BREAKING: Baby body parts criminal trial to proceed against Daleiden with possible jail time – Lifesite

PETITION: Tell Attorney General Barr to PROSECUTE Planned Parenthood's alleged sale of baby body parts. Click here.

SAN FRANCISO, California, December 6, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) -- A San Francisco judge ruled today that pro-life investigators David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt will stand trial on nine felony counts of secretly recording conversations as part of their expos of Planned Parenthoods illegal harvesting and trafficking of aborted baby body parts.

In a ruling released today, Judge Christopher C. Hite of the San Francisco Superior Court dropped five counts against the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) pro-life investigators. He ruled, however, that there was sufficient evidence from the preliminary hearing to try Daleiden and Merritt on nine counts of breaking Californias anti-eavesdropping law during their undercover investigations.

Daleiden, 30, and Merritt, 64, could face jail time if convicted.

Thomas More Society, which represents Daleiden, tweeted:

Daleiden tweeted that the case is falling apart.

Former California Attorney General Kamala Harris concocted this bogus, biased prosecution with her Planned Parenthood backers against undercover video recording, and now their case is falling apart as the facts about Planned Parenthoods criminal organ trafficking are revealed in the courtroom, Daleiden said in a tweeted statement.

The remaining charges under the California video recording lawthe first and only time it has ever been used against undercover news gathererswill fall for the same reasons that five charges were dismissed today: these were public conversations easily overheard by third parties. The real criminals are the Planned Parenthood leadership who sold fetal-body parts from late-term abortions and weaponized the justice system to try to cover it up.

Daleiden and Merritt must now appear at California's Superior Court for instruction and arraignment on January 30.

Daleiden, Merritt and others secretly recorded gatherings of abortionists and organ harvesting companies, and CMP groundbreaking undercover videos released in July 2015 showed Planned Parenthood executives callously discussing how to dismember babies to procure intact organs and haggling over fees of aborted baby parts. The videos shocked the country and led to congressional and senate investigations into Planned Parenthood.

The abortion giant retaliated by suing the pro-life investigators.

A jury ruled November 15 that Daleiden, Merritt, Albin Rhomberg, and Troy Newman of Operation Rescue must pay Planned Parenthood $2.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages and lawyers fees for secretly recording Planned Parenthood and National Abortion Federation conferences in 2014 and 2015.

The pro-lifers are appealing the civil ruling.

Live Actions Lila Rose called Judge Hite's ruling today on the criminal prosecution an abuse of power.

Today's ruling proves unfounded and outrageous charges against two pro-life journalists who exposed the harvesting and trafficking of innocent babies. This is a gross abuse of power and a violation of the First Amendment, she wrote on Twitter.

Animal activist groups went undercover at a duck farm & former CA AG @KamalaHarris used their expose to try to ban foie gras. But when pro-life reporters exposed @PPFA execs haggling over baby parts, the reporters were prosecuted & the abortionists protected, she added in another Tweet.

Harris initiated the investigation of Daleiden and Merritt in 2016, and current Democrat Attorney General Xavier Beccera announced the charges at a press conference in March 2017.

Testimony and evidence presented at the preliminary hearing in September exposed this completely bogus, sham, politically motivated case for the farce that it is, Daleiden told LifeSiteNews in an earlier interview.

Documents from the case now on public record show Harris had an in-person meeting at the attorney generals meeting in Los Angeles with no less than six top-level Planned Parenthood of California executives, he said.

Daleiden added that the meeting took place a couple of weeks before Harris ordered Department of Justice agents to raid his Orange County apartment in April 2016 and seize all his recording materials, including unpublished source documents of his undercover investigation.

We have the minutes in an email from the meeting that Kamala had with the Planned Parenthood leadership, and in that meeting they discussed both Planned Parenthoods political agenda in the state of California, and they also discussed the attorney generals investigation of me and of CMP, Daleiden said.

PETITION: Tell Attorney General Barr to PROSECUTE Planned Parenthood's alleged sale of baby body parts. Click here.

Daleiden and Merritt are claiming a Section 633.5 defense that allows covert recording of confidential communications when done to collect evidence of violent crimes.

Defense is also arguing that the law does not consider confidential any conversation that can reasonably be expected to be overheard.

The two-week preliminary hearing also saw high-level Planned Parenthood abortionists along with the CEO of baby parts harvesting company StemExpress dodging questions on their gruesome business under cross-examination by pro-life defense lawyers.

It was the venue for Daleidens first-ever public testimony about why he embarked on a 30-month undercover sting operation into Planned Parenthood trafficking in aborted baby parts and how he penetrated the networks of those involved in the grisly and illegal business.

It included a cross-examination of investigating agent for the Department of Justice Brian Cardwell that showed he did next to nothing to find out if those accusing Daleiden and Merritt of illegally taping them were telling the truth or understood confidentiality as defined in the law.

It featured defense testimony by one of the United States longest-practicing abortionists Dr. Forrest Smith. He testified that it is almost certain that some of the abortionists featured in the undercover videos deliberately altered abortion procedures in a way that both led to the birth of living babies with beating hearts and put women at risk. The goal in such abortions would be to obtain fresher, more intact organs.

It also included testimony by stem cell expert Dr. Theresa Deisher that the human fetal hearts used in a 2012 Stanford University study and supplied by StemExpress had to be harvested while the babies were still alive.

The really shocking and troubling and clarifying truth that was exposed in the preliminary hearing is that its very, very clear that the only crimes that were committed in the course of the undercover videotaping that Center for Medical Progress did were the crimes committed by the Planned Parenthood abortion doctors, and by the StemExpress body parts harvesters who were forced to testify under oath these past two weeks, Daleiden told LifeSiteNews at that time.

