Fetuses may get status of 'unborn child'

[Maitreya 0]

This legislation is the proper use of intelligence.

 

The assorted groups like Planned Infanticide, Clip Haired Dykes for the Elimination of Males,Babies Are a Burden,My Womb,My Tomb and others are looking pretty worried.

 

I like that.

 

Pro-life sounds good to me.

[Guest guest]

 

WASHINGTON -

 

The Bush administration is poised to classify a developing fetus as an "unborn child" eligible for government health care, giving low-income women access to prenatal care while bolstering the administration's anit-abortion credentials.

 

 

Abortion rights advocates call it a backdoor attempt to undermine Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that guaranteed the right to legal abortion.

 

 

The plan, now under review, would make the fetus eligible for services under the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

 

 

Specifically, states could consider a fetus "a targeted low-income child" and therefore pay for prenatal care and child birth expenses, according to a draft letter now being reviewed by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.

 

 

"It is well established that access to prenatal care can improve health outcomes over a child's life," says the letter to state health officials from Dennis Smith, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations at HHS.

 

 

Abortion rights advocates countered that it's not the fetus that is served by prenatal care but the mother.

 

 

"This is the most cynical of politics, and once again, the administration trying desperately to satisfy the demands of the far right wing," said Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.

 

 

She added that the policy seems to be an attempt to set a precedent establishing the fetus as a person under law, "leading to the criminalization of all abortions."

 

 

She and others said they, too, want to provide more prenatal care, and encouraged the Bush administration to support legislation expanding the children's health program to pregnant women. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said she would reintroduce legislation doing just that next week.

 

 

Meanwhile, the National Governors Association warned HHS that while some states will embrace the new option and some will immediately reject it, other states will face divisive battles over whether to go along.

 

 

The HHS letter notes that the new policy would not take effect until after it was published in the federal register, giving interested parties the opportunity to comment andassuring a vigorous debate over the matter. At the same time, Planned Parenthood said it was investigating its legal options, hoping to file suit stopping the regulation.

 

 

"This is a long way from a done deal," said the group's president Gloria Feldt.

 

 

A leader of abortion opponents dimissed the notion that the administration move would have much impact, saying federal law already recognizes rights of unborn fetuses.

 

 

"I certianly don't think it's going to have any sweeping impact in other areas of the law," said Douglas Johnso, legislative director for Nation Right to Life.

 

 

HHS spokesman Bill Pierce said the goal is to expand access to prenatal care and give states more flexibility in running their programs, not to promote an anti-abortion agenda.

 

 

"States don't have to do this," he said.

 

 

The review comes as the administration contemplates another high-profile issue important to abortion opponents: whether to allow federal funding for research using stem cells that come from embryos. Abortion opponents are lobbying President Bush to ban this funding, while Tompson privately lobbies for it.

 

 

Pierce said the two issues were unrelated, but he did not deny that allowing "unborn children" into the health program could be a boon to those who belive that a fetus is a person with rights.

 

 

[Maitreya 0]

The Dark side of science.

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Wednesday, July 11, 2001

 

Va. Lab Harvests Human Stem Cells

 

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - Virginia scientists have become the

first researchers to create human embryos in the lab for the

sole purpose of harvesting their stem cells.

 

Until now, scientists had derived stem cells only from excess

embryos donated from infertility treatments. In this case, the

scientists approached donors and informed them that their

eggs and sperm would be used to develop embryos for

stem-cell research.

 

The work, conducted by researchers at the Jones Institute for

Reproductive Medicine in Norfolk, drew criticism from

religious conservatives opposed to embryo research.

 

``I think this is a cautionary tale against starting down the

slope,'' Richard Doerflinger of the National Conference of

Catholic Bishops told The Washington Post in Wednesday's

edition.

 

``It's still killing a human being,'' Mary Petchel, president of the

Tidewater chapter of the Virginia Society for Human Life, told

The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Va.

 

Scientists who conducted the work said several review panels

had assessed the ethical implications and concluded that the

approach was at least as ethical as using spare frozen

embryos.

 

The group extracted eggs from 12 women, who signed

consent documents and were paid $1,500 to $2,000 each,

according to William Gibbons, a reproductive endocrinologist

who was not involved in the work.

 

Of the 162 eggs collected and inseminated by donor sperm,

50 embryos were successfully created. The researchers

destroyed 40 of those to get the stem cells that resided inside.

The work was done with private funds.

 

The results appear in the July issue of the journal Fertility and

Sterility, published Wednesday. The study began in 1997 and

concluded last July.

 

Interest in embryonic stem cells centers around their ability to

generate other tissues of the body. Doctors hope using stem

cells could possibly cure diseases as Alzheimer's, diabetes,

cancer, Parkinson's, and spinal cord injuries.

 

President Bush has said he will soon decide whether to allow

taxpayer dollars to be used for research on embryonic stem

cells. He is under pressure from patient groups that favor the

research and opponents who feel the work is inherently

unethical.