This is completely disgusting, especially considering this kind of thing actually does happen to young women who refuse to get an abortion when their boyfriend tells them to (h/t Catholic in Film School):
I flagged the video as “shocking or disgusting” content, though it could also be flagged as “promotes hatred or violence”. You should go flag it too.
I found some great videos highlighting those who have benefited from adult stem cells via Life Ethics:
Here is Jacki Rabon, whose spinal cord injury improved after she was injected with stem cells from her own nose (from this study).
I love this woman who, after two successful ASC injections, had a t-shirt made that she wears out in public to let everyone know about the benefits of ASCs.
These videos are from the Encore Toast to Adult and Cord Blood Stem Cells last March, hosted by Do No Harm.
See more videos like this on the You Tube channels stemcellsthatwork and stemcellguy.
We cannot celebrate the great gift of life without also meditating upon the mystery of death. Earlier last week I had the strangest dream about a man I graduated high school with who died in Iraq two years ago. I frequently have dreams about people I know or have known, but this one was particularly special for some reason. I couldn’t quite figure it out, though, until I did an internet search for him – because I just couldn’t get him out of my mind – and found out that the second anniversary of his death was April 14 (probably the day I had that dream). In my search I was very surprised to find this lovely video tribute to Darin:
Shortly after graduation I moved out of the small town I went to high school in and didn’t keep 
in touch with him, though I had seen him once or twice. But he was a close friend of mine in school and remains one of the sweetest guys I have ever known (and I don’t say that about just anyone). Unfortunately I was going to school in Florida when he died and I didn’t find out about it until after the funeral, which was held in our high school gym. Below is a picture of his body being driven into our hometown. People were lined up all along the highway to greet him as he came in. It’s really beautiful the way we still honor our fallen soldiers in this country.
The joyful season of Easter, which we are still celebrating, reminds us that death is not the end of life and should neither be feared nor mourned. From Sunday’s Gospel reading:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.” (Jn. 14:1-3)
I love this part of JPII’s “Meditations on the Book of Genesis at the Threshold of the Sistine Chapel”
This End is also the summit of transparency
such is the path of all generations.“Non omnis moriar” (Not all of me will die).
What is imperishable in me
now stands face to face with Him Who Is!
May you rest in the peace of the Risen Lord, Darin, and may we meet again one day in that world that has no end.
You can view and sign Darin’s legacy guest book or his fallen heroes guest book.
Recently the federal government dedicated $85 million for the creation of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) to fund a type of stem cell therapy for veterans injured in Iraq and Afghanistan (h/t Wesley Smith). This therapy helps grow brand new bone:
Orthopaedic stem cell surgery has been practiced by only a handful of doctors nationwide. Proponents complain that medicine involving adult stem cells is underfunded because it is often confused with controversial embryonic stem cell research. But the stem cells Einhorn uses don’t come from embryos; they come from the patients themselves.
“His own live cells,” Einhorn said.
Einhorn extracts stem cells from the patient’s bone marrow, drawn from the pelvis. Some is used for what Einhorn calls “grout.”
“By mixing the bone marrow cells with protein, it gives me a kind of a grouting material that I can use to fill in the gaps,” he said.
Dr. George Muschler, who pioneered the surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, which is a grant recipient, said, “I think [the procedure] has applications to some challenges that might have previously cost patients their leg, because we didn’t have a way to heal their bone.”
Muschler has been monitoring patients in the past six years, and says he is convinced that the method results in the growth of strong, new permanent bone.
What great news not only for stem cell research, but for our men and women in combat who are coming home with some devastating injuries.
More human patients will be treated with “adult” stem cells:
DURHAM, NC–(Marketwire – April 16, 2008) – Aldagen, Inc. today announced that the first patient has been treated in a Phase III clinical trial for ALD-101. Aldagen is developing ALD-101 to improve cord blood transplants used to treat inherited metabolic diseases in pediatric patients. ALD-101 is a population of adult stem cells isolated from cord blood using Aldagen’s proprietary technology. The company commenced the Phase III clinical trial of ALD-101 to evaluate its ability to accelerate neutrophil and platelet engraftment following cord blood transplantation in these patients.
40 pediatric patients with inherited metabolic diseases undergoing a cord blood transplant will be treated in the multi-site Phase III clinical study. The primary goal of the study is to determine if ALD-101 can accelerate the restoration of circulating platelets. A 24-patient Phase I/II study of ALD-101 was previously conducted and a statistically significant reduction in the time to platelet engraftment was observed in patients receiving ALD-101 as part of a cord blood transplant compared to patients who had received a cord blood transplant without ALD-101 in an earlier independent clinical trial.
See my adult stem cell archive
This Sunday Hannity’s America exposed PP’s inability to recognize and report illegal activity when it’s staring them right in the face. The story centered around a 14-year old girl who was impregnated by her 21-year old soccer coach. The girl’s parents were never notified since PP was given the soccer coach’s number instead and he acted as her guardian. The coach allegedly took her to the clinic, paid for the abortion and even showed the clinic workers his ID in the process. The case is being heard by the Ohio supreme court. Watch video of the report at Jill Stanek’s blog. According to this story that same PP clinic is involved in another lawsuit, this time involving a teenager who was being sexually abused by her father.
Failing to recognize or report sexual abuse is not new for PP and the abortion industry at all, as we have seen in the case against George Tiller, who has allegedly performed abortions on girls as young as 10 years old. But don’t expect to hear about it from mainstream media. Maybe they would pay attention if this was happening at a polygamist compound.
