*News relative to protecting the family worldwide*
Volume 8 Issue 203 – November 21, 2008
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Quote of the Day: "Marriage is
not a ritual or an end. It is a long, intricate, intimate dance together and
nothing matters more than your own sense of balance and your choice of partner."
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Professor
Richard G. Wilkins, Managing Director of the World Family Policy Center, would
like to announce the recent decision by the Brigham Young University to close
the Center. Professor Wilkins and Acting
Managing Director Dr. A. Scott Loveless express their profound thanks to
everyone who offered service to the World Family Policy Center. Brief statements from Professor Wilkins and
Dr. Loveless will be included in the final edition of the Center's newsletter,
which will be sent in late November or early December of this year.
Today’s Contents:
A. Featured Study: National Birth
Defects Prevention
B. Featured News Articles
1. Gays Act Like Marriage is a 'Right'
2. Obama to Delay Repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
3. Fertility Clinic Will Only Treat Married Couples
4. Uyghur Woman Released, Without Forced
Abortion
5. Physician-Assisted Suicide Law Goes into Effect
in March
6. Transplant of Windpipe Grown from Stem Cells
Heralds New Era in Medicine
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FEATURED STUDY
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Press Release (November 17,
2008)
National Birth Defects
Prevention Study Shows Assisted Reproductive Technology is Associated with an
Increased Risk of Certain Birth Defects
Infants conceived with Assisted Reproductive Technology
(ART) are two to four times more likely to have certain types of birth defects
than children conceived naturally, according to a study by the CDC. The report, “Assisted Reproductive Technology
and Major Structural Birth Defects, United States,” was released in the journal
Human
Reproduction.
“Today, more than 1 percent of
infants are conceived through ART and this number may continue to increase,”
says Jennita Reefhuis, Ph.D., epidemiologist at CDC′s National Center on Birth Defects and
Developmental Disabilities. “While the risk is low, it is still
important for parents who are considering using ART to think about all of the
potential risks and benefits of this technology.”
The study shows that among
pregnancies resulting in a single birth, ART (which includes all fertility
treatments in which both eggs and sperm are handled, such as in vitro
fertilization) was associated with twice the risk of some types of heart
defects, more than twice the risk of cleft lip with or without cleft palate and
over four times the risk of certain gastrointestinal defects compared with
babies conceived without fertility treatments. Despite these findings, the
absolute risk of any individual birth defect remains low. In the United States,
cleft lip with or without palate affects approximately 1 in every 950 births;
doubling the risk among infants conceived by ART would result in approximately
1 in every 425 infants being affected by cleft lip with or without palate.
The study examined multiple
births separately from single births because ART increases the chance of a
multiple birth. Children born as part of a multiple birth are more likely to
have a birth defect regardless of use of ART. The study showed use of ART did
not significantly increase the risk of birth defects among multiple births.
However, ART might contribute
to the risk of major birth defects by directly increasing the risk of defects
among single births. It may also have an indirect impact because ART increases
the likelihood of having twins, which is a risk factor for many types of birth
defects. Researchers believe this suggests the need for further studies to
determine risk for ART in pregnancies with multiple births.
The study examined data from
281 births conceived with ART and 14,095 conceived without infertility
treatments. The National
Birth Defects Prevention Study is a population-based study that
currently incorporates data from birth defects research centers in Arkansas,
California, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina,
Texas and Utah. These ten centers have been working on the largest study of
birth defects causes ever undertaken in the United States. Information is
gathered from more than 30,000 participants to look at key questions on
potential causes of birth defects. While the causes of most birth defects are
unknown, studies show that smoking, alcohol, and obesity increase a mother's
risk of having a child with a birth defect.
Since 1981, ART has been used
in the United States to help women become pregnant. It is defined as any
procedure that involves surgically removing eggs from a woman’s ovaries,
combining them with sperm in the laboratory, and returning them to the woman’s
body or donating them to another woman. ART does not include treatments in
which only sperm are handled (i.e., intrauterine—or artificial—insemination) or
procedures in which a woman takes medicine only to stimulate egg production
without the intention of having eggs retrieved.
The number of infants born
after ART doubled in the United States from 1996 through 2004. According to
data from the 2002 National
Survey of Family Growth, almost 12 percent of U.S. women aged 15-44
years have reported using infertility services. In 2005, more than 134,000 ART
procedures were performed and approximately 52,000 infants were born as a
result of these procedures.
To learn more about the study,
visit http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2008/r081117.htm
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FEATURED NEWS
ARTICLES
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Editor’s Note: The following excerpts are
taken from the week’s news around the world all relating to family and family
policy. By clicking on the following links, you may read the entire
article from its source. Our intent is to help our readers remain current
on the state of the family in the world today. The positions taken and
choice of wording and advocacy belong to the authors of the articles; inclusion
here does not imply endorsement by the
1. Gays Act Like
Marriage is a 'Right'
News-Record
November 20, 2008
Among the many new "rights" being
conjured out of thin air, a new one seems to be a "right" to win.
