Adult Stem Cell Research Shows Promise for Treating Heart Disease
Pittsburgh, PA (LifeNews.com) -- Doctors in the U.S. are doing some promising new research with stem cells that could help anyone with heart disease. They are using adult stem cells, which are found in everyone's body, to repair damaged hearts and blood vessels. Doctors have discovered a new way the human body can repair itself. Adult stem cells, which are found in the brain, bones, muscle, skin and blood, help heal the body after an injury. Dr. Amit Patel, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, says researchers are injecting high concentrations of these cells into patients to improve arteries, even build new ones. “What we do is actually take them out and find the right amount of cells and specifically put them into targeted areas." It is working. Three months after the injections, more than 100 patients saw significant improvement in blood flow to the heart and the heart muscle worked twice as well as before the treatment. Adult stem cells are also being used to grow arteries in the leg. Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern Memorial Hospital is treating 27-year-old Jeremy Kotner, who had so little blood flow to his right leg, he faced amputation. Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern Memorial Hospital points out, "You can see where the blood vessel is blocked. You can see the blood flowing and then it just stops. Now, three months later, after injection of stem cells in that area, you can see that there's a new vessel bringing the blood down." Jeremy Kotner is relieved. "The constant pain is gone. I can walk further and because of that I feel a lot better."

Pro-Abortion Republican Will Challenge Hillary Clinton for Senate
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-abortion Republican Jeanine Pirro, a district attorney from suburban Westchester County, will challenge pro-abortion Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton in 2006. Pirro planned to tour the state Wednesday to formally announce her decision. Pirro called leading Republicans in New York over the weekend to inform them of her decision and begin gathering support. Pirro has won praise for her Internet stings of would-be child molesters, her work with battered women and her battle against underage drinking. A statewide poll released last week by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute had Clinton leading Pirro, 63 percent to 29 percent. Edward Cox, an attorney who is a son-in-law of the late President Nixon, is also considering seeking the GOP nomination. Republicans hope a tough re-election battle could overturn Clinton's 2008 presidential ambitions.

Australian Doctor Charged With Performing an Illegal Abortion
Sydney, Australia (LifeNews.com) -- A Sydney doctor has been charged with performing an illegal abortion. Suman Sood gave a 20 year-old woman an abortion drug and asked her to come back to her office the next day. The woman gave birth the next morning to a baby who survived about three hours before dying. Sood, the owner of the Fairfield abortion business Australian Women's Health, faces one charge of manslaughter and one of administering a drug with intent to procure a miscarriage. Government prosecutor Paul Leask told a local court the abortion was illegal because she did not inform the woman of her prospects of carrying the pregnancy to term or whether the abortion carried any risks. The woman was 21 to 24 weeks pregnant at the time -- too late for an RU 486 abortion and at the point at which unborn children begin surviving on their own outside the mother's womb. Sood only told her the abortion would cost $1500 and asked if she would pay that much. The woman says Sood never explained the abortion procedure to her.

Australian Woman Dies After Her Feeding Tube is Removed
Canberra, Australia (LifeNews.com) -- In a case with similarities to the death of Terri Schiavo, an Australian woman who was left in a comatose state after being strangled and dumped in the trunk of a car by her husband's lover has died. Her death came 10 days after a court-appointed guardian determined that she should be removed from life support. Maria Korp was a 50 year-old mother of two from Melbourne. Her husband, Joe, is standing trial for attempted murder this week and his mistress, Tania Herman, is serving nine years in jail after admitting her role in the attack. Australian right-to-life activists gathered outside Melbourne's Alfred Hospital to protest the decision by Korp's court-appointed guardian Julian Gardner to remove her feeding tube. Margaret Tighe, president of Right to Life Australia, said the decision to stop feeding Maria Korp was a "deliberate move to end her life.'' "What her assailant was unable to complete has now been completed by people in authority," Tighe told Melbourne's Age newspaper. "Mrs. Korp would have died eventually from her injuries, but that would have been her body saying it was time to go.''

France Hospital Keeps Hundreds of Dead Babies Years After Miscarriage
Paris, France (LifeNews.com) -- In a shocking discovery that has drawn worldwide attention and concern, officials have found that 351 dead babies from miscarriages and who were stillborn have been kept for years under lock and key at Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Hospital's morgue. Some have been kept there for as long as two decades and families across the country have called the hospital worried. Investigators were probing how such a breach of French law could have happened, and why. However, the keeping of deceased babies, possibly for research purposes, is possibly more widespread. "I think that there are fetuses and stillborn infants in all maternity wards at university hospitals," Dr. Axel Kahn, a member of France's national ethics committee, told The Associated Press. "Once, it was the norm ... Researchers who needed them for their work asked obstetricians not to dispose of them." The law was changed in the mid-1990s to prevent the practice. Current French law calls for bodies of unclaimed stillborn babies to be cremated within 10 days. Fetuses cannot be used for medical purposes except with the parents' consent. In that case, the bodies must be cremated within six months.

Tennessee Teacher's Lawsuit Against Union Spending can Move Forward
Chattanooga, TN (LifeNews.com) -- A Tennessee teacher who didn't like his union dues going towards promoting pro-abortion candidates for elected office can move ahead with his lawsuit seeking to stop being forced to pay the dues, an appeals court has ruled. The Tennessee Court of Appeals in Knoxville ruled that a Polk County judge wrongly dismissed a lawsuit by teacher Dewey Esquinance. He sued the Polk County Education Association, Tennessee Education Association and National Education Association in April 2003. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Fund is helping him in the case. Esquinance's April 2003 suit challenges union rules that require him to stop being a member of the union if he doesn't want it to spend his dues on candidates he opposes.