Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Elderly Man Sentenced to 12 Months Probation for Killing Wife in UK
A 100-year-old British man was recently sentenced to just 12 months “community rehabilitation” after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of his 87-year-old wife.
Bernard Heginbotham, 100, confessed to slitting the throat of his wife Ida, 87, on April 1 of this year. Ida was living in a nursing home due to her poor health and was scheduled to be moved to a different nursing home.
Bernard apparently believed that his wife would not receive proper care at the new nursing home and killed her in what he believed was an act of mercy. The BBC quoted prosecutor Hilary Banks telling the court that,
He [Bernard] admitted that he went to the home with a weapon and injured his wife which resulted in her death. He didn’t want his wife to be moved again and didn’t think she was going to receive the care he wanted her to have.
In sentencing Bernard to only 12 months community rehabilitation, the judge in the case said,
Bernard Heginbotham, the killing of your wife, to whom you had been married joyously for some 67 years, followed by your attempt to take your own life, was an act of desperation. It was carried out in an effort to end her suffering while you were under intolerable pressure. It was in truth an act of love and I have no doubt you suffered a medical disorder at the time and the responsibility which you bear is substantially reduced.
Sources:
Cutting Wife’s Throat Was ‘An Act Of Love’. Patrick Mulchrone, Daily Mirror, July 9, 2004.
Wife killer, 100, spared prison. BBC, July 8, 2004.
Tags: Uncategorized
Women Protest Houston Mall Over Breast Feeding Incident
Reuters reported this week that more than about 50 mothers gathered at a Houston shopping mall this week to protest an incident in which a woman breastfeeding her infant son was asked to either cover herself or move to a more private place, such as a restroom.
The women first breastfed their children in the middle of the mall before continuing their protest outside, complete with chants of “Got milk.”
Mall officials told Reuters that the incident was a mistake, and that the mall has no policy against public breast-feeding
Source:
Women stage breast-feeding protest at mall. Reuters, July 6, 2004.
Tags: Uncategorized
Islamic Extremists Stop Female Wrestling in Bangladesh
After demonstrators took to the streets in the capitol of Bangladesh, authorities there cancelled that country’s first scheduled female wrestling tournament.
The state-run wrestling federation hoped to have women from across the country participate in the event, but gave in after protesters complained that wrestling was “indecent and vulgar for Muslim women.”
The BBC reported, however, that the protesters misunderstood the nature of the wrestling match — the women would wrestle fully clothed, rather than wearing WWF-style uniforms or, Allah forbid, shorts.
The BBC quoted wrestling federation director Tabiur Rhaman as saying,
There is a misunderstanding. They might have thought that it would be a tournament like WWF, but we can assure them there will be nothing like that because we are fully aware of our religious sentiments.
Perhaps it is Rhaman, however, who misunderstands the opposition to women wrestling. Take Islamic reactionary Moulana Mohiuddin Khan who the BBC quotes as saying,
We are even ready to sacrifice our lives, if necessary, to protect our country from any kind of indecent sports.
Please, Khan, feel free to make that sacrifice any time.
Source:
Women’s wrestling called off. The BBC, July 4, 2004.
Tags: Uncategorized
Study Reports Rise in Number of Elective Cesarean Sections
A study by Health Grades Inc. reports that the number of elective cesarean sections increased by 25 percent from 2000 to 2002, and that as many as 1 in 50 live births in the United States are now performed by elective cesarian sections.
The study examined births at 1,684 hospitals and found that 2.21 percent of live births during the study period were performed by elective cesarian sections.
There are also preliminary indications that elective cesarean section births may be more cost effective and have fewer complications than vaginal births. The Health Grades Inc. study found that there were complications in 8.4 percent of elective cesareans as compared to complications in 12 percent of vaginal births.
That figure is in line with a University of Texas study that found elective cesarean births were more cost effective over the long term than vaginal births. Elective cesareans cost $920 compared to only $780 for vaginal births, but the costs of treating complications from vaginal births more than outweighed the slightly higher costs for the cesarean.
Sources:
Study finds Caesarean births more popular. Austin Business Journal, June 28, 2004.
