News,

President Bush has signed the new law banning partial birth abortion. It is the first major change in American abortion law since 1973, coming at a time when the abortion rate in the US is falling. President Bush stated: "For years, a terrible form of violence has been directed against children who are inches from birth, while the law looked the other way. Today at last, the American people and our government have confronted the violence, and come to the defence of the innocent child." Abortion advocates have vowed to fight the law in the courts. [RTE News , BBC, 6 November ] The EU Industry Committee has voted in favour of destructive embryo research by supporting an amendment adopted in a plenary session of the parliament in 2001. The EU may now fund research on early human embryos if it is permitted in the member states. [Euro-fam, 4 November ] A Texan construction company has pulled out of a project to build an abortion clinic after the Austin Area Pro-Life Concrete Contractors and Suppliers Association announced a boycott. Every concrete supplier within a 60-mile radius agreed not to supply the project after they received huge numbers of telephone calls from around the country asking them not to involve themselves. [Newsday.com, 5 November ] The morning after pill is to be made available over the counter in Australia from January 2004, following approval by a government committee to change the drug's status. [LifeSite, 5 November ] In an interview on a Catholic website, US pro-life lawmaker Rep. Mark Kennedy discusses the pro-life study group he helped to start on Capitol Hill and life as one of the fundamental principles at the basis of society. [Catholic Spirit, 6 November ]