Frank Schaeffer lays, and takes, the blame for murder –

I found this an interesting response to George Tiller's murder. Frank Schaeffer, a reformed evangelical, argues that the hate speech continually spewed by the religious right regarding abortion set the stage for George Tiller's murder, and other abortionists before him. He still expresses disgust at late-term abortion, and while I am more likely to agree with that, I do believe there are situations in which that choice is the only one that makes sense. Painful, horribly so, but sometimes the only choice is.

Continue ReadingFrank Schaeffer lays, and takes, the blame for murder –

Abortion Doctor George Tiller Killed at Church

George Tiller, a Kansas doctor who performed abortions, some of them late-term, was shot this morning as he entered his church for services. Read the story here - and then someone explain how one justifies murder again?

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Held Hostage by Health Care

A physician friend of mine sent me a link to a piece written by Dr. Marcia Angell about why Congress should consider a single-payer system and suggestions as to how it could be implemented. Dr. Angell is a senior lecturer in social medicine at Harvard Medical School and a former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. I can only hope that, even though she was not invited to speak in front of Congress, Pres. Obama and the Congress see her words and incorporate this into their discussion.

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Humans are so well designed!

I saw this snippet on my New Scientist RSS feed. Some researchers, investigating methods to improve IVF success rates, have discovered that contrary to popular belief, chromosomal abnormalities, and hence miscarriages, are not abnormal occurrences, but are in fact the norm.

As women age, their eggs are more likely to have the wrong number of chromosomes, which can lead to miscarriages. But when Joris Vermeersch from the Centre for Human Genetics in Leuven, Belgium, and colleagues examined 23 embryos from nine young, fertile couples who were undergoing IVF for screening purposes, they found that 21 had chromosomal abnormalities, suggesting these are in fact the norm (Nature Medicine, DOI: 10.1038/nm.1924).
I can only presume god was just being mean when he said 'go forth and multiply' - since he must have known that our ability to multiply was broken.

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Missouri May Allow Pharmacists to Just Say No

Need the pill? If you live in Missouri, and your pharmacist disagrees with your doctor about your reproductive needs, you're stuck. No recourse. That is, if an amended bill passed in the House makes it to law this week. According to this,

The amendment is similar to "conscience legislation" passed in other states that protects pharmacists who object to dispensing birth control medication.

Let your legislators know whether you think personal medical decsions should be up to doctors and patients, or churches acting through politicians.

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