Life Links 9/28/11

At First Things, Joe Carter discusses reproductive technologies.

However, there are some methods and approaches that are indisputably unethical and temptations to act immorally abound.

A prime example is the routine practice of creating "excess embryos", a practice that is common, though not essential, to IVF. The procedure is inherently expensive, often costing between $10,000 and $30,000 per treatment and the likelihood of success is dismally low. Even the best of techniques offers less than a 50 percent chance that a live birth will occur. Because of these obstacles, couples are often tempted to set aside ethical concerns in order to increase the chances of fulfilling their desire for a child.

RH Reality Check's Jodi Jacobson has a hilarious post about Congressman Cliff Stearns' letter to and investigation of Planned Parenthood. She attacks him because the legislation isn't about jobs.

You know how jobs, the deficit, lack of health care, and the country's economic crisis are top priorities?

Florida Republican Congressman Cliff Stearns apparently does not......

Note to Congressman Stearns: Your own state has 10.7 percent unemployment. Think there might be better things to do?.....

While we wait for accountability of corporations, banks, and other entities responsible for the current economic crisis, while people struggle with unemployment, job uncertainty and lack of health insurance, the far right finds new and more invasive ways to crawl up women's legs.

Hmmmm..... Where was Jacobson's focus on jobs, jobs, jobs, when she was promoting legislation to regulate pregnancy centers or supporting a bill to permanently ban the Mexico City policy?


This is great news. A study has found chemotherapy doesn't harm unborn children.

Chemotherapy is safe for children born to mothers undergoing treatment for cancer, according to a study that may result in fewer abortions and premature deliveries.

Babies born at full-term to women who received cell- killing drugs while pregnant had normal health and intelligence at 18 months, the study found. Children induced prematurely in order to hasten treatment for the mother, representing two- thirds of the babies studied, were more likely to have lower intelligence scores. The results were presented at a cancer conference in Stockholm today.

"Frequently, because of the fear of chemotherapy, clinicians induce delivery and start to treat the mother," Amant said at a briefing with reporters in Stockholm. "Our message is actually that we prefer to give chemotherapy until the fetus is mature."