By Liz Townsend
Fetal Stem Cells May Bring Healing to Mothers Long After Pregnancy
Cells from unborn babies survive for years in mothers' blood, which may allow doctors to retrieve the cells without killing a child, according to a study in the July 7 Journal of the American Medical Association.
Researchers at Tufts-New England Medical Center studied diseased liver and thyroid tissues that had been removed from women who had sons. They discovered fetal cells with male chromosomes that had begun to resemble cells normally found in the organs.
"It suggests they have the potential to change in the mother's organs," Dr. Diana Bianchi, chief of medical genetics at the medical center and senior author of the study, told the Boston Herald.
"It raises the question if these fetal cells resemble stem cells."
If further study bears out this hypothesis, it might be possible for lines of fetal stem cells to be harvested simply by drawing blood from any woman who has been pregnant. It could make the morally bankrupt practice of killing unborn babies for their stem cells obsolete.
"If we can prove these are stem cells, and harvest them from the blood or tissue of a woman who's been pregnant, they could have therapeutic potential for that woman, her children, and perhaps even unrelated individuals," Bianchi told the Boston Globe.
"Pregnancy lasts a lifetime, and you carry mementos of your children wherever you go," she added.
Mississippi Abortion Law Blocked
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order July 2 to block enforcement of a Mississippi law requiring all abortions over 12 weeks to be performed in a hospital or ambulatory surgical facility (ASF). A July 16 hearing will determine if the restraining order will become permanent, according to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.
"Gov. [Haley] Barbour and his colleagues in the legislature worked hard for this pro-life legislation and while he's disappointed by this temporary restraining order, he expects the law to stay intact upon a full hearing," John Arledge, the governor's deputy chief of staff, said in a statement.
Gov. Barbour signed the law in May, and it took effect July 1. The restraining order was handed down one day later. Previous law required hospitals or ASFs to perform abortions after 16 weeks.
State Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, principal author of the bill, told the Clarion-Ledger that women face greater risk of injuries with later-term abortions, and qualified medical professionals should be on hand in case of complications.
"The purpose is to try to get some help if some injury occurs or some unforeseen medical problem," Sen. Hyde-Smith told the newspaper. "We have had women die as a result of having an abortion."
The law was challenged by the Jackson Women's Health Organization, which is one of two licensed abortion clinics in the state. According to the Associated Press, the clinic contended in its lawsuit that the law "violates the privacy rights of women to obtain abortions."
Uruguay Senate Defeats Bill to Legalize Abortion
On a close vote of 17-13, the Uruguayan Senate defeated a bill May 5 that would have legalized abortion in the first trimester. The House previously passed the bill in December 2002.
Cuba is currently the only Latin American country where abortion is legal. Pro-abortionists in Uruguay claimed that legalization was needed to prevent maternal deaths from unsafe abortions and to allow poor women to afford them, according to Inter Press Service (IPS).
However, President Jorge Batlle insisted he would veto any bill legalizing abortion, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Outcry against the proposed bill was led by the Catholic Church, which is home to the majority of Uruguayans. "No legislator who calls himself Christian can vote for this law," said Archbishop of Montevideo Nicolas Cotugno in mid-April, according to IPS.
The fight against the law was supported by several U.S. legislators as well, who sent a letter April 30 to Uruguay's senators. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and five other members of Congress urged the senators not to "make the same mistake" that America made and "legalize the violent murder of unborn children," the AP reported. "Lawmakers [from different nations] have a duty to talk to each other on human rights," Smith said.
Pro-abortionists in Uruguay said they would try to introduce the issue again in the October general election, IPS reported. However, the top three political parties are publicly opposed to weakening the laws against abortion.
Kevorkian Remains in Jail
Jack Kevorkian, convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Lou Gehrig's disease patient Thomas Youk, will remain in jail as a federal appeals court rejected his bid for a new trial. The June 22 ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous decision by U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Edmunds rejected Kevorkian's petition October 2. Kevorkian contended that he received "ineffective legal advice" during his 1999 trial, in which he represented himself, the AP reported.
Kevorkian also attempted to obtain his release in state court, where he argued that his sentence should be cut short because of medical problems, including hepatitis C, high blood pressure, and hernias, according to the AP. Judge Rae Lee Chabot rejected this petition December 2.
Kevorkian received a 10- to 25-year sentence in 1999. He could be eligible for parole in 2007.
"If he wants a sentence cut, he should go see the governor," Assistant Prosecutor Anica Letica told the AP. "If his health does deteriorate to where he's entitled to a medical parole, the parole board can do that. They're his boss now."
