Mandatory Contraceptive Coverage -- Is Abortion Next?

Lawmakers Want Ultrasounds

INDIANAPOLIS STAR NEWS, Jan. 22 — A new bill proposed in Indiana would give women the opportunity to listen to their baby's heartbeat and view an ultrasound before they make their decision to abort or not. Women would be free to decline the option.

Abortion rates in Wisconsin dropped by more than half after the state offered the so-called look-and-listen option, officials said.

The Indiana Senate Health Committee currently is considering the proposal.

Protests Move Speech

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Jan. 19 — New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, a Catholic who supports abortion, moved his first public town hall meeting from a Catholic university after pro-life Catholics objected to his plans.

McGreevey moved the meeting from Seton Hall University to Montclair State University. pro-life advocates were angered not only because McGreevey was going to have the town hall meeting at the Catholic school, but also because it was scheduled for Jan. 22, the 29th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Abstinence Funding

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Jan. 30 — The Bush administration is asking Congress for a 33% increase in funding for sexual abstinence education programs. In the budget the president proposed a total of $135 million for abstinence-only programs, an increase of $33 million over this year.

The request fulfills a pledge Bush made while campaigning for president — to spend as much promoting abstinence as some have calculated the government spends educating teens about contraception.

Teen Promotes Unborn Bill

THE IDAHO STATESMAN, Jan. 28 — When Lisa Smith's son Noah was born and his heart didn't beat and his skin was cold, she promised to make his untimely death mean something.

Smith is arranging to address Idaho legislators in favor of a law protecting children from people who would hurt or kill them before they're born.

The Idaho teenager was starting her ninth month of pregnancy when she was attacked July 8 in her home. Hit, kicked and stomped, Smith sensed the beating had hurt her baby and was rushed to the hospital. Noah was stillborn.

Pain Relief Discovery

THE NATIONAL POST, Jan. 30 — A surprising discovery may lead to the development of more effective painkillers for terminally ill patients or people suffering from such chronic diseases as cancer.

In the latest finding, Dr. Khem Jhamandas of the department of pharmacology and toxicology at Queen's University, concluded that tiny doses of opioid antagonists — drugs normally used to block the toxic effects of opioids — actually enhance the pain-killing qualities of morphine.