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BREAKING: Baby body parts criminal trial to proceed against Daleiden with possible jail time - Lifesite

‘I was given a terminal diagnosis and then a new therapy cured my leukaemia’ – The Telegraph

When my GP assessed me, he just couldnt explain it, she recalls. Referred to Heartlands Hospital, Sophie was given a blood test. By then I was sitting on a ward. Everyone else was 60-plus and had leukaemia and I thought Well, I havent got that. I was 20.

Finally she was called into a tiny consultation room. The doctor had his head in his hands. I literally dont believe it, he told Sophie. Its leukaemia.

In the blink of an eye, Sophies old life ended. She called her parents (You better hurry up because its not good) and was immediately admitted to hospital. Diagnosed on Friday, treatment began on Monday. So swiftly did it begin that there was no time to think about side-effects. No time for saving fertility or anything like that, she recalls matter-of-factly, her bright Chelmsley Wood accent belying the astonishing gravity of her experience.

Her hair started falling out. She had Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), one of the four types of life-threatening, acute leukaemia. (Other non-curable but largely non-fatal forms of the disease are known as chronic leukaemia.)Of the 10,000 or so people diagnosed with leukaemia in the UK each year, about 350 have ALL.

There are no official statistics but estimates suggest that five-year ALL survival rates for 15-24 year-olds are about 70pc. One of the key factors affecting that survival, however, is early diagnosis. To put it bluntly, if any cancer has progressed so far that patients walk straight in to A&E, bypassing their GP, it bodes poorly.

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'I was given a terminal diagnosis and then a new therapy cured my leukaemia' - The Telegraph

Stem Cell Therapy Market Robust pace of Industry during 2017-2025 – News Description

Stem Cell Therapy Market: Snapshot

Of late, there has been an increasing awareness regarding the therapeutic potential of stem cells for management of diseases which is boosting the growth of the stem cell therapy market. The development of advanced genome based cell analysis techniques, identification of new stem cell lines, increasing investments in research and development as well as infrastructure development for the processing and banking of stem cell are encouraging the growth of the global stem cell therapy market.

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One of the key factors boosting the growth of this market is the limitations of traditional organ transplantation such as the risk of infection, rejection, and immunosuppression risk. Another drawback of conventional organ transplantation is that doctors have to depend on organ donors completely. All these issues can be eliminated, by the application of stem cell therapy. Another factor which is helping the growth in this market is the growing pipeline and development of drugs for emerging applications. Increased research studies aiming to widen the scope of stem cell will also fuel the growth of the market. Scientists are constantly engaged in trying to find out novel methods for creating human stem cells in response to the growing demand for stem cell production to be used for disease management.

It is estimated that the dermatology application will contribute significantly the growth of the global stem cell therapy market. This is because stem cell therapy can help decrease the after effects of general treatments for burns such as infections, scars, and adhesion. The increasing number of patients suffering from diabetes and growing cases of trauma surgery will fuel the adoption of stem cell therapy in the dermatology segment.

Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Overview

Also called regenerative medicine, stem cell therapy encourages the reparative response of damaged, diseased, or dysfunctional tissue via the use of stem cells and their derivatives. Replacing the practice of organ transplantations, stem cell therapies have eliminated the dependence on availability of donors. Bone marrow transplant is perhaps the most commonly employed stem cell therapy.

Osteoarthritis, cerebral palsy, heart failure, multiple sclerosis and even hearing loss could be treated using stem cell therapies. Doctors have successfully performed stem cell transplants that significantly aid patients fight cancers such as leukemia and other blood-related diseases.

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Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Key Trends

The key factors influencing the growth of the global stem cell therapy market are increasing funds in the development of new stem lines, the advent of advanced genomic procedures used in stem cell analysis, and greater emphasis on human embryonic stem cells. As the traditional organ transplantations are associated with limitations such as infection, rejection, and immunosuppression along with high reliance on organ donors, the demand for stem cell therapy is likely to soar. The growing deployment of stem cells in the treatment of wounds and damaged skin, scarring, and grafts is another prominent catalyst of the market.

On the contrary, inadequate infrastructural facilities coupled with ethical issues related to embryonic stem cells might impede the growth of the market. However, the ongoing research for the manipulation of stem cells from cord blood cells, bone marrow, and skin for the treatment of ailments including cardiovascular and diabetes will open up new doors for the advancement of the market.

Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Market Potential

A number of new studies, research projects, and development of novel therapies have come forth in the global market for stem cell therapy. Several of these treatments are in the pipeline, while many others have received approvals by regulatory bodies.

In March 2017, Belgian biotech company TiGenix announced that its cardiac stem cell therapy, AlloCSC-01 has successfully reached its phase I/II with positive results. Subsequently, it has been approved by the U.S. FDA. If this therapy is well- received by the market, nearly 1.9 million AMI patients could be treated through this stem cell therapy.

Another significant development is the granting of a patent to Israel-based Kadimastem Ltd. for its novel stem-cell based technology to be used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other similar conditions of the nervous system. The companys technology used for producing supporting cells in the central nervous system, taken from human stem cells such as myelin-producing cells is also covered in the patent.

Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Regional Outlook

The global market for stem cell therapy can be segmented into Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. North America emerged as the leading regional market, triggered by the rising incidence of chronic health conditions and government support. Europe also displays significant growth potential, as the benefits of this therapy are increasingly acknowledged.

Asia Pacific is slated for maximum growth, thanks to the massive patient pool, bulk of investments in stem cell therapy projects, and the increasing recognition of growth opportunities in countries such as China, Japan, and India by the leading market players.

