Life Links 11/30/11

Kathleen Parker writes about Mitt Romney's prolife conversion.

he result of that conversation and others was a pro-life Romney, who kept his campaign promise to honor the state's democratically asserted preference for abortion choice but also began a personal path that happened to serve him well, at least theoretically, among social conservatives. Was his conversion sincere? No one can know another's heart, but Hurlbut is convinced that it was.

"Several things about our conversation still stand out strongly in my mind," Hurlbut told me. "First, he clearly recognized the significance of the issue, not just as a current controversy but as a matter that would define the character of our culture way into the future.

"Second, it was obvious that he had put in a real effort to understand both the scientific prospects and the broader social implications. Finally, I was impressed by both his clarity of mind and sincerity of heart. . . . He recognized that this was not a matter of purely abstract theory or merely pragmatic governance, but a crucial moment in how we are to regard nascent human life and the broader meaning of medicine in the service of life."

Washington Post's Breaking News Blog covers the Maryland Board of Physicians decision to close its investigation into abortionist LeRoy Carhart's failure to disclose how he would be performing late-term abortions in Maryland.


The National Catholic Reporter has a piece on Democrats for Life. Of note is DFL's continued support for Senator Bob Casey despite his rather lackluster voting record.


A human child at 24 weeks gestation was found in a trash can in Manhattan.

"The way I found it was perfectly placed, covered with garbage," said Gregory Santana, 20, who is the son of the building's super.

"It was inside a small bucket, inside a couple of extra bags," he said. "I ripped it open, immediately saw the baby [and\] closed it back up."

Life Links 11/29/11

The Northern Illinois Women's Center abortion clinic in Rockford will stay closed until at least January 4, 2012, when attorney for both the abortion clinic and the state health department will have another hearing.


Lea Singh writes about the upcoming Gosnell murder case and the acceptance of late term abortion amongst some.

And yet, late-term abortions, effectively right up to the moment of natural birth, are not illegal in Canada or in many parts of the United States. If Gosnell had chosen to act in medically acceptable ways by dismembering or killing the fetus within the womb just before removing it, he would likely be a hero in the eyes of many for providing an essential service that empowers women. Who knows, he could have gotten the highest civilian award -- a mere three years ago we bestowed the Order of Canada upon Henry Morgentaler, a man who claims to have personally performed over 100,000 abortions.

Is it just me, or is there something sickly schizophrenic about a society that huffs and puffs in outrage at the killing of a baby in the light of day, but quietly supports it when it happens in the darkness of the womb? We are talking about the very same baby here, at the exact same moment of gestation, the only difference being the location of the demise. If we can kill a baby within the womb, why not outside of the womb? Viable babies are being put to death in late-term abortion clinics all over the United States, perhaps some in Canada. We call it "abortion" but in the light of day, these actions clearly are "murder".

Apparently, some pro-choicers at Harvard aren't big fans of tolerance. From Aurora Griffin's op-ed in the Harvard Crimson:

In response to the growing hostility toward discussion of the abortion issue on campus and dissolution into name-calling, as seen in the impressively consistent vandalism of Harvard Right to Life's poster campaigns, I'd like to present a philosophical argument for the pro-life position. HRL's innocuous "Smile, your mom chose life." posters have been ripped down within hours of posting almost without exception. At a school where free speech and diversity are valued so highly, this is a travesty.

Why the pro-choice movement is losing?

I think one reason is they typically just aren't very good at persuasion. Here's Ann Furedi attempting to argue there should be no limits on abortion.

What we have to ask ourselves is whether there needs to be any policy intervention or social intervention to change or regulate what is going on at the moment. And I don't think there does. There is no evidence to suggest that we need to restrict later abortions in any way, by enforcing legal time limits. And I certainly don't see any reason to think that doctors are abusing the current situation, or indeed that women are abusing the current situation......

Does late abortion have a detrimental effect on society? No, I really don't think it does. There is no evidence that the number of women requesting late abortions is increasing. The figures remain very much the same. However, does the idea that we can override who makes these decisions about late abortion have a detrimental effect on society? Yes, I really believe it does. Because what we're really saying when we argue that an earlier time limit needs to be imposed is that we don't trust women's decisions, and we don't trust doctor's decisions.

Notice the complete lack of evidence and thoughtfulness. Furedi's reasons for why something should be or shouldn't are as follows: "I don't think there does", "I certainly don't see any reason to think", "I really don't think it does" and "I really believe it does."

It's like the end all and be all of evidence for Ann Furedi is what she believes.

