Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Life Links 8/31/10

Women's eNews has an article about abortion doulas in New York City. It notes that some pro-choicers are all that supportive.
"We're also getting pushback from the pro-choice community," said Alison Ojanen-Goldsmith of Seattle's Full Spectrum Doulas, which is preparing to train abortion doulas this fall. "Some pro-choice advocates don't want to admit that abortion patients may need support. They deny it because they're fighting anti-choice rhetoric and its insistence that women are somehow damaged by abortion."

On the progressive Web site Slate.com, one pro-choice journalist asked, "Are women really so fragile that they need a complete stranger to hold their hand at the doctor's?"


The New York Times has a piece on Sarah Palin vs. EMILY's List.
Women are divided but not by gender — the old saw that women must stick together doesn’t work anymore, if it ever did — nor necessarily split by party. They are polarized, like the nation, between the growing conservative-independent camp and the liberal-progressive bloc led by the political classes — or more simply, between insiders and outsiders. And this is the time for the outsiders.

Columnists, political analysts and commentators seem as split as female voters, although giving the edge right now to Ms. Palin as a charismatic and powerful campaigner. She is credited with injecting new enthusiasm among conservative female voters and for the record number of Republican women running for Congress.

Still more problems for abortionist Steven Brigham

Constantly troubled abortionist and abortion clinic owner Steven Chase Brigham is making the news again. This time for performing abortions in Maryland at one of the clinics he owns.

One problem: he's not licensed in the state of Maryland.
The Maryland State Board of Physicians ordered Steven Chase Brigham, 54, to stop practicing medicine without a license at American Women's Services, which has locations in Elkton, Baltimore, Cheverly, College Park and Frederick .

According to the order, issued Wednesday, Brigham has been performing surgeries regularly in Elkton. He has performed two or three procedures twice a week for at least the past several months.

It is not clear whether Brigham ever worked in the Frederick office.

The order also said Brigham has been observed performing about 50 surgeries in Elkton since January.

"The health of Maryland patients is being endangered by (Brigham's) unlicensed practice of medicine in this state," the order says.

The board cannot revoke Brigham's license because he is not licensed in Maryland. All the board can do at this time is order him to stop practicing in the state, according to Karen Wulff, spokeswoman for the Board of Physicians.

If Brigham continues to practice in Maryland, the board may be able to take action, she said.

"In some situations, practicing medicine without a license is a felony in Maryland," she said.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Life Links 8/30/10

According to a Rasmussen poll, the majority of Americans (57%) oppose taxpayer money being used to pay for embryonic stem cell research. Amazingly, large percentages of Americans still believe the hype.
Virtually unchanged since January 2007 is the finding that 69% of voters believe it is at least somewhat likely that embryonic stem cell research has the potential to lead to cures to previously incurable diseases. That includes 39% who say it is Very Likely.


Meanwhile, the Washington Post has an article on how some proponents of embryonic stem cell research are scared Geron's clinical trial which plans to use embryonic stem cells on patients with spinal cord injuries is going to fail and burst the embryonic stem cell bubble.
"There's a lot of angst around these trials," said Evan Y. Snyder, director of the stem cell program at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in San Diego. "There's going to be this perception that if the cells do not perform well, the entire field will be illegitimate."



Help around 130 people commit suicide, the majority of whiom weren't terminal and some of whom weren't even sick. Spend nearly a decade in jail for killing a man. Get a Hollywood biopic. Receive applause and be called "brilliant" at the Emmy awards.


LOL Pro-Choice Quote of Week from Rob at the Abortion Gang:
Not sure if anyone saw it, but there used to be a show on TV called Lost. Two of the central characters that were at odds with one another through the entire series were the aptly charged Man of Faith (John Locke) and the Man of Science (Jack Shephard). And it got me thinking about the divide between the Pro- and Anti-choice crowds, and how we essentially have this same dynamic affecting these movements. You have the antis, whose faith tends to guide their approach and their dialogue on this issue. And you have the pros, who tend more towards using scientific facts to guide their dialogue and mission.
What scientific facts guide abortion advocates?

Friday, August 27, 2010

Life Links 8/27/10

Pastor Walter Hoye's convictions for supposedly violating Oakland's abortion bubble ordinance have been overturned.
Walter Hoye of Union City, a pastor at a Berkeley church, was the first person convicted under a 2008 Oakland ordinance that created an 8-foot "bubble" around patients entering reproductive health clinics. The law prohibited knowingly entering that zone to harass a client or offer counseling without the person's consent....

In a ruling Wednesday, a three-judge Superior Court panel said trial Judge Stuart Hing had failed to tell jurors what they had to conclude before convicting Hoye.

When jurors asked Hing during deliberations to define the "approach" that the ordinance prohibited, the judge told them to use the everyday meaning of the word.

But the panel said the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a similar case from Colorado in 2000 that an abortion protester who stands still, and speaks or hands leaflets to patients who walk by, cannot be convicted of knowingly approaching the patient.


An Indiana man who had a sexual relationship with a teenage girl (whom he met at church) allegedly gave her $600 for an abortion in case she became pregnant.
David E. Nelson, 32, is accused of having sexual relations with a teenage girl on two occasions. An investigation into the alleged crime began in late July when representatives from the Putnam County Department of Child Services received a complaint about Nelson....

Court documents also alleged that Nelson gave the victim $600. The victim told her mother Nelson had given her the money to keep quiet about their relationship; she later told police he had given her the money 'for an abortion if she was pregnant."


A few months ago there was news about a young girl (10 at the time) in Mexico who was impregnated by her step-father. Pro-choice groups attempted to use the situation to attack Mexico's abortion law while other media outlets reported that the girl didn't want an abortion. She recently gave birth.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Frances Kissling wants to change the topic

At Feministe, former head of Catholic for a Free Choice Frances Kissling has a post dealing with Missouri's updated informed consent law which includes the following information in information given to women considering an abortion:
"The life of each human being begins at conception. Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being.”
Kissling objects to this information because,
In that brief phrase the most common misunderstanding about abortion is presented as fact. Of course, they meant to say the “Catholic” position and even that is wrong. The best kept secret about Catholicism and abortion is that the Catholic view of when the fetus becomes a person is precisely the same as that asserted in Roe v. Wade. Whatever definition one wants to posit about fetal personhood, the fact is nobody knows.
Wait. What? I didn't see any information about "personhood." I saw a phrase about when life begins and what abortion does to living human beings but I didn't see anything about "personhood." Did you?

