World Family Policy Center Newsletter

*News relative to protecting the family worldwide*

Volume 8 Issue 198 – September 29, 2008

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Quote of the Day: "Families are the compass that guides us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter."

~ Brad Henry

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Today’s Contents:

A. Featured Scholar: David Blankenhorn

B. Featured News Articles

1. 'Bride' and 'Groom' Bumped from California Marriage Certificates

2. Tooth Stem Cells Give Brain Surgery Hopes

3. Google India Runs Ad for Illegal Baby Sex Test Kit

4. Royal Mail Plans to Honor Marie Stopes

5. Victorian Parliament Rejects Euthanasia Bill

6. Abstinence at Harvard: Nothing More Natural

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FEATURED SCHOLAR

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David Blankenhorn

President of the New York-based Institute for American Values and the author of "The Future of Marriage."

Protecting marriage to protect children: Opinion

LA Times

September 19, 2008

…Many seem to believe that marriage is simply a private love relationship between two people. They accept this view, in part, because Americans have increasingly emphasized and come to value the intimate, emotional side of marriage, and in part because almost all opinion leaders today, from journalists to judges, strongly embrace this position. That's certainly the idea that underpinned the California Supreme Court's legalization of same-sex marriage.

But I spent a year studying the history and anthropology of marriage, and I've come to a different conclusion.

Marriage as a human institution is constantly evolving, and many of its features vary across groups and cultures. But there is one constant. In all societies, marriage shapes the rights and obligations of parenthood. Among us humans, the scholars report, marriage is not primarily a license to have sex. Nor is it primarily a license to receive benefits or social recognition. It is primarily a license to have children.

In this sense, marriage is a gift that society bestows on its next generation. Marriage (and only marriage) unites the three core dimensions of parenthood -- biological, social and legal -- into one pro-child form: the married couple. Marriage says to a child: The man and the woman whose sexual union made you will also be there to love and raise you. Marriage says to society as a whole: For every child born, there is a recognized mother and a father, accountable to the child and to each other.

These days, because of the gay marriage debate, one can be sent to bed without supper for saying such things. But until very recently, almost no one denied this core fact about marriage. Summing up the cross-cultural evidence, the anthropologist Helen Fisher in 1992 put it simply: "People wed primarily to reproduce." The philosopher and Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell, certainly no friend of conventional sexual morality, was only repeating the obvious a few decades earlier when he concluded that "it is through children alone that sexual relations become important to society, and worthy to be taken cognizance of by a legal institution."

Marriage is society's most pro-child institution. In 2002 -- just moments before it became highly unfashionable to say so -- a team of researchers from Child Trends, a nonpartisan research center, reported that "family structure clearly matters for children, and the family structure that helps children the most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage."

All our scholarly instruments seem to agree: For healthy development, what a child needs more than anything else is the mother and father who together made the child, who love the child and love each other.

For these reasons, children have the right, insofar as society can make it possible, to know and to be cared for by the two parents who brought them into this world. The foundational human rights document in the world today regarding children, the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifically guarantees children this right. The last time I checked, liberals like me were supposed to be in favor of internationally recognized human rights, particularly concerning children, who are typically society's most voiceless and vulnerable group. Or have I now said something I shouldn't?

Every child being raised by gay or lesbian couples will be denied his birthright to both parents who made him. Every single one. Moreover, losing that right will not be a consequence of something that at least most of us view as tragic, such as a marriage that didn't last, or an unexpected pregnancy where the father-to-be has no intention of sticking around. On the contrary, in the case of same-sex marriage and the children of those unions, it will be explained to everyone, including the children, that something wonderful has happened!

To read the entire article, visit http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-blankenhorn19-2008sep19,0,2093869.story

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FEATURED NEWS ARTICLES

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Editor’s Note: The following excerpts are taken from the week’s news around the world all relating to family and family policy. By clicking on the following links, you may read the entire article from its source. Our intent is to help our readers remain current on the state of the family in the world today. The positions taken and choice of wording and advocacy belong to the authors of the articles; inclusion here does not imply endorsement by the World Family Policy Center.

