News Roundup

Spanish court rules against Government buildings displaying rainbow flag

A Spanish High Court has ruled that “the exhibition of the rainbow flag violates the principle of ideological or political neutrality” and directed Government buildings to stop displaying it.

In 2020, the Spanish Supreme Court had banned non-official flags from official buildings and public spaces. However, in defiance of that ruling, LGBT flags were hung from public institution buildings in Valladolid in 2021 to mark Pride celebrations.

A Spanish Foundation of Christian Lawyers brought a case against the move and last week the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León said that “the rainbow flag is a symbol with sufficient ideological weight or significance that transcends the merely social, penetrating the political .”

“And so, the ideological burden of the banner cannot be denied , proceeding with its withdrawal,” it ruled.

“It cannot be denied that the current political parties, some moderately in favor, others actively in favor, others moderately against and others actively against” what was raised in the debates on the LGBT issue “denotes the non-political neutrality of the debate, for what the exhibition of the collective symbol violates the required neutrality”.

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Funding package for North’s schools shows anti-religious ‘bias’

A £1.9 million funding package going exclusively to integrated schools in the North has been described as “bias” and disregards “the current emergency crisis within our education system”.

Aontú’s Gemma Brolly, who is a teacher based in Derry, said that while her party support integrated education as a choice for parents, they should not be prioritised for funding.

Mrs Brolly said the intent of the bill is to place integrated education “top of the pecking order”.

Before quitting as Northern Ireland Secretary of State last week, Brandon Lewis announced the integrated education funding package. He said that, “Seeing greater integration of education across Northern Ireland is an absolute priority for me” and “My hope is that integration will soon become the norm and not the exception in schools across Northern Ireland”.

Mrs Brolly said: “With undervalued staff on the brink of strike, underpay, endless damning reports, waiting lists and under resourced schools, surely the priority of the Secretary of State, every governing body and representative should be to repair our education system in its entirety?

“That is what we in Aontú will prioritise in education. We need inclusive and beneficial education for all. That is what we have worked for and what we will continue to work to achieve.”

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US Senator accuses Pregnancy Help Centers of ‘Torture’

A Massachusetts Senator has described the work of pro-life pregnancy centers as “torture.”

The centres providing counselling and practical help to women with unplanned pregnancies and mothers with new borns. They have been subject to numerous attacks and acts of vandalism in the wake of the United States Supreme Court’s ruling last month to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke with reporters last week about defending abortion rights and took aim at eliminating crisis pregnancy centers across the country.

“In Massachusetts right now, those crisis pregnancy centers, that are there to fool people who are looking for pregnancy termination help, outnumber true abortion clinics by three to one,” Warren said. “We need to shut them down here in Massachusetts, and we need to shut them down all around the country. You should not be able to torture a pregnant person like that.”

She introduced the “Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation Act” to combat what she calls “false advertising” from crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs).

This is part of a sweeping effort by Congressional House Democrats to reinstate a top-down abortion policy that would bar all 50 states from punishing abortionists. The House has scheduled votes on a proposed bill to strike down nearly all state pro-life protections until birth.

https://decisionmagazine.com/sen-elizabeth-warren-accuses-crisis-pregnancy-centers-of-torture/

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Censorship of pro-life ads was “discriminatory” – rules Slovenian equality body

The censorship of pro-life bus advertisements amounts to discrimination, according to the national Slovenian equality body.

A pro-life NGO had contracted a state-owned bus company, who had agreed to display their ads for a couple of months. However, the municipal authorities had deemed the messages “We love Life!”, “You are not alone”, “Step out of Silence” and “I mourn my child”, accompanied by pictures of a happy family, a grieving mother and a woman holding a pregnancy test to be “intolerant”. They subsequently instructed the bus company to remove them after just over one week.

However, the Advocate of the Principle of Equality, has ruled the municipal authorities were wrong.

The pro-life NGO welcomed the decision: “Every life is valuable. We want to stand by women in crisis, especially those facing unplanned pregnancies or the loss of a child. Our bus ad was meant to show them that they are not alone. We are glad that the state equality body agreed that our ad should not have been removed. Whether you agree or disagree with the work of Zavod ŽIV!M, everyone should be able to agree that it is wrong for the state to simply censor messages with which it disagrees. We seek to offer hope and support to many in difficult situations,” said Darja Pečnik, the director of Zavod ŽIV!M.

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GPs claimed for 6,700 abortions last year

A call has been made for an ‘urgent debate’ as a report shows GPs made financial claims for prescribing drugs for 6,700 chemical abortions last year.

The figure is included in the third annual report on the provision of abortion in Ireland, published on Wednesday by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

The number is slightly up on previous years. There were 6,577 notified abortions in 2020 and 6,666 in 2019.

There were also 64 surgical abortions conducted in hospitals last year.

Unusually, the report showed a discrepancy with the number of official notifications of abortions, at 4,513.

The report said this was likely due to difficulties associated with the covid19 pandemic and the HSE cyber-attack.