Why is Kissling so obviously attempting to change the subject? Does she not have any evidence that the unborn aren't human beings? Can she not muster any defense for the position that the unborn aren't living humans and abortion doesn't kill human beings?

Prayers for Jessica Valenti and Layla Sorella Valenti-Golis

According to this post on Feministing, pro-choice blogger Jessica Valenti gave birth to a girl on August 15. Jessica was only 29 weeks and her daughter Layla weighed only 2 pounds. The good news is that both mother and child seem to be doing well.
The news is bittersweet as little Layla was born early, at Jessica’s 29th week of pregnancy; she was diagnosed with a case of severe preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome this weekend and had to undergo an emergency c-section. In short, it’s been a scary and difficult week for the Valenti/Golis fam, but Jessica is recuperating and Layla is doing great — a strong but wee little darling at 2 lbs. Her nurses says she’s feisty and courageous — just like her mama!

Life Links 8/26/10

The voters of Alaska approved a parental notification law and it will probably go into effect in December, 90 days after the election results are certified. Alaska's like Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller sounds like my kind of guy.
The ballot also included a sharply contested voter initiative generally requiring parents to be notified before their teen receives an abortion. Miller came out strongly for Ballot Measure 2.

"He told voters over and over again: Flip your ballot over, vote 'yes on 2.' Before you vote for me, vote 'yes on 2.' Ballot Measure 2 is much more important than this Senate race," said Bernadette Wilson, campaign manager for Alaskans for Parental Rights, the "yes on 2" group.


Colleen Carroll Campbell on the efforts of pro-choicers in Missouri to argue against scientific facts included in ultrasound legislation in Missouri.
The complaint hinges on these words in the law: "The life of each human being begins at conception. Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being."

Sounds pretty straightforward right? Wrong, says Paula Gianino, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri. As she told the Post-Dispatch recently, "Those are not sentiments that all the world's religions, or all the people in the state, believe in."

Actually, those are not sentiments at all. They are statements of fact. They can be verified by most any embryology textbook, including those written decades ago, when abortion-rights activists still were claiming that "no one knows when life begins." As the 1975 edition of Medical Embryology put it, "The development of a human being begins with fertilization, a process by which two highly specialized cells, the spermatozoon from the male and the oocyte from the female, unite to give rise to a new organism, the zygote.


A student in Taiwan has won a a "best of the best" prize in the communication category of the 2010 red dot design award for her 3D animated film
The 4-minute film depicts the human gestation process through a video game setting. The main character, a combat aircraft named "Eros," is transformed from a baby who keeps moving inside its mother's womb as it struggles against various obstacles that could block its birth.

Lee said her inspiration came from her elder sister's first pregnancy and the experience of her own mother, who once considered an abortion.


Do not, I repeat, do not read this column by Bonnie Erbe on stem cell research. The ridiculousness and stupidity of every paragraph will have you questioning our entire education system. This woman not only somehow graduated from high school, she graduated from college, got a master's in journalism from Columbia and her J.D. from Georgetown University cum laude. How is that possible? This column doesn't meet the standards of a high school newspaper. Here's just a taste:
I find most social policy positions taken by not just Christian but all religious extremists to be fairly nonsensical. After, "Thou shalt not Kill," (or steal or lie, etc.) I'm not a fan. Why bother forming a movement to oppose gay marriage, for example? What a waste of time and energy. The same for abortion. Those who oppose abortions are nowhere required to have them.
That's like saying it's nonsensical for there to be laws against stealing because we're not required to steal.

Who needs real stem cell news? We've got NBC!


Tuesday night NBC Nightly News aired a report on stem cell research and Judge Royce Lamberth's decision that federally funding human embryonic stem cell research violates the Dickey Amendment and should be prohibited. By omission the report intentionally tricks viewers into thinking that embryonic stem cells are currently being used to treat patients with heart ailments.

The report begins with science reporter Robert Bazell visiting a lab where researchers use both adult and embryonic stem cells. Dr. Chuck Murry describes himself as “very pragmatic” and says he wants to use the type of cells that work the best. The researcher then shows Bazell embryonic stem cells which have been turned into heart cells that beat together in a lab dish. Next (at about the one minute mark) the report mentions the research team has “already started injecting cells into people” but never mention what kind of cells they're injecting into people. Then a quote from Murry who talks about how embryonic stem cells can become the 200-some-odd types of cells in the body. We're then told that this research may have to stop by the end of the year because of the ruling.

There haven't been any approved clinical trials for embryonic stem cells to be used on heart patients, so I know the team isn't using embryonic stem cells on human patients. The public doesn't know this though so any average person watching this report is left with two completely false impressions: 1.) that embryonic stem cells are currently being used to treat heart patients and 2.) that non-existent research using embryonic stem cells to currently treat heart patients may stop receiving federal funds at the end of the year.

Viewers are probably also left with the false impression that embryonic stem cells are working better in patients because of the “pragmatic” comment followed by the dish of beating cells formed from embryonic stem cells and the complete lack of any mention of adult stem cell successes with actual patients.

This is a disgraceful, intentionally misleading report.

Also of interest:

Here's the text of 2005 NPR interview with Dr. Murry regarding his work. He thought he would optimistically start a clinical trial using embryonic stem cells to treat heart patients in 2008.

Nathan Burchfiel of NewsBusters commentedon both the NBC story and the CBS story.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Stem cell news, links

Adam Keiper and Yuval Levin write about Stem Cells, Life, and the Law at National Review Online.
Whichever way the matter is finally resolved in the courts, it is certainly a great improvement to be asking this question — does the research being funded involve the destruction of human embryos? — and presuming that if the answer is yes, then the research should not be funded, rather than debating whether the destruction of developing human lives is of any consequence, and whether it should be supported by taxpayer funds. Putting thequestion this way, and presuming the incalculable moral significance of human life, was certainly the intent of the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, and should be the aim of any decent society.


The National Institutes of Health's stem cell page has this statement at the top.
Pursuant to a court order issued August 23, 2010, NIH is not accepting submissions of information about human embryonic stem cell lines for NIH review. All review of human embryonic stem cell lines under the NIH Guidelines is suspended. The February 23, 2010, proposal to revise the Guidelines is also suspended.
According to this article in the Minnesota Star-Tribune, human embryonic stem cells projects which have already received funding will continue but many of them are up for renewal funding in the next year.
In the meantime, 50 requests for new funding that were being assessed by the NIH had been "pulled out of the stack" and will not be considered, Collins said. About a dozen other requests for $15 million to $20 million that had gone through the full review and were likely to be approved were frozen, he said. And 22 grants totaling about $54 million due for renewal in September will be cut off, he said. "The consequences of this decision are dramatic and far-reaching," he said.

