NEWS SHORTS FOR TUESDAY
Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of The Illinois Federation for Right to Life. They are presented only for your information.
Georgia Takes Action: SB 169 to Protect Human Embryos
While President Obama was signing the executive order that would provide federal funds for destructive Human Embryo research today, the Georgia Senate's Health and Human Services Committee moved SB 169: The Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos Act to the Senate Rules Committee on a 7-6 vote.
This bill allows for the advancement of scientific research, while also addressing the important ethical questions related in the ongoing debate about Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research (HESCR).
http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/487549682.html
Abortion Pill Case Goes to Ohio Supreme Court
The question of whether Ohio doctors have the flexibility to prescribe RU-486, the abortion pill, beyond 49 days into a pregnancy is going before the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday, March 10. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved RU-486 in September 2000, based on clinical trials (sic) involving women up to 49 days into their pregnancy receiving a 600 milligram dose plus a second drug two days later. Since then, doctors have developed “off label” protocols that called for a 200 mg dose plus the second drug three days later for women within 63 days of getting pregnant. Planned Parenthood clinics in Ohio started using this method.
http://www.oxfordpress.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/ohiopolitics/entries/2009/03/09/abortion_pill_case_goes_to_ohi.html
Researchers Find Safer Way to Make Stem Cells
Researchers said on Sunday they had found a safer way to transform ordinary skin cells into powerful stem cells in a move that could eventually remove the need to use human embryos. It is the first time that scientists have turned skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells -- which look and act like embryonic stem cells -- without having to use viruses in the process. The new method also allows for genes that are inserted to trigger cell reprogramming to be removed afterwards.
http://www.windsorstar.com/Health/Researchers+find+safer+make+stem+cells/1344578/story.html
Obama Publishes Proposal to Rescind 'Conscience' Rule
The Department of Health and Human Services will begin accepting comments from the public this week on a proposal by the Obama administration to completely rescind federal regulations placed into effect by former President Bush that protect the right to conscience for healthcare workers. The Obama administration moved late last week to "rescind in its entirety" the "conscience" rule, which the Bush administration passed in January. The rule, which was introduced in August and finalized in December, is entitled "Ensuring That Department of Health and Human Services Funds Do Not Support Coercive or Discriminatory Policies or Practices in Violation of Federal Law."
http://au.christiantoday.com/article/obama-publishes-proposal-to-rescind-conscience-rule/5670.htm
Australia Government Approves Funding Abortion Overseas
Australia's government on Tuesday scrapped a ban preventing overseas aid being used for abortion advice, following a recent U.S. decision to overturn similar prohibitions. The ban was put in place in 1996 by Australia's previous conservative government and prevented overseas aid funding being used for anything involving termination of a pregnancy. Australian and international aid agencies would be able to choose what services they deliver in line with their own philosophies, but Smith said he hoped the estimated 42 million terminations performed globally each year could be reduced.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090310/hl_nm/us_australia_aid_abortion_1
Planned Parenthood Targets Poland for Abortion with US Funds, Courtesy of Obama
The International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF) has wasted little time in putting to use the millions of taxpayer dollars that have been made available to it by President Obama's decision to rescind the Mexico City Policy, which forbade U.S. funds from going to organizations that promote or perform abortions overseas.
In a letter advocating a series of Women's Day marches in Poland which took place yesterday and which were advertised with the words "Come and Join Us Because ... Poland is Ill," the IPPF urged support for the pro-contraception, pro-abortion and pro-homosexual agenda of the marchers.
The Women's Day event "has become a grassroots democratic movement," the "biggest demonstration of women's rights supporters," says the IPPF. According to the organization, last year Women's Day marches in cities around the country attracted some 4,000 participants.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09030908.html
