News Archive Taiwan Taiwan's "Other" Epidemic: Suicide Taipei, Jun. 10 (FIDES/CWNews.com)With the SARS epidemic apparently subsiding, a missionary priest in Taiwan has told the Fides news service that the country is also facing an epidemic of suicide. "Here in Taipei the situation with regard to SARS is improving, but since it is a mysterious disease which escapes control people are still afraid because they feel defenseless and helpless", Father Paolo Desandre, a missionary of the Fraternity of St Charles Borromeo, reported. He was referring to the situation in Taipei, Taiwan, where he is stationed. "The unknown generates fear, but as Christians our attitude must be different: we know that everything is in the hands of the Lord, every second of time, although of course we must take care and avoid unnecessary risks. The conviction that everything in our life happens for our good makes us truly very different and at peace." "The newspapers are full of news about SARS and television newscasts speak of nothing else. But in actual fact what has really shocked me since I have been in Taiwan is another disease about which no one speaks, and which takes many lives every day. In Taipei, and in Taiwan in general, the number of cases of suicide is appalling. During Chinese-language lessons, for example, the suicide of a person on the previous day, is often a subject for class discussion-- as if it were something normal, indeed sometimes some people joke about it. This I find truly gruesome." Father Desandre continued: "Desperate people who jump off high bridges, teenagers who (so the papers say) decide to die because they fail an exam or their girlfriend or boyfriend has left. Little or nothing is said about these facts, which cause more deaths than SARS, except in tabloids which search for causes to hide the real motive for this sad act: people have never met the Reason for life." TAIWAN - LEGALIZES ABORTION DRUG RU-486 Taipei, Taiwan - Taiwan's health authorities on last week legalized the use of the dangerous RU-486 abortion pill, an official said. RU-486, or Mifepristone, is available on a doctor's prescription after having undergone four months of clinical trials at three local hospitals, Minister of Health Lee Ming-liang said. The drug can only be used by women who are less than seven weeks pregnant and must be taken in the presence of a doctor, Lee said. Women would be required to have a checkup 36 to 48 hours later where they would have to take a second drug called isoprostol which causes a miscarriage of the unborn child, who, by that time, has already been starved to death. Source: Pro-Life Infonet (ertelt@prolifeinfo.org)