News,
The Chinese authorities have said that they will increase financial assistance to couples in poor rural areas, but only if they obey the one-child policy. The pilot scheme will grant 600 yuan (£40) per year to couples over sixty who have one child or two if the first was a girl. Pan Guiyu, the minister for family planning, denied suggestions that China would stop punishing couples who break the one-child policy rules. [The Scotsman, 9 June]
A nurse is suing the Eastern Illinois University, claiming that she was denied a promotion because she has a conscientious objection to dispensing the morning after pill. A spokeswoman for the university denies that the decision had anything to do with Andrea Nead's views. [The Guardian, 9 June]
A woman has given birth to a baby girl after a successful ovary transplant from her identical twin, UK Parents reports. Details of the operation, which was performed at St Luke's Hospital, St Louis, are to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine. [UK Parents, 8 June]
The Maltese pro-life group Gift of Life has called upon Malta's Labour Party to support a proposal to enshrine Malta's pro-life law in the Constitution. Alfred Sant, the Labour leader, has said that abortion is not a top priority though his party remains totally against abortion. Paul Vincenti of Gift of Life said: "What clearer message could Malta send to Europe and indeed the world once we have taken all the legal measures available to our politicians to defend life, especially life in its most defenceless form?" [Times of Malta, 7 June]
The US pro-abortion organisation NARAL is launching a campaign to encourage pharmacies to dispense the morning-after pill to mark the 40th anniversary of the legalisation of birth control. NARAL are asking supporters to lobby their local pharmacy to display a sign indicating that they support and dispense the morning-after pill. [Lifenews.com, 7 June]
Scientists at Mount Sinai Hospital have developed Canada's first human embryonic stem cell lines, Medical News Today reports. The two cell lines have been approved by the International Stem Cell Initiative and will be made available to the Canadian scientific community. [Medical News Today, 9 June]
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