Campus Censorship

LIFESITE, Sept. 16 — Three former University of British Columbia students who stood up for life are seeking damages from the Alma Mater Society, which, the former students say, suppressed their rights to free speech.

The dispute began in the fall of 1999, when Alma Mater condemned “the tactics of the Genocide Awareness Project,” which was invited on campus by a pro-life club called Lifeline. Alma Mater's specific objection was to the display of pictures of aborted babies in the student union.

The current Alma Mater censorship resolution is very broad and even prevents the images from being shown in the private meetings of pro-life clubs. Alma Mater has continued to enforce this policy by requiring the removal of snapshots and, only two weeks ago, preventing the showing of an abortion documentary on the UBC campus.

Physicians See Cancer Link

LIFESITE, Sept. 16 — The National Physicians Center for Family Resources released a CD in which increased breast-cancer risk is cited as a long-term medical complication resulting from abortion.

The CD is intended to be a resource for parents and health educators to assist them in answering children's questions about puberty, reproduction and sexual health.

It says: “During a normal pregnancy, the female's body produces high levels of the hormone estrogen. This causes the milk-producing glands in the breast tissue to become active, a process that is completed during the third trimester of pregnancy. … Elective abortion interrupts these changes in the breast tissue, which makes the cells more likely to become cancerous.”

Swiss in Assisted-Suicide Cases

REUTERS, Sept. 13 — An assisted-suicide organization based in Switzerland is being investigated by public prosecutors over cases where it helped foreign nationals end their lives.

Assisted suicide is tolerated under Swiss law, as long as the drugs are self-administered and the person is making a rational decision to die. The organization, Dignitas, is based in Zurich and says it has a membership of 1,625 people from all around the world.

It pledges to help anyone who wants to “die with dignity” and says that last year it helped 50 people to kill themselves, 31 of whom were Swiss citizens. “We are investigating cases where Dignitas has helped Austrian, Dutch, French and German nationals to kill themselves,” Zurich public prosecutor Andreas Brunner told Reuters Health.

Parents Block Video

FREE PRESS, Sept. 16 — Parents on the Rochester, Mich., school district's sex-education advisory board thought a tape titled What Kids Want to Know About Sex was too explicit for 12-year-olds. In the video, a boy asks a doctor frank and graphic questions. Teachers argued the same questions are heard in hallways, cafeterias and classrooms almost every day. The concerned parents won and the video was shelved.