IFRL NEWS SHORTS FOR THURSDAY

NEWS SHORTS FOR THURSDAY

Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of The Illinois Federation for Right to Life. They are presented only for your information.

UW Hospital Board Supports Late Term Abortion Clinic Proposal

The UW Hospital board voted 11 to 3 to support a proposed abortion clinic at the Madison Surgery Center after hearing from supporters and opponents at a public meeting. The action leaves the final decision on the clinic to the surgery center's board, which is expected to take up the issue in a private meeting this week. The surgery center, at 1 S. Park St., is owned by UW Hospital, its doctor group and Meriter Hospital, all of which have approved the plan. Doctors at the clinic would perform about 125 abortions a year on women 19 to 22 weeks pregnant, said Dr. Laurel Rice, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the university. The service would replace the practice of Dr. Dennis Christensen, who performed the procedures at a Planned Parenthood facility in Madison until he retired in December.
http://www.madison.com/tct/top5/436724


Baby Killer Gets 3 Years for Doing 'Unlicensed Abortions'

A Granada Hills office manager who ran six family planning clinics across Southern California was sentenced to only three years and four months in prison for performing abortions on women, some of whom were not given pain medication during the procedures. Bertha Pinedo Bugarin, 49, who has no medical license, sobbed uncontrollably as she told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta that she felt deep remorse for what she had done. Bugarin is scheduled to be sentenced next month in San Diego in connection with another case in which she was convicted of nine counts of performing unlicensed abortions and one count of grand theft. Her sister Raquel Bugarin, 51, was also convicted of performing unlicensed abortions and was sentenced in December to only three years probation and 500 hours of community service.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/medicine/la-me-abortion31-2009jan31,0,7779383.story


Senate OK's $6.5 Billion Bio-Research Amendment By 'Voice Vote'

Biomedical research may be headed for a big 2-year boost in the stimulus bill—more than even some lobbyists expected. In debate last night, the Senate agreed by voice vote to an amendment from Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania that would add an extra $6.5 billion to the $3.5 billion already proposed in the Senate's draft bill for the National Institutes of Health. Both the House and the Senate had planned to give NIH $3.5 billion.
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/02/billions-in-bio.html


Utah Fund to Challenge Roe v. Wade gets OK

A committee in the Utah House has endorsed a proposal that would create a legal defense fund to challenge Roe v. Wade. House Bill 114 would create a legal fund that accepts private donations to help offset any legal fees the state would incur if it were to pass an abortion ban by 2014. Defending a law that bans abortion in most cases would likely cost the state millions of dollars. A similar fund set up in the early 1990s raised about $13,000.
http://www.kutv.com/content/news/local/story/Fund-to-challenge-Roe-v-Wade-gets-initial-OK/wGMe32byeUqQsQO-UneOeQ.cspx?rss=991