Christian News

30 August 2006
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Southern Africa:

 

• Abortion law ruled invalid
• Same-sex marriages bill heads for parliament
• SA has ‘immoral’ aids theories
• Heroin explosion concern grows
• Cannibal couple arrested

* ABORTION LAW RULED INVALID - Court Strikes Down Abortion Amendment Act And Traditional Health Practitioners Act Suspending Order For 18 Months.

By majority of 8 to 3 the Constitutional Court upheld Doctors for Life's application alleging that the NCOP and the Nine Provinces had failed to provide "a meaningful opportunity" for the public to participate in the Democratic Process of passing the Bills.
DFL, who were represented by attorneys Janse van Rensburg, Strydom & Botha Inc and by advocate Kemp J Kemp SC, were awarded 60% of their costs against Parliament.
This the first time that DFL have succeeded in a case brought in their own name before the Courts of South Africa and they are particularly gratified that the Court upheld their right to go direct to the Constitutional Court and agreed with their submissions that Parliament had been in breach of the constitutional obligation to facilitate public involvement in the legislative process.
The case will be of great importance to Parliament in respect of all legislation, not merely health bills, because the highest Court in the land has now made it clear beyond any doubt that Parliament must not cut corners but provide sufficient time and opportunity for citizens throughout the country to have their say in respect of all bills passing through Parliament.
(doctorsforlifeinternational.org, 17 Aug 2006) (to index)

* SAME-SEX MARRIAGES BILL HEADS FOR PARLIAMENT - Cabinet has approved the draft Civil Unions Bill (which includes same-sex partnerships) for submission to Parliament.
The measure was discussed at Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting at Tuynhuys on Wednesday, government communications (GCIS) head Themba Maseko told a media briefing on Thursday.
The bill takes into account a Constitutional Court judgment that the common law definition of marriage in the Marriage Act was unconstitutional, insofar as it failed to give the same status, benefits and responsibilities to same-sex unions that marriage accorded to heterosexual couples.
The bill also provides for the recognition of domestic partnerships between adults, whether of the same or opposite sex, who had not concluded a marriage or civil partnership.
The legal consequences of such a partnership will be spelled out and recognised in law once the bill is passed by Parliament.
Maseko said Cabinet noted that the bill was likely to generate much public debate.
The draft bill would amend sections of the old Marriages Act, not replace it, he said.
(Citizen.co.za, 25 Aug 2006) (to index)

* SA HAS 'IMMORAL' AIDS THEORIES - Toronto - The South African government's HIV/Aids theories were worthy of a "lunatic fringe", the United Nations special envoy to Africa told the International Aids Conference in Toronto on Friday.

Stephen Lewis accused the South African government of expounding theories "more worthy of a lunatic fringe than a concerned and compassionate state", at the conference's closing session.
Lewis hauled the country over the coals in front of over 20 000 delegates during his address on the importance of treatment.
"Between 600 and 800 people a day die [of HIV/Aids] in South Africa."
"The government has a lot to atone for, and I am of the opinion they will never achieve redemption," Lewis said to a deafening roar of applause from the audience.
The African National Congress earlier called statements made by Lewis during the conference "unacceptable".
"It is not my job to be silenced by a government when I know what it is doing is wrong, immoral and indefensible," he said.
He also mentioned the arrests of Treatment Action Campaign leader Zachie Achmat and 44 protesters who occupied provincial government offices in Cape Town on Friday.
They were calling for the arrest of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang after the death of a prisoner with Aids, which Lewis said "should never have taken place".
"It really is distressing when the coercive apparatus of the state is brought against the most principled members of society," said Lewis.
South Africa's HIV/Aids policies have featured prominently at the HIV/Aids conference, with activists strongly condemning the health minister's advocating nutrition as a prevention method.
Co-chair of the Aids conference Mark Wainberg called the theories "scientific nonsense" and said it was unconscionable to use "lemon juice as an HIV-prevention method". (News24, 18 Aug 2006) (to index)

* HEROIN EXPLOSION CONCERN GROWS – Johannesburg – Some schools in South Africa are being floored with cheap heroin as drug syndicates grow a market of young addicts.
In Gauteng and Pretoria alone, hundreds of heroin addicts – some as young as nine – are dying of overdoses every month, estimates an acclaimed police drug expert.
Desperate users, prepared to do anything for their next hit, are forming criminal heroin "clubs" to beg or steal money for their addictions.
One fix is often enough to trap a child into addiction, with withdrawal symptoms including skin sores, excruciating muscle and bone pain, vomiting and insomnia.
Cheap street heroin is being concocted from 20% to 30% "Thai white" – which is about 90% pure – and diluting substances such as rat poison. Dangerous mixtures of heroin and Rattex, teething powder and bicarbonate of soda have reached epidemic proportions in KZN and Cape Town.
Meanwhile, Pretoria police have raised alarm bells about "nyaope", a mixture of dagga and heroin that is ravaging township youth. (The Mercury, 21 August 2006) (to index)

