News, 18 August 2005

Swiss scientists have used skin from an aborted baby to treat children with burns, the Guardian reports. The team at the University Hospital of Lausanne used a patch of skin taken after the baby had been aborted to develop a bank of tissue. Fragments of skin have been taken from ethical sources to grow sheets of human skin for over a decade. [The Guardian, 18 August]

British scientists have found a way to harvest stem cells from umbilical cord blood that are very similar to embryonic stem cells, the Scotsman reports. Dr Colin McGuckin and his team at Kingston University in London have also found a way of multiplying the cells and believe that the discovery will allow scientists to bypass the use of human embryos. [The Scotsman, 18 August]

The abortion rate in a number of US states continues to decrease, Lifenews.com reports. New data shows a continuing decline in the number of abortions being performed in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Kansas, Kentucky, South Carolina and Mississippi, following a national pattern of decline. Views differ on the reasons behind the decline, with pro-life advocates citing increased services for women in crisis pregnancies and abortion advocates putting it down to increased contraceptive use. [Lifenews.com, 17 August]

The executive director of an international organisation of obstetrics and gynaecologists has warned that the practice of obstetrics is dying as a result of the culture of death. Dr Rob Walley of Matercare International told a gathering of students at Campaign Life Coalition's Toronto office that when he trained in obstetrics, they talked of having two patients - the mother and the child - but this changed with the acceptance of abortion within the field. Matercare International's mission is to improve "the lives and health of mothers and their unborn children throughout the world, through new initiatives of service, training and research, in accordance with the contemporary teaching contained in the Encyclical Evangelium Vitae (the Gospel of Life)". [LifeSiteNews.com, 17 August]

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