Roundup: Lawmakers Endorse Law Opposing Abortion

Jul 31, 2009, 9:09am

Amy Dempsey

lawmakers changed the health bill to ensure it does not require funding for abortions; Abortions on the rise in China; India launching campaign to encourage later marriage.

Lawmakers Endorse Law Opposing Abortion
Washington lawmakers changed the health bill to ensure it does not require funding for abortions, according to The Associated Press. The measure was approved Thursday in the House Energy and Commerce Committee as conservative Democrats and Republicans joined together to support the bill.

The
amendment says requirements for abortion coverage cannot be imposed
unless a woman’s life is in danger or her pregnancy is a result of
incest or rape, The AP reported.
It still has to go through the House and Senate.

Abortions in China Increase
The number of abortions in China has increased from 9 million to 13 million since 2003, the New York Times reported. Chinese officials attribute the increase to the low level of sex education among young people. According to the article,
the China Daily reported that more than 70 percent of callers to a
hospital in Shanghai knew little, if not nothing, about contraception,
venereal diseases and that HIV/AIDS could be transmitted sexually.

The New York Times said:

"Sex is no longer considered taboo among young people today, and they believe they can learn everything they need
from the Internet," Yu Dongyan, a gynecologist, told the paper. "But it
doesn’t mean they’ve developed a proper understanding or attitude
toward it."

A Chinese cultural preference for sons, combined with
the state’s longstanding one-child policy, has resulted in a widening
use of gender-selective abortions and "an imminent generation of excess
men," according to a recent report in the online British Medical
Journal. There are now 32 million more Chinese boys than girls under
20, the researchers found, an imbalance that is expected to widen over
the next 20 years.

Abortion has been legal in China since 1953,
although sex-selective abortions were banned starting in 1994. China
was the first country to approve mifepristone, the abortion-inducing
drug also known as RU-486, and by the late 1990s it was widely available – by prescription and on the black market – all across China.

India’s Campaign for Later Marriage

India’s
government is launching a new campaign to encourage couples to marry at
an older age and to engage proven family planning practices.

The National article said:

In New Delhi last week, the Indian health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad
urged couples to marry after 30 years of age, saying resources in the
country were unable to meet the demands of the growing population.

"Only people who opt to marry at 30-31 should be awarded," he said at a
ceremony to felicitate couples who have opted for late marriages.

Though the legal age of marriage in India is 18 for girls and 21 for
boys, various studies conducted recently reveal that in rural India,
which constitutes 70 per cent of the total population, girls are
married as young as 13 years of age.

According to the article,
India’s population is 1.14 billion and will surpass China by 2050, when
it will become the world’s most populated country. A similar family
planning campaign, which promoted the use of contraceptives, was
enacted in 1952 when its population was less than half of what it is
now, but it failed to reach its fertility rate target.

OTHER NEWS TO NOTE:

July 30: AP: House lawmakers endorse measure opposing abortion

July 30: U-TV: US teenagers need real sex education

July 30: AFP: Italy health watchdog approves abortion drug: report

July 30: Deseret News:Adoption battle quashed by Supreme Court

July 30: HuffPo: Chris Matthews "Birthers Out" with his "Deather" Stance on Living Wills

July 30: EmpowHer: Birth Control May Help Ward Off Bacterial Vaginosis

July 30: CNN: Dr. Joycelyn Elders’ advice to surgeon general nominee

July 30: Zenit: BUTTIGLIONE’S PRO-LIFE POSITION; BENEDICT XVI AND FREE MARKETS

July 30: Guardian: Debbie Purdy case: Pro-life group plots legal action

July 30: Minnesota Independent: Abortion foes fund Bachmann, bash Clark

July 30: CBC News: Families attempt to rescue adoption agency from bankruptcy