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Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Competitive Analysis

Several firms are adopting strategies such as mergers and acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships, apart from product development with a view to attain a strong foothold in the global market for stem cell therapy.

Some of the major companies operating in the global market for stem cell therapy are RTI Surgical, Inc., MEDIPOST Co., Ltd., Osiris Therapeutics, Inc., NuVasive, Inc., Pharmicell Co., Ltd., Anterogen Co., Ltd., JCR Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., and Holostem Terapie Avanzate S.r.l.

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Stem Cell Therapy Market Robust pace of Industry during 2017-2025 - News Description

A #ReUp of 2019: The year when gene therapy, DNA modifications came of age & saved lives – Economic Times

In the summer, a mother in Nashville with a seemingly incurable genetic disorder finally found an end to her suffering -- by editing her genome.

Victoria Gray's recovery from sickle cell disease, which had caused her painful seizures, came in a year of breakthroughs in one of the hottest areas of medical research -- gene therapy.

"I have hoped for a cure since I was about 11," the 34-year-old told AFP in an email.

"Since I received the new cells, I have been able to enjoy more time with my family without worrying about pain or an out-of-the-blue emergency."

Over several weeks, Gray's blood was drawn so doctors could get to the cause of her illness -- stem cells from her bone marrow that were making deformed red blood cells.

The stem cells were sent to a Scottish laboratory, where their DNA was modified using Crispr/Cas9 -- pronounced "Crisper" -- a new tool informally known as molecular "scissors."

The genetically edited cells were transfused back into Gray's veins and bone marrow. A month later, she was producing normal blood cells.

Medics warn that caution is necessary but, theoretically, she has been cured.

"This is one patient. This is early results. We need to see how it works out in other patients," said her doctor, Haydar Frangoul, at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville.

"But these results are really exciting."

In Germany, a 19-year-old woman was treated with a similar method for a different blood disease, beta thalassemia. She had previously needed 16 blood transfusions per year.

Nine months later, she is completely free of that burden.

For decades, the DNA of living organisms such as corn and salmon has been modified.

But Crispr, invented in 2012, made gene editing more widely accessible. It is much simpler than preceding technology, cheaper and easy to use in small labs.

The technique has given new impetus to the perennial debate over the wisdom of humanity manipulating life itself.

"It's all developing very quickly," said French geneticist Emmanuelle Charpentier, one of Crispr's inventors and the cofounder of Crispr Therapeutics, the biotech company conducting the clinical trials involving Gray and the German patient.

Crispr is the latest breakthrough in a year of great strides in gene therapy, a medical adventure started three decades ago, when the first TV telethons were raising money for children with muscular dystrophy.

Scientists practising the technique insert a normal gene into cells containing a defective gene.

It does the work the original could not -- such as making normal red blood cells, in Victoria's case, or making tumor-killing super white blood cells for a cancer patient.

Crispr goes even further: instead of adding a gene, the tool edits the genome itself.

After decades of research and clinical trials on a genetic fix to genetic disorders, 2019 saw a historic milestone: approval to bring to market the first gene therapies for a neuromuscular disease in the US and a blood disease in the European Union.

They join several other gene therapies -- bringing the total to eight -- approved in recent years to treat certain cancers and an inherited blindness.

Serge Braun, the scientific director of the French Muscular Dystrophy Association, sees 2019 as a turning point that will lead to a medical revolution.

"Twenty-five, 30 years, that's the time it had to take," he told AFP from Paris.

"It took a generation for gene therapy to become a reality. Now, it's only going to go faster."

Just outside Washington, at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers are also celebrating a "breakthrough period."

"We have hit an inflection point," said Carrie Wolinetz, NIH's associate director for science policy.

These therapies are exorbitantly expensive, however, costing up to $2 million -- meaning patients face grueling negotiations with their insurance companies.

They also involve a complex regimen of procedures that are only available in wealthy countries.

Gray spent months in hospital getting blood drawn, undergoing chemotherapy, having edited stem cells reintroduced via transfusion -- and fighting a general infection.

"You cannot do this in a community hospital close to home," said her doctor.

However, the number of approved gene therapies will increase to about 40 by 2022, according to MIT researchers.

They will mostly target cancers and diseases that affect muscles, the eyes and the nervous system.

Another problem with Crispr is that its relative simplicity has triggered the imaginations of rogue practitioners who don't necessarily share the medical ethics of Western medicine.

Last year in China, scientist He Jiankui triggered an international scandal -- and his excommunication from the scientific community -- when he used Crispr to create what he called the first gene-edited humans.

The biophysicist said he had altered the DNA of human embryos that became twin girls Lulu and Nana.

His goal was to create a mutation that would prevent the girls from contracting HIV, even though there was no specific reason to put them through the process.

"That technology is not safe," said Kiran Musunuru, a genetics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, explaining that the Crispr "scissors" often cut next to the targeted gene, causing unexpected mutations.

"It's very easy to do if you don't care about the consequences," Musunuru added.

Despite the ethical pitfalls, restraint seems mainly to have prevailed so far.

The community is keeping a close eye on Russia, where biologist Denis Rebrikov has said he wants to use Crispr to help deaf parents have children without the disability.

There is also the temptation to genetically edit entire animal species -- malaria-causing mosquitoes in Burkina Faso or mice hosting ticks that carry Lyme disease in the US.

The researchers in charge of those projects are advancing carefully, however, fully aware of the unpredictability of chain reactions on the ecosystem.

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Charpentier doesn't believe in the more dystopian scenarios predicted for gene therapy, including American "biohackers" injecting themselves with Crispr technology bought online.

"Not everyone is a biologist or scientist," she said.

And the possibility of military hijacking to create soldier-killing viruses or bacteria that would ravage enemies' crops?

