Brazilian Supreme Court Ends Hearings Stacked in Favor of Eugenic Abortions

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

BRASILIA, September 23, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Brazil's last round of Supreme Court hearings on the issue of eugenic abortions ended Tuesday of last week with more controversial testimony by government witnesses.

As in previous hearings, which have been stacked in favor of the pro-abortion position, witnesses gave testimony that contradicts the statements of medical organizations about anencephaly, in which babies are born without part of their upper brain matter and skull and which some are arguing should be permitted to be aborted.

Luis Roberto Barroso, an attorney with the pro-abortion National Confederation of Health Care Workers, repeated the claim earlier made by Brazilian Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao that anencephaly can be detected in the womb with 100% accuracy, a claim contradicted by the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs of the American Medical Association, which has noted that "misdiagnoses of infants as anencephalic have been documented in the medical literature and detected by surveillance programs."

Moreover, doctors are still arguing over whether Marcela Ferreira, who died after one and a half years of life, and around whom a great deal of the abortion debate has swirled, was actually anencephalic (See: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060502.html). The pro-abortion side has submitted testimony that she actually wasn't, which has in turn undermined its claim to be able to easily diagnose the condition in the womb.

The undersecretary of Justice, testifying on behalf of the administration of Luiz Lula da Silva, also claimed that "100% of cases" of anencephaly die "in the first hours" of life, despite the fact that anencephalic babies often live for days or weeks, and sometimes even years, in their condition.

During the four rounds of hearings the Supreme Court heard testimony by a total of 26 witnesses, 16 of them in favor of eugenic abortions, and 10 against. Although Supreme Court Justice Marcus Aurelio Mello had previously predicted a quick approval vote by the Court, last week he appeared to be retreating from his previous confident statement, admitting that "only with much optimism could I maintain the hope for November."

The current case began four years ago, initiated by the National Confederation of Health Workers, but was shelved after it became apparent that there were not sufficient votes to support it. Mello revived the case in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling in favor of allowing embryonic stem cell research earlier this year, stating that he believed the court was now ready to rule in favor of abortions.

With the completion of the hearings, the case will now be reviewed by the Federal Public Ministry (Justice Department) of Brazil, whose undersecretary, Mario Gise, has already stated his opinion that it is "torture" to prohibit women from obtaining abortions in the case of anencephalic pregnancies. It will also be reviewed by the General Advocacy of the Union, the agency charged with handling legal issues for the government.

Related LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Brazilian Health Minister Gives False Testimony in Eugenic Abortion Case
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08090512.html

Catholic Bishops Denounce Attempt to Legalize Eugenic Abortion in Brazil
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082201.html

Brazilian Supreme Court Hears Testimony on Eugenic Abortions
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082809.html

Brazilian Anencephalic Baby Shatters Pro-Abortion Myths
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060502.html

Source: LifeSiteNews

Divulgation: http://www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Brazilian President Luiz Lula Defends Abortion, Gay Unions

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

BRASILIA, September 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Brazilian President Luiz Lula used pro-abortion rhetoric and supported homosexual unions in an interview given to TV Brasil yesterday.

Echoing the claims of many pro-abortion politicians in the United States, Lula stated that he is against abortion, but that topic should be treated as a "public health" issue.

"For 26 years I have had a position, which is to treat abortion as an issue of public health. Many people die from clandestine abortions, because the government is prohibited from carrying them out," he said.

"If you ask me, President Lula, if I'm against abortion, I'm against abortion, my wife is against abortion, but I believe that a woman who has an abortion never does it because she wants to or for pleasure, but because she is constrained by a situation and it is at that time that the government should attend to those people."

Lula's Health Minister, Jose Gomes Temporao, has consistently fought to expand access to surgical abortion in Brazil, as well as abortifacient drugs. He recently testified before the nation's Supreme Court in favor of abortions for anencephalic babies, who are born without most of their upper brain, although they exhibit signs of consciousness.

Regarding civil unions for homosexuals, Lula stated openly that he has "defended the right to civil unions for my whole life. I believe that we have to cease with the hypocrisy, because we all know that it exists. There are men living together, women living together, and often they live extraordinarily well."

