Life Links 6/22/10

A Florida man has been found guilty of killing his girlfriend after she had an abortion against his wishes.

Danielle DeAnn Stubbs, 26, was shot twice -once in the head - in her Pineverde Lane home in January 2009.

McMillian testified in the death-penalty case that he fired two shots in a dark bedroom after Stubbs told him she killed his unborn child.

A New York Times blog discusses how NARAL New York is itching for a vote on a bill to codify Roe v. Wade. Leading Democrats are concerned they don't have the votes.


The NIH has denied a request to allow 42 embryonic stem cell lines from an IVF clinic to be placed on the federal stem cell registry. These cells can't be used in research that receives federal funds.

The availability of the lines, which were created by the private infertility clinic Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago, had been eagerly awaited because they carry mutations for a wide variety of diseases, including cystic fibrosis, Huntington's disease and muscular dystrophy. Scientists hope studying them will yield a wealth of information about those and other diseases, leading to new treatments.

The lines had been obtained from embryos donated by couples who were undergoing treatment for infertility and had decided not to use them because tests showed the embryos carried genetic defects.

But the advisory panel found that consent forms permitting use of the embryos contained unusually broad language and those who signed the forms gave up all rights to sue the clinic for any reason.

Eleanor Clift writes in Politics Daily about EMILY's List and how the change in leadership also has supposedly changed their endorsement criteria.

Younger women have a more complex view of abortion, and they don't view the issue as passionately as their mothers. "If you ask them if they support abortion rights, they say they don't know or they don't want to answer that question," says Jen Bluestein, Emily's List communications director. For an organization created around the core mission of promoting reproductive choice, that could be a problem, and that's why its new president, 36-year old Stephanie Schriock, a native of Montana with a strong libertarian streak, is forging a new way forward.....

It's the definition of pro-choice that is evolving under Schriock's leadership, and it apparently will be a lot more flexible than was the case when Malcolm was at the helm, reflecting the changing times and the scientific advances that have clouded the issue. The Emily's List candidate questionnaire is not a lengthy document that asks a candidate to pledge support to very precise and extreme positions. It's about commitment to Roe v. Wade, and for most Democrats, men and women, that's an easy threshold to meet.

In the past, to be endorsed by EMILY's List female candidates had to favor tax-funded abortions. I wonder if that's still the case.