Number of ‘Patient Choice’ C-Sections Rises by 25 Percent, HealthGrades Study Finds. Press Release, Health Grades Inc., June 29, 2004.
Tags: Uncategorized
David Reimer, 38, Commits Suicide
Canadian media reported this month that David Reimer, 38, committed suicide on May 4 after losing his life savings in a shady investment deal.
Reimer achieved a modicum of fame in the early 1990s when he was the subject of a book by John Colapinto, As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised a Girl..
As an infant, Reimer’s penis was destroyed in a botched circumcision. After seeking help from a number of experts, Reimer’s mother ended up at the door of Dr. John Money who decided to use Reimer as part of an experiment to test his theory that gender was socially assigned rather than genetic.
Under Money’s advice, Reimer’s testicles and his remaining genitalia were removed and Reimer was raised as a girl (complete with hormone treatments), with his parents being told never to reveal the truth. Money published a number of scholarly articles comparing Reimer’s development with that of his twin brother which portrayed the reassignment as an unqualified success, but the reality was that the experiment was an utter failure. Reimer had a very difficult childhood due to the attempted gender change and threatened to kill himself rather than continue to see Dr. Money which prompted his parents to reveal the truth.
Reimer later said that he was shocked to find out that while he was experiencing a miserable childhood trying to fit in as a girl that Money’s chronicling of this “success” was being used to inflict the same nightmare on other children.
Reimer tried to kill himself at least three times and expressed a desire to kill Dr. Money. Eventually he abandoned his feminine identity, and underwent reconstructive surgery to restore his genitalia.
Money’s view that gender is assigned socially has been all-but-refuted by studies showing that prenatal exposure to hormones appears to be largely responsible for sex assignment (although it is still the prevailing view of many academic feminists for whom evidence is always a poor substitute for ideology).
Source:
Man raised as a girl commits suicide. Associated Press, May 12, 2004.
Tags: Uncategorized
Group Wants Father Figure Requirement Removed from Fertility Treatment in UK
In Great Britain, clinics that perform in vitro fertilization are required by law to consider the “need of the child for a father” before allowing women to undergo the procedure. The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority recently argued that this requirement is “nonsense” and is proposing to have that provision removed from the law.
Suzi Leather, chairwoman of the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority, said in a speech,
It is absolutely clear if you think about the changes in society and the different ways that families can be constituted that it is anachronistic for the law to include the statement about a child’s need for a father.
It seems to me a bit of nonsense to have that still in the legislation.
The requirement does not appear to prevent single women or lesbians from obtaining IVF. Clinics simply list an alternative father figure such as an uncle or grandfather to comply with the law.
Matthew Mudge, chairman of Families Need Fathers, took issue with the proposal, telling IC Wales,
The whole proposal is sick - there are enough fatherless children around, why should another generation not have fathers?
All the statistics show that tearaway youngsters, generally speaking, come from single parent homes which lack the guiding hand of a father figure, or what I like to call, a benign dictatorship.
The father is generally regarded as the disciplinarian in the nuclear family who teaches the children self-discipline and respect for others.
As a Christian and as a father I find the whole idea repugnant.
The BBC reports that the HFEA is planning a “major review” of this and other requirements that were included as part of Great Britain’s 1990 Human Fertilization and Embryology Act.
Sources:
IVF ‘father figure’ law attacked. The BBC, January 21, 2004.
Fury over call to end IVF father ‘nonsense’. Madeleine Brindley, The Western Mail, January 22, 2004.
Tags: Uncategorized
Man Wins Lawsuit Against Fertility Clinic Over Consent to Use Embryos
Richard Gladu, Jr. was awarded $108,000 from a Massachusetts fertility clinic whom he sued for allowing his wife to be implanted with a frozen embryo without his consent.
Gladu and his wife, Meredith McLeod, had the frozen embryos created and implanted so that McLeod, who was infertile, could have a child.
But in the mid-1990s the couple had a rocky marriage, eventually ending in divorce. Despite Gladu’s claim that he told his wife he did not want any more children, McLeod returned to the clinic in 1995 to be implanted with the remaining embryos resulting the birth of a girl.