This is how elementary school children argue. Yet she's one of (if not the) leading voice for abortion in the UK.

Life Links 11/28/11

The Washington Post is covering the case of the New Jersey hospital attempting to force nurses to assist in abortions.

One of the nurses, Fe Esperanza R. Vinoya, said a manager told her: "‘You just have to catch the baby's head. Don't worry, it's already dead.' "

The ACLU says who cares about conscience, nurses should be forced to catch dead baby heads.

"These are health-care professionals who work at a publicly funded hospital saying that they do not want to do the job they were hired to do, including caring for a woman before or after surgery," said Jennifer Dalven of the American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project. "People have a right to their beliefs, but that shouldn't give them the right to discriminate against patients who need medical care."

A prolife group in New Zealand used a location of statue featuring a large hand holding a tiny baby child to launch balloons and spread the prolife message. The group which commissioned the statue and the clueless artist are upset.

Meanwhile, a surprised Mr Vincent said the anti-abortion group's message was not the intent of his sculpture.

"Voices Against Violence was the organisation that commissioned it, and it's about nurturing and protecting the most vulnerable in our community, which is children."

The Californian has a long story on a couple whose child's spina bifida was repaired in the womb.

"The ultrasound tech was nervous; you could tell something was wrong," Marriah said earlier this year in the couple's Winchester home. "She told us, 'The fetus would have been a girl.' People abort babies with spina bifida. That's what you do. I said I didn't want anything to do with abortion."
......
A team of 27 medical professionals performed the procedure. Marriah's uterus was removed and placed on her stomach. Doctors entered the uterus and the still-forming fetal spine and attached fetal skin to the hole in the fetus's lower back. The uterus then was replaced inside Marriah and she was sewn back up. After the surgery, she was bedridden for three months while her baby continued to grow....

Kaleah Erin Peltzer was born Oct. 18, 2010, by Cesarean section. Although premature, she was a healthy baby girl.

"She was our miracle baby," Marriah said.

A Nashville woman has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit, alleging the treatment she received while in jail caused her to miscarry and then jail staff improperly disposed of the child's baby.

Allison said prison staff denied her requests to take another test and other medical requests until Nov. 13, 2010, her birthday, when she began to experience "sudden and excruciating abdominal pain" during a Bible study.

Allison said she went across the hall to a bathroom, was bleeding profusely and miscarried into a toilet. She was later taken to Nashville General Hospital.

Prison employees were under instructions from paramedics and a doctor to preserve the fetus, according to the lawsuit, but their attempts to unclog the toilet destroyed it.

Life Links 11/22/11

CNN has an article on a clinical trial using fetal stem cells from an aborted child in an attempt to treat ALS.

In an operation than lasted about four hours, Grosjean received five injections into the cervical, or neck, area of his spinal cord, each delivering 100,000 cells. The cells came from Maryland-based biotech company Neuralstem, which is funding this clinical trial and devised a procedure to grow millions and millions of motor neuron cells from the donated spinal cord tissue of an 8-week-old aborted fetus.

In the UK, updated figures from the Department of Health show that Britain is spending much more than they originally thought on abortion.

Campaigners say the new calculations provide more reason to stop the organisations that offer counselling to pregnant women also performing terminations, which are now estimated to cost £680 each, on the grounds that it represents a conflict of interest.

They are calling for spending watchdogs to investigate why Parliament was "misled" over the scale of the "abortion industry".......

Under the updated figures, taxpayers spent £118m on abortions in 2010, of which £75m went to private clinics and just £44m to NHS bodies.

The total number of terminations carried out in England rises from 136,000 to 173,000 and the cost of each one from £660 to £680 under the revised figures.

Herman Cain has signed Susan B. Anthony List's Pro-Life Presidential Leadership Pledge.

Michigan Attorney General shuts down two abortion clinics for good

From the AG Bill Schuette's press release:

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette today announced the permanent dissolution of Health Care Clinic, of Delta Township, and the affiliated Women's Choice Clinic, of Saginaw, in response to a lawsuit filed by his office alleging the clinics were operating without the proper physician ownership required by State law. According to an agreement submitted by Schuette and the clinics' owner and approved by Eaton County Circuit Court Judge Calvin E. Osterhaven, the clinics will permanently dissolve. The clinics' owner, Richard Remund, as well as his wife and corporate officer, Margaret Remund, are banned from ever organizing another abortion clinic.

"Profit should never come before patient safety, and that's why state law requires medical facilities to be run by licensed medical professionals," said Schuette. "Facilities that fail to follow this important safeguard should not be in business."

