Pro-Life News in Brief

By Liz Townsend 

Unborn Baby Fights to Survive after Mother’s Brain Death

Weeks after cancer caused the brain death of 26-year-old Susan Torres, the pregnant mother is still being maintained by machines as her unborn baby continues to thrive in her womb. Hoping to reach at least the 25th week of pregnancy, when the baby has a good chance of survival, Jason Torres of Arlington, Virginia, can only watch and be reassured that his wife would have wanted her baby to have every chance to live.

“There’s not a glimmer of doubt in my mind that this is what she would have wanted,” Torres told USA Today. “Any chance at all to save the baby, and Susan would have said, ‘Let’s go for it.’”

Susan Torres, then four months pregnant, collapsed May 7 after skin cancer, which had been dormant in her body since she was first diagnosed at age 17, spread to her brain, the Washington Post reported. Doctors told her husband that her brain functions stopped, and he decided to continue life support so the baby could survive.

Since then, the cancer has continued to spread throughout Mrs. Torres’ body, reaching her lungs. The type of cancer, melanoma, is able to penetrate the placenta, so doctors have been closely watching to make sure the cancer does not spread to the baby, according to the Post.

The Torres family’s ordeal has touched the hearts of people around the world. Donations have been sent from as far away as England and Australia, as people hope to help the family defray the enormous medical bills that have been accumulating.

The family has also asked for prayers. Their Catholic faith has helped sustain them.

“Keep them in your prayers,” Fr. Jerry Wooton of St. Leo the Great Parish in Fairfax, who has been helping the family, told the Arlington Catholic Herald. “That’s the most important thing right now.”

Connecticut Governor Signs Clone-and-Kill Bill

Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell signed a bill June 15 that allows scientists to create human clones for research, as long as they are killed within about 14 days. The bill also establishes a $100 million fund for stem cell research over the next 10 years, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Bill supporters and media reports contended that the bill actually bans human cloning.

However, a close reading shows that it only forbids the implantation and birth of a cloned human.

It bans cloning as defined specifically as “inducing or permitting a replicate of a living human being’s complete set of genetic material to develop after gastrulation commences.”

Gastrulation refers to the period when the germ layers begin to form, which is at about the 14th day of development. So, since cloned embryos younger than 14 days do not fall under the bill’s definition, scientists will be allowed to create a new human that will develop for two weeks before being killed.

Gov. Rell spoke in glowing terms about embryonic stem cells. “Stem cells hold tremendous promise,” Gov. Rell said in a statement, according to the New York Times. “Promise for the future of medicine, promise for the future of humanity, promise for the future of Connecticut—all these are contained within a tiny speck.”

The research fund will be administered by an advisory board and peer review committee, the AP reported. Researchers studying both embryonic and adult stem cells can apply for grants.

The University of Connecticut and Yale University already have stem cell research programs, and are expected to be among the first applicants for the new grants, according to the Hartford Courant.

Adult Stem Cell Therapy Advances in Korea

On the heels of the controversial news that a South Korean scientist created stem cell lines by killing cloned human embryos, reports announced that more and more patients are being successfully treated by adult stem cells obtained by bone marrow, blood, or umbilical cords.

The Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare reported June 9 that 64 out of 74 patients with rare arterial and bone disorders treated with adult stem cells showed “significant improvement without developing any signs of negative side effects,” according to the Korean Herald. The researchers used cells from the patients themselves, eliminating difficulties caused by immune system rejection.

“This is one of the most successful results of adult stem cell therapy ever conducted in Korea and has definitely opened the door wide for stem cell therapy for hard-to-cure diseases,” Vice Minister Song Jai-seong said, according to the Herald.

Another group of scientists in Korea is planning a second round of therapy for a woman who walked for the first time in 19 years after receiving umbilical cord stem cells, Korea Times reported. Doctors will inject cord cells into a blocked pathway in her spine.