An additional 199 grants for about $131 million that had already been awarded will be able to continue, Collins said. But those grants, including 143 worth about $95 million that are up for renewal within the next year, will be forced to stop if the situation is not resolved by the time they come up for review, Collins said.


The Obama Administration has announced its plans to appeal the ruling.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Life Links 8/24/10

The California Stem Cell Report has some links on regarding Judge Lamberth's recent decision on the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research including the text of the decision and a Wall Street Journal article which notes the federal government had raised the amount it was spending on human embryonic stem cell research to $137 million this year and $126 planned for next year. During the Bush administration, the funding was typically around $40 million.


The Obama administration is already misleading the public and claiming that research which hasn't treated a single human being is "life-saving."
President Barack Obama's spokesman said the administration was looking at ways to keep up work on embryonic stem cells in the wake of Monday's court ruling.

"The president said very plainly that this is important, life-saving research," spokesman Bill Burton told reporters. "We're reviewing all possibilities."


Former Marine Cesar Laurean was found guilty of killing Maria Lauterbach, a pregnant colleague who accused him of rape. There was a 3-month manhunt for Laurean after Lauterbach's body was found.
The remains of Lauterbach , 20, and her unborn baby were found in January 2008 in Laurean's backyard firepit. Authorities determined that her body had been buried there since December 2007, when she first went missing from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina when she was eight months pregnant.

Laurean, 23, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to The Associated Press.

Mary Lauterbach, the victim's mother, read a statement in court saying to Laurean, "I feel so sorry for your daughter. She will have to live with the shame that her father is in prison for murdering not one but two people," the AP reported.

U.S. Department of Justice going after abortion protester

Ohhhhh.....the important work of our nation's attorney general - trying to get a sidewalk counselor to pay a $10,000 fine for allegedly blocking one car from entering an abortion clinic almost a year ago.

From the Miami Herald:

In a complaint filed last week, federal attorneys say Mary Susan Pine routinely paces across the driveway of the Presidential Women's Center in West Palm Beach, and in November 2009 she physically prevented a car from entering.

Attorney General Eric Holder is asking a judge in Florida's Southern District of U.S. Court to levy a $10,000 fine and prohibit Pine from entering the driveway.

Pine said on Monday that she has been "helping women," at the center for the past 20 years and has not broken any laws.

Federal Judge Rules Against Obama's Stem Cell Policy

Late yesterday afternoon, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against President Obama's embryonic stem cell funding policy.
Judge Royce Lamberth granted the injunction after finding the lawsuit would likely succeed because the guidelines violated law banning the use of federal funds to destroy human embryos.

"(Embryonic stem cell) research is clearly research in which an embryo is destroyed," Lamberth wrote in a 15-page ruling. The Obama administration could appeal his decision or try to rewrite the guidelines to comply with U.S. law.

The suit against the National Institutes of Health, backed by some Christian groups opposed to embryo research, argued the NIH policy violated U.S. law and took funds from researchers seeking to work with adult stem cells.

The U.S. Department of Justice, White House and NIH had no immediate comment.

Key to the case is the so-called Dickey-Wicker Amendment, which Congress adds to budget legislation every year. It bans the use of federal funds to destroy human embryos......

He found that the injunction would not seriously harm researchers who focus on human embryonic stem cells because it would preserve the status quo and not interfere with their ability to get private funding.

With the preliminary injunction in place, the two sides will likely present arguments and case history to the judge over whether the guidelines can be permanently blocked or be allowed to go into effect.
I'm not sure and from what I've read no one else is either what "the status quo" of funding is. I'm guessing President Bush's policy since that was the status quo for 7+ years but even Bush's policy would seem to violate how Judge Lamberth views the intent of the Dickey Amendment.

I fear that Diana DeGette's plans to overturn the Dickey Amendment will now get a serious hearing.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Majority of Virginia abortion mills don't meet standards of medical facilities

In Virginia, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has issued an opinion stating that Virginia can regulate abortion clinics and treat them like medical facilities.
Pro-life legislators -- including Cuccinelli who served in the state senate -- supported bills that would have treated abortion clinics as ambulatory surgery centers and required them to meet hospital-type regulations with regard to equipment and space.

Currently, abortion clinics are regulated the same way as offices where patients receive oral or plastic surgery.

As usual, being held up to the same standards as medical facilities isn't popular among abortionists.
Abortion providers fear that clinics won't be able to afford the costs of making the changes and will shut down or increase their prices. Keene said if the Board of Health imposes the restrictions, 17 of the 21 abortion providers in the state would most likely have to close their doors.

Life Links 8/23/10

At ABC News, Susan Donaldson James has another piece (her last one was a weakly veiled piece promoting Cytotec) on one of drugs in the chemical abortion cocktail. This piece focuses on how one 53-year-old lady is using RU-486 (aka Mifeprex) as an anti-depressant and depression studies performed by the drug's manufacturer.
"One has to be cautious, though, because depression waxes and wanes on its own, and it's always hard when looking at a small number of people, whether it is the effect of the drug, or if it would go away anyway," said Robbins. "We have to make sure we are careful with the studies. There is a long history of people making claims about substances helping depression."

But, he warns, taking a drug for an off-label use can be dangerous -- and not only for Cheryl's health.

"I have delayed telling my story for so many years, and the main reason is because I am risking my ability to get this drug for my own well-being," she said. "It's a federal offense. RU-486 is a schedule 1 drug, the most controlled we have."

Cheryl, who is uninsurable except in an expensive high-risk pool, said she averages about $15,000 to $20,000 a year on her drugs. Her lucrative high-tech job allows her to medicate herself.


Scottish doctors plan on injecting fetal stem cells developed from a 12-week aborted child into the brains of stroke patients.
ReNeuron, the British biotechnology firm behind the project, are waiting to get final clearance for the surgery.

When they do, Dr Muir will inject the contents of a single vial of the stem cells into the brain of the successful volunteer.


