Hello, Dolly … Goodbye, Cloning?
by Fred Jackson and Jody Brown
(AgapePress) – Scientists who are pushing the idea of cloning humans may have suffered a major setback.
The story of the cloning of “Dolly the Sheep” took the world by storm back in 1997. Many predicted man's ability to successfully do the same thing with humans was just around the corner. At the time, many Christians warned that it is not wise to meddle with God's way of doing things. It now appears those warnings are becoming a reality.
The New York Times quotes researchers who say the clones that have been produced — mice, cows, pigs, and goats, in addition to sheep — are starting to manifest some serious health problems, including developmental delays, heart defects, lung problems, and malfunctioning immune systems. They also says they cannot put their finger on what is causing the problems, other than to conclude that the cloning process seems to create “random errors” that can show up at any time.
The newspaper report states that evidence is mounting that creation of healthy animals through cloning is more difficult than scientists had expected. According to the report, fewer than 3% of all cloning efforts are succeeding — and that has some scientists saying they “shudder to think what might happen” if human cloning is to proceed using current techniques.
by Bill Fancher and Robin Burchfield
(AgapePress) – A Chicago nurse has blown the whistle on a new abortion horror — the killing of babies that survive abortion attempts.
Nurse Jill Stanek is a nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois. She says the facility, affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has adopted a new abortion procedure.
“It's induced-labor abortion, where they induce a woman to deliver a baby prematurely, not killing the baby in utero, but expecting the baby to die during the birth process or soon after,” Stanek says. According to Stanek, Christ Hospital calls this type of abortion “comfort care” — “But I call it a white-washed tomb, that all they're doing is trying to make what they're doing sound and look better.”
When she discovered this practice, she went to the hospital administrators, expecting them to be as shocked as she was — but they were not.
“They told me that they considered this form of abortion the most compassionate way to abort babies,” she says.
Stanek says between 25% and 50% of the babies survive the premature delivery and are then left to die on their own with no medical care. She says it usually takes from several minutes to up to three hours. A bill that would outlaw such action was introduced in Congress, but it died in the Senate last year.
Mafia-Abortion Connection?
A Christian news outlet is reporting that a federal investigation in Chicago is looking into a possible connection between the mafia and abortion. Organized crime is known for profiting from such things as prostitution, gambling, drugs, and alcohol. So the possible link between the mafia and abortion is not surprising to those familiar with the abortion industry.
Mark Crutcher is President of Life Dynamics, a pro-life group that investigates the abortion industry. He tells Family News In Focus that a mafia connection would not surprise him at all.
“You have a business that operates on cash, primarily,” Crutcher told FINF. “I've never seen an abortion clinic that would take a check, for example.”
Carol Everett used to run an abortion clinic and says an abortionist can do ten to twelve first-trimester abortions in an hour at $300 each — and she says the abortionist is paid in cash at the end of the day. She says it is the largest, unregulated, legal industry in the nation today, and is an open-season opportunity for anyone to profiteer.
Both Everett and Crutcher point out they have no proof of such a link. But Crutcher says given the nature of both industries, it is logical that one should find the other attractive.
(This update courtesy of Agape Press.)