According to paperwork filed with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), the clinics, which have been closed under temporary restraining order since Schuette filed suit on November 7, 2011, have now officially been dissolved. A consent order approved in Eaton County Circuit Court today makes that dissolution permanent.

Life Links 11/21/11

Ramesh Ponnuru notes presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's history (which includes various quotes noting his favoring of funding research using "cells in a fertility clinic") with human embryonic stem cell research.


In the meantime, Michelle Bachmann is going after Gingrich on abortion and claiming that he has "Failed to Meet a Consistently Pro-Life Standard."


Wesley Smith links to an article in the LA Times discussing the collapse of Geron's human embryonic stem cell research program. The article seems much more like an editorial. Reporter Eryn Brown makes this false assertion

"Many biotech start-ups benefit from hefty grants from the National Institutes of Health, but until 2009 the agency largely remained on the sidelines of embryonic stem cell research."

The NIH spent around $250 million on human embryonic stem cells from 2002-2008 and around $700 million on animal embryonic stem cell research for the same time period. I know spending in Washington is out of control but spending around $1 billion in 7 years on experimental research is hardly sitting on the sidelines.

Overheard - Pro-Choice Feminists rip Planned Parenthood, NARAL

Ninersgal at the Abortion Gang blog:

Here's the scoop: if PPFA didn't spend so much money on fancy pink posters and snazzy T-shirts, they might not need to shake the money tree so often.

Kalli Joy Gray at the Daily Kos:

I'm not saying Keenan and her organization don't mean well. Or that the big feminist advocacy organizations of this country serve no purpose at all. But this post reflects the kind of ineffectiveness and tone deafness that is so prevalent among those who monopolize so much of the conversation about women in this country. Far too little, far too late. With zero recognition of the work that a new generation of feminists is doing to fight for women

Pro-choicer Marie Diamond might want to try learning how to do some basic research before attempting to discredit prolifers

It amazing how little research some pro-choicers will do before attacking prolifers. Marie Diamond's piece in Think Progress is a perfect example.

She claims,

RH Reality Check explains that here was never any proof to support an anti-abortion activist's claim of finding fetal remains in an abortion clinic's dumpster, but the anti-abortion lobby has nevertheless used the story as an excuse to propose an unprecedented bill about the disposal of fetuses.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. The RH Reality Check piece by Robin Marty which Diamond links to claims, "In the end, it turns out that there was no proof of mishandled remains." Notice how Marty says, "mishandled remains" as opposed to just saying remains. This sloppy language could confuse someone who can't do any research besides looking on pro-choice blogs (like Diamond) to believe there were no remains.

And as evidence for this claim, Marty links to another one of her posts which notes that "At the time, the AG said there was no documents found that violated HIPAA regulations."

Isn't that amazing how quickly that an assertion about documents found alongside the remains of aborted children and how dousing the remains with formaldehyde made it legal to dump them in the trash quickly turned into evidence that no remains of abortion children were found?

All it takes is a couple of sensationally lazy pro-choicers like Marty and Diamond who are much more focused on attacking prolifers than learning/telling the truth. Instead of accurately describing why no charges were filed and linking to an article sharing that information, Marty uses language which makes it seem like prolifers didn't find what they found.

Of course, Diamond's assertion that there was no proof of prolifers finding fetal remains in an abortion clinic dumpster is patently absurd considering prolifers took pictures of the remains, created a slide show of them and then publicly buried them in front of a crowd of approximately 1,000 people including a TV news crew.

Life Links 11/18/11

The New Jersey Star-Ledger has an editorial scolding the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey for attempting to force nurses to assist on abortions.

In other words, UMDNJ believes it should be able to compel nurses and other health care professionals, against their moral beliefs, to perform duties leading all the way up to the actual abortion, then force those health care professionals to attend to patients immediately afterward — or lose their jobs.

Narrowing the law to specify that nurses have the right to opt out of only the actual abortion procedure strains common sense.

For decades, the law has been interpreted to allow nurses and others, if they object, to opt out of any care given to an abortion patient. The nurses involved in the lawsuit say that simply helping to admit an abortion patient facilitates the procedure, making the nurses an active participant.

And they object to that.

A Pennsylvania judge has refused to separate the trials of two of abortionist Kermit Gosnell's employees from his trial.


While former Gosnell employees are pleading guilty left and right, abortion clinics are still fighting against legislation to strengthen abortion clinic regulations. One Newsworks article has a few quote from abortion clinic director Jennifer Boulanger.

