Pro-Life Times: January 2001

Hague opposes sales of morning-after pill

by Paul Burnell

William Hague has called on the government not to let pharmacists throughout Britain sell abortion-inducing morning-after pills without a prescription. The leader of the opposition has tabled a motion which is also signed by Tory health spokesmen and the opposition chief whip. The motion opposes a government order which was tabled before Christmas.

"We are greatly encouraged by the strong stand taken by such leading political figures--as well as some Labour MPs-against the government's promotion of prescription-free morning-after pills which represent a particular danger to young girls", said John Smeaton, national director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children.

"Making pharmacists, instead of GPs, responsible for providing morning-after pills will increase the risk of misuse and harm to women," he continued. "Pharmacists cannot check patients' medical records to see whether they are in a high-risk group for taking the morning-after pill. Moreover, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to ensure that morning-after pills do not get into the hands of girls aged under 16--a concern which has been widely expressed by leading figures in the mass media.

"The British government is making an unprecedented attack on the sanctity of human life in the first few days after conception. The morning-after pill can cause abortions by making the womb a hostile place for the recently-conceived embryo."

John Smeaton also condemned a government measure to allow experiments on cloned human embryos. The move was strongly backed by Tony Blair but opposed by 76 Labour MPs. The measure was passed by the House of Commons last month by 366 votes to 174. Mr Smeaton said: "With the morning-after pill and human cloning we are witnessing a modern massacre of the innocents. Destructive research on cloned human embryos is totally contrary to any concept of fundamental human rights and has been repeatedly condemned by the European parliament. It involves the deliberate creation and destruction of individual human beings through cloning, thereby demeaning the value of human life and undermining the basis of civilised society."

Wake up call for pro-life doctors

"For many years now, it has been virtually impossible for anyone openly holding the view that abortion is wrong to pursue a career in gynaecology and/or fertility treatment. In my speciality of anaesthetics, there can be similar problems," said Dr Paul Shannon, a consultant anaesthetist at Doncaster Royal Infirmary, in a letter published in the widely-read Hospital Doctor magazine.

"I suspect many doctors who would make brilliant gynaecologists or obstetricians or infertility experts are giving up their preferred career because of these issues." Dr Shannon went public with his views to urge colleagues to take a stand against abortion.

Courage of his convictions: doctor who said 'no' to abortion

by Antonia Tully

Everett Julyan, a trainee GP in Scotland, made headlines recently when he accused the National Health Service of discriminating against him because of his views on abortion. Dr Julyan told his story to the Pro-Life Times.

On a Tuesday afternoon in March of last year, Dr Everett Julyan, 26, walked confidently into the building at North Glasgow Hospital Trust where he was to be interviewed for a place on the GP vocational training scheme. As the swing door closed behind him, he bumped into a friend who had just come from her interview for the same scheme. She warned Dr Julyan that she had been very surprised to be asked about her views on abortion and that he might be questioned about this too. Dr Julyan recalls that the main part of his interview went well. As things came to an end, the chairman of the panel asked, as if as an afterthought, whether he would be willing to 'clerk' patients in for an abortion, taking their temperature, blood pressure and so on. Even after his friend's brief warning, Dr Julyan was completely taken aback by this question. His answer to the panel was "no", even though it flashed through his mind that this answer would probably mean rejection from the training scheme.

He was right. The next day he was telephoned by one of the interviewers to say that, although the panel were very pleased with him, they could not give him a place on the GP training scheme because of his unwillingness to deal with abortion patients. "I was devastated," says Dr Julyan. "I'd been working towards this for two years. I panicked because this was one of the last training posts to be advertised and rejection here meant I could easily be out of a job by July. I phoned my wife at home and she was even more upset than I was. I felt as though all my plans had been blown out of the water.

"I started to talk to my colleagues to try and find out why we were being questioned about abortion. What I discovered was that a particular consultant had insisted that only trainees prepared to look after abortion patients were to be accepted on the scheme because too many were refusing to do this and causing chaos in his unit," continued Dr Julyan.

Still shocked by what had happened, Dr Julyan turned the event over in his mind. "This really challenged me. I asked myself 'Do I really believe it's wrong to get women ready for an abortion operation?' My answer was still 'yes'. I'd give the same answer again at an interview. My pro-life views have been with me a long time. I was brought up in a Christian family, and I go to a bible-based Protestant church. I can't overlook the sixth commandment, which means we should not take innocent human life. Also to my mind, abortion is contrary to what medicine is all about.