Gladu sued the Boston IVF clinic seeking $3 million in damages for breach of contract. Gladu argued that the clinic had a duty to seek his consent before implanting the embryos.
A jury agreed, though awarded Gladu only $108,000 — $98,000 for the cost of raising the child and $10,000 for emotional distress. The jury did not, however, agree with Gladu’s contention that the doctors involved had acted negligently.
Sources:
Ex-husband sues clinic over birth of daughter. John Ellement and Thanassis Cambanis, Boston Globe, January 15, 2004.
Man gets $108,000 from fertility clinic. Jay Lindsay, Associated Press, January 30, 2004.
Tags: Uncategorized
Innocent Man Freed After Decades On Death Row for Rape/Murder He Didn’t Commit
In January, Nicholas Yarris walked out of the Pennsylvania prison where he had spent 23 years on death row for the rape and murder of a Philadelphia woman.
Yarris was convicted of the killing in 1983 after police testified that he had confessed to the crime. Yarris denied that claim at trial, and the only physical evidence linking him to the crime was that he (and 20 percent of the population, including the victim’s husband) had the same blood type as the killer.
Recent DNA testing of genetic material found under the woman’s fingernails, on her underwear and in gloves worn by the killer showed they all belonged to the same man, but that man was not Yarris.
According to the ACLU, 112 people in 25 states have been released from death row since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
Source:
State frees death row inmate exonerated by DNA. Dan Nephin, Associated Press, January 16, 2004.
Tags: Uncategorized
WHO Releases Report on Maternal Mortality Around the World
In October the World Health Organization released its estimates of the continued prevalence of maternal mortality. WHO estimates that worldwide 529,000 women die during childbirth.
Not surprisingly, 95 percent of those childbirth deaths occur in Africa and Asia, while only about 2,500 maternal deaths (less than one percent of the world total) occurred in developed countries.
In the United States, for example, the risk of dying during childbirth was 1 in 2,500. In Sweden it reached an astounding low of 1 in 29,800. But in places like Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, the risk was 1 in 6, while in Angola, Malawai and Niger the risk was 1 in 7.
In the developed world, the lifetime risk of a woman dying during childbirth as 1 in 2,800, while in developing countries it was 1 in 61. For Africa as a whole, the life time risk was 1 in 20.
Not surprisingly, the World Health Organization fond that lack of access to quality medical care was the major cause of most maternal deaths.
Source:
Africa childbirth deaths ‘unacceptable’. The BBC, October 20, 2003.
Tags: Uncategorized
A Call For Gender-Neutral Restrooms at the University of Chicago
The Chicago Maroon — the student newspaper at the University of Chicago — reported in November on a panel at which University of Chicago Law professor Mary Case presented the case for an issue near and dear to her — the need for gender-neutral bathrooms on the university’s campus.
In October 2001, Case made her mark at the University of Chicago with a presentation on “Toilet Paper: Toilets as Gendered Spaces” which, according to the University of Chicago’s Center for Gender Studies, was well-received by the more than 100 people who turned up to hear the presentation.
At a November panel discussion organized by the Center for gender studies, Case complained about the iconography associated with men and women’s restrooms, noting that women’s restrooms are frequently marked with a drawing of a stick figure in a dress. According to Case,
Going into it implies that we are willing to be associated with that image. There are only two [images] to choose from. This moment involves an act of self-labeling.
According to the Chicago Maroon, Case favors leaving the iconography alone, but allowing either sex to choose to use either bathroom.
The administration at the University of Chicago is taking this very seriously. Bill Michel, deputy dean at the University of Chicago, told the Maroon,
I was pleased that the students organized [sic] on open panel discussion to highlight the issues and encourage community discussion on the topic. If we are to make this change it would be in order to meet the needs of members of our community.
In fact, it turns out that the lack of gender-neutral bathroom facilities may present a public health problem. According to the Maroon,
Nate Claxton, another panelist, knew people who had contracted bladder infections because choosing a [sic] gender bathroom bothered them so much that they did not got to the bathroom all day.
Source:
Panel calls for neutral bathrooms. Robert Katz, Chicago Maroon, November 21, 2003.
Tags: Uncategorized