1. 'Bride' and 'Groom' Bumped from California Marriage Certificates

CitizenLink

September 9, 2008

In California, the bride and groom have been replaced by "Party A" and "Party B."

A marriage license for a man and woman was denied last week after they wrote "groom" and "bride" next to "Party A" and "Party B." The State Office of Vital Records said the handwritten words were an "unacceptable alteration."

In May, the Supreme Court of California legalized same-sex "marriage." In November, Californians will vote on Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union between one man and one woman.

"Unless Proposition 8 is passed, heterosexual couples will be forced to wed out of the state if they wish to be officially identified as bride and groom or husband and wife," said Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute. "This is a major slap in the face for traditional marriage."

To view the entire article, visit http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000008129.cfm

McDonald's Sends Employees to Homosexuality Conference

CitizenLink

September 9, 2008

McDonald's sent 56 of its employees to San Diego earlier this year to attend a conference on promoting homosexuality within the company.

The Pioneer Summit, created and organized by McDonald's, addressed topics such as how to protect employees' "gender identity and expression" and how to handle "transitions" among employees.

McDonald's also recently paid $20,000 to become a member of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. Its vice president of communications was appointed to the chamber's board of directors in April.

“McDonald’s built its business by catering to families with Happy Meals and children’s play areas," said Jeff Johnston, gender issues analyst for Focus on the Family. "Now they are supporting a radical social agenda that seeks to deconstruct gender and promote homosexuality as a healthy expression of human sexuality.”

The fast-food giant poured $15,000 into this week's Out & Equal Workplace Summit, and also supported this year’s gay-pride parade in San Francisco.

To view the entire article, visit http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000008128.cfm

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2. Tooth Stem Cells Give Brain Surgery Hopes

ABC.net (Australia)

September 16, 2008

University of Adelaide researchers say they are close to repairing stroke-damaged brains using stem cells taken from teeth.

The research is being done at the university's Centre for Stem Cell Research, which has been officially launched at a function in Adelaide.

Project coordinator Dr Simon Koblar says the research involves dental pulp stem cells.

"So we've actually taken them from young people that have impacted molars in their mouth and we remove the tooth and you can break it open and inside the tooth are some stem cells, so you can grow them in a test tube," he explained.

The procedure has been tested on rats and, if all goes to plan, there may be human trials in the next five years.

To view the entire article, visit http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/16/2366306.htm

Leading Embryonic Stem Cell Researcher Shifts Focus to Ethical Alternatives

LifeNews.com

September 23, 2008

Madison, WI -- Wisconsin scientist James Thomson is considered the father of embryonic stem cell research for isolating the first embryonic stem cell in 1998. Now comes the news that Thomson's two research companies are merging and planning to focus their energies on stem cells that don't involve the destruction of human life.

Thomson's team made headlines last year when he and a separate group of researchers from Japan were able to reprogram adult stem cells into an embryonic-like state.

The work with the induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, has been so exciting within the scientific community that some researchers suggest the use of embryonic stem cells, which have never helped human patients, may become obsolete.

Thomson still says he thinks embryonic stem cell research is needed until the new iPS cells are perfected.

"I personally believe that the future is in the (adult skin) cells," said Thomson, speaking during a press conference on Tuesday. "But the future is not here yet."

Thomson says his merged company is "moving rapidly" towards marketing the reprogrammed cells for use in other experiments and, one day, helping patients.

Wesley J. Smith, a leading bioethics author and attorney, said he was excited by the news that Thomson is moving in a more ethical and effective direction.

To view the entire article, visit http://lifenews.com/bio2581.html

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3. Google India Runs Ad for Illegal Baby Sex Test Kit

FOXNews

September 11, 2008

But in India, where the practice of aborting female fetuses is widespread, such advertisements for prenatal gender selection kits are neither innocuous nor legal.

Last month, activist Sabu George filed a petition against the Indian subsidiaries of Google, Microsoft and Yahoo with the nation's highest court, asking the companies to pull gender selection advertisements from their Indian search engines. On Aug. 13, the Supreme Court asked the companies to respond to the petition.