Hwang Mi-soon, who took her first steps since 1985 last October, hopes that she will not need a walker after the next operation. “Even though the development pace has slowed down, I feel my spine keeps improving,” Hwang told the Times. “Now I can raise my feet myself to an extent that people can recognize it.”

Researchers said that adult stem cells are helping people right now, when embryonic cell treatments are still only theoretical. “While the embryonic stem cell studies are still at the early stage, far from clinical trials on the human body, the adult stem cells are now showcasing tangible results,” neurologist Na Hyung-kyun told the Herald.

Gender Test Raises Concerns about Sex-Selection Abortions

As early as five weeks after conception, pregnant women willing to spend $275 can now send away for a test that will determine their baby’s gender.

The testing kit, called the Baby Gender Mentor Home DNA Gender Test, is available on a web site called PregnancyStore.com. The site’s president, Sherry Bonelli, told the Boston Globe that the test is intended for “the type of woman who can’t wait to open Christmas presents.”

The kit costs $25 to buy, with a $250 laboratory fee. The pregnant woman pricks her finger to get a blood sample and mails it to a lab in Lowell, Massachusetts. “The technique traces the amount of Y chromosomal DNA in the maternal blood to determine gender,” according to a PregnancyStore.com press release. “If the Y chromosome DNA is present in the maternal blood sample, it’s a boy; if the Y chromosome DNA is not present, it’s a girl.”

Many, however, are concerned that the tests could be used to abort children when the parents specifically want either a boy or a girl. In countries such as China and India, unborn girl babies are killed in great numbers when the parents discover the gender, leading to a severe imbalance between females and males.

‘‘The sex test is very controversial because it’s not clear that you want to broadly facilitate the ability of people to sex-select embryos at a very early stage,” Charles R. Cantor, professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University, told the Globe. ‘‘It’s potentially abusable.”

Kansas Board Revokes Abortionist’s License

After several disciplinary actions, the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts revoked the license of abortionist Krishna Rajanna June 11.

Rajanna operated an abortion clinic in Kansas City, Kansas, until late March, when his license was suspended and he closed the clinic, according to the Associated Press. However, since his license was only suspended indefinitely March 25, there was a chance he could have been reinstated. Now, unless Rajanna prevails on appeal, he will not be able to practice medicine in Kansas again.

According to the board’s order revoking Rajanna’s license, when an inspection was conducted in March, “the Board investigator observed a dead rodent in a clinic hallway, carpet was not vacuumed and showed visible dirt, trash cans did not have lids, and the toilet in a public restroom was not clean. The Board investigator also observed pre-drawn syringes that included controlled substances in an unsecured refrigerator. The syringes were not properly labeled.

The Board investigator also observed the medical waste container having no lid in place. Medical waste items were in the container.”

After considering this investigation and Rajanna’s history, which included two “remedial orders” in 2000 and 2001 for other violations, the board decided to revoke his license permanently. “The Board finds and concludes that this conduct is not only likely to harm the public, ... but is also an unreasonable risk that a physician should recognize,” according to the board’s June 11 order. “In light of the ongoing nature of the violations, and in light of the prior disciplinary history, the Board finds and concludes that Respondent’s license should be revoked.”

According to Kansas pro-lifers, Rajanna’s case clearly shows the need for a law mandating stronger abortion clinic regulations in the state. However, such a bill was vetoed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in April and the legislature failed to overturn the veto.

The bill would have required the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to do proactive inspections of clinics. Currently, the Board of Healing Arts can only respond to complaints, according to Kansans for Life Executive Director Mary Kay Culp. This reportedly allowed

Rajanna to continue operating for over a year after authorities knew about the dangerous conditions in the clinic.

Detective William Howard of the Kansas City Police Department said that he had notified the board about Rajanna’s clinic in September 2003, after he was called there to investigate a reported theft. Howard testified March 15 before the House Committee on Health and Human Services, describing the horrific conditions inside the clinic, which was dirty and disorganized.

Howard said that he described his observations to the district attorney and the Board of Healing Arts, but was told that no laws had been violated.

Rajanna told the AP that he would appeal the board’s order.