Advantages of Growth

OPINIONJOURNAL.COM, Aug. 8—Three researchers, Wolfgang Lutz, Warren Sanderson and Sergei Scherbov, report in Nature magazine that they've predicted there is “around an 85% chance that the world's population will stop growing before the end of the century.”

While the authors contend this is good news, others note the clear advantages of population growth, not decline, reported Opinionjournal.com.

As an example, since 1960, Asia's population has more than doubled, and the continent's people have set off a new industrial revolution. Per capita food consumption has soared. Yet the United Nations called for billions to be spent on population control at a time when Asia was actually suffering labor shortages.

‘ABOUT F.A.C.E.’

US NEWSWIRE, Aug. 7—Steven Mosher, president of Population Research Institute, introduced a national campaign to protect American women from violations committed in private- and state-funded abortion clinics and family planning centers.

Dubbed ABOUT F.A.C.E., the campaign draws on the Roe II v. Aware Woman Center for Choice decision of June 8. In that decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that, under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (F.A.C.E.) Act, Dr. William Egherman violated a patient's right of access to reproductive health services by forcing her to continue with an abortion.

Mosher believes the precedent can help protect women against the full range of abortion-related abuses, including threats, lack of informed consent and lack of information about the harmful side-effects of abortion.

K of C to Boldly Fight Abortion

THE OTTAWA CITIZEN, Aug. 7—The New York state chapter of the Knights of Columbus spoke up at a meeting in Toronto to push the service club toward more bold tactics with pro-choice politicians.

The resolution called on chapters to take out newspaper, radio and TV ads publicizing elected officials’ statements and voting records on abortion.

Ads should be timed for “maximum impact, in terms of educating the public and influencing the actions of elected officials,” said the chapter.

Opposition to Use of Embryos

MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, Aug. 17—State Sen. Bob Welch and Rep. Steve Freese, both Republicans, sent a letter to University of Wisconsin system president Katharine Lyall and University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor John Wiley, asking them to “cease the purchase of any additional embryonic stem cells.”

The university's James Thomson was re-evaluating his plans for additional stem-cell research following President Bush's Aug. 9 decision to allow funding only on existing lines.

“We would ask that you follow President Bush's lead on this issue” and not finance additional embryonic stem cell lines, the lawmakers wrote.