In response to the report, the Pro-Life Campaign noted that almost 20,000 abortions have taken place in Ireland over the three year period since the law changed in 2018.

A spokesperson said it shows it has led to a 70% increase in the annual number of abortions.

Eilís Mulroy said: “Following today’s devastating news that 19,943 abortions have occurred in Ireland since the new law came into effect, we need an urgent public debate to look for ways to dramatically reduce these numbers.

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 Oireachtas committee wants special protection for marriage removed

A referendum on the constitutional clause protecting mothers from being forced to work outside the home should be held next year, a new Oireachtas report has recommended. Marriage should also have its special constitutional protection removed.

It follows a recommendation of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality. The Assembly believes all families should be treated equally and sees no reason to give marriage special status despite evidence showing that children tend to fare best when raised by a married mother and father.

In its interim report, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality recommended that the Government proceed with “necessary preparatory work” and that a decision should be made on the wording for a referendum to be put to the public in 2023. It proposed a number of “appropriate wordings” that could be used.

According to the Citizens’ Assembly, Article 40.1 of the Constitution should be amended to refer explicitly to ‘gender equality’ and ‘non-discrimination’, while Article 41 should be amended to protect family life, with the protection afforded not limited to the marital family, which was changed in 2015 to include same-sex couples.

Article 41.2 should be “deleted and replaced with language that is not gender specific” and which “obliges the State to take reasonable measures to support care within the home and wider community”, the assembly said.

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UK Court hears discrimination case over abortion of the disabled

People with Down’s syndrome and their families rallied outside the UK Court of Appeal on Wednesday in support of a case against the UK Government that the current law that allows abortion up to birth for Down’s syndrome and other disabilities, but not for healthy babies, is discriminatory.

Heidi Crowter, a 27-year-old woman from Coventry who has Down’s syndrome, together with Máire Lea-Wilson from Brentford, West London, whose three-year-old son Aidan has Down’s syndrome, are challenging the UK Government over a disability clause in the current abortion law.

Heidi addressed a large rally of supporters who had travelled from around the country and said:

“When I tell people about the court case they say that it’s not fair. I am hopeful that the judges will see that it is not fair.

If the law said that all girl babies could be aborted up to birth everyone would say that is discrimination. So why does the law say that it is ok to terminate disabled babies right up to birth?

In 2022 we live in a society where disabled people are valued equally after birth but not in the womb. I hope that the judges will agree with me that this law is discrimination and needs to be changed.”

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Pope Francis says Biden should discuss abortion “incoherence” with confessor

Pope Francis said US President Joe Biden should discuss with his pastor the “incoherence” of being a practising Catholic but also a major supporter of liberal abortion laws.

During an interview with Univisión and Televisa broadcast this week, Pope Francis was asked about abortion, Biden’s position, and whether to admit Catholic politicians who promote legal abortion to Holy Communion.

The Holy Father affirmed the scientific evidence showing a foetus is a human life and then asked, “Is it just to eliminate a human life?”

As for the evaluating Biden’s position and what the Church might do in response, Pope Francis said:

“Let him [Biden] talk to his pastor about that incoherence”.

In the wake of the overturning of the Roe v Wade abortion regime, Biden supports federal legislation that would make abortion legal up to birth in all fifty states.

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Pro-life gatherings near abortion facilities to be banned

Abortion exclusion zones outside hospitals and GP clinics that offer abortion will be dealt with in legislation to be fast tracked through the Oireachtas later this year, according to the Irish Examiner.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has finalised the General Scheme of a Bill to introduce the so-called “safe access zones” that would prevent pro-life prayer vigils, offers of help, or visible protests in the vicinity of places that administer abortion.

A Government source is cited that party leaders were recently briefed on the measures and a memo was circulated to Cabinet ministers Monday evening detailing the General Scheme of Bill.

As part of the drafting of the Bill, senior counsel was brought in to review it from a constitutional and human rights perspective. The Office of the Attorney General was also consulted as was the Department of Justice.

Protesters will not be allowed to gather within 100 metres of specified healthcare facilities and the legislation will be fast-tracked through the Dáil and Seanad.

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Government denies new ‘hate’ bill will harm free speech

Changes have been made to the Government’s hate crime bill after complaints from campaigning groups that the first version would make it too hard to secure prosecutions. However, Justice Minister, Helen McEntee, says the legislation will contain “robust safeguards” for freedom of expression. In Britain, though, similar legislation has seen individuals investigated by police for alleged ‘transphobia’ and ‘Islamophobia’ and has been strongly criticised.

In a statement, the Department of Justice said the initial intention was to keep a relatively high threshold for conviction of a hate crime, given the serious repercussions for someone’s record.

The new law will legislate for ‘hate crimes’ by creating new, aggravated forms of certain existing criminal offences, where those offences are motivated by prejudice against a protected characteristic such as race, colour, nationality, religion, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, gender and disability.

It will also make it easier to prosecute people for ‘hate’ speech.

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