No arrests have been made. Canada's Campaign Life Coalition, one of the country's leading pro-life organizations, said it condemned violence against abortionists. The Vatican will finish 1998 in the black, making it the fifth straight year of financial solvency for the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican employees 2,400 people, and operates Vatican Radio. Candidates for the Humanist Party claim that 200,000 illegal abortions are performed in Chile each year, a figure that works out to one in three pregnancies.
Chile bans all abortions, and obtaining or performing an abortion is punishable by imprisonment.
The House voted 204-59 to pass an amendment eliminating a constitutional guarantee of religiously separated schools that dates to the 1867 formation of Canada. Catholic and Protestant school boards will be replaced by separate boards for English and French speakers. The move is supported by the Quebec government and by many teachers' groups, but some teachers say the change will make it harder for them to bring a religious perspective to the teaching. A similar change is underway in Newfoundland, which voted earlier this year to eliminate denominational school boards.