Bioethics

“Judge Daniel Ottolia, of Riverside County Superior Court, ruled against California’s End of Life Option Act on Tuesday, which allowed physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients. The suit was brought by the Life Legal Defense Foundation, a Christian legal organization that opposes abortion and assisted suicide.” Jurist

“The assisted suicide in Switzerland of the aged scientist David Goodall — and the media swoon over the event — has pushed the assisted-suicide advocacy envelope beyond the dying to the elderly.” National Review

“Everyone knows that resources are finite and demands can be great, and times may come when providers may feel that time and money spent in prolonging life in hard cases may be spent better in helping somebody else.

“Nebraska and Tennessee this month joined more than a dozen states that have cut funding for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, a pro-life campaign that has seen mixed results.” BPNews

“House Bill 1266, known as the ‘Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,’ was sponsored by Republican House Member Donna Lichtenegger. The legislation includes language defining the pain capable gestational age as … 20 weeks following fertilization.” Jurist

“The bill applies to patients with less than six months to live. It would allow patients to obtain a medical prescription to assist their passing. Only residents of Hawaii would be eligible.” Jurist

“The procedure dilation and evacuation accounts for about 16 percent of Kentucky’s abortions. HB 454 deems it illegal to perform the procedure after the eleventh week of the gestation period.” Jurist

“Legislative efforts to legalize physician-assisted suicide have failed in two New England states, but Hawaii appears to be on the verge of enacting the practice.” BPNews

“Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience announced in a Jan. 24 article for the journal Cell that they produced two genetically-identical long-tailed macaque monkeys using a scientific technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).” BPNews

“Treating human life with dignity matters just as much for these women as it does for their unborn children,” said Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). “Pregnancy care centers powerfully demonstrate this whole-life compassion that honors the image of God in all.” BPNews