"What people don't understand is how abortions are done and how simple they are," Boulanger said. "I'm going to speak very frankly; an abortion is a five-minute procedure."

Well, that's an incredibly broad generalization designed to mislead people. The length of an abortion procedure varies a great deal based on the length of gestation and procedure being used. Boulanger also laughably claims her clinic welcomes inspections.


Albert Mohler reflects on the loss of Mississippi's personhood amendment.

The bitter lesson of Mississippi's defeat of the human personhood amendment is this: When it comes to moral reasoning concerning the unborn child, far too many just adopt Harry Blackmun's moral framework and want to tweak it. Many in the pro-life movement want to shift his lines of moral judgment, but not to repudiate his deadly logic.

We may think we are pro-life, but if we do not affirm the personhood of every human being at every point of development, from fertilization onward, we are not really so pro-life as we think. Or, in other words, we're all Harry Blackmun now.

Overheard: Abortion doula admits graphic images of unborn children are real

From an article in the New York Observer focused on abortion doulas.

To some extent, Ms. Mitchell sees her point. In an interview with The Observer, she joked that she sometimes wants to automatically reject the abortion doula applications of pro-choice activists, because it's so hard to go from pro-choice rhetoric to supporting real people who don't necessarily find their abortions empowering."Those pictures pro-life activists flash are real," Ms. Mahoney said. "That is what a fetus looks like when its head is crushed. When you see the procedure, you must decide, as a pro-choice person, whether you are in or out." She's thought about it a lot. "I have never been more in," she said.

University of Ottawa abortion debate

At Vimeo, someone has posted the abortion debate between Stephanie Gray from the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform and Jovan Morales from Atheist Community of University of Ottawa. The event was sponsored by University of Ottawa Students for Life and University of Ottawa Medical Students for Life.

I like how the debate allowed the participants to question each other. That happens at about the 40 minute mark. In about a minute, Gray totally dismantles Morales' definition of person and the entire basis for his argument. When Morales' time to question Gray arrives, it becomes more awkward than some of Rick Perry's debate moments. After a couple of questions, he has no clue what to ask her. In fairness, he did step up for the debate about a week before the debate after numerous pro-choice Canadians declined the opportunity to debate Gray. The vocal pro-choice students in the audience (who frequently interrupted Gray and called her names) try to help him out and are clearly frustrated by their side's inability to put up a solid defense of the pro-choice position.

Something I found very interesting was Morales' continued attempts to argue that the unborn aren't children but at various times he would slip, call the unborn "children" and then correct himself.

Morales' knowledge of fetal development was also severely lacking. Some of his assertions about how developed the unborn are at certain stages during the question and answer time were absurd.

Every time I watch one of these types of debate, it seems like the pro-choice debater hasn't really thought through their position. One of the last questioners asks Morales how on one hand he can assert morality shouldn't be imposed but on the other hand he thinks the government should fund abortions. Morales answer is incoherent. He points out how he is anti-war and thinks he shouldn't have to fund the war (so he's opposed to that imposition of morality) but unfortunately you have go along with what the majority of the country favors ergo tax-funded abortions (a imposition of morality he favors). "Don't impose your morality" seems to be much more of a catchphrase than something he's actually thought about. It's like he sees any law against something he favors as a horrible imposition of morality but when he wants someone to accept his morals, then it's not really an imposition of morality.

"The issue here isn't about abortion." Or is it?

Sam Wight, spokesman for a pro-choice group on Canada's Prince Edward Island really wants people to think a debate about abortions being performed on P.E.I. isn't really about abortion. My additions to his quote below are in bold.

"The issue here isn't about abortion," said Sam Wight, spokesperson for P.E.I. Reproductive Rights Organization, which has about 150 supporters and is planning a rally at the legislature on Saturday. "It's about having the same accessibility in our province (to abortion) as in the rest of Canada and we like to keep trying to drive that message home that we're all Canadians and we should all have this right (to abortion)."

What is it with Canadian pro-choicers not wanting to have a debate about abortion?

Unintentionally hilarious quote of the week

This one comes from Kellie Quinn in the Massachusetts Daily Collegian:

"Embryos and fetuses are humanized by this sort of political movement, and it does not help that movies and television often reinforce this stance. "

She's referring to the "humanization" of embryos and fetuses which are in fact human.

Is this what pro-choice arguments have come to? When prolifers point out how pro-choicers often attempt to de-humanize the unborn, they respond by saying prolifers humanize them.

