Olympian Puts Baby First

THE TELEGRAPH (London), May 13 — Word of her pregnancy came as both good and bad news for British track star Tasha Danvers-Smith.

On the one hand, she was overjoyed at the news of the new life inside of her. On the other, her hopes for a gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles at this summer's Olympics in Athens, Greece, were over.

“I cannot lie; I considered an abortion,” said Danvers-Smith, who married her coach last November and is now 10 weeks pregnant. She said she is their sole breadwinner and the couple live with her husband's parents. “When my body is my business, then if my body is not functioning, there is no business.”

“But,” she said, “this line from the Scriptures kept coming into my head: ‘For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?’

“For me, the whole wide world was the Olympics. At the same time, I felt I would be losing my soul. It just wouldn't fit well.”

Lawmakers Defend Ban

LIFENEWS.COM, May 27 — The American Center for Law and Justice has filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of 25 members of Congress in an effort to defend the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act from lawsuits seeking to overturn it.

In the brief filed May 27, members of Congress called on a federal district court in New York to uphold the constitutionality of the ban, LifeNews.com reported.

“Absent strong legal barriers and vigorous societal condemnation, partial-birth procedures open the way to legal infanticide,” the brief states.

The U.S. district court judge presiding over the case has scheduled closing arguments for June 22.

Display Sparks Debate

WISH-TV (Indianapolis), May 27 — A pro-life display in central Indiana is causing quite a controversy.

On “a patch of nicely mowed grass” sit 240 small white crosses in 15 rows, the television station reported. The crosses are part of a display sponsored by the Decatur County Right to Life group and represent the number of abortions that happen in Indiana every week. The display's location, however, is on the lawn of the Decatur County Courthouse.

While the Indiana Civil Liberties Union said other groups should also have a right to put on a display there, some residents supported it. According to one: “It's a good central location that people are going to be driving by here.”