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International
Right to Life Federation, Inc.
Vol.
13 No. 6
(November/December, 2002)
South Korea and Cloning?
The South Korean government has proposed
a bill to at least partially prevent destructive research
on cloned human embryos. We’re told the bill bans so-called
“reproductive” cloning, that is, bringing the baby to birth,
and it bans genetic manipulation of human embryos and fetuses.
Nepal—Abortion
Now Legal
A new law just approved by King
Gyanendra has legalized abortion in Nepal. The law also
makes pedophilia a crime, and allows women to inherit property
from their parents. This has occurred partly because of
a thinly veiled demand from the United Nations.
UN Defers
Human Cloning Decision
For some time now, delegates
at the UN in New York have been trying to reach an agreement
on a human cloning ban. France and Germany have been very
aggressive in recommending a treaty that would only ban
cloning and implantation with the hope of a birth. Their
version, however, would allow “research cloning.” They
have misnamed it “therapeutic cloning,” that is, clone and
kill. The US is taking a strong stand for a total ban on
all human cloning, and Spain, the Philippines and other
countries have supported the US Being unable to reach a
consensus on this, the delegates have now voted to defer
the entire issue for one year. Peter Smith, the SPUC and
IRTLF representative at the UN, called this a crucial victory…stating,
“We agree with the US that it’s preferable to have no agreement
rather than an unethical one.”
Abortions in Slovakia
In the last ten years, the price
of an abortion in Slovakia has doubled, while the number
of women requesting abortion has fallen by 50%. Even so,
its abortion rate is about 44 for every 100 live births.
The government of Slovakia is considering increasing the
amount women pay for abortions from SK 3,000 ($70.) to SK
5,500, ($140.).
Euthanasia
in Switzerland
According
to The Observer, 3 November, a 77-year-old man was
the victim of assisted suicide recently in Zurich. While
The Netherlands and Belgium have received all the news about
legalizing euthanasia, there has been a very quiet, but
ongoing assisted suicide movement for some years now in
Switzerland. Recently, there has been publicity about this
and the numbers being killed have jumped. The euthanasia
organization, Dignitas, has published a claim that it has
helped 134 people end their lives. This is apparently legal.
Bush Would
Withdraw from Cairo?
The
Bush administration has come forward and has threatened
to withdraw its earlier support for a UN population control
agreement that had been agreed to eight years ago in Cairo
by the Clinton delegates. At a recent conference in Bangkok,
the American delegation announced that it would not reaffirm
its support of the Cairo program of action unless the words
“reproductive health services" and "reproductive
rights” were changed or removed.
Denmark—Bad
News
An opinion
poll in Denmark has returned rather shocking results. The
PLS Ramboel Poll reports that 68% of the respondents in
the country support euthanasia. When the question was phrased,
“In the case of sick or suffering patients, to end the suffering
of the terminally ill,” 93% were in favor. Also, 82% favored
euthanasia for “incurable” illnesses. 20% of the 1,000
people surveyed were opposed, 12% were undecided. Their
health minister was “shocked,” especially by the numbers
of people who would like to end the lives of “the aged,
mentally ill and handicapped people… This is a dilemma for
patients and for medical staff, whose responsibility is
to preserve the life and health of ill people.” Jesper Poulsen,
President of the Danish Medical Association said, “Actively
ending a life is incompatible with the role of practitioners.
Their role is to heal and treat sick people.”
Pill Triples
Cancer Risk
A World Health Organization
study, published 27 March, online, in the British medical
journal the Lancet, reported that women who use the
oral contraceptive pill for more than 5 years increase their
chance of developing cervical cancer by a factor of 3 or
4 times. It reported on the history of almost 4,000 women
in 8 countries who were infected with the Human Papilloma
Virus (HPV).
Birth Control
Up, So Are Pregnancies
We have some new figures released
by the British Department of Health. It relates to girls
under age 16 who are receiving either condoms or birth control
pills from family planning clinics in the UK. Their number
has risen by 230% since 1992. During that same period,
the number of abortions has also risen from 3,000 to 3,748.
