer can be nothing except the name. Currently
Oregon (2007), New Hampshire (2007), New Jersey (2006), Connecticut (2005),
California (2000) and Vermont (2000) have laws which are the legal equivalent
of marriage. These laws provide same-sex couples the same benefits and
obligations as marriage.
New Hampshire, New Jersey,
Connecticut and Vermont use the term "civil unions," whereas
California and Oregon use the term "domestic partnership." Both New
Hampshire's civil union law and Oregon's domestic partnership law will take
affect in 2008.
In general, civil unions are
the legal equivalent of marriage for same-sex couples only. The term domestic
partnership is more commonly used for a range of marriage-like benefits to a
broader class of people. Washington (2007), New Jersey (2004), Maine (1999) and
the District of Columbia (1992/2002) have established domestic partnership laws
that follow this definition.
To read entire article:
http://www.ldsmag.com/familyleadernetwork/070817marriage.html
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3. Planned
Parenthood Sues to Strike Down Missouri Abortion Law
FOXNews,
Monday, August 20, 2007
Jefferson City, Mo.Planned
Parenthood filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to strike down a new Missouri law
that it claims could eliminate abortion services in large parts of the state by
subjecting clinics to stringent state oversight.
The
federal lawsuit contends that the law, which takes effect Aug. 28, would
infringe on Error!
Hyperlink reference not valid., and asks a judge for an injunction
blocking it.
If
the law takes effect, Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri claims it
will be forced to halt abortions at its Columbia and Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
offices — either permanently or while costly and "medically unnecessary"
renovations are made.
That
would leave the St. Louis area as the only place in Missouri with functioning
abortion facilities, the lawsuit said, although Planned Parenthood also
operates an abortion clinic just across the state line in Error! Hyperlink reference
not valid..
"This
onerous legislation has nothing to do with protecting women's health and
safety," said Peter Brownlie, chief executive officer of the Planned
Parenthood branch. "This is a blatant attempt to close down clinics and
deny women their right to Error!
Hyperlink reference not valid.."
Missouri's
anti-abortion majority in the Legislature contends the law is necessary to
ensure the health and safety of women seeking abortions.
To read entire article:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293839,00.html
Related
Article: The girl of 18 who has had SIX abortions
By
Daniel Martin, Daily Mail UK, 14 August 2007
As many as one in 22 teenage
girls in some parts of the country had an abortion last year, according to
official figures.
In total, a record 18,619
under-18s had terminations - despite a multimillion-pound Government campaign
to bring down the numbers.
One 18-year-old had her sixth
abortion in 2006. Another 135 girls under 14 terminated their pregnancies.
The statistics - released by
the Department of Health after a freedom of information request - show the
number of teenage abortions has increased by more than 2,500 each year since
Labour came to power.
Critics say they prove the
Government's strategy, which focuses on sex education and easy access to
morning-after pills, is failing.
To
read entire article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=473398&in_page_id=1774
Related Article: Teenage
abortions sweeping across Wales
ICWales,
August 16, 2007
Despite
a government scheme to cut unplanned pregnancies by giving morning-after pills
to youngsters, a record 1,004 girls under 18 had terminations in Wales last
year.
According to new figures
released to Wales on Sunday by the Department of Health, more 15 to
17-year-olds than ever before are getting rid of their unwanted babies, with
1,004 girls opting for terminations in 2006 compared to 894 in 2005 – that’s a
rise of 12 per cent.
And the study also shows how
abortion isn’t necessarily a one-off, desperate measure for many teenagers. The
number of under-18s in Wales and England having a second abortion rose to 1,341
in 2006.
According to the Department of
Health study, Torfaen is the abortion capital of Wales.
The
average rate for abortions across the Principality stood at 17 per 1,000 15 to 17-year-old
girls in 2006. But the teenage abortion rate in Torfaen rose to 24 per 1,000
girls last year, compared to 19 per 1,000 in 2005.
The
rate dwarfs the abortion rate in Swansea, which saw 14 girls per 1,000 book
termination appointments in 2006.
Torfaen’s abortion rate for
last year was also higher than Cardiff where 17 girls in every 1,000 had
terminations.
Last night, anti-abortion
campaigners spoke of their dismay at the figures.
A spokesman for the Pro Life
Alliance said: “These abortion figures are not only a tragedy for the unborn
humans who are destroyed, but have devastating effects on the young women who
are having the abortions.
“When will the Department of
Health get its head around the reality of what is happening to our young
people?”
To
read entire article:
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_method=full%26objectid=19612006%26siteid=50082-name_page.html
Related Article: Abortionists Seek to Avoid Ban by Killing Baby
First
CitizenLink,
August 14, 2007
'Abortionists
have basically moved the death of the baby by just a few inches and a few
minutes.'
To
steer clear of the federal partial-birth abortion ban, abortionists are
injecting preborn babies with a lethal drug dose before aborting them,
according to The Boston Globe.
The
National Abortion Federation is training doctors to inject potassium chloride
into a preborn baby’s heart. Since the procedure kills the baby while in the
mother’s womb, abortionists argue they cannot be prosecuted under the ban.
Dr.
Gene Rudd with the Christian Medical Association called it an appalling
situation.
“In
an effort to technically circumvent the partial-birth abortion ban," he
told Family News in Focus, "abortionists have basically moved the death of
the baby by just a few inches and a few minutes.”
He
also points out that if potassium chloride gets into the mother’s system, it
could place her health at risk.
To
read entire article:
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000005270.cfm
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4. Group: Parents Are Not Talking Enough about the Dangers of
Drugs
FOXNews,
August 07, 2007
Parents
are not spending enough time talking to their children about drug use, especially
the abuse of prescription and over-the-counter medicines, according to a survey
released Tuesday.
The
annual survey by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America found that 49 percent
of parents of youngsters in grades 7 through 12 reported having frequent
discussions with their children about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse in
2006, defined as four or more in the year. That was a decline from the 55
percent who reported having had such conversations in 2005.
Last
year's survey by the partnership, a nonprofit organization that formed in 1987
to combat drug abuse, found that one in five teens had abused prescription
drugs to get high and one in 10 had abused cough and cold medicines containing
the active ingredient dextromethorphan, or DXM.
According
to this year's survey, 54 percent of parents reported thoroughly discussing the
use of drugs like heroin, cocaine and crack with their kids, but just 36
percent said they had had such conversations about abuse of prescription drugs.
For over-the-counter cough and cold remedies the figure was 33 percent.
"The
results from this year's survey reveal a critical need to better support,
educate, empower and truly help parents feel more prepared and comfortable
discussing the current drug issues this generation is facing," said Steve
Pasierb, president and CEO of the partnership.
To
read entire article:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292423,00.html
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COMING EVENTS
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NINTH WORLD
FAMILY POLICY FORUM
July 7 - 9, 2008
Provo, Utah
Sponsored by the World Family Policy Center, Brigham Young
University. 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
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
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