A UN human rights committee denounced the Vatican on Wednesday for adopting policies that allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over decades, and urged it to open its files on the pedophiles and the churchmen who concealed their crimes.

Source: The Times of India
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Abortion procedures in the U.S. dropped 13 per cent during 2008-11, to their lowest level since they were legalised in 1973, according to a study by the Guttmacher Institute, which supports legal access to abortion. The study found that 16.9 abortions were carried out per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 in 2011, or 1.1 million in absolute terms, and it also said that the decline was due more to the increased use of contraception than increased restrictions on access to abortions.

Source: The Hindu 
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