Doctor claims clone imminent
Two Italians jailed for illegal abortions
Wrong diagnosis in pregnancy
PM condemns euthanasia
Pro-lifers hold off abortion in Namibia
Abortion leads to Indian gender imbalance
Doctor claims clone imminent
ROME – Italian cloning promoter and medical charlatan Dr. Severino Antinori claims to know a patient who is eight months’ pregnant with an “absolutely healthy” cloned baby boy.Of course, Antinori has made similar claims before; last April, he said there were three clone pregnancies underway – then in the ninth, seventh and sixth weeks of gestation, but there has been no announcement or evidence that they were ever born (the longest pregnancy would already have passed nine months in mid-November). Many scientists dismiss Antinori’s claims, insisting that the technology does not yet exist to pull off a successful human clone.
Two Italians jailed for illegal abortions
ROME – Five staff members at the Villa Gina medical facility, including two doctors, an obstetrician, an anesthesiologist and a secretary, were sentenced to prison terms of between 12 and 20 years, for committing illegal abortions. Two other staff members received minor sentences. The staff were found guilty of doing 12 abortions on women who were more than 13 weeks pregnant between 1995 and 1997.In Italy, the gestational limit for legal abortions in Italy is 13 weeks, except in when the baby is “malformed” or if the pregnancy endangers the life of the mother, in which cases abortion is legal until the 26th week. Another 56 individuals involved with the healthcare facility will be brought to trial in March.
Wrong diagnosis in pregnancy
CARDIFF, Wales – The Western Mail reports that a mother nearly aborted her child after being wrongly diagnosed with Thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder that affects the level of oxygen in the bloodstream.Francesca Mears, 23, made an appointment for an abortion after doctors said her condition could result in the baby being stillborn. After weeks of agonizing over her options, she decided to continue with her pregnancy. She was informed hours after her child was born that she never had the condition after all.
PM condemns euthanasia
CANBERRA – Australian Prime Minister John Howard condemned euthanasia after Lisette Bigot, a healthy 79-year-old, killed herself after attending suicide classes organized by Australian euthanasia advocate Dr. Philip Nitschke’s Exit Australia. Bigot’s suicide note explained that she had enjoyed a good life but had had enough and wanted to end it “before it gets bad.”Nitschke explained he tried to talk her out of killing herself but would have tried harder if she were a younger woman. Howard said, “We should encourage the preservation of life and the respect for life. I condemn and depreciate in the strongest possible terms anything that allows or encourages anybody to take their life, especially if they’re healthy.”
Pro-lifers hold off abortion in Namibia
WINDHOEK, Namibia – Namibian Health Minister Dr. Libertina Amathila said that abortion will not be legalized for at least 10 years in the southern African nation because of pressure from religious groups.In 1996, the draft Abortion and Sterilization Bill was issued for discussion but religious and pro-life groups lobbied against the proposal. Amathila said there would be no plans to liberalize abortion because “people won’t accept it,” she said at a press conference, indicating that she might personally support such a move. The health minister claimed that 40 Namibian women travel to South Africa to obtain abortions and that the number of so-called back alley abortions is on the rise.
Abortion leads to Indian gender imbalance
NEW DELHI – The Washington Post reports that the number of couples opting to abort their baby daughters out of a cultural preference for male offspring has led to a “lopsided sex ratio.” The number of girls under six has already declined from 945 for every 1,000 boys in 1991 to 927 in 2001.