Good News 1: Disability and Euthanasia
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has directed Canada to repeal Track 2 medical assistance in dying (MAiD). They also say to raise the “woefully inadequate” Canada Disability Benefit rate, and address regional disparities in how rights of those with disabilities are applied: United Nations Committee directs Canada to repeal Track 2 euthanasia deaths
Good News 2: Nuclear Weapons Resolution
On April 10th, U.S. representatives have introduced H. Res. 317. It lays out how we reform U.S. policy to help achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.
This helps increase public awareness and builds Congressional leadership. A similar resolution last Congressional session had 44 co-sponsors. U.S. readers can contact their representatives about co-sponsoring.
Good News 3: More on Planned Parenthood Closings
We mentioned last issue that PP has announced closing 4 centers in Illinois and the upcoming sale of their Manhattan New York Center building. There were 4 other centers in New York they had announced would permanently close last August that finally were removed from their list. They’ve also announced 4 centers in Michigan will close on April 30, and another in Vermont will close on June 3.
Unannounced but nevertheless disappearing from their list and accordingly probably permanently closed: Seaford in Delaware, and both of the ones in Las Vegas in Nevada. With those, there’s a new one for North Las Vegas, but it’s just one replacing two.
We know from studies that distance from a center means people are less likely to make the trip. The consolidating and streamlining they’re claiming still likely means fewer people coming.
In all cases they announce, their reasoning is financial. Many centers have been struggling anyway, but more financial help doesn’t currently seem to be on the horizon.
See the running list of closures on our project website, Grassroots Defunding: Finding Alternatives to Planned Parenthood.
CLN Peace Vigil in Washington, DC: May 10
Our next peace vigil to protest nuclear weapons will be on Saturday, May 10th, from 10 am to 12 pm ET. We will be on the roadway in front of the White House.
The American Solidarity Party of Maryland and DC, Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore, and Rehumanize International are co-sponsoring and other groups are welcome to join us. For more information, contact John Whitehead.
More Signs of the Times
Another weekend, another nationwide set of protests against Trump administration policies. Again, here are some signs that suit our fancy:
The Latest on the Blog
John Whitehead offers some much-needed tips in Persuading People to Act against the Nuclear Threat: Some Findings and Recommendations.
Jim Hewes considers specific individuals that either became pregnant through rape or were conceived in rape in Abortion When it Involves a Rape: See the Faces.
Quote of the Week
Pope Francis (1936-2025), R.I.P. Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, paragraph 136 May 24, 2015
It is troubling that, when some ecological movements defend the integrity of the environment, rightly demanding that certain limits be imposed on scientific research, they sometimes fail to apply those same principles to human life. There is a tendency to justify transgressing all boundaries when experimentation is carried out on living human embryos. We forget that the inalienable worth of a human being transcends his or her degree of development. In the same way, when technology disregards the great ethical principles, it ends up considering any practice whatsoever as licit . . . a technology severed from ethics will not easily be able to limit its own power.