"I told the doctor, 'I don't understand why we have this huge political mess going on about stem cells,'" Carron Morrow says. "I'm living proof that adult stem cells work far better than embryonic. And why should embryonic even be in discussion?

"I'm here to say, 'I'm living proof. It saved my life.'

"I'm just doing great."

As she replaced former President Abdul Kalam, DailyIndia.com reports,72 year old Pratibha Patil announced, "Empowerment of women is particularly important to me as I believe this leads to the empowerment of the nation."

She continued, "We must banish malnutrition, social evils, infant mortality and female foeticide."

Amnesty International frequently claims to take "no position as to when life begins." But what reason can they give for taking no position on a question settled long ago by science? Does Amnesty International deny that the entity being "aborted" in partial-birth abortion is a human being? Are those feet the abortionist is holding when he jams a pair of scissors into the base of child's skull anything other than human feet? Is the blood that streams out something other than human blood? That a child in the womb is a living human being is a matter of scientific fact. Does Amnesty International deny it?

So, if Amnesty International chooses to address the abortion issue at all, on what grounds does it deny human rights-and the most fundamental of all human rights, the right to life - to unborn human beings? Such a position undermines the entire foundation of human rights. For basic rights are founded on the conviction that all human beings - regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, intelligence, age, size, location, or dependency - are the subjects of profound, inherent, and equal dignity simply by virtue of their humanity. If this dignity does not depend on particular characteristics that vary from one human being to another and across each lifetime, then every human being must possess such dignity - and, thus, the rights it entails - from the point at which he or she comes into being. Does Amnesty International deny this?

How can AI be a credible human-rights defender when it will not unconditionally defend those who are truly voiceless - the unborn? Congressman Chris Smith (R., N.J.), a pro-life human-rights advocate, is right in advising AI against the policy change: "The killing of an unborn child by abortion can never be construed to be a human right. Therefore, taking a position that supports violence against children is antithetical to everything Amnesty International stands for," Smith said at a press conference.

What's so frustrating about the new policy is that AI - founded by a Communist and Roman Catholic convert - can do a world of good with its global resources. Days after pro-life groups were blasting AI for its new policy, the organization was publicizing the plight of the blind Chinese human-rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who was beaten in a prison. He is serving a four-year sentence on trumped-up charges; his real transgression was exposing the inhuman treatment of women and unborn children in the Shandong province, where local Linyi City officials use forced sterilization and abortion to meet China's population-control mandates. If AI is supporting a man who is fighting against the mistreatment of women, how can they not realize how similar that fight is to the preservation of unborn life?

Clutching rosaries and holding signs in support of the sanctity of life, 12 Catholics stood on the sidewalk outside an Overlea shopping center July 21 and peacefully asked God to end abortion.

As cars whizzed by along Belair Road, the middle-aged men and women recited the rosary and the chaplet of divine mercy - standing within walking distance of a women’s health center that provides abortions.

The demonstrators have been gathering every third Saturday of the month for several years. They always begin the day with a prolife 8:15 a.m. Mass at St. Joseph in Fullerton. While some participants pray publicly on the sidewalk after Mass, others remain at St. Joseph to pray privately for a greater openness to the culture of life.

"I think prayer can do anything," said Marilyn Halle-Webster, a parishioner of St. Isaac, Carney.

While she doesn't know any women who changed their mind about having an abortion as a direct result of her efforts, Ms. Halle-Webster believes the pro-lifers on Belair Road are making an impact. They might have helped save lives they will never know about, she said.

"Women who see our signs might just think twice about having an abortion," she said.

In the lawsuit, Glover claims that after performing a pap smear test, Planed Parenthood failed to tell Glover that the results of the tests revealed she had cervical cancer. The suit also charges that upon realizing its negligence, Planned Parenthood attempted to cover up its mistake by refusing to turn over medical records to Glover and giving her medical treatment she did not need. According to the suit, Glover did not find out about Planned Parenthood's mistake for over a year later. Her cervical cancer had advanced to stage 3.

Mark Crutcher, the president of Life Dynamics, Incorporated, says the American abortion industry's "choke-hold" on the Democratic Party is evidenced by the fact that at least two of the party's leading presidential candidates are promoting universal abortion coverage. Democratic presidential candidates Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) and John Edwards have announced their universal healthcare proposals would provide insurance coverage for abortions.

