A referendum that sought to overturn Italy's fertility laws has failed after fewer than 30% of the electorate voted.
The Catholic bishops had urged voters to boycott the referendum, which needed a 50% turnout to be valid. Maria Procaccini, a legislator, commented: "The Italian people who know how to defend life have won."
[The Telegraph, 14 June ] An anti-cancer drug could be used to prevent miscarriage and premature birth, according to research published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. Dr Nick Europe-Finner of Newcastle University said: "Our laboratory tests show that the drug TSA is able to fool uterine muscle cells and suggest it could be a potential new therapeutic agent in preventing premature birth from occurring."
[The Telegraph, 14 June ] An Australian senator has attacked pro-life counselling services, accusing them of misleading women into believing that they are impartial.
Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja is to introduce a private member's bill to compel pregnancy counselling services to state their stance on abortion in all their advertising.
[The Australian, 14 June ] The UK's Family Planning Association has released a new sex guide for underage teenagers which includes details on how to perform different sexual acts and answers questions such as 'how can I be good at sex?' It also contains information on how to obtain abortifacient birth control without parental knowledge.
Norman Wells of Family and Youth Concern stated: "Rather than persisting with the same old, tired, fatalistic approach that has failed so dismally, we need to start treating young people with more respect and give them a positive and much more radical message."
[CWNews, 13 June ] A Kansas abortionist has had his licence to practice permanently revoked due to serious and repeated health and safety infringements.
Inspectors made two surprise visits to Krishna Rajanna's facility where they reported poor hygiene and sterilisation techniques, the storage of aborted babies in refrigerators that were also used to store food, careless treatment of women during and after abortions and few background checks into the qualifications of medical staff.
[Lifenews.com, 12 June ] A group that provides information on the link between abortion and breast cancer was forced out of an international conference in the US last week, LifeSiteNews.com reports.
Positive Options for Women was well received by attendees but they were attacked by a member of the Breast Cancer Foundation who accused them of trying to frighten women. Organisers told them to leave on grounds of being culturally insensitive, claiming that the word 'abortion' might offend Muslim women.
[LifeSiteNews.com, 13 June ] The Catholic Medical Centre in South Korea has used adult stem cells to treat cerebral infarction and vascular diseases successfully.
The Neuroscience Genome Research Centre, Chonbuk University and the Catholic University of Korea participated in the clinical research, which they hope could be used as an ethical and effective alternative to human cloning. [Asia News, 11 June ]