First Links – 7.30.10

Doctors in India Worried Over Abuse of ‘Morning-After’ Pill

Health-care workers and government officials in India are concerned over the routine and indiscriminate use of emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs), commonly called the “morning-after” pill. The pills, which have a heavy dose of the same hormones found in regular oral contraceptive pills, are freely available over the counter in India.

The Amish Population Boom

The number of Amish in North America has doubled since 1991 and their distinctive communities can now be found in Canada as well as 28 U.S. states, including unlikely ones like Texas and Maine.

HHS bans coverage of elective abortion in high-risk pools

After reports recently surfaced that some of the new federally-funded high risk pool insurance programs in states across the U.S. were covering elective abortion, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a statement today, prohibiting the plans from covering the procedure.

Nuns With Music Deal Get Death Threats

Benedictine nuns from a secluded convent in southern France have received death threats after winning a deal aimed at creating a chart-topping album, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

The nuns from the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de l’Annonciation near Avignon had their prayers answered last week after beating 70 other religious orders from North America and Africa to the deal with Universal Music.

Fewer Spaniards say they are Catholic

The proportion of Spaniards who say they are Roman Catholic has fallen to 73 percent from around 80 percent eight years ago, according to a survey released Thursday by the CIS research centre.