Marie Stopes herself was in to eugenics and in favor of "sterilisation of those totally unfit for parenthood [to] be made an immediate possibility, indeed made compulsory" and when her son married a woman with myopia she cut him out of her will.

The folks at Marie Stopes continue this glorious tradition to this day. On their website they have a poll asking "Should abortion be legal in Ireland?" and above that poll they write...

Woman travelling overseas for abortion, include pregnant teenagers, women who have been raped or in a violent relationship, women whose life would be at risk if they continued with their pregnancy or women whose pregnancy has a foetal abnormality.

In other words, not being a perfect biological specimen should give your mother an excuse to kill you.

You can vote on the online poll here.

Another "round up" style post I'm afraid, there's really very little I can add to the excellent coverage going on across the internet...

As ever, if you read nothing else, read John Smeaton: Faith schools must promote abortion, Ed Balls confirms

Kate points out that the name of Archbishop Nichols has been dragged in to the debate with Ed Balls suggesting that Archbishop Nichols is in favour of the bill. That was two days ago and still no response from the Archbishop. Qui tacet consentire.

Damian Thompson is equally unimpressed... "Bishop Malcolm McMahon, who holds the education brief in the Bishops’ Conference: not available." "Oona Stannard, head of the Catholic Education Service (CES): not available."

Damian also asks "Archbishop Nichols, tell us: will Catholic schools provide abortion information, as the Government insists?" A question all Bishops will need to ask themselves as they are all ultimately responsible for the schools in their own diocese.

Laurence England asks "Where are they now?" (Bishops McMahon and Nichols that is) while I might ask the same of Bishop Drainey.

Jackie Parkes and Richard Marsden have more on Balls radio appearance this morning.

Fr Ray Blake suggests we should direct more of our ire at the Bishops involved... "There has been serious criticism of the Catholic Education Service, at least on the blogosphere and amongst "thinking" Catholics. Really the criticism should be aimed at Bishop McMahon, and his predecessor Archbishop Nichols, who is responsible for the CES."

For a bit of light relief, read the comments on atheist Free Thinker magazine where they are all terribly dissapointed in Ed Balls saying things like "This is no surprise from our corrupt and lying government; they cravenly give in to the demands of the religious zealots just to chase votes.", they really are deluded.

I have saved the gravest of questions until last: Fr Tim Finegan: Can Catholic schools co-operate in killing babies or not? And I agree with Mullier Fortis: "The Bishops have got to decide whether they wish to follow God or Caesar. To be silent any longer is to cooperate in grave evil."

As many blogs have said already: St John Fisher and St Thomas More, pray for us!

Well I might as well go to bed because best blog entry of the day award has been well and truly won by Matthew at Creative Minotrity Report...

Experts have noticed the problem. There's a shortage of people willing to step up and do the job. And because of that, the limited number of those who have joined are stretched thinner and have to work harder. Experts have noticed that their average age is climbing rapidly. And they've noticed that many of our best and brightest young people aren't interested in joining.

While I could be talking about priests, actually liberals are worried about the graying of abortionists. Poor things.

All I can think is that if only they let abortionists marry, none of this would happen.

[link]

Priests for Life are "an officially approved association of Catholic Clergy who give special emphasis to the pro-life teachings of the Church". They sent me the following email...

Notice: The YouTube links in this do NOT show actual abortions being performed. They show a priest talking to the camera describing what happens during an abortion. However, Fr Pavone doesn't pull any punches in his descriptions and they are not for the feint of heart.

Blessings!! He is Risen!!

I blog to you on behalf of Fr. Frank Pavone and Priests for Life. Fr. Pavone recently posted two videos on You Tube in which he describes and demonstrates the two most common abortion techniques, using the actual instruments of abortion and the words found in medical textbooks and court testimony.

You can view these videos at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us_y9GP_-DA (Dismemberment abortion) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBOAPleF1t0 (Suction abortion).

These videos are part of a new project called, "Is This What You Mean?" It aims to educate the public about the nature of abortion and to challenge public officials and candidates who support the legality of abortion to admit what it is. A full description of the project is at www.priestsforlife.org/action/abortion-procedure-revealed.htm.

We are asking blog moderators to post a link or set-up an area on their blog for easy access to view our two You Tube videos.

As Fr. Pavone has quoted in endless homilies and talks about public servants who are pro-choice, there is a difference between serving the public and killing the public. Abortion has lost its meaning and is just a word to some politicians. In fact, as long as it has been since Jan.22 1973, the public is still not aware of what an abortion is and what it looks like. Again, we urge you to view Fr. Pavone's demonstrations and forward this to anybody unaware such as parents, pastors, teachers, government officials etc….

In Christ,

David--MEV

From Mulier Fortis:

The Innocent Foundation is a grant giving charity, set up by Innocent Drinks, that works in partnership with community based projects and NGOs.

One of the charities they support is Womankind, a group that promotes abortion.

Like Mulier Says:

It's worth telling Innocent that funding abortion (even second-hand) is likely to lose them customers. Not to mention bringing the "Innocent" trademark into disrepute! It is possible to email linda@innocentdrinks.co.uk or go to the website.

[update: In the following sentences read 'she' where I have written 'he'.]

But then, he would say that wouldn't he. He has a vested interest:

He want's us to stop buying smoothies and start buying his rice.