Life Links 5/18/12

Michael J. Fox is finally curbing his embryonic stem cell enthusiasm while lamely trying to cover his rear.

"It's not so much that [stem cell research has] diminished in its prospects for breakthroughs as much as it's the other avenues of research have grown and multiplied and become as much or more promising. So, an answer may come from stem cell research but it's more than likely to come from another area," he said.

During the interview, Deborah Brooks (co-founder of Fox's foundation) then mentions some of the problems with putting embryonic stem cells into the brains of people with Parkinson's. You know, the same problems prolife people have been noting for years and the same problems that Dr. Oz told Fox about on Oprah like 3 years ago.


Melinda Henneberger wonders why all the "choice" advocates have been so quiet on Chen Guangcheng.

In the United States, much of the support for Chen has come from those who oppose abortion. But where are the abortion rights supporters? There is so much talk about the search for common ground on the abortion issue — sincere talk, I believe. But if the brutal oppression of women robbed of any semblance of "choice" isn't something we can all agree on, I don't know what would be.

A Texas man has been sentenced to 40 years in jail for sexually abusing his daughter over a period of years.

The assaults resulted in a child, a miscarriage and two abortions, Assistant District Attorney Jeff Swain said.

The 48-year-old man pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault. He will have to serve half of his sentence before being eligible for parole, Swain said.

The woman "is certainly happy with the result," Swain said, adding that it is "a deserving sentence."

The daughter, who is in her mid- to late 20s, came forward last July.

"She did not want the same thing to happen to other girls," Swain said.

In New York state, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino veto an abortion buffer zone law.

Calling it unconstitutional and "harmful," Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino on Friday vetoed legislation that would have prohibited anti-abortion protesters from blocking patients and workers access at health clinics.