A Kansas judge said he would "leave the door open" for Roeder's defense team to argue to jurors that his religious beliefs about abortion compelled him to act, possibly opening the door to a conviction on lesser charges than first-degree murder.
In mid-October, the Peruvian Constitutional Court—the highest court in Peru--issued a ruling banning the free distribution in the public health system of the Emergency Contraception pill.
Today, the Limited-Service Pregnancy Disclaimers Bill was signed into Baltimore law. The bill ensures that women who enter Baltimore area Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) hoping to find access to birth control, information about a potential pregnancy, or referrals to abortion providers will be immediately informed if those services are not available.
Revisions in Peru's Penal Code may lead to decriminalizing abortion in cases of rape or severe disability of the fetus. But conservative political and religious forces are, predictably, opposing these changes.
An annual report on sexually transmitted diseases released today by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that in 2008 adolescent girls 15–19 years of age had the largest reported number of chlamydia and gonorrhea cases when compared to any other age group.
An epidemic of sexually transmitted infections in the U.S. disproportionately affects blacks, youth, gays and the poor. Talking openly about sex is the first step in prevention.
The Wichita Eagle reports today that Eric Rucker, former top assistant to Kansas State Attorney General Phil Kline, faces a formal ethics complaint that he made misleading comments before the Kansas Supreme Court in attempts to prosecute Dr. George Tiller for violations of Kansas law for which Tiller was repeatedly found innocent.
After vociferously denying a "necessity defense" could be mounted in the case of Scott Roeder, the man accused of shooting Kansas doctor George Tiller in May, the public defender representing Roeder is fighting prosecutors' efforts to ban the so-called necessity defense from his trial.
