California’s stem cell agency ponders future without taxpayer support

At a crossroads, California’s stem cell agency ponders a future without taxpayer support - The Washington Post: California’s stem cell agency wielded the extraordinary power to dole out $3 billion in bond proceeds to fund embryonic stem cell work with an eye toward treatments for a host of crippling diseases. Midway through its mission, with several high-tech labs constructed, but little to show on the medicine front beyond basic research, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine faces an uncertain future.

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Pro-Life Nurse Ordered to Assist in Abortion

Pro-Life Nurse Ordered to Assist in Abortion (Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services Refuses to Respond): Mount Sinai Hospital in New York ordered Cathy DeCarlo to assist in an abortion for a patient 22 weeks into her pregnancy. A pro-life nurse, DeCarlo had informed the hospital in 2004 that she was unwilling to assist in abortions. And both federal and state law allows health care providers, including nurses, to refuse to assist in abortions.

DeCarlo pleaded with the hospital, which still had six hours to find a replacement nurse. Instead, DeCarlo says the hospital forbade her from seeking a replacement and falsely claimed that the mother could die if DeCarlo failed to follow orders.

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Breaking: Obama admin widens abortifacient birth control mandate to college students

Breaking: Obama admin widens abortifacient birth control mandate to college students | LifeSiteNews.com: In a move that is likely to reignite the ire of religious leaders, late Friday afternoon the Obama administration announced a proposal that would require universities, including religious universities, to provide contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs to their students, as well as their employees, without a co-pay. This appears to significantly widen the originally-announced HHS mandate, which had only applied to employees.

Related:
Obama's abortion funding plan
U.S. Clarifies Policy on Birth Control for Religious Groups
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‘At eight months, my doctor said he would ‘absolutely’ abort my disabled son’

‘At eight months, my doctor said he would ‘absolutely’ abort my disabled son’ | LifeSiteNews.com: While they watched their eight-month-old son move his arms and head; while they saw his little heart beat quickly, the specialist diagnosed spina bifida and hydrocephalus, and put it all out there:

He said it was the biggest lesion he had ever seen; that our son would probably never go to the bathroom on his own. He’d never walk, never talk. He said this based on a 30 second ultrasound. He said, ‘I will absolutely perform the abortion for you.’ I could see Titus’ arms and head moving and his heart beating at the time the doctor said this. He was emphatic that Titus would be basically a vegetable and mentally retarded.  And that it would be unfair to him for me to give birth.

At that moment, Nicole and Steven realized that their role in Titus’ life would be so much more than “parent.”  Their role was now “advocate,” too.

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Parents shouldn't have to sue over 'wrongful birth' of child with Down syndrome

Vitals - Bioethicist: Parents shouldn't have to sue over 'wrongful birth' of child with Down syndrome: Wrongful birth lawsuits are a horrible way to deal with failed prenatal testing. Forcing parents to argue that their child never should have been born may make legal sense but it is morally absurd. Why ask parents to reject the existence of their own child? Who can really put a value on a life that some argue in court ought not exist?

There is no reason to permit wrongful birth or wrongful life cases. When a mistake is alleged about genetic testing there ought to be some sort of no-fault insurance scheme under the supervision of neutral mediators, not a courtroom slugfest that demeans the value of a life with disability and reeks of eugenics.

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Aussie fertility clinic asks homosexual men to help out

Fertility clinic asks homosexual men to help out | Herald Sun: Victoria's leading fertility specialists are turning to gay men in a bold bid to help single and lesbian women start a family.

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Gay sperm donor wins right to help bring up child conceived with lesbian ex-wife

BioNews - Gay sperm donor wins right to help bring up child conceived with lesbian ex-wife: The Court of Appeal in London has ruled unanimously that a gay man who fathered a child for a lesbian couple is not a secondary parent, allowing him greater access to his two-year-old son. As the judge who granted permission to appeal wrote, the case raises 'important issues relating to the courts' approach to children born into "alternative families" and the relationship of such children with their fathers.'

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HHS announces comment period on mandate accommodation

CNA: After repeatedly stating that it will not back down on its controversial contraception mandate, the Obama administration has announced a 90-day comment period on possible ways to implement its Feb. 10 accommodation.

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that the administration is taking the “next step” in respecting religious freedom while ensuring that women receive free contraception. The notice made it clear however, that this exemption will not be changed. Rather, it said, the current discussion will involve a second group, consisting of non-profit religious organizations that do not qualify for the exemption but still object to the mandated coverage.

