IFRL NEWS SHORTS FOR WEDNESDAY

NEWS SHORTS FOR WEDNESDAY

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.

College Democrats Wreck Pro-Life Display
 
College Democrats at George Washington University have apologized after one of their members vandalized a pro-life cross display on campus.

The 1,100 crosses were set up in remembrance of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision 36 years ago. Student Republicans later found drawings and writing on some of the crosses, The Washington Post reported. One cross depicted a stick figure of a crucified Jesus. Another, hung upside down, had a condom stretched over it.
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000009246.cfm


Pregnant Teller Shooting Could Prompt Change In Law

The shooting of a pregnant teller during a bank robbery last spring has prompted lawmakers to propose changing the state's feticide law. Katherin Shuffield was nearly 6 months pregnant with twins when she was shot in the abdomen during a robbery last April at the Huntington National Bank branch at 2030 N. Post Road. One of her unborn babies, Francesca, was stillborn two days later. The other, Katherin, was born at the same time, but lived only 5 hours. With the Shuffields looking on, a Senate committee on Tuesday approved a bill that would allow wrongful death suits for unborn children of a viable age.
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/18632979/detail.html#-


Indiana Bill Requires Abortion Doctors to have Hospital Privileges

A Senate committee has advanced a bill that would require doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at hospitals. Supporters say the move would improve patient safety, but opponents say the legislation is aimed at restricting women's access to abortions. The Senate Health Committee voted 5-4 for the bill, which now moves to the full Senate for consideration. The Indiana General Assembly has considered similar legislation in previous years, but the bills have never passed both the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democrat-ruled House.
http://www.pal-item.com/article/20090203/UPDATES/90203025/1008/rss


Princeton Professor Launches Site to Connter Obama 'Assault on Pro-Life Laws'

Fearing that the Obama administration will "swiftly begin an assault on pro-life laws and pro-marriage policies," Princeton politics professor Robert George has joined forces with conservative academics from around the country to create a Web site which he says will hold anti-abortion voters "accountable" for supporting President Obama. George, who serves on the President's Council on Bioethics, launched moralaccountability.com to record the president's platform as well as news on abortion, embryonic research and marriage. "[With this Web site], everyone who offered an opinion on these issues, the effect of Obama's policies, the sincerity of his claims, could be held accountable," George said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.
http://www.uwire.com//Article.aspx?id=3711416


Stem Cells Produced From Adult Cells in Australia

Australian scientists have made a stem cell breakthrough that promises to uncap research efforts while skirting around the contentious issue of needing human embryos. A joint Victorian and NSW team has produced the nation's first human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell line - basically a cell that acts like an embryonic stem cell but instead was made from an adult skin cell. The technique allows scientists to continue their work to better understand crippling illnesses such as Parkinson's Disease without the ethical problems raised by stem cells taken from human embryos that are later destroyed.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4835966a12.html


Human Embryo Stem Cell Research Moves Forward

As President Barack Obama is expected to lift federal restrictions on the field of stem cell research, many universities and labs are preparing to expand their work in stem cell research in the future. One of the most recent discoveries in this field is attributed to scientists at the University of Connecticut, who have managed to develop two new embryonic stem cell lines decided to make them available to a number of labs around the country. The team who made the discovery hope that these new stem cell lines will help researchers in their efforts to find treatments for cognitive diseases.
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Stem_Cell_Research_Moves_Forward_34265.html