Federal family planning funds may not be used for the performance of abortions, but pro-life advocates point out the government grants free up other funds for use in Planned Parenthood's abortion business. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and its affiliates received government grants, contracts and reimbursements that totaled $487.4 million in 2009-10, the latest year for which statistics are available. PPFA's affiliates reported their clinics did 329,445 abortions in 2010, their first drop in 15 years. MASS. EMBRYONIC STEM CELL BANK TO CLOSE -- A stem cell bank funded by the state of Massachusetts to circumvent President George W. Bush's restriction on federal funding of lethal research on human embryos will close after it runs out of money at the end of the year. The state invested $8.6 million to create the bank in 2008 at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, but it is now obsolete following President Obama's reversal of the Bush restriction and the technological progress made in recent years, the Boston Globe reported. Bioethics specialist Wesley Smith said the establishment of the bank seemed "more about liberal politics than actual scientific need. And now ESCR is becoming increasingly passe." He wrote on his blog, "Back in those days when hype and lies ruled the biotech discourse, states were tripping over each other in an Oklahoma Land Race mentality trying to attract all the business opportunities, taxes and employment that the ESCR industry would create. Well, they're still waiting." While many scientists touted ESCR, it has failed to produce the results of adult stem cells or to show the promise of induced pluripotent stem cells. ESCR also is extremely controversial, primarily because extraction of such cells results in the destruction of days-old human embryos. Compiled by Tom Strode and Diana Chandler of Baptist Press. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). Copyright (c) 2012 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press www.BPNews.net |