The abortion pill, parents protesting the schools attended by their own children in the UK, and a horrifying case of euthanasia in the Netherlands–here’s the next news roundup.
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According to the National Post, the abortion pill will now be provided freely in Manitoba. Despite the dangers associated with these drugs, abortion activists have been pushing relentlessly to have it made as widely and easily available as possible:
The Manitoba government is going to provide universal access to the abortion pill Mifegymiso, a move that will leave Saskatchewan as the lone province where the cost of the drug is not fully covered by the public. Rochelle Squires, minister responsible for the status of women, said making the drug easier to access will benefit women who want to stay in their home communities.
“Our analysis shows that it is more cost-effective for women to stay in their own community to access reproductive health services, where possible,” Squires told The Canadian Press on Saturday. “We also know that for many women, it is preferable to be able to stay in their community instead of coming into a place like Brandon or Winnipeg.”
Currently, Mifegymiso is only available for free at clinics in Winnipeg and Brandon that offer surgical abortions. Otherwise, women have had to pay upwards of $300 for the two-pill treatment unless they are covered by private insurance or low-income pharmacare.
We’re making it easier and easier for people to offload their offspring. The FDA has reported that the abortion pill has caused 22 deaths and a thousand hospitalizations, but don’t expect that to make the news.
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Christianity Today is reporting that the parental pushback to LGBT lessons is increasing, where Muslim parents are furious that their children are being taught things that they disagree with—and sex education lessons covering LGBT themes will become compulsory in schools from September 2020 onwards, ensuring that these protests are just beginning:
The head teacher of a school where parents have protested LGBT awareness lessons says she is bracing herself for mass arrests after the High Court moved to halt the protests. The High Court order bans protests from taking place outside the gates of Anderton Park Primary School in Birmingham – the first in the UK to have a legally enforceable exclusion zone.
Birmingham City Council said it had applied for the injunction “only after careful consideration and in the light of increasing fears for the safety and wellbeing of the staff, children and parents of the school when they come back from their half-term break, This is particularly so after the serious escalation of the protests in the week before half-term – including the attendance of very large numbers of people who have no children at the school, many of whom are not from the city.”
Head teacher Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson, who says she has been subjected to verbal abuse over the LGBT lessons, told The Times that the police should make arrests if the order is breached.
“Now the judge has granted the power of arrest, mass arrests are a possibility,” she said. “Police are very keen not to arrest lots of people outside a primary school but they will have to work through that.”
Protester Shakeel Afsar was seen in a video on social media vowing to continue the protests, despite the risk of arrest. “Parents, don’t be disheartened by this . . . we will carry on moving forth until we bring change,” he said.
Education secretary Damian Hinds, who has been accused of not doing enough to stop the protests, said he welcomed the High Court’s decision to grant the injunction. “It is not right to protest in front of schools – it is frightening to children and disrespectful to hard working teachers,” he said. “This will allow children to return to school and parents to continue peaceful and constructive discussions with staff. I support and trust head teachers to make decisions in the interests of their pupils – parents should share their views and concerns, and schools should listen.
“However, what is taught and how is ultimately a decision for schools. Consultation does not mean parents have a veto on curriculum content. There is no reason why teaching children about the society that we live in and the different types of loving, healthy relationships that exist cannot be done in a way that respects everyone.”
Notice the final point there: Parents do not get to decide what their children will be taught. That is for the schools—and the state—to determine. It is interesting that the parents who are finally pushing back are mostly Muslim, when two generations ago it would have been Christian parents upset with this curriculum. How things have changed.
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For anyone interested, my book on The Culture War, which analyzes the journey our culture has taken from the way it was to the way it is and examines the Sexual Revolution, hook-up culture, the rise of the porn plague, abortion, commodity culture, euthanasia, and the gay rights movement, is available for sale here.
