Recent Advances in Adult Stem Cell Research (and other alternatives to embryonic stem cell research)

In light of tomorrow’s hearing on Stem Cells in the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I wanted to provide you with some good news in the way of research—just from this past month. Thanks to our friends at the U.S.C.C.B for compiling the research!

OVERALL SUCCESS
“Stem cells mature,” Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio), April 6, 2008, www.ohio.com/news/17332904.html

STEM CELL SOURCES
“Stem cell therapy in rats improves Parkinson’s: study,” Thomson Financial News, April 7, 2008, www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/04/07/afx4859467.html

CORD BLOOD
“Valuable blood discarded,” Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio), April 6, 2008, www.ohio.com/news/17332894.html

BONE/CARTILAGE
“Skin cell jab to cure tennis elbow by regenerating damaged tendon,” (London) Daily Mail, April 7, 2008, www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=557897&in_page_id=1774

EYE/EAR
“Treatment helps child see,” The Examiner (Missouri), April 20, 2008, www.examiner.com/a-1350610~Treatment_helps_child_see.html

HEART
“Final Data From the Bioheart Seismic Trial Suggest Safety, Efficacy of Autologous Stem-Cell Therapy for Treating Congestive Heart Failure,” PRNewswire, April 1, 2008, www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=ind_focus.story&STORY=/www/story/04-01-2008/0004784459&EDATE=TUE+Apr+01+2008,+02:49+PM

“When a needle in the heart can help,” Houston Chronicle, April 4, 2008, www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5676836.html

“Heart Derived Stem Cells Develop Into Heart Muscle,” ScienceDaily, April 23, 2008, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423101822.htm

SICKLE-CELL ANEMIA
“Promising quest for cure,” Baltimore Sun, March 30, 2008, www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-te.sickle30mar30,0,6112155.story

Bella

According to LifeSiteNews, Bella (one of my favorite movies) is the number one pre-sale romantic movie on Amazon.com. The mainstream film, which is available on DVD now, earned the “People’s Choice Award” at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival—even with its pro-life themes. Producer Leo Severino said of the sales, “We beat Pride & Prejudice and Atonement.”

The handsome star of the movie, Eduardo Verastegui (aye papi), will be on Fox’s Neil Cavuto either tonight or tomorrow, as well as on the O’Reilly Factor. Tomorrow morning, Eduardo will also appear on the Today show at 10 a.m. I encourage you to watch his interviews—he’s not just great to look at, but a great voice for the pro-life movement.

AND, if you haven’t seen the film, go rent it now!!

Senator McCain on Judges

During a visit to Wake Forest University yesterday, Presidential nominee Senator John McCain gave a speech on the disarray of the U.S. courts and about the kinds of judges that he pledges to nominate, should he win the Presidency.

The status of the Supreme Court, and the status of the courts around the country, is of critical importance to the pro-life movement—and vital to the selection of our next Commander-in-Chief.

Currently, there are six Supreme Court judges over the age of 70. With lifetime appointments, there may be an opportunity to replace some of them in the next administration—likely two or three.

As it currently stands, the Supreme Court is relatively split with four conservative judges, four liberal judges, and one judge who leans toward the center. Of the six judges over the age of 70—likely to retire—four of them are liberal judges.

Why is this important? Our next President may have the opportunity to nominate a Supreme Court Justice to sway the bench—making it more liberal or conservative. As an opponent of Roe vs. Wade, this is an important opportunity.

During his speech at Wake Forest, Senator McCain expressed his intent to nominate “strict constructionists” (strict constructionists favor a strict reading of the Constitution, especially of the elastic clause, in order to limit the powers of the central government.) He told the crown that, “...the duties and boundaries of the Constitution are not just a set of helpful suggestions. They are not just guidelines to be observed when it’s convenient and loosely interpreted when it isn’t.”

Frustrated by the “presumption” of federal judges to resolve policy questions “that should be decided democratically,” McCain pledged to nominate judges in the mold of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.

