Life Links 6/18/10

Looks like Alaska Governor Sean Parnell was right.

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services said today that 664 abortions were funded last year through Denali KidCare.

Gov. Sean Parnell recently vetoed money to expand Denali KidCare, the health care program for low income kids and pregnant women, because some of the money funds abortions. Parnell said at the time that the program funded “hundreds” of abortions. Anchorage Democratic Sen. Bettye Davis had disputed that, saying a “very small number” of abortions are funded.

Women on Denali KidCare can have an abortion funded if a physician decides it's "medically necessary." The state doesn't define what is "medically necessary," leaving that to be determined by the treating physician.....

There were 55,754 Alaskans enrolled in Denali KidCare last year, including 7,947 pregnant women.

There were 1,875 abortions performed in Alaska in 2009. It's quite obvious that Alaska abortionists are using their own definition "medically necessary" when around 8% of the pregnant women enrolled in Denali KidCare get "medically necessary" abortions and taxpayer-funded "medically necessary" abortions make up more than a third of the state's abortions.

Alaskans have their Supreme Court to thank for this ridiculous scenario where a fund designed to help children and give prenatal care to pregnant women turns into an abortion fund which funds more than a third of the state's abortions.


World Magazine has a piece on 5 women who chose life after receiving troubling prenatal diagnoses and being advised to have abortions.


Susanne Schultz writes about companies attempting to clone human embryos are weaseling their way around a California law which prevents paying women for eggs destined for research purposes.

The oocytes used by Stemagen for cloning research come from women who are paid $5,000 to $10,000 per egg extraction. These women are recruited by Select Surrogate to sell their eggs to clients waiting in the adjacent IVF units that belong to Reproductive Sciences Center. Payment for eggs for reproductive purposes is legal in the United States.

But the La Jolla group of companies adds a twist. Wood told me that they ask women to agree that if more than 12 eggs are extracted, they will donate some of them, without additional payment, to research. As the Center for Genetics and Society has suggested, this arrangement poses a possible conflict of interest, a concern strengthened by our investigation.

The Food and Drug Administration's panel of reproductive health experts has voted unanimously to endorse ellaOne, a pill taken up to 5 days after intercourse which may have post-fertilization effects.