Nicaraguans vs. Abortion

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Feb. 25 — The bishops of Nicaragua have turned up the heat in a public debate set off by an abortion performed on a 9-year-old rape victim. “Is there any difference between a bus full of passengers that receives the impact of a car bomb and a metallic instrument that impacts the maternal womb to suck out a fetus?” the bishops asked in an open letter.

According to Associated Press, the document urged Nicaraguan congressmen to reject proposals to legalize abortion in their heavily Catholic country, where abortion is illegal with few rare exceptions. The bishops condemned the idea of “legalizing the abominable crime of abortion even disguised under supposed pseudo-humanitarian extenuating factors such as calling it therapeutic.”

Adult Stem-Cell Tryouts

REUTERS, Feb. 24 — Hundreds of heart-attack victims are to be given infusions of their own stem cells as part of a European trial to find out if the therapy can restore cardiac function, reported Reuters news service. Professor John Martin, head of cardiovascular science at University College London, said the study follows early work showing stem cells extracted from patients' own bone marrow can boost the heart's ability to pump blood. The trial will involve more than 300 people who have suffered a major heart attack in which the coronary arteries at the front of the heart become blocked. More than 30 medical centers in Britain, France, Germany and elsewhere will take part.

Mother Risks All for Baby

EVENING CHRONICLE, Feb. 26 — Liver-transplant patient Liz Beaton is risking her own life by refusing an anti-rejection drug for the sake of her unborn child. Over the last eight years, the 28-year-old, of Northumberland, England, has suffered the agony of five miscarriages and two failed attempts at fertility treatment. The story was reported in the Evening Chronicle, a daily newspaper based in Newcastle.

Beaton found out she was pregnant in late December. Doctors told her one of her anti-rejection drugs could harm her baby. “We were told the risks of going off the drug were my liver being rejected or kidney failure, but we thought it was worth the risk as this may be our last chance to have a family of our own,” Beaton said.

Abortion Alternatives in Ireland

THE IRISH EXAMINER, Feb. 26 — Ireland's Crisis Pregnancy Agency has launched a campaign called Positive Options to raise awareness of alternatives to abortion among women worried about unplanned pregnancies, reported the Dublin daily. The agency has set up a Web site (www.positiveoptions.ie) and is distributing leaflets and posters around colleges, with the help of the Union of Students in Ireland. The Web site and leaflets give information and contact details for various pro-life organizations in the country.