According to a poll of Russians , 41% of country favors a complete abortion ban, up from 8% in 1998. Another 25% of the country only approves of "therapeutic" abortions.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Life Links 8/20/10

Abortion clinics in Louisiana have dropped their lawsuit against the state's ultrasound law after conferring with the health department over whether photos of the ultrasound had to be offered to women or given to them forcibly. Note the quote below for the next time someone like Abortion Gang member Sarah F. seems to think that ultrasound laws are going to add to the cost of an abortion or are some kind of huge impediment to women.
Toti said the clinics aren't challenging the general ultrasound requirement because they all provide ultrasounds on site as a standard practice.


Slate's pro-choice Double XX blog gives Palin the win in her recent scuffle with Emily's List about "mama grizzlies."
The Emily's List video wasn't gathering liberals around an electrifying idea—it was attempting to co-opt Palin's very effective rallying cry. As Hanna said yesterday, Palin gets to be the cool one in this situation, the one the other ladies are sweating. The List, and liberals in general, would be better served creating a stunning, galvanizing idea of our own.


The Spartanburg Herald-Journal has an editorial on opposition to South Carolina's 24-hour waiting period.
You cannot simply walk off the street into the office of an ethical doctor and get a nose job or a breast reduction that same day. An ethical doctor will give you the information, both in his office and to take home, and the time necessary to make sure your decision is appropriate.

Surely an abortion deserves just as much consideration.

You cannot get married in South Carolina on the same day you apply for a wedding license. You cannot get divorced in South Carolina, in most cases, without living apart from your spouse a full year to be sure it is the right move.

That does not mean the state is anti-marriage, nor does it mean the state is anti-divorce. It simply means there are actions in South Carolina deemed momentous enough to require significant, informed reflection.


In Los Angeles, authorities are examining the bodies of two small children (they're not sure if they were aborted, miscarried and infants) found in a trunk and wrapped in 1930's newspapers.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Reasons for killing

Shanquan Duley will likely spend a large portion (if not all) of her life behind prison bars or in a mental institution after killing her two young children. After arresting and questioning Duley, Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams tried to explain how a mother could suffocate her own children and then roll a car with their bodies into a river.
"I believe she was angry, upset, and for some reason found Shillings Bridge Road and was looking for a place to discard the bodies," Williams said.

Williams says Shaquan Duley was unemployed and not financially stable and lived with her mother. According to Williams, Shaquan's mother was a "firm individual."

Williams said at this point, it appears the woman killed the children because she was 'fed up' with the responsibility of motherhood and wanted to 'be free.'

"She lived at mom's house, probably ate her mom's food... she had very little control. in her thoughts, except her children," Williams said. "I think she truly felt, 'If I don't have these two toddlers, I can be free.'"
Likewise, CNN has a long article entitled,"What drives a mom to kill?"
The vast majority of mothers who kill their children have a form of diagnosable mental illness, but most are not receiving appropriate treatment for it at the time of the murders, Kaslow said. A high number of them are economically underprivileged, she said, and they are commonly single, unemployed parents. They may have been the victims of trauma or abuse; this information is not known about Duley.

"Most women who kill their children have extreme personal problems or a lot of stress in their lives," Kaslow said.

In many cases, mothers who turn against their own children have chronic depression, Bruce said. Continual feelings of insufficiency and unexpressed anger can build up over time; killing one's own children is the "ultimate expression of rage," she said.
When I was reading about this story in my local paper, I couldn't help but think that the reasons Duley gave (or at least the reasons Sheriff Williams could surmise) for why she killed her two boys sounded eerily like the reasons many women give to justify their abortions, except that Duley's situation was probably worse. Our society reacts with horror and disbelief when a mother kills her born children but when more than a million mothers a year have their unborn children killed for similar reasons, most of our society shrugs its shoulders and moves along.

Life Links 8/19/10

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has signed informed consent legislation which includes a 24-hour waiting period and gives women the option of viewing their ultrasound.

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning has decided against appealing Nebraska's abortion screening law to a higher court after a U.S. District Court in Nebraska ruled the law unconstitutional.
"It is evident from the judge's ruling (to temporarily block the law from taking effect) that LB594 will ultimately be found unconstitutional," she said. "Losing this case would require Nebraska taxpayers to foot the bill for Planned Parenthood's legal fee."

"We will not squander the state's resources on a case that has very little probability of winning."
Lead sponsor Cap Dierks plans on reworking some of the language and reviving the legislation.


In the Philippines, an 8-month aborted child was found in grassy lot on a college campus.
During the investigation, the mother of the aborted infant, a first year college student, reportedly claimed that she herself performed the abortion and left the child to die for fear of being rejected or disowned by her family.

Nim said the mother delivered the baby in the dormitory before dawn on Tuesday. She then reportedly left the baby at the back of the Agriculture building which was near their dorm.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

New Rasmussen poll on abortion

Some of the results from a Rasmussen poll taken on August 11-12 below:
Nearly half (48%) of U.S. voters continue to believe that an abortion is too easy to obtain in this country. Fifteen percent (15%) say it’s too hard to get an abortion in America, and 23% think the level of difficulty is about right. Fourteen percent (14%) are not sure.

Women (53%) feel more strongly than men (42%) that abortions are too easy to get.
Warning: Disconnect ahead.
Again, 58% of women believe that abortion is morally wrong in most cases, compared to 49% of men.

Forty-nine percent (49%) of all voters describe themselves as pro-choice, while 43% say they are pro-life.
On voting:
Sixty-one percent (61%) of voters say abortion is at least somewhat important as an issue in terms of how they will vote in November, with 33% who say it is Very Important....

Pro-life voters, however, are twice as likely as those who are pro-choice to say abortion as an issue is important to how they vote this fall.

More information on ella

Here are a couple of new posts on the controversial drug ella which was recently approved by the FDA as an emergency contraceptive:

Serge at the Life Training Institute contrasts ella with Plan B and writes:
What about Ella? I will show in following posts that just about everything that I stated about Plan B is completely different than Ella. Ella has been shown conclusively to have an adverse effect on the uterine lining. Investigators admit that if taken in higher doses, Ella will cause an abortion just like her sister RU-486. This is not an emergency contraceptive drug - it is a low dose abortifacient.