Asked about homosexual adoption and benefits for homosexual partners, Lula approvingly noted that various city and state governments in Brazil have already approved such measures. He also highlighted his recent appearance at the National Conference of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, Transvestites and Transsexuals, where he stated that "homophobia" is "the most perverse disease impregnated in the human head."

"Why don't politicians who are against (homosexual adoption and partner benefits) refuse their (the homosexuals') votes?" asked Lula. "Why doesn't the Brazilian government refuse to receive the taxes that they pay?"

"Look, we need to treat the life that each person has within his own home without any discrimination," he added.

Related LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Homosexual Agenda in Brazil Suffers Defeats
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08090910.html

Brazilian President: Opposition to Homosexuality is a "Perverse Disease"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060904.html

Brazilian Homosexuals Accused of Manipulating Statistics to Further Political Agenda
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08062510.html

Source: LifeSiteNews

Divulgation: http://www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Homosexual Agenda in Brazil Suffers Defeats

By Julio Severo and Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

BRASILIA, September 9, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) — Despite the official support of President Luiz Lula da Silva, the homosexual movement in Brazil has suffered serious defeats in recent weeks in two cities in the state of Rio de Janeiro as well as the national Chamber of Deputies, Brazil's lower legislative house.

The first occurred on August 10th, when Dr. Zenobio Fonseca, a candidate for the Niteroi city council, won a suit against a law providing pensions for "partners" of homosexual city employees.

Citing articles from the federal and state constitutions, Dr. Fonseca said that marriage was a union between people of the opposite sex, and therefore, any other relationship could not be granted benefits. He also declared, "I think that homosexuality cannot be awarded benefits, because we are talking about personal behavior and not anything inherent in human nature."

On August 21, just five days before Gay Pride Week - which was approved under heavy pressure from the government, activists, and media - city council representatives in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro voted to revoke Law 6.508/08, which established Gay Pride Week in the city, an action that was denounced by homosexual activists and the newspaper O Globo.

The same day, the homosexualist agenda suffered a major defeat at the national level in the Chamber of deputies, when the Chamber voted on the National Adoption Law. Despite direct pressure from the Special Secretary for Human Rights, which is directly linked to President Lula, Catholic and Evangelical deputies managed to remove the expression "homosexual couple" from the bill. The expression would have made it possible for homosexual couples to adopt children.

Such opposition is a reminder that, despite enthusiastic support from Brazil's President Luiz Lula da Silva, large segments of Brazilian society are opposed to the homosexual political agenda.

Although there are very few opinion polls available regarding Brazilian public opinion and homosexuality, a strong majority of over 60 percent of respondents to a 2005 poll said they opposed civil unions for homosexuals, and only 32 percent supported them.

Related LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Brazilian Homosexuals Accused of Manipulating Statistics to Further Political Agenda
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08062510.html

Brazilian President: Opposition to Homosexuality is a "Perverse Disease"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060904.html

Brazilian Homosexual Leader Posts Home Addresses of Pro-Family Activists
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08052002.html

Brazilian Homosexuals File "Hate" Charges Against Brazilian Christians
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/nov/07112805.html

Brazilian Gay Groups Launch Multiple Lawsuits to Silence Christian Opposition
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07083007.html

Leader of Brazil Homosexual Movement Under Investigation for Pedophilia
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07073011.html

Source: LifeSiteNews

Divulgation: http://www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Brazilian Health Minister Gives False Testimony in Eugenic Abortion Case

Claims that the birth defect "anencephaly" can be detected with 100% accuracy

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

BRASILIA, September 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In defending eugenic abortions before the nation's highest court, Brazilian Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao claimed that the test to detect an anencephalic pregnancy is "100% accurate", according to local news reports.

"According to Temporao, public and private hospitals have the technical capacity to diagnose the absence of the brain with 100% certainty with a simple sonogram," reported O Globo.

However, that testimony is contradicted by the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs of the American Medical Association, which says that "misdiagnoses of infants as anencephalic have been documented in the medical literature and detected by surveillance programs."

