Faculty Bibliography

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The names are familiar -- [Julia Quinlan], Brophy, Lawrance, Delio, Busalacchi, Rosebush, Cole, Wanglie, Mack, Amerman. These are the names of those Americans who pioneered a strange frontier, the boundaries of the right to die

Those who oppose elective abortion think that if they redouble their efforts their side can still win absolute victory in the state legislatures, city councils, county boards or in Congress. They are wrong. The legal availability of elective abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy can no longer be removed by either legislative or judicial action

The report debunks the idea that violent crime is the work of violent career criminals. Only a few individuals commit violent crimes frequently. Most violent crime is committed by offenders who have some non-violent criminal violations on their record, but no previous history of violent crime

PIP: Researchers believe fetal tissue can be easily transplanted into and cure people with incurable debilitating diseases such as Parkinson's disease. In 1988, the Reagan Administration stopped funding transplantation research of fetal tissue from induced abortions. An advisory panel later decided that it is an acceptable public policy as long as certain conditions a re met. Yet the Bush Administration continued the ban. In 1992, it erroneously claimed that transplantation research could use alternative sources of fetal tissue. 1 alternative is fetal tissue obtained from ectopic pregnancies. Yet spontaneously aborted ectopic pregnancies tend not to produce recognizable or viable in culture fetal tissue and if they do the tissue has been ischemic for days. Ectopic pregnancies requiring surgical sterilization tend to be morphologically abnormal. The only likelihood of viable fetal tissue form ectopic pregnancies is a fetus with myocardial contractility before surgery. The administration also recommended use of fetal tissue from spontaneous abortions but these fetuses often have a major chromosomal or other fatal defect. Researchers cannot use chromosomally abnormal fetal tissue since it growth, development, and function are unreliable. Expulsion of the necrotic fetus tends to occur a couple of weeks after death. The Bush Administration also proposed use of tissue from stillbirths but their tissue tends to be nonviable and the tissue, even if it were viable, is generally not at the developmental stage needed for transplantation. The placenta and yolk sac were other suggested alternatives, but the placenta is likely to be less immunogenic than embryonic tissue. It can help develop certain cell lines which produce insulin or neurotransmitters like dopamine, however. The yolk sac could replace fetal liver cells in transplantation. Nevertheless the only advantage of using the suggested alternatives is the perception of them raising less ethical concern than fetal tissue from an induced abortion.