Ron Jr. Wrong on Stem Cells
BUSINESS WIRE, Aug. 3 — More than 2,000 doctors associated with the Christian Medical Association have signed a letter to Congress and President Bush urging investment in adult stem-cell research that is already providing therapy for patients suffering from heart muscle injury, diabetes and brain damage from stroke.
The CMA's Dr. David Stevens said, “Cloning human beings for stem cells, as Ron Reagan Jr. has urged, would produce abnormal embryonic stem cells while exploiting women to gain the millions of human eggs needed for human cloning. He said the son of President Reason's offered “political science of the worst sort.”
Stevens noted that private investors are not investing in the so-called “miracle cures” some hope for from fetal stem cell research.
Pro-Life Nurses Prevail
LIFESITE NEWS, Aug. 4 — The Bush administration has informed the Alabama Department of Public Health that its clinics are not required to distribute the morning-after pill. The action was taken in the wake of resignations by several nurses who were told that offering the drug was mandated.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said that, while the clinics are expected to offer a “broad range” of contraceptives, state clinics are not required to distribute the morning-after pill, which has been denied over-the-counter status by the FDA.
The nurses resigned because the pills sometimes work as an abortion drug and the pills are dangerous for teenagers.
Marriage Matters Down Under
, Aug. 5 — In a sign that laws protecting traditional marriage are a political winner just about everywhere, Australian Prime Minister John Howard plans to push legislation banning same-sex “marriage” through the country's federal parliament by as early as some time in August.
Speaking at a marriage forum organized by Christian groups, Howard candidly admitted that doing so would help ensure that his Labor Party would not suffer defeat in the forthcoming election campaign.
Black and Pro-Life
, July 22 — The regional weekly newspaper cited a Black Enterprise magazine poll that showed nearly 60% of African Americans at odds with the NAACP's decision earlier this year to endorse the “pro-choice” position.
The paper reports that the Life Education And Resource Network (LEARN), the largest African American pro-life group in the United States, has decried the NAACP move, and the widespread practice among government and health officials to promote abortion among minority women.
Claiming that abor tion has decimated black communities, it cites the fact that the abor tion rate among black women is three times higher than of white women. Three of every five pregnancies of black women end in abortion, and more than 14 million black unborn children have lost their lives to abor tion since 1973.