• Opponents Chip Away at Abortion Rights
• Catholic Health Administrators Vie to Buy Colorado; Critics Fear Limiting of Heath Services
• SC Democratic Debate Gets Testy Over Campaign Contributions
• Hundreds of Thousands in Kenya Displaced by Post-Election Violence
• Traditional Hawaiian Crop Threatened by Large-Scale Biotech Testing

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• US Economic Woes Hit International Stock Markets
• Padilla and Co-Defendants Sentenced
• Surge of Violence in Eastern Nepal
• International Summit in Berlin to Pressure Iran
• Israel Eases Gaza Fuel Blockade for One Day

With ballot initiatives underway in a number of states that would re-define a person as any human being from the moment of fertilization, 2008 is already looking like a year of significant battles for reproductive rights. Those battles aren't just on the ballots and in legislatures. In Colorado, the battle is also in the boardroom. There, a proposal for the Kansas-based Catholic Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System to become the sole owner of Exempla Healthcare is on the table. The deal would mean the Exempla hospitals would have to follow the Catholic ethical and religious directives. Critics say the change in policy would restrict services for contraceptives, sterilizations, pregnancy terminations and fertility treatments. Mandy Walker has the story.

On to election news:  Republican Fred Thompson has officially dropped out of the race, on the heels of poor showings in the early primary states.  The actor and former Tennessee Senator announced his candidacy late in the game and never seemed to be able to catch up.  On the other side, sparks flew at the Democratic Debate last night in South Carolina.  It was hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus and CNN and focused on the economy.  But the issue was clouded with accusations of inconsistencies among the presidential candidates.  Those accusations included challenges on campaign contributions.   FSRN's Leigh Ann Caldwell takes a look at the campaigns' fundraising practices.

Thirty-five years after the Roe versus Wade ruling, political and religious groups are working to overturn it. Since 2000, they have been succeeding, steadily chipping away at the law and severely narrowing the scope of what services are legal. This has largely been made possible by the Bush administration. FSRN's Christina Aanestad files this report.

Percy Schmeiser, the Canadian farmer who took on biotech giant Monsanto, is at it again.  Monsanto sued Schmeiser in 1999 for growing their genetically modified crops without paying for them.  Schmeiser maintained he didn't actually plant GM seed; instead he says pollen blew into his field.  He lost the case in the Canadian Supreme Court.  This time Schmeiser is going on the offensive.  He has sued Monsanto in small claims court for the equivalent of $600 US Dollars, the amount he paid to have Monsanto's oilseed rape plants removed from his field.  In his case Schmeiser claims this kind of field contamination is the equivalent of pollution – and polluters should pay to clean their messes.  If won, the case could set a precedent that could make Monsanto liable for inadvertent GM co