Although the rate of conception is very high with in-vitro fertilization (IVF), successful embryo transfer (ET) and implantation is much more difficult and is usually the stage at which the procedure fails. A fertility clinic often speaks of its high pregnancy rate, which usually refers to the chemical pregnancy in the fist few days, but the implantation rate is much lower, miscarriages [...]
On August 1st, in a move called “a pre-natural massacre” (Vatican’s newspaper L’Osservatore Romano) and “a new milestone for the culture of death” (Catholic World News), British scientists began the destruction of more than 3, 300 human embryos. An appeal was made to 900 couples whose frozen embryos were scheduled to be destroyed, when the five-year limit on their storage had run [...]
The recent destruction of more than 3,300 embryos by British fertility clinic technicians was a chilling reminder of the vulnerability of human life in its earliest stages of development. The incident also underscores how breakthroughs in the field of human reproductive technology are still running well ahead of legal and ethical constraints. It’s not surprising that Britain should be the first nation [...]
A report out of Columbia, South Carolina could have implications for pro-lifers concerned with the protection of the unborn children in the womb. The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled July 17 that pregnant women who use drugs can be charged with child abuse. According to the Eternal Word Television Network news service (EWTN), the state Supreme Court ruled 3-2 in defense of [...]
The Interim In yet another macabre example of unborn children being used for medical experiments, researchers at Stanford University in San Francisco plan to transplant fetal pancreas cells into 10 diabetics as a way of eliminating the need for insulin injections. The experiments, scheduled to start this summer, are said to offer help to more then a million North Americans with juvenile-onset [...]
Pro-life supporters will watch closely the results of a trial of an Ottawa-area woman charged with attempted murder of her pre-born child. Brenda Drummond, 28, is alleged to have shot her unborn child May 28 with a pellet rifle. The pellet passed through the women’s abdomen and entered the head of the child. The child, named Jonathon, was born two days later [...]
Could make air easier to breathe for children, unborn Interim Staff A tobacco products restriction act introduced by Toronto Senator Stanley Haidasz could play a part in better protecting unborn children from the effects of exposure to tars and nicotine. Bill S-5 requires cigarettes, cigars and loose tobacco to have a greatly reduced level of contaminants and additives. The bill would also [...]
On April 1, the University of Toronto held a conference for Health Care Professionals on the subject of “Pain in the Fetus and Neonates” – that is pain in pre-born and premature babies and in newborns. Until the late 1980’s, few doctors or nurses realize that the unborn and newborn child have much, if any, pain sensation. However, it is realized that [...]
One of Canada’s Health Minister’s last acts before leaving office was the preparation legislation which would restrict the buying and selling of human eggs. The announcement comes in the wake of an ad which appeared in a University of Toronto newspaper seeking a white female willing to donate eggs for $2,000. In explaining the reasons for the pending legislation, Health Minister Dianne [...]
One morning I was picketing with four ladies outside the “Doctor” Burriani abortuary in Toronto. At about 10:30 a large truck pulled up outside and the driver, a pleasant looking young man alighted. He nodded to us, smiled and went inside. As it is a very busy street I hadn’t taken much notice of the truck until one of the ladies said [...]
Premature baby’s death acknowledged by proper funeral Co-Director of Aid to Woman Last week I attended a funeral in Toronto, not unlike one I had attended fifty years ago, as a child in my native Holland. Both of the deceased were infants, however both were born into different social and economic circumstances. Back home, my family gathered, lovingly, to bury by six-week-old [...]
A proposed new study of fetal brain tissue transplants and Parkinson’s patients, is generating much controversy in the medical profession – but not for the reasons one might hope. Dr. Curt Freed, a professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the University of Colorado’s Health Science Centre, wants to initiate a one-year double blind study with 40 patients suffering from Parkinson’s Disease. He [...]
“When people die, my name doesn’t go on it.” This is how Suzanne Scorsone, a member of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies, sums up how she decided which of its recommendations to disagree with. The Commission submitted its final report to the federal government last November. Just before Christmas, Dr. Scorsone spoke to the Interim about her work on the [...]
Another political ruling Vancouver – The BC Supreme Court has ruled that the province can no longer exclude same-sex partners from its Medicare definition of spouses. The decision means homosexual couples will be entitled to the same medical coverage as any other couple. The Supreme Court’s ruling came in response to a court action launched by Timothy Knodel, a Vancouver male nurse. [...]
The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) sprang a surprise at its annual convention. The ethics committee recommended that a fetus be considered a baby after all, sometime around its 20th week of life. Feminists were enraged. Women will continue to be slaves to their wombs, said one. Abortion hearings In November, 1990, at the Senate abortion hearings on Bill C-43, the CMA delegation [...]