Vietnam to Ban Cloning

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, Feb. 16 — The Vietnamese government has approved a decree banning human cloning, surrogacy and all means of choosing the sex of human embryos. The decree stops short, however, of banning non-sex-selective reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization.

Ugandan Challenge

NEW VISION, Feb. 17 — Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala of Kampala, Uganda, has challenged women to fight vices such as divorce, abortion, artificial contraception and euthanasia. “Life is being threatened by false doctrines … under the cover of scientific development and economic progress,” Cardinal Wamala said. “This is a challenge to you women since the responsibility of saving humanity was entrusted to you by God.”

The Abortion/Cancer Link

THE AGE, Feb. 17 — An American surgeon touring Australia has spoken out, in writing, on the connection between abortion and breast cancer.

In a letter to the Australian newspaper The Age, Dr. Angela Lanfranchi stated that she began to notice the link in 1993 after she included a question about prior abortions on her intake forms.

Lanfranchi, a breast cancer surgeon and clinical assistant professor of surgery at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, added that she experiences “paternalistic censorship” every time she tries to speak on the science supporting the abortion-breast cancer link.

“Women who choose abortions need to be aware that they are at higher risk, so they will have mammograms earlier and more regularly,” wrote Lanfranchi. “No woman should die of breast cancer because she was not warned.”

Tiny Preemie Goes Home

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL, Feb. 14 — Michael Despain has spent his first full day home four months after being born at just 12 1/2 ounces.

Michael was released from the hospital weighing a relatively hefty 4 pounds, 9 ounces. His twin, Jennier, died shortly after they were delivered by cesarean section on Oct. 18.

Doctors had determined Michael and his twin had stopped growing after 22 weeks’ gestation. Janet Despain, 28, said her newborns were so tiny she could have held them in one hand when they were born one month later.

Doctors said Michael was less than half the size of a normal 26-week unborn child — but, though he suffered a collapsed lung at birth, he did not experience other problems that generally plague premature infants, including brain hemorrhaging, heart problems and infections.