Life Links 3/19/10

Here's House Minority Leader John Boehner on Obamacare.

Boehner believes that abortion will be the key complication for on-the-fence Democrats in the final hours. “I’ve always thought that this would be the issue,” he says. “This is public funding for abortion. They know it can’t be fixed. There just aren’t the votes in the Senate.” He says he respects pro-life congressman Bart Stupak (D., Mich.) for holding firm, but cautions that he “never thought that Stupak could hold ten to twelve votes.”

Boehner says there will be major political consequences for pro-life Democrats who break from the Stupak bloc. “Take [Rep.] Steve Driehaus, for example,” he says. “He may be a dead man. He can’t go home to the west side of Cincinnati. The Catholics will run him out of town.”

I'm not at all surprised by this news from the Guardian: "At-home access to 'morning after' pill wouldn't curb unwanted pregnancies."

Women given an advance supply of emergency contraceptives were no more likely to have unprotected sex, to get an STD or to change how they used other contraceptives, compared to women not given advance supplies. This suggests that they are not less vigilant about safe sex as a result.

But surprisingly, the women were just as likely to get pregnant. This was true in all the studies.

The researchers aren't sure why having an advance supply didn't lower pregnancy rates, especially since women who had these pills were more likely to use them.

Hmmmm.... well, maybe the pills aren't effective as you thought they were. Wouldn't that be the most obvious possibility?


Duke University is going to create a therapy center for umbilical cord stem cell treatments after receiving a grant for $10.2 million dollars.

The money from the Robertson Foundation will establish a Translational Cell Therapy Center at Duke for cell-based treatments, notably the work of Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg. It is the latest large donation from private sources to advance medical research at local universities.

Kurtzberg has used umbilical cord cells to treat cancer and genetic disorders in children. In many cases, infusions of cord blood have reversed and even cured otherwise fatal disorders. Kurtzberg has recently begun using the once-discarded material in hopes it can also mend brain damage in children diagnosed with cerebral palsy.