LifeBeat for October 27, 2007

Dr. Rich Poupard from Life Training Institute discusses human cloning and talks about how to respond to the claims of those who are in favor of human cloning for research. To listen, click here.

Abortion Death in Massachusetts

On September 13, 2007, a young woman from Massachusetts named Laura Smith died after undergoing an abortion at Cape & Island Center for Women's Health. Recently, the Cape Cod Times has printed one article about Laura's death and another article about how the abortionist was forced to hand over Smith's medical records. The death of Laura Smith along with the deaths of countless other women who have died from legal abortion shows that making abortion legal doesn't make it safe.

Life Facts - Kids with sickle-cell disease cured with stem cells from umbilical cord blood

Children struck with the genetic disease of sickle-cell or thalassemia (a hemoglobin abnormality), were cured after receiving an umbilical cord blood transplant from their siblings. Ninety percent of the 43 children in the study were cured. The results were reported at the 35th annual convention held by the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America and the National Institutes of Health in Washington, on September 20, 2007.

One of the patients, Matthew Damm, was born with thalassemia requiring a transfusion every few weeks starting when he was 6 weeks old. He also had a needle inserted in his stomach to extract excess iron from his body, almost every night. Matthew underwent a transplant of stem cells from his baby sister's umbilical cord two years ago. Today Matt is an energetic 7 year old who knows that his little sister Hannah saved his life.

The biggest drawback to eliminating this difficult disease is finding enough cord blood donors to provide the wide range of tissue matches necessary. Michigan passed a law last year that would establish a network of cord blood stem cell banks as well as increase public awareness as to the benefits of donating cord blood at birth, however due to our fiscal crisis it is not funded.

For more information, click here.

LifeBeat for October 20, 2007

Mary Verwys, a sidewalk counselor from Grand Rapids, talks about the dangers to women who have abortions and how sidewalk counselors love both the woman and her child. To listen, click here.

Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research and Cures gets big donation from Taubman

On October 16, the Detroit News published an article noting that A. Alfred Taubman (a very wealthy real estate developer) has donated $1.4 million dollars to the Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research and Cures. The article also notes that Taubman has pledged to financially support a possible ballot initiative to repeal Michigan's prolife laws.

The Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research and Cures is a pro-embryonic stem cell research organization which is working to overturn Michigan's prolife laws which prohibit human cloning and killing human embryos for research by promoting embryonic stem cell research. Their web site was taken down for weeks in the fall of 2006 after Right to Life of Michigan issued a press release noting false and plagiarized information on their web site.

For more information on stem cell research, please visit www.stemcellresearchcures.com.

LifeBeat for October 13, 2007

Mary Verwys, a sidewalk counselor from Grand Rapids, discusses what sidewalk counselors do and what is the most difficult thing for sidewalk counselors. To listen, click here.

LifeFacts - Adult stem cells restore function to paralyzed patients while media blackout of success continues

Patients who have been paralyzed from 4 years to 22 years, had their own bone marrow stem cells extracted from their hip bone and transplanted into their spinal cord, resulting in restored bodily functions at Luis Vernaza Hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Dr. Louis Geffner presented the report on September 17 at the 2007 Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting in San Diego. Of the 25 patients who underwent the procedure and provided follow up, 15 gained the ability to stand up, 10 could walk on parallel bars with braces, 7 could walk without braces and 5 could walk with crutches. Three recovered full bladder control and 10 regained some sexual function. There were no side effects or adverse reactions at all, because the patients' own stem cells were used, nullifying the tissue rejection issue. This study proves that bone marrow stem cells are safe and effective for spinal cord injury patients while increasing their quality of life. Despite this ground breaking progress which actor Christopher Reeve foretold would come, the media is reporting none of it because it involves adult stem cells.

For more information, click here.

Stem cell resources

The Right to Life of Michigan web site has some new fliers on stem cell research in PDF format which can be downloaded, printed, and distributed to friends and family.

The Embryonic Stem Cell Research Money Trail discusses how some embryonic stem cell researchers are currently fighting over patent rights and how some embryonic stem cell researchers are focused on more than just treating patients.

Facts on Stem Cell Research shares some breakthroughs in life-affirming adult stem cell research and some other stem cell research facts.

Denominational Statements Regarding Stem Cell Research provides the positions of various religious denominations on embryonic stem cell research.

The Great Stem Cell Debate: Understanding the Options compares and contrasts adult stem cell research and embryonic stem cell research.

Tags: stem cell research, michigan

LifeBeat for October 6, 2007

Denise Burke, Vice-President of American United for Life, discusses prolife legislation and explains why her organization ranked Michigan as the #1 state for defending life.

