by
Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 31, 2005
Polling Data: Young Women Becoming More Pro-Life
on Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- New polling data shows that young
women between the ages of 18-29 are becoming more pro-life on the issue
of abortion. According to a CBS/New York Times poll, 49% of 18-29 year
old women believed that abortion should be "available to anyone
who wants it" in 1993. In 2003 among the same age group, only 35%
of respondents agreed. In 2005, only 28% of young women favored making
abortion "available to anyone who wants it." Meanwhile, in
1993, 30% of female respondents in the 18-29 year old age group believed
that abortion should be "available, but with stricter limits."
By 2005, the number had risen to 40%. Some 19% of respondents in 1993
believed that abortion should be "not permitted." By 2005,
the number had risen to 30%.
Sen.
Specter Wants Investigation of Govt. Abstinence Web Site
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania)
has asked that the Department of Health & Human Services review
its www.4parents.gov abstinence
web site after opponents complained that the site is biased in favor
of teaching abstinence over contraception. Rep. Henry Waxman, a California
Democrat and leading abstinence opponent, has been rounding up criticism
of the web site. The not-for-profit National Physicians Center for Family
Resources hired by HHS to create the site's content is also under fire
for its faith-based views on abstinence and abortion. John Whiffen,
chair of the NPC board, defended the web site. "The focus was on
getting kids not to have sex at all,” he said. NPC’s future involvement
with the site is uncertain because HHS is now accepting applications
from different groups to maintain the site, according to Whiffen. NPC
plans to apply, he said.
Mexico Decision for Free Morning After Pills
Upsets Catholic Leaders
Mexico City, Mexico (LifeNews.com) -- The Mexican government's decision
to give women the morning after pills free at public hospitals has upset
Catholic leaders and caused a split within President Vicente Fox's administration.
Health Minister Julio Frenk on July 11 ordered public clinics to provide
the pills A week later, Interior Minister Carlos Abascal asked Fox to
reconsider after a meeting with Cardinal Norberto Rivera, Mexico's leading
Catholic bishop. The government has given public hospitals three months
to comply with the decree, Bloomberg News reports. Abascal called on
the government to stop the program and Frenk said he would soon meet
with government and church leaders to explain the decision. Catholic
and pro-life groups oppose the bill because it sometimes causes an abortion.
Cardinal Rivera urged Fox to reconsider the decision, calling the pill
a "weapon against innocent children." Santiago Creel and Felipe
Calderon, PAN members who plan to seek the party's nomination for president
in 2006 oppose the pill. Mexico is the second largest Catholic country
in the world.
UN
Hears North Korea Testimony on Forced Abortions, Infanticides
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- The Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination Against Women has begun drafting its response to testimony
of a North Korean delegation which told a CEDAW panel its still practices
forced abortion. North Korean refugees returned from China and South
Korea are detained and interrogated for failing to obtain proper travel
documents. North Korean detention centers and labor camps are notorious
among former inmates for harsh punishment and human rights abuses, especially
for women, UPI reports. Female detainees are carefully screened for
pregnancy because mixed-race children and children conceived out of
wedlock are illegal and subject to compulsory abortion. The delegation
admitted that such illegal pregnancies are aborted, but added if an
illegal child is brought to term, it has the same rights as any other
Korean child. Refugees reported the contrary, saying that pregnant women
too far along for abortions are subjected to violence intended to induce
miscarriages. Witnesses also reported infanticide of illegal children.
The delegation offered no evidence or conflicting testimonies to bolster
it's denials.
New
Zealand Doctors Reaffirm Euthanasia Opposition
Wellington, New Zealand (LifeNews.com) -- The New Zealand Medical
Association has reaffirmed its position against euthanasia. At a meeting
this weekend the Association's board voted to continue opposing both
euthanasia and assisted suicide. NZMA chairman Ross Boswell says the
group had been reviewing its position for some time and plans to unveil
a lengthy statement soon. British doctors recently overturned their
anti-euthanasia stance to take no position. Last year, euthanasia activist
Lesley Martin was sentenced to a 15-month jail term for her role in
the 1999 death of her terminally ill mother. During sentencing, Justice
Wilde said Martin showed a total lack of remorse, indicating she would
try to kill again if a similar situation arose. Other members of Martin's
family have condemned her actions. Martin's conviction has been considered
a setback for the pro-euthanasia movement.
Australian
Researchers Find Adult Stem Cells in the Uterus
Canberra, Australia (LifeNews.com) -- Australian researchers have
scored a world first by detecting in the uterus adult stem cells that
can be grown into bone, muscle, fat or cartilage -- a discovery that
could eventually lead to new medical treatments. The work, led by Caroline
Gargett, a senior scientist at Melbourne's Monash Institute of Medical
Research, could improve understanding of uterine diseases and provide
a new way of treating pelvic floor problems, a common complaint of women
after childbirth, The Australian newspaper reported. Adult stem cells
have been found in other parts of the body, but Dr. Gargett is the first
to detect them in the uterus. "If we could offer women a bioengineered
ligament that is made from their own stem cells, the long-term quality
of life for the thousands of women who suffer from this problem could
be greatly enhanced," Dr. Gargett said.
Chinese
Forced Abortion Story of Falun Gong Woman Comes to Light
Shainghai, China (LifeNews.com) -- A story of forced late-term abortion
and torture in China has recently come to light. One year ago, a woman
in China's Henan Province was sentenced to five years in prison because
she refused to give up her faith in Falun Gong, and refused to curse
the spiritual practice as ordered by the Chinese government. In July
2004, officers from the Huaiyang County Lutai police station seized
Wang Jingui from her home. Ms. Wang was nine months pregnant at that
time. She was sent to the Huaiyang County Birth Control Center, where
eight men held her down on an operating table and forcibly aborted her
child. Meanwhile, her husband was subjected to torture for not giving
up his religious beliefs. It is estimated that hundreds of millions
of Falun Gong practitioners and their families have suffered persecution
since July 1999. It is hard to obtain the exact amount of death cases
of Falun Gong practitioners in China; however, overseas Falun Gong practitioners
have verified the details for about 2,600.
Wisconsin Gov Won't Apologize for Bad Stem
Cell Research Lobbying
Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) -- Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle says his
staff should not have delivered a bag of used hypodermic needles to
Assembly Speaker John Gard on behalf of a woman who wanted to oppose
Gard's views against embryonic stem cell research. But, he won't apologize.
"We weren't trying to make it any kind of event, but, obviously,
when you look back on it, they probably should have not been accepted
or (they should have been) disposed of in some way," Doyle said.
The Democratic governor's staff accepted a bag of 1,400 used needles
from Elizabeth Kastner of Fish Creek and delivered them July 19 to Gard,
AP reported. Kastner disagrees with Gard's backing a bill that would
ban all forms of human cloning in the state, which she contends will
stop embryonic stem cell research. The governor said he saw no need
to reprimand his staff or apologize to Gard.
