Free Republic

LONDON, March 15, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On March 8th, International Women's Day, a coalition of abortion-supporting and pro-life women, concerned at the growing exploitation of women in biotechnology launched a new campaign against the harvesting and marketing of human eggs. The campaign, "Hands off our ovaries!" highlights the short and long-term risks involved in egg harvesting and its significance for the health and dignity of women. Concerned feminist representatives have joined together on this common ground, outraged by the casual attitude of the biotech industry towards the female body. Like-minded leaders and groups from around the world are invited to...

Stem-Cell Scientist Admits Paying Women for Eggs "I made a difficult decision hoping that it would help pave the way for a breakthrough in fulfilling one of humankind's biggest dreams, which is to find remedies for hard-to-cure diseases," said Roh Sung Il, head of Miz Medi Hospital in Seoul, fighting back tears. Roh's transactions took place before South Korea adopted its first bioethics law in January banning a financial reward for egg donors. South Korea's groundbreaking stem-cell research program was plunged deeper into an ethics controversy on Monday, with a scientist acknowledging that he had paid 20 women for contributing...

Bioethics and Public Policy: Conservative Dominance in the Current Landscape Overview The rapid advance of biotechnology is quickly outpacing our ability as a society to absorb the effect it will have on our lives. Scientific and medical complexities, combined with real-life scenarios that were beyond our collective imagination a decade ago, leave many of us struggling to comprehend and evaluate the implications that these advances may have on daily life. Fundamentally, people fear change, suffering, and death—and these fears are at the heart of most bioethical issues. From embryonic stem cell research to the Terri Schiavo case, a whole new...

Embryo cloning requires human eggs, which are typically donated by women in a process that requires a month-long series of hormone injections followed by a minor but not risk-free surgical procedure. Because of the modest but real health risks involved, researchers who perform the procedure are required to get informed consent from donors and fulfill other ethics requirements. For many months after Hwang's 2004 publication, rumors had spread in scientific circles that the eggs Hwang used to achieve that landmark result had been taken from a junior scientist in his lab. That situation, if true, would be in violation of...

Washington D.C. - Protesters have launched four days of demonstrations against U.S. AIDS policy in the District. Some supporters of the Campaign to End AIDS have gathered at the headquarters of the Family Research Council. A few of the demonstrators reportedly have chained themselves to objects inside the office building at 7th and G Streets, Northwest. Members of the group oppose the government's promotion of abstinence from sexual activity as a substitute for sex education. Organizers of the protests have been working with U.S. Park Police. A spokesman for the department says about 150 of them plan to demonstrate in...

"Those who would be leaders must be willing to steadfastly hold to principles they believe right regardless of public reaction and acceptance. "This is the courage of a true leader. And we should each strive to become this kind of leader. That we do not receive acclamation or maybe lose an election is not a finding we were wrong. It simply means we lost. Our position may be in fact exactly right and maybe next year we will be able to prove it. Courage is lacking in would-be leaders many times today. Doing the political thing rather than the right...

Just a few quotes, but go to the site to get the flavor (emphasis is mine): R. Alta Charo: At the heart of bioethics in a public setting, like a public policy commission in my mind, is political philosophy as opposed to moral philosophy. You could argue from here until Sunday about whether or not it’s right or wrong for me to go forward and have a child with disabilities, whether or not it’s right or wrong for me to tell the truth to my patient – any number of things that are questions of individual morality, but you haven’t...

Gallup uses two questions to gauge Americans’ perceptions of the United States Supreme Court: one that simply asks whether Americans approve or disapprove of the way the court is handling its job and another that asks them to assess the level of confidence they have in the court. Both measures recently showed declines in the public’s perceptions of the high court. Supreme Court Approval Ratings Americans are now more negative than positive in their views of the Supreme Court, with 42% approving and 48% disapproving of the job the court is doing in a late June poll. These ratings are...

Freepers, help me come up with concrete actions, consistent with our conservatism and the true spirit of America, to blunt the homelessness, unemployment and possible hunger, disease and social breakdown that Katrina left in her wake. Our group has influenced and ensured the fairness of elections. We are watchdogs for the press and brave extreme heat and cold to stand up for our Country, our Soldiers and human life. Our prayer groups have seen miracles happen. We can make a difference for the future of our children by acting this week. We all want to give what we can, and...

Posted: 8/31/2005 5:09:00 PM ET Balto Star back in training after receiving stem cell treatments Grade 1 winner Balto Star has resumed training at owner-breeder Stuart and Anita Subotnick's Anstu Farm in Millbrook, New York, after undergoing stem cell treatment for a tendon tear in his right front leg. The injury was detected after Balto Star’s victory in the 2004 Meadowlands Breeders’ Cup Handicap (G2) and knocked him out of a scheduled start in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) at Lone Star Park. The seven-year-old Glitterman gelding could return to the races by the end of the year, Stuart Subotnick...