Life Facts - Long term cure for incontinence using patients own stem cells

Researchers from the Medical University of Innsbruck in Austria are calling the treatment using the patient's own stem cells a cure for incontinence. Researchers extracted muscle stem cells from the patient's upper arm. The adult stem cells were cultured with collagen and grown in the lab for seven weeks where they differentiated into pre-muscle cells and connective tissue. The cells were then injected into the patient's urethra and rhabdosphincter muscle. By using the patient's own stem cells there is no tissue rejection issues, because the cells are biocompatible. Out of 186 men and women in the study, 153 did not need pads after one year following the treatment.

Incontinence affects more than 15 million Americans. In the near future this stem cell treatment could not only improve the quality of life for those affected, but lessen hospital and nursing home stays. The savings of health care dollars could be substantial.

For more information, click here.

One less abortionist in Michigan

In July, I blogged about a Detroit television station's three-part story about an abortionist in Detroit. The story exposed the abortionist as being willing to violate some of Michigan's prolife laws. He was also working in unsanitary conditions and offering abortions for a low price.

On September 27, WDIV (the same station which ran the original story on the abortionist) revealed the Michigan Department of Community Health suspended the abortionist's license as a result of WDIV's investigation and story. The license suspension order cited 13 counts which led to the suspension of his medical license including negligence, incompetence and "a lack of moral character."

LifeBeat for September 29, 2007

Dr. Daniel Pepin talks about why the public hears so much about embryonic stem cell research when those stem cells aren't working. Embryonic stem cells don't help patients, they help patents. To listen, click here.

Tags: stem cell research, patents

LifeFacts - Human brain stem cells found to have embryonic-like properties

Researchers have found that adult stem cells taken from a human brain may have the same characteristics as embryonic stem cells, thus negating the need to destroy embryos for their stem cells. Researchers from the University of Florida's McKnight Brain Institute took mature human brain cells from epilepsy patients to generate new brain tissue in mice. These adult brain stem cells can be coaxed into producing large amounts of new brain cells that not only could be used to treat one patient, but many more.

Now for the numbers ... Dennis Steindler, Ph.d., said that they can take a single brain cell out of an adult and theoretically "generate enough brain cells to replace every cell of the donor's brain and conceivably those of 50 million other people." These newly discovered human brain cells may be the key to unlocking the cures to brain disorders like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, strokes and others. This is a first, knowing the ability of human brain cells to change into different cell types.

For more information, click here and here.

Tags: stem cell research

LifeBeat for September 22, 2007

Dr. Daniel Pepin discusses how the public has become confused on stem cell research and shares how even some proponents of embryonic stem cell research are backing away from some of the original hyped claims.

Stem Cell Editorial in the Lansing State Journal

Ed Rivet, Right to Life of Michigan's Legislative Director, had the following editorial on stem cell research published in the Lansing State Journal. You can view it online here.

Let's seek cures that don't involve killing or cloning

Let's start with the facts about embryonic stem cell research:

1. Embryonic stem cell research is entirely legal in Michigan and is ongoing here with taxpayer and private dollars.

2. Killing live human embryos for research purposes is not legal in Michigan.

3. Couples with "leftover" embryo-stage offspring frozen in fertility clinics can donate them for destructive research. The researchers must be in another state.

4. Couples can release their embryonic children for adoption by infertile couples here.

5. Legislation being proposed on human embryo stem cell research allows for the trafficking and killing of cloned human embryos in Michigan. Under the bill, cloned human embryos created by the same technique as Dolly the sheep, could be imported into Michigan and killed like laboratory rats.

To repeat, there is no ban on embryonic stem cell research. There is a ban on killing live human embryos for research. For years, Michigan researchers have been obtaining embryonic stem cells from other states and countries to do their research. Having to buy steel from Pittsburgh has never stopped Michigan from making cars.

The reason researchers want to kill embryos to create new stem cell lines is - no surprise - money. Specifically, they want to control patent rights on any treatment developed from their embryonic stem cells. If researchers use stem cells from another state to develop a treatment, they might have to share the profits with out-of-state researchers. That's it; that is the real reason they want this legislation. It has little to do with being able to do the research and absolutely nothing to do with the well-being of patients. Just Google "embryonic stem cells patent" and read all about it.

Proponents of embryo destruction argue that "leftover" embryos are currently not protected by law; they are just being "thrown away," and shouldn't be "wasted." Agreed, human life should never be thrown away or wasted. Frozen embryos can be given a chance at life through embryo adoption. While other states kill embryos for profit, we in Michigan can offer them a chance at life. We adopt pets from animal shelters. We even "adopt" highways to keep them clean. Infertile couples are waiting to adopt any child, even a frozen one.