At Public Discourse, Michael Fragoso describes ella as "The Stealth Abortion Pill" and discusses the possibility of ella being prescribed in an off-label manner to induce abortions.
In a sense, ella’s manufacturers do not need the FDA to approve ulipristal for anything more than EC. If they were to get it approved as an abortion drug, that would simply allow them to market it as such, and the political and commercial realities of contemporary America make DTC (or even learned intermediary) marketing of an abortion drug a dubious goal for a corporation. With or without FDA approval, the sorts of physicians who prescribe abortion drugs will be able to prescribe ulipristal to terminate a pregnancy.


Slate has a article which asks whether ella is birth control or abortion.
At least one study of ella has noted that the drug given at high or repeated doses could alter the lining of a woman's uterus and theoretically impair an embryo's implantation. Archer says there's no evidence that ella can interrupt an existing pregnancy or prevent implantation, and other experts point to the drug's 2 percent failure rate as proof. "At that point, it's just a microscopic ball of about 256 to 550 or 600 cells that will differentiate in the future," explains Archer. "You won't see a head or fingers or any fetal organs."
Note how the author presents evidence (with a link) to the possibility of ella preventing implantation, then says "an expert" from ella's manufacturer says there is no evidence for this and then quotes him attempting to dehumanize the unborn.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Life Links 8/17/10

Abortionist Andrew Rutland is facing a malpractice lawsuit filed on behalf of Ying Chen's 2-year-old daughter. Chen died from a fatal reaction to a local anesthetic after undergoing an abortion at Rutland's abortion.
The wrongful death lawsuit also names Dr. Lars Erik Hanson of San Gabriel, who owned the clinic and also attempted resuscitation efforts. The medical board on Thursday filed a disciplinary action against Hanson, accusing him of running an abortion clinic that was not adequately equipped or staffed.

Additionally, the board documents accuse Hanson of unprofessional conduct, alleging that after Chen suffered the reaction, Hanson fled the scene. A police officer had to return him to the clinic, where he allegedly refused to cooperate with the investigation. Hanson could not be reached for comment.


The Press-Enterprise has a story on the funeral of Anyssia Escamilla, a teen whose body was recently found months after her boyfriend killed her because she wouldn't have an abortion and then dumped her body into a trash bin.
The Rev. Steve Porter, pastor of the church that the family attends, said Anyssia died a martyr because she resisted Avitia's insistence that she get an abortion. Police said a disagreement over how to handle her pregnancy was a motive in the killing.

"She knew the baby in her was precious and she was going to protect the baby the best she could," Porter said.

The service was also a funeral for Angel, her unborn son, he said.


The LA Times has a long article on a hormonal treatment that when given to the child during pregnancy can prevent a condition known as congenital adrenal hyperplasia which in females can lead to masculinized genitals.

The treatment might also reduce the likelihood that the child will be a homosexual.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Life Links 8/16/10

On Friday, the FDA approved ella as an emergency contraceptive. A group of prolife leaders signed a letter at the end of July raising concerns about ella, including the possibility that it could prevent the implantation of a human embryo.


Authorities in South Carolina found the body of a 21-week-old child at the site where a man claimed to have been beaten and had his truck stolen after he pulled his pants down to have sex with a female passenger.
Deputies said they found the fetus near the area where the Tahoe had been parked, but they do not have a name of the woman who lost her child in the field. They do not know if the child was from the woman who initiated sexual advances on the Harleyville man. Deputies do not know if the assault and the fetus are connected in any way.


A judge in California has awarded a girl $50,000 after her school forced her to remove a prolife shirt.
According to the lawsuit, the student came to school on April 29, 2008, designated as National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day, wearing a shirt which showed two photos of a developing fetus, following by a third panel in solid black. The shirt read "Abortion" at the top with the words "growing... growing... gone." underneath the photos.

School officials removed the girl from the cafeteria as she was about to eat breakfast. She was taken to the assistant principal's office where she was told to remove the shirt and never wear it at the school again because it violated the dress code.


In Britain, scientists have developed red blood cells from embryonic stem cell lines created from more than 100 embryos.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Former employees, financial documents agree: Planned Parenthood Golden Gate severly mismanaged

The San Francisco Bay Guardian has an article in which a former employee of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate shares how she could see the signs of mismanagement.
A former PPGG employee with knowledge of the organization’s internal affairs described a longstanding pattern of financial mismanagement when former president and CEO Dian Harrison was at the helm. There was widespread concern about spending on expensive marketing campaigns and lavish functions, the person said, and a high level of employee turnover and discontent.
The article actually doesn't have a ton of details but there are some alleged misdoings (high executive salaries, hidden expense accounts, etc.) in the comments section from individuals claiming to be former employees and a former union rep.

The Bay Citizen has more details on Planned Parenthood Golden Gate's financial mismanagement, including noting that they didn't meet Planned Parenthood's financial standards starting back in 2004, lost $2.8 million dollars last year and its political action fund hadn't filed a report with the state in 10 years!

The article also includes a portion of a letter that was cc'd to Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards which claims administrators were using company money for personal expenses.
Executive staff’s personal expenditures are excessive and are not aligned with the mandatory fiscal restrictions. Flagrant use of PPGG funds to pay for personal belongings, personal services and exorbitant technology products is seemingly unchallenged and not subject to the same financial scrutiny that clinic supplies and staff salaries are, for example.
I love how Katharine Mieszkowski ends the article after listing Planned Parenthood Golden Gate numerous and longstanding financial problems:
In an interview last week, interim CEO Therese Wilson said that “there has been no evidence of any fiscal mismanagement at this organization.”

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Life Links 8/13/10

Authorities in Pennsylvania have found the remains of three children in an apartment.
Michelle Margaret Kalina, 44, was charged Monday with two counts of abuse of corpse after a forensic anthropologist determined two of the containers contained the bones of a one-month-old infant and a 20-week fetus.

A third container held a two-by-three foot block of concrete. An x-ray of the block encased an "unknown mass." After cracking it open, investigators found more human remains, said Chief Michael J. Gombar.


In Florida, police are looking for the parents of a 16-week-old unborn child found on top of a sewage recycling plant grate.

A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction so that traveling abortionist George Klopfer doesn't need to provide contact information to area emergency rooms and the health department for the time being.
According to an order handed down Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Robert L. Miller Jr., Allen County officials cannot enforce portions of the amended ordinance concerning patient notification forms and patient-identifying information. The county also cannot provide identifying information to the Indiana State Medical Licensing Board.

The ordinance enacted this year by the Allen County commissioners requires that out-of-town doctors provide contact information to area emergency rooms and the local health department......

