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.
Sex Ed Mandatory for 5-Year-Olds in UK
A new government program will require that teachers in British public schools teach sex education to students starting at age 5, according to a series of published reports. According to the Guardian newspaper, the program will include the requirement to teach teens about contraception, safe sex, homosexuality and civil partners. But the program also allows faith-based schools to apply their values and include their perspectives in the lessons.
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Parents Sue Hospital for 'Wrongful Birth'
A couple are suing Blackpool Victoria Hospital after claiming they were not given the chance to abort their severely disabled child because of a "casual and light-hearted" pre-birth scan. The parents, who have not been named for legal reasons, are taking action against the NHS over the 20-week "anomaly scan", carried out to detect any abnormalities, 14 years ago, which their lawyers say should have picked up early signals of the severe brain malformation now afflicting their son. They are suing the hospital for seven-figure damages for "wrongful birth" to cover the costs of raising such a badly disabled child.
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New Layer Of Control Over Human Embryonic Stem Cells Found
Researchers have discovered an added layer of complexity in the network that determines human embryonic stem cell fate. A report publishing online April 30th in the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, shows that a microRNA known as miR-145 lowers the activity of three key ingredients in the "recipe" for making embryonic stem cells. The discovery may have implications for improving the efficiency of methods designed to reprogram differentiated cells into embryonic stem cell-like cells and for the use of those transformed cells in replacing cells lost to disease or injury, the researchers said.
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Gardasil Vaccine Linked to Nerve Disorder
Girls and women who receive the Gardasil vaccine to prevent cervical cancer may be at increased risk of a rare but serious disorder of the nervous system in the first few weeks after getting their shots, researchers report. "There is clear evidence from our database of an increased incidence of Guillain-Barre syndrome in the first six weeks, especially the first two weeks, after vaccination," says Nizar Souayah, MD, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark.
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Notre Dame Won't Give Top Honor Amid Obama Protest
The University of Notre Dame has decided against awarding the Laetare Medal, its highest honor, after a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican turned it down because of the school's decision to honor President Barack Obama at its commencement. Instead, the Roman Catholic[sic] school said Thursday it will have federal Judge John T. Noonan Jr. speak at the commencement, replacing one anti-abortion scholar with another. Noonan was awarded the Laetare Medal in 1984.
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Souter to quit Supreme Court
Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the current court term. The vacancy will give Obama his first chance to name a member of the high court and begin to shape its future direction. Souter was a Republican appointed by President George H. W. Bush in 1990, largely on the recommendation of New Hampshire's former governor John Sununu, who had become the first President Bush's chief of staff.
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Pro-lifers' First Amendment Rights Lawsuits to Be Heard By Jury
Pro-life advocates John McTernan and Edward Snell were protesting outside York's planned Parenthood clinic.
A U.S. Court of Appeals on Monday reversed a federal judge's decision against two pro-life advocates, saying the two men deserve to have their lawsuits against York heard by a jury. In their lawsuits, which were previously dismissed in U.S. District Court, Edward Snell and John McTernan claim violation of their First Amendment rights. In November 2004, Edward Snell was arrested in Rose Alley, behind Planned Parenthood at 728 S. Beaver St. in York, when he tried to hand out literature and speak with people walking to the clinic. Snell, of Harrisburg, said in his lawsuit he was wrongfully arrested Nov. 3, 2004, for refusing to leave the alley. Snell alleges police used excessive force by placing the handcuffs on too tightly and chaining him to a rail at city hall for two hours as he was processed for a disorderly conduct citation. Snell was later found not guilty by York County District Justice Ronald Haskell.
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Abortion Abroad: Family-Planning Advocates Have Global Ambitions
Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the House Foreign Affairs Committee to talk about Iran, but wound up defending the Obama administration's promotion of abortion rights abroad. "We happen to think that family planning is an important part of women's health, and reproductive health includes access to abortion," Clinton told the committee, with considerable emotion. The exchange was yet another skirmish in what President Obama recently characterized as a "stale and fruitless debate." Stale -- perhaps for some -- but surely not fruitless. There are real winners and losers in the abortion wars. Last month at a Planned Parenthood fundraiser, Clinton triumphantly announced that Washington would provide $545 million for family planning and "reproductive health" throughout the globe, while the United Nations Population Fund would receive $50 million in federal dollars for this fiscal year.
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