PRO-LIFE NEWS IN BRIEF

By Liz Townsend

Abortion Ship Sails but Performs No Abortions

Pro-lifers rejoiced when the maiden voyage of the Dutch "abortion ship" ended with no unborn babies killed. The ship, called the Aurora, docked in Dublin and Cork from June 14-25 and was limited to distributing abortion information since the Dutch government has yet to issue a license for the ship to perform abortions.

Before the Aurora arrived in Dublin, media reports and publicity announced that women would be given abortions with the abortion pill, RU486, while the ship was moored 12 miles offshore in international waters. The abortions were supposed to be legal under Netherlands law, since the ship is registered there.

However, the truth emerged once the ship docked: it lacked both a Dutch license to operate a medical facility and an Irish license to carry passengers out to sea, according to the New York Times.

Rebecca Gomperts, founder of Women on Waves, the group that runs the abortion ship, said that the lack of a license was a "terrible disaster," the Irish Independent reported. But a spokesman for the Pro-Life Campaign called the voyage a "publicity stunt" and criticized the hype surrounding the abortion ship.

"There is already a debate under way in Ireland on the issue, there has been for a number of years, and we see the ship as a distraction from that," the pro-life spokesman said, according to the Irish Independent. "Any debate is helpful but raising hysteria is not."

Women on Waves claimed that 120 women contacted the abortion ship to ask about abortion while it was in Dublin. The group has not yet announced when and if it will sail again.

Kevorkian's Bail Request Denied

Jack Kevorkian will remain behind bars to continue his 10- to 25-year sentence for second-degree murder, a federal judge ruled June 25. Kevorkian's lawyers petitioned the court for his release, charging the state Court of Appeals with taking too long to consider his case, according to the Detroit News.

However, U.S. District Judge Paul D. Boorman ruled that "delay in hearing an appeal, in and of itself, does not require the federal courts to intervene," the News reported.

After Kevorkian's March 1999 conviction for second-degree murder in the "assisted suicide" death of Thomas Youk, Oakland County Circuit Judge Jessica Cooper repeatedly denied requests that Kevorkian be released on bond. Judge Cooper explained that she was convinced that Kevorkian would continue his illegal practice of "helping" people end their lives.

"I don't think you will ever cease and desist [assisting "suicides"]. This is what you think your life mission is," she said, according to the News.

The Michigan Court of Appeals has considered Kevorkian's appeal once before, declining to overturn Judge Cooper's original ruling, the News reported, but Kevorkian's lawyers want the court to hear the case again. Prosecutors deny that Kevorkian has been treated unfairly by the courts.

"The process was followed," Oakland assistant prosecutor Anica Letica told the News. "He made a request. He had a hearing, and there was a decision. The fact that you don't like the decision doesn't mean it was arbitrary."

Kevorkian's murder conviction came in a case that was based on a videotape broadcast to the nation by 60 Minutes, showing Kevorkian injecting Lou Gehrig's disease patient Thomas Youk, 52, with lethal drugs in September 1998. Kevorkian will be eligible for parole on May 26, 2007, two days before his 79th birthday, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Chinese Hospital Director Accused of Attempted Infanticide

A Chinese government official confirmed reports that a hospital in the northeastern city of Harbin is being investigated for an attempted infanticide, Agence France-Presse reported.

Yuan Yinghua, the director of the Daoli District Maternity Hospital, allegedly gave orders that a baby girl who survived a late-term abortion attempt should not be fed, clothed, or given any assistance after her April 24 birth, according to the Hong Kong-based Informa-tion Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

However, staff members disobeyed orders and cared for the child until police were notified May 13. The baby survived and went home to her family, Agence France-Presse reported.

The baby girl is the third child of Zhang Chunhong, who is not legally married. Authorities found out that she had violated China's one-child policy, and Zhang agreed to have an abortion in the 35th week of pregnancy, according to Agence France-Presse.

Despite injecting the baby with abortion-inducing drugs, she was born healthy. According to Agence France-Presse, Yuan told the mother that her baby died, and ordered the child to be placed in a wooden drawer on a balcony until she starved to death.

A government official told Agence France-Presse that the hospital will be investigated for violating the one-child policy, which forbids infanticide. Of course, if the baby had died as planned from abortion while still in her mother's womb, there would be no investigation.