The ACLU did not prevail on all of its arguments, however. Miller disagreed with Klopfer’s assertions that existing state law prohibits Allen County from enacting further regulation of the medical field, nor did the judge believe the county would seek to search patients’ notification forms in an unconstitutional manner, according to court documents.


The head of a large Russian dairy company has threatened to fire employees who have abortion or are not married in the Orthodox church.

Using tax dollars in an effort to convince taxpayers to give you more money

CIRM, California's $3 billion dollar stem cell agency is planning on spending $1 million on a study of their operations by the Institute of Medicine to prove they are a positive addition to the state and as a possible tool to convince California's taxpayers to give them even more money in an upcoming (2012) election. The California Stem Cell Report says CIRM plans on using $500,000 from private donors. I'm assuming the other half million is coming out the taxpayer's pocket.
During the Science Subcommittee meetings, CIRM directors often referred to the IOM's vaunted independence, which they implicitly did not think would be affected by a $1 million contract. There also was no discussion of limitations that CIRM might impose on the scope of the study before signing a contract. In the case of a current $300,000 contract to assess the economic impact of the agency, CIRM specified that its economic consultants must "execute a vibrant and aggressive strategy" supporting CIRM, a requirement that fundamentally damages the credibility of whatever the their report says.

Note to Florida Board of Medicine: Maybe it's time to think about revoking Pendergraft's license

Because suspending him over and over again doesn't seem to be working.

Notorious abortionist James Pendergraft has had his license suspended again by the Florida Board of Medicine. This is suspension number 4 for Pendergraft. This time it's for allowing a non-licensed employee with a history of drug abuse to administer drugs and prescribing her with steroids. His license was previously suspended for performing illegal 3rd-trimester abortions.

News report below:

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Life Links 8/11/10

Cathy Cleaver Ruse has a piece in the Washington Times on the fight to allow abortions at military hospitals.
No, the real goal of this abortion maneuver is to use the military to accomplish radical social change - to mainstream abortion, to press the government into providing it on a widespread scale so that it becomes respectable and ordinary. Forcing the military into the abortion business would be a major face-lift for an ugly industry.


Kathryn Jean Lopez writes about an effort to make the Hyde Amendment cover more than just HHS funds and prevent any federal funds from being used to pay for elective abortions.


The Colorado Section of the American Congress (wasn't it College?) of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has issued a statement on the most recent state ballot to define "person" in Colorado's constitution. The statement attempts to act like the terminology “the beginning of biologic development of a human being" is vague and unscientific. They also claim proposal language could refer to human cell lines as if a cell line is a human being.

They say the ballot language would have an effect on a number of issues that it clearly wouldn't like treatment of molar pregnancies and the treatment of miscarriages. They provide no explanation for why the treatment of molar pregnancies (not human beings) and miscarried children (dead human beings) would be "banned or highly regulated." The statement also includes some dehumanizing language such as describing an unborn child attached to her mother's fallopian tube as "growing pregnancy tissue."

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Life Links 8/10/10

After a woman died at an abortion clinic in Russia, her body was loaded in a car and dumped in a forest.
Elena Oleinikova, an obstetrician, performed interruption of pregnancy operation on the patient identified as Gulzat E., a national of Uzbekistan, on July 29. The surgery was performed during the woman's 15th week of pregnancy. The patient died on operation desk during the surgery. To conceal the traces of the crime, Oleinikova, the administrator of the clinic, and another employee loaded the body into a vehicle and then simply dumped it in Losyny Ostrov National Park.

The patient's sister went to the police claiming that the doctors denied her access to the clinic and refused to provide any information about the relative. Investigators checked the records of surveillance cameras in the clinic: the footage showed the medics loading the woman's body into the vehicle and then driving away.


Jill Stanek reports on the news that Planned Parenthood Golden Gate has lost its affiliation with Planned Parenthood. It appears that past CEO Dian Harrison was focusing too much time on creating silly videos (one with a cartoon picturing herself killing prolife protesters with a condom gun) and too little time worrying about her organization's finances.


Police in the Phillippines are looking for a young couple who allegedly buried a 7-month-old aborted child near a river.


A group called Midland Catholics for Life has put up a billboard featuring the image of an aborted child across from a Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood's reaction is typical.
"Individuals who have driven by and are upset and want to know who placed this sign, want to know if the info on it is correct, which it's not, want to know if it's medically accurate, which it's not", says Holeva.

Monday, August 09, 2010

Free abortions part of the perk package offered to Marie Stopes employees

International abortion provider Marie Stopes includes free abortions as one of the perks for working there.
Marie Stopes International offers employees, their partners and children free abortions as part of its benefits package - which also includes cheap gym membership, reduced rates at theme parks and an annual health check for £10.

Prolifers are dishonest because pro-choicers don't know what they're talking about

At the Abortioneers blog, Mr. Banana Grabber (MBG) embeds a video of a young woman named Ana Benderas, who is the assistant director of Live Action San Jose, discussing abortion in front of what appears to be a Genocide Awareness Project display. MBG writes,
Early on, she says, "It's obvious that biology says that a human being becomes a human as a zygote." According to the dictionary, a zygote is "the cell produced by the union of two gametes, before it undergoes cleavage."

So a cell. A zygote is a cell.
And how does that biologically prove a zygote isn't a human being? MBG never tells us. MBG also misses other online dictionary definitions which indicate that a zygote is an organism and a developing individual.

MBG goes on to make a bunch of typically poor arguments for why the unborn aren't human and aren't living.

The most interesting part of the post is a comment left by fellow abortioneer placenta sandwich (PS) who claim prolifers "play on words" like human and living. She says that no one denies that the unborn have human DNA and claims prolifers are at fault for pointing out that the unborn are human beings because she thinks most people conflate "human" with "person." Prolifers are also supposedly at fault for pointing out that the unborn are living because the scientific definition of whether something is living has "nothing to do with the *moral* definition of life."

She left these comments in a post where her fellow Abortioneer author MBG writes,
"Um, doesn't biology "obviously" tell us something about zygotes? That zygotes are cells? How do you need evidence to prove that a clump of cells is a clump of cells? If a zygote is a cell then it is a cell. I think she is trying to suggest what is the evidence that it is not a human being? I would suggest the evidence that (a zygote) is not a human being is because it is not living outside the womb"
and
"Probably because there isn't a way you can actually prove when humanness begins. I don't know if we can all agree to disagree, but we can definitely agree pinning down when exactly a human is a human would be extremely difficult."
and
"What I do know, is that I value the life of someone who already exists in the world, and is living -- I value that more than a clump of cells. I value that more than a fetus. I value that more than a baby who is still in the womb."