* CANNIBAL COUPLE ARRESTED - A Mozambican couple have been arrested over allegations of cannibalism and have confessed to the charge, a police official said Thursday.
"They have admitted to eating human flesh and bones," Jose Cumbe, the police chief for the central district of Gorongosa (centre), told AFP by telephone.
Cumbe said some human remains would be sent to the port city of Beira for tests. He did not give any further details.
(iafrica.com, 18 Aug 2006) (to index)

International

 

• Bush admin condemns jailing of forced abortion activist Chen Guangcheng
• South Dakota abortion ban supported by women who regret abortions
• Merkel backs more Christian EU constitution
• As defeats pile up, Massachusetts stays sole safe haven for Gay marriage

* BUSH ADMIN CONDEMNS JAILING OF FORCED ABORTION ACTIVIST CHEN GUANGCHENG - Bush administration officials have condemned the jailing of an activist in China who brought international exposure to a brutal family planning campaign that saw officials in one city force more than 10,000 women have abortions or sterilizations.
Chen Guangcheng, a 34 year-old blind attorney who was preparing a class action lawsuit against the city of Linyi, was sentenced Friday to four years and four months in prison.
The jailing came after he was charged by officials on bogus counts of destroying property in a protest against the house arrest of his family. His attorneys were arrested shortly before the trial and prevented from helping Chen defeat the politically-motivated charges.
State Department spokesman Gonzo Gallegos called the charges "highly questionable" and said the Bush administration was "disturbed" at the jail sentence and the detention of Chen's attorneys beforehand. He called on Chinese authorities to release Chen.
(LifeNews, 28 Aug 2006) (to index)

* SOUTH DAKOTA ABORTION BAN SUPPORTED BY WOMEN WHO REGRET ABORTIONS - When it comes to evaluating opinions of South Dakota residents on whether state voters should approve the abortion ban the legislature approved earlier this year, one of the best sources of input is talking to women who have had abortions before. In many cases, they regret their abortions and want to see it prohibited.
Kayla Brandt, who had an abortion three years ago and now wishes she had kept her baby, is one of the leaders in the fight to uphold the ban this November.
"I don't want anyone to feel what I did," Brandt told the Washington Post in an interview.
What Brandt felt following the abortion is similar to the negative reactions most women eventually have afterwards. The 29-year-old financial auditor told the Post she had a "quiet misery" after the abortion and when the procedure was finished, she said she immediately felt an emptiness that led to a long period of grief.
"I was in a relationship and panicked and got scared and ashamed, and thought an abortion was the means to fix my mistake," Brandt told the Post.
She eventually saw herself as a "mother who was sadly stripped of her child."
Brandt says she got involved in the campaign to promote the abortion ban -- her face is on the front of the brochures distributed by the group supporting it -- to protect women and unborn children.
"Where's the baby's choice?" Brandt asked. "What about the life of the baby?"
In materials for the abortion ban campaign, Brandt talks more about her abortion and the horrible feelings she experienced afterwards.
"The room started to spin and my hand instinctively reached down to grasp my stomach. But all I felt now were excruciating cramps piercing my side as I tried to hold in what had already been taken," she said.
"The doctor and nurse quickly gathered their things and left me there alone. The door slammed shut behind them and ... I was left there, traumatized and alone, as sheer emptiness set in immediately."
"From that moment on, I began merely existing in the hollow shell of what was once a woman," Brandt added. "I stumbled through the days and weeks that came as though I were sleepwalking."
Later, Brandt realized she desperately wanted the baby the abortion took.
"I desperately longed to go back and offer my child protection. But I could not go back," she said.
Instead, Brandt can only advocate for those mothers and babies who may be traumatized by a future abortion.
"And so I turn my silence and shame into a voice that sings now. A voice that speaks up for those who cannot speak for themselves and protects our most vulnerable – our unborn children." (LifeNews, 28 Aug 2006) (to index)

* MERKEL BACKS MORE CHRISTIAN EU CONSTITUTION - Europe's "Christian values" should be enshrined in a new version of the EU constitution, the German chancellor declared yesterday after meeting the Pope.
In remarks which will reopen the debate on religion in the EU, Angela Merkel threw her weight behind Pope Benedict's campaign to recognise Europe's Christian heritage. "We spoke about freedom of religion," she said after talks at the Pope's summer residence near Rome. "We spoke about the role of Europe and I emphasised the need for a constitution and that it should refer to our Christian values."
Mrs Merkel will take charge of efforts to revive the constitution when Germany assumes the EU's rotating presidency next January. Any attempt to mention Christianity - or simply God - in the text will be met by stiff resistance from secular France, from Britain, which treads carefully in this area, and from northern Protestant countries such as Sweden and Denmark. During the tortuous negotiations on the constitution in 2004 there were concerns that any religious reference could upset Europe's Muslims and Jews.
But Mrs Merkel, the daughter of a Protestant pastor, is determined to reopen the debate when she tries to revive the constitution, a controversial move in itself because many EU leaders want a slimmed down document after last year's no votes.
The chancellor is leader of the strongly Catholic CDU party whose most senior figure in Brussels is determined to include a reference to God in the new constitution. Hans-Gert Pöttering, currently leader of the EPP-ED group in the European Parliament, is on course to become the assembly's president next year. (Worthy News, 29 Aug 2006) (to index)