Wednesday 30 January 2013

Useful quotes from the new director of the UN DESA Population Division


Professor  John R. Wilmoth has been appointed as the new director of the population division within the Department of Economic and social Affairs . You can read about what DESA is and does here. The Population Division provides support to intergovernmental bodies such as the Commission on Population and Development, monitors the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals in relation to reproductive health (which is used as both a technical term and a euphemism for abortion) and contraception, and publishes data and studies on population trends. It has a leading role in the global abortion lobby.  You can read more about the Population Division within DESA and it's reports here.

It was interesting to read the interview on the DESA website with the new director, as he made several comments on population that prolifers will find helpful to cite. Sadly there are many myths perpetrated in the media and by population control advocates, who seek to justify the imposition of contraception, sterilisation, and abortion upon economically poor developing countries by claiming "the world is overpopulated".
 
You have authored and co-authored a great number of scientific papers on population dynamics; were there any findings that you found surprising?

Demographers often make projections of future population trends and can be surprised when reality diverges from their forecasts – but that is the nature of this business. An earlier generation of demographers was surprised by the extremely rapid growth of populations in the decades after the Second World War, which was caused by the Baby Boom in industrialized countries and by very rapid reductions of mortality in the less developed regions. For my generation I suppose the two biggest surprises have been the phenomenal speed and depth of fertility decline, and the persistent increase of human longevity.
Fertility levels have fallen substantially in most regions, far beyond what most observers expected 50 years ago. As a result, population growth has slowed considerably in many of the world’s largest countries, especially in Asia (though of course much less so in Sub-Saharan Africa). In many parts of Europe and East Asia, fertility is now well below two children per woman, and some populations have started to shrink in size. Such low fertility accelerates the process of population ageing, with substantial implications for government budgets given the high costs of old-age pensions and medical care.
Mortality trends have offered surprises too. Fifty years ago many observers believed that human longevity was reaching an upper limit, since by then most deaths (at least in the more developed regions) were due to diseases of old age. Since around 1970, however, death rates at older ages in many countries have been falling at an unprecedented rate. Reductions have been rapid in particular for deaths due to heart disease and stroke.
I expect that demographers will continue to be surprised by trends that do not follow our prior expectations. It is for this reason that the Population Division has worked hard in recent years to be more explicit and precise about the degree of uncertainty affecting projections of future population trends.”
The important points here include rapid reductions in mortality, and an increase in human longevity. These are good things that have contributed to people living longer and healthier lives.

Wilmoth also speaks about the substantial decline in human fertility which has led to ageing populations and below replacement fertility levels resulting in shrinking populations.  Unfortunately, pro-abortion organisations remain intent on preventing children from being born by use of abortion, all the while claiming that there needs to be fewer children because of so-called over population.

SPUC has been running a campaign on maternal health since last year, which is closely tied in with issues of development and population trends. SPUC has produced a briefing and a talk on these issues.

Monday 28 January 2013

Cameron and co continue to finance the culture of death around the world

financiers of the global abortion lobby
SPUC has previously drawn attention to the huge sums of money given to global abortion groups by the British government, normally through the government's Department for International Development (DFID). International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), Marie Stopes International (MSI) and IPAS are among the most devastating organisations promoting abortion throughout the world, in large part funded by the governments of the developed world, especially the UK, which is also home to the headquarters of IPPF and MSI.

Below is the parliamentary record (Hansard) of some questions recently asked by David Amess MP, precisely about British government funding of global pro-abortion organisations. The record is  below, and will give you some idea of just how much our government in the UK is funding the killing of innocent unborn children throughout the world, not just in the UK. The key figures are in red and underlined.
Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding her Department plans to give to the International Planned Parenthood Federation for (a) abortion, (b) family planning and (c) other reproductive health services in the next 12 months; what assessment she has made of the value for money of previous such expenditure since June 2010; and if she will make a statement.

