The Daily Breeze, a newspaper for residents of the coastal areas west of Los Angeles, says state voters should back the abortion proposal and it calls it "as reasonable as you can get in the often-unreasonable abortion debate."

"Sometimes a proposed reform comes along that makes so much sense it won't go away or be brushed aside, not by political pundits or by the voters," the newspaper says. "It might come up short at the ballot box in its first airing, but it resurfaces. And that's because the arguments for it are so much more persuasive than those against it, and because there's a much better chance that it will do some good than do any harm."

"Such is the case with the idea of requiring parental notification for a minor seeking an abortion. That sort of requirement should be written into the state constitution," the Daily Breeze wrote.

In Denver, an Internet radio program has aired an interview with a woman named Nikki who was forcibly detained at the Mayfair Women's Center in Aurora, Colorado, after she changed her mind about aborting her 16-week old baby. Mayfair Women's Center is associated with the National Abortion Federation.

Nikki, and her sister-in-law, Lisa, told radio host Bob Enyart that Nikki had been prepared for a second trimester abortion with the insertion of laminaria, a seaweed substance that begins the dilation process before a late-term abortion. Nikki was to return to the clinic to complete the abortion, but in the mean time, she changed her mind and simply wanted the laminaria removed.

Nikki was given false information by abortion clinic personnel in order to intimidate her into completing the abortion. She was told that if she did not go through with it, her baby would be deformed, and retarded, and that she would die. Nikki was physically restrained by the abortionist Ron Kuseski and other clinic workers, and told that if she did not go through with the abortion, the police would be called and she would be detained and placed on a 72-hour suicide watch. This was even though Nikki insisted she was not suicidal, and that she had a physician who would remove the laminaria and monitor her for complications.

Eventually, Nikki was allowed to leave the abortion clinic without the abortion. She went immediately to another doctor who told her that Kuseski's treatment of her had been a "poor attempt at an abortion."

Nikki later gave birth to a healthy child. (Click here to listen to the entire interview.)

The baby was born still in the amniotic sac, not long after the second dose of drugs had been administered. She came quickly and quietly, without the normal amount of pain or pushing. The nurses whisked her away to clean her up and dress her. They brought her back dressed in a soft green knit toque and little cotton gown, wrapped in a soft green knit blanket. I will never forget that first moment of seeing our little girl, of holding that tiny, precious bundle. The nurses and doctor respectfully left us to bond, to grieve over the birth and death of our baby, assuring us that we could take however much time we wanted. She measured 8 inches, or 21cm from head to toe and weighed 120 grams. She was 14 ½ weeks of age when she died.

All the knowledge I had of fetal development and life in the womb could not prepare me for what now lay before my very eyes. Although her facial features were slack and not completely defined, we could still see a very distinct resemblance to our other children’s features. Most amazing were her perfect little hands, one of which fit perfectly across the nail of my index finger. Closer inspection showed distinct fingernails at the end of each of her delicate fingers. We marvelled at the tiny little toes at the end of each foot. The muscles and tendons of her body were all in place; viewed easily just by moving her arms and bending her legs. She was so beautiful; so amazingly, perfectly formed, perfectly proportioned. It is so unfathomable that people refuse to acknowledge this as a human being; that babies this age and older are being killed every day through abortion.

A new study conducted by two university professors finds that laws requiring abortion facilities to involve parents before a minor girl can have an abortion reduce risky sexual behavior among teenagers. The study shows added benefits for parental consent and notification laws on abortion.
Florida State University law professor Jonathan Klick and Thomas Stratmann, professor of economics at George Mason University, conducted the study, which will be published in an upcoming edition of The Journal of Law Economics and Organization.

The pair examined the rates of gonorrhea among teenage girls as a result of risky sexual behavior and referenced those rates in association with parental involvement laws in effect at the time.

In states where the abortion laws were in effect, teen gonorrhea rates dropped by an average of 20 percent among Hispanic girls and 12 percent among white girls. The results were not statistically significant for black girls so no conclusion could be drawn.

Klick said the having to tell their parents about their potential abortion and sexual activities is enough of an incentive for minor girls that they lower their frequency of engaging in risky sexual activities.

"Incentives matter," Klick said. "They matter even in activities as primal as sex, and they matter even among teenagers, who are conventionally thought to be short-sighted."

