The ACL compiles a daily media monitoring services of stories of interest relating to children, family, drugs and alcohol, marriage, human rights, religious freedom etc. See here to read what’s in the news today.
Abortion
Concession for abortion as Church reaches out to youth
ROME: Hundreds of thousands of young people descending on Madrid this week for the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day – which features processions, group prayers and a mass with Pope Benedict – are to get a ”special” concession.
Church leaders have ordered that anyone during the event who confesses to having had an abortion – a sin punishable by excommunication – will be welcomed back into the Church.
Children & Family
Radicals’ ire is misplaced, children need fathers
Miranda Devine
The reaction to my column last week pointing out the perils of a fatherless society is a case study in how intimidation, vilification, distortion and outright lies are being used in an attempt to silence unfashionable opinions.
Donor Conception & Surrogacy
Sperm donor who helped lesbian couple has name stripped from birth certificate
AAP
A man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple will have his name stripped from their child’s birth certificate after a successful legal bid by the birth mother’s ex-partner. The woman took the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, and biological father, to court in May to have the donor’s name replaced with her name in the document.
Marriage
Seven years’ bad luck may be lasting just a little longer
Rachel Wells – SMH
MARRIED couples relieved to have survived the ”seven-year-itch” may be disappointed to learn that marital strife could, in fact, be just around the corner.
An Australian Institute of Family Studies report shows the average length of time from marriage to separation is now 8.7 years, up from 7.5 years in 1980. The average period from marriage to divorce also increased from 10.2 years to 12.3 years.
Refugees/Immigration
Bishops fight for migrants in US state of Alabama
Rhys Blakely, Los Angeles – The Australian
FOUR bishops are suing the state of Alabama, claiming that new anti-immigration laws will violate the right to religious freedom enshrined in the US constitution by making it “a crime to follow God’s command to be Good Samaritans”.
Australia’s moral compass: child refugee’s
Paul McDonald – Online Opinion
Under both Commonwealth and State law, a fundamental task of Government is to ensure the protection and care of all children and act in their ‘best interests’. This is not a discretionary function but an important demonstration of a mature and moral society.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=12480
Sexualisation of Society
Soya Keaveny posed in a bikini at age 12 and now aged 15 she is pregnant
The Daily Telegraph
A TEENAGER who became a bikini-clad model at 12, is expecting her first baby at age 15.
Soya Keaveny’s mother, Janis, who was accused of encouraging the premature sexualisation of her daughter when she posted provocatively pictures of Soya on the internet at age 12, is delighted at the news.
