New Evidence Confirms UNFPA Involvement in Coercion

This is the latest press release from the Population Research Institute.  It speaks for itself, so no additional comments from me.

Contrary to the claims of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), China’s coercive one-child policy is alive and well in the counties in which their organization operates.

On March 7th-11th of this year, the Population Research Institute (PRI) launched an on-the-ground investigation in 3 UNFPA “model counties.”  These are counties where the UNFPA makes the claim that their efforts have “removed birth targets and quotas and introduced a quality-of-care approach.”

PRI’s investigative team found that the one-child policy was not relaxed in the counties it investigated and, in some ways, the coercive measures undertaken by the government are now worse than ever.

According to PRI’s Colin Mason, who headed up the investigation, “when the actual conditions on the ground are observed, the UNFPA’s claim that it ‘played a catalytic role in introducing a voluntary reproductive health approach in China’ is patently absurd.  The policy is just as coercive in these areas as anywhere else.”

“Crippling fines, intense pressure to be sterilized, the flagrant display of quota information, and even the seizure of ‘illegal children’ by the government are commonplace,” Mason continued.  “The UNFPA insists that its presence has led to the removal of these measures.  It has not.”

“We at PRI ask the President to take a more critical approach in considering funding for the UNFPA,” said Steven Mosher, PRI’s president.  “United States law clearly dictates that tax dollars cannot fund forced abortion or coercive measures overseas.  The President has shown no consideration for these laws, nor has he expressed any concern over the UNFPA’s clear and consistent involvement in human rights abuses.

We stand ready to provide evidence to the Obama Administration regarding UNFPA’s involvement in China’s coercive policy.”

Capitol Punishment

Tomorrow night, the pro-life student organization at the University of Miami is screening Deadline, a documentary about an Illinois governor’s decision to commute all death sentences to life in prison.  The Justice Party opposes capitol punishment.  So I thought now would be a good time to address some common arguments.

Isn’t the death penalty in the Bible? Yes.  But ancient Israel was a theocracy, with divine authority supporting its criminal justice system.  Our justice system is made up of humans, and humans are fallible.  And even the Biblical system required at least two eyewitnesses in any death penalty case, which is more stringent than our guidelines.

Speaking of eyewitness testimony, is it reliable? Not at all.  Modern psychology has proven that eyewitness memory is much faultier than juries give it credit for.  Many inmates convicted on the basis of eyewitness evidence have been vindicated through DNA testing.

But doesn’t the death penalty deter future crime? No scientific studies have shown this to be the case.

Executions save us money- after all, keeping someone in prison for life is expensive. It actually costs far more to keep someone on death row, due to court appeals and other considerations.  And there is no way to measure the cost of possibly killing innocent people.

For more information about the death penalty, I recommend Death Penalty Focus.

Misc News

The Mona Lisa Project continues, this time showing an Arizona abortion clinic failing to report sex between a 15-year-old and 27-year-old (a felony in AZ).   The employee also tells the 15-year-old that abortion “doesn’t hurt”- yeah, right.  Watch the video.

It’s official!  The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) expansion has been signed into law.

USA Today/Gallup Poll reports that Obama’s reversal of the Mexico City policy is the least popular decision of his early presidency, with a mere 35% approval rating.  His most popular was a tie: naming envoys to the Middle East and restricting lobbyist activity each came in at 76%.  Depressingly for me, the nation is split on Obama’s decision to close Guantanamo Bay prison, with 44% approving and 50% disapproving.

As Promised: My Trip to March for Life 2009

Late Wednesday night: We arrived in Washington, D.C. and settled in to our hotel.

Thursday: We woke up early and visited the Library of Congress.  Then, it was off to the march!  The attendance was huge- an estimated 300,000 marchers.  A large percentage of those were students.  The sense of community was wonderful and I wish I had attended the march sooner.  Some of the more creative slogans I saw/heard were:

• “Catholic University of America!” “Is pro-life! DUH.”
• Leave the earth for children and children for the earth
• “Pro-child/Pro-choice” = Pro-pig/pro-bacon
• Life begins at conception, not consensus

Having made our way to the Supreme Court building, the crowd dispersed and we went to eat.  We ended up at a Spanish tapas restaurant in Chinatown, which was much better than it sounds.