Anencephaly is a condition in which the upper brain and skull do not develop completely in the womb. Some doctors theorize that the remaining neural cells that do develop could provide consciousness to the child.

Temporao's claim comes on the heels of a disagreement among doctors over the famous case of Marecela Ferreira, a Brazilian child who lived with anencephaly for a year and a half, and showed signs of consciousness.

Noting that doctors still can't agree if Marcela, who died outside the womb, was really anencephalic, representative Luiz Bassuma of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies recently asked, "Would it be possible to have certainty about the diagnosis when the fetus is still within the uterus of the mother?"

Temporao, who has long promoted abortion and abortifacient contraception as Minister of Health in the socialist administration of Luiz Lula da Silva, was among several government officials and experts testifying before the Brazilian Supreme Court on the constitutionality of abortions for anencephalic babies.

Other witnesses included Osvaldo Gomes, an attorney with the Pro-Life Group, who denied the claim made by other witnesses that the short life span of "anencephalic" babies justifies terminating their life in the womb.

"'Therapeutic anticipation of birth' is a euphemism hiding a despicable crime, which is the crime of abortion," he told the court. "We would have to frame the question in terms of the length of life. If it's going to die later, one second, one minute, for us it is life, and therefore there exists the hope of life. The expectation of having a child that is going to die doesn't justify eliminating that life before birth."

Leda Verreschi, a doctor representing the Association for Family Development, said that killing anencephalic babies in their mothers' wombs would represent "a regression of society to barbarism" and added that "in the intolerance of those who are imperfect, we will lose the capacity to love, which diminishes the human person."

The court will continue to hear testimony on September 16th. A verdict will be rendered in November.

Previous LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Catholic Bishops Denounce Attempt to Legalize Eugenic Abortion in Brazil
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082201.html

Brazilian Supreme Court Hears Testimony on Eugenic Abortions
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082809.html

Brazilian Anencephalic Baby Shatters Pro-Abortion Myths
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08060502.html

Source: LifeSiteNews

Divulgation: http://www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Brazil Admits Strange "Vaccination" Program Will Cause More Life-Threatening Reactions than Birth Defects Prevented

Revelation casts further doubt on campaign resembling previous sterilization programs

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

MARANHAO, BRAZIL, September 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - With two people in "serious" condition following reception of the rubella vaccine during Brazil's massive inoculation campaign, government authorities have admitted an adverse reaction rate that should cause a total of 70 such illnesses during the course of the campaign.

The victims, who suffered kidney failure and difficulty breathing in Sao Luis, in the State of Maranhao, were said to be in "grave condition" by Marco D'Eca, a blogger sponsored by the Globo television network.

D'Eca says that the campaign's promoters are acknowledging that one out of every million persons receiving the vaccine may suffer an adverse reaction. The campaign's goal is to vaccinate 70 million people, the most in history, which should therefore result in 70 adverse reactions, by the campaign promoters' own admission.

However, other sources admit that the adverse reaction rate for the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccine (MMR), which is the form generally being given in the Brazilian campaign, is much higher.

According to a Finnish study, one in 110,000 people given the MMR vaccine suffered "febrile seizures", one in 200,000 suffered anaphalaxis (a life-threatening whole-body allergic reaction), and one in 500,000 suffered pneumonia. One in one million contracted encephalitis -- that is, their brain swelled.(http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band84/MMR.html).

If these statistics are accurate, then approximately 700 or more people will suffer severe reactions to the mandatory vaccine, which the Brazilian government says is being given to prevent 17 birth defects annually due to rubella.

"Curiously," says D'Eca, "the side effects of the vaccine, in spite of being rare, are more serious than the disease itself. But no one says that in the vaccination campaign."

The revelation of such statistics cast further doubt on the motives of the program, which pro-life organizations regard as bearing a suspicious resemblance to covert sterilization programs conducted in other countries, including Argentina, Nigeria, the Philippines, Nicaragua, and Mexico.

Magaly Llaguna of Human Life International's Hispanic Division responded to the news by expressing "deep concern at the health risks involved in this vaccination program in Brazil, and also about the possibility that the vaccines might be laced with the HCG anti-pregnancy hormone, as has been suggested by several sources."

