Europe and abortion (Europe).

Brussels--One of the first executive decisions of U.S. President George W. Bush on January 23 was to reinstate the Mexico City Policy discarded by President Bill Clinton in his first executive action in 1993. The policy bans funding international groups which promote abortion. The two chief groups involved are International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA).

The abortion lobby, however, is not without its white knights. Into the breach has stepped the European Union's Development Commissioner, Paul Nielson, who declared that the E.U. "will if necessary fill the deficiency."

A February press release from UNFPA claimed that, of individual countries, Norway has promised to increase its contribution by over one million dollars, while Ireland, which currently pays $1.2 million yearly to the cause, has now pledged to contribute $2.3 million by the year 2003. Abortion is still not legal in the Republic of Ireland itself though the courts have made it possible to go to England for an abortion.

(LifeSite)

Berne--The Swiss Parliament voted March 23 to legalize abortion. Like euthanasia in the Netherlands, abortion, though technically illegal, has been available in Switzerland for many years. Women merely require a letter from a second doctor, stating the so-called medical reasons for the "procedure," in order to "end their pregnancies;" i.e., kill their babies.

The Christian People's Party of Switzerland, which tried unsuccessfully to require women to take independent counselling before abortion, has challenged the new law. It intends to collect the 100,000 signatures needed to initiate a referendum. As a referendum would not be held for several years, the new abortion law would be put on hold until the votes were cast and tabulated.

Moscow--Deaths have outnumbered births in Russia for the past decade. Last year's official figures show a population decrease of 800,000 from 1999, while a further shrinkage of 2.8 million is forecast by 2005.

The steady population decline has not convinced the lower house of the Duma to change course. In April it rejected a measure proposed by Liberal Democratic Leader, Vladimir Zhirnoski, a Nationalist, to ban abortion for ten years and forbid women of childbearing age to leave the country.

The bill also proposed to quadruple the "baby bonus" for children under 14. This section held little appeal for the cash-strapped Russian government.

London--The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, has written an appeal to pro-life lawyers in their official magazine Counsel. He is urging them to explore the British 1998 Human Rights Act and the new European Charter of Fundamental Rights with a view to protecting the unborn child in the British Isles.

The Cardinal is also gravely concerned by the question of embryo research, lately legalized in England. He has recently been the object of activist and media criticism when he urged voters not to support pro-abortion candidates in the upcoming general election.