Minnesota Abortions Down

KAAL-TV (Minnesota), July 1 — Abortions are on the decline in Minnesota for the second year in a row and are at the lowest level in nine years, according to the Minnesota Depar tment of Health.

About 14,000 abor tions were repor ted in the state last year, KAAL news repor ted. That's 200 fewer than last year and 800 fewer than in 2001.

“We are happy that the numbers went down,” Linda McGuire, Olmsted County Education Chair for Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, told the news station. “Obviously our effor ts are paying off. There are quite a few pro-life groups, including Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, that do a lot of educating.”

‘Walking in the Womb’

BBC NEWS, June 28 — A London professor has pioneered a new type of ultrasound scan that yields scans much more detailed than conventional sonograms.

Professor Stuart Campbell at London's Create Health Clinic has produced vivid pictures of a 12-week-old fetus “walking” in the womb, the BBC repor ted. The images show the fetus yawning, rubbing its eyes and smiling.

Campbell's technique not only shows detailed 3-D images but also shows the unborn baby's movements in real time.

“This is a new science,” he told the BBC, “for understanding and mapping out the behavior of the baby.”

Hope for Cancer Patients

REUTERS, June 30 — A 25-year-old German woman who previously under went chemotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma is 25 weeks pregnant after undergoing an ovarian-tissue transplant.

The baby was conceived naturally and is due in October, Reuters repor ted. After the chemotherapy, it was not thought the woman could conceive. But, for the first time, doctors from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium removed and froze ovarian tissue before the woman had chemo-therapy.

Four months after the ovarian tissue was transplanted, the woman's ovarian function was restored, Reuters repor ted. The technique is still in its early stages, doctors noted, but is a promising find for other former cancer patients.

‘Choose Life,’ Illinois

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, June 29 — Choose Life Illinois Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Jesse White over his refusal to allow “Choose Life” license plates in that state.

The lawsuit was filed June 28 in federal court. Among the group's directors and a plaintiff in the lawsuit is Virginia McCaskey, owner of the Chicago Bears, the Chicago Tribune reported. The lawsuit alleges White “arbitrarily” censored the group's message while allowing more than 60 other specialty license plates.

A spokesman for White said White doesn't like issuing new plates, which can contain the same numbers as other plates, because it makes law enforcement more difficult.