Babies born alive after late-term abortions in Canada – Iranian Christians sharing Jesus in war – Oregon fines cousellor for Christian beliefs – and more…
by Andrew Halloway
CANADA: 17 babies left to die in Alberta
After late-term abortions, 17 babies were born alive in Alberta last year – but left untreated, they died. Under Canada’s Criminal Code, a child born alive is a legal person. LifeSite News commented: “If a child is born alive and is a legal person, then the presumption must be care… As a columnist more than 25 years ago, Danielle Smith called such second- and third–trimester abortions a ‘horrific practice’, describing how ‘nurses used to induce labour then withhold fluids from the baby until it died’. Today, as premier, she presides over the system in which it continues.” (Photo, Danielle Smith, Premier of Alberta Canada. Credit alberta.ca/premier)
IRAN: Christians share Gospel during war
Despite the hardships of war, conflict has created opportunities for the underground Iranian Church to witness more openly. Todd Nettleton, vice president of Voice of the Martyrs USA, told The Christian Post: “With the Iranian government and the authorities there paying attention to the war, they’re not paying as much attention to house churches… [or] to keeping Bibles out of the country or [preventing] their being distributed within the country.”
He added: “They [Christians] are proactively talking to people about Jesus in a time when everything is in chaos, in a time when people are dying, and so people are thinking about eternity.”
The Jerusalem-based pastor Rick Ridings has also prophesied that, once free of the regime’s shackles, Iranians will be free to bring the Gospel to their Arab neighbours, such as Saudi Arabia.
USA: Vermont to pay Christian school compensation in trans row
The Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) kicked the Mid Vermont Christian School out of the athletic league after its girls’ basketball team refused to play against a team that included a transgender male who was over six foot tall. LifeSiteNews reports that a federal circuit court sided with the school, ruling that the VPA “acted with hostility toward Mid Vermont’s religious beliefs”. According to Fox News, the state has now reached a settlement with the school which comprises $566,000 in damages and legal fees.
(Photo, Mid Vermont Christian School basketball players outside the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City on 9 April 2025, credit ADF)
USA: Oregon fines counsellor for Christian beliefs
A Catholic counsellor has been fined nearly $90,000 and ordered to undergo re-education by his professional board for answering a client’s repeated demand to personally affirm same-sex relationships.
Frank Canepa had seen his client for over two and a half years and had never mentioned his personal views on same-sex relationships in at least 44 other sessions in which this topic came up, yet the client insisted for 20 minutes in one session that Canepa should personally bless her same-sex relationship. Canepa eventually told her he could not personally affirm these relationships because of his Catholic faith.
The Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counsellors and Therapists held that Canepa’s polite answer to the client violated Oregon law and the American Counselling Association’s Code of Ethics. It ordered Canepa to undergo six hours of continuing education and pay the costs of his own hearing, which amounted to $89,636.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys have asked Oregon Court of Appeals to uphold Canepa’s First Amendment right to answer honestly about his beliefs. ADF Senior Counsel Jonathan Scruggs said: “The government can’t target counsellors for their views and can’t force people to say things that go against their core convictions. The Supreme Court recently took Colorado to task for censoring counsellors and mandating orthodoxy in the counsellor’s office… We are urging the Oregon appellate court to overturn the board’s unlawful demand.”
Andrew Halloway is a British freelance editor, writer and publishing consultant. He is also editor of Good News—a national monthly evangelistic newspaper (www.goodnews-paper.org.uk). Andrew has 18 years’ experience as an editor and publishing manager in the Christian publishing world, and holds a first class honours degree in Humanities. He has long had an interest in the creation/evolution debate, and is the contributing editor of ‘The Delusion of Evolution’, a magazine-style evangelistic booklet that has sold over 23,000 copies in the UK (available from www.newlife.co.uk).