MBG is responding to Anna's claim that science shows the unborn are living human beings by claiming they are not human beings based on a lone dictionary definition (apparently MBG thinks a dictionary.com definition is the final word on biology) which doesn't even prove what she wants it to prove and by assuming the unborn aren't alive because they are inside the womb.

MBG isn't saying, "Ok, they are scientifically living human beings but they're not persons." Instead of trying to make an argument for why the unborn aren't "persons" and explaining why anyone should accept her arbitrary criteria for personhood, MBG is simply asserting that scientifically the unborn aren't living human beings.

Prolifers who point out that the unborn are alive and human are typically responding to the assertions of people like Mr. Banana Grabber, who argue the unborn aren't living human beings because either A.) Have no clue what they're talking about (as is likely the case with MBG) or B.) Use terms like "human being" when they should be saying "person."

How is this dishonest on the part of prolifers? Prolifers should certainly try to clarify what the pro-choice people are trying to assert but if someone like MBG makes a bunch of ignorant statements (which she thinks are based on biology) then how are prolifers "playing on words?"

Friday, August 06, 2010

Life Links 8/6/10

A pregnant woman in Florida was allegedly attacked by the father of her child because he wanted her to have an abortion.
A pregnant 30-year-old woman told police she was ordered to lie down on her back early Wednesday before getting punched and kicked in the stomach in her Collins Road apartment.

Her attacker, who knew the child was his, told her to get an abortion “or I’ll make you lose it,” according to a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrest report.

Police said the man came home at 12:20 a.m. and grabbed the woman by the hair, dragging her out of bed onto the floor. He told her she had one week to get an abortion or he would make her lose the child. Then he forced her on her back and told her to “let me kick your stomach or I will kick you in your face,” according to the arrest report.


After more than 70 days of searching, authorities in California have found the body of 17-year-old Anyssia Katherine Escamilla in a landfill. She was killed by her boyfriend Jesus Avitia, who apparently wanted her to have an abortion.
Avitia admitted to wrapping the Bloomington High School girl's body in garbage bags and putting her in a trash can outside a home in south Fontana a week before detectives interviewed him.

Hare said Avitia wanted his girlfriend to get an abortion because he felt having a child would jeopardize his goal of becoming a nurse. They suspect he killed her because she refused to abort the child.


Wesley Smith compares assisted suicide advocates who engage in moral outlawry with the "professional" assisted suicide advocates.
As outrageous as the FEN, Kevorkian, and Nitschke are, they do not pose the primary threat. In the last ten years, a new class of advocates has emerged pursuing a “professional” approach to assisted suicide promotion. Epitomized by the euphemistically named Compassion and Choices and funded in the millions annually by the likes of George Soros, well off and well tailored elites promote a so-called “medical model” for legalized “aid in dying” in meetings with medical and legal associations, in articles published in professional journals, and ubiquitously to the media. To assuage fears of abuse, unlike the moral outlaws, assisted suicide professionals assure a wary public that doctor facilitated suicide will be restricted to the terminally ill for whom nothing else can be done to alleviate suffering—a false premise designed to play into people’s worst fears about the dying process.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Life Links 8/5/10

In South Carolina, an organization which helps pregnant teens and young moms has moved in and renovated a former abortion clinic.
An old abortion clinic on Laurens Road in Greenville had a new tenant on Wednesday.

Little Steps is a center for pregnant teenagers and young parents.

When the organization took over the building in March it was a dilapidated, moldy mess.


I'm not sure a Carroll County Times letter to the editor writer named Jim Sipes really know what he "completely" believes.
I am in agreement that abortion is the taking of a life. I completely believe this. However, I also believe that no man or government has the right to dictate to any human being what they can do with their bodies.
One wonders how Mr. Sipes would argue if someone wanted to pass a law that would allow them to use their bodies to kill him. If the government can't dictate what any human being can do with their bodies, then why can't someone strangle Mr. Sipes?


The city of Chicago has dropped charges against a Northwestern graduate student who was arrested while praying outside of Planned Parenthood.
The Chicago Police Department had no comment on Holland's dismissal. Earlier it had contended that Holland violated the city's new "Bubble Zone" ordinance, which prevents people near a health clinic from approaching within eight feet of another person with the intent to speak to them or hand them a leaflet without their consent. It also prevents people from interfering with another person's ability to enter or exit the building.

"According to the report the offender stood within an inch of the victim, prayed out loud at a high volume for over 10 minutes," Chicago police spokesman Roderick Drew told FoxNews.com.

Ultimately, Drew said, Holland was arrested because he "continued to block customer access to the establishment."

Holland denied the allegations, telling FoxNews.com he never stood in front of the door and never moved from where he was seen standing in a YouTube video of the incident, and that if Planned Parenthood had released its security tapes, they would have proven that.

Lessons to learn from Michigan's 2010 gubernatorial Republican primary

1. Multiple prolife candidates (4 in these cases) all fighting each other for the same base votes means a candidate who's not prolife (Rick Snyder) can sweep in, get the moderates and some conservatives and win. Candidates who have no chance of winning (I'm thinking Mike Bouchard and Tom George) should drop out once they realize they can't win or else they're just taking votes from the other prolife candidates and allowing the non-prolife candidate to win.

2. Letting a non-prolife candidate with no political experience and millions of dollars define himself is a mistake. Throughout the campaign for governor, Rick Snyder was able to use his personal fortune to define himself as a savvy businessman and a "tough nerd" who had a plan for getting Michigan back on track. I never once saw an ad by one of the more conservative candidates informing Republican primary voters that Snyder was more moderate than the other candidates on social issues. My guess is that there were thousands of Michigan voters who voted for Snyder assuming that he was prolife.

3. Spending millions to attack a nine-term conservative congressman as not being conservative enough in his own uber-conservative area is dumb. Instead of educating primary voters about the moderate, non-prolife candidate in the race, Mike Cox and various organizations who supported him wasted untold amounts of money trying to out-conservative Pete Hoekstra. This was a complete waste of resources in West Michigan. Hoekstra has been serving his conservative district well for 18 years. People in the 2nd Congressional district know and respect Pete Hoekstra. The Christian Reformed Church members in Ottawa county aren't suddenly going to turn their backs on the man they've voted for 9 times because he missed some Congressional votes while campaigning for governor.