Well, duh, they're human.

Which is a reality even Quinn seems to recognize later in her piece:

Why are we seeking to remove rights from fully developed humans for the purpose of granting additional rights to humans that do not have much, if any, brain processing yet?

Life Links 11/15/11

The decision regarding the fate of the Northern Illinois Women's Center abortion clinic in Rockford, Il. will wait another two weeks.

Attorneys for the Northern Illinois Women's Center and Illinois Department of Public Health were back before Administrative Law Judge Cynthia Ramirez this morning. They were expected to announce the terms of an agreed settlement stemming from a series of state law and administrative code violations that the clinic was cited for earlier this year. Instead, they asked for more time.....

Resolution in this case could range from revocation of the clinic's license to allowing the clinic to reopen.

Another former employee of abortionist Kermit Gosnell has pleaded guilty to charges against her.

Tina Baldwin, 46, pleaded guilty to participating in a corrupt organization, conspiracy, and corruption of a minor involving her work at Gosnell's Women's Medical Society clinic from 2001 until the clinic closed in 2010.....

The charge of corruption of a minor involves Baldwin's daughter Ashley, whom she got a job at the clinic at age 15 and who soon was working with her mother in providing sedatives and other drugs to women undergoing abortions.

I wonder what Bart Stupak's feelings are now on his health care deal after this Elena Kagan/Larry Tribe e-mail exchange was released.

"I hear they have the votes, Larry!! Simply amazing," Kagan wrote, in an email obtained by Judicial Watch, on the day Obamacare passed through Congress. Larry Tribe, a Harvard Law professor and Supreme Court attorney who served as "senior counselor for access to justice" in the Department of Justice (DOJ), replied to Kagan that the bill's passage was "remarkable."

"And with the Stupak group accepting the magic of what amounts to a signing statement on steroids!" Tribe added in delight, and in derision for the pro-life Democrats.

Geron shuts down embryonic stem cell research program

After promoting the promise of human embryonic stem cells for more than a decade, the Washington Post and the New York Times both place the story of Geron in their respective business sections. The New York Times story even tries really hard to make it seem like this isn't a huge blow to the embryonic stem cell research field.

From the Times:

The company conducting the world’s first clinical trial of a therapy using human embryonic stem cells said on Monday that it was halting that trial and leaving the stem cell business entirely.

The company, Geron, said that its move did not reflect a lack of promise for the controversial field. Rather, it said, with money scarce, it had decided to focus on its experimental cancer therapies, which are further along in development......

So far four patients have been treated. Dr. Scarlett of Geron said that there were "no signs" that the treatment was helping the patients. But that was not expected in the initial trial, which was mainly looking at safety. And so far, he said, there had been no sign of safety problems......

By dropping the stem cell program — the company is cutting its work force by 66 people, or 38 percent — Geron will be able to last without needing to raise new money until it receives results of clinical trials of its cancer drugs over the next 18 months. By contrast, Dr. Scarlett said, given all the precautions in the stem cell field, he did not think there would be results from the stem cell trial until 2014.

Dr. Scarlett said that Geron hoped to sell or license the stem cell program to another company that would continue it.

So far, though, many big pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have been wary about trying to develop therapies using embryonic stem cells because of the political controversies and scientific and economic uncertainties.

Related: WaPo's story on the first patient treated with human embryonic stem cells.

Life Links 11/14/11

Phill Kline on Sebelius/Six Shreddergate controversy in Kansas:

"If it is routine to destroy evidence that implicates a key political ally of the governor in criminal activity, then that simply means there is routine corruption."

A new study shows unborn children can sense how their mothers are feeling.

Researchers at the University of California-Irvine recruited pregnant women and checked them for depression before and after the mothers delivered their babies. They also tested the babies after delivery to see how their development was progressing.

What appeared to matter most, according to their finding, was a consistent environment. The babies who fared best were those born to mothers who were either not depressed both before and after birth, or those who were depressed both before and afterwards. When mothers' moods shifted from to depression to healthy or from healthy to depression, the change appeared to slow development of their babies......

"We believe the human fetus is an active participant in its own development and is collecting information for life after birth," said Curt A. Sandman, one of the authors and an emeritus professor of psychiatry and human behavior at UC-Irvine. "It's preparing for life based on messages the mom is providing."

Feministe blogger Jill Filipovic (who is sadly becoming almost an Amanda Marcotte clone in her writing style) is living in her own reality. As evidence, she writes:

But women's rights have been bad for anyone who thinks that the only option for women should be to stay home and raise as many children as God gives her. That, obviously, is not the majority of the American public, as evidenced by what the American public actually does. But it is the majority of the American pro-life leadership (which, of course, is distinct from individual voters who identify as pro-life).

