Nora Sullivan, M.P.A

In a recent column in the Huffington Post, Dr. Anu Kumar, the Executive Director of Ipas, a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding the availability of abortion worldwide, bemoans efforts in the United States in any way to limit abortion on demand or hold abortion clinics to a significant standard of care.  She points to recent laws passed in Arizona and elsewhere as specific examples of antiquated thinking on the part of Americans.

A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the enforcement of Arizona’s House Bill 2036, which was intended to go into effect today after much contentious debate.  The new law bans abortions after 20 weeks gestation - four weeks earlier than previously permitted in the state – and it does so on the grounds that abortions done at that stage or later pose an increased risk to maternal health and inflict pain on the developing child in the womb.

Last week, Former GOP Presidential candidate Rick Santorum returned to Iowa.  This time he was not there to campaign for public office but to instead announce his new position as the official spokesman  for the Give Cures campaign.  The Give Cures campaign is the John Paul II Stem Cell Research Institute’s “national gift campaign that raises funds to advance ethical, non-controversial stem cell research to find cures or therapies, and provide education.” 

This past week it was announced that the husband of Feng Jianmei, a Chinese woman forced to undergo an abortion in the seventh month of her pregnancy, has made known that he and his wife want the family planning officials responsible for the forced abortion to face criminal changes. 

For months it has seemed that the recompense due to the victims of the horrific North Carolina Eugenics program was assured.  The measure to award a monetary compensation to these people whose human dignity has been so grossly violated seemed only just and entertained enthusiastic support from North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue, the State House of Representative, and a large number of average North Carolingians.  However, despite the outpouring of support for this measure, the compensation packages were not included in the Senate’s budget.

 According to the Telegraph, information from the National Health Service (NHS) shows a significant jump in the number of repeat abortions occurring in England and Wales.  According to the NHS, 36% of all abortions performed in 2011 were performed on women who had already had at least one abortion. That is a total of 68,105 women, which is a 2% increase from 2010 when the number stood at 64,303.  This is the largest jump in the number of repeat abortions in one year.

On April 27th, 2012, in a daring flight to freedom that caught the attention of the entire world, Chen Guangcheng successfully managed to escape the dwelling where he has been under house arrest for two years and evade the authorities who have kept him under constant surveillance, showering him and his family with abuse.  The 40-year-old blind lawyer and family man was driven by friends from his home in the Shendong province to Beijing, where he took refuge in the U.S. Embassy.  Following negotiations between the U.S. and China, Chen was effectively returned to Chinese authorities at a Beijing hospital. However, the State Department has said that China has indicated it will approve Chen’s application to travel to the United States.  The fallout from his epic escape has been enormous and has ignited an intense discussion regarding human rights in China.

The government of the small central Asian country of Uzbekistan has declared 2012 “The Year of the Family.”  As the Uzbek culture traditionally values the family, marriage, and children above all other things, this proclamation is perfectly in sync with the spirit of the people.  The goals of the year are to increase the number of happy families and to strengthen the institution of the family in Uzbekistan.  It is an entirely worthy goal; however, it stands in stark contrast to the startling information that was released this month by the BBC.

The state of North Carolina has now identified more than 100 victims of their massive state-sponsored eugenics program which lasted from 1929 to 1974 according to reports out recently.  

An American group called Medical Students for Choice (MSFC) has announced plans to fund abortion training for medical students in the United Kingdom and Ireland.