Charpentier thinks that technology generally tends to be used for the better.

"I'm a bacteriologist -- we've been talking about bioterrorism for years," she said. "Nothing has ever happened."

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A #ReUp of 2019: The year when gene therapy, DNA modifications came of age & saved lives - Economic Times

100 greatest innovations of 2019: Best of What’s New – Popular Science

Within days of giving birth, a womans estrogen and progesterone levels quickly drop, leading to chemical changes in the brain that might give rise to shifts in mood. In fact, as many as three in four mothers experience symptoms of depression soon after childbirth. But for one in nine mothers, those symptoms result in a more serious, longer-lasting, and potentially life-threatening condition known as postpartum depression. The disorder, which manifests as a significant change in mood within hours to weeks of giving birth, is the most common complication of pregnancy. Currently, the depression drugs used to treat it take weeks to months to kick intime that new mothers (and their infants) cant afford. Zulresso is the first FDA-approved medication designed to tackle postpartum depression, and it does so at speed. The drug is a synthetic form of allopregnanolone, a hormone that dampens neural activity and eases depression symptoms when estrogen and progesterone levels dip. In double-blind control studies run by the creators at Sage Therapeutics, Zulresso worked within 60 hours. Right now, the drug is administered via a 60-hour intravenous infusion (common among new medicines), but alternative treatments, including a pill form, are currently in clinical trials.

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100 greatest innovations of 2019: Best of What's New - Popular Science

Alum’s New Book Recounts His Fight to Help First Responders Sickened after 9/11 – BU Today

The 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks stirred the United States and its allies to respond with a war on terror that continues to play out today. Al-Qaeda launched another lethal, but less visible, attack that dayon the emergency responders who worked at Ground Zero in New York City for the better part of a year after the September 2001 disaster. Rooting in toxic dust and debris at the graveyard of the World Trade Center, many developed cancers, respiratory diseases, trauma, and other ailments.

But medical studies couldnt definitively tie the physical illnesses to Ground Zero; some of the cancers, for example, were not known to arise so soon after toxic exposure. Rudolph Giuliani, then mayor of New York City, and Environmental Protection Agency head Christine Todd Whitman pronounced the area safe.

As far as the City of New York and many members of the medical and scientific community were concerned, there was no connection and no proof, writes William Groner (LAW80) in 9/12: The Epic Battle of the Ground Zero Responders (Potomac Books, 2019). The book, coauthored with journalist Tom Teicholz, recounts the nine-year legal and legislative battles culminating in 2011 in more than $800 million in compensation for the sickened responders.

Groner is the Groner in Worby Groner Edelman Napoli Bern (WGENB), a joint venture among several law firms representing more than 10,000 first responderspolice, firefighters, construction workers, EMTs and nurses, and others. Bostonia talked with Groner about his experience and his new book.

Q&Awith William Groner

Gary was head of AT&Ts Network Disaster Recovery Team. On 9/11, he and his team raced to Ground Zero, overcoming bridge and tunnel closings, to arrive at midnight to help restore phone service to Lower Manhattan. Their first priority was to restore police communications; then they worked at manning phone lines across from the pile. Gary had about a dozen members of his team going all night, and he personally worked on the cleanup through July 2002.

At first, Garys doctors thought he merely was suffering from World Trade Center cough, but he was sick for most of the next year. He complained about a pain in his side that he thought might be just another kidney stone. In 2005, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. By that time, it was advanced and had spread to his bones, requiring daily chemotherapy treatments. Following chemo, he needed to undergo a stem cell transplant, and it took its toll. The [compensation] settlement came too late. In 2012, Gary, age 59, passed away at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital with Alison, his wife of 39 years, at his side.

Valuing someones pain and suffering, and translating that into compensation, is wholly subjective. I didnt feel the settlement was even remotely enough. Mild asthma was awarded around $80,000. I would have loved to argue before a jury that such an injury was worth 5 to 10 times that. However, after almost a decade of litigation, with no real ability of the court system to handle 10,000 trials, and given the incredibly complicated burden of causation issues we faced with no certainty of success, it was unrealistic to seek maximum compensation. What we needed to do was to get the best settlement we could, and I think that that is what we achieved. My clients, even more critically, got closure.

I am not aware that they did, but I believe strongly that they, other municipalities, and governments, must learn deeply from this. We need a disaster preparedness team that is expert in dealing with environmental toxic disasters such as 9/11. Incredibly, Giuliani waved off the federal government from leading the effort, yet he was wholly unprepared for a disaster of 9/11s magnitude. I think because the federal government has the best resources, it is beyond discussion that they need to be the lead in any similar disasters in the future.

Secondly, the respiratory protection was wholly inadequate to handle the Ground Zero dust. This needs to be addressed. Thirdly, we should have a fund-type compensation system in the future, so that our heroes who sacrifice themselves dont have to become litigants to get the compensation they deserve.

As a taxpayer, I understand the city was concerned about settling the matter and being exposed to an untold number of future lawsuits that could have a detrimental impact on finances. But as someone representing the interests of 10,000 heroes who sacrificed themselves for city, state, and country, I was and still am absolutely outraged as to how they were treated by the city and its contractors and how intensely they fought to dismiss the cases. [They] spent over $200 million in legal fees to attempt to defeat our clients cases and have them thrown out of court.

This is a one-of-a-kind situation. But we could have another situation where there are scores of injuries suffered by individuals that would have to be handled better. There is a myriad of things that could be done, such as grouping similar cases together and trying them simultaneously, or adopting other creative mass resolution techniques. Or better, we should simply develop a fund to distribute, so our heroes dont have to become litigants to get what is owed to them.

