Black Pro-Life Protest

CYBERCAST NEWS SERVICE, July 13 — After hearing that a proabortion group planned a summit at a historically black university in the District of Columbia, a black pro-life group sprang into action, assembling grassroots activists to protest the event, reported Cybercast News Service.

“Where is the outrage for the 1,452 black children killed by abortion every day,” asked Rev. Johnny M. Hunter, national director of the Life Education and Resource Network (LEARN), a pro-life group founded in 1993.

LEARN hastily gathered several dozen of its members from around the country to offer a different message to students at Howard University than the one offered by the pro-abortion Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, a group with ties to the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, reported the news service.

Girl Injured in Utero Can Sue

ASSOCIATED PRESS, July 12 — The Washington state Supreme Court says the parents of a six-year old girl can sue for damages she suffered in the womb when her mother had an on-the-job accident, reported the Associated Press.

The unanimous opinion has no direct bearing on the abortion rights debate and confers no new rights on an unborn child, said Justice Bobbe Bridge.

Dan Kennedy, head of Human Life, a statewide pro-life group, says, “It does help our cause in the minds of the culture, that this is a human person and consequently she has human rights,” reported the Associated Press.

The mother in the case fell at a fast food restaurant where she worked. She was nearly full term, and when her fall injured the placenta, it deprived the unborn child of oxygen, reported the Associated Press.

The baby girl was born a few hours later with severe and permanent mental and physical disabilities.

Laws Against ‘Feticide’

REUTERS, July 9 — In a bid to curb selective abortion of female babies, India is beefing up laws to prevent the abuse of fetal sex determination, reported Reuters.

The country's health minister, Dr. C. P. Thakur, has decided to amend the prenatal diagnostic act to discourage the use of ultrasound and the more recent preconception XY chromosome manipulation to determine the sex of a fetus.

According to the ministry, the main purpose is to make the link between fetal sex determination and selective abortion of female unborn babies completely clear in law, reported Reuters.

In its current form, the act clearly states that doctors conducting sex determination procedures could be imprisoned for up to 5 years, fined $1,000 (U.S.), and/or banned from medical practice.

To date, the law has only been taken seriously in top-of-the-line hospitals. The health ministry plans to send decoy customers to lay traps for doctors illegally conducting such tests.