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Volume 18, Number 4
Embryonic Stem Cell Research Lab Closes
The ES Cell International has lost its funding and closed its doors. It had been focusing on human embryonic stem cell research. Investors abandoned it because: "The likelihood of having products in the clinic in the short term was vanishing small." ESI was a multimillion-dollar organization in Britain set up in the year 2000 with the hope of being the world leader in embryonic stem cell technology.
Private enterprise corrects its mistakes, Government seldom does.
Irish Abortion Tourism Declines
For the sixth year in a row, abortion travel figures of Irish women going to the UK for abortions have declined.
In the past 12 months the numbers have dropped from 5,585 to 5,042.
Safe Sex Not So Safe
Jennifer R. Morse, author of Smart Sex: Finding Life-Long Love in a Hook-Up World, using Planned Parenthood's numbers, she explains, ".When people say that contraceptives are successful 90% of the time, they are talking about married women in their 30s and 40s. However for low income, cohabitating, teenage girls, 60% become pregnant while using the contraceptive pill and over 70% while using condoms. Those practicing abstinence have a zero pregnancy rate. In spite of this obvious fact the U.S. government spends $12.00 for contraceptive education for every one dollar for abstinence education and the U.S. Congress at this point is making a fierce attempt
to stop the abstinence education.
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July/August 2007
Bulgaria Abortion Rate High
Bulgaria reports nearly 67,000 abortions done annually. In recent years, it has been reporting approximately one baby killed in an abortion for every one delivered.
Germany Now Paying For Babies
Reacting to the rapidly dropping birth rate, Germany will now pay to have new babies. The program allows new parents, who stop working, to receive two-thirds of their net wages for twelve months, and if they are poor, a higher percentage. Unless births pick up from this effort, Germany's current population of 82,000,000
is scheduled to drop to approximately 70,000,000 in 2050.
Pressure Maintained On Nicaragua
The pro-abortion folks in Europe continue to be upset by Nicaragua's adopting a constitutional amendment protecting from conception. Now the EU is threatening to cut funding for the entire nation unless they change their
Constitution and allow the killing of babies.
Spain Approves Law Allowing Cloning
Spain's Parliament has just passed a law allowing "therapeutic" cloning of human beings. The law prohibits "reproductive" cloning or carrying the implanted baby to term. But it "permits the production of cloned embryos in order to obtain research material from them." This is another way of saying clone and kill.
For the way to "obtain research material" is to kill them.
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RU-486 And Cytotec
The first drug, RU-486, mifepristone, kills the baby. This second drug, Cytotec, misoprostal, causes contractions of the uterus and expels the baby parts. The maker of Cytotec, Pfizer, has said publicly and repeatedly that it is not indicated for abortions. "We would not recommend it outside of the use for stomach ulcers." "We cannot vouch for the drug's safety when it is misused by abortion practitioners, as such miscarriages can be dangerous." Indeed, women have died from using the abortion drug in the U.S.,
Canada, Sweden, and elsewhere.
Bolivia Drafting A New Constitution
More than 20,000 people marched recently through the streets of Sucre in Bolivia. They demanded that the Constitutional Assembly, meeting in that city, include protection for the unborn in the new Constitution it is drafting. Their manifesto also calls for recognition of the right to life from the moment of conception as well as protection of marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
Pro-abortion Assault In Peru
A host of U.S. funded organizations along with the UN Population Fund are concentrating on the government and medical establishments of Peru. Their attempt is to legalize abortion as "women's health." These include the Ford and Gates Foundations. They have tried to circumvent the legislative process, which has remained pro-life, by getting endorsement from the Peru Medical College, certain hospitals and commissions. Peru's constitution protects life from the conception. Let us hope it holds.
World Congress Of Families in Warsaw
Its closing declaration stated that various threats to the family in Europe are creating a demographic winter that can only be healed by the protection and nurturing of the natural family. Healthy natural families are the natural essence of a community of love and life and only this can produce a rebirth of society. The congress called for governments to mainstream the family as public policy and to protect every human from conception to natural death, as well as to defend the fundamental rights of parents to bring up their children.