Friday: We visited Arlington Cemetery in the morning, and had the bizarre experience of seeing Justice Blackmun’s grave (the Roe v Wade justice for whom the Blackmun Wall is named).  Naturally we also watched the changing of the guard.  On Friday evening, we got dressed up and attended the Life Prizes ceremony, during which six pro-life activists were awarded $100,000 each.  I got to have a chat with one of the winners- Donna Harrison, the president of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Saturday: The Students for Life of America conference was sold out.  It began with a talk from Steven Wagner, who gave a good talk about having productive conversations and building common ground.  There was TONS of free literature and products, and even what they did charge for was pretty cheap.  I got more brochures than I can count, fetal models, DVDs, t-shirts… enough to last our club for another five years, even though we’ll be back to the conference in just one.  I also got great tips on expanding membership, had a great conversation with representatives from Feminists for Life, and generally sucked every last molecule out of the experience.  (There’s one thing that bothered me, but that’s for the next post.)

Sunday: Although I’m not Catholic, the rest of the students in my group are, and they wanted to go to the National Basilica.  I’m glad I tagged along, because it is so beautiful.  Then it was off to the National Archives, where we stayed just long enough to peek at the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.  After days of activism, it all came back to these short founding documents, affirming our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The last event of the trip was when the D.C. metro shut down, I tried not to run around like a chicken with my head cut off in panic, and we just caught our flight home.  Good times.

Closing Guantanamo

Barack Obama appears to be making good on his campaign promise (shared by McCain) to close the Gitmo prison in Guantanamo Bay.  The fate of its prisoners is highly unclear.  Some are clear to go home but for opposition from their home countries; others are too dangerous to release, but will have the right to a fair and speedy trial once transferred to U.S. soil.

Of course, incarceration in a mainland prison does not guarantee that the prisoners’ rights will be fully honored.  The domestic prison system is plagued with various degrees of abuse.  However, I doubt that it will be as bad as what has been reported from Gitmo; even if it is, there is at least the advantage of having it occur right here at home, where people might actually care.

Throughout this post I have assumed that the  human rights violations occuring in Guantanamo are inherently bad.  I’m sure some will disagree with me.  Certainly, at least some of the Gitmo prisoners are guilty of horrible crimes against humanity.  We may legitimately ask why we should care about their rights, when they have so grossly disregarded the rights of others.  But in the United States, the time for punishment is after conviction in court.  I have no doubt that there are many guilty people in Guantanamo, and once the proper legal processes are taken care of I have no problem with them spending the rest of their miserable lives in prison.  But if even one Guantanamo prisoner is found innocent in court, after years of torture and indignity, it will be on our nations’ conscience.

Planned Parenthood Doesn’t Get It

Planned Parenthood has on several occasions been caught on tape covering up cases of statutory rape.  In one recently released video, an Indiana PP counselor is confronted with a girl who says she is 13 and her partner is 31.  The response?  “I didn’t hear the age.”

Now, PP is promising to conduct internal reform, and is teaming up with Prevent Child Abuse of Indiana to make changes.  Sounds good, right?  But there are two problems.

First, the reform is contained to Indiana.  However, Planned Parenthood has been caught doing the exact same thing in North Carolina and several other states.  They are also under investigation in California for defrauding the government, and a counselor admitted to infanticide in New Jersey.  Statewide reform isn’t going to cut it when the corruption is nationwide.

Second, even the Indiana attempt at reform is highly suspect.  Prevent Child Abuse of Indiana has a long-standing relationship with Planned Parenthood.  In fact, PCAI leader Carol Pool volunteered for Planned Parenthood for 13 years!

That Planned Parenthood won’t employ an unaffiliated, unbiased group to conduct its reform suggests to me that they are hoping that the problem will just go away.  It will not.  As long as Planned Parenthood continues to systematically break the law, pro-life activists will be there to get it on the record.

Third World Farmer

I have become addicted to this game.  In it, you and your family manage a farm while dealing with droughts, diseases, and government corruption.  It is not an easy game to win- and that’s the whole point.  Play and try to put yourself in the shoes of a Third World Farmer.

If the game motivates you to take action, please explore the my page of good causes.