Prolife Victories

Rightful Life in Kentucky

LIFENEWS.COM, Aug. 22 — The Kentucky Supreme Court has overturned two “wrongful life” lawsuits filed by parents who claim doctors did not properly diagnose physical disabilities in their children before birth and provide them with an opportunity to have abortions.

The court said the loss of an “opportunity” to have an abortion did not constitute a “legal injury,” a necessary element of negligence lawsuits.

Two Kentucky Supreme Court justices went so far as to say the idea evoked the Nazi era under Adolf Hitler because the thought of “wrongful life” lawsuits reeks of eugenics and discrimination against those with physical disabilities.

Pro-Life Advances

FOCUS ON THE FAMILY — Pro-life causes and laws are gaining a new foothold across the country, according to Family News in Focus, a Web site of the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based ministry headed by Dr. James Dobson. The story cites a new report filed by the public interest law and education group Americans United for Life.

From more money flowing to pregnancy-resource centers to legislation banning late-term abortions, 2003 has been gratifying for those who oppose abortion, says the report. The report points to a number of legislative victories that have brought abortion clinics under stricter standards.

Ohio Funds Diverted

THE ATHENS NEWS, Aug. 25 — In a two-year budget bill passed earlier this summer, Ohio's pro-life legislators have diver ted funding from family-planning organizations to county health departments.

If the county health departments cannot provide the services, they can award the money to local agencies that apply for it, which could make funding available to groups that operate crisis-pregnancy centers.

Saved by Daughter?

THE BILLINGS GAZETTE, Aug. 27 — Melissa Blackwolf, who was diagnosed with leukemia in July 2002, was responding well to chemotherapy treatments when she discovered she was pregnant last December.

Doctors told Blackwolf to abort her baby or quit the treatment. Heroically, Blackwolf quit the chemotherapy and carried her daughter, Kyleleah Hope, to full term. Now Kyleleah's umbilical-cord blood could be a key to Melissa's leukemia treatment.

Blackwolf is a member of the Lame Deer tribe and finding a bone marrow match for a transplant would prove extremely diffi-cult. But she has a 50% chance that stem cells from Kyleleah's cord blood will be a perfect match.

“She may give me a second chance at life,” she said.