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Mexico, Court To Review New Law
The Mexico Supreme Court on May 28 accepted a petition to review the constitutionality of the new Mexico City law legalizing abortion. The petition states, "That the law violates the constitution which guarantees the right to life and that the Mexico City legislators did not have the authority to approve such a law." The vote of eight of the court's eleven
justices is required to overturn the law.
Mexico City - Now Euthanasia?
The same forces that sponsored and passed a bill legalizing abortion in the Federal District of Mexico City are now planning to introduce legislation to legalize euthanasia as well. They are saying it would only involve "passive euthanasia", i.e. removal of food and water. But pro-life leaders are extremely skeptical as this has been the
first step toward direct euthanasia.
Pakistan States Abortion Is Murder
CEDAW is the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. This U.N. Committee continues to push countries for legalization of abortion. Often the country does not fight this and some have buckled under and legalized. In May, however, it was Pakistan's time. They did not take this brow beating peacefully. The delegate to the U.N. from Pakistan told CEDAW, "Abortion is considered murder once a fetus is conceived,
and it is illegal in our country except to save the life of the mother."
Australia Embryonic Stem Cell Research Okayed
Australia's largest state in population, New South Wales, has passed a bill legalizing embryonic stem cell research.
The vote was 28 - 13.
Ireland, Ulster Will Stay Pro-life
The Westminster government in the UK has assured Northern Ireland that there are no plans to extend the pro-abortion law into that area. We note that both North and South Ireland are strongly pro-life. In fact, the Presbyterians in the North are probably more vigorously
so than the Catholics in the South.
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Scotland - Abortions Increase
Even though this nation allows the morning-after-pill over the counter, and even though the usage of this pill continues to increase, the number of abortions has also increased and now stands at an all time high. These pills were legalized on the assumption that abortions would decrease,
but exactly the opposite is happening.
Rwanda Population Control
Rwanda has 8.8 million people with an average fertility rate of six children per woman. The government has announced a campaign to promote family
planning in order to hold down the population growth.
CEDAW Persecutes Pro-Life Countries
Recently in New York at the UN the head of the CEDAW criticized Honduras for its pro-life law, telling its delegation that their ban on abortion is "a crime." In response, the Honduran representative reminded CEDAW that under its country's constitution unborn children have the same right as born children. CEDAW also pressed Belize, Brazil, Kenya and Liechtenstein to "reform" their abortion laws.
Of interest also is that they pushed Brazil to recognize married homosexual couples.
Portugal Abortion - Two Developments
First, a survey has shown that 80% of physicians in Portugal have refused to do abortions. Second, a notorious abortionist from Spain has moved his operation
across the border and is opening a major abortion center in Portugal.
Australia Would Feed Patients
New draft guidelines from a national health committee in Australia state that comatose patients and incapacitated patients like Terri Schiavo should be given nutrition and hydration. The guidelines state that medical care people should presume that the patient wants food and water even though
no specific request had been made in the past.
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Infanticide In England
Recently published on-line 12 March 2007 was a study, "Termination of Pregnancy For Fetal Abnormality 1995 - 2004." During this time, a total of 3,189 cases of abortion for fetal abnormally were identified.
Of these, the study lists 102 cases of live born babies. The method of abortion used was prostaglandin. 264 of these abortions occurred after 24 weeks gestation. There were 102 "live births with subsequent neonatal deaths". Of these, the medium age was 21 weeks. The survival duration was a medium of 80 minutes, with six cases surviving more than six hours. Current guidelines by the Royal College of Ob-Gyn are, "That feticide should be offered to insure that live birth does not follow such abortions after twenty two weeks." They note that where the anomalous condition is universally fatal, feticide is not indicated. But in non-lethal conditions, such as Down syndrome, this is "different." "The expectation that the baby will not be born alive and survive is an absolute requirement of this type of abortion." In other words, they are bound to kill these babies who are not normal through abortion and if they survive abortion, apparently, at least in this study,
these live born babies were directly killed (infanticide.)
