Congress investigates fetal parts sales
More young people standing up for life
California abortionist’s licence suspended
Fox network forbids Drudge showing prebornInvestigation of fetal parts sales

The House of Representatives has passed a measure urging its members to investigate whether private companies are violating federal law by profiting from the sale of fetal parts used in medical research. Congress had lifted a ban on federally funded research involving fetal tissue transplants in 1993, but made it a felony to purchase or sell that tissue for profit. “Unfortunately, entrepreneurs appear to have found a profitable niche within the abortion industry and have begun to traffic in the body parts of aborted babies,” said the measure’s sponsor, Representative Tom Tancredo, a Republican from Colorado.

Two companies, Opening Lines of West Frankfort, Illinois, and the Anatomic Gift Foundation of Laurel, Md., were cited as being involved in fetal parts sales. According to Tancredo, Opening Lines has gone underground since publicity was shone upon it.

The House’s move drew praise from such groups as the American Life League and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, which noted that the sale of fetal parts “exploits vulnerable members of the human family, contrary to their dignity.” Incredibly, however, fetal parts sales drew support from elements such as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which said it supports “individuals’ rights to consent to organ, cadaver or fetal tissue donations for the purpose of medical research in the pursuit of saving lives and treating and curing diseases.”

More young people standing up for life

There’s a new voice emerging from the generation that likes to say it survived the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, and it’s being called the voice of life. The percentage of young women who believe abortion should be legal has dropped every year for nearly a decade, and young people say it’s time the truth be told to their generation. “People have become more informed about what the whole abortion industry is all about,” says Erin Carney, president of Georgetown University Right to Life.

Her efforts, and those of other young pro-life leaders, are paying off. According to polls conducted by UCLA, while 65.5 per cent of students entering college supported abortion in 1989, only 49.5 per cent did so by 1998. These statistics have abortion advocates in panic mode. Faye Wattleton, president of the Centre for Gender Equality, calls the figures “disturbing,” while others note that the average age of National Abortion Rights Action League members is 55.

“It’s certainly a good sign for us,” says Susan Mills of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. “And it’s not just the lobbyists, but particularly the abortion providers.” abortion advocates are trying to fight back with media campaigns, including the Pro-Choice Public Education Project’s ad of a coat hanger in the shape of a question mark to invoke the phenomenon of so-called “back alley” abortions.

Abortionist’s licence suspended

A longtime Palm Desert, Calif. abortionist has had his licence suspended by the Medical Board of California after he lied about an earlier disciplinary case for which he was still on probation. Joseph Durante will also be on probation for an additional five years, the board ruled. He was previously cited for gross negligence in misdiagnosing the age of a preborn child he was trying to abort an a San Diego abortuary. Eight months later, he told authorities thathe had never been suspended or otherwise disciplined.

Durante was the owner of A Lady’s Choice Women’s Medical Centre in Moreno Valley, Calif., the site of an abortion that led to the death of Sharon Hamptlon. In 1992, he attempted to abort a 6 1/2-month-old preborn child, whose mother was later taken to hospital and gave birth to a premature baby.

Network forbids showing of preborn