Adult stem cells cure sickle cell patient

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Keone Penn was diagnosed with sickle cell, a genetic blood disease, at six months of age. He suffered a stroke at five and was in and out of hospitals until he was 11 to receive blood transfusions; doctors expected him to die by 20. When he was 15, the University of Pittsburgh’s Dr. Andrew Yeager tried a new procedure involving stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood and planting them in Penn to create “a whole new blood factory.” Such a treatment is a simpler alternative to a bone marrow transplant, another form of stem cell treatment. As CBS reported, “The key to his cure did not come from a human embryo, where all the controversy is, but from something that is routinely tossed in the garbage – an umbilical cord.” Yeager said, “This is really where, I think, so much of biomedicine is going to be going in the 21st century.” One year after Penn’s treatment, the sickle cells had disappeared and the teen is considered cured.

Killer mom out in three

CLINTON, N.J. – Melissa Drexler, who as an 18-year-old, killed her newborn son immediately following his birth during a high school prom in 1997, was released from prison after serving just three years of her 15-year sentence. She strangled her newborn and threw the dead body into the garbage can after concealing her pregnancy from her parents and the baby’s father. She returned to the prom and resumed dancing. She was charged with murder but pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter. The Associated Press reports Drexler, now 23, “took fashion courses in prison and hopes to work in the industry.”

Resolution to recognize contribution of CPCs

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Bob Schaffer (R-Colo.) announced he will introduce a resolution in the House of Representatives commending the good work done by crisis pregnancy centers. John Cusey, director of the House Pro-Life Caucus, said, “This is a time when so many good ministries are suffering that I hope people will remember in their prayers the good that the CPCs do and support them as best they can.” He added, “I don’t see who would be able to oppose something like this.” In recent years, pro-abortionists have attacked CPCs and there have been several attempts by the media to paint crisis pregnancy workers and volunteers as liars and extremists.

Condoms 4 Life attacked

WASHINGTON, D.C. – American Life League president Judie Brown has condemned Catholics for a Free Choice after the heretical group launched its latest campaign, Condoms 4 Life, which demands that the Catholic Church authorize the use of condoms. Launched days before World AIDS Day, Brown said the campaign “would place at extreme risk the very people they are allegedly attempting to protect.” Scientific evidence has shown that the AIDS virus is so small that it can actually pass through the natural flaws in latex condoms. Brown said, “The better message – the truly life-saving message – would be to advocate chastity and a return to Christ. That is precisely what the Catholic Church teaches, but then ‘Catholics’ for a Free Choice has never actually understood, or probably even cared about, what the Church teaches.”

Senate okays research on post-abortion syndrome

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate passed an amendment to a government spending bill approving research into post-abortion syndrome. The amendment calls upon the National Institutes of Health to “expand and intensify research and related activities with respect to post-abortion depression and post-abortion psychosis.” Pro-abortionists claim PAS is a “bogus condition invented by the religious right.” A spokesman for Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.) said there is wide support for the amendment in the House and the White House is expected to sign the law.

Philadelphia cardinal to lead pro-life committee

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has elected Philadelphia Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua as chairman of its Pro-Life Committee. Bevilacqua has been serving as Philadelphia’s archbishop since 1988. The committee drafts the conference’s policy statements on abortion, reproductive and certain experimental technologies, and euthanasia.

Abortionists exploit anthrax threats

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Concerned Women for America condemned abortion groups for exploiting anthrax threats against abortuaries. Noting that most targets of anthrax threats have tried to be discreet, the abortion industry, CWA said, “actually sought media attention, even sending press releases trumpeting their victim status.” CWA adds: “Pro-abortion groups have set themselves apart by seeking attention and using the incidents for political and financial benefit.” Just 10 days after the Sept. 11 attacks, Gloria Feldt, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, compared the terrorist attacks with what “we at Planned Parenthood have lived and worked for many years with.”

Abortionist calls pro-lifers terrorists

BELLEVUE, Neb. – Abortionist LeRoy Carhart, has urged President George W. Bush, in the words the of the Lincoln Journal Star, “to help battle domestic terrorism directed against abortion providers.” Carhart, who last year won a Supreme Court battle to turn over the state’s partial-birth abortion restrictions, asked, “Can you help the nation’s abortion providers and their staffs who have been the victims of repeated acts of fringe, radical religious terrorists during the past 25 years?” Bob Blank, president of Nebraskans United for Life, said, “LeRoy Carhart is the one who has murdered 35,000 to 40,000-plus babies by performing abortions. For him to infer that … pro-lifers throughout Nebraska and the United States are terrorists is an insult.”

Production ceased of drug used in assisted suicides

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Oregonian reports that pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly will stop producing Secobarbital, “the drug of choice for assisted suicide.” Marketed and distributed since 1998 as a sedative, Secobarbital has been prescribed to 66 of 70 patients killed under Oregon’s doctor-assisted suicide law. Peter Rasmussen, an oncologist from Salem, Ore., criticized Eli Lilly’s decision, saying, “When you have something that works, you want to stay with it. It’s just one less worry.” Rasmussen said, “I suppose we could put out an all-points bulletin for any pharmacy that has any in stock,” for two patients awaiting the deadly drug. Eli Lilly has recently had troubles obtaining the raw material to manufacture Secobarbital, and will cease all production in January.