The response is yet to come, but the day after the court's order, the offending ads vanished from the Web, George said. On Thursday, however, they began to reappear on Google.

The company is, George said, "breaking the law and making money. Every time you click on that ad, Google is making money."

If you typed in the words "sex" and "selection" on Google India on Thursday, up popped a sponsored link to Urobiologics LLC, a U.S. company that sells urine test kits for $275 to $400 that it says can determine the sex of an unborn baby with 98 percent accuracy.

Dr. Kuldeep Wirma, the founder and president of the company, said by phone from the company's Livonia, Michigan, headquarters that Urobiologics cannot ship kits directly to India, but that a kit could be delivered to a U.S. address, and from there mailed to India. Samples mailed from India can be processed in 15 days, he said.

To view the entire article, visit http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Sep11/0,4670,IndiaSexSelection,00.html

Top United Nations Official Wants More World Population Control Programs

LifeNews.com

September 18, 2008

New York, NY -- Despite the fact that underpopulation plagues much of Europe, Russia, Japan and elsewhere, a leading United Nations official is clamoring for more population control programs. At United Nations headquarters last week, the director of the UNFPA made the announcement.

UN Population Fund executive director Thoraya Obaid called for more funding for population programs, including reducing fertility, by promoting “reproductive health services."

Susan Yoshihara, of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, a pro-life group that monitors international issues, noted the announcement in the group's Friday Fax.

Obaid began her remarks by commemorating the 40th anniversary of Paul Erlich's book, The Population Bomb, which alarmed readers about the supposed threat of “overpopulation” and justified the establishment of UNFPA.

According to Yoshihara, "While she admitted the book’s prediction of 'massive starvation on a large scale has not come to pass,' she nonetheless called for renewed commitment to boilerplate population control policies.

Obaid called for new programs promoting smaller families, warning nations that world population had grown from 3.5 billion to 6.7 billion since 1968.

Obaid said there is a causal relationship between fertility decline and economic development, but this claim has been seriously challenged by the emerging evidence.

To view the entire article, visit http://lifenews.com/int927.html

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4. Royal Mail Plans to Honor Marie Stopes

The Christian Institute (United Kingdom)

September 12, 2008

Eugenics advocate and heroine of pro-abortion campaigners Marie Stopes is to be included in Royal Mail’s new stamp series depicting Women of Distinction.

Stopes opened Britain’s first birth control clinic in 1921. Each year in Britain, 60,000 pregnancies are terminated in her name by Marie Stopes International, a leading abortion provider, according to newspaper reports.

Royal Mail said that the women for the series had been chosen by a group of female academics and historians “asked for their views of the women they believed had a big impact on other women’s lives over the past 100 years.”

However, the inclusion of Stopes has provoked criticism from pro-life groups and others who point to her eugenicist views.

Chaplain to the Stock Exchange Peter Mullen, who is Rector of St Michael’s in the City of London, said: “She campaigned to have the poor, the sick and people of mixed race sterilised.”

He added: “The managers of the Royal Mail deserve to be condemned for their honouring Marie Stopes.”

To view the entire article, visit http://www.christian.org.uk/news/20080912/royal-mail-plans-to-honour-marie-stopes/

Psychologists: APA Deceptive on How Abortion Adversely Affects Women, Men

LifeNews.com

September 9, 2008

Chicago, IL -- Two prominent psychologists are participating in the second national conference on the kind of profound grief and regret men can experience after their involvement in an abortion decision. They said the American Psychological Association missed the boat in a recent report on abortion's negative effects.

Psychologist Dr. Vincent Rue is one of the featured speakers.

He has been a practicing psychotherapist for more than 30 years and is an academic who formerly served on the faculty at California State University at Los Angeles and San Diego International University.

In comments sent to LifeNews.com, he told the post-abortion conference how the American Psychological Association has misled the public on problems resulting from abortions.

