Condon to Spitzer: Desist!

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Jan. 14 — South Carolina's pro-life attorney general is calling on his pro-abortion counterpart in New York state, Eliot Spitzer, to drop an attack against New York crisis pregnancy centers.

Attorney General Charlie Condon of South Carolina said he believes the centers provide “outstanding” assistance to women facing unplanned, unwanted or difficult pregnancies.

“The centers soothe the pain, relieve the suffering and ease the trauma of women who are hurting,” Condon said in a letter to Spitzer.

Embryo Destruction on Hold

CNSNEWS, Jan. 18 — A Virginia research laboratory involved in stem cell research has decided to stop creating human embryos that would be destroyed in research.

Last summer, the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine in Norfolk, a division of the Eastern Virginia Medical School, created an uproar when it announced it would pay donors of human eggs to be used for creating embryos as a source of stem cells.

The Washington Post quoted William Gibbons of the medical school saying that pro-life pressure was an element in the decision. “The uproar was part of it,” he said.

Parents' Right to Spank

LIFESITE DAILY NEWS, Jan. 15— The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld Canada's law permitting parents to use spanking as a form of discipline in a recent ruling.

Justice Stephen Goudge, speaking on behalf of the Court, pointed out that “the legislative purpose of S.43 is to permit parents and teachers to apply strictly limited corrective force to children without criminal sanctions, so that they can carry out their important responsibilities to train and nurture children.”

According to REAL (Real, Equal, Active for Life) Women of Canada national vice president, Gwen Landolt, “This decision not only upholds the parents' right to determine how they will reasonably discipline their children, but also importantly, prevents interference in family life by social workers invading the privacy of the home to investigate and second-guess parental decisions in regard to discipline.”

Jury Award for Abortion Death

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Jan. 16 — Jurors awarded $2 million dollars to the 5-year-old son of a woman who died following a 1997 abortion at the Delaware Women's Health Organization near Stanton.

The panel found that Mohammad Imran's negligence led to Gracealyn Harris' death.

The jurors also found the facility negligent, but did not find that Imran's actions amounted to wanton misconduct. In addition, jurors awarded $250,000 to Harris' estate and $2,000 to her parents for funeral expenses.