Alabama Women's Right to Know Law Goes into Effect
An Alabama law passed in 2002 requiring women seeking abortions to receive information and then wait 24 hours will finally go into effect. Senior U.S. District Judge Harold Albritton approved the settlement of a lawsuit between abortion clinics and the state on June 25.
"By giving a woman full information and time to reflect before the irrevocable and dire act of abortion, we are honoring her conscience, educating her fully about her decision and its lethal consequences to her baby, and doing our duty to protect her and her child from what could be hasty and ill-considered judgment," Attorney General Troy King told the Birmingham Post-Herald.
The abortion clinics filed their lawsuit in 2002, arguing that the state should pay for the informational booklets. They also objected to text that referred to the link between abortion and breast cancer, according to the Post-Herald. To settle the lawsuit, the state agreed to remove the abortion-breast cancer language, and the state will also pay to publish the booklets.
"I'm glad to see that the women who are having abortions will now have the opportunity to know what is physically taking place in their bodies," state Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin (R-Pelham), who sponsored the bill in the Alabama House, told the Associated Press (AP). "It's been exasperating to think something enacted over two years ago has taken this long before it can be implemented."
"Suicide Tourists" Suffered from Depression, Inquest Shows
An inquest into the deaths of Robert and Jennifer Stokes, British citizens who killed themselves in Switzerland last year with the help of the Swiss pro-euthanasia group Dignitas, found that the couple had a long history of mental illness and no evidence of terminal medical conditions.
David Morris, the coroner in the couple's home county of Bedfordshire, ruled their deaths a suicide. "No evidence has been put to me that either of them were in any terminal state or expected imminent death," Morris stated, according to Press Association News. "They planned and intended to bring about the end of their lives in Switzerland. That intention was carried out in Switzerland with the organisation known as Dignitas."
Switzerland allows euthanasia if the patient self-administers the lethal drugs and the decision is considered to be "rational," the Daily Mail reported.
The Stokes's son David and daughter Helen both said that their parents were often depressed, especially after Mrs. Stokes, 53, was injured in a car accident in the 1980s. Mr. Stokes, 59, had epilepsy, according to the Daily Mail. The couple met in the 1970s when they were patients in a psychiatric hospital, The Independent reported.
"I considered them both to be mentally ill," David Stokes said in a statement. "The only terminal illness they had was in their heads."
Robert and Jennifer Stokes flew to Zurich on March 31, 2003, according to evidence presented at the inquest, The Independent reported. The next day, they went to an apartment used by Dignitas for assisting suicides. A "euthanasia assistant," Erica Luley, prepared lethal doses of pentobarbitone, a drug used to put animals to sleep, and gave them to the couple, according to The Independent.
Mr. Stokes helped his wife drink her dose through a straw, then he took his own. Lying on a bed, they died within 30 minutes of each other.
Helen Stokes told The West Briton that she hopes her parents are at peace, but she knew their depression and isolation contributed to the suicides. "My parents' ill health ended their active lives. It isolated them from their circle of friends and they became depressed," she told the newspaper. "They started to push people away, only allowing a small amount of their time and lives to family and friends. Over the years, their depression worsened and they tried to commit suicide but always raised the alarm in time."
By traveling to Switzerland, the couple found a way to prevent the alarm from being sounded.
Missouri Informed Consent Law Enjoined Again
Just weeks after a federal appeals court lifted U.S. District Judge Scott Wright's restraining order against Missouri's Women's Right to Know law, Wright once again barred the state from enforcing the law. Wright imposed the restraining order June 22 while two Planned Parenthood affiliates challenge the law in state court, the Associated Press reported.
According to the law, which was passed in 2003 over the governor's veto, the abortionist must discuss "the indicators and contra-indicators, and risk factors, including any physical, psychological, or situational factors for the proposed procedure" at least 24 hours before an abortion. The woman must also be informed about any medications that will be used, and evaluated for possible complications from the abortion.
In their lawsuit, filed in Boone County Circuit Court June 24, the abortion clinics contended that this language is "vague." Peter Brownlie, president and CEO of Comprehensive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, told the Columbia Daily Tribune that "you don't know if you will have to get every scrap of information about a woman's entire life history" before performing an abortion.
Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon plans to ask the appeals court to reverse Judge Wright's restraining order. He has also filed a brief with the appeals court asserting that Planned Parenthood should not be able to sue the state in federal court, according to LifeNews.com.