• "Embryos are humans" says U.S. government report on stem cell research
• Anglican churches request alternative diocese in America
• Blair retreat on Catholic exemption
• Texas appeals court upholds law protecting pregnant women and babies

* "EMBRYOS ARE HUMANS" SAYS U.S. GOVERNMENT REPORT ON STEM CELL RESEARCH – A new report by the United States governments’ Domestic Policy Council admits that embryos are human beings; the only differences between embryos and other human beings, says the report, are accidental differences in levels of development.

"Embryos are humans in their earliest developmental stage," writes the Council.
"We do not have to think that human embryos are exactly the same in all ways as older humans to believe that they are entitled to respect and protection. Each of us originated as a single-celled embryo, and from that moment have developed along a continuous biological trajectory throughout our existence. To speak of ‘an embryo’ is to designate a human being at a particular stage."

The Domestic Policy Council, which coordinates the domestic policy-making process in the White House, and which is under the direction of President Bush, made these unequivocal statements about the human embryo in its report on stem-cell research entitled, "Advancing Stem Cell Science without Destroying Human Life."

The report, released earlier today, condemns the destruction of human embryos for the purpose of stem-cell research, and instead advocates alternative sources of stem-cells, including cells derived from amniotic fluid and adult stem-cells.
Research on these sources of stem-cells, says the report, hold much more promise on a purely scientific basis of producing results than the ethically condemnatory and scientifically uncertain research on embryonic stem-cells.

"In sum," reads the Executive Summary, "it increasingly appears that the qualities researchers value in embryonic cells may also exist in other stem cells that are easier to procure, more stable to grow, safer to use in therapies, and free of the ethical violations of embryo destruction."
Therefore, "There is no reason to sacrifice longstanding moral concerns in a shortsighted rush for therapeutic payoffs."

"We must make certain we don’t force ourselves into a false choice between science and ethics—because we need both. And there is good reason, and growing scientific evidence, to believe that we can have both."
Nevertheless, while defending the humanity of the embryo with a clarity that is rarely, if ever, encountered in government reports, the document has significant areas that will undoubtedly be areas of concern in the eyes of many pro-life advocates.

The Domestic Policy Council goes to some length in its report to console President Bush’s opponents on matters pertaining to stem-cell research by pointing out that there is no Presidential ban on embryonic stem cell research. The report instead boasts about the large sums of federal dollars that have been given towards embryonic stem cell research under President Bush’s policy of permitting federal funding for research performed on pre-existing lines of embryos.

Furthermore, while admitting that embryos are human beings, and therefore (presumably) deserving of the same rights as all other human beings and U.S. citizens, the report does not indicate that any action will be taken in the future towards what might seem as the logical conclusion of the admitted humanity of the embryo—that is, a federal ban not only on the funding of, but on the performance of all embryonic stem-cell research, including that which is privately-funded. (LifeSite, 10 Jan 2007) (to index)

* ANGLICAN CHURCHES REQUEST ALTERNATIVE DIOCESE IN AMERICA - More than 17 Anglican churches across the South requested the Church of Kenya to form a diocese in America.

After three-and-a-half years of oversight from the Anglican Church of Kenya, St. Peter's Anglican Church in Memphis, Tenn., along with other congregations, put in the request to Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya, who visited the church over the weekend.

There were 17 churches represented at the weekend meeting, according to the Rev. Stephen Carpenter, founding priest of St. Peter's. An additional congregation in Boston, Mass., not present at the meeting, also backed the request.

The 18 U.S. churches, presently affiliated with the Church of Kenya, join a growing number of congregations that are establishing a conservative alternative to the Episcopal Church.

Nine conservative churches in Virginia recently joined the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), which was established as an outreach initiative of the Church of Nigeria. Nigerian bishops expressed delight over the continual growth of the splinter group.

Similarly, Anglican dioceses in the South and the Northeast are hoping to build its own province with approval from the Archbishop of Kenya.
Nzimbi said he will discuss the request at the February Primates meeting which will gather representatives from around the world. He hopes to have an answer by April.
"We must go slowly and assure that in every step we are giving honor and glory to God," said Nzimbi at the weekend meeting, according to Memphis' The Commercial Appeal.