"I believe doctors should only ever act in the best interests of their patients. Most women who come to their GPs asking for an abortion are frightened and troubled. Many GPs cannot cope with counselling them and refer them to a consultant who assumes their GP has spoken to them.

"Abortion means the death of a baby and possibly a lifetime of guilt and isolation for the woman. I can offer something far better than that. I can offer a woman front-line counselling and help to guide her to a more positive position. As a woman's GP, I might be the only person who says to her: 'You don't have to do this.' It could make all the difference, and help to save a baby's life."

Dr Julyan's gentle voice is full of concern and conviction as he talks about these issues. "If I'm going to be a good GP, I can't give a patient any treatment which I feel is not good for them. If I do, I'm not serving them properly and I'm compromising my conscience.

"I know there are a lot of young doctors who don't like participating in abortions. By law medical professionals have a right to opt out of abortion procedures as a matter of conscience. For many young doctors and nurses, keeping quiet is the only way forward. I know from experience that it's very difficult to get a job in gynaecology if you are not prepared to help with so-called termination services."

Dr Julyan's traumatic experience has a happy conclusion. On the Friday of the same week as his first interview, he was accepted on to the South Glasgow GP training scheme. South Glasgow Hospital Trust said it was inappropriate to question candidates about abortion.

"My advice to other young doctors who are opposed to abortion is that they should have the courage of their convictions and refuse to do things that they know to be wrong," concluded Dr Julyan. "We must support each other as best we can. It'll be a sad day when GPs who refuse to kill people cannot get jobs."

Comment: so many tiny human beings. So little time.

By Thomas J. Cardinal Winning, Archbishop of Glasgow

The catholic Church believes that human life is present and should be respected from the moment of conception.

The law of the UK, on the other hand, creates a totally arbitrary time limit of 14 days, and states that you can manipulate, experiment with and even kill human beings before this stage of development. Now a further refinement has been put to Parliament. MPs have been asked to allow the cloning of these tiny human embryos, creating replicas. The end is good--finding new treatments for disease--but the means is immoral. The tiny cloned human beings are killed before they come to birth.

We have had so little time to halt this descent into madness, to prevent the UK becoming the pariah state of Europe, defying the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.

The tragedy is that science does not need to follow this route. Adult stem cells, and cells from umbilical cords can be used for the same research as cloned embryos, and involve no ethical problems. It is a tragedy that parliament should have been asked to authorise the creation and destruction of thousands--perhaps millions--of lives to effect progress; a progress which could be just as effectively achieved without a single act of killing.

Report shows women receive hospital support after miscarriage: 'who cares for mothers after an abortion?' asks UK support group

Paul Burnell

A new study carried out by researchers at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, found that 90% of both fathers and mothers felt sad or very sad after experiencing a miscarriage.

The study, published in the British Journal of Medical Psychology last month, has heightened concern over the impact of induced abortions. British Victims of Abortion (BVA), a nationwide counselling network for women suffering from post-abortion trauma, has found that grief and guilt after abortion are often intense and frequently suppressed for months or years.

Margaret Cuthill, national co-ordinator of BVA, said: "We are not surprised at the figure of 90% of men and women feeling sad after a miscarriage, equating to about 225,000 such cases in the UK every year." By comparison, there were nearly 200,000 induced abortions registered in Britain in 1999.

"We can only guess at the number of men and women out there struggling silently with the secret feeling of loss and guilt due to abortion," commented Ms Cuthill. British Victims of Abortion was formed in 1987 to offer those dealing with the aftermath of abortion a way to recovery--to be at peace with their lost child and with themselves. Many of BVA's supporters and counsellors, including Margaret Cuthill, have been through abortions themselves.

While pointing out that, unlike miscarriage, abortion was deliberately, but not always freely, chosen, she said: "The choice of abortion is often made in panic and fear."

Contrary to what many people might expect, she argues that the pain of loss may be made more acute by the sense of personal responsibility for the baby's death.

