For Mexico, emigration to U.S. surpasses deaths
Mexico loses more citizens each year to U.S. emigration than to death, according to a new study by the country’s census bureau. An average of 577,000 Mexican citizens crossed the border into the United States each year from 2000 to 2005, while the country lost an average of 495,000 to death, the Associated Press reported. In 2006, the number of deaths climbed to 501,000 and the number of emigrants dropped to 559,000. The report said that about 48 percent of Mexican immigrants entered the country illegally between 1993 and 1997 and increased to 68 percent between 1998 and 2001. An average of 78 percent entered illegally between 2001 and 2005, the study found. In 1970, approximately 800,000 Mexicans lived in the U.S. The report found that number today stands at about 11 million, counting both legal and illegal immigrants. – BP
Martha Myers sculpture dedicated
A life-size bronze statue of the late medical missionary Martha Myers has been unveiled at the library of Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. Myers, a 1967 Samford alumna who served the people of Yemen for more than two decades, was shot and killed at Jibla Baptist Hospital by a Muslim extremist in late 2002. The statue shows the Alabama native dressed as she might have been on a typical day at the hospital: covered from head to toe, as is the custom for women in Yemen. Samford’s president emeritus, Thomas E. Corts, recalled the career missionary’s legacy during a dedication service May 11, noting that Myers’ calling to medical missions led her to medical school and appointment to the mission field, where the Yemeni hospital treated nearly a million people over a 24-year span. – BP
Huckabee rebuffs Clinton-Carter event
Mike Huckabee, Republican presidential candidate and former governor of Arkansas, has withdrawn from the New Baptist Covenant Celebration planned for next January in Atlanta in protest of former President Jimmy Carter’s labeling of the Bush administration’s foreign policy as “the worst in history.” Huckabee, who told the Florida Baptist Witness of his decision to drop out of the Baptist gathering in an exclusive telephone interview May 21, also said the roster of speakers “does seem to tilt left,” which gave him concern about participating. Huckabee called Carter’s comments an “unprecedented personal attack.” The New Baptist Covenant Celebration is being organized by Carter and Mercer University president Bill Underwood under the umbrella of the North American Baptist Fellowship – a division of the Baptist World Alliance – to bring Baptists together to work on social concerns and improve what they regard as the judgmental image of Baptists, according to Associated Baptist Press. Also involved in the Jan. 30-Feb. 1 meeting will be former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore. – BP
Voters oppose most abortions, poll says
American voters oppose legalized abortion in the overwhelming majority of circumstances allowed under current law, according to a new poll. The Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, along with the subsequent Doe v. Bolton ruling, legalized abortion nationwide virtually for any reason throughout the nine months of pregnancy. Although 55 percent of voters in the poll supported Roe, that number dropped to 48 percent once they learned about Roe’s wide reach. At the same time, opposition to Roe climbed from 34 percent to 43 percent. The telephone poll of 1,000 registered voters was conducted April 26-May 2 by Ayres McHenry Associates Inc., for the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the Judicial Confirmation Network. The full text of the poll’s questions was posted online. Voters in the poll said they believed abortion for the sake of convenience – for instance, because the mother says a child would interrupt her career – should be illegal. A 2004 study by the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute found that 86 percent of abortions are done for the sake of convenience. – BP