LIFE DIGEST: Baby aborted for cleft lip survives 2 days
- May 4, 2010 - 1 -
A baby who survived for nearly two days before dying in an Italian hospital was aborted only because he had a cleft lip and palate.
Scans of the boy, who was at 22 weeks gestation, had shown he had the conditions, which may be corrected by surgery, and his mother chose to abort him in a hospital in her hometown of Rossano in southern Italy, the Telegraph reported. The 11-ounce baby survived the April 24 abortion, but doctors left him to die.
Also in this edition: Kansas House overrides late-term abortion bill veto, Couples battle over two frozen embryos, Study: Substance abuse more likely in post-abortive women, and Planned Parenthood to open huge Houston clinic May 11.
Antonio Martello, the hospital’s Roman Catholic chaplain, discovered the boy still alive the next day, about 20 hours after the abortion, according to the British newspaper. He informed doctors, who quickly had the child transferred to a neo-natal unit at another hospital. The boy died April 26.
Italian police are seeking to determine if the death is a homicide, the Telegraph reported.
Catholic Archbishop Santo Marciano of Rossano-Cariati said the death should cuase society “to reflect on the tragic character of abortion, in so far as it is the suppression of a human being, and in this case, on the illicit character of the definition ‘therapeutic.’”
“It also invites us to consider with what ease a person who is seriously malformed and simply undesired is treated inhumanly,” he told L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, the Telegraph reported.
Kansas House overrides late-term abortion bill veto
The Kansas House of Representatives voted May 3 to override the veto of a pro-life, late-term abortion bill only three days after it failed to do so.
The House voted 86-35 for an override of Gov. Mark Parkinson’s veto of legislation that would require doctors to provide detailed information about abortions after the 21st week of pregnancy, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. The override vote April 30 was two votes short of the two-thirds majority required.
Prospects for an override in the Senate are uncertain. Senators approved the bill in a 24-15 vote, but supporters need 27 votes for an override, according to The Capital-Journal.
Kansas enacted a law in 1998 that bans post-viability abortions unless the mother’s life is endangered or her health is threatened with “substantial and irreversible” damage. More than 2,900 post-viability abortions have been performed since then in Kansas, and pro-lifers contend the state has not enforced the law.
The new bill is designed to toughen reporting requirements. It also provides women — and their families — with legal standing to sue doctors they believe have performed illegal late-term abortions, according to Kansans for Life.
The veto by Parkinson, a Democrat, “would have welcomed late-term abortionists to set up shop in continued violation of Kansas’ 1998 post-viability abortion ban, and the Kansas House rebuked that welcome,” said Kathy Ostrowski, legislative director of Kansans for Life.
The new bill “tells the state health agency to stop the abortion reporting abuse, tells the state Medical Board to take away medical licenses for abortion crimes, and tells the victims of criminal abortion they can take it to court,” Ostrowski said.
Couples battle over two frozen embryos
Two Roman Catholic couples will meet May 17 with a mediator in an effort to resolve a dispute over the destiny of a pair of frozen human embryos.
Edward and Kerry Lambert of Pleasanton, Calif., and Patrick and Jennifer McLaughlin of suburban St. Louis, Mo., will meet with a lawyer in Santa Barbara, Calif., to see if they can come to an agreement outside of court regarding the tiny human beings, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported. Both couples agreed not to pursue lawsuits they already have filed to give mediation a chance.
In February 2009, the Lamberts agreed to give four embryos to the McLaughlins. Two were implanted in Jennifer McLaughlin’s uterus in May, and she gave birth to Sarah and Anna in January.
In April, the McLaughlins learned the Lamberts wanted the two remaining embryos returned to their custody.
McLaughlin says she intends to have the others implanted in about a year, following her doctor’s advice. “I adopted all four embryos with the intention . . . legally and morally of giving birth,” she said, according to the Globe-Democrat.
The Lamberts assert the agreement with the McLaughlins was only for a year and they have the right to determine the disposition of the remaining embryos, the newspaper reported.
Study: Substance abuse more likely in post-abortion women
A news study found women who had an abortion were much more likely to abuse alcohol or other drugs.
The research involving more than 3,300 American women showed about 25 percent who had undergone an abortion acknowledged some substance abuse, while such abuse was found in only 7 percent of non-abortive women, the Winnipeg Free Press reported.
The link between abortion and substance abuse may have been as strong as it was because women used alcohol or other drugs as a form of self-medication, though the research did not look into this, said Natalie Mota, the study’s primary author.
The study found a weaker connection between abortion and mood or anxiety disorders, according to the Free Press.
The study was performed by researchers at the University of Manitoba. The report is published in the current issue of The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.
Planned Parenthood to open huge Houston clinic May 11
Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas reportedly will open what pro-life advocates describe as the largest abortion clinic in the country May 11.
The affiliate of the country’s No. 1 abortion provider will make its new home in a six-story, 78,000-square-foot building that was formerly a bank. The Houston Coalition for Life has predicted the facility will be used to perform abortions up to 25 weeks into pregnancy.
Affiliates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) performed more than 305,000 abortions in 2007, the most recent year for which statistics are available. PPFA received about $350 million in government grants and contracts in 2008.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to protect the sanctity of human life. If you would like to learn more about this issue, additional resources are available here. Our free, downloadable Impact resource is also available online. If your church is interested in purchasing materials on the sanctity of human life, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com.
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1 On May 7th, 2010, at 1:50am, Virgie Metts wrote:
Is there anything in the works to remove the line item from the federal budget that supports abortion?