California again approves abortion pill reversal class

(WNS)–The California Board of Registered Nursing has given a green light—for the third time—to a class teaching nurses how to reverse drug-induced abortions. The board’s decision, coming just months after it decided to cut the class, surprised leaders of Heartbeat International, the Ohio-based nonprofit organization that offers the continuing education credit. “We thought it would be more paperwork involved and more of a protracted process,” Heartbeat spokesman Jay Hobbs told me. “In the end, really what we saw was them … conceding that this is a science-based approach to medicine, that there’s just no good grounds to stop nurses from learning about that.” After taking the first drug, more than 400 women have called the Abortion Pill Reversal hotline and successfully saved their babies’ lives, according to Heartbeat.

The hidden risks of at-home DNA testing

(WNS)–At-home DNA testing companies made major gains this holiday season, selling millions of kits to consumers curious about their ethnic origins, distant relatives, and genetic health risks.

DNA test kits were one of Amazon’s top five selling products on Black Friday in 2017. One of the largest companies offering DNA testing, AncestryDNA, said it sold more than 1.5 million tests the weekend after Thanksgiving, triple what it sold from Black Friday to Cyber Monday in 2016.But despite this popularity, critics have raised serious concerns. In December, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a warning to consumers about the privacy implications of at-home DNA test kits. It is not always clear what companies do with DNA data and whether it can be sold to third parties. The FTC recommended consumers comparison shop between companies and not automatically accept a company’s security settings.

Suffer not the children

(WNS)–Contrary to the narrative pushed by academia and the mainstream media, there is increasing evidence that same-sex parenting has negative effects on children. An article published in November by Catholic University of America sociology professor Paul Sullins found children with same-sex parents suffer emotional problems two to three times as often as children raised by opposite-sex parents. Sullins’ latest article joins other research, most notably published by himself and University of Texas professor Mark Regnerus, showing children raised by same-sex parents have increased risks of certain harms, including emotional problems, depression, and sexual abuse. Despite this, the American Psychological Association has dogmatically endorsed a “no difference” theory—namely, that there is no difference between children raised by same-sex parents and opposite-sex parents—since 2004.