Canada

2006 census figures released by Statistics Canada show that same-sex couples with children are more likely to get “married” than same-sex couples without children. University of B.C. law professor Fiona Kelly has found that “married” lesbians usually cite their children as the reason for getting married … The Vancouver Sun reports fully one-quarter of clients at one unnamed fertility clinic in that city are lesbians … Andrea Mrozek of the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada writes in the National Post that, despite being one of the most common surgical procedures in the country, “medical research into the health risks associated with abortion is virtually non-existent.” Mrozek points to such research from abroad and notes that the American Psychological Association recently removed a statement that abortion was benign from its website. It also convened a task force on the subject, which will report next year  … In a study of 6,000 Canadian families published in Early Human Development, Dr. Rebecca Sherlock of the B.C. Children’s Hospital and Women’s Health Centre found that children’s motor and social development is impaired when women return to work too soon after giving birth … With the assistance of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, pyschologists at McGill University in Montreal will provide cocaine to 10 study participants over five years in order to study addiction … According to University of Lethbridge sociologist Reginald Bibby in his report Nevers, Nones and Nots, the proportion of atheists in Canada has remained consistent since 1975 at 7 per cent of the population; B.C. has the most at 11 per cent and men are more than twice as likely to be atheists as women … Dr. William Sullivan, a family medicine and ethics specialist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and president of the International Association of Catholic Bioethicists, has been named to the Pontifical Academy for Life.

United States

Top-tier Republican presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and John McCain all snubbed the ValuesVoter.org debate moderated by WorldNetDaily’s Joseph Farah … Senator Bob Casey Jr. (D-Penn.), a self-proclaimed pro-lifer, voted for a bill to fund international organizations that refer or provide abortions in developing countries on the same day he voted against another bill upholding the Mexico City Policy that prevents such funding. Casey asked for permission to change his pro-Mexico City policy vote and said while he does not support organizations committing abortions, he supports their family-planning work that he claims “will reduce the number of abortions” … A back-to-school feature on CNN’s American Morning blamed Republican budget cutting for an alleged increase in “unsafe” sex and pregnancy among university-aged students. Said CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, “When I was a student here at Columbia, birth control was cheap and plentiful. Well, not anymore. When students hit this campus next week, they are in for some sticker shock.” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said reductions in federally funded contraceptives, “will mean that many will have to drop out of school or face an abortion” … Data contained in Ex-Gays: A Longitudal Study of Religiously Mediated Change in Sexual Orientation by psychologists Stanton L. Jones and Mark A. Yarhouse indicate that homosexuals can leave the lifestyle and do so with little or no psychological harm. Following 98 subjects being counselled by Exodus International, a homosexual conversion ministry, over 30 months, Jones and Yarhouse found that 38 per cent successfully left the homosexual lifestyle, while 29 per cent reported modest success and would continue trying … According to the National Home Education Research Institute, there are between 1.9 and 2.4 million homeschooled children in America; the National Centre for Education Statistics says that the number of homeschooled children increased 29 per cent between 1999 and 2003.

International

Sergei Morozov, governor of the Ulyanovsk region of Russia, declared September 12 “Conception Day” to reverse the downward trend in fertility rates. Offering a half-day off from work so couples could copulate, the government will give prizes to women who give birth on June 12, 2008, including money, cars and refrigerators … Scientists at New Zealand’s Medical Research Institute have found that long-term marijuana use can lead to asthma and bronchitis … India considers classifying prostitutes as victims, in a plan to amend the 1956 Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, which sanctions prostitutes with up to six months’ imprisonment. The government wants to focus on targeting traffickers, pimps and brothel owners. Also, for the first time, clients would be prosecuted for paying for sex.