News,

New Zealand's Associate Justice Minister has attacked Judith Collins MP for calling for a change in the law that allows underage girls to have abortions without parental knowledge. David Benson-Pope said: "I understand there is a large faction within the National [party] who appreciate the complexity of these issues and who see Ms Collins' agenda as an attack on both vulnerable women and medical ethics." A survey published yesterday found that a majority of people thought that a doctor should be obliged to inform a girl's parents if she sought an abortion. [New Zealand Herald, 30 September ] A study by the UK Health Protection Agency has found that one in five men in their early 20s have Chlamydia, BBC reports. On average, one in eight men and one in 10 women tested positive in the first year of a national screening programme. Teenage girls were 43% more likely to have Chlamydia than women in their early 20s. [BBC, 30 September ] The US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities has praised the Justice Department for defending the partial birth abortion ban. Cathy Cleaver Ruse, a spokeswoman, said: "There is no place in a civilised society for this cruel and inhumane practice." She added: "No matter how the legal questions are finally resolved, these trials will have accomplished something extremely significant: they will have gotten the abortion industry on the record, under oath, admitting the horrifying truth about abortion." [Yahoo News, 29 September ] A study conducted at the University of Florida has found that a combination of adult stem cell therapy and gene therapy could be used to rebuild damaged organs. Mice with damaged livers had liver cells extracted and combined with a human gene before being transplanted back. The cells that expressed the healthy human gene then began to rebuild the liver. [My Way, 28 September ] A US bishop has disclosed that he once placed a Catholic politician under interdict for his outspoken support of abortion. Bishop Rene Henry Gracida of Texas did not name the politician concerned who was barred from receiving Communion but said that he had died whilst still under interdict. He argues that bishops have a duty to rebuke public sinners, including those who undermine the Church's teaching on the sanctity of life. [CWNews, 29 September ] A medical research analyst for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation has resigned over its denial of the link between abortion and breast cancer and its funding of Planned Parenthood. Eve Sanchez Silver, a breast cancer survivor, said that the foundation had given money to Planned Parenthood at the same time that grassroots Komen affiliates struggled to stay afloat. Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, praised Ms Sanchez Silver's courage. [Lifenews.com, 29 September ] The UK-based Linacre Centre has released an in-depth analysis of the US Catholic Bishops' advice on giving the morning after pill to rape victims in its document Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. The analysis looks at the arguments for pregnancy-only testing and ovulation testing, exposing the flaws in the pregnancy-only testing argument and the bishops' understanding of the abortifacient mechanisms of the morning after pill. [The Linacre Centre ] A woman whose unborn baby died after she was accidentally hit in the stomach on a crowded commuter train has appealed for people to give up their seats to pregnant women. Janice Norman was 25-weeks pregnant when the incident occurred, causing a trauma injury to the placenta and the subsequent death of her baby girl Eliza. Ms Norman's campaign has been backed by Tom Brake MP for Carshalton, who said: "This case highlights in a tragic way the need for a considerate commuters campaign. If people had given up their seats straight away this would never have happened." [The Sutton Guardian, 30 September ]