Prolife Victories

Life Gains Ground

USA TODAY, Feb. 8 — Pro-life advocates “are gaining ground” with proposals to require doctors to tell women that their unborn children might feel pain during an abortion, said the national newspaper in a lead article.

Fetal-pain bills were introduced in 19 states in 2005, and were passed in Arkansas, Georgia, Minnesota and Wisconsin, where Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed the legislation. Measures have passed at least one house of the state legislatures in Utah and Indiana.

Fetal-pain bills have also been introduced this year in Arizona, Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma.

One advocate told the newspaper that the pro-life movement is working “to help the public more fully appreciate the humanity of the unborn.”

Abort ‘Capital’ Reconsiders

THE NEW YORK POST, Feb. 8 — Even New York, recently dubbed by New York magazine “the abortion capital of the United States,” may be open to a new discussion on abortion that includes pro-life options.

Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, a Democrat who favors legalized abortion, has announced a multi-pronged effort designed to curb teenage pregnancies and reduce the number of abortions in his Long Island county.

His plan would provide county funds to groups that encourage abstinence, promote adoption, get housing for single mothers and provide information about other birth-control measures.

Columnist Charles Millard contrasts this approach with “the more standard approach among New York Democrats: Making sure that nobody supports abortion more than [I do].”

So surprised by Suozzi’s approach was the Post that its editorial on the subject declared that “hell has frozen over.”

Cell Bill Pruned

CHRISTIAN NEWS WIRE, Feb. 9 — A Delaware bill authorizing human stem-cell research was stripped of all anti-life components before passing in the Delaware house, thanks to the grassroots efforts that included much prayer on the part of a concerted group of Christians.

With the encouragement of Wilmington Bishop Michael Saltarelli and leaders of other churches, more than 2,400 people signed up for prayer hours in opposition to the bill. More than 10,000 people contacted their representatives and asked them to vote against the bill.

Legislators amended the bill to remove all references to embryonic stem-cell research and to clarify the definition of “human reproductive cloning” to clearly ban any cloning that results in a human fetus or child for any purposes, and to close a loophole that would have allowed fetal farming.

Loss and Love

CHERRY HILL COURIER POST, Feb. 2 — Something good has come from an immense tragedy.

George Zallie’s daughter, Stacy, took her own life in 2002, almost a year after having an abortion she kept from her close-knit family.

Zallie, 53, is convinced the emotional fallout from the abortion led to her death. “She couldn’t recover from it,” said Zallie. “It just breaks my heart that she didn’t open up.”

So Zallie put his prominent name — he’s the owner of eight New Jersey ShopRites — and his financial clout behind a website, stacyzallie.org, and the Stacy Zallie Foundation to provide post-abortion support and advice.