You would think the government bureau involved would get
the message that pushing, but most importantly, permitting
and providing contraceptives to teenagers does not reduce
the amount of sexual activity, does not reduce the number
of pregnancies and does not reduce the number of abortions.
Perhaps they should try a different approach.
Adult Stem Cells Better?
Dr. John Gearhart of Johns Hopkins
University was the man who gained international recognition
when he first extracted pluripotent stem cells from aborted
babies four years ago. According to the SPUC November newsletter,
he is now quoted as stating that adult stem cell technology
may have greater therapeutic potential than embryonic stem
cells. While this has been generally admitted by everyone
but the most dedicated pro-abortion types, this is an important
statement coming from him.
Caffeine
in Britain
The government has issued new
guidelines which instruct pregnant women not to consume
more than 300 mg of caffeine per day. This is three cups
of coffee, six cups of tea, or eight cans of soda. It stated
that excess caffeine consumption was associated with low
birthrate and, in some cases, miscarriage.
Adult Stem
Cells In Orthopedics
Reporting to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons,
Update 2002 Web Conference, Dr. J. Iannotti said, “Adult
stem cells have the potential to revolutionize the practice
of medicine… Research on them suggests great potential
for use in the development of tissue and cartilage regeneration…
They’ve proven to be effective in bone healing today and
hold great promise for the future of orthopedics.” Note
that he is speaking of adult stem cells, not the embryonic
type that can only be obtained through killing a tiny, 4-day-old
human.
RU 486
in India
The Drug Controller of Industry
announced, but has not enforced, a policy which said that
RU 486 cannot be used in any place other than a hospital
with blood transfusion services available. Apparently this
is being widely ignored, as the drug has been found to be
freely available, and/or handed out regularly by pharmacists.
Hoovers On Line, 11 August, reported that cases of
hemorrhage and incomplete abortion from RU 486 have become
common.
Fetal Cells
Fail Again With Parkinsonism
Over the last few decades, there
have been many attempts to treat Parkinsonism by transplanting
fetal cells into the patient’s brain. Every new effort
has initially received substantial publicity hailing improvement,
only to find that, with the passage of time, that improvement
vanished and the disease progressed. Now we have the results
of the second of two federally funded studies to see if
embryonic stem cells can repair brain tissue in a Parkinson’s
patient. This study, reported in early December, has been
announced but not yet published in a journal. It did not
show any therapeutic benefit. It did produce serious side
effects in some patients. In 13 of the 23 patients who
received such cell implants, these side effects involved
dyskinesia, or uncontrolled limb and facial movements.
It could be that this will be the end of further attempts
to transplant embryonic stem cells into brains.
The earlier study, done in the
state of Colorado, also failed to show improvement and also
led to cases of severe dyskinesia.
China Again
The recent
confusing report that the coercive abortion on child population
policy had changed was, in fact, confused. In late August,
China’s State Family Planning Commission publicly denied
that it plans to abolish or change its strict population
control policy. It stated that its system of birth quotas
and permits would remain in place. Parents having a second
unauthorized child can be fined up to six years' income.
A spokesman for the commission said that there might be
changes in the next 10 or 20 years, but that any changes
would be incremental. So, it is evident that the coercion
and the infanticide will continue.
Chinese
Couple Fined
The Chinese
government, showing that it really, truly, genuinely has
not changed its one child policy, has announced that an
Eastern Chinese couple, the Zhangs, were fined for having
a third child. The fine was six times their annual income,
which is reported to be $93,000 USD. The government calls
this a “social alimony” and labels it a form of “compensation
for burdening society with more children.”
Cloned
Animals Abnormal
Dolly the
sheep’s co-creator was Professor Ian Wilmut. She was the
first cloned sheep. Dr. Wilmut reviewed all known cloned
animals in the world. He reports that they are beset by
a wide range of anomalies. These include lung problems,
obesity, premature aging, excessive size of certain organs,
heart defects, and faulty immune systems. Dolly the sheep
now has arthritis, which she developed at a far younger
age than expected. The professor’s conclusion was, “There
is abundant evidence that cloning can and does go wrong.
Accordingly, there is no justification for believing that
this will not happen with human cloning.”
