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"This gruesome procedure may be outlawed only if there exists a medical consensus that there is no circumstance in which any women could potentially benefit from it," he explained.

The abortion realities in this country, however, are no different today than they were before Casey's ruling. There was already an injunction on the ban while this case and two others make their way through the courts. A U.S. District Judge in San Francisco ruled in June that the ban is unconstitutional. A judge in Nebraska has not yet ruled. In essence, we're all just waiting for the issue to return to the U.S. Supreme Court. Attorney General John Ashcroft has promised to appeal.

"While the decision is disappointing, it's important to realize that this ruling represents only the beginning of a lengthy legal process that will end at the Supreme Court," said Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice. Other prolife organizations' responses can be read here.

Life ethics:

• Election could turn on stem-cell issue | Bush's barriers to research will cost him votes (Robert Beckel, Los Angeles Times)
• Calif. to vote on $3b stem cell project | Silicon Valley tycoons, Nobel laureates and Hollywood celebrities are backing a measure on California's Nov. 2 ballot to devote $3 billion to human embryonic stem cell experiments in what would be the biggest-ever state-supported scientific research program in the country (Associated Press)

Poverty:

• Poverty rate up 3rd year in a row | More also lack health coverage (The Washington Post)
• More Americans were uninsured and poor in 2003, census finds | The ranks of the poor and those without health insurance grew in 2003 for the third straight year, the government reported (The New York Times)
• U.S. poverty rate up in '03, census reports | The nation's poverty rate rose by almost a half percentage point in 2003 over 2002, the U.S. Census Bureau reported yesterday, prompting Democrats to dismiss President Bush's claim of an economic recovery (The Washington Times)
• One million join ranks of US poor | The number of Americans who slid into poverty last year rose despite US economic growth, official data shows (BBC)
• Connecting on a personal level | Many homeless come looking for human contact as much as food, say ministry members (News-Press, Glendale, Ca.)
• Why isn't rising poverty a key campaign issue? | It takes more than sinister political rhetoric to alleviate the plight of the poor (Adrienne Washington, The Washington Times)

Sudan:

• Dying in Darfur | Arab militias have killed tens of thousands of Sudanese over the past several months in the Darfur region of the country. (NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, PBS)
• Militias 'still active' in Darfur | Sudan is allowing armed pro-government groups to operate at least 16 militia camps in the western region of Darfur, a human rights group claims (BBC)
• Sudan's move in civil war shows pressure is working, Danforth says | Government approves of more foreign troops to watch troubled area (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• We have the resources to save many lives | We are once again sitting by, watching, indifferent (Hannah Rosenthal, South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

Church attacks:

• Church attacked | A mob attacked a Catholic church in Raikia town today about 72 km from here, smashed statues and set ablaze a truck parked outside the church. This followed protest by some Christians against the removal of the fencing (to plant trees) erected outside the church, police said (The Hindu, India)

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August (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48