News, 3 February 2000

After an extension of the deadline (to an undefined date), comments can still be made on the US National Institutes of Health's draft guidelines on stem cell research, which are on the web at http://www.nih.gov/news/stemcell/draftguidelines.htm. The guidelines would let federally-funded researchers use cells from aborted embryos and kill embryos from fertility clinics to extract the stem cells. Input can be sent to stemcell@mail.nih.gov. [Zenit, 3 February, 2000]

A south London doctor accepts requests for prescriptions for PC4, the morning-after pill, by telephone at least once a day. Dr Rosemary Leonard, who leaves the prescriptions for collection from her surgery or a pharmacy, has given PC4 to certain women on six or seven occasions but denies that it encourages carelessness about contraception. [Daily Mail, 3 February, 2000]

An American legislator has suggested that women who offer their unwanted babies for adoption should receive a 5,000 dollar tax-credit. The proposal, by Representative Thomas Klein of Wichita, was criticised by Representative Billie Vining, also of Wichita, for encouraging girls to have babies in order to get the credit. [Wichita Eagle quoted in Pro-Life E-News, 2 February, 2000]

South African pro-life people commemorated the third anniversary of the legalisation of abortion in their country on Tuesday with a prayer-meeting at their parliament. Thousands of white crosses were placed on the steps of Durban city hall. [ANC website quoted in Pro-Life E-News, 1 February, 2000]

Yesterday we carried a report based on an article in the Metro newspaper that doctors had aborted Mrs Ivette Zapata-Smalls' septuplets because she had had a bacterial infection. A correspondent has subsequently told us that a doctor has issued a statement saying that the babies had miscarried due to the infection and had not been aborted. This is confirmed by reports in Pro-Life E-News.

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To subscribe to SPUC's email information services, please visit www.spuc.org.uk/em-signup. The reliability of the news herein is dependent on that of the cited sources, which are paraphrased rather than quoted. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the society. © Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, 2000