Doctors could face death penalty for illegal abortions, some say By Tommy Witherspoon Tribune-Herald staff writer Saturday, August 27, 2005 Doctors who perform illegal abortions in Texas could be prosecuted for capital murder and face a death sentence under recent changes in Texas law that have resulted in apparent unintended consequences. While officials familiar with the new legislation say such prosecutions are unlikely, the possibility of a doctor on death row, whether intentional or not, puts a sharp focus on the importance of analyzing legislative activity every two years, officials say. That's what Lindsey Roberts, director of training for the...

The Journal of the American Medical Association (This link is to the abstract. Subscription is required for the full article) published an article this week claiming to definitively settle the problem of whether or not children feel pain before birth. Some of you may have read that there are serious ethical questions about the authors, two of whom are involved in the abortion industry. But, what you probably won't read in the popular press is that the definition of pain used by the authors is a little bit more convoluted that the one you and I might use. Specific and...

Sunday, August 21, 2005 "Matters of Life and Death" The Guardian Observer has it right in the title of this op-ed by Mary Riddell. But, then it falls all apart. Sort of like the ethics that is now "bioethics:" justification for whatever action is desired at the moment. Ms. Riddell says that we shouldn't worry about the babies of the future, but rather for the babies we are and are not having today. I can't imagine that any adult cannot see that the babies of today will be the parents of tomorrow and that the ways we manipulate today's babies...

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Local & State Aug. 18, 2005, 10:34PM Austin prohibits Walgreens from refusing to fill prescriptions By LISA FALKENBERG Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau AUSTIN - Texas' capital city became the first in the nation Thursday, according to Planned Parenthood, to prohibit a pharmacy from refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control, emergency contraceptives and other medications. ADVERTISEMENT The measure, approved unanimously by the Austin City Council, requires Walgreens, the city's pharmaceutical contractor, to fill prescriptions for patients on Austin's medical assistance program "in-store, without discrimination or delay," even if an individual pharmacist declines to...

Wednesday, August 10, 2005 NRO's Lopez on Feminists for Life I mentioned Feminists for Life in one of yesterday's posts (please page down and see below - someday, I'll get those "Permanent Links" working). If you want to hear yesterday's show use this link. For some reason, On Point chose not to "Feature" this interview on their main web page. Today's National Review Online published a piece by one of my favorite reporters, Katheryn Jean Lopez. As she says, Justice John Roberts and his wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts have already made history. What a problem Mrs. Roberts' involvement as legal...

Texas Senate/Legislative alert: The Senate is considering the Higher Education Funding - Senate Bill 80, companion to House Bill 6 - which contains a little $41 Million dollar gift to the UTHSCH at Houston: ""(10) The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston: (A) $41 million for an adult stem cell research center at the Texas Medical Center to conduct stem cell and *******related biomedical research; It's that "related" that is the poison pill (aside from all that money they intend to spend). Last month, I attended the "Genetic Politcy Institute Stem Cell Advocacy Summit." It was actually a...

Health New Approach Works Against Leukemia, Lymphoma By E.J. Mundell HealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, July 8 (HealthDay News) -- Experts have long known that blood stem cells extracted from umbilical cords can help beat back deadly lymphomas and leukemias. Unfortunately, there's always been one roadblock: the average umbilicus contains only enough stem cells to help the smallest patients, mainly children. That's why the early results of a new study are so encouraging. Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston say they have successfully treated adult blood cancer patients using stem cells extracted from two separate cords. "The remarkable thing about...

The Celestial Fire of Conscience — Refusing to Deliver Medical Care R. Alta Charo, J.D. Apparently heeding George Washington's call to "labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience," physicians, nurses, and pharmacists are increasingly claiming a right to the autonomy not only to refuse to provide services they find objectionable, but even to refuse to refer patients to another provider and, more recently, to inform them of the existence of legal options for care. Largely as artifacts of the abortion wars, at least 45 states have "conscience clauses" on their books —...

HOUSTON -- Scientists gather routinely at the Texas Medical Center to share research. But they are meeting this weekend in enemy territory for a war-room session on political strategy. Advocates of embryonic stem cell research from the fields of academia, politics, health care and medicine -- including South Korean cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk -- are plotting ways to quell opposition and get the research money flowing. -------------------- Houston's medical center is an oasis of support for the proponents gathering this weekend. ------------------ Siegel said legislation like some of the measures considered in Texas "sends a message to the biotech community:...

The lesson, O'Connor said, is not merely that a president's Supreme Court appointments often disappoint that same chief executive. “It is that our system of government is one of delegated authority and separation of powers,” she said. “By their ruling in the steel-seizure case, President Truman's appointees proved their friendship, I think, not by siding with the president for personal reasons, but by fulfilling their duty to decide each case as impartially as possible as members of a separate branch of government. “In short, as members of a truly independent judiciary.” Afterward, O'Connor met with federal judges and staffers at...