Americans have long had the right to put their
candidates and their ideas to a vote. Now there seems to be a sense that your
rights have been trampled on if you don't win.
Hillary Clinton's supporters were not merely
disappointed, but outraged, when she lost the Democrats' nomination to Barack
Obama. Some took it as a sign that, while racial barriers had come down, the
"glass ceiling" holding down women was still in place.
Apparently, if you don't win, somebody has put up
a barrier or a ceiling. The more obvious explanation of the nomination outcome
was that Obama ran a better campaign than Hillary. There is no reason to doubt
that she would have been the nominee if the votes in the primaries had come out
her way.
As the election approached, pundits warned that,
if Obama lost, there would be riots in the ghetto. We will never know. But
since when does any candidate have a right to win any office, much less the
White House?
The worst of all the reactions from people who act
as if they have a right to win have come from gay activists in the wake of
voter rejection of so-called "gay marriage," which is to say,
redefining what marriage has meant for centuries.
Blacks and Mormons have been the main targets of
the gay activists' anger. Seventy percent of blacks voted against gay marriage
in California, so racial epithets were hurled at blacks in Los Angeles -- not
in black neighborhoods, by the way.
To
view the entire article, visit http://www.news-record.com/content/2008/11/19/article/thomas_sowell_gays_act_like_marriage_is_a_right
Related Article
Newt Gingrich Warns
of ‘Gay Fascism’
Newsmax
November 18, 2008
Former
Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich warns that a “gay and secular fascism” in
the U.S. is prepared to use violence to impose its will on the rest of the
country.
Appearing
on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” on Nov. 14, Gingrich and host Bill O’Reilly
discussed the recently passed California ballot initiative, Proposition 8,
amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
O’Reilly
cited the protests by gay activists that broke out after the vote and troubling
incidents associated with them, including a woman who had a cross knocked out
of her hand and a Michigan church invaded by gay activists.
Gingrich
responded: “I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that
wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use
harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control
of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in
traditional religion. And I think if you believe in historic Christianity, you
have to confront the fact.”
To
view the entire article, visit http://www.newsmax.com/politics/Gingrich_Gay_Fascism/2008/11/18/152539.html
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2. Obama to Delay Repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't
Tell'
Washington Times
November 21, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama will not move for
months, and perhaps not until 2010, to ask Congress to end the military's
decades-old ban on open homosexuals in the ranks, two people who have advised
the Obama transition team on this issue say.
Repealing the ban was an Obama campaign promise.
However, Mr. Obama first wants to confer with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his
new political appointees at the Pentagon to reach a consensus and then present
legislation to Congress, the advisers said.
"I think 2009 is about foundation building
and reaching consensus," said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. The group supports military personnel
targeted under the ban.
Mr. Sarvis told The Washington Times that he has
held "informal discussions" with the Obama transition team on how the
new president should proceed on the potentially explosive issue.
Lawrence Korb, an analyst at the Center for
American Progress and an adviser to the Obama campaign, said the new
administration should set up a Pentagon committee to make recommendations to
Congress on a host of manpower issues, including the gay ban.
"If it's part of a larger package, it has a
better chance of getting passed," he said.
To view the entire article, visit http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/21/obama-to-delay-repeal-of-dont-ask-dont-tell/
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3. Fertility Clinic Will Only Treat Married
Couples
Independent (Ireland)
November 16, 2008
A fertility clinic in Galway
is refusing to treat unmarried couples who are experiencing difficulties
starting a family.
The decision to restrict
fertility services to married couples has been described as "very
odd" by Fine Gael's health spokesman Dr James Reilly.
Fertility Care, which is based
at the Galway Clinic, is linked to an international group operating across Europe
-- but the other clinics do not confine their services to married couples.
According to its website,
Fertility Care is a "holistic medical system that empowers women and couples
to make healthy choices regarding their fertility".
Last Friday, a caller was told
that the clinic's services are only open to married couples as the clinic
sought to recognise the legal commitment made by them.
Currently, there are three
doctors working at the Galway clinic headed up by Dr Phil Boyle.
He qualified from the National University of Ireland
in 1992 with a degree in medicine and surgery, and is registered with the
Medical Council.
Defending his stance, Dr Boyle
told the Sunday Independent: "The idea is to promote and recognise the
legal commitment made by couples who are in for the long haul. Married couples
are more likely to stay together and kids do better when then their parents are
married."
Dr Boyle said that the needs
of children were paramount and they are best served by having married parents
and the promotion of the traditional family unit.