Why black America votes Democratic

Walter Hoye: Ever wonder why Black America votes Democratic? Ever wonder why Black America votes for the party founded by the Ku Klux Klan? Every wonder why Black America votes for a party that authored "Black Codes" (i.e., "Jim Crow" legislation) making it illegal for Black Americans to hold office, own property, travel without permission, serve on juries, marry interracially, vote and own weapons? Ever wonder why Black America votes for a party that vigorously opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

Message to youth pastors

Learn more @ BeMyVote

The Divorce Revolution Perpetually Reduces U.S. Economic Growth

Divorce Removes a Fourth of Head-of-Household Productivity Growth

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FDA permits use of fetal brain tissue in lab experiments

FDA permits use of fetal brain tissue in lab experiments | LifeSiteNews.com: The Food and Drug Administration has approved experiments using brain tissue from aborted unborn babies to treat macular degeneration.  StemCells Inc. will inject fetal brain stem cells into the eyes of up to 16 patients to study the cells’ effect on vision. In its press release announcing the clinical trial, StemCells Inc. was careful to refer to the fetal brain material as “purified human neural stem cell product” or HuCNS-SC cells, rather than “fresh human fetal brain tissue,” a description which can be found elsewhere on its website.

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Four Things Christian Libertarians Believe

Four Things Christian Libertarians Believe | Values & Capitalism: "Christian libertarians have not only developed a consistent philosophy in which libertarianism and Christianity are fully compatible, but have a developed a philosophy in which their libertarianism is dependent upon their Christianity."

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Should Christians Be Wary of Conscience Talk?

First Things: Does freedom of conscience lead to a naked public square? When religious people try to protect their own rights of conscience, does this undermine their ability to advance their convictions publicly? In responding to the recent HHS mandate for religious employers to provide contraception and abortifacients, religious groups and individuals have argued that their rights of conscience trump any potential desire of their employees for these medications. Their private religious convictions about contraception and abortion prevent them from taking these actions, and under the First Amendment they cannot be coerced to violate those convictions.

However, these religious people are not trying to be only privately religious. They have convictions about abortion and contraception—and immigration, economic justice, and war, for that matter—that they want to argue in public and legislate. And they ground these convictions not only in their own religious teachings, but in the natural law and public reason. They seek to live their religion privately and to advance and act on its claims publicly. But, in the HHS case, if they frame the debate not about the rightness or wrongness of abortion and contraception, but of private religious convictions, doesn’t that knock the public foundation out from under those claims? Doesn’t it make religious teaching about abortion and contraception—or, in another case, any other issue of public import—just a matter of private religious conviction, like dietary laws or smoking peyote?

Millennials aren't amoral, adrift

Millennials aren't amoral, adrift | Statesman Journal | statesmanjournal.com: There's a "dark side" to young adults' moral lives, laments the subtitle of a new book. But before we succumb to resignation or rage, it's good to realize there's a bright side, too. Data and innumerable examples show that today's young adults are a generation marked by impressive social commitment and dedication to using their lives and careers for the greater good.

Related: The Evangelistic Question That Died -- Fewer people thinking about whether they will go to heaven after death

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Chris Smith slams “mass deception” in Obama abortion funding plan

Chris Smith slams “mass deception” in Obama abortion funding plan | LifeSiteNews.com: This week’s Obama abortion funding rule confirms that publicly funded insurance plans will include abortion on demand. Using an accounting gimmick, the premium payers will pay the President’s abortion surcharge of at least one dollar per month. This separate charge will go directly into an abortion fund.

“The mass deception of the Obama 2010 Executive Order has finally been exposed,” said Smith, Co-chair of the Congressional Pro-life Caucus. “The Executive Order implemented the same accounting gimmick, abortion surcharge and secrecy clause that was in the original text of the bill. We knew it at the time, and the final exchange rule confirms once again that the President was suggesting one thing while doing precisely the opposite."

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Writer: "I love abortion"

Jessica DelBalzo writes for a pro-choice blog:

I love abortion. I don't accept it. I don't view it as a necessary evil. I embrace it. . . . And I bristle every time a fellow activist uses a trendy catch-phrase or rallying cry meant to placate pro-lifers. The first of these, “Make abortion safe, legal, and rare!” has been used for decades as a call for abortion rights.

Safe and legal are concepts I fully support, but rare is something I cannot abide. I understand the theoretical mindset: it is better for a woman to prevent an unwanted pregnancy than to bear the physical and financial burden of an abortion. While my own abortion involved very little pain and a minimal financial expense . . . even I can admit that using condoms or the pill is preferable to eight weeks of nausea and weight gain. Contraception is a valuable tool.