Since Snyder's positions were hardly mentioned or attacked, he looked above the fray. He was able to just keep plugging away with his positive message.

A Detroit Free Press poll taken in late July showed that Snyder (26%) had a very slight lead over Cox (24%) and Hoekstra (23%). The poll of likely Republican voters showed that about 16% were undecided. On election day, Snyder finished with 36% of vote, getting approximately 2/3 of the undecideds.

Responding to Judge Walker's decision on Prop. 8

Both Joe Carter and Amy Hall provide responses to Judge Vaughn Walker's decision in Perry v. Schwarzenegger in which Judge Walker ruled California's Proposition 8 violates the U.S. Constitution. Prop. 8 was a voter-enacted amendment to California's constitution which says, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

Carter writes,
The only explanation is that he decided that sending a message of support to his friends in the gay community was more important that applying coherent legal reasoning to interpret the law.

Admittedly, this is a serious accusation. Yet I think it can proven with a simple test: Ask Judge Walker if his reasoning applies to polygamous marriage. In the decision he handed down, Walker find no rational basis for denying this fundamental right to same-sex couples. But every one of his reasons applies equally to polygamy.

I am not claiming that his reasoning leads to an argument ad absurdum. That would be a lateral move from one absurdity to another. What I’m claiming is that, if he is consistent, Walker would have to conclude that his rational basis criteria effectively overturns not only the ban on same-sex marriage, but the ban on polygamy.

Greatest story ever? Dog saves owner's life by biting off his toe while he's drunk

Via the Grand Rapids Press:
Kiko apparently sensed an infection festering in his master's right big toe -- and chewed most of it off after Douthett passed out in a drunken stupor.....

The Rockford man's strange odyssey began several months ago when he started picking at what he thought was a small sliver on the bottom of his toe. He used a knife to cut skin away from the affected area, but it worsened, swelling so much he had to eschew shoes and resort to loose-fitting sandals....

That afternoon he downed "four or five beers" at a Rockford restaurant, then walked to a second site and quaffed two giant "golden" margaritas. Rosee drove him to their home less than a mile away, where he passed out on their bed.

Next thing the woozy Douthett realized, the couple's year-old Jack Russell terrier was beside him on the bed. A pool of blood lay where Douthett used to have a toe.

"The toe was gone," said Douthett. "He ate it. I mean, he must have eaten it, because we couldn't find it anywhere else in the house. I look down, there's blood all over, and my toe is gone."

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Life Links 8/4/10

In Los Angeles, a woman has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for killing a pregnant woman and her unborn child.
Unique K. Bishop was convicted April 29 of the second-degree murders of Shontae Blanche, 22, and “Baby Blanche,” during a Nov. 5, 2007, melee that involved as many as 30 women and was related to a dispute over two women dating the same man.

At the height of the disturbance, Bishop drove her car into a crowd at the gas station on the corner of Slauson and Western avenues. She also injured another woman as her car careened into the crowd.


A teen in Britain has been discharged after doctors in Italy replaced her trachea with a trachea created from the cartilage of a donor and her own stem cells.
The girl's stem cells were grafted on to the cartilage of another trachea, from a donor, which had been stripped of its own cells.

A similar operation was conducted on British boy in March but in that case the stem cells for the windpipe were grown inside the body. For this latest trachea transplant stem cells were used to grow a new trachea outside the body.

Because the new trachea contained no cells from another person, no anti-rejection drugs were needed.

Doctor Walter Giovannini, from AOU Careggi Hospital, in Florence, Italy, said the British woman was speaking after only three or four days after the surgeries on July 3 and 13.


An abortion protester in Pittsburgh named Keith Tucci is suing the city, claiming that he has been harassed by police.

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Overheard

From Maia, a guest blogger at Feministing who also runs a blog which attempts to help women abort their children with herbs.
when people ask me why i am an outlaw midwife, i tell them, because revolutionaries are born everyday. if we let them be born.

Monday, August 02, 2010

Stating the obvious - adult stem cells "far ahead" of embryonic stem cells

I don't recall the AP running any stories like this when embryonic stem cell research was being debated in our country.
Embryonic cells may indeed be used someday to grow replacement tissue or therapeutic material for diseases like Parkinson's or diabetes. Just on Friday, a biotech company said it was going ahead with an initial safety study in spinal cord injury patients. Another is planning an initial study in eye disease patients later this year.

But in the near term, embryonic stem cells are more likely to pay off as lab tools, for learning about the roots of disease and screening potential drugs.....
What?!?! John Edwards told me the paralyzed would walk if John Kerry was elected in 2004. Six years later and we're still talking about some distant hypothetical day in future? Did Democrats really spend all that time and effort attacking those cruel anti-science, anti-cure Republicans for "lab tools"?
Some of the new approaches, like the long-proven treatments, are based on the idea that stem cells can turn into other cells. Einhorn said the ankle-repair technique, for example, apparently works because of cells that turn into bone and blood vessels. But for other uses, scientists say they're harnessing the apparent abilities of adult stem cells to stimulate tissue repair, or to suppress the immune system.

"That gives adult stem cells really a very interesting and potent quality that embryonic stem cells don't have," says Rocky Tuan of the University of Pittsburgh.
The article goes on to list the various ailments adult stem cells are being used to treat including multiple sclerosis, heart issues, type 1 diabetes, and cancers.

Life Links 8/2/10

NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has what I would consider a glowing column about RU-486 abortions in developing countries. There's no mention in the column about complications or risks (including death) to women (except to say they're supposedly no greater than miscarriage) who attempt to abort their children using these drugs. We're told the only "serious downside" is that it can cause birth defects. Kristof is almost giddy about women buying cheap abortion drugs and having illegal home abortions after taking the time to interview two abortion advocates, one of whom seems to be gung-ho abortion using RU-486 for later-term abortions.


The FDA has re-approved Geron's Phase I trial using human embryonic stem cells.


The editorial board of the Detroit News apparently doesn't care in the least about whether or not abortion is the killing of human beings. In an editorial about how abortion shouldn't be focused on at all in the Michigan governor's race, they believe that jobs are the only thing worth talking about or working on.
The state has no time for a tug-of-war over abortion.....

If a candidate isn't talking only about jobs, jobs, jobs, then he has no business in this race.