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Surviving Siamese twin goes home
Media deal for the family
Gracie Attard, the Siamese twin who survived a controversial operation in Britain that caused the death of her sister, arrived home in the Mediterranean island of Gozo in June amid controversy over media deals from which her family will receive at least 1 million pounds.
Although Gracie’s case had prompted worldwide attention, her real name had not been revealed until a June decision by the High Court lifted an injunction on the press. Formerly, she and her sister were known to the world only as Jodie and Mary.
As the baby went home, the Attard family was accompanied by journalists from the News of the World and The Mail, which published pictures of Gracie under the terms of an exclusive deal arranged by a London publicist. Parents and child were rushed through immigration checkpoints and into two vehicles before sailing in a private motor launch to a hidden cove in Gozo, three miles away.
The homecoming was marred, however, after former friends of the family accused them of being motivated by greed. Tony and Pat Hubble, a British couple who own property on the island and who supported the Attards when they arrived in Manchester last August, accused the family of being “focused on money.”
London to recognize same-sex unions
Mayor sees more to come
Mayor Ken Livingstone has announced that the City of London will soon offer legal recognition for same-sex unions.
Beginning in September, homosexual couples will be able to enroll in a Partnerships Register, gaining legal recognition for their union. Although they will not receive the same legal benefits as married couples, the arrangement may pave the way for further moves in that direction.
“Clearly we still have a long way to go,” Mayor Livingstone said. But he added that the registration process would constitute a “step on the road to equality” in treatment of homosexual couples.
International cloning ban proposed
Plan would preserve “therapeutic” process
Only a worldwide ban on human cloning will prevent the creation of designer babies, Britain’s leading scientific body has said.
Giving evidence to the House of Lords committee on stem-cell research, the Royal Society said that an international ban was “the only way to reduce the chances of such experiments being carried out in other countries.” However, the report said, such a ban must ensure so-called “therapeutic cloning” research aimed at developing new treatments was not jeopardized. “Therapeutic” cloning involves the creation of cloned embryos purely for the purpose of harvesting stem cells; the unborn children are then killed before they can develop.
Richard Gardner, who chaired the Royal Society working group which prepared the report, said: “Our experience with animals suggests that there would be a very real danger of creating seriously handicapped individuals if anybody tries to implant cloned human embryos into the womb.” He warned against having “wholly unrealistic expectations” about the outcome of cloning which could never replace “a beloved child or partner lost in an accident.” He said, “While a clone is likely to bear a striking physical resemblance to the original, the two will differ at least as much as identical twins in terms of personality and other higher mental attributes.”
Abortion-cancer link affirmed
Physician reverses his position
British physician Thomas Stuttaford has reversed his stand on the connection between abortion and breast cancer, according to a press release by the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer.
Last year in the August 14, 2000, issue of the London Times, Dr. Stuttaford authored an article entitled, “Can Abortions Be Linked to Breast Cancer?” In the article, Stuttaford reassured British women that abortion is a safe procedure. He declared, “As yet there is no evidence of a causative link between abortion and breast cancer,” and he incorrectly added, “None has been claimed by Professor Brind.” (Dr. Joel Brind has devoted himself to the public exposure of studies making just such a link.)
Less than a year later, Stuttaford authored another article for the Times in which he revealed that he had reversed his position on the abortion-breast cancer research. In an article entitled “Fresh Line of Attack,” he wrote: “Breast cancer is diagnosed in 33,000 women in the UK each year; of these, an unusually high proportion had an abortion before eventually starting a family. Such women are up to four times more likely to develop breast cancer.” Stuttaford writes that “a report by the Royal Statistical Society shows that a termination of pregnancy interrupts the cellular changes that occur in the breast during pregnancy. Once the woman has had children, the effect is less because the cellular changes have been completed . . . .”
Back to Catholic World Report August/September 2001 Table of Contents