However, there is no need to suggest that abortion be rare. To say so implies a value judgement, promoting the idea that abortion is somehow distasteful or immoral and should be avoided [emphasis added]. . . . Nevertheless, . . . we must remember that extenuating circumstances like health, contraceptive failure, and rape mean that abortion will always be a normal, necessary, and reasonable choice for many women. As such, we must avoid stigmatizing it in any way. No woman benefits from even the vaguest insinuation that abortion is an immoral or objectionable option. . . . Terminating a pregnancy is not an unethical act, yet suggesting that abortion should be rare implies that there is something undesirable about having one.

Similarly, I've heard reproductive rights activists claim that “no one likes abortion,” in an attempt to find common ground with anti-choicers. While it may be true that no one likes the physical act of having an abortion (any more than she may like her yearly mammogram, life-saving chemotherapy, or temporarily uncomfortable dental surgery), a great many women like abortion itself. They like knowing that an unwanted pregnancy does not have to yield an unwanted child. They like knowing that their mental and physical health take precedence over an embryo. They like knowing that they own their bodies. . . .

Suggesting that abortion be “safe, legal, and rare,” and crowing that “no one likes abortion,” accomplishes nothing for women's rights. . . . What good is common ground if it must be achieved at the expense of women who have had or will have abortions? . . . [W]omen who value their freedom should be proud to say that they like abortion. In fact, they should venerate it whole-heartedly. Abortion is our last refuge, the one final, definitive instrument that secures our bodily autonomy. What's not to love?

Christian minister accused of ‘crime against humanity’ for homosexuality stance

Christian minister accused of ‘crime against humanity’ for homosexuality stance | LifeSiteNews.com: If Rev. Lively were a Russian citizen living in St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia, he would be safe. Recently, St. Petersburg passed a pro-family law banning homosexual propaganda. But Lively is an American citizen, living in a society where Christian and anti-homosexualist messages are increasingly under ban.

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Solution to climate change: hacking humanity

Bioethicist's solution to climate change: hacking humanity (Wired UK): New York University bioethics professor S. Matthew Liao has published a paper in Ethics, Policy and the Environment arguing that one way to tackle the challenges of a rise in energy use is to modify humanity to simply use less energy. He suggests a range of ways to achieve this, from creating an aversion to meat by giving diners a mild intolerance to it, to using gene therapy to create smaller children.

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‘Husband’ and ‘wife’ terms axed if marriage is redefined

‘Husband’ and ‘wife’ terms axed if marriage is redefined | News | The Christian Institute: An official UK government paper has revealed that plans to redefine marriage would result in the terms “husband” and “wife” being removed from official forms. Important paperwork, including tax documents, would have to be rewritten to avoid assuming that a married couple means a man and a woman.

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Answers for Pastors and Other Christian Leaders

Answers for Pastors | Answers Outreach: Our world is searching for answers: Why are we here? Why am I suffering? Does God exist? Does He care about me? As Christian leaders, we need to be ready to give answers for the hope that is within us—answers that are founded on the Word of God. This is one conference for all pastors, Christian leaders, and ministry heads to equip and strengthen you in your effort to provide answers to the world around you.

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Female Genocide in India and the 50 Million Missing Campaign

Annual Rates of Female Homicide in India 

• Female foeticide approximately 1 million
• Female infanticide approximately 25000 in the State of Kerala alone
• Dowry-related murders approximately 25000
• Preadolescent mortality 1 in 6 dies before 15 yrs - Mortality rate 40% higher for girls under 5 than boys the same age (UNICEF)
• Maternal mortality rate - 136,000 (1 woman dies every 5 minutes due to pregnancy-related causes, WHO)

The number one means of elimination is female foetal abortions. An estimated 1 million female foetuses are selectively eliminated in India each year, and that number is expected to rise to 2.5 million within the next few years. Method number two is female infanticide, a practice that has a long history in India. Rita Banerji

Editor: The WHO maternal mortality rate has been disputed.

Arizona Bill Promotes Teaching Adoption Over Abortion

Arizona Public Media | AZPM Home | Bill Promotes Teaching Adoption Over Abortion: SB 1009 would require schools to talk about adoption as the preferred alternative to abortion when the issue comes up in the sexual education curriculum.

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Lawsuit Allowed For Death of Unborn Child

Lawsuit Allowed For Death of Unborn Child » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: The other day, we discussed the Portland case in which parents successfully sued doctors for wrongful birth, e.g., negligently performing prenatal tests so the parents didn’t abort their daughter child with Down syndrome. Now in Alabama, doctors can be sued for negligently causing the death of an unborn child.

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What Are You Waiting For? by Dannah Gresh

Pure Freedom | What Are You Waing For? by Dannah Gresh: In What Are You Waiting For? Dannah follows the trail of one provocative, ancient word through the Bible to discover God’s deepest thoughts about sex. The mind-blowing truth she uncovers clearly points the way to a sexuality that’s satisfying and real and everything God designed it to be.

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