I felt I had no choice but to remove myself from my usual life and dedicate myself 24/7 to the task. I stopped handling any other case, brought in my partner to take over my managing partner responsibilities, removed myself from various community positions, and even stopped commuting, which saved an hour a day of travel. For almost 10 years, I worked on the case, often from home, as my partners and I had staff, sometimes in excess of 100 people, who worked from multiple locations across the country.

This was a labor of love. While handling the case was pretty surreal, I felt honored to have this responsibility. To get justice for folks who were heroeswell, lawyers dream of being able to do that type of good.

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Alum's New Book Recounts His Fight to Help First Responders Sickened after 9/11 - BU Today

Susan J. Demas: Right-wing lies on abortion paved the way for Trump – Michigan Advance

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During no-filter November, Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey sent shockwaves across Michigans Capitol when he compared abortion to the scourge we endured when we still had slavery in this country.

This, of course, wasnt the first time the Clarklake Republican popped off; he also recently declared that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Democrats were on the batshit crazy spectrum.

But Shirkey was merely parroting a popular and completely offensive and ahistorical anti-abortion talking point, just like other GOP leaders, including U.S. Housing Secretary Ben Carson and former Arizona U.S. Rep. Trent Franks (who resigned after creepily offering an aide $5 million to be his surrogate).

Extremist and inaccurate language begets extremist and medically inaccurate and sometimes impossible policy, like in Ohio, where a new bill would require doctors to re-implant an ectopic pregnancy. Such a procedure doesnt exist. Ectopic pregnancies can kill women. Republican legislators apparently dont care.

I dont believe Im typing this again but, thats impossible. Well all be going to jail, Ohio ob-gyn David N. Hackney wrote on Twitter.

Shirkey offers no apology for comparing abortion to slavery in radio interview

And this isnt even the worst legislation to come from our neighbors to the southeast. Another bill creates two new felonies, abortion murder and aggravated abortion murder, which Rewire News says would make it possible in some cases for both abortion providers and pregnant people who obtain abortions to be put to death.

Nothing says pro-life like state-sanctioned murder over health care.

As deplorable as Shirkeys rhetoric was, its nothing compared to the president, whose impeachment for attempting to extort a foreign power to investigate his political enemies hurts [Shirkeys] heart.

The new popular Republican lie spread by President Trump in a rambling, gruesome fashion is that doctors are actually killing live babies after theyre born something that is absolutely not happening. And as millions of women, like myself, have given birth in hospitals, we are aware firsthand that this is not a standard medical practice.

Susan J. Demas: Trumps dehumanizing abortion lie is about bringing home the base for 2020

But its not just Trump being Trump, even though hes lied 13,435 times in his presidency through Oct. 19 alone. Hes just spreading the infanticide myth endorsed by more genteel Republicans like Meghan McCain and U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.).

And theres a crass political reason to amp up the anti-abortion fight for 2020. The Republican is getting impeached, his popularity remains dangerously low (despite the bizarrely stubborn Trump voters still love Trump genre) and people are sick of his tweets and constant drama. A thrice-married president who was caught paying off a porn star isnt the most inspiring figure for evangelicals, the GOPs most-reliable voting block.

So Trump has no choice but to pretend that hes the white knight of the pro-life movement and sell scared Republican voters on the idea that hes the only thing standing between them and godless liberals sacrificing babies in the delivery room. So far, they seem willing to swallow the big lie.

Its somewhat fitting for one of Trumps biggest lies to be about reproductive freedom, because the anti-abortion movement has trafficked in misinformation and falsehoods for years as scare tactics.

Susan J. Demas: Tyranny of the 3%: How abortion law gets made in Michigan

Theres the lie that abortion causes breast cancer (the American Cancer Society says no). Theres the lie that its a risky procedure so clinics must be overly regulated and shut down (something that fueled legislation in Michigan), even though abortion is an overwhelmingly safe procedure (and indeed, much safer than giving birth). And theres the lie that most women regret their abortions, even though an overwhelming majority do not.

But manufacturing misinformation is a cottage industry for the anti-abortion movement. And the media share a lot of blame in spreading it.

Theres an enormous amount of deference and leeway given to anti-abortion groups because of the premise that they have a moral, often religious objection to a basic part of womens health care. Reporters are trained to be cynical, but its considered rude and disrespectful to question if anti-abortion politics are really rooted in misogyny, even though many pro-life politicians dont support other aspects of womens equality. (Shirkeys advice was to ignore a Michigan equal pay directive this year).

Susan J. Demas: Time for male journalists to step up and call out sexism in politics

Another factor is that well-funded anti-choice groups complain very loudly about coverage they dont like. A decade ago, a newspaper stopped running my columns when I had the audacity to write that a law legalizing embryonic stem cell research probably could have helped my grandfather who just died of Alzheimers indeed, quite the radical argument.

But by printing the lies and mistruths of the anti-abortion movement for the sake of balance and to avoid angry calls and emails from their lobbyists we in the media do our readers a great disservice. We also violate our core mission of informing the public.

Can we really look ourselves in the eye as journalists if we dutifully include a Republican lawmakers babbling that he believes re-implanting ectopic pregnancies will work even though its a twisted fantasy out of Frankenstein with no roots in scientific reality?

Theres a real cost to both-sides journalism.

Anti-abortion group with troubled history earns Whitmer veto

For those shaking their heads and wondering how we ended up with someone who lies with such abandon in the White House, examining the medias longstanding tolerance for lies from some of Trumps biggest backers in the anti-abortion lobby might be a good place to start.