Lynne Featherstone: DFID will provide up to £8.6 million to International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) in 2013-14 through a Programme Partnership Arrangement (PPA) to deliver high priority, safe family planning and reproductive health services for vulnerable women and girls. The Department for International Development (DFID) does not classify spending under the categories requested. All Programme Partnership Arrangements (PPAs) are expected to demonstrate value for money and our assessments to date show that the cost-effectiveness of International Planned Parenthood Federation is high.

Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding her Department plans to give to Marie Stopes International for (a) abortion, (b) family planning and (c) other reproductive health services in the next 12 months; what assessment she has made of the value for money of such expenditure since June 2010; and if she will make a statement.

Lynne Featherstone: Marie Stopes International (MSI) will receive up to £4.35 million through a Programme Partnership Arrangement (PPA) for the period 2013-14. The Department for International Development (DFID) does not classify spending under the categories requested. All Programme Partnership Arrangements (PPAs) are expected to demonstrate value for money. An independent review has recently concluded that MSI show outstanding commitment to maximising cost-effectiveness and have been using funds in exceptionally cost-effective ways.

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will consider increasing the Official Development Assistance to population and reproductive health

Lynne Featherstone: The health and rights of girls and women are front and centre of Britain's development programme. That is why the Prime Minister hosted the London Summit on Family Planning last July—to galvanize the global community to support transformational change for women and girls. The summit's goal was to provide voluntary family planning information, services and supplies to an additional 120 million women and girls in 69 of the poorest countries by 2020.

The UK committed £516 million ($800 million) over eight years towards the summit goal. This is part of the UK's broader commitment to double investment in family planning from an average of £90 million per year since 2010, to £180 million per year for the next eight years.

The UK's Muskoka Commitment, made at the G8 summit in 2010, is focused on saving the lives of women in pregnancy and childbirth, of newborn babies and on enabling couples to access modern methods of family planning. To support this the UK has significantly increased overall aid for reproductive, maternal and child health programming from around £490 million in 2008-09 to £860 million in 2011-12, a 75% increase over the period and above the commitment we made at the Muskoka summit.

Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) what recent reports she has received on the uses of funding provided by her Department to the Government of the Philippines; whether any restrictions are placed on the use of such funding; and if she will make a statement;

(2) what proportion of aid provided by her Department to the Philippines was spent on reproductive health in each of the last five years; and how much her Department has allocated for such purposes in each of the next two years;

(3) whether she has received any reports of the use of funding provided by her Department to lobby the Government of the Philippines to change its laws on reproductive health; and if she will make a statement.

Lynne Featherstone: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not have a bilateral programme with the Philippines and is not providing direct assistance for health to the Government of the Philippines. DFID supports a multi-donor, global programme hosted by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) to improve reproductive health and reduce recourse to unsafe abortion, and a number of non-governmental organisations working on reproductive health issues in the Philippines have received funding from this global IPPF programme. DFID receives regular reports on the programme from IPPF.

DFID provides broader assistance to the Philippines through its attributable contributions to multilateral organisations. This can be viewed on the Statistics on International Development on the DFID website. Due to the nature of the multilateral contributions it is not possible to confirm what proportion of the funding should be attributed to health.

Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much funding was provided by her Department to (a) the United Nations Population Fund, (b) the International Planned Parenthood Federation and (c) Marie Stopes International for expenditure in the Philippines (i) in total and (ii) on reproductive health issues in each of the last two years; and if she will make a statement.

Lynne Featherstone: The Department for International Development (DFID) provides United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) with £20 million of core funding each year.

DFID provided £8.6 million to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) in 2011-12 and £9 million in 2010-11 through a Programme Partnership Arrangement (PPA) grant.

DFID provided £4.35 million to Marie Stopes International (MSI) in 2011-12 through a PPA. MSI also received a £79,296 grant through the Civil Society Challenge Fund (CSCF) in 2010-11. DFID's funding to MSI is not earmarked for specific programmes. It is not possible to state what proportion of DFID funding to MSI was used in total or specifically on reproductive health issues in the Philippines in each of the last two years.

