Merck Stops Producing Vaccines Without Cells From Babies Killed in Abortions
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A leading pro-life group is worried about a new decision from the pharmaceutical giant Merck. The company has decided to stop producing some vaccines that are not made based on fetal cells from abortions. Merck & Co. Inc has stopped the production and sale of its monovalent vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella. Instead, the company will focus on combination vaccine, MMRII, which accounts for 98 percent of the company's sales of the vaccines targeting those diseases. "Merck's separate dose for rubella, Meruvax, uses aborted fetal cell lines and taints the entire MMR II vaccine," Debi Vinnedge of the pro-life group Children of God for Life tells LifeNews.com. "The separate doses of Attenuvax (measles) and Mumpsvax (mumps) use chick embryo. Without these separate doses for measles and mumps, there will be no moral alternative for parents." Merck spokeswoman Amy Rose said the decision to eliminate the monovalent vaccines was made for both financial and health reasons. ACTION: Contact Merck and express your desire for the company to reverse its decision and make the non-abortion vaccines available. Contact Richard Clark, CEO, Merck & Company, One Merck Drive P.O. Box 100, Whitehouse Station, NJ 08889-0100. Call 908-423-1000 or find more information at http://www.merck.com/contact Full story at LifeNews.comFederal Unborn Victims Law Used for First Time to Prosecute Double Murder
Albuquerque, NM (LifeNews.com) -- Members of Congress approved the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act in 2004 and a case out of New Mexico may be the first to involve a prosecution under the law. The law makes it so criminals are held accountable for killing both mother and child in an attack on the pregnant mother. Previously, federal prosecutors were unable to charge the assailant with killing or injuring the unborn child -- which failed to provide both victims with protection and adequate justice. The New Mexico case involves Frederick Beach, 37, who is charged with the deaths of Verlinda Kinsel, 29, and her unborn child, who Beach allegedly fathered. Beacher reportedly killed both Kinsel and her baby in September and he has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and child abuse charges and a charge of murder related to the baby. U.S. Attorney Greg Fouratt told the Albuquerque Journal his office searched and had not found any other cases prosecuted under the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Some 35 states have similar laws on the books and most murders or assaults are prosecuted under those laws. The federal law is invoked when those acts take place within the context of a federal crime or in a federal jurisdiction such as a military base, national park, or, in this case, an Indian reservation. Full story at LifeNews.com
New Study Further Disproves Freakonomics Abortion-Crime Reduction Theory
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new study offer more reasons for doubting the Freakonomics theory put forward by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt that claims legalizing abortion reduced crime. The study shows a large rise in homicides by black teens in recent years even though black women have the highest abortion rate. Respected criminologist James Alan Fox of Northeastern University has released a new study showing homicides by blacks between the ages of 14 and 17 have jumped 34 percent from 2000 through 2007. The number of crimes for white people in the same age range did not increase. In the book Freakonomics, Levitt claimed legalizing abortion led to a major drop in murder and other violent crimes in the 1980s and 1990s. He theorized that the babies who were victimized by abortion would have been more likely to commit crimes. But Fox's study shows violent crime in the black community has gone up in the last decade -- not down. "Yes, it's not nearly as bad as it was in 1990, but it is worse than it was in 2000," he told the Chicago Sun-Times. Yet, if Levitt's hypothesis is true, crime should have gone down significantly in the black community because of a higher abortion rate. Full story at LifeNews.com
Christian Group Starts Prayer Campaign for Obama to Change Mind on Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A Christian pro-life group has started a new prayer campaign to pray that incoming president Barack Obama will change his mind on abortion. Beginning tomorrow and extending for the next 19 days, the Christian Defense Coalition will lead prayer for Obama outside the White House. The prayer vigil will take place every day at noon until the inauguration. The group will close with a large prayer vigil on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday on Monday, January 19 at noon. The Christian Defense Coalition is encouraging the faith community to pray for Obama and his conversion on abortion at noon in their homes, churches and local communities all across the nation. The group will be praying daily for Obama from the 40 year old Inaugural Prayer of Dr. Billy Graham. Full story at LifeNews.com
Missouri Judge Says Amendment 2 Would Trump Law Banning ESCR Funding
Jefferson City, MO (LifeNews.com) -- A Missouri judge issued a new ruling on Tuesday saying that Amendment 2 would trump state law prohibiting taxpayer funding of human cloning and embryonic stem cell research. The amendment is the measure Missouri voters very narrowly approved in 2006. Missouri Roundtable for Life filed a lawsuit seeking to block $21 million in public funds from going to the Life Sciences Research Board for grants for the controversial science. The law that created the Life Sciences Research Trust Fund, which sends the money to the board, specifically prohibits the funding. However, Cole County Judge Richard Callahan said Tuesday that the state constitutional amendment appears to trump the law. The board plans to disburse the funds early next year for the stem cell research grants it is considering funding. Pro-life groups don't want to see money go to scientists who are destroying human beings in research that kills them for their stem cells. In July, Callahan denied a request from pro-life advocates to temporarily stop the funds from going to the board for 15 days. Full story at LifeNews.com
Sarasota, FL (LifeNews.com) -- In October, county officials in Sarasota County in Florida cut thousands of dollars of funding to a local Planned Parenthood. Now, pro-life advocates say the facility has started doing abortions in what may be an attempt to generate more in annual income. Officials, citing poor economic conditions and the need to better balance the city budget, removed the second $12,500 of the original $25,000 allocated for Planned Parenthood family planning programs. Despite the efforts of dedicated pro-lifers in Sarasota, Planned Parenthood has opened its new abortion center and did abortions for the first time last Friday. Jim Sedlak, the head of STOPP International, a Planned Parenthood watchdog group, shed more light on the situation in an email to LifeNews.com. "Planned Parenthood was met by a group of pro-lifers who are dedicated to be present whenever babies are scheduled to die," he said. Full story at LifeNews.comBritish Abortion Practitioner Allan Templeton Gets Award From Queen Elizabeth II
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- Months after a prominent abortion practitioner in Canada received one of the nation's top civilian honors, a British abortion practitioner has receive an award as well. The honor is prompting outrage from pro-life advocates who say it is a injustice. Professor Allan Templeton, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, has been made a commander of Order of the British Empire for services to medicine. The award comes directly from Queen Elizabeth II. Anthony Ozimic, the political secretary for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children tells Lifenews.com that doing abortions is not a service to Britain. "Abortion is neither honorable nor is it medicine," Ozimic adds. Full story at LifeNews.com