"We call on the Brazilian government to conduct a thorough investigation before continuing with such a massive campaign to vaccinate 70 million people," she added.
Previous LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Brazilian Representative Seeks Answers Regarding Suspicious Vaccination Program
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082911.html

Massive Brazilian Vaccination Raises Suspicions of Covert Sterilization Program
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08081407.html

UNICEF Nigerian Polio Vaccine Contaminated with Sterilizing Agents Scientist Finds
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/mar/04031101.html

NEW WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION CHIEF INVOLVED IN POPULATION CONTROL VACCINE SCANDAL
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/jan/03013003.html

UNICEF's Other Agendas
Popular Children's Aid Agency at Odds With Conservative Religious Groups for Embracing Politically Correct U.N. Viewpoints
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/oct/021030a.html

Source: LifeSiteNews

Divulgation: http://www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Brazilian Homeschoolers Score Surprise Victory in Showdown Against Government

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL, August 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a surprise victory against government officials who sought to prosecute a homeschooling family for refusing to participate in the public school system, David and Jonatas Nunes have passed tests proving a high level of knowledge in a variety of subjects, including history, the natural sciences, the arts, sports, computing, and mathematics.

The tests given to the Nunes children were so difficult that public school teachers admitted that they could not pass them. The two boys, aged 14 and 15, had only one week to study for several of the tests, which were announced only a week in advance.

The exams were ordered by a local court in an attempt to determine if the Nunes had committed the crime of "intellectual abandonment", which could have resulted in a heavy fine, and possibly jail time for the two parents, as well as loss of custody of their three children.

While the boys were told well in advance they would be tested on mathematics, geography, science, and history, they were informed only one week before the test date that they would also be tested on Portuguese, English, arts, and physical education, including questions about the history of handball, basketball, soccer, and other sports.

Despite the short time they were given within which to study, both children passed their tests, David scoring 68% and Jonatas 65%, according to Cleber Nunes, the children's father. Although the government has not yet rendered a verdict on the scores, the minimum passing grade in Brazilian schools is 60%.

"The tests were very difficult," Nunes told LifeSiteNews. "There were questions that are given in entrance exams in the big universities. In addition, we were surprised with the addition of four subjects, one week away from the exams. They studied a lot in order to assimilate all of the material."

"For me, the process by which they passed was very strong evidence that they are, in fact, learning to learn," said Nunes.

"They studied a majority of the subjects alone. We had the help of a mathematics teacher. They studied the rest of their subjects on their own. I gave them very little guidance. That's the principle of the method that we use."

Nunes says that he now wants public school students to take the same tests his children did. He says he is certain that they would not come close to passing, and points out that on international tests Brazilian students produce extremely low scores.

The 2007 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which compares student performance in 57 countries, gave Brazil well below-average scores in mathematics, reading, and science. On its own Index of Basic Education Development (IDEB), Brazil's public schools score between 3.5 and 4.2, depending on the grade level.

"It's interesting that if these same tests were given to public school students, the vast majority would not pass them," said Nunes, who noted that if failing such tests is to be regarded as a crime, "then the government itself would be condemned since their agencies admit the total failure of the educational system that they are requiring our children to attend."

The Nunes' victory comes after a year and a half of struggles with Brazilian government authorities, who interpret existing laws to mean that people cannot educate their children at home. The Nunes say they removed their children from the public school system because of the low standards and immorality that pervades the system.

Although David and Jonatas Nunes had already passed law school entrance exams at the age of 13 and 14, the results were insufficient for local government authorities, who threatened to deprive their parents of custody and attempted to levy a steep fine. The Nunes say they have been fighting the case with the help of pro-bono attorneys.

Previous LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Brazilian Homeschool Couple May be Jailed if Their Children Fail Harsh Government Tests
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082207.html

Homeschooling Showdown in Brazil: Children to be Tested by Court in Battle Over Educational Rights of Parents
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08081802.html

Brazilian Government Prosecutes Homeschooling Family, Threatens to Remove Children
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08030610.html

Source: LifeSiteNews

Divulgation: http://www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com