Singapore has become the second country in the world, after the United Kingdom, to allow human cloning for research purposes. Scientists will be allowed to extract stem cells from cloned embryos for research deemed to have "strong scientific merit" or "potential medical benefit." Cloned embryos can be kept alive for 14 days, after which they must be killed ... The Straits Times reports that China has the world's largest supply of embryonic stem cells, as at least five laboratories in China are now engaged in the cloning of humans for research purposes ... A Pakistani report prepared by Dr. Mohammad Irfan of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, noting that 6,000 babies are born with thalassaemia major (a condition that affects the formation of hemoglobin in the blood and necessitates regular blood transfusions) in that country each year, recommends establishing a prenatal screening program so they can be aborted ... Malaysia is considering legalizing abortion in cases of rape or incest. Abortion is already legal to protect "maternal physical and mental health" ... The Bangkok Post reports that records of family planning clinics in Thailand suggest that women there are using the abortifacient morning-after pill or "emergency contraception" as a primary form of birth control, as it is not uncommon for women to be taking more than 10 of them a month ... Dr. Jean Kagia, the chairperson of the Christian Medical Fellowship of Kenya, said 700 abortions are committed daily in Kenya on girls aged between 15 and 19 years. Approximately 5,000 women die every year from abortion complications ... A Peruvian congressional committee has concluded that the pro-abortion United Nations Fund for Population Activities supported a program of mass, forced sterilizations organized by former dictator Alberto Fujimori.

The New York Times lets its liberalism show in a feature on U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. "Mr. Powell's approach to almost all issues - foreign or domestic - is pragmatic and non-ideological. He is ... moderate. He has supported abortion rights and affirmative action" ... U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, giving all babies who are born alive full legal rights under federal law, even if they have survived a botched abortion. ... U.S. syndicated columnist Mark Sheilds notes that a Los Angeles Times national exit poll taken on election day 2000 found that 14 per cent of the electorate "named abortion as the most important issue in deciding their presidential vote. That same group of voters chose Bush over Gore by 58 per cent to 41 per cent" ... Democrat Tony Sanchez, who "takes Holy Communion twice a week," is attempting to become Texas's first Catholic governor. However, Sanchez favours legal abortion. He is running against pro-life Gov. Rick Perry ... At the launch of the Women Deserve Better coalition, Serrin Foster, president of Feminists for Life of America, a coalition partner, said: "Forty million abortions are a reflection that we have failed women and (that) women have settled for less. It is time for us to systematically eliminate the coercive factors that drive women to abortion."

Campaign Life Coalition national president Jim Hughes called for a moratorium on abortion during Pope John Paul II's visit to Toronto: "We are calling on every hospital and abortion facility in Canada, and particularly in Toronto, to hold a life-affirming moratorium on abortion during this visit by the Holy Father" ... According to Statistics Canada, the country's fertility rate is falling way below replacement level. The fertility rate (the average number of children born per woman) fell to 1.52, compared to an American rate of 2.08. According to the Report on the Demographic Situation in Canada, a possible explanation for the Canada-U.S. fertility gap is the fact that Canadian women are putting off having their first child, are getting married later, and attend a "house of worship" less often than their American counterparts ... The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that Canadian women are getting abortions after test results show their unborn children have developmental defects. While Canada's abortion rate is stable, the number of women having abortions committed in the 20th to 21st week of pregnancy increased 578 per cent over the last seven years ... Vancouver criminologist Russel Ogden says that there is a growing worldwide underground assisted suicide movement.