Didnt we send the message that as long as its about a controversial issue or said by a prominent person that well give mistruths oxygen in stories? Wasnt that opening seized upon by Trump, who got endless coverage in 2016 for outrageous lies like declaring Mexicans are rapists and has since continued unabated as president?

This isnt a comfortable place to be for many journalists, but its something we have to reckon with and before 2020.

Susan J. Demas is an 18-year journalism veteran and one of the states foremost experts on Michigan politics, appearing on MSNBC, CNN, NPR and WKAR-TVs Off the Record. In addition to serving as Editor-in-Chief, she is the Advances chief columnist, writing on women, LGBTQs, the state budget, the economy and more. Most recently, she served as Vice President of Farough & Associates, Michigans premier political communications firm. For almost five years, Susan was the Editor and Publisher of Inside Michigan Politics, the most-cited political newsletter in the state. Susans award-winning political analysis has run in more than 80 national, international and regional media outlets, including the Guardian U.K., NBC News, the New York Times, the Detroit News and MLive. She is the only Michigan journalist to be named to the Washington Posts list of Best Political Reporters, the Huffington Posts list of Best Political Tweeters and the Washington Posts list of Best Political Bloggers. Susan was the recipient of a prestigious Knight Foundation fellowship in nonprofits and politics. She served as Deputy Editor for MIRS News and helped launch the Michigan Truth Squad, the Center for Michigans fact-checking project. She started her journalism career reporting on the Iowa caucuses for The (Cedar Rapids) Gazette. Susan has hiked over 3,000 solo miles across four continents and climbed more than 60 mountains. She also enjoys dragging her husband and two teenagers along, even if no one else wants to sleep in a tent anymore.

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Susan J. Demas: Right-wing lies on abortion paved the way for Trump - Michigan Advance

Quinn Waters: Weymouth, Massachusetts three-year-old is seeing the world for himself – CBS News

Weymouth, Massachusetts Aside from immediate family, no one was allowed in the house to see 3-year-old Quinn Waters of Weymouth, Massachusetts. And more importantly Quinn wasn't allowed out.

"We basically keep him in a bubble just as a precaution," said Quinn's father, Jarlath.

"Even a common cold could be something that will bring him back into the hospital," said Quinn's mother, Tara.

Parents Jarlath and Tara Waters say Quinn's natural immunity was temporarily wiped out after he got a stem cell transplant to treat his brain cancer.

Fortunately, the kid is a fighter and as we first reported a few months ago, he kept a mostly positive attitude.

But it still stunk.

He sees all of this happening and he knows he's stuck inside. And there would be days when Quinn was literally pounding to get out.

Unfortunately, staring out a window is a poor substitute for walking out a door. Quinn's connection to the outside world has been limited to whoever passes by, which hasn't been all that limiting, actually.

"It started out with family members coming to the window," said Jarlath.

Then the neighbors started showing up to entertain the police caught wind and pretty soon topnotch performers were just showing up on Quinn's front lawn.

It turned into a vaudeville stage out there.

"Yeah, the window kind of became his window on the world," Jarlath said.

It got so you never knew what might happen by. One minute it could be a dog parade the next, a team of Irish step dancers everyone brought together by word of mouth and a will to help Quinn get better.

Which his parents say did start happening.

"It's the positive energy from all these people that we believe has gotten him through his sickness, you know. You can never repay, you know (emotional), just maybe pay it forward," Jarlath said.

Being indebted never felt so fortunate.

After this story first aired in August, things got even better for Quinn light-years better. By Halloween, doctors had released him from home confinement and free to be a kid again he rushed outdoors at warp speed.

He also got to drop the puck at a Boston Bruins' game and feel the sand between his toes at the Massachusetts shore.

There is no greater curse than cancer but no greater blessing, than beating it.

To contactOn the Road, or to send us a story idea, email us:OnTheRoad@cbsnews.com.

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Quinn Waters: Weymouth, Massachusetts three-year-old is seeing the world for himself - CBS News

‘We didn’t worry when 2-year-old refused to use potty – then her lips went blue’ – Mirror Online

It was back in November 2015 when Lynsay Hughes and her husband Andrew, a project engineer, both 38, first noticed their two-year-old Evie was out of sorts.

Wed begun potty training and it was going really well, but Evie suddenly started refusing to go to the toilet and got very whingy, explains Lynsay, a swimming teacher.

Shed been quite a sickly baby, so initially we didnt think much of it.

When Evie went off her food, got dark circles under her eyes, and seemed to have no energy, Lynsay took her to the GP.

The little girl was then referred to North Tees Hospital, near the familys home in Stockton-on-Tees.

She spent five days there, before eventually being diagnosed with a chronic kidney infection, and discharged.

I just wanted to get her home for Christmas, says Lynsay, also mum to Oscar, now nine.

She was fine for a few days and then her health plummeted her legs, feet and fingers began to swell and her lips went blue.

Andrew took her to the park and she vomited everywhere. We knew something wasnt right.

Lynsay went back to hospital, where Evie was given an ultrasound.

A doctor came out and said, Do you want to wait for your husband? but I never dreamed it would be anything serious so I said, No, just tell me now.

He explained that while he wasnt a paediatric expert, they had found a mass around Evies tummy and wanted us to be transferred to specialists at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.

Andrew met us at the bigger hospital we knew it was more serious, but I still wasnt thinking about cancer.

Even when we went to meet an oncology consultant, I wasnt panicking because I honestly didnt know what the word meant.

The first time we realised it was cancer was when a doctor came in the room and said, Im going to take a biopsy of Evies tumour.

What she had a tumour? Andrew and I just looked at each other in shock.

The couple were soon ushered into a room full of different medical people consultants, nurses, anaesthetists and were told the devastating news: Evie had stage 4 neuroblastoma.