He went on to say, “In federal and state courts … there are still men and women who understand the proper role of our judiciary. And I intend to find them and promote them … My nominees will understand that there are clear limits to the scope of judicial power.”

In the case of Roe vs. Wade, the court has already sided in the favor of liberals. The hopes of many liberals is to continue the tradition of nominating judicial activists to legislative from the bench on social issues that have the power to change America, and not for the better. It was done in 1973, when most laws against abortion in the United States were found to violate a constitutional right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Story of Jill Stanek

I had the honor of meeting Jill this week, and having an opportunity to talk to her about her experiences. Her blog, http://www.jillstanek.com/, is the premier pro-life blog--getting thousands of hits a day. I encourage you to visit her blog daily, and read her updates. It will change your view on the issue, whichever side you happen to fall on. This is Jill's bio:

"I was a registered nurse in the Labor & Delivery Department at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, in 1999 when discovering babies were being aborted alive and shelved to die in the soiled utility room.

"Went public when hospital leaders said that they would not stop. The disclosure immediately grabbed the attention of legislators and media.

"Was asked to testify before a U.S. House committee in 2000 and 2001 for the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.

"Was fired in August 2001 by Christ Hospital for reasons related to my public outspokenness to its abortion practices.

"Was invited by President George W. Bush for his August 2002 signing of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which will protect live aborted children from infanticide. Was also asked to his signing of invitation when he signed the signed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban in November 2003, which will protect partially delivered babies from being killed by abortion (if the Supreme Court lets it stand).

"Was named by World Magazine in January 2003 as one of 30 prominent pro-life leaders over the past 30 years, an honor more deserved by innumerable others, but appreciated nonetheless."

Reasons to Defund Planned Parenthood

Brit Hume on Planned Parenthood racism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d46Je-zhiQ&eurl=http://jillstanek.com/

Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act

Today the House passed H.R. 493, the Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act (GINA) by a vote of 414 to 1. Last week, the same bill passed the Senate by a vote of 95-0. Thanks to the diligent efforts on the part of pro-life staff, all pro-life concerns with prior drafts of H.R. 493 were resolved in the Energy and Commerce Committee before the House vote last year. The language included to address these concerns states that genetic information covered by GINA includes the genetic information of a "fetus" or "embryo." The amendment also adjusts the definition of family member to include children who have been placed for adoption as well as children who have been adopted. Passage of this legislation marks a pro-life win in the House.

Yes or No, Indeed

During the Committee of Oversight and Government Reform hearing held last week on abstinence education (see previous blog post for background) Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC) helped to draw attention to bias of the Democrat’s witness panel—even if proven 100% effective, they are ideologically opposed to abstinence education. To watch Representative Foxx ask the question that uncovered their bias, click here.

Reasons to Defund Planned Parenthood

On Thursday, April 24, 2008, African-American preachers and pro-life advocates, including Dr. Alveda King and Representative Trent Franks, peacefully gathered outside of a northwestern DC Planned Parenthood clinic, holding signs reading, "Planned Parenthood=Tax Sponsored Racism." This event was held in response to recent sting operations that exposed Planned Parenthood employees who were willing to take racially motivated donations—money earmarked to pay for abortions of minority unborn children. For coverage of the event held last week, see this YouTube clip, or read this article by Fox News.

Chairman Waxman sets Abstinence Education in his Scope

Yesterday, Chairman Waxman held a Committee on Government Oversight and Reform hearing on abstinence education. After expressing years of contempt toward abstinence education, Chairman Waxman had his day, and stacked his witness panel full of witnesses who are unquestionably hostile toward abstinence education.

Among the minority’s panel experts were Senator Brownback and Dr. Stan Weed—both of whom testified in defense of abstinence education and highlighted research that demonstrates that abstinence education actually works. This week, the Heritage Foundation released a study that examined existing research on the effectiveness of abstinence education and confirmed that the overwhelming majority of studies on abstinence education report positive results. The study can be read here.

