•President George W. Bush announced plans to enact stricter limits on embryonic research.
•Congress will likely consider the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act later this year. If it is passed, the bill would ensure that parents have a right to know their teenage daughters are considering an abortion and make it a crime to take a minor across state lines to circumvent parental notification laws.
•In November, Florida voters passed a initiative (65 per cent to 35 per cent) that allowed the state legislature to require parental notification. Florida lawmakers will begin debate in March on a state constitutional amendment requiring parents be notified when their minor-age children seek abortions.
•Moderate Republican Mitt Romney, Governor of Massachusetts, declared his opposition to and vowed defeat of a state Senate proposal to authorize funding for cloning and embryonic stem cell research
•The Food and Drug Administration has created the Independent Drug Safety Oversight Board to monitor drugs, such as the abortion pill RU-486 and the so-called morning-after pill, once they are approved.The agency will provide both physicians and patients with updated information on risks and benefits of drugs as they become available.
•The North Dakota House Human Services Committee began hearings on legislation that would ban abortion in the state. Under the bill, anyone who “intentionally destroys or terminates the life of a preborn child” is guilty of murder and would serve a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. There were 1219 abortions committed in the state in 2002. Some pro-life groups, however, oppose the measure because they believe that women are the “second victim of abortion.”