News in brief

Washington

More than a 1,000 black Americans converged on the Lincoln Memorial in a protest against the racist targetting of minority communities by the US abortion industry. "The African-American community needs to be warned about the effect that abortion is having upon them--the racial targeting of minorities must stop," said the Rev Johnny Hunter, leader of the If You Love Babies Say So march. (Population Research Institute)

Shanghai

The RU-486 abortion drug to be sold in the USA is to be made in a factory that is a key part of the Chinese government's forced population control policy. The Hua Lian Pharmaceutical Plant, Shanghai, will make the drug for Danco Laboratories, the US patent holder. Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the US National Right to Life Committee, said: "The fact that the abortion pill will be imported from the People's Republic of China is both a public health issue and a human rights issue." (Pro-Life Infonet)

London

The director of the largest chain of abortion clinics in Britain has called for abortion to be accepted as an ordinary method of controlling fertility instead of being seen as a problem or a failure. Ann Furedi, director of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which performs about 50,000 abortions in Britain each year, told a conference on abortion law that policymakers should "stop using the abortion rate as the indicator of a problem" but "accept it as an essential method of family planning". (Daily Mail)

New York

Dr Nafis Sadik, the outgoing executive director of the UN Population Fund, has said that she has been very successful in changing policies around the globe in areas of reproductive health, population issues, and family planning through the promotion of abortion and birth control. (CWNews.com)

Nurse's concern about Holland's new law

The forthcoming change in the law on euthanasia in Holland will be a source of concern to nurses in this country, according to a lecturer in nursing who is forming a support group for nurses who are opposed to euthanasia.

Teresa Lynch, a lecturer in nursing at the Cromwell Hospital, London, told the Pro-Life Times: "Legalising euthanasia may place nurses in an impossible situation, if the withdrawal of food and fluid were to be considered part of treatment. Nurses have to be prepared to challenge any developments which undermine moral and professional integrity."

Interested nurses can contact Teresa Lynch RGN RNT on (020) 7341 9086

The power of prayer

by John Smeaton, national director, SPUC

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children is a human rights group and not a religious organisation. However, a large majority of our members believe in God and they believe in the power of prayer. We would be very foolish not to ask our members to pray, right now, for wisdom and strength as we face a massive government attack on human life in the first few days after conception. In every issue of the Pro-Life Times this coming year, I will include in my column a prayer in defence of human life from a religious leader in Britain or Northern Ireland.

British democracy is becoming a dictatorship of the majority in which early human embryos are a persecuted minority. They are under threat from abortion (through the morning-after pill) and from laboratory experiments on 'spare' IVF embryos and cloned human embryos. School-children are being targeted by order of the government for increased access to the abortion-inducing morning-after pill and to later abortion under the British Abortion Act.

Today I would ask for your help in two ways. Please write to me at the address below to join our campaign and help us to change the hearts of minds of our fellow-citizens. And please support the campaign in prayer with this prayer from Archbishop Vincent Nichols.

Contact me directly at Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, 5-6 St Matthew Street, London, SW1P 2JT, Tel: (020) 7222 5845 Fax: (020) 7222 0630, spucsmeaton@cwcom.net. Join us now!

God our Father, we pray for those who govern this country and for those who have responsibility for its laws. Give them the gifts of wisdom and compassion. Guide their minds to know and acknowledge the truth as the foundation of all compassion. Give us the courage to bear witness to the Gospel of life so that our society may enjoy the peace and stability for which we long. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Rt Rev Vincent Nichols, RC Archbishop of Birmingham

From the desk of Joanna Bogle

Good news from Cambridge

One of the best pieces of news I've had in ages was from Cambridge University where the students' union voted to disaffiliate from the National Abortion Campaign (NAC) with a massive 2 to 1 majority. It was the biggest referendum in the university's history. The Cambridge University pro-life team are terrific. They are mostly medical students (how encouraging!) and put in hours of effort late at night producing posters, creating a website and arranging debates. Of course they had no full-time paid staff (unlike the other side) and were hurtling around Cambridge on bicycles putting up posters and spending their own small funds on photocopying etc. This was a real battle of David and Goliath--and David won! Cambridge now joins a number of other universities across Britain which have broken links with the NAC, including East Anglia, York and Warwick.

Bad news from the Girl Guides

I owe a great deal to the Girl Guides, who gave me some of the best times during my teenage years camping and hiking, and a really positive inspiration for life. However, now they are sending out a different message. I was appalled to be sent extracts from their new handbook Look Wider which includes a horrible picture of a girl holding out a condom and advocates that Guides invite speakers from, among other groups, the Brook Advisory Centres, which offer abortion advice. Guide leaders are probably convinced that they are appealing to modern youth. They are not. Young people want something radical, truthful and challenging, not just more of the same failed messages on sex which have dominated our culture for the past two decades. I have more information on all this. Send me an SAE at Pro-Life Times, 5-6 St Matthew Street, London, SW1P 2JT.

