Indiana House Passes TRAP Law
The Indiana House passed a law that would require doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at hospitals, the IndyStar.com reports. 
The bill would also require doctors to inform a patient before the
procedure that "the fetus might feel pain."  "Critics
argued it effectively could halt abortions in the state, because few
physicians performing abortions in the state have admitting privileges
at a hospital. It typically takes a doctor several months to get
admitting privileges, they argued, if a hospital chooses to grant them
at all."  Anti-choicers argue that the bill promotes patient safety,
while pro-choicers say requiring hospital admitting privileges will do
nothing to promote patient safety.

Massive Gender Gap in China
Discover magazine
rounds up reporting on the gender gap in China: currently, there are 32
million more boys than girls under the age of 20 in the country. 
"While Chinese officials have acknowledged that the country’s
"one-child" policy has led to a gender imbalance, the new study offers
the first hard data on the extent of the disparity. The
study included nearly five million people under the age of 20 and
covered every county in China. It found that overall ratios of boys
were high everywhere, but were most striking among the younger age
group of 1-4 years, and in rural areas, where it peaked at 126 boys for
every 100 girls."

Back Story Behind Vatican’s Snub of Caroline Kennedy
We all know that the Vatican snubbed Caroline Kennedy as ambassador because of her pro-choice views.  On Comment Is Free, Sarah Posner gives us the back story:

But the flap over Obama’s appointments is more about American electoral politics than it is about church doctrine.

As
"religious" voters have been increasingly portrayed as the pivotal
electoral prize of presidential campaigns, in Obama’s victory Catholics
took front and center. Although Obama worked hard to attract white
evangelicals, their movement into the Democratic column was miniscule.
In comparison, a higher percentage of Catholics voted for Obama than
had voted for Democrat (and Catholic) John Kerry in 2004.

Posner explains that Obama’s popularity among Catholics highlights the Pope’s relative lack of influence over American Catholics. 

Obama a "Recruiting Drive" for Anti-Choice Movement
Politico reports that Obama’s first months in office have acted as a recruiting drive for the anti-choice movement.  Many of the largest anti-choice groups have seen an uptick in membership and online activism.

Obama’s first 84 days in office have been like an extended recruiting
drive for the anti-abortion movement, reinvigorating a constituency he
sought to neutralize during the campaign. Activists report a noticeable
spike in activity as Obama moves to defend and expand a woman’s right
to choose an abortion – causing anti-abortion voters to mobilize in
ways never needed during the Bush administration…

The series of decisions started with Obama’s move soon after taking
office to lift federal funding restrictions on overseas family planning
groups. Later, he moved to repeal Bush-era conscience protections for
medical professionals. And his stem-cell decision angered groups that
consider it tantamount to ending a human life, because the embryos must
be destroyed to retrieve the cells. 

But his personnel moves also have caused alarm. Health and Human
Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius fought attempts to dial back
abortion rights as Kansas governor. Obama’s communications director
Ellen Moran previously ran EMILY’s List, which backed women candidates
who supported abortion rights. Obama’s pick to run the powerful Office
of Legal Counsel inside the Justice Department, Dawn Johnsen, was
previously legal director for the National Abortion and Reproductive
Rights Action League in the late 1980s and early 1990s.