Thankfully, numerous conservative House members attended the hearing and pressed the majority’s panel to explain their support for "comprehensive sex education." Congressman Mark Souder and Jim Jordan read samples of content included in a CDC approved "comprehensive" sex education curricula, which contained little discussion of the benefits of abstinence, but did contain information actively promoting risky behavior (such as showering together, exploring sexual touching, and purchasing condoms without parental knowledge). One curriculum even listed drug use with clean needles and syringes as a yellow or green light activity.

CongresswomanVirginia Foxx continued to surprise the panelists when she asked whether they would support optional federal funding for abstinence education if abstinence programs were shown to be as beneficial as or more beneficial than "comprehensive" sex education—5 of the 7 panelists answered "no." Clearly, the responses of these "experts" reveal an ideological agenda that is fundamentally opposed to the message of abstinence, regardless of its true effectiveness.

For those who doubt the efforts of abstinence education supporters—American parents continue to overwhelmingly support and prefer abstinence education over so-called "comprehensive" sex education, as shown in a recent Zogby poll. Yet, if Waxman has his way, they will disregard parents’ wishes and replace the message of abstinence and empowerment with the often age-inappropriate and distorted messages of so-called "comprehensive" sex education.

For more coverage of the hearing:

Classroom Clashes: What Should Teens Learn About Sex?

Federal funding of abstinence-only sex education programs debated

Experts say US sex abstinence program doesn't work

Stacked Congressional Panel Blasts Abstinence Education, Urges Cuts

Abstinence education program under scope

House Committee Hears Biased Report on Abstinence Education

Waxman Sham Hearing Distorts Abstinence Education Benefits

“Reasons to Defund Planned Parenthood”--PART IV

According to Cybercast News Service (CNS): Planned Parenthood made $115 million in excess revenue last year—thanks to $337 million from taxpayers—and, is currently lobbying for even more federal funding. Furthermore, Planned Parenthood broke the $1 billion revenue mark for the first time ever for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2007.

Even though Planned Parenthood’s stated goal is to make abortions rare by providing contraceptives, the group performed nearly 25,000 more abortions and gave out nearly 200,000 more "emergency contraception" ("morning-after" pill) kits this year.

Add this to the list of “Reasons to Defund Planned Parenthood”--PART III

Planned Parenthood (PPFA) recently addressed a room full of Capitol Hill staffers at a rally encouraging support for increased federal funding for "comprehensive sex education." As keynote speaker for the affair, actress Kate Walsh—who may believe that playing a Doctor on television qualifies her for doling out medical advice—showed her support for increased federal government support of sex education. As is standard operating procedure for Planned Parenthood, Ms. Walsh lectured the room on the "need" for comprehensive sex education in our schools, using inaccurate Planned Parenthood statistics as "proof."

Ms. Walsh, who serves on Planned Parenthood’s Board of Advisors, was quick to say, "Abstinence is not working. It’s a $1.5 billion program over the last ten years that has, quite frankly, failed." While she and PPFA President Cecile Richards were quick to advertise PPFA’s accomplishments in doling out almost 2.5 million contraceptive kits and performing over a million pap tests this year—they neglected to mention the increase in the number of abortions performed at the hands of PPFA Doctors across the country. This year, the number of abortions performed at PPFA rose from 264,943 to 289,750. Furthermore, while they took the time to question the current administration on their support for "real" sex education, they neglected to note that abstinence-only education receives one-tenth the funding that comprehensive sex education programs receive from the federal government. PPFA’s annual take from the federal government alone rounds out to over $300 million this year. (You can read more about the Capitol Hill event here, and access PPFA’s annual report here.

