Unborn Child Saves Mother

CHICAGO SUN TIMES, May 20 —A masked gunman fired shots at a pregnant woman, but her unborn child saved her life. According to doctors, the 30-week-old unborn child helped block the bullets from striking the mother's vital organs. The baby girl, Adriel, weighing just three pounds and 14 ounces, survived the attack despite suffering bullet wounds in her right arm and flank and was delivered by Caesarean section.

Breastfeeding a Lifesaver

THE TELEGRAPH, May 22 —Mothers wanting to cut the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) should breast-feed their babies, Swedish researchers said. Doctors are not sure what causes healthy babies to die in their sleep, but the Institute for the Health of Women and Children in Gothenburg found that babies breast-fed for four months or more were less likely to die from SIDS.

Dr. Bernt Alm and his team reported in The Archives of Disease in Childhood that babies breast-fed for less than eight weeks were up to five times more likely to die from SIDS than those breast-fed for at least four months.

License Plates' Million

CHOOSE LIFE INC., May 16 —According to the Tallahassee Fla., Department of Motor Vehicles, the sales of the Choose Life license plate in Florida went higher than $1 million May 23.

The Choose Life tag is displayed on more than 30,000 vehicles in Florida. Every sale and/or renewal raises $20 to assist adoption efforts in crisis-pregnancy centers, maternity homes and certain non profit adoption agencies in the county where the tag was purchased.

Teen-age Chastity

ASCRIBE NEWSWIRE —Researchers have suggested that American teen-agers are becoming less sexually active, with rates of sexual activity, pregnancy and abortion all falling among 15 to 17-year-olds.

A study published in Context, a journal of the American Sociological Association, indicated that the number of boys aged between 15 and 17 who are sexually active has fallen by 8.5% in the past decade. The teen pregnancy rate is now at its lowest since 1975, and the abortion rate for teenagers fell by 31% between 1986 and 1996.

Lt. Gov.: Ban Cloning

SOUTH CAROLINA CITIZENS FOR LIFE, May 20 —Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler has asked all state senators to immediately support the total ban on human cloning in South Carolina.

“Today I am publicly calling upon each and every member of the Senate to come to Columbia this week and do what's right for our state,” Peeler said.

On May 1, the South Carolina House passed the ban by a vote of 77-15.

Peeler also challenged drug companies and the Medical University of South Carolina to drop their opposition to the ban.