NEWS SHORTS FOR MONDAY
U-Nebraska Freshman Sponsors Pro-Life Billboard
Most college students consider themselves lucky when they save enough money each month to buy ramen noodles, but Taylor Wahl is trying to raise $650 per month to change minds. "I noticed that Lincoln does not have anti-abortion messages, but on my way to Fairbury I noticed seven in 45 minutes," said Wahl, a freshman education major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Wahl wanted to show Lincoln women "if you’re pregnant, it's a baby." And the best way to show that, she decided, was a billboard.
Click here for the entire article from the Daily Nebraskan.
50 Lawsuits in Indiana Exposing Dangers of Birth Control
Over 50 women in Indiana are filing lawsuits against Bayer Pharmaceuticals charging that use of the company's Yaz and Yasmin hormonal birth control pills caused conditions ranging from gallbladder-related injuries to strokes. There are now over 25,000 similar reported cases across the United States. "We're seeing an increasing awareness of the very real health risks associated with hormonal birth control," said Marie Hahnenberg, project director of American Life League’s The Pill Kills project. "For years, criticism of birth control has been a sacrosanct topic, but the victims of hormonal birth control are too numerous to ignore any longer."
Click here for the entire article from the American Life League.
Bill Would Make `Penalty Enhancements' for Killing Pregnant Mom's Baby
A legislative committee has recommended approval of a bill that would enhance the penalty for anyone who intentionally kills a pregnant woman. The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted 6-3 in favor of House Bill 132, sponsored by Rep. Kathy Davison, R-Kemmerer. The bill calls for a penalty enhancement of up to 20 additional years in prison for second-degree murder involving a pregnant woman. Manslaughter and drug-induced homicide cases would see lesser enhancements. Gov. Dave Freudenthal in 2007 vetoed a bill that would have allowed a separate homicide count to be filed against anyone who killed a pregnant woman's fetus. His office says he supports Davison's current bill.
Click here for the entire article from WorldNow.
Feds `Tweak' Stem Cell Policy
The feds broadened the definition of a human embryonic stem cell on Friday, helping qualify several corporate and academic experiments for federal funding. Dr. Lana Skirboll, director of the Office of Science Policy of the National Institutes of Health, called the change technical and said it would be posted in the federal register for comment. Human embryonic stem cells are the body's master cells, taken from very early stage embryos when they are just a ball of cells. The current definition describes them as cells taken from the inner layer of a blastocyst -- a days-old hollow ball of cells. Skirboll said the new definition will include earlier stage embryos.
Click here for the entire article from Reuters.
Florida Lawmaker Wants Abortions Outlawed In His State
A legislator who has travelled the world as a Baptist minister wants Florida to ban abortion -- Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Keystone Heights, cites the state and federal Constitutions, as well as the Declaration of Independence, in asserting that all people are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that the first among these rights is the right to life." Nearly one-third of his "Florida for Life Act" is devoted to legislative "findings," including statements that life begins at conception and that the high court's 1973 and 1992 rulings were wrong. The bill also states that about 50 million abortions have occurred since the Roe v. Wade ruling 37 years ago. It contends that "the standard of decency of the people of this state has evolved" to a point that the people of Florida want the ruling reversed.
Click here for the entire article from First Coast News.
Judge Refuses To Pull Abortion Doctor's License
An administrative law judge in San Diego has refused to pull a physician's medical license amid accusations that the doctor violated a court order that forbids him from performing surgeries after an abortion patient's death. On Thursday, the Medical Board of California sought an immediate suspension of Dr. Andrew Rutland's physician's license, saying they caught him in an undercover sting "being ready, willing and capable of prescribing the necessary medications for an abortion, and determining whether the patient was a candidate for a medical abortion," the Los Angeles Times reported. The alleged violation took place at A Women's Choice Family Planning Clinic in Chula Vista.
Click here for the entire article from 10 News.
Illinois Federation for Right to Life
2600 State Street, Ste E
Alton, IL 62002
Phone: 618-466-4122
Web: www.ifrl.org
E-mail: mail@ifrl.org
