c. 1998 Religion News Service

Facilities offering abortions are decreasing

(RNS) The number of facilities offering abortions dropped 14 percent between 1992 and 1996 and now number close to a third fewer than their peak level in 1982, an Alan Guttmacher Institute study has found.

The research provides definitive evidence that the drop in the total of hospitals, doctors’ offices and clinics where abortions are performed is accelerating, The Washington Post reported. As of 1996, that number stood at 2,042.

Reasons cited for the drop include picketing and violence by abortion opponents, which has led to the deaths of clinic staffers and doctors in a few cases.

In addition, changes in health care, including the decrease in the number of doctors being trained to perform abortions, the move of providers out of rural areas and the referrals of patients to specialized clinics, have contributed to the decline. Ninety-one percent of abortions are performed in such clinics.”It’s a trend that has been taking place for a long time, but has become more and more critical,”said Jeannie Rosoff, president of the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, which conducts research on reproductive issues.”If you live in a rural area of Mississippi, you have very few choices of providers, the distances become larger.” Across the country, there has been a sharp decrease in the total number of hospitals where abortions are available, attributed in part to the merger of Roman Catholic and secular institutions.

Lois Utley, director of the”MergerWatch Project”for Family Planning Advocates of New York State, said a study has found 84 health care mergers and partnerships in the last decade between Catholic and non-Catholic facilities, with half of those resulting in elimination or reduction of abortion and other reproductive services.

The U.S. abortion rate has been decreasing as the abortion facilities close. Abortion opponents, such as Laura Echevarria of the National Right to Life Committee, thinks minds are being changed.”People have become much more educated about abortion,”said Echevarria, the Washington-based group’s media relations director.”They are rejecting it.”

Number of single fathers on increase, Census Bureau finds

(RNS) The number of single fathers has grown 25 percent in the past three years, the U.S. Census Bureau reports.

Experts said the trend could be attributed to an increasing tendency of men to seek and get custody and the greater willingness of adoption agencies to consider single people _ both heterosexual and homosexual _ as parents.”It’s quite amazing,”said Lynne Casper, a Census Bureau demographer and co-writer of the new report.”It points to the fact that maybe the last bastion of the division of the sexes is breaking down.” In 1998, fathers account for one in six single parents, The Washington Post reported. In 1970, they were about one in 10.

In the last three years, the total of single-parent families headed by fathers has grown from 1.7 million to 2.1 million. Currently, there are 9.8 million single mothers.

Single-parent families have increased in the past three years, accounting now for 27 percent of all families with children, the report states.

Researchers say children raised by single parents _ male or female _ have a greater risk of suffering emotional problems, dropping out of school or getting into legal trouble. But statistics indicate that single fathers may have some significant advantages over single mothers, such as higher average incomes.”Many of them are men living with women, such as their own mothers, who are doing the real care for the children,”said Andrew Cherlin, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.”It’s not all divorced dads, although that certainly is a large component.” The report also shows that an increasing share of single fathers have never married _ 35 percent. Also, nearly half _ 49 percent _ live in suburbs.

Polish leader says crosses will be removed from Nazi death camps site

(RNS) The long-running dispute between Jews and Catholics over the placing of crosses at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camps may be closer to resolution. In a letter to Jewish leaders, Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek has pledged to get the crosses removed _ either by court action or through new legislation.

Radical Catholics, in opposition to the wishes of Polish bishops, have placed some 300 crosses outside the camps, where 1.5 million people, the vast majority of them Jews, were killed by the Nazis during World War II.

Jewish groups maintain the crosses are disrespectful to the Jewish dead and an attempt to”Christianize”the site. The Catholics argue that Polish Catholics also died in the camps. They say they erected the crosses to protest the planned removal of a 21-foot cross under which Pope Paul II prayed when he visited the site in 1979.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency news service reported Friday (Dec. 11) that Buzek pledged to work for a new law should the government fail in its court effort to remove the crosses. Buzek reportedly said the crosses will be removed”as soon as possible.” The cross dispute has hampered efforts between the government and Jewish groups to arrive at a long-range plan for the camps. Agreement has already been reached for the removal of Jewish stars and crosses from an area of the camps known as the Field of Ashes.

Caymans limit cruise ship stops to accommodate churches

(RNS) The Cayman Islands _ a popular Caribbean tourist spot _ has banned cruise ship stops on Sundays, Christmas and Good Friday in response to complaints from church leaders.

