LIFE DIGEST: Pro-life Dems protest stem cell order
- Mar 16, 2009
The country’s leading pro-life organization for Democrats was on the outside looking in when it came to President Obama’s revocation of a ban on federal funds for stem cell research that destroys human embryos. That shutout by the White House indicates its relationship with Democrats for Life of America (DFLA) has gotten frostier, the pro-life group said.
DFLA had an opportunity to express its disagreement with the administration before Obama’s Jan. 23 order rescinding the Mexico City Policy, which barred federal grants to organizations that promote or provide abortions overseas.
Also in this edition: British scientist proposes transplants from aborted babies and California county defunds Planned Parenthood and States’ legislators OK embryo-destruction bans and Abortions top 13 million yearly in China and Like U.S., Australia kills ban on funds for abortion groups
“But the announcement that President Obama would allow expanded use of embryonic stem cells came as a surprise,” DFLA said in a March 9 statement. Until then, its relationship with first the Obama campaign and then his administration had been “productive,” according to DFLA.
“To have no opportunity to weigh in on this controversial issue signals a cooling of our relations,” DLFA said.
“DFLA is against President Obama’s decision, period. To frame this decision as a necessity to cure-finding medical research is not accurate,” DLFA said, citing successful results in ethical research using non-embryonic stem cells.
“While we have zero confidence that a call for reversal of the executive order will prevail, we are hopeful that the President will heed our call for common ground solutions in dealing with pro-life Democrats.”
Obama’s March 9 stem cell order overturned a policy instituted by President Bush in 2001. Extracting stem cells from an embryo results in the tiny human being’s destruction. Embryonic stem cell research has produced no therapies in human beings, while non-embryonic stem cell trials have provided treatments for 73 ailments, according to Do No Harm, a coalition concerned with ethical research.
DFLA is promoting the Pregnant Women’s Support Act (PWSA), which is part of its 95-10 initiative that seeks to reduce abortions by 95 percent in 10 years. It is hopeful Obama “will see the PWSA is a far better way to work with pro-life Democrats than focusing on divisive issues that highlight our differences on issues dealing with life and the unborn,” DFLA said.
British scientist proposes transplants from aborted babies
A top British scientist has called for research into the transplantation of kidneys and livers from aborted babies, producing an outcry from pro-life advocates.
Richard Gardner, an Oxford University stem cell specialist and an adviser to Britain’s Human Fertilisation [sic] and Embryology Authority, proposed studies using organs from aborted human beings at a biomedical conference, the Daily Mail reported March 11.
“It is probably a more realistic technique in dealing with the shortage of kidney donors than others,” Gardner said, according to the Daily Mail. “It is at least a temporary solution.”
Stuart Campbell, a British obstetrics and gynecology professor, endorsed the proposal.
If babies “are going to be terminated, it is a shame to waste their organs,” Campbell said, according to the newspaper. “I am sure very few of those on the transplant list would rather die than accept an organ from an aborted foetus [sic].”
Nearly 7,000 of the 8,000 Brits on organ transplant lists are seeking a kidney, the Daily Mail reported.
British advocates for the unborn protested the recommendation.
Josephine Quintaville of Comment on Reproductive Ethics called it “absolutely horrifying.”
“At what stage,” she said, according to the newspaper, “do you say to the woman who is to have an abortion, ‘Can we have some organs for transplant?’”
California county defunds Planned Parenthood
A Southern California county has eliminated nearly $300,000 in funds for Planned Parenthood.
Orange County supervisors voted unanimously March 10 to suspend a $291,788 contract with Planned Parenthood, according to The Orange County Register. The grant was not for abortion services but for health outreach efforts, including comprehensive reproductive information for children and teenagers, the newspaper reported. The supervisors instructed a county health agency to line up another clinic to utilize the funds.
“I believe money is fungible,” supervisor John Moorlach said, according to The Register. “So if we’re providing money to Planned Parenthood, which recommends abortions, which it provides, that’s a concern.”
Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the national organization, is the country’s No. 1 abortion provider. Its affiliates performed nearly 290,000 abortions in 2006, the latest year for which statistics are available.
States’ legislators OK embryo-destruction bans
A ban on research that results in the destruction of human embryos has passed one house each in the legislatures of Georgia and Oklahoma.
The Georgia Senate and Oklahoma House of Representatives both voted March 12 in favor of the legislation. The Georgia Senate voted 34-22 for the Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos Act, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The Oklahoma House approved a proposed ban in an 82-6 vote, The Daily Oklahoman reported.
“For me personally, this is the single-most important issue we deal with as legislators – protecting the right to life,” said Rep. Mike Reynolds, R.-Oklahoma City, according to The Oklahoman. Reynolds is the bill’s sponsor.
“The idea that we should condone the harvesting of children for ‘well-intentioned’ research runs counter to all morality,” he said. “Human embryos are human beings and the state cannot condone their destruction for research purposes.”
Abortions top 13 million yearly in China
More than 13 million abortions are performed each year in China, according to statistics released by family planning officials at a conference in Shanghai.
About 55 percent of all Chinese women have had at least one abortion, according to a LifeNews.com report based on an article in the Shanghai Daily.
In the United States, there were 1.21 abortions performed in 2005, the most recent year for which there are statistics reported by the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI). About 35 percent of American women will undergo at least one abortion by the age of 45, according to AGI.
China has a population of more than 1.3 billion, according to a 2008 estimate by the Central Intelligence Agency. The U.S. population is 306 million, according to the Census Bureau.
China has had a coercive population control program in effect since 1979, generally limiting couples in urban areas to one child and those in rural areas to two, if the first is a girl. The policy has been marked by forced abortions and sterilizations. Infanticide, especially of females, also has been reported.
Like U.S., Australia kills ban on funds for abortion groups
Australia has followed President Obama’s example, rescinding a ban on funds for abortion-related services.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith announced March 10 the lifting of a 13-year-old policy that prohibited Australian Agency for International Development funds from being used for “abortion training or services, or research, trials or activities which directly involve abortion drugs” in developing countries, CNS News reported.
On Jan. 23, Obama overturned a U.S. policy that barred international family planning organizations from receiving federal funds unless they agree not to perform or counsel for abortion, or lobby in order to liberalize the pro-life policies of foreign governments. It was known as the Mexico City Policy.
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Further Learning
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