Neuroblastoma is a very rare childhood cancer that affects only about 100 children a year in the UK.

I was in complete shock, recalls Lynsay.

I said to the doctor: Are you telling me my daughter has cancer? he replied: Im not just telling you she has cancer, Im telling you she has the beast of childhood cancers. Those were his exact words.

Andrew burst into tears, but I couldnt take it in, I just held his hand feeling gutted, totally heartbroken.

It was on 22 December 2015 when that devastating diagnosis was confirmed: Evie had a 13cm tumour the most aggressive kind which was wrapped around her main artery.

The disease had also spread to her bones. Knowing staff would be short for the festive season, doctors moved quickly.

On Christmas Eve, the poorly toddler began her first, gruelling round of chemotherapy.

It was only when Evie had her line to receive her chemotherapy fitted into her little body that the enormity of the situation finally sank in, admits Lynsay.

I let out some noise that Andrew tells me was like a shriek and I fell to the floor. It was like the world had stopped.

But somehow we dragged ourselves through Christmas, trying to put on brave faces to watch Oscar open his presents.

Evie was too poorly to care about gifts.

The next year went in a blur of treatment and surgery.

Evie was put on a 10-day cycle of different chemotherapy drugs for 80 days to target the disease in her bones.

Then she had the tumour surgically removed, a stem cell harvest, high intensity chemotherapy with stem cell replacement, and radiotherapy every day for three weeks.

She was also put on a clinical trial for immunotherapy, designed to kill the bad cells while protecting the healthy ones for a further six months.

It was unbelievably traumatic. If Evie woke up in a different room to the one she went to sleep in, or if we werent there, she would scream and scream.

We explained to her that she had a nasty bug in her tummy and the doctors were giving her medicine which would make her feel funny but would make her better in the end.

We named her feeding tube Tommy and her chemo drips Wally and Dolly, to try and make things less scary for her.

She took her beloved Teddy everywhere.

When Evies blonde curls fell out in lumps, my friend who is a hairdresser came and cut it into a bob for her.

We told her she had superpowers, thats why her hair had fallen out.

Her big brother, Oscar, was so sweet when he came to the hospital, he would make friends with the other children on the ward and be so protective of her.

There were times when I was terrified she might die, but I just willed her to be better and wouldnt allow myself to think the worst.

We put on a brave face at home for Oscar, but when I was in bed I would cry and cry and my heart would be racing with the anxiety and stress.

I just had to focus on the next part of the treatment.

In between we tried to do nice things we took her to The Lion King in London as a treat, and we went camping in the Lake District.

Lynsay gave up teaching swimming to be with Evie full time, Andrew cut down his hours as a project engineer, and Lynsays sister would take care of Oscar when both parents had to be at hospital.

Finally, in March 2017, after more than two years of treatment, the family received the news they had been longing to hear: Evie was cancer-free and in remission.

To mark the momentous occasion, the hospital have a special end of treatment bell that children get to ring at the end of their chemotherapy.

It was a huge day for us.

Evie wore a new dress with rainbows on it, and our whole family came to the hospital to watch her ring the bell.

We all cried buckets.

Afterwards, we went to a restaurant in Newcastle where everyone made a fuss of her and had a big party, with Evie getting a knickerbocker glory.

Shes two and half years in remission now and living a normal, healthy life.

Shes in Year One at school, has lots of friends, and her hair has grown back. She loves dancing and drama and riding her bike.

This Christmas we will be surrounded by our family at our home and we are determined to enjoy every second.

Evie is madly into Barbies and Frozen and cant wait for Father Christmas to come. Shes definitely been good!

And we have the best present you could possibly imagine our family, together.

Neuroblastoma (neuro = nerve, blastoma = collection of tumour cells) is a tumour arising from particular nerve cells, which run up the back of the childs abdomen and chest and into the skull, following the line of the spinal cord.

The tumour occurs either in the sympathetic nervous system, or closely associated adrenal glands, and is usually, although not always, located in the abdomen.

Neuroblastoma affects around 100 children each year in the UK. It usually affects children under the age of five, and can occur before a child is born, because it develops from the cells left behind from a babys development in the womb. It is the most common solid tumour in childhood after brain tumours.

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'We didn't worry when 2-year-old refused to use potty - then her lips went blue' - Mirror Online

Upstate SC toddler survives rare cancer and the risky procedure used to treat it – Greenville News

Outcome means a special Thanksgiving

Hailie and Treylin Hyman saw the bruising on their baby girls leg as a sign that the active 1-year-old was learning to walk.

But as a blood test would later reveal, little Maci was actually suffering from an extremely rare blood cancer that threatened her life without a risky treatment - atreatmentalmost as dangerous as the disease.

In the beginning, it was very scary, Hailie Hyman told The Greenville News.

I couldnt think of anything but the bad things, she confessed. It was all about the statistics. And the statistics arent good.

Hailie Hyman holds her daughter Maci, 1, before an appointment at the Prisma Health Pediatric Hematology Oncology Center Monday, Nov. 4, 2019.(Photo: JOSH MORGAN/Staff)

Terrifying months followed the diagnosis, punctuated by one critical complication after another, leaving the Boiling Springs couple to wonder if Maci would survive.

Somehow, though, the blue-eyed toddler pulled through.And now her family is looking forward to a special Thanksgiving with much to be grateful for.

The Hymans journey began last February atMacis 1-year-old well-child checkup.

We had no idea anything was wrong, her mom said.But they did a routine (blood test) and a couple of hours later, we got a call saying her platelets were very low.

The Hymans were referred to a hematologist who found other abnormalities in Macis blood and scheduled a bone marrow biopsy to investigate further.

