Facts of Life Email: February 17, 2006

CURRENT LIFE ISSUES:

u A male nurse who has been described as Germany's worst serial killer since World War II will go on trial to face accusations of killing 29 mostly elderly patients. Stephan L., a 27-year-old man who has been nicknamed the "Angel of Death" by the German press, admitted after he was arrested in July 2004 to killing 12 patients in his care by lethal injection. Investigators subsequently dug up more than 40 graves of people who died at the clinic in Sonthofen in southern Germany where he worked, and the nurse now faces 16 counts of murder, 12 of manslaughter and one count of manslaughter with the victim's consent. The majority were 75 years of age or older, though the youngest was only 40. Check out our news page for the complete story!

u The Food and Drug Administration has announced that it will convene a panel of experts in May to determine why the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug has caused sever bacterial infections that have resulted in the deaths of four women and injuring hundreds more. Some 15 to 20 scientists who have studied the infections will be asked to present their findings at the conference, scheduled for May 11, the FDA told the New York Times. Four California women, including 17-year-old Holly Patterson, died after using the abortion drug and contracting infections of Clostridium sordellii. Our news page contains the complete story, or click here to learn more about RU-486 and other dangers of abortion. 

u Members of the Supreme Court met behind closed doors this week to do which handful of cases they will hear out of 800 appeals that have been filed there. Attorneys for President Bush want the high court to hear a case on the partial-birth abortion ban. The announcement about which cases will be heard is expected next week. The Bush administration filed paperwork with the court earlier this week asking it to take the partial-birth abortion case. Three appeals courts have ruled the ban unconstitutional because it lacks a health exception -- even though the three-day long abortion procedure is never necessary to protect a woman's life or health. Read the complete story.

u The committee that oversees the $3 billion in taxpayer funds that will be spent on embryonic stem cell research says the state of California will be entitled to 25 percent of the profits that result from any therapies it develops. The board also set up ground rules to make sure scientists do not take advantage of women who donate their human eggs for research. The committee, which was created after voters approved Proposition 71, was struggling with how to repay the state should the controversial research actually develop any treatments. Thus far, adult stem cells have yielded dozens of therapies while embryonic stem cell research has yet to help a single patient. For more information about Prop 71's effect on California and about stem cell research, check out our documentary, The Human Experiment.

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WHAT'S HAPPENING AT CPLC:

u Help us give CA students the opportunity to stand up for LIFE! Plans are already underway for the 2006 CPLC Youth Oratory Contest, but we need your help to make sure every pro-life student has the chance to speak! Can you host a contest in your hometown? It's easier than you think! Visit www.californiaprolife.org/speak for all the details!

JOIN THE ADVENTURE!
CPLC has a variety of educational resources for you to share with your community. Learn more about all the current issues and how to get involved!

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"The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between."
Mother Theresa