Elizabeth Edwards recently told the Planned Parenthood Action Fund that her husband's plan would cover "all reproductive health services, including pregnancy termination." Crutcher says the Edwards and Obama plans reaffirm that the Democratic Party is "owned lock, stock and barrel" by the abortion industry -- and expose the two candidates as "hypocrites and liars."

"Out of one side of their mouth, they say that abortion is none of the government's business and the government has to stay out of it -- but on the other side of their mouth, they say the government has a responsibility to pay for abortion. Now which one is it?" he asks.

We had spent months planning our move, and I knew David wanted it more than anything. If I insisted on having the baby and heading home, I feared he would resent me, or worse, resent our baby. But if I went through with the abortion because he wanted it, I would certainly resent him. Or, we could spend six months here and decide we didn't like Mexico and simply go home. Would this brief experiment have been worth not keeping our baby?

I turned to the Internet, hoping to find some clarity. Instead I found anti-abortion Web sites that terrified me with images of dead fetuses and stories of women scarred for life. The opposing sites, which listed statistics of women who had thrived postabortion and detailed the political fight to keep access available, were not much better. I was looking for direction and found the political-speak meaningless and unhelpful.

There is no single thing that I have seen more powerful to change people on abortion than simply showing them the pictures.

Show them what it looks like. I have challenged the media over and over again. Show the public what an abortion is because we can justify anything with our language. If you are a smooth talker, if you know how to manipulate language and logic - you can convince anyone of anything. But pictures, that is another story.

Your story will be different than mine as you are embarking on the wonderful adventure of motherhood a little earlier than I did. But I do know that your baby needs you. Do not allow fear and worry to steal from the joy of this new life. I know you are capable of being a loving, nurturing mother. Psalm 73:26 says, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

It is hard to understand why people would like to have everyone believe that the religious right has laid a guilt trip on those post abortive and that they impose shame and guilt. Women seek out their faith because they are already feeling guilt and shame and are looking for ways to work through it. I cannot help but wonder how those that deny post abortion trauma can believe religion has such power to instill these feelings while an actual abortion itself does not..

Why does it rile some so much to think that an abortion could bother a woman? Is it so hard to believe that the taking the life of your unborn child may cause you problems no matter what the circumstances surrounding it? And if it really does not exist, why is everyone is making such a fuss over it. The fact that the NYT gave it a 5 page spread in its Sunday magazine, and that more and more publications are spending time debunking the claim that abortion often carries with it a heavy price, validates that indeed, there is such a thing as post abortion stress.

The big fat lie of post abortion trauma is in fact not a lie at all, but the truth for many who have experienced one. Abortion itself, however, has been based on a lie from the beginning so it is no surprise that the lying would continue. Norma McCorvey, the "Jane Roe" in the 1973 Supreme Court decision of Roe vs. Wade was the original lie. She was never was raped as they said. The lies did not stop there, they continued in telling women abortion is safe, in stating their children are blobs of tissue, in not showing them the development of their children or about the procedure they were to undergo. They have duped society into thinking abortions can only be performed in the first trimester in most cases, or that it is always for the health of the mother. They have denied women information about abortions physical, psychological and spiritual dangers and fought legislation that would allow them to make an informed choice. They have blocked "Parental Notification" laws, on the premise some kids may be abused, yet protect child predators who take children to clinics after sexually abusing them. They have been silent on women's abuse by men for refusing to abort or for doctors who have maimed women or pressured them into abortion if the unborn child is not perfect.

The study, conducted by Overbrook Research in Illinois, looks at public opinion and abortion in Missouri between 1992 and 2006 and is authored by Christopher Blunt and Fred Steeper.

In 1992, 34% of Missouri voters described themselves as "strongly pro-choice". In 2006, this figure dropped to 23%. The percentage of citizens polled who described themselves as "strongly pro-life" rose from 26% to 36% in the same period.

Blunt and Steeper note that the most dramatic shift is among the young people they polled. In 1992, those under age 30 were the most strongly pro-abortion (39%), and the least strongly pro-life (23%). In 2006, 36% of this same age group described themselves as pro-life.

