Life Links 10/9/09

In Winnipeg, two men have pleaded guilty to murder after killing a pregnant woman who was carrying one of their children. A teenager previously pleaded guilty to his role in the killing.

Roxanne Fernando, 24, was lured to a violent death in February 2007, only weeks after discovering she was pregnant with Plourde's child....

During the youth's sentencing, Crown attorney Brent Davidson told court Plourde pressured her to have an abortion. Fernando initially agreed to terminate her pregnancy but later had a "change of heart," setting in motion a disturbing chain of events, he said.

"It would be the fetus that would drive the planned and deliberate killing of Ms. Fernando," said Davidson....

Fernando was taken to a remote area near Mollard Road and Ritchie Street in northwest Winnipeg and repeatedly beaten with a broken hockey stick until she was dead. Her body was then buried in a snow-filled ditch.

Terence Jeffrey has a column on health care reform, abortion and the role of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

What the Finance Committee bill does is mandate that the secretary of Health and Human Services make certain that the health insurance exchange in every state include an insurance plan that covers abortions that go beyond those funded by the Hyde Amendment – that go beyond covering abortion in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the life of the mother.

The bill requires the secretary to make certain every state has an insurance plan that people can buy with money paid directly out of the U.S. Treasury that covers abortion on demand.....

If the insurance plans in a particular state decide they do not want to cover the killing of unborn babies, the HHS secretary will presumably have to come up with some means for recruiting an insurer into that state that is ready and willing to cover abortions.

But whatever means the secretary settles on for carrying out the bill's death mandate, the fact is that if this bill is enacted, every future American Health and Human Services secretary will be required by law to make sure that people can secure abortions through a government-approved insurance plan that receives revenue straight out of the U.S. Treasury.

Research at the Harvard Stem Cell Institutue have made another induced pluripotent stem cell breakthrough. They were able to use one chemical to replace 2 of the 4 genes used to transform regular cells into iPS cells.