Life Links 6/18/08

A recent study from researchers at the University of Michigan published in the Journal of Immunology has found that taking misoprostol vaginally (Planned Parenthood's previously preferred way) as a way of completing an RU-486 abortion "may undermine the body's immune response" and "can allow a normally non-threatening bacterium, Clostridium sordellii, to cause deadly infection."


Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capital firm in California, is planning to invest in iZumi Bio Inc, a company which will focus on induced pluripotent stem cells.


It appears Commonwealth Catholic Charities in Virginia hired a few individuals they shouldn't have.

Federal authorities are investigating the actions of a Catholic charity in Richmond which helped a 16-year-old Guatemalan girl to receive an abortion in January, in possible violation of Virginia law....

The unnamed girl, who already had one child, had been fitted with a contraceptive device provided by CCR two months earlier, the letter said. CCR members signed the consent form necessary for a minor to have an abortion and had someone drive her to and from the abortion clinic.

It is illegal in Virginia for a social worker to sign a parental consent form for an abortion. The state's notification law stipulates that at least one parent, grandparent or adult sibling must give consent.

The Washington Post has an article on the success of using adult stem cells to treat fractures which have a tough time healing.