Embryonic stem cell research is unnecessary and unrestrained. Nearly every week clinical studies are announced showing real advances using stem cells derived from many sources including umbilical cord blood, amniotic fluid, skin, muscle, hair follicles, baby teeth, even fat. These "adult" stem cells are showing more and more flexibility as research continues. Researchers have already reprogrammed mouse adult stem cells to behave exactly like mouse embryonic stem cells.

The debate over embryonic stem cells, which are a decade or more from producing results (if ever), is a distraction from the adult stem cells already helping people with dozens of debilitating diseases. Proposed legislation would allow for the trafficking and killing of cloned human embryos in Michigan. The facts are clear, we don't need to clone and kill embryos to find cures.

LifeBeat for September 15, 2007

Dr. Daniel Pepin talks about some facts and fiction regarding stem cell research. He also discusses why there are so many incorrect beliefs about stem cell research.

Tags: stem cell research

Life Facts - Missing Egg Donors & Missing Eggs

Harvard University has spent thousands of dollars on newspaper ads attempting to entice women to donate their eggs for embryonic stem cell research. Hundreds of women responded initially, but none have donated. Undoubtedly learning of the numerous injections, repeat office visits, dangerous side effects, and the surgery requiring general anesthesia to remove the eggs stripped the benevolent veneer off the egg donation process for these women.

Meanwhile, in California, thousands of human embryos and eggs may be missing from fertility clinics. The discrepancy involves 596 embryos and 2,189 eggs unaccounted for, involving 80 medical facilities, 102 physicians and 229 donors. This unfolding debacle is on top of the 2003 case of California's Options Fertility Registry being forced out of business when donors brought a slew of lawsuits after discovering their eggs were being sold without their permission.

These unethical behaviors are reminiscent of the abuses perpetrated by fraudulent South Korean researcher Hwang Woo-Suk, who coerced female assistants to donate their eggs. Embryonic stem cell advocates continue to ignore the reality that their research and proposed cures will require millions of human eggs, and that demand brings enormous ethical and dangerous consequences with it.

For more information, click here and here.

Tags: stem cell research, egg donors, human embryos

Skylar Anne Green, R.I.P.

On Tuesday, September 4, 2007, Representative Kevin Green and his wife Chele discovered their unborn daughter died in the womb. Chele was seven months pregnant.

Here is the story from the Grand Rapids Press about the loss of their first child. I'm sure Kevin, Chele and their family would appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

LifeBeat for September 8, 2007

Maureen Coffey, Director of Marketing, Sales and Events for Right to Life of Michigan, discusses Right to Life of Michigan's upcoming Annual Conference on September 22.

LifeBeat for September 1, 2007

Photojournalist Michael Clancy again discusses the photograph he took of Samuel Armas, a 21-week unborn child, holding the hand of the surgeon who was operating on him while in the womb. He also discusses where this photograph has been featured.

LifeBeat for August 25, 2007

Photojournalist Michael Clancy discusses the famous picture he took of baby Samuel Armas (an unborn child at 21 weeks) holding the hand of the surgeon who was operating on him in the womb. He also talks about how taking this picture and viewing this in-utero surgery changed how he thought about abortion.

Michael Clancy will be speaking at Right to Life of Michigan Annual Conference on September 22, 2007.

Letter to the Cadillac News

The following letter to the editor was submitted to the Cadillac News after they ran this article regarding stem cell research in Michigan and an event put on by the Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research and Cures:

A recent article in the Cadillac News provided an inaccurate explanation of Michigan's law on killing and cloning human embryos and the current efforts to overturn those laws. Legislation (H.B. 4616) introduced by Representative Andrew Meisner and supported by the Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research and Cures isn't designed to "strengthen the state's ban on human cloning." It's designed to legalize the creation and destruction of cloned human embryos. The current law, which was passed with a large bi-partisan majority, bans human cloning and provides penalties of up to 10 years and/or $10 million dollars. Rep. Meisner's bill would change this law by legalizing the same cloning technique (somatic cell nuclear transfer) which created Dolly the sheep as long as those cloned human embryos are killed for their stem cells. You can't strengthen a ban on human cloning by legalizing human cloning. Hopefully, The Cadillac News and its readers will be wary of claims made by the Michigan Citizens for Stem Cell Research and Cures.

LifeBeat for August 18, 2007

Brittany Millan, Right to Life of Michigan's Oratory Contest winner, talks about her experience in the oratory contest, her speech and importance of young people speaking up for life.

Stem cell letters published

The Detroit News has published a variety of letters responding to Alfred Taubman's editorial on embryonic stem cell research. They also published my longer letter.

LifeBeat for August 11, 2007

Pamela Sherstad, Director of Public Information for Right to Life of Michigan, talks about some of the reasons why women have abortion. She also talks about what Right to Life of Michigan is doing to reach out to women considering abortion.