At the UK National Stem Cell Network Annual Science Meeting atendees heard about the promise of adult stem cells. Yes, you heard that right, the promise of ASCs, not that embryonic stem cell hype (which I’m sure was also present at the meeting). From the story:
Professor Kielty’s team study stem cells that are found in human bone marrow called mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). MSCs have the ability to relocate and develop into several different types of cells and tissue and are very promising as a source of cells for transplant in tissue repair. As well as offering the potential for bespoke treatments derived from a person’s own cells, MSCs are unlikely to trigger a severe immune response, and may be suitable for “off-the-shelf” treatments for tissue repair. This research focuses on the details of a messaging system that leads to the development of blood vessels from MSCs in the body. This system is called ‘PDGF receptor signalling’…
Professor Kielty said: “What we have shown is that adult stem cells respond in particular ways to some of the chemical signals in the body. The next stage will be to understand how this messaging system regulates relocation of the MSCs and instructs them to become blood vessel cells. After that, we can look at applying our understanding to develop stem-cell derived therapies for tissue repair.”
Here again we see how modern stem cell science is debunking the theory that ASCs have little to no pluripotency. In fact, because of their maturity, it is easier for ASCs to conform to their surroundings. ESCs have generally proved to be too pluripotent, hence their tendency to form tumors.
Pope Benedict’s pastoral visit to the U.S. starts tomorrow with the theme of Christ our Hope!
[M]an needs God, otherwise he remains without hope…God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety. His Kingdom is not an imaginary hereafter, situated in a future that will never arrive; his Kingdom is present wherever he is loved and wherever his love reaches us. His love alone gives us the possibility of soberly persevering day by day, without ceasing to be spurred on by hope, in a world which by its very nature is imperfect. His love is at the same time our guarantee of the existence of what we only vaguely sense and which nevertheless, in our deepest self, we await: a life that is “truly” life. (Spe Salvi, 23, 31)
JPII mentioned more than once that a nation that kills its own children is a nation without a future – without hope. After 35 years of abortion on demand and as we continue to pursue research that involves the destruction of human life, not to mention our increasing belief that those who suffer and cannot be cured might be better off dead, it is clear that our nation is in great need of this message of hope.
Together let us pray for our beloved Holy Father, for his safety, for the success of his visit and that the people of America may be open to his message of hope!
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
Below are links to some of my past posts featuring the Holy Father and his writings:
The Paradox of the Cross
Pope Confronts the “Difficult Problem of Bioethics”
Love and Suffering
When Technical Progress Becomes a Threat
Pope Endorses Stem Cell Research
Pope Speaks About Life Issues
The Greatest Destroyer of Peace
Uniting for Life
Oh, and I Love the Pope, Too!
A Message From Papa Ben!
The Resurrection = Event of Love
We are Awaited by His Love
An Advent Reflection on Eternal Life
The Pope on Political Priorities
Be sure to watch EWTN or visit Benedict in America for full coverage of our Holy Father’s
Meet Charlie, a delightful eight year old boy who was born with some serious physical disabilities and special needs and wasn’t expected to live past his first birthday.
With him in mind please read Mark Pickup’s detailed account of the case of Robert Latimer who murdered his 12-year old disabled daughter, gassing her to death with fumes from his truck. He was convicted of second degree murder with a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 10 years. Now, just seven years later, Latimer is a free man and continues to enjoy widespread sympathy and support from the Canadian public.
Millions of disabled people have had misery in their lives. Many live alone, unloved, sometimes in pain. Sadly, that has been the reality for disabled people throughout history. But being miserable is not a reason to kill disabled people! If misery were a reason for death, not one of us with disabilities would be safe. It would create open season on the disabled. The answer is not to kill us in a flimsy excuse of stopping misery or bestowing so-called death with dignity. The answer lies elsewhere: it lies in proper pain management, and seeking life with dignity, and inclusion, especially for those who do not have it.
Previous post:
Live Life, Love Life and Honor Terri Schiavo
I knew that Sacred Scripture condemned the use of contraception in the account of Onan spilling his seed (Gen. 38:9-10). But I wasn’t aware until just recently that Scripture also supports the use of natural family planning:
Do not deprive each other, except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, to be free for prayer, but then return to one another, so that Satan may not tempt you through your lack of self-control. (1 Corinth. 7:5)
I feel pretty silly for never knowing that!
The marital act is meant to be both unitive (Gen. 2:24) and procreative(Gen. 1:28). This is what a couple vows to on their wedding day. It is true that, to be faithful, couples must speak the language of their marital vows every time they engage in the marital embrace, but they are not obligated to engage in intercourse if there is a good reason to refrain – such as a serious reason for avoiding pregnancy. See my post NFP vs. Contraception.
Not only is NFP a wonderful tool for keeping marriages strong and more effective in preventing and achieving pregnancy, but it is, as it’s title suggests, 100% natural. I always found it strange that a woman would want to take medication when there is nothing physically wrong with her. Fertility is not a disease or some medical condition, and even if there are serious reasons for avoiding pregnancy does it make sense to take drugs with all sorts of chemicals and harmful side-effects (some women have died from using birth control) when there is a perfectly healthy and natural alternative?
Also, self-control is a good thing. If you’re using birth control so that you can be “free” to give in to your every sexual desire, so that you never have to say no, are you really free, or have you become a slave to your own desire? In order to be a sign of true love, as it is meant to be, the marital embrace must be a free gift of each spouse to the other, not a response to a lustful sexual appetite.
Visit the Couple to Couple League for more information on NFP
God Sex and Babies, What the Church Really Teaches About Responsible Parenthood
Humanae Vitae
A Catholic social science review of NFP vs. contraception
Birth Control Pill Linked to Hardening of the Arteries
Previous posts:
Reclaiming the Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality
How Can There Be Too Many Children?