The authors hypothesize that this shift among the 18- to 29-year-olds is related to the ascendance of partial-birth abortion during their lifetime as the issue's dominant frame.

This is also the generation for whom fetal ultrasound images have become ubiquitous, increasing the sensitivity of many to the possible humanity of the unborn child. Furthermore, these voters grew up with the realization that they themselves could have been aborted if their parents had chosen differently.

The attitudes of 30- to 49-year-olds have also shifted. In 1992, 27% of women and 23 % of men in this age group described themselves as "strongly pro-life"; in 2006, they increased to 38% and 34% respectively.

Blunt and Steeper also noted that 56% of "strongly pro-life" voters in 1992 identified themselves as Republicans and 33% as Democrats. In 2006, the numbers were 62% and 25% respectively.

The funeral will be held Wednesday for a Peachtree City native who had little brain activity after nearly drowning at a Marine Corps boot camp in South Carolina four years ago.

The case involving Josh Isaac drew criticism about how the U.S. Department of Defense trains its service members.

His mother, Malia Isaac, said her son died early Saturday - a week after doctors removed his feeding tube. His father, Keith Isaac, and 19-year-old sister Jill also were there.

Isaac decided to join the Marines after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Two days after graduating from McIntosh High School in Fayette County in 2003, he went to Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island, S.C.

On June 30, 2003, his platoon took part in a routine combat survival class at a Parris Island pool.

Marine Corps investigator say he fell limp in the water moments after jumping off a 10-foot-tall platform and stopped breathing.

He was treated at hospitals and for the past three years had been at Dogwood Health and Rehabilitation Center in Fairburn.

So what's so bad about Planned Parenthood? What is it about the organization that makes pro-lifers go wild with outrage and concern? After all, Planned Parenthood does do things other than abortion. Along with providing abortion, they provide contraception. As Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani recently explained, he gave the group money "Because Planned Parenthood makes information available. It's consistent with my position."

To anyone who does not follow Planned Parenthood headlines, that makes some sense. The rest of his answer, though, begged for further interrogating: "I disagree with (abortion), I think it is wrong." He has also said that he hates abortion. But it's not believable that someone who truly hates abortion could ever have anything nice to say about Planned Parenthood.

Browse on over to their web magazine for minors, www.teenwire.com, and you'll find, among the question-and-answer, a question from a teen who says she had an abortion "a little over a month ago," is pregnant again, and wondering if a second abortion is safe. Not only does the teenwire.com staff cavalierly tell the girl (who, I remind you, got pregnant again a month after her first abortion) that abortion is "very safe" the first or second time around, but that abortion "is much safer than giving birth." While they do throw in a line about preventing pregnancy by using birth control, there’s no talk about adoption or other alternatives - such as raising the child, and getting help to do so - that a desperate girl could afford to hear.

Of course in an America where abortion is legal, that Planned Parenthood steers women who don't want their kids toward abortion, is not wholly unexpected. But what about kids who are wanted? In the wake of the Laci Peterson trial in which Scott Peterson was eventually convicted of killing his wife and unborn son (Connor), then-Planned Parenthood President Gloria Feldt argued against federal legislation that would protect the legal rights of both the mother and child in such a horrific double-homicide. Feldt insisted that there was but one victim in the Peterson case, Laci, the mother. So radical is Planned Parenthood that they cannot concede that a wanted unborn child is also a victim when his life is taken.

While it's questionable that donations that total less than $1,000 indicate enthusiastic support for the work of Planned Parenthood, as Mayor Giuliani's did, any honest executive at Planned Parenthood has got to be a bit excited by the prospect of Rudy Giuliani as the nominee of the Republican party. Here's a Republican guy who is essentially on their side. His willingness to buck them up as he aims for the White House is an opportunity to confront this front for a culture of death ironically hiding "Parenthood."

The study by Overbrook Research, a public consulting firm in Illinois, examines public opinion data from Missouri. With proportions of blacks, Catholics and union members in line with national averages, the state is viewed as "highly representative of the American electorate," the study says.

Among the current generation of 18- to 29-year-olds, 36% say they are strongly "pro-life," while just 18% say they are strongly "pro-choice," the study authors said.