In light of this, it may be appropriate to hear about PPFA, in their own words:

* Planned Parenthood opposes any "legislation that would elevate the legal status of a fetus, at any stage of development, to that of an adult"

* Planned Parenthood believes pro-lifers are "waging a war on women," and claim, "this is the real face of Bush's compassionate conservatism—a war on women and children across the globe"

* Planned Parenthood actively ignores statutory rape reporting laws and campaigns against efforts to enforce or strengthen them (see previous post)

* Planned Parenthood would willingly accept donations for racist purposes (see previous post)

* Planned Parenthood promotes itself as a "non-partisan" organization, yet promises to turn out millions of votes and dollars to elect pro-abortion candidates to the White House, Congress, and State Governments

* Planned Parenthood reports that it is a "not-for-profit" organization and receives over $336 million in government grants and contracts. In addition, they had an "excess of revenue over expenses" of almost $56 million in 2005 and $112 million in 2006

* Planned Parenthood in Kansas claims to be "a trusted source of health care and education for thousands of women, men and children" yet have been charged with 107 criminal counts including failure to report sexual abuse and falsifying documents in order to perform illegal late term abortions

* Planned Parenthood in California has privately admitted to overcharging the state and federal governments by at least $180 million for birth-control pills, despite internal and external warnings that its billing practices were improper.

Democratic Presidential Nominee Obama on Abortion

At a campaign stop in Pennsylvania earlier this week, Senator Obama answered a question regarding the right to abortion with, “Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby. I don’t want them punished with an STD at age 16 ...”

Obama—equating his future grandchildren with sexually transmitted diseases. Click here to hear Representative Pitts (R-PA) one-minute reponse given on the House floor on April 1, 2008.

To read further about Obama's comments, see this blog entry from the Politico.

Add this to the list of “Reasons to Defund Planned Parenthood”—PART II

A lawsuit, filed in Ohio in March 2005, alleges Planned Parenthood performed an unlawful abortion on a 14-year old girl who, pregnant and scared, turned to Planned Parenthood for guidance—after she was raped by her soccer coach. According to this article, the Planned Parenthood in Ohio is being accused of performing an unlawful abortion on a minor by failing to obtain parental consent, failure to obtain informed consent from the young girl, and failure to report suspected child abuse.

This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that Planned Parenthood is accused of circumventing the law—laws which are designed to protect.

Victory in California

Tuesday, a U.S. District Judge in California ruled in a case where the state of California challenged a national abortion law that protects the right of physicians to refuse to perform abortions based on moral or religious objections (with an exception for life of the mother situations). The Judge ruled that California cannot sue until the federal government actually threatens to withhold funding over an emergency abortion—something that has not yet occurred. In light of this, all eyes will be on the President to see if he will implement regulations to enforce this provision of law before leaving office. See the full article here.

Congressmen Call for Defunding Planned Parenthood

As follow-up to a previous post which highlighted some of Planned Parenthood’s questionable behaviors, there is news today that Planned Parenthood is at it again. Teenwire.com, a website sponsored and run by Planned Parenthood, drew attention from Members of the Republican Study Committee when it was found to be actively promoting the use of pornography for teenagers as a way to circumvent sexual activity (according to Planned Parenthood). Three Republican Study Committee Members, Rep. Lamborn, Rep. King, and Rep. Pitts, are calling for the end of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding, according to this article. Chairman of the House Values Action Team, Rep. Pitts, is quoted in the article saying, "I don't believe taxpayer funding should be going to groups that put sexually explicit material on the Internet targeted at minors."

Add this to the list of “Reasons to Defund Planned Parenthood”

Planned Parenthood has built a laundry list of despicable behavior that can be attributed to them—a list that has been growing steadily ever since their inception over 90 years ago. The list of horrendous activities occurring within the walls of clinics all across America has been growing just as fast as the support that they receive from the U.S. federal government with American tax dollars. To list just a few, Planned Parenthood of America has been charged with the following:

• Doling out inaccurate information on sex and abortion to teenagers
• Covering up child molesters and statutory rape offenders
• Telling women that abortion is “safe” (directly on their website)
• Promotion of irresponsible sexual activity by minors
• Opposition to parental involvement for cases involving minors
• Performing roughly 265,000 abortions per year

And now, we can add to that non-exhaustive list, promotion and propagation of racism and hatred towards African Americans.

