LIFE DIGEST: Egg donors kept in dark on lethal research
- Jan 10, 2012 -
Many American fertility clinics do not disclose to women who donate eggs that embryos from those eggs may be used in destructive research.
A new survey of 100 clinics found only 20 of the 66 that said they use consent forms and perform research on leftover embryos informed donors about such research, Reuters News Service reported Dec. 29. In addition, only three of the 38 clinics that use embryos specifically in stem-cell research informed donors their embryos might be a part of the lethal experimentation.
Also in this edition: States shatter record for abortion restrictions with 92 in 2011, Priests for Life offers four-part approach to closing clinics, and Killer of girlfriend, unborn baby given 25 years.
The extraction of stem cells from embryos results in the destruction of the tiny human beings.
Eggs are taken from women either for their own fertility treatment or to help others become pregnant. Though women may be paid well for egg donations, the procedure can cause a variety of health problems for donors.
Donors should be informed by clinics if the embryos from their eggs may be used in research, the study’s authors said, according to Reuters.
Bioethics specialist Wesley Smith agreed.
“This is a profound violation of trust,” Smith wrote on his blog. “Women risk their health and future fertility – and in very rare cases, lose their lives – to allow others to bear their children. They have a right to know if some of the embryos made from their eggs, which after all, are their biological progeny, could instead be destroyed for an instrumental purpose, an issue that could be material . . . in the decision of some to become donors. . . . [T]oo often egg donors (or sellers) are seen by IVF clinics as mere means to an end.”
The study was published in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
States shatter record for abortion restrictions with 92 in 2011
State restrictions on abortion reached a yearly record of 92 in 2011, according to a Jan. 5 release from the Guttmacher Institute.
The total far surpassed the previous high of 34, which was achieved in 2005.
Michael New, an expert on abortion-related state laws, gave several reasons – in addition to Republican electoral gains in 2010 — for the huge increase in such laws.
Regarding long-term trends, he said, “[S]ince the mid-1990s, the Republican party has become a more uniformly pro-life party, so when Republicans possess unified control of government, they face fewer internal obstacles to the passage of pro-life laws. Also, many recent Republican political victories have occurred in Southern and Midwestern states where Democrats have historically controlled the state legislatures, and newly elected Republican majorities have succeeded in passing pro-life laws in a number of these states, including Alabama and Michigan.”
New, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, also cited these “circumstantial factors:”
- “Eight states responded to the threat posed by Obamacare by banning abortion coverage in new insurance exchanges.
- “Technological developments prompted five states to ban the use of telemedicine for the provision of abortion medication.
- “[T]he Live Action Films video series, coupled with fiscal shortfalls, . . . resulted in nine states cutting funding to Planned Parenthood.”
Undercover videos released by Live Action in early 2011 showed Planned Parenthood employees demonstrating a willingness to assist self-confessed sex traffickers whose prostitutes were purported to be in their early teens.
The Guttmacher Institute formerly was affiliated with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. While the organization continues to support abortion rights, its statistics are often cited by both pro-life and pro-choice advocates.
Priests for Life offers four-part approach to closing clinics
Priests for Life — a nationwide, pro-life organization – has announced a four-part strategy for 2012 that it hopes will result in the closing of many abortion clinics and the imprisonment of many abortion doctors.
Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said in a Jan. 9 written statement the approach is:
- “[U]ncover the ways abortionists break the law and get them punished for it;
- “[R]eveal the nature of the abortion procedure itself;
- “[Show the harm abortion does to the very people the abortion industry claims to serve;
- “[P]ray more intensely than ever for abortion to end.”
“As I have said since I began my work with Priests for Life in 1993, our job is to exploit the weaknesses of the abortion industry, which is collapsing under its own weight,” Pavone said. “The evil it does cannot withstand the light of human conscience.”
Killer of girlfriend, unborn baby given 25 years
A New York City man who killed his girlfriend and their unborn son on the due date was sentenced Jan. 4 to imprisonment for 25 years to life.
Derrick Redd, 38, stabbed Niasha DeLain, 25, repeatedly Oct. 25, 2008, the day their son, Aidan, was to be born. Queens prosecutor Eugene Reibstein described it as “a crime of almost unimaginable viciousness,” according to the New York Daily News.
DeLain’s mother, Towanda Wimms, is seeking passage by the New York legislature of a bill to treat the killing of an unborn child during an attack on his mother as murder.
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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