The trend was particularly evident among women in that age bracket. Forty 40% identify themselves as strongly "pro-life" and only 20% as strongly "pro-choice."

Project Rachel, the group slapping a made-up disease name onto people who have had abortions (something it disagrees with), is a wolf in sheep's clothing. What it's doing constitutes a disingenuous attempt by a religious group to influence the public's perception of abortion.

Religious groups, such as the Roman Catholic Church and Priests for Life, fund the program, for crying out loud -- how open-minded could it possibly be? The group refers to fetuses as "unborn babies" and refers to abortions as "taking the life of a child." So while the group catalogs all the things that a woman could experience after having an abortion (clearly, not all do), it doesn't get into the very real hell that unfolds when a woman who isn't ready and able to raise a child has one.

Certainly, some women regret having an abortion. And those who feel they require spiritual guidance ought to get it from anywhere they can, and for this purpose, Project Rachel could come in handy.

But regret is not a psychological disease, and saying that abortion leads to mental illness is just plain irresponsible.

An unidentified 25 year-old woman was found dead at the residence of a transport businessman at Mohammadpur in the city on Sunday. She died due to excessive bleeding following an abortion, Dhaka Medical College (DMC) morgue sources told the Daily Star newspaper. Police recovered her body from the residence of Nazrul Islam, a transport businessman, at Mohammadia Housing Limited. Later police sent the body to the DMC morgue for autopsy. Sub-Inspector Abdul Bari told The Daily Star that although her identity could not be known, they heard locals used to call her 'Moni' and that she worked as a maid in the community. Bari said Moni went to the house of Nazrul to work for him shortly before her death.

In 2004, Charlotte Sherron was sentenced to three years in prison and two years of post-release supervision for trying go hide her husband's crime of statutory rape. She took her daughter to an abortion facility after her daughter became pregnant from the incest.

Sherron appealed the decision but the Mississippi Court of Appeals in 2006 unanimously upheld the conviction. It said helping her daughter get an abortion obstructed justice and destroyed the baby, whose DNA could have helped convict her husband.

Attorneys for Sherron appealed that decision to the state's high court but the Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday declined to hear the appeal. That upheld the lower court's ruling in the case.

Many delegates openly expressed disbelief, skepticism, and even shock, at the revelation that NEA was involved in abortion at all - much less in an advocacy role - much less pro-abortion. They were totally unaware of NEA's long-standing "Family Planning Resolution" supporting "reproductive freedom" and "all methods of family planning" - including abortion. Some refused to accept the well-documented fact that NEA is one of Planned Parenthood's primary advocates and actually co-sponsored huge pro-abortion rallies in Washington in April 2004, April 1992, and November 1989.

A few belligerent delegates verbally berated the pro-lifers, accusing them of "lying". Others thanked pro-lifers for bringing NEA's abortion activism into sharp focus. Some said they would raise the issue on the Convention Floor and attempt to have NEA totally abandon its pro-abortion agenda and activism.

Many anti-abortion activists insist there are proven, profound emotional and psychological effects from having an abortion -- a so-called post-abortion syndrome. One outgrowth has been religiously affiliated retreats such Project Rachel, aimed at helping to purge guilt.

Others say the syndrome is non-existent and just a new way to push the "pro-life" agenda, and that most women live productive, psychologically and emotionally normal lives after an abortion.

During a June 6 search of the West Hartford home of dog trainer Adam P. Gault, 41, police discovered the runaway, Danielle Cramer, 15, in a hidden storage space under a set of stairs. Cramer had been missing from her mother's Bloomfield home for almost a year.

In a court document made public last week, two police detectives said Cramer disclosed after she was found that "she recently had an abortion at Planned Parenthood in West Hartford but would not disclose who the father was."

The list of property seized by police during the search includes "abortion paperwork."

Those disclosures raise the possibility that a 15-year-old runaway was the victim of a statutory rape, became pregnant, and had a legal abortion without her parents finding out.[..]

Susan Lloyd Yolen, a vice president of Planned Parenthood of Connecticut, declines to comment on Cramer's case on grounds that the organization "is committed to patient privacy and safety."