A recent “sting operation” exposed Planned Parenthood for who they really are. Reported in this article, an actor, posing as a potential donor, called a clinic in Idaho and asked if she could earmark her donation for a “black baby.” The woman at the clinic (the Director at the time) responded by saying, “Mmmm, absolutely … always, always.” The caller went on to say, “You know, we just think, the less black kids out there, the better,” to which the Director of the Planned Parenthood clinic responded, “Understandable, understandable.” To read the whole conversation and others like it, see this article.

That should not be news to anyone who has paid attention to the atrocities occurring at Planned Parenthoods all over this country. As was stated by Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood founder, blacks, immigrants and poor people are simply “... human weeds,’ ‘reckless breeders,’ ‘spawning ... human beings who never should have been born.” Today, she would be proud of her employees.

Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO) on Stem Cells—Wrong Again

According to Congressional Quarterly, Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO), the House’s leading proponent of embryonic stem cell research, is writing a book slamming GOP positions on stem cells and similar pro-life issues. According to Lyons Press (the publishing company), Rep. DeGette’s new book is a "a blistering indictment of the Republican positions on sex education, birth control, abortion and embryonic stem cell research."

Rep. DeGette has offered legislation in the past to expand embryonic-destructive stem cell research—legislation that has twice been vetoed by the President. Having failed at her past efforts, her new anti-unborn child book will attempt to make an argument for how conservatives have politicized sex and how it is imperative that the federal government increase funding for embryo destructive research. The release of her book will be timed to coincide with the Democratic National Convention—conveniently located in Denver, DeGette’s home district.

Also of note, Rep. DeGette’s book will come out just months after groundbreaking new research finding that adult stem cells can be successfully manipulated into embryonic-like stem cells (referred to as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS)). These iPS cells show enormous potential for near-term clinical benefits in individuals suffering from debilitating diseases, without the ethical dilemmas surrounding their embryonic counterparts.

UNC Professor Suggests Abortion for Down Syndrome Babies

Apparently it's not a disqualifier to be a Biology professor at the University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to be prejudiced against people with disabilities.

According to a recent article, a UNC biology professor, Albert Harris, told his embryology students that babies who have Down syndrome should be aborted. When asked to comment on whether or not he would encourage his wife to abort their disabled child, Mr. Harris responded that though he believes aborting a fetus with Down syndrome is the moral thing to do, “I don’t necessarily do the moral thing.” He then went on to say, “I don’t like to see anything die. I stopped doing herpetology and marine biology because it involved killing animals.” (Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians). When asked to explain when he thinks life begins, Harris said “I say that life doesn’t begin. It continues, and it becomes more complicated, and eventually it becomes something that it’s definitely murder to kill."

Should Mr. Harris be interested in participating in a dialogue on this topic, the following questions could be posed: Do you consider a fetus to be alive, and if so, why do you consider killing something the moral thing to do? Furthermore, who do you suggest on aborting next?

The University has yet to take any action against Mr. Harris.

1.2 Million Still A Big Number

While this report is certainly good news, 1.2 million is still a massive number. In Washington, 1.2 million is usually a dollar figure thrown around by some in debates over government spending, and even then, too often people forget how large that number actually is. Unfortunately, this number represents something much more important than dollars—human lives lost. We can not forget that. Until this number reaches zero, the job of pro-lifers will not be complete.

Count it as a success for mankind that a spokesperson for the Guttmacher Institute admits that abortion restrictions may contribute to the lessening number of abortions. This is a point that tends to raise serious contention among our anti-life counterparts. According to Rachel Jones of the Guttmacher Institute, “It could be more women using contraception and not having as many unintended pregnancies. It could be more restrictions on abortions making it more difficult for women to obtain abortion services. It could be a combination of these and other dynamics.”

New Jersey Bioethics Victory

On Election Day in New Jersey, voters rejected a measure on the ballot which would have provided $450 million in taxpayer funds for embryo destructive stem cell research. According to a LifeNews article from yesterday, “the result is a major defeat for Governor Jon Corzine, who personally campaigned for this Question and contributed $200,000 to a shadow group which ran radio ads and made phone calls featuring Michael J. Fox.”