The evidence for this wild assertion? ....... Crickets chirping. It's so strange how someone like Jill can act so nice in a co-interview with Feminists for Life President Serrin Foster but then write such venom. Is that what the Guardian requires of columnists? Thoughtless, argument-free pro-choice babble?

Hilariously, this comes less than 2 weeks after the Washington Post wrote a story on the feminine face of the prolife movement. Yep - Marjorie Dannenfelser, Charmaine Yoest, Penny Nance, Shannon Royce and Kristan Hawkins (not to mention the numerous female state-level prolife leaders) are just staying home and having 12 kids each. Do pro-choicers actually believe this garbage?

Life Links 11/10/11

Lynda Williams, another former Gosnell employee has pled guilty to third-degree murder.

Her victims were Karnamaya Mongar, 41, an abortion patient who died during a November 2009 drug overdose prescribed by Gosnell, and one of the seven babies whose spinal cords were cut after having been born alive and viable, prosecutors allege.

Gosnell hired Williams to work for him full time in 2008 to clean instruments, but she was soon "anesthetizing abortion patients, performing ultrasounds . . . and dealing with babies born alive while he was not at the clinic," according to a January grand jury report.

Apparently, another former Gosnell employee named Tina Baldwin will plead guilty on Monday.


Michael New reflects on the defeat of Mississippi's person amendment.

There are some lessons to be learned from this. First, many polls consistently show that most Americans are uncomfortable with abortion, but think it should be a legal option in hard-case circumstances such as rape, incest, and life of the mother. Now I, along with many other pro-life activists, think that the unborn deserve legal protection in all situations, regardless of the circumstances surrounding their conception. However, this is not a view shared by most Americans — frustrating though it might be for pro-lifers.

Another lesson is that historically, the initiative process has not been kind to pro-lifers. Pro-life initiatives often do less well than expected, because abortion opponents are typically able to raise and spend more money than pro-lifers.

The Washington Post has an article on research which indicates many patients are misdiagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state. The story includes a quote from Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schiavo.

"Regrettably, Terri was never afforded these types of exams," Schindler wrote in an e-mail to The Washington Post. "Such testing could not have hurt Terri but could have helped her."

Schindler and others called for a reconsideration of such diagnoses.

"These findings only reinforce our family's contention that the PVS diagnosis needs to be eliminated — particularly given the fact that it not only dehumanizes the cognitively disabled, but it is being used in some instances to decide whether or not a person should live or die, as it was used in Terri's case. None of us deserves to be deprived of food and water," he said.

Mark Leach writes in First Things about the new Down Syndrome test:

MaterniT21 can be performed any time from ten weeks forward in a pregnancy. In the research study, half of the samples were from the second trimester, but the test is offered earlier in the pregnancy specifically because it allows for earlier termination. Matthew Rabinowitz is CEO of Gene Security Network, a company developing its own noninvasive prenatal test for Down syndrome. Commenting on Sequenom's new test, he clinically and candidly stated, "If a couple finds an abnormality, and chooses to terminate the pregnancy, it's better to do it earlier." Considering that the majority of women currently receiving a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome do opt to terminate, Sequenom's new test is definitively not safer for the fetus.

Life Links 11/8/11

The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Pittsburgh area abortion protester and sidewalk counselor Meredith Parente. Parente is accused of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Act for allegedly shoving two abortion clinic escorts. Looking over the FACE Act, I'm struggling to see how shoving volunteer clinic escorts (if it actually happened) would violate the FACE Act. How does shoving clinic escorts impede someone looking for an abortion from entering the clinic?

The Justice Department press release notes: "The FACE Act prohibits the use of force against any person providing or obtaining reproductive health services, or those seeking to do so, with the intent to injure, intimidate or interfere with that person."

Volunteer clinic escorts aren't providing (unless "providing" is used in an incredibly broad sense) reproductive health services nor are they seeking them.


Overheard on Russian abortions:

Women of all ages used to fill gynecologist Lyubov Yerofeyeva's Soviet state clinic, lined up by the dozen for back-to-back abortions. "It was more common to take sick days for an abortion than for a cold in those days," she said.

Dennis Byrne compares the use and acceptance of graphic images used to dissuade smoking and abortion.