Human Life International

The annual HLI conference was held recently on a streaming wet day in south London, but it was worth battling through the weather. The speakers were inspiring and included Fr Linus Clovis from the West Indies and my husband Jamie who talked about the latest (very worrying!) news of how euthanasia is being brought in by back-door methods. There was plenty of opportunity to raise questions and discuss aspects of pro-life work. You can get tapes of the conference talks by contacting HLI on (020) 8857 9950.

A happy day

The Towards Advent festival held recently in London was a great success and a tremendous boost for pro-lifers. This was a church-sponsored event and many groups were present, including leading pro-life organisations. LIFE, SPUC and Human Life International were all there and doing a roaring trade in Christmas cards, gifts, literature and videos. I wanted to buy some wrapping paper from the SPUC stall and had to call over the heads of other customers standing three-deep in front of me. Look out for news of the 2001 festival.

Dutch Parliament set to pass euthanasia law

Dr K F Gunning, Dutch President of the World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life, asks, "How is it possible that Holland has become the pioneer of legalised euthanasia? Dutch doctors risked their lives by refusing to take part in Hitler's euthanasia programme that killed more than 100,000 German patients with a mental handicap. Holland was chosen as the pioneer country to promote euthanasia, like the UK was chosen to pioneer abortion."

Green light for Dutch Death Wards

By staff reporter

The Dutch parliament may be on the verge of passing a formal law on euthanasia but the damage has already been done according to pro-life medics and lawyers.

Legislation passed by the parliament's second chamber last autumn is expected to be ratified shortly, and come into force later this year. But Dr John Keown, senior lecturer in law and ethics at the University of Cambridge and an expert on the Dutch situation, said: "Previously, euthanasia was permitted by case law on the basis of court decisions. I think one of the main lessons to be learnt from the Dutch experience is the lack of control they have had over voluntary euthanasia and how this has helped to allow non-voluntary euthanasia."

Dr Tony Cole, chairman of the Medical Ethics Alliance predicted: "I believe this will lead to an increase in medical killing because the doctors themselves are no longer obliged to report to the authorities."

SPUC Northern Ireland attacks harmful teen pregnancy plan

By Paul Burnell

A concerted campaign is taking place to promote the abortion-inducing morning-after-pill and ultimately surgical abortion to Northern Ireland teenagers.

A report on teenage pregnancy by the Northern Irish health department has been described as a "softening-up process" for bringing in abortion. Myths and Reality recommends better access to contraception and sex advice for teenagers, and makes pointed reference to the ban on abortion in Northern Ireland when it compares teenage pregnancy figures.

Mrs Betty Gibson, SPUC organiser in Northern Ireland, told the Pro-Life Times: "This is part of a softening-up process to bring in abortion. The steering committee that produced this document had representatives from the Brook Advisory Centre and the Family Planning Association.

"Both Brook Advisory Centres and the FPA are committed to legal changes which would bring abortion on demand to Northern Ireland". Mrs Gibson added: "The morning-after pill is deceptively promoted as contraception. Bairbre de Brun of Sinn Féin has personally signed the parliamentary order to make the morning-after pill available on demand at chemists in Northern Ireland.

"This has confirmed our fears at her appointment as health minister because of Sinn Féin's policy of promoting the guidelines of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the world's leading promoter of abortion." Responses to the document must be lodged by 8 February.

Third world women sold short: massive increase for birth control agency while mothers suffer

The Department for International Development (DfID) has announced a staggering 160% increase in its funding of the UNFPA--the leading UN pro-abortion agency.

The extra grant--amounting to £25 million--is said to be to ease the UNFPA's "contraception crisis." However when questioned the DfID said that they did not know the details of how it was to be used.

Paul Tully, general secretary of SPUC, said: "The UNFPA promotes abortion and birth control under the guise of reproductive health projects supposedly to reduce maternal deaths. However, even if this money is spent only on contraception and not directly on abortion, this is a very inefficient way of reducing deaths among mothers and babies. Improving care in pregnancy and labour, as well as basic things like clean water, will save many more lives."

Mr Tully added: "As the Population Research Institute puts it, however loudly the UNFPA trumpets the slight reduction in maternal mortality that follows from their massive campaigns to prevent pregnancy, it is clear that its primary goal is to reduce the number of babies born."

In many of the world's poorest countries basic healthcare including maternity provision is in crisis. Funding and provision of abortion have accelerated through the efforts of the UNFPA which last year received an extra £25 million from the UK.