The British crown colony’s tourism minister sent word of the decision to cruise ship operators, who have expressed their upset with the plan even though it will affect only about 10 stops per year, the Associated Press reported Friday (Dec. 11).

Michelle Paige, director of the Florida Caribbean Cruise Ship Association, said cruise lines that have already advertised stops in the Caymans on the banned days were given no advance notice.”We’re very disappointed,”she said.

In addition to tourism, the Cayman Islands are known as an off-shore banking haven. The permanent population of the three small islands that comprise the Caymans is about 25,000.

Update: Supreme Court postpones execution of Canadian

(RNS) The U.S. Supreme Court, acting just before Thursday’s (Dec. 10) scheduled execution in Texas of a Canadian citizen, has delayed the execution, saying it needs more time to consider the condemned man’s claims that his rights under international law were violated.

The case of Joseph Stanley Fulder has mobilized not only death penalty opponents in the United States but also a number of Canadian religious leaders and the Canadian government. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had asked that the execution be postponed because Fulder was not informed of his right under international law to contact the Canadian consulate when he was arrested.

Fulder was sentenced to death for the 1975 murder of the matriarch of a wealthy Texas oil family.

He would have been the first Canadian put to death in the United States since 1952. Canada abolished the death penalty in 1975.

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Texas issued a stay of execution because of questions about whether the Texas parole board had violated Fulder’s rights in rejecting his plea of clemency. But that stay was lifted later in the day by a federal appeals court in New Orleans. The Supreme Court’s action then followed.

Boston’s new domestic partnership law in question

(RNS) The future of Boston’s new domestic partnership law extending insurance benefits to domestic partners of city employees has been thrown into question following a county judge decision Friday (Dec. 11).

Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Charles M. Grabau asked the Massachusetts Appeals Court to consider whether an executive order by Mayor Thomas M. Menino extending the benefits violates state insurance law. Grabau indicated that the executive order is inconsistent with the law, but he did not immediately enjoin the city from extending the benefits.

Grabau’s action came in response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of ten Boston residents by the American Center of Law and Justice, the public-interest law firm founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson.

The executive order, implemented Nov. 1, provides benefits to unmarried heterosexual and homosexual partners of Boston city employees.

Vincent P. McCarthy, an attorney with the ACLJ, called the decision a significant victory.”The judge found that the executive order violated state law, both state statutes and the state constitution, and exceeded the power of the mayor and the city of Boston,”he said.”State law defines dependence for the purpose of group health benefits and that definition does not include domestic partners.”We believe that this ordinance was an attempt to weaken the institution of marriage by essentially creating common-law marriage,”McCarthy said.”Our organization is very supportive of the institution of marriage.” Jennifer Levi, staff attorney for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, noted that the judge allowed the benefits to continue until the case is considered at the appellate level. Approximately 50 couples already have been granted benefits through the new law.”Employees and their partners will continue to receive health benefits until the appeals court has an opportunity to address the question that was reported to it by the judge,”she said.

Levi said her Boston-based group represents Kay Schmidt, a paramedic for the city, and her partner, Diane Pullen. Levi disagreed with McCarthy about whether the case interferes with the state’s jurisdiction concerning marriage.”Marriage carries with it hundreds of protections and obligations and that’s simply not equivalent to the provision of limited workplace fringe benefits,”she said.

Oregon court says benefits due homosexual’s domestic partners

(RNS) An Oregon appeals court has ruled that homosexual state employees are entitled to health and life insurance benefits for their domestic partners.

Matt Coles, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, told the New York Times that the decision was the first of its kind.

The decision, issued Wednesday (Dec. 9), upholds a 1996 lower court ruling that found the state had illegally denied the benefits to the long-time domestic partners of three lesbian nursing employees. The lower court said the denial violated the Oregon state constitution, which holds that all state residents must be treated equally under the law.

After the case was appealed, Oregon voluntarily began offering the benefits to the domestic partners.

Bob Knight, director of cultural studies at the conservative Family Research Council in Washington, said the ruling”will force the people of Oregon to subsidize dangerous homosexual sex practices that violate the moral and religious beliefs of most Oregonians.”

Quote of the day: John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute

(RNS)”Actually, there is a large Christian element that would do (gays) in and yells at me over the issue. There’s a word for that. It’s called homophobia.” _ John Whitehead, president of the conservative Rutherford Institute and lawyer for Paula Jones in her suit against President Clinton, in an interview with Christianity Today magazine on his support for gay rights.

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