Unborn Baby Survives Crash

HERALD-LEADER, Dec. 20 — An unborn baby was saved by paramedics after his mother was killed in a tractor-trailer wreck, reported the Herald-Leader of Lexington, Kentucky.

Police said the baby, who was named Patrick for the first person to find him, was torn from his mother's womb during the accident.

The tractor-trailer was southbound on U.S. 127 about 10 miles south of Jamestown when the driver, the woman's fiancé, lost control, possibly because of black ice, and ran off the road, reported the Herald-Leader.

The mother was in the sleeping compartment and sat upright as the truck jackknifed. She was thrown through the wind-shield, caught underneath the truck and her torso was severed.

The woman was eight months pregnant and the baby, who appeared to suffer only a gravel-sized cut on the left knee, was lying next to her still attached by the umbilical cord.

Patrick was upgraded from critical to fair condition after one day in the hospital.

South Asian Gender Screening

REUTERS, Dec. 16 — Modern methods which establish the gender of unborn children have led to increased abortions of baby girls in South Asia, according to a United Nations report, reported Reuters.

The growing use of ultrasound and amniocentesis to screen babies’ health, which enables parents to learn their offspring's sex early in pregnancy, have facilitated abortions and skewed South Asia's population toward males, said the 2000 Report on Human Development in South Asia.

The survey of Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives said some 79 million women were “missing in South Asia” due to discrimination against females, both before and after birth, reported Reuters.

The report showed there are only 94 women for every 100 men in South Asia while the ratio worldwide is 106 women for every 100 men.

Coffee and Miscarriage?

BBC NEWS, Dec. 20 — Swedish researchers have warned that women who drink more than four cups of coffee a day during early pregnancy double their chances of suffering a miscarriage, reported BBC News.

Professor Sven Cnattingius of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm also reported that drinking between two and three cups of coffee a day increased the risks of miscarriage by 30% to 40%.

Pope Praised for Life Stand

THE GAZETTE, Dec. 9 — Evangelical leader James Dobson, known for his Focus on the Family organization radio broadcasts listened to by millions, praised Pope John Paul II in December, reported The Gazette of Colorado Springs.

Dobson, along with Chuck Colson, another evangelical leader, attended a meeting in Rome with the Pope about family issues.

Dobson said although he has theological differences with the Catholic Church, “When it comes to the family, there is far more agreement than disagreement, and with regard to moral issues from abortion to premarital sex, safe-sex ideology and homosexuality, I find more in common with Catholics than with some of my evangelical brothers and sisters,” reported The Gazette.