World Briefs

KANSAS CITY, MO. – A state medical agency has permanently revoked the medical licence of a Kansas City abortionist cited repeatedly for violating health and safety standards at his facility. An inspector found the facility unclean and that Krishna Rajanna and his staff kept syringes of medications in an unlocked refrigerator. A dead mouse was also found in the hallway. An employee said she witnessed the use of dishwashers to sterilize equipment, as well as lack of background checks and medical training for medical assistants. Rajanna’s attorney said his client may appeal the decision to a district court, but no determination has been made.

Bush backs embryo adoption

WASHINGTON – U.S. President George W. Bush has reiterated his position in favour of embryo adoption, instead of the kind of stem cell research that destroys human embryos. “There’s an alternative to the destruction of life,” he said, adding that the issue is “whether or not we use taxpayers’ money to destroy life in order to, hopefully, find a cure for terrible disease.” Bush added that he understood the concerns of those stricken by ailments such as juvenile diabetes, but “ there is research going on and, hopefully, we’ll find the cure. But, at the same time, it’s important in the society to balance ethics and science.”

Abortions have decreased under Bush

WASHINGTON – A study by the Planned Parenthood-affiliated Alan Guttmacher Institute has found that the number of U.S. abortions has decreased since George W. Bush assumed the office of the presidency. The study found abortions went down nationwide by 0.8 per cent in 2001 and by another 0.8 per cent in 2002. Meanwhile, the abortion rate (that is, the number of women having abortions relative to the population as a whole) also decreased, by 1 per cent in 2001 and 0.9 per cent in 2002. Harold Stassen, a researcher who had previously claimed abortions have increased during the Bush presidency, now acknowledges that the new study’s numbers “are significantly better than what I could have obtained seven months ago.”

Tiller under suspicion again

WICHITA, Mo. – Wichita late-term abortion practitioner George “the Killer” Tiller is being accused of botching another abortion, after he had to rush a woman to a local hospital recently. It marks the fourth known time a woman from his abortion business has been taken to hospital. He is also accused of killing at least two other women. Pro-life demonstrators outside Tiller’s Women’s Health Care Services facility say they saw him hurry to the Wesley Medical Centre, still wearing surgical scrubs from the morning’s abortions. Moments earlier, a vehicle exiting the abortion facility carried a woman in the back seat with her head covered by a jacket. The vehicle drove directly to Wesley’s emergency room.

Important pro-life victory

ROME – In what is being hailed as an important victory for the pro-life cause, and a vindication of efforts by the Roman Catholic church, an important referendum to repeal an Italian assisted-fertility law has failed. Only 26 per cent of eligible voters turned out at the polls, well short of the 50 per cent needed to make the vote official. Consequently, no matter how those who voted cast their ballots, the referendum to repeal the pro-life law is dead. Pope Benedict XVI remarked that it was important for the church to urge Catholics in the European country to protect human life and he applauded Italian Catholic leaders for their campaign to encourage voters to stay home. “Life cannot be put to a vote – choose not to vote,” a poster from the Catholic Church had read.