Congregations began to split from the Episcopal Church when the 2nd openly gay bishop was consecrated in 2003. While homosexuality triggered the exodus of churches from the national body, the conservative groups have emphasized that the Episcopal Church's departure from Scriptural authority caused their breakaway.
Early this week, Bishops in Nigeria warned the worldwide Anglican Communion that they would go separate ways if the Episcopal Church does not repent of its apostasies.
"Christian unity must be anchored on Biblical truth," the Most Rev. Peter Akinola of the Church of Nigeria stressed.

As conservative Anglicans in the U.S. patiently await a response from the Archbishop of Kenya, Carpenter said their goal is "for the Episcopal Church to sort of see the error of its ways and reunite with all of us," according to the local newspaper.
Otherwise, they hope to establish a single Anglican communion in America, said Carpenter.
"Establishing an Anglican diocese with a bishop here in America would give all of us a new home." (The Gospel Herald, 18 Jan 2007) (to index)

* BLAIR RETREAT ON CATHOLIC EXEMPTION - British Prime Minister Tony Blair is backing away from a plan to exempt Catholic adoption agencies from a new law banning discrimination against gays.

Blair, faced with opposition in the Cabinet and among Labor Party back-benchers, said Thursday he will announce a new proposal next week, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, who heads the church in England and Wales, has said Catholic agencies might shut down if they were forced to consider homosexuals as adoptive parents. Anglican leaders have supported the Catholic Church in its bid for an exemption.
Blair said he personally believes the only consideration in adoption should be the well-being of the children involved.

"How do we protect the principle of ending discrimination against gay people and at the same time protect those vulnerable children who at the present time are being placed through, and after-care provided by, Catholic agencies, who everyone accepts do a great job with some of the most disturbed youngsters?" he asked. (United Press International, 25 Jan 2007) (to index)

* TEXAS APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS LAW PROTECTING PREGNANT WOMEN AND BABIES - A Texas state appeals court has upheld a state law that protects pregnant mothers and their unborn children from acts of violence. The court validated the law that says criminals who attack a pregnant woman and kill her baby can be charged with two crimes for the death or injury to both mother and child.

The Texas Ninth Court of Appeals upheld the law in a case concerning a double capital murder conviction involving a man who killed his unborn twin sons.
Attorneys for 21 year-old Gerardo Flores claimed the law was unconstitutional because it applied throughout pregnancy in protecting mother and child.
In May 2004, then 16-year-old Erica Basoria asked Flores to step on her stomach because she didn't want to give birth to the twins. Basoria has told authorities she had been trying to kill her unborn children for weeks before Flores attacked them.
"When I was four months pregnant, I began to show, and at that time I decided that I should have gotten an abortion," Basoria said in an affidavit.

Authorities say Basoria and Flores had been dating more than a year when she became pregnant in January 2004. Flores told the Associated Press that Basoria had difficulties with her family and lacked support for her pregnancy.

Flores was convicted of killing the babies and received two concurrent life sentences that won't let him be eligible for parole until 40 years from now. However, his lawyer, Ryan Deaton of Lufkin, argued the unborn victims law used to prosecute him was unconstitutional.
Angelina County Assistant District Attorney, Art Bauereiss told the Lufkin Daily News he was pleased with the appeals court's decision.
Basoria indicated that her family pressured her to have an abortion before Flores killed the babies.
"My mom, my sister and my sister-in-law all said that I should get an abortion," Basoria said in an affidavit. "They said that I was too young to have children."

In the affidavit, Basoria also said, "About two weeks before the miscarriage, I started hitting myself. I would do this every other day and I would use both of my fists when I did this. I would hit myself 10 or more times."
But Flores’ mother, Norma Flores, had urged the young woman to follow through with her pregnancy.
"I'm against abortion," Norma Flores told the AP. "It's a life that wants to live. (LifeNews, 29 Jan 2007) (to index)