For years, pro-life groups have been condemned for trying to publish (mostly unsuccessfully in the mainstream media) gruesome images of aborted fetuses. The opposition to their publication comes down to something like this: It coarsens public discourse or, more generally, it will offend. Mysteriously, though, that argument didn't seem to occur to liberals that oppose publication of the "products of pregnancy termination" while at the same time favoring the forced display of the "products of smoking."

We're in a gray free-speech area, but it occurs to me that there is one significant difference: Pro-life advocates have not used the force of law to require that gruesome images of aborted fetuses be prominently displayed on the exterior of abortion clinics for all to see.

Indian officials have raided another suspected illegal abortion clinic and arrested the husband-wife team.

The two-room clinic was allegedly run by a couple without having mandatory certificates and permission of the Punjab health department. During raids, the health department team has seized blood soaked clothes, placenta of delivery, medicines and other instruments.

"Ashok Kumar and his wife Devinder Kumari were working as doctors, conducting deliveries and selling medicines without having any certificate," said Surinderpal, district family planning officer of Patiala, who was the member of the raiding team.

Lawsuit filed to close two Michigan abortion clinics

Michigan's Attorney General Bill Schuette has filed a lawsuit to shut down two abortion clinics owned by Richard Remund.

The AG office says along with the lawsuit they are also asking for further investigation to determine if there were any violations of agencies within the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

The state requires these facilities to be operated by a licensed medical professional. Schuette says Remund was not a licensed medical professional.

Life Links 11/7/11

Prolifers in Loganville, Georgia used Halloween as a time to educate the children in their community about fetal development. Some parents weren't happy about this.

"It was a great event with one exception: There was a pro-life group of some kind handing out 12-week-old fetus toys to the children. A man handed one of the so-called toys to my 3-year-old grandson. He asked what it was. The man that handed it to him told him, ‘This is a 12-week-old fetus. This is what you looked like in your mommy's belly,'" Loganville resident John Ramsey said. "There is a time and place for everything. This event for handing out candy to small children was not the time or the place to be handing out toys about pro-life......

"This ability to see how complex, fragile and precious life is, even at 12 weeks, is an amazing experience for children," Edmonds said. "We were told by two people this year that they enjoyed the displays but did not want to have other discussions about early life development with their children for another few years, and one person did voice concern to a city council member who was at the event. Other than that, we had a wonderful response from all of the attendees.

A Vermont man has been sentenced to 5 years in jail for attacking his son's girlfriend and threatening to kill her and her unborn child.

The Caledonian Record said Comeau was arrested in 2009 after terrorizing his 31-year-old son and his son's 23-year-old girlfriend. The girlfriend told police Comeau was drunk when he pushed her down, kicked her and grabbed her by the throat telling her he was going to kill her and her baby.

A Massachusetts man plans on pleading insanity after being charged with killing his girlfriend and an unborn child his girlfriend said wasn't his.

Peter Ronchi, 48, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the May 2009 slaying of Yuliya Galperina, who was due to give birth within days.

The Los Angeles Times has an article on scientists attempting to figure how to use embryonic stem cells to treat diabetes. Since embryonic stem cells isn't a political issues anymore, we get to hear that cures aren't anywhere near being around the corner.

But fine-tuning the cells to make them safe and effective for human use will take time. For example, beta cells do more than just produce insulin; they also respond to body cues to produce just the right amount of insulin when it's needed and thus regulate glucose levels with great precision. If you make beta cells that produce too much insulin, the level of glucose can drop dangerously low — and people can pass out, lapse into a coma or even die.....

Another major problem facing a cure in humans is the issue of autoimmunity — the problem that causes Type 1 diabetes in the first place. "Even if we are able to generate beta cells from stem cells, if you put them into a patient with Type 1 diabetes, they'll be eliminated quickly, because the immune system is primed to destroy those cells," Hebrok says.

Life Links 11/4/11

A New York City man was convicted yesterday of killing his pregnant girlfriend. Derrick Redd faces 25 years to life in prison for stabbing Niasha Delain.

Cops previously said Derrick Redd, 38, of Jamaica admitted that he 'hadn't believed the child was his and urged Niasha Delain, 25, to have an abortion.

Delain, a bank teller, was stabbed 20 to 30 times in her stomach and torso on Oct. 25, 2008, in her South Ozone Park apartment, according to the Queens district attorney's office.

The fetus was stabbed five times .

New York doesn't recognize the unborn child as a victim but according to the NY Daily News, Delain's mother has started a campaign to change the law.


Christopher White of the World Youth Alliance demolishes Nicolas Kristof's column which claims birth control is the solution to "many of the global problems that confront us."