Wednesday 9 January 2013

British newspaper The Independent on Sunday came over all pro-life for Christmas?

By now the world knows that Prince William and wife Kate are expecting a baby. prince Charles has spoken about him being a grandfather to the child. The media has reported it as such, rather than referring to the couple  expecting a "clump of cells", or a "potential life", formulations we only ever hear from pro-abortion types busy trying to justify and rationalise the killing of innocent children. Meanwhile the rest of the world breaths easy calling a baby "a baby", because that is exactly who is in the womb, a baby. I was pleasantly surprised to find another example of the media thinking and writing like normal people rather than sophists, when I picked up The Independent on Sunday  (a broadly left wing British newspaper).

Each year the paper picks a charity to raise money for at Christmas time. As part of its charity campaign it ran an article titled "When pregnancy spells lethal danger to a mum-to-be and her baby" by journalist Emily Dugan, about this year's chosen charity, Refuge, which helps pregnant mothers in domestic violence situations in the UK. Sadly, abortion supporters argue for abortion as a solution to domestic abuse situations. Instead, abortion can be used as a form of punishment on the woman by her partner, and used to cover up situations of abuse and allow them to continue, sometimes helped by abortion groups not reporting cases of statutory rape, for example. Studies in 2009 and 2010 by Dr. Priscilla Coleman suggest that abortion can lead to an increase in domestic violence compared to giving birth to the child. Pregnant mothers in domestic violence situations need proper help, not abortion. What struck me was the wording used in the article, which is uncontroversial and straightforward, yet would be dismissed as anti-abortion propaganda by pro-abortion groups:
Beth was eight weeks pregnant last year when her boyfriend, Jason, killed their unborn child.
The hours that followed are now a blur. One minute she was lying on the floor wondering if she and the baby were about to die, and the next she was in a hospital bed and Jason was in a police cell.
Beth's horror story is all too common. Expecting a child is ordinarily seen as a time of happiness and intimacy for a couple. But 30 per cent of domestic violence cases begin or get worse during pregnancy. There is evidence to suggest it could be the biggest killer of unborn babies in the UK.

 In my 30 years working in this area I've seen some appalling cases, including a woman six-and-a-half months pregnant who had been kicked so repeatedly in the abdomen that her baby was stillborn. Another woman had a baby who was born with three fractured limbs."


Beth holds Ben closer. "At first, they couldn't find the heartbeat and I thought I'd lost him. It's the worst feeling you could ever have – trying to find your baby's heartbeat and not knowing if he's alive or not. I had a fist mark on the side of my belly, marks all up the side of my back and arms but I was only worried about the baby."


Teaching health workers to detect the signs of domestic violence can save the lives of mothers and babies. NHS guidelines say midwives and other health workers are supposed to ask expectant mothers about domestic abuse as a matter of routine.

Friday 4 January 2013

SPUC International Pro-Life Youth Conference 2013

What: SPUC International Pro-Life Youth Conference 2013

Where: Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire 

When: Friday 22 - Sunday 24 March 2013 

Cost: £100  (price includes room, meals, conference pack, access to all talks and workshops and evening entertainments).

Speakers
Professor Patrick Pullicino: Liverpool Care Pathway
Dr Lisa Nolland: Sex Education
Dr Helen Watt: Pregnancy
John Smeaton: Prolife Campaigns
Ira Winter: Natural Family Planning
Fiorella Nash: Maternal Mortality
Anthony Ozimic: Political Campaigning
Katherine Hampton: SPUC pro-life School’s Talk
Workshops to be announced.

Entertainment: Saturday night ceilidh with guest band Jig Abit, and of course drinks in the bar until late on Friday and Saturday evening.

Information about booking to follow very shortly. 

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