Bill to legalize euthanasia in Peru draws criticism :: EWTN News

The following excerpts are from EWTN News:

A bill introduced in Peru to legalize euthanasia has met with harsh criticism from a cancer doctor who said that it fails to respect human life and dignity.

Dr. Luis Raez, director of the Memorial Cancer Institute (MCI) in Broward County, Florida, told EWTN News that although “de-penalizing euthanasia does not sound so bad,” what is really being sought is the legalization of murder.

“This attempt to legalize euthanasia will cause terrible harm to those who are ill,” warned Raez, who also serves as an associate professor at Florida International University.

The legislative proposal was entered for processing in the Peruvian Congress March 4, with the title “Law that de-penalizes mercy killing and that declares that the implementation of euthanasia is a need of the public and in the national interest.”

The document was signed by parliament members Roberto Angulo, Juan Pari, Eulogio Romero, Sergio Tejada, Esther Saavedra, Claudia Coari and Jorge Rimarachin.

Congresswomen Coari and Tejada have in the past voiced support for legalizing abortion as well.

The euthanasia bill is in the hands of the Constitution and Rules Committee and the Justice and Human Rights Committee for debate and a vote. If it passes this stage, it will be examined by the full Peruvian Congress.

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Bill to legalize euthanasia in Peru draws criticism :: EWTN News

Australian bishops: the suffering need compassion, not suicide by drugs :: EWTN News

The following excerpts are from EWTN News:

Euthanasia isn’t what the suffering and dying really need, said Australia’s Catholic bishops.

“Suicide is always a tragedy, and all people who are confronted by their mortality, whether or not they are mentally or physically ill, deserve our help and compassion, not a lethal dose,” Bishop Peter Comensoli of Broken Bay said in an April 15 statement.

“All people have dignity regardless of their health, age, disability, usefulness or other circumstance and deserve our love and support.”

Bishop Comensoli is the Australian bishops’ delegate on assisted suicide issues. He said the bishops conference’s new pamphlet, “Real care, love and compassion – the alternative to euthanasia,” aims to inform people about the dangers of legalized euthanasia.

Euthanasia is illegal in Australia. However, there are lobbying efforts to legalize voluntary euthanasia, which its backers characterize as “dying with dignity.”

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Australian bishops: the suffering need compassion, not suicide by drugs :: EWTN News

UN Officials Voice Concern About Iraq Humanitarian Situation, Abuse of Women, Girls

[Steve says: Why are all you feminists who scream about the non-existent "War On Women" in the United States, so deafeningly silent over real violence against women in Iraq? Just doesn't fit your agenda, does it?]

An Iraqi woman from Mosul holds her daughter in one hand and empty water containers in the other. Two other children follow her in search of water near the Garmava temporary camp in central Iraq (photo: UNHCR/S. Baldwin).

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

• Amid reports of deliberate targeting of women and girls in Iraq, senior United Nations officials today voiced deep concern about the deteriorating humanitarian and security situations in the country, where more than 1.2 million people have fled their homes in fear for their lives.
• "As the security situation continues to worsen, I am extremely worried about the families urgently in need of water, food, shelter, healthcare, sanitation and protection from violence," said Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.
• That includes targeting of women and children, who have reportedly been kidnapped, raped and forcibly married to militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS) and other armed groups.
• Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, expressed deep concern yesterday following the reported suicides of some women who had been raped, and of men who had been forced to watch the rape of their wives and daughters.
• "UN Women strongly condemns sexual and gender-based violence, and calls on all parties to address such reports and protect the rights of Iraqi women and girls," she said.

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UN Officials Voice Concern About Iraq Humanitarian Situation, Abuse of Women, Girls

Saeed Abedini, American pastor imprisoned in Iran, beaten in hospital, family charges | Fox News

The following excerpts are from FoxNews.com:

• The American citizen being held in Iran for alleged crimes related to his faith and work as a Christian pastor was yanked from a hospital bed, beaten and taken back to one of the Islamic Republic's infamous prisons, his family charges.
• Pastor Saeed Abedini had spent the past two months in a hospital for injuries allegedly suffered at the hands of guards and inmates in Iran’s Evin and Rajai Shahr prisons when he was once again beaten and hauled back to prison, according to family members who say they witnessed the beating.
• "This news is devastating to our family,” his wife, Naghmeh Abedini, told FoxNews.com. “This development also came as a complete shock to all of us. Saeed's family, who was present at the hospital when this occurred, witnessed the severe beatings that Saeed received - at one point seeing him collapse before being taken away. "We're very concerned about his health."
• In March, when Abedini was transferred to a private hospital in Iran, where he was told he would receive further tests for his worsening medical condition as well as surgery for the chronic stomach pain suffered as a result of repeated beatings. But soon after being admitted, he was shackled and beaten by guards, according to family members. He was also denied medical treatment and was not allowed to see family members initially, they said.
• It was not immediately clear why Abedini was suddenly transferred back to Rajai Shahr.

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Saeed Abedini, American pastor imprisoned in Iran, beaten in hospital, family charges | Fox News

North Carolina’s ‘choose life’ license plates unconstitutional: Appeals court

The following excerpts are from LifeSiteNews.com:

• North Carolina's “Choose Life” license plates have been ruled unconstitutional by a U.S. Appeals Court today.
• A three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that such license plates violate the First Amendment, because the state does not also give residents the chance to purchase a license plate with a pro-abortion message.
• The bill authorizing the pro-life plates, H.R. 854, became law in September 2011 after legislators voted down six amendments to offer competing plates bearing messages like “Respect Choice.”
• State drivers could see $15 of their $25 specialty plate fee fund the Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship, a coalition of 76 crisis pregnancy centers that serve more than 3,000 women each year.
• But the law never went into effect, because the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit.

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North Carolina’s ‘choose life’ license plates unconstitutional: Appeals court