The New Jersey hospital which forced nurses to participate in abortions "says it will temporarily stop requiring nurses to assist in performing abortions if they object on religious grounds" after the nurses filed suit with the Alliance Defense Fund.


A woman in South Korea staged a one-woman protest against a university professor and grandmother of her child whom she alleges tried to force her into an abortion. The professor denies the allegations.

Carrying her new-born baby in her arms, the 28-year-old stood holding a sign, reading "I became pregnant following my engagement. But my fiance's mother broke us up when I was six months into the pregnancy. She then tried to force me to have an abortion right up until my eighth month."

On the placard, she listed her complaints, using the real name of the professor and her department.

Life Links 11/3/11

At the Prospect, E.J. Graff displays a typical rant from a pro-choicer completely uninformed about fetal development This is embarrassing.

Rachael, I disagree. I see an embryo, the size of a pinkie, that couldn't survive even in the most intensive NICU. It doesn't have a working brain, internal organs, or lungs that could function under any circumstances. It's a mush of rapidly dividing cells with enormous potential to be a human, if nothing intervenes, like a miscarriage or a D&C. But to me, that uninhabited scrunch of cells is no more human than an acorn is an oak tree. And so I don't agree that "it's barbaric to kill 1 million babies a year," since I do not see a baby in that one ounce of tissue. I don't think women who choose abortion have committed murder, or anything even close. I think they scraped out some extra tissue that could have become babies but were not yet.

This is what an unborn child looks like when he or she weighs about an ounce and is slightly longer than my pinkie. Not quite a "mush" or "uninhabited scrunch" of cells without a working brain or internal organs.


Steven Massof, another former employee of Kermit Gosnell will plead guilty today for his role in the deaths of children who survived abortions.

A person with knowledge of the plea agreement says medical school graduate Steven Massof will plead guilty to two counts of third-degree murder and other charges.

Two murder counts typically bring a mandatory life term in Pennsylvania. But a judge could give the suburban Pittsburgh man a reduced sentence for his plea or potential cooperation.

Massof is charged in the deaths of two babies prosecutors say were born alive.

A group in Kansas raising money to start an abortion clinic in Wichita claims they have half the money they need to open up a clinic. They claim they're on track to open sometime in 2012. The article also notes that wannabe abortionist Mila Means efforts to start a clinic haven't gone anywhere.


Survivor winner Ethan Zohn's Hodgkin's lymphoma has returned. He'll undergo chemotherapy and hopes to receive a stem cell transplant from his brother.

Memo to Fact Check: You might want to actually check facts

As opposed to just contacting pro-choice organizations and asking them if Herman Cain's claims are true. Here's the last two paragraphs of the story in which Planned Parenthood attempts to debunk the claim that the majority of abortion clinics are located in black neighborhoods.

Cain's claim also isn't true today. Tait Sye, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood, told us in an email that "73% of Planned Parenthood health centers are located in rural or medically underserved areas." Not all of those would be predominately black communities.

Also, the Guttmacher Institute reported this year that 9 percent of abortion clinics in the U.S. are in neighborhoods in which 50 percent or more of the residents are black. That's according to the group's "census of all known abortion providers."

If you've been reading, you already know the Guttmacher Institute report is a joke as it equates "neighborhoods" with zip codes. Why not go a step further and equate "neighborhoods" with counties or states?

I wonder why Tait Sye doesn't provide information on where Planned Parenthood's abortion clinics are located. Sure, they have a lot of small rural clinics which typically don't provide abortions but what percentage of its clinics which provide abortions are located in rural areas? Not many.

Fate of closed Rockford abortion clinic being settled

The Northern Illinois Women's Center, a notorious abortion clinic in Rockford, Illinois which was shut down in late September/early October after failing a follow-up inspection. Now an agreement between lawyers for the abortion clinic and the Illinois Department of Health is reportedly close at hand. This could mean the clinic will close for good or could re-open.

Attorneys did not discuss any details of the potential settlement during a telephone conference this morning. Melaney Arnold, a spokeswoman for the state, and Hirshman, reached individually after the proceeding, declined to comment on the terms of the pending agreement.

Resolution in this case could fall on either side of the spectrum — from revocation of the clinic's license to allowing the clinic to reopen. The state suspended the clinic's license Sept. 29 and ordered the facility closed pending a hearing.

According to the attorneys today, a hearing is not necessary, and they plan to present Ramirez with an agreement at a second telephone conference set for 10:30 a.m. Nov. 14.