Refuse Euthanasia And Face Criminal Charges?
A leading British official has announced that practicing physicians who refuse to withdraw food and treatment from an ill patient might face criminal charges. This follows a bio-ethics council recently recommending that severely disabled newborns be killed by direct euthanasia. Does this new warning mean that if a doctor refused to deny food and water,
he could possibly be sent to prison?
Dutch Euthanasia Actually Increasing
There has been a report that euthanasia in the Netherlands has declined. This is incorrect, for there has been marked increase in the number of patients being sedated and dehydrated to death. These are not listed as euthanasia under the law. According to
LifeSiteNews, 14 May in 2005, there were approximately 12,660 euthanasia deaths,
which accounted for 10% of all the people who died in Holland.
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Adult Stem Cells Produce Insulin
In the journal, Cell Proliferation, June 2007, Texas researchers report that they have engineered adult stem cells from human umbilical cord blood to produce insulin.
This is another breakthrough but obviously still needs much more research.
Adult Stem Cells Help Type I Diabetes
Here is another study showing that adult stem cells have more potential than embryonic stem cells to help diabetes. University of Florida researchers used umbilical cord blood to help children newly diagnosed with Type I diabetes. Such adult stem cell transfusions were beneficial. Continuing study must be done to see if the curative results are permanent. We note that to date, there has been no study in humans using embryonic stem cells to treat diabetes
or any other condition for that matter.
Adult Stem Cells Planted On The Surface Of A Man's Eyes
Adult stem cells planted on the surface of a man's eyes in a corneal patch
have restored a man's vision in Australia.
Fertility Treatment Reduces Sperm Count
An extensive study in Denmark has found that the sperm count of men, who were conceived by fertility treatment of their mothers, is lower by as much as 50% compared to other men
who were conceived in a natural fashion.
Argentina - No To Abortion?
An association of Catholic doctors and lawyers has formally demanded that the Congress in Buenos Aires cease what has been a consistent campaign to legalize abortion.
They also have denounced efforts to legalize the morning-after-pill.
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New Source Of Pluripotent Stem Cells
In the June 7 edition of the journals, Nature and Stem Cells, Japanese researchers report having produced embryo-like pluripotent stem cells from the skin cells of mice. They introduced four proteins, which "re-programmed" the cell's nuclear DNA. These produced stem cells equal to embryonic stem cells. If this is reproducible, this may signal the final death knell to the continued push to
kill human embryos to get embryonic stem cells.
Monitoring Health Of IVF Children
According to the British journal, Lancet, children born by IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection should be monitored medically into adulthood as it has been shown that they have significantly more
medical problems than their naturally conceived peers.
Persistent Vegetative State Diagnosis Is Often Inaccurate
Researchers at the University of Liege, Belgium, examined 59,000 patients in intensive care units. Of these, 357 were diagnosed on admission as being in persistent vegetative state (PVS). Just over half of these subsequently left the hospital with some degree of restored conscientiousness, while 59% were able to then obey commands. The study's conclusion was that at least one fourth of such patients have a good chance of recovering a "significant proportion of their faculties." Further 40% of PVS patients were incorrectly diagnosed as having no cognitive function, when in fact they did have minimum conscientiousness. Many previous studies have also shown that a PVS diagnosis is frequently inaccurate and should give pause to those who quickly advocate
removing life support for people with traumatic head injuries.
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J.C. Willke, President,
International Right to Life Fed.
1821 West Galbraith Road
Cincinnati,
Ohio 45239 USA
Phone +1 (513) 729-3600
Fax +1 (513) 729-3636
e-mail:
IRTLF@lifeissues.org
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International
Right to Life Fed., International Office
Ruitersweg 35-37 1211 KT Hilversum
The Netherlands
Phone +31 35 624-4352
Fax +31 35 624-9141
e-mail:
info@schreeuwomleven.nl
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