New Strategy Calls Abortion Procedure ‘Murder’

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.— Missouri lawmakers are taking a new tack in their attempts to ban partial-birth abortions, with a bill that addresses the procedure under criminal murder statutes by defining it as infanticide, reported the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Kansas City Star also reported on the story, and added that the measure does not even contain the word “abortion,” but bans “the killing of someone who is ‘partially born,’” defined as those with “the head in a cephalic presentation, or any part of the torso above the navel in a breech presentation, [that] is outside the mother's external cervical os,” or outside the mother's abdominal wall in a Caesarean section.

The bill appears headed for approval in the House, as the bill's 116 co-sponsors are 34 more than needed for a majority, according to the reports. Pro-life legislators also control the state Senate, but pro-abortion Gov. Mel Carnahan has insisted on an exception for the mother's health, which would render the bill meaningless. He vetoed partial-birth legislation last year, and the Senate override failed by one vote. (ProLife Infonet)

Police Target Russian Christian School

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia— Russian police and Christian families have been in a standoff over a government order for an evangelical school to vacate the former army barracks it had been allowed to use since 1991.

Dozens of children, parents, and teachers have occupied the school operated by the Dutch Open Christian Society since Feb. 22 as busloads of police waited outside. A court order demanding the school vacate the premises goes into effect on March 11, and some police standing watch said they have been told they will then storm the building.

St. Petersburg has revoked a 1991 rent-free lease for the school, but school supporters said they should be allowed to remain. Police had forced their way into the building on Feb. 23, but the protesters lay on the floor singing religious songs until the police left after three hours. In a press release two days later, the city said the school had violated the terms of the building's lease and was enlisting the support of international organizations by spreading inaccurate information in a publicity campaign. (CWNews)