With more and more research showing that embryonic stem cell research does not provide the cures or therapies for patients the way that adult stem cells do, this vote is a reflection that either the public is catching on, or their consciences are playing a larger role when they step into the voting booths. Either way, this victory in New Jersey sets a new standard for liberal northeastern states to start paying attention to the reality of the science behind stem cells therapies—embryonic stem cells don’t cure.

Prescribe 'the pill' at middle school?

As an 11 year old Middle School student, you still can't get Tylenol in school without a parent's note, but at one Maine Middle School health care center young girls may soon be given "contraceptive pills, patches or injections, as well as the morning-after pill" as forms of birth control, without their parent's notification or approval. According to an article in the Portland Press Herald, "although students must have written parental permission to be treated at Portland's school-based health centers, state law allows them to seek confidential health care and to decide whether to inform their parents about the services they receive." Beyond the fact that none of the aforementioned contraceptive methods have been proved safe for children that young, this should raise serious concerns about our health care system overlooking the rights of parents.

"Legal or Not, Abortion Rates Compare"

The New York Times ran a story that cited a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Guttmacher Institute which concludes that pro-life laws in countries are doing more harm than good for women around the world—an interesting approach to suggest that law don’t matter that much. Hypothetically, the equivalent to the argument made in this article would be to argue that because another country, with weaker murder penalties, has a similar murder rate as the United States, outlawing murder could be considered a failed policy. Perhaps we should overturn murder laws too.

Considering the source—since the Guttmacher Institute is hardly an unbiased research firm when it comes to international abortion statistics, it is reasonable to assume that their abortion and mother mortality figures are inaccurate as many countries do not accurately report their true abortion statistics (the United States being one of them). For instance, according to ex-abortionist Dr. Nathanson, "We [NARAL] aroused enough sympathy to sell our program of permissive abortion by fabricating the number of illegal abortions done annually in the U.S. The actual figure was approaching 100,000 but the figure we gave to the media repeatedly was 1,000,000. Repeating the big lie often enough convinces the public." Additionally, while their statistics from Eastern Europe may encourage some, it is important to remember that under communist control, abortion was the primary form of birth control. For a little more insight into the misrepresentations of such a study, read this article from Life News.

Keep Your Shirts On

Jessica went into school on Tuesday--on the anniversary of the most horrific event to ever occur on U.S. soil--wearing her most favorite t-shirt. Proudly displaying the American flag on the front, she walked into school making it clear that on this day, she was proud to be an American. Unfortunately, Jessica was asked to remove her t-shirt because at her North Carolina high school, there is a new school rule that says that students are "not allowed to wear items with flags, from any country, including the United States". According to the superintendent, he just "didn't want to be forced to pick and choose which flags should be permissible".

Lucky for him, the superintendent realized his misstep and rescinded the ban today. Too bad he was one day too late to avoid the national attention that this story so justly deserved.

To see the original article from Tuesday, September 11th read http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2007-09-11-0027.html To read the follow-up article from Wednesday, September 12th read http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2007-09-12-0013.html

NFL Team Financing the Abortion Business

Noteworthy: The Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation recently awarded a $30,000 donation to Planned Parenthood of Northeast Florida. Check out this article, complete with quotes from the Executive Director of the Foundation being supportive of “prevention programs” – not “abortion programs”. Don't expect the article to tell you why the 12-year-old expansion team finds it appropriate to fund the most notorious abortion provider — providing more than 250,000 abortions each year — in the United States. Surely there are other organizations with superior prevention programs in northeastern Florida which would sincerely appreciate a $30,000 donation from the Foundation.

Maybe the next time grant season rolls around the Jaguars Foundation will choose to support organizations that truly “realize the positive potential of our young people in need” (a key component of the JJF Mission), and then ask themselves if they should really be involved in the business of abortion.