"If the expected costs of risky sex are raised, teens will substitute less risky activities such as protected sex or abstinence," Klick said.

"Democrats are united in our efforts to significantly reduce the number of abortions in America by broadening the stagnant political debate that too often accompanies this issue," said Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, the measure's lead sponsor and a member of the House pro-life caucus.[..]

The new legislation would add $40 million annually to pregnancy prevention and contraception programs, increase the adoption tax credit, allow states to expand Medicaid-funded child health care programs, and fund college-support programs for pregnant students and new parents pursuing higher education. In addition, the bill would expand the Woman, Infants and Children nutrition program, increase daycare funding, provide in-home nurse visits to teenage mothers, and support additional domestic violence prevention programs for pregnant women and new mothers.

Traditional pro-life groups did not endorse the bill, said Ryan, because of its support for family planning programs that include contraception funding and counseling. Instead, the U.S. Catholic bishops and other antiabortion advocates are supporting a similar measure -- minus the contraception initiatives -- introduced Sept. 20 by Reps. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., and Chris Smith, R-N.J. "Given the staggering 1.3 million abortions in the United States each year, the Pro-Life Secretariat [of the U.S. bishops' conference] applauds constructive initiatives to support women and their children, both born and unborn," said Deirdre McQuade, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. "Everyone can agree that no woman should choose abortion due to economic duress," said McQuade.

When told their unborn son would not survive pregnancy, there seemed only one decision for Rachel Whittaker and Matt Capehorn.

A routine ultrasound had uncovered a cyst growing inside his right lung and with the odds stacked against him they were offered an abortion.

But the couple refused to give up hope and yesterday they brought William homefor the firsttimesincehewasborn three months prematurely in June, weighing only 2Ib 12oz.

'He's our little miracle,' said Mr Capehorn, a 36-year-old GP.

Doctors discovered the cyst at the start of the year. Four days later it had increased four-fold and was pushing on William's heart and oesophagus.

But they refused to terminate the pregnancy at 20 weeks and instead surfed the Internet for a solution before contacting one of the world's foremost experts in prenatal surgery.

Professor Kypros Nicolaides agreed to conduct the operation at the Harris Birthright Centre in London, despite the bleak prognosis given by doctors at Sheffield's Jessop Hospital.

The couple were told that the procedure, inserting a needle through Miss Whittaker's stomach into the baby to drainthecyst, couldcauseamiscarriage or prematurelabour.

The operation was a success but Miss Whittaker went into labour.

'When he was born we had big grins on our faces but it didn't sink in for a few days how poorly he really was,' said Mr Capehorn, from Rotherham.

'One night one of the doctors said would we prefer it if we could just cuddle him and then let nature take its course, but we didn't want to give up.'

Although William will remain connected to an oxygen tank for the next few months to help him fight chronic lung disease his parents believe he will grow up as a normal little boy.

The cyst in his lung, known as Congenital Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation, affects one in 35,000 babies.

Columbus sex crimes detectives arrested three women Friday evening for allegedly forcing a pregnant teen to drink turpentine to induce an abortion, said Sgt. Debra Bohannon.

The 16-year-old girl's mother, 44-year-old Rozelletta B. Blackshire of South Andrews Circle, was charged with criminal abortion and first-degree cruelty to children, said Bohannon.

The teen's cousins, Shonda Y. Blackshire, 26, of Farr Road and Monica M. Johnson, 28, of East Union Street, Eufaula, Ala., also were arrested and charged with criminal abortion.

The girl is three months pregnant. Investigators haven't determined whether the turpentine has had any toxic effects on the mother-to-be or her unborn child.

"There's no medical evidence that would support you could induce an abortion by giving her turpentine," Bohannon said. "Still, it's not made to ingest. It's not good to ingest."

Bohannon said the girl's mother and cousins twice forced her to drink turpentine between Sept. 12 and Sept. 20.

Police were called to investigate after the girl told her school counselor that her mother made her drink turpentine. Bohannon said her unit was handed the case because they already were in the process of investigating a sexual assault case involving the pregnant teen.

Investigators believe the girl conceived during that assault. Bohannon said there probably will be a charge involving the sexual assault.

When Veronica Celis married her husband Aaron in 1988, the couple wanted a big family. They eventually had three boys and then veronica found out she had breