Prolife Victories
Right to Know
ASSOCIATED PRESS, Sept. 11 — The Missouri House has voted to override Gov. Bob Holden's veto of a bill providing a 24-hour waiting period to women considering abortion.
The House vote sent the bill to the state Senate, where supporters face a more difficult task in achieving the two-thirds majority needed to make the measure law without the governor's signature.
Hundreds of pro-lifers watching from the House galleries erupted in applause when the successful 120-35 override vote was announced on the abortion bill. Although Republicans have majorities in both chambers, they needed support from some Democratic legislators to override the veto.
Governor for Abstinence
Sept. 8 — Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns has kicked off a five-city educational tour to promote sexual abstinence among teens at the state capitol in Lincoln.
Johanns signed a proclamation declaring September to be “Teen Abstinence/Life Control Month.”
Shelly Donahue, an abstinence education teacher, presented the program, “Why am I Tempted?” to challenge teens to think through the choices and consequences of being sexually active before marriage.
The tour was planned to go to four other cities including Omaha. Parents, teens and educators were the tours' intended audiences.
No ‘Medicaided’ Abortions
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Sept. 4 — A Florida appeals court has decided in favor of protecting life, ruling that the state can ban Medicaid payments for abortions.
The 3rd District Court of Appeals decided that the state has legitimate and rational interests in protecting life and containing health care costs.
The rules against abortion funding are “rationally related to the legitimate government objective of protecting potential life,” and Florida is allowed to limit services to contain Medicaid costs, said the unsigned opinion from a three-judge panel.
Stem Cells for the Heart
REUTERS, Sept. 1 — Four out of a group of five seriously ill Brazilian heart-failure patients no longer needed a heart transplant after being treated with their own stem cells, the doctor in charge of the research said.
Such “regenerative medicine,” in which stem cells extracted from patients' own bone marrow are used to rebuild tissue, may one day become commonplace for patients with damaged or diseased hearts, some doctors believe.
