LIFE DIGEST: Baltimore law burdens pregnancy centers
- Dec 8, 2009 -
The city of Baltimore has enacted a law that pro-life advocates say discriminates against pregnancy help centers.
Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon signed Dec. 4 a bill that requires pregnancy help centers to display signs saying they do not provide abortions or contraceptives or make referrals for the services. Dixon’s action came three days after she was found guilty of embezzling about $500 in gift cards intended for charity,
Also in this edition: Adult stem cells aid heart patients, study shows, Third Indian death from abortion in 2009 reported, and French defeat euthanasia legislation.
The law is believed to be the first of its kind in an American city.
The measure would levy a fine of $150 a day for any pregnancy center that does not abide by the requirement.
Opponents criticized the proposal as inconsistent because it does not require abortion clinics to post signs indicating what services they do not provide. Many pro-life pregnancy help centers provide such free services as pregnancy tests, ultrasound exams, prenatal care, childbirth classes, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, abstinence education, post-abortion counseling and material assistance. Abortion clinics typically do not provide many of these services.
Care Net President Melinda Delahoyde described the new law as “unconstitutional because it discriminates against pregnancy centers solely because of their pro-life viewpoint.”
“It is nonsensical for the Baltimore City Council to undermine local efforts to provide free support to pregnant women in this city, but that’s exactly what they’ve accomplished with this legislation,” Delahoyde said in a written statement.
With the economy faltering, “wouldn’t it make more sense for the Baltimore City Council to pass a resolution praising the contribution of pregnancy centers, which rely solely on charitable contributions, not on state or local funding?
“Sadly, this bill sends a message to city residents that local pregnancy centers may not be completely forthcoming about their services,” she said. “This couldn’t be further from the truth and is an affront to women who rely on their support.”
Care Net supports a network of more than 1,100 pregnancy centers.
The city council approved the measure in a 12-3 vote Nov. 23. It defeated in a 10-5 vote at its Nov. 16 meeting an amendment to expand similar requirements to abortion clinics, according to The Catholic Review, the Baltimore Archdiocese’s newspaper.
Adult stem cells aid heart patients, study shows
New research on human beings indicates adult stem cells can repair heart damage.
The 10-university study provides the clearest evidence to date that adult stem cells can transform into heart cells to repair damage from a heart attack, researchers said, according to The Miami (Fla.) Herald.
“This is a pretty big deal,” said Joshua Hare, a University of Miami cardiologist and lead author of the study, The Herald reported. “Echocardiograms showed improved heart function, particularly in those patients with large amounts of cardiac damage. They also had improvements in lung function.”
Robert Simari, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who did not participate in the research, told The Herald, “This is an exciting first step in a direction many thought cell therapy couldn’t go.”
The study involved 53 patients who had suffered heart attacks in the previous 10 days, according to the newspaper. They were injected with adult stem cells and observed for six months.
After six months, the patients treated with adult stem cells showed the following results in contrast to patients who were not treated with such cells, according to The Herald:
- They were “four times as likely to have improved overall condition.”
- They were “able to pump more blood with each heartbeat . . . ”
- They had “only one quarter as many dangerous heart arrhythmias.”
The study was to be published Dec. 8 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Third Indian death from abortion in 2009 reported
Another young Indian woman has died after undergoing a legal abortion.
Hansa Makwan, 20, died as a result of a failed abortion during the week of Nov. 22-28 in Rajkot, which is in the western part of India, LifeNews.com reported. The report was based on an article in Press Trust of India. She was five months pregnant.
Her death followed a September death as a result of an abortion on a woman in Varanasi and the death of a woman in Hyderabad in April, according to LifeNews.
French defeat euthanasia legislation
The French National Assembly recently defeated legislation that would have legalized euthanasia.
During the week of Nov. 29-Dec. 5, legislators voted 326-202 against the measure. The proposal said “all adults in an advanced or terminal phase of a serious and incurable illness which involves physical or psychic suffering which cannot be treated and which they feel is unbearable, may ask for medical help, under strict conditions, to die with dignity,” according to BioEdge, a bioethics news website.
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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