To view the entire article, visit http://www.independent.ie/national-news/fertility-clinic-will-only-treat-married-couples-1541413.html
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4. Uyghur Woman
Released, Without Forced Abortion
China Digital Times
November 18, 2008
An ethnic Uyghur
woman in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region who was scheduled to undergo a
second-term abortion against her will—and whose case drew international
attention—has been released to her family and allowed to continue her
pregnancy, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.
“I am all right and I
am at home now,” Arzigul Tursun told RFA’s Uyghur service, shortly after she
was released from the Women and Children’s Welfare Hospital in Ili prefecture.
“I brought her home,”
the local population-control committee chief, Rashide, said. “She wasn’t in
good enough health to have an abortion.”
Tursun’s case
prompted calls to the Chinese authorities from two members of the U.S. Congress
and from the U.S. ambassador in Beijing for a planned abortion of her pregnancy
to be scrapped.
To view the entire
article, visit http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/11/uyghur-woman-found-facing-abortion/
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5. Physician-Assisted
Suicide Law Goes into Effect in March
Herald Net
November 10, 2008
With Washington
voters last week approving physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill
patients, doctors, pharmacists and other health-care workers are scrambling to
figure out how the controversial law will change the way they do business.
Initiative 1000, known as the Death with Dignity Act, will go into effect as
law in March -- four months after voters approved it.
The people behind the initiative said they wanted to leave plenty of time for
everyone to understand exactly what it means.
Patients with six months or less to live can now ask their doctors for a
prescription for lethal medicine they would self-administer to end their own
lives. Doctors opposed to the practice aren't required to write such a
prescription, and pharmacists opposed to the practice aren't required to fill
it.
Private hospitals, such as Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, a Roman
Catholic institution, aren't required to allow patients to take lethal drugs.
"Anybody can opt out," said Eli Stutsman, an Oregon lawyer who wrote
the text of both the Oregon and Washington physician-assisted suicide laws.
"Entire health-care institutions can opt out. We disagree with our
opponents, but we respect their right to opt out."
Voters approved the initiative by 59 percent -- a majority some say constitutes
a landslide. The vote came 17 years after the state first considered
physician-assisted suicide. The initiative failed then. Advocates say Washington
voters likely felt more comfortable with the initiative this year because
Oregon has shown that the worst-case scenario situations some opponents warned
against aren't likely to occur. Oregon voters approved their Death with Dignity
Act in 1994.
To view the entire
article, visit
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20081110/NEWS01/711109862
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6. Transplant of Windpipe Grown from Stem Cells Heralds
New Era in Medicine
Telegraph (United Kingdom)
November 20, 2008
The
science of healing is developing so quickly that it has become almost a cliché
to describe a particular operation as a "breakthrough". Yet there is
no doubt that the first successful transplant of a human windpipe, constructed
partly from stem cells, is an astonishing milestone – one that could indeed
mark the start of a new era in medicine.
At
long last, the glint in a researcher's eye has been turned into a significant
advance in the clinic. Forget all the fuss about embryos and angst about
playing God: this is unadulterated good news. We have proved that scientists
can now fashion organs using a patient's own cells, eliminating the problems
with rejection that have always plagued transplants. Today it is a trachea –
tomorrow it could be a colon, even a heart.
The
venture was a textbook example of international collaboration, drawing on the
talents of teams in Spain, Italy and Britain. To recap; the operation, on
30-year-old tuberculosis patient Claudia Castillo, took place in Barcelona,
where doctors also had collected a three-inch segment of trachea from a
51-year-old donor who had died of a cerebral hemorrhage. They used a technique
developed in Padua to strip the windpipe of its donor's original cells, a
procedure that took six weeks, to create a "scaffold". At the same
time, a team in Bristol used a "bioreactor" dreamt up in Milan to
grow stem cells removed from Castillo's bone marrow. These cells were
"seeded" into the donated windpipe, disguising the 'foreign' tissue
that remained so Castillo's body would accept it as her own.
There
is a desperate need for this kind of advance. In Britain, about 8,000 people
are on the waiting list for an organ transplant. Around 3,200 such operations
are carried out every year – but roughly 1,000 of those on the list will die
before they get a transplant. And that is only the start of the problem: after
a transplant, there is a high risk of rejection as the recipient's immune
system reacts against the donor organ. Immunosuppressant drugs are used to
limit this but their side-effects include high blood pressure, diabetes and
kidney failure, vulnerability to infections, osteoporosis, and cancer. In all,
the drugs cut life expectancy by an average of 10 years.
To
view the entire article, visit http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/3486000/Transplant-of-windpipe-grown-from-stem-cells-heralds-new-era-in-medicine.html
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Note: The Featured Articles
excerpts are highlights of current events and
do not necessarily represent
the views of the
or
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Newsletter created and
distributed by:
J.
Acting Managing Director: A.
Scott Loveless
Newsletter Editor: Elena Starovoitova
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