Hailie Hyman holds her daughter Maci, 1, before an appointment at the Prisma Health Pediatric Hematology Oncology Center Monday, Nov. 4, 2019.(Photo: JOSH MORGAN/Staff)

During the procedure, the child suffered an aneurysm in an artery and went into cardiac arrest. The team performed CPR on her for 20 minutes before she was stabilized, her mom said.

Later, in the pediatric intensive care unit, she suffered internal bleeding, too.

It was really hard, she said. There were many nights that I would just pray and pray and pray.

Initially believing Maci had leukemia, doctors subsequently determined she had myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS.

The condition occurs when abnormal cells in the bone marrow leave the patient unable to make enough blood, according to the American Cancer Society.

Its rare, afflicting as few 10,000 Americans a year, though the actual number is unknown.

Maci Hyman, 1, interacts with hospital staff before an appointment at the Prisma Health Pediatric Hematology Oncology Center Monday, Nov. 4, 2019.(Photo: JOSH MORGAN/Staff)

In children, its rarer still. Most people arediagnosed in their 70s.

We were told that just four out of 1 million children get it every year, Hailie Hyman said.

That made the diagnosis elusive at first, said Dr. Nichole Bryant, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist with Prisma Health-Upstate, formerly Greenville Health System.

Shes the only one Ive seen in my career, she said.

Maci had to have regular blood transfusions, antibiotics and other medications to fight the MDS, Bryant said. But the only hope for a cure was a stem cell transplant at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

When they said that was the only treatment plan for MDS, I of course went to Google, Hailie Hyman said. I read about transplant patients and ...all the complications. It was terrifying. But no matter how many bad things I saw, we had to do it. There is no other option.

The transplantis extremely risky.

Hailie Hyman looks at a fish tank with her daughter Maci, 1, before an appointment at the Prisma Health Pediatric Hematology Oncology Center Monday, Nov. 4, 2019.(Photo: JOSH MORGAN/Staff)

First, high doses of chemotherapy are given to destroy the diseased bone marrow, leaving the patient without an immune system, so fighting infections becomes a challenge. Then healthy donor marrow is infused.

Its also fraught with potentially life-threatening complications, including graft vs. host disease, which occurs when immune cells from the donor attack the patients body, Bryant said. Other complications include permanent kidney damage and gastrointestinal problems.

They have to go to hell and back, she said. But its the only option for long-term survival.

Maci had a really rough start, suffering lots and lots and lots of complications, Bryant said.

Her kidneys failed, so she wound up on dialysis. When she couldnt breathe on her own, she was put on a ventilator. And because she couldnt eat, she had to be tube fed.

Hailie Hyman looks at a fish tank with her daughter Maci, 1, before an appointment at the Prisma Health Pediatric Hematology Oncology Center Monday, Nov. 4, 2019.(Photo: JOSH MORGAN/Staff)

She had blistering sores in her mouth and throughout her GI tract, her mom said. Because her liver wasnt functioning properly, her abdomen filled up with fluid that had to be drained. She was bleeding so profusely in her lungs that one of them collapsed.

Maci, who was sedated through much of it, was put on full life support, she said.

That night we almost lost her, her mom said. We were in the hallway crying our eyes out. We didnt know what do to or think. It was pretty scary for a while.

Somehow, Maci made it.

There were so many times during her first months that it seemed like she would not survive, Bryant said. So the fact that she is here ... is really a miracle.

Macis family found an unrelated donor through the National Marrow Donor Program, enlisting hundreds of other people to join the registry in the process, Bryant said.

Nichole Bryant, M.D.(Photo: Provided)

It was an important part of their journey that maybe didnt directly benefit Maci, she said. But if everybody did that, we wouldnt have difficulty finding a donor for anybody.

Doctors have no explanation for why Maci got MDS. She didnt carry the genetic mutation for it and there is no family history.

She is a rare child - and not in a good way, her mom said, adding,Youve got to laugh sometimes or youre going to cry.

Maci was admitted to MUSC on June 2 and released on Oct. 14.

The Hymans, both 22, spent the entire time in Charlestonwhile Hailies mom cared for their older daughter, Athena, now 2.

Treylins employer held his welding job open for him. And other friends and family members did what they could to help.

We had many, many people very generously donate to us to cover expenses at home and living expenses where we were, Hailie Hyman said.

We are thankful for everyone who helped us through it the cards, the gifts, the donations. Every single cent is greatly appreciated.

They still need to travel to Charleston once a week to see the transplant doctor. In between, Maci is seen in Greenville.

She's doing well, but recovery from a transplant can take months to years, Bryant said.

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Her kidneys are functioning again so she was able to come off dialysis. But she still must take many medications, including anti-rejection drugs that suppress her immune system and leaveher at risk for infection. And she still must be tube fed.

She is miles ahead of where she was two months ago, Bryant said. But she still has a long way to go. Its a long, long road.

Macis mom says she can be up and playing one day and flopped over on the couch another. She still experiences a lot of nausea and vomiting, but is doing well compared to where she was.

Hailie Hyman pulls her daughter Maci, 1, in a wagon in the hallway before an appointment at the Prisma Health Pediatric Hematology Oncology Center Monday, Nov. 4, 2019.(Photo: JOSH MORGAN/Staff)

So as the nation pauses to give thanks this Thanksgiving, she says the family will be countingtheir many blessings family andfriends, Gods mercy, andthe doctors and nurses who saved Macis life.

She has battled a lot and overcome a lot, she said. I have no doubt she will be able to get through.

Want to know more about becoming a marrow donor? Go to bethematch.org.

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Upstate SC toddler survives rare cancer and the risky procedure used to treat it - Greenville News