News, 4 May 2000
Cardinal John O'Connor, Archbishop of New York and prominent pro-life
campaigner, died yesterday aged 80. He has been fighting brain cancer
but his health took a dramatic turn for the worse this week. As
archbishop he headed the influential bishops' Committee on Pro-Life
Activities, participated in marches against abortion and recommended
excommunication for Catholic politicians, such as New York Governor
Mario Cuomo, who supported abortion. However, the cardinal always
opposed any kind of violence and said in 1995, "If anyone has an urge
to kill anybody at an abortion clinic, he should kill me instead." [CNN
and Associated Press (from Pro-Life Infonet), 4th May]
The number of legal abortions in Croatia since the end of communism
have plummeted. In 1987 the total was 48,608, but the number has fallen
steadily each year since then and in 1998 the figure was only 8,907.
The official government statistics also indicate considerable regional
variations. In 1998, the region of Split had only 30 abortions compared
with 5,592 births, but in the region of Rijeka there were 1,241
abortions compared with only 3,032 births. Marijo Zivkovic, director of
the Obiteljski (family) Centre in Zagreb, credits this success to
concerted efforts over a number of years to distribute pro-life
information literature, the clarity and consistency of the Catholic
hierarchy in addressing the issue of the unborn, and the visits of Pope
John Paul II in 1994 and 1998. [Obiteljski Centar, 22nd March]
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