IOF Inspires the Movement — IOF Weekly

IOF’s long-standing campaign to educate policymakers about the key role of family capital in sustainable development has intensified in the last five years by our publishing, jointly with other pro-family groups, two cutting edge books (edited by Susan Roylance, with articles by some 45 contributors), both available for download via a dedicated website.

Physical copies of both books have been widely distributed to UN ambassadors and missions from around the world, and have been a major stimulus in the increasing recognition of the indispensable role of family capital—defined by author Marcia Barlow in our latest book as follows: “Mothers, fathers, and their children engaging in the business of life supported by an extended and intergenerational family network—all working together to create a virtuous web that serves the economic, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being of all family members; and ultimately serving communities and nations.”

We are delighted to report that this fundamental concept has found its way into the document under negotiation by the upcoming 61st session (March 13-24) of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, whose “Compilation text” version—over 70 pages worth—was released February 28 and contains proposed language submitted by many nations and regional groups. Paragraph 8.6, proposed by the African Group, states:

Grounded in provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stating that “Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance” and that “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State,” the language proposed by the African Group has value not only per se but also as a lens to assess the relative merits, or lack thereof, of the myriad other proposals. We strongly urge its adoption.

Ann Kioko, president of African Organization for Families, has announced the launch of the 40 Days for Life Kenya campaign with prayers at the Marie Stopes headquarters in Nairobi. “We have evidence beyond reproach that Marie Stopes clinics have been carrying out abortions even when it is illegal in Kenya.” The African Organization for Families will hold daily prayer rallies throughout the campaign at the abortion group’s headquarters.

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The pro-life movement across Russian is growing in influence and effectiveness. From 1993 to 2015, the abortion rate has fallen from 225 per 1,000 live births to 44. A nationwide petition to ban abortions altogether has collected over 400,000 signatures, including that of Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Russia’s pro-life movement draws inspiration from US pro-life groups, including the World Congress of Families.

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A Mercatornet writer’s review of search terms regarding physician assisted suicide shows that Google may be manipulating results to subtly reframe the debate. When typing in “physician assisted” into Google, the search engine’s auto-complete function suggested searches related to “physician assisted death.” But when the writer continued typing “suicide” in the search, all suggestions disappeared. However, Google’s own reporting of search trends shows that the term “physician assisted suicide” is consistently a more popular search than “physician assisted death.” The writer found that other search engines such as Bing and Yahoo! did not censor physician assisted search terms.

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“Legalisation of same-sex marriage in US states has been linked to a drop in suicide attempts among teenagers,” crowed the Guardian and myriad other media outlets last week. According to the new study, “suicide attempts among high school students fell by an average of 7% following the implementation of the legislation,” with an even greater impact among LGBTQ adolescents. What the Guardian—and almost all other media sources, and even the researchers—bury somewhere in the middle of their stories is the limitations of the study, which are substantial. Perhaps, instead of focusing so much on trendy but potentially rather flawed information, policymakers should take a look at research that continues to demonstrate a different route to suicide prevention.

Read more → at The Natural Family: An International Journal of Research and Policy