LIFE DIGEST: Prosecutor of Planned Parenthood loses in primary
- Aug 12, 2008 - comment
Planned Parenthood’s primary prosecutorial adversary went down to defeat Aug. 5.
Phill Kline, who became well known for his efforts to prosecute an affiliate of the country’s leading abortion provider, lost in the Aug. 5 Republican primary for Johnson County (Kan.) district attorney. Steve Howe outpolled Kline 60 to 40 percent, turning back Kline’s attempt to return to the post, The Kansas City Star reported.
Kline has brought 107 charges against the Planned Parenthood clinic in Overland Park, Kan. The charges include performing illegal, late-term abortions and providing false information. He is the first prosecutor to file charges against a Planned Parenthood clinic since abortion was legalized by the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, according to The Star.
Kline was conducting investigations of the Planned Parenthood affiliate in Overland Park and the Wichita clinic of late-term abortion doctor George Tiller when he was defeated for re-election as Kansas’ attorney general in 2006. He was appointed to the vacant district attorney’s post in Johnson County, enabling him to continue his attempt to prosecute the Planned Parenthood clinic.
After the defeat, Kline told supporters, according to The Star, “I’ve been so honored in many ways. . . . There are some causes that are worth losing for, and in that there is no defeat.”
Affiliates of Planned Parenthood Federation of America performed nearly 290,000 abortions in 2006. PPFA surpassed $1 billion in annual revenue for the first time last year, with more than $336 million of that total coming in grants and contracts from the federal and state governments.
New study links abortion and depression
Another study has demonstrated a link between abortion and mental health difficulties, prompting some pro-life advocates to urge the American Psychological Association (APA) to pay attention to the research before issuing a report on the subject.
The new research, which was published in the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, showed, as reported in LifeNews.com, “Young adult women who undergo induced abortion may be at increased risk for subsequent depression.” Norwegian researchers performed the study on more than 5,700 women between the ages of 15 and 27, according to LifeNews.
The APA is expected to issue a report on abortion and mental health soon.
The new study “confirms what women across America already know all too well – abortion doesn’t end your problems; it creates new ones,” said Janet Morana, co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign (SNMAC). “The APA needs to ignore political pressure and report the truth about abortion’s painful aftermath.”
SNMAC is a national network of women and men whose children were killed by abortion.
South Korea rejects Hwang’s request
The South Korean government has turned down Hwang Woo Suk’s request that he be permitted to renew research into embryonic stem cells.
The Health Ministry announced its refusal Aug. 1, saying its response to the discredited cloning scientist’s request was based on his “ethical problems” and his illegal payments for human eggs, according to the Associated Press. Hwang gained worldwide renown when he claimed his research team and he had cloned the first human embryonic stem cell line, but that supposed breakthrough was revealed to be a fraud in 2006.
After Hwang’s fraudulent research was uncovered, Seoul National University fired him, and the South Korean government revoked his license to conduct embryonic stem cell research. He was indicted for receiving $2 million in private gifts for his false research and for supposedly embezzling almost $900,000 in government and private grants, The Washington Post reported.
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