Women on
Waves Floats Again
The Dutch government has now
given a go-ahead to the pro-abortion group, Women on Waves.
They have chartered a boat, The Aurora. It will be docked
in international waters outside the territorial limit of
countries that do not permit legal abortion. They had attempted
to do this a year ago but their plans collapsed when it
became evident that the ship was not a stable enough platform
upon which to do surgery. Further, there was no emergency
care available, if needed. Now this group has announced
that they will only offer the dangerous RU 486 abortion
pill. Accordingly, women would be brought by ferry to The
Aurora. While there, they would be given the abortion pills
and then ferried back to the mainland. The Dutch government
has approved this, and its health minister has said that
this decision is in line with Dutch policy on abortion.
Pregnancy
Centers Use Ultrasound
There has
been an almost dramatic increase in the number of pregnancy
help centers in the U.S. and Canada which are now equipped
with diagnostic ultrasound machines. That number today approaches
300 locations. The centers that are using ultrasound are
reporting that up to 95% of their abortion-minded clients
choose life after viewing their developing baby on the screen.
Considering the fact that it costs almost $30,000 to install
such a machine in working order, and considering the fact
that most centers exist hand-to-mouth, financially speaking,
this is a marvelous development.
Russian
Abortions
Vladimir Kulakof, head of Russia’s
Scientific Center for Girls, (AP, 18 Oct., Northern Lights)
told a news conference that Russia’s abortion rate was second
only to that of Romania. He stated that 60% of all Russian
pregnancies end in abortion and that an additional 10% are
lost in miscarriage as a result of health problems and malnutrition.
He noted that 6 million Russian women are now infertile
and that a major cause of this was abortion.
IVF Equals
More Fetal Handicap
Compared to children naturally
conceived, children born from in-vitro fertilization have
a 1.7 times greater chance of needing neurological therapy
and were 3.7 times more likely to have cerebral palsy. Stromberg
et al, “Neuro. Sequale…” Lancet, volume 359, No.
9305.
Australia—Paid Maternity
Leave?
Responding to Australia’s “increasingly
aging population and the perils the country will face if
it does not increase its workforce,” (Aus.
Ass. Press 8-9-02) a bill has been proposed that
would provide maternity leave for Australian women. They
would be paid a minimum of $431 a week for 14 weeks. The
government currently has a maternity allowance and a baby
bonus program, which it provides for new parents based on
their income level, but, if this bill passes, it will be
the first time the government has offered paid maternity
leave. Your editor would suggest that such attempts to
raise the birthrate have had little success in other countries.
Why don’t they try forbidding abortion?
Abortionists
Arrested in UAE
The Ministry
of Health in Dubai, capital of the United Arab Emirites,
reported that two abortion doctors were arrested for performing
abortions. Abortion is allowed there only after three doctors
have agreed that it is necessary to save a woman’s life -
then under tight controls and with the written consent of
her husband (Gulf News, 17 Oct.).
Human-Mouse
Hybrid
According to the New York
Times, 11-27-02, a group of Canadian biologists are
debating whether to recommend stem cell experiments that
would involve creating a human-mouse hybrid. Reactions
were generally extremely disapproving. For instance, Dr.
Irving Weissman from Stanford University said that making
mice with human cells could be “an enormously important
experiment,” but could also lead to outcomes that are “too
horrible to contemplate.”
Higher
Risk Post Abortion
Most readers are familiar with
the Scandinavian studies showing greater risks to women’s
health and life after abortions than after childbirth.
Now comes a study in the United States Southern Medical
Journal, bringing similar results. The study reports
on California Medicaid records for more than 170,000 pregnant
women who either aborted or delivered. Researchers checked
them against death certificates over an 8 year period and
found that aborted women faced: 154% higher risk of death
from suicide; 82% higher risk of death from accidents; and
44% higher risk of death from natural causes.
Fertility Rates Plunging
Says New York Times
We thought we would never see
this. The New York Times, the powerful, leading
proponent of abortion-on-demand in the United States, has
just reported that fertility rates worldwide are “plunging”
in ways that demographers did not expect and that such rates
are nearing replacement level. To have the flagship of the
pro-abortion movement admit this is a milestone indeed.
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