Life Notes
Beatty Clarifies His Stance on Abortion
The Register and other media reported Drudge's claim ("Actor Warren Beatty Says He's Pro-Life,” Oct. 17–23, 1999).
But the claims are “not true,” reports the Weekly Standard.
Beatty explained to students at the Harvard's Kennedy School of Government the conversation he had with Matt Drudge.
According to the Weekly Standard, “Beatty said that Drudge asked him, ‘Now that you have three kids, how do you feel about abortion?’ I said, ‘It really makes you think.’”
The magazine wrote, “Then Beatty stammered a bit and looked uncomfortable (as he did in response to numerous questions) but recovered in time to conclude with the unflinching reaffirmation, ‘I'm pro-choice.’”
Abortion Facilities Operate Without Proper Licensing
CLEVELAND RIGHT TO LIFE, Nov. 2—A review of records from the Ohio Department of Health confirmed that 17 of the 21 freestanding abortion clinics in Ohio were illegally operating without the proper licensing required by Ohio law, said Cleveland Right to Life in a statement.
Cleveland Right to Life immediately notified the Director of the Ohio Department of Health, Dr. J. Nick Baird, and Ohio Governor Robert Taft, who it says is pro-life.
Denis Mackura, of Cleveland Right to Life, appealed to fellow pro-lifers in the Buckeye State to shut down abortion facilities operating illegally.
“If we don't keep up the pressure on the department, their response will be the weakest possible — like giving them time to comply, or leveling a slight financial penalty. Even if we could only shut the clinics down for a month or two, it would be a great victory — and many lives would be saved. And of course, it also will help the public understand that abortion facilities are not the safe, clean havens they pretend to be,” said Mackura.
Canada Approves “Morning-After” Pill
The government's health department quietly gave its approval in March, a department spokeswoman said, but news of the approval only emerged in late October as the manufacturer prepared for its advertising campaign.
A spokeswoman for Roberts Pharmaceutical Canada Inc. aimed to distinguish the pill, Preven, from RU-486, the dangerous French-made abortion drug which can kill an unborn child up to seven weeks after conception.
Roberts will market the abortion drug in Canada, though it is made by the New Jersey-based Gynetics, Inc. Approved in the United States back in 1998, Preven must be taken within 72 hours after the child is conceived. Pro-lifers expressed health concerns over the drug.
“We feel that it can be very dangerous to women. However, our major objection arises because it is abortifacient — it causes an early abortion,” Campaign Life Coalition spokeswoman Karen Murawsky said.
“Once a sperm and an egg meet and the egg is fertilized, you then have a new human being, one that is biologically accurate. You have the total DNA, you have everything that ever will be.”
Preventing the implantation was “like putting a newborn child in a desert and walking away.”
Campaign Life Coalition said in a statement the group would boycott of “all products produced by Roberts Pharmaceuticals and pharmacies which dispense the drug.”
In the United States, Wal-Mart has declined to sell Preven, said the Globe.
