Zell Sees the Life

LIFENEWS.COM, Sept. 1 — Democratic Senator Zell Miller has not only crossed party lines to support President Bush, but he has also come to embrace the pro-life position on abortion, breaking with his own past as a pro-abortion governor and senator who actively supported “pro-choice” Bill Clinton for president.

In a recent book, A National Party No More, Miller says the births of his great-grandchildren — and the science and technology that can now show the surprisingly active life of an unborn baby — helped to change his mind.

The Georgia lawmaker was prompted to begin “to seriously wrestle with where I was on the real question. I began to pray earnestly for God's guidance.”

Ethical Stem-Cell Bank

REUTERS, Sept. 2 — A biotech company based in Cape Town, South Africa, has established the first ethical stem-cell bank on the African continent to collect cells from umbilical cord blood, one of the most promising sources of stem cells for research and disease treatment.

The wire service article confuses stem-cell research and cloning, referring to the storage of ethical stem cells as “controversial,” even though the controversy is entirely over the use of embr yos for research.

In its announcement, Lazaron Bio-technologies says stem-cell disease research offers the potential of treating more than 40 different diseases.

India Won't Bow to Naz

INTER PRESS SERVICE, Sept. 2 — The Supreme Court of India has refused to lift a 141-year-old criminal penalty against homosexual behavior.

The court ruling, which upholds India's traditional beliefs on the uses and meaning of sexuality, was handed down in response to a petition brought by the Naz Foundation, a homosexual-activist organization that attempts to legalize homosexual behavior in South Asia.

The Naz Foundation and various United Nations organizations claim that homosexuality is a civil-rights issue, a tactic that has been used effectively in many countries.

The government argued that the law has rarely been used to prosecute homosexuals but is often used to punish sexual abuse of children and to support other laws against rape.

Abortion Protester Vindicated

OPERATIONRESCUE.ORG, Aug. 26 — A year after her violent arrest while protesting against abortion at the Kansas Coliseum, 20-year-old Karen Myers was declared innocent of failing to obey a policeman's order, reported the website of Operation Rescue.

The judge declared that the police officer's order — to move back from the coliseum driveway 100 feet — was unlawful.

Sheriff's deputy Edwin Simpson not only issued an unlawful order to Myers and the other protesters, said the court, but he also inflicted severe injuries on the woman while arresting her and threatening two others if they did not leave the scene.