"Despite the fact that – less than a month ago – the APA pronounced that abortion is psychologically safe for women we are in the midst of a conference in which men are recounting their grief over abortion," he said.

"The APA has missed the boat and has misguided the American public," Rue added. "It is out of touch with reality and the pain and suffering of these very real people."

Rue pointed out that the APA position is at odds with a statement by the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Britain released earlier this year. The British group warned that the issue "remains to be fully resolved," that additional study was needed and that women should have access to counseling about possible consequences.

The Royal College concluded that "good practice in relation to abortion will include informed consent. Consent cannot be informed without the provision of adequate and appropriate information regarding the possible risks and benefits to physical and mental health."

To view the entire article, visit http://www.lifenews.com/nat4289.html

Italian Doctors Take a Stand for Life

CitizenLink

September 8, 2008

Italian health officials have defied a court order by refusing to take a comatose patient off of life support.

For nine years, Eluana Englaro's father has tried to end her life. Two months ago, a court took his side. But health officials say it would go against their "professional duties and obligations" to let the 35-year-old woman die.

"It's encouraging — and refreshing — to see physicians take their oath to protect life so seriously that they are willing to go against a court order," said Carrie Gordon Earll, senior bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "Hopefully, doctors in other countries will be emboldened by this move and take similar steps."

To view the entire article, visit http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000008121.cfm

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5. Victorian Parliament Rejects Euthanasia Bill

ABC.net (Australia)

September 10, 2008

The Victorian Parliament has rejected a bill that would have permitted euthanasia for terminally ill patients.

The bill introduced by Greens MP Colleen Hartland was voted down 25 to 13 in a conscience vote in the Upper House.

The Physician Assisted Dying Bill would have allowed terminally ill patients to end their lives with the help of a doctor.

The rejected bill has been sent to an Upper House committee for further consideration.

Ms Hartland says the bill's rejection is a missed opportunity.

"Look, I'm very disappointed, but the people I'm actually more disappointed for are the ones who have rung my office and have urged me on in this and the people in absolutely shocking circumstances, they're the ones I really feel for," she said.

To view the entire article, visit http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/10/2361064.htm

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6. Abstinence at Harvard: Nothing More Natural

The Christian Post

April 22, 2008

Next to freshman biology class, there is nothing more universal on college campuses than the “hookup scene.” It is simply expected that students from state schools to the Ivy League will experiment with premarital sex. In the words of one Harvard student recently quoted in the New York Times: “For me, being a strong woman means not being ashamed that I like to have sex.”

Well, surprisingly there are growing numbers of students who have a much different definition of what it means to be a strong woman (or man). It means not being ashamed to say that they would like to have sex, but choose not to.

A relatively new student group at Harvard called True Love Revolution has urged college freshmen to resist the hookup culture by passing out flyers that read: “Why wait? Because you’re worth it.”

But what really makes this group stand out is not simply their catchy slogan, but their reason for choosing abstinence. Although many of the members of True Love Revolution claim a faith in God, their primary goal is to show their fellow students that choosing purity makes sense even without relying on religious convictions. Abstinence, they say, is the most rational choice.

For one thing, abstinence (or better yet, chastity, which embraces the idea of purity even beyond abstaining from sex) makes sense philosophically. Members of the group point to thinkers like Catholic philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe and Princeton professor Robert George—both of whom have challenged popular notions of sex on the basis that promiscuity compromises human dignity.

Janie Fredell, co-president of True Love Revolution, also says that purity is nothing if not feminist. She points out that the forerunners of the feminist movement valued a woman’s right to have sex with whomever she wanted whenever she wanted. But that is allowing yourself to be used by men. Fredell thinks that it is far more dignifying for a woman to have control over her own body than to give in to exploitive demands by men. She is right.

Most important, the group, like any good Ivy League club, appeals to science to defend abstinence. On the True Love Revolution website, they make a big deal about a human hormone called oxytocin. This hormone, which is released during intercourse, birth, and breast-feeding, creates a deep psychological and physiological bond between people.

To view the entire article, visit http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080422/abstinence-at-harvard.htm