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World Congress of Families Hails Victories for Life and Family in Croatia, Russia, and Ecuador
World Congress of
Families Managing Director Larry Jacobs hailed the outcome of the
December 1st referendum in Croatia, as well as developments in Russia
and Ecuador, as "victories for the natural family and human rights."
Contact: Don Feder, Communications Director, 508-405-1337, dfeder@rcn.com; World Congress of Families, 815-964-5819, media@worldcongress.org, media@profam.org
CROATIA, Dec. 10, 2013 /Christian Newswire/
-- In the nation's first-ever, citizen-initiated referendum, Croatians
asked their government to preserve marriage as the union of a man and a
woman, by a vote of 65.8%. Jacobs observed: "This is all the more
impressive in light of the opposition from Croatia's left-wing
government and biased media."
He noted that supporters of the
referendum collected over 750,000 signatures, double the number required
to put such a measure on the ballot. "While opponents claim the
outcome is due to 'extraordinary pressure' by the Catholic Church in
this majority-Catholic country, the German newspaper Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zietung observed that the question enjoyed broad support
among all faith communities -- including Orthodox, Jewish and
Protestant. Support for natural marriage isn't a sectarian issue."
RUSSIA
A
week earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning
abortion advertising. Some legislators are talking about going further
and banning the procedure itself. In October, an official
representative of the Russian Orthodox Church called abortion a "mutiny
against God."
Jacobs disclosed: "Russia is ground-zero for
demographic winter and new policies to protect the sanctity of human
life. Due to low fertility, abetted by abortion, Russia's population
could decline from 140 million to as low as 104 million by the year
2015." According to the Russian Health Ministry, there are 1.7
abortions for every live birth in the country.
"World Congress of
Families working with the Russian pro-life movement organized the
world's first Demographic Summit at the Russian State Social University
in Moscow in 2011," Jacobs said. "Shortly thereafter, a law was passed
banning abortion for unborn babies older than 12 weeks, mandating a
waiting period for 2-7 days for those wanting an abortion, and requiring
a health warning in advertising to indicate that abortion is hazardous
to a woman's health. These were the first restrictions on abortion
since the Bolshevik Revolution when Russia became the first country on
earth to legalize abortion during all weeks of pregnancy without
restriction.
"In fact during the
1920's, the communists in Russia were such promoters of abortion that
they developed many of the abortion techniques that are used today by
abortionists to kill unborn babies. After abortion became so
widespread that the average women in Russia was having seven abortions
during her lifetime, even the New York Times was forced to admit that abortions were hazardous to a woman's health and fertility. In 2003, the New York Times
Editorial Board said, 'Now the Russian government is attempting to slow
the abortion rate. It is an admirable goal, given the toll that
multiple abortions have taken on the health and fertility of Russia's
women.'"
ECUADOR
And in October of this year, there was
another victory for human rights and the sanctity of human
life. Opposition by Ecuador's President Rafael Correa (who governs from
the left) caused his party to withdraw a bill legalizing abortion from
consideration by the National Assembly. Correa threatened to resign if
the legislation passed. "They can do whatever they want. I will never
approve the decriminalization of abortion," Correa declared.
Jacobs
said all three developments offered cause for hope. "When the people
are able to overcome elites, the natural family always wins. People
understand that humanity's future and 'real' human rights lie with the
family and not in deconstructing marriage or killing unborn children."
World Congress of Families VIII
with the theme "Every Child A Gift: Large Families, the Future of
Humanity" will be held in Moscow, September 10-12, 2014. The opening
session of WCF VIII will be in the Congress Hall of the Kremlin
Palace. A special WCF parliamentary session will also be held in the
Russian Duma and a WCF scientific forum at Lomonosov Moscow State
University. The closing ceremony will be held at Moscow's Christ the
Savior Cathedral -- the tallest Orthodox Cathedral in the world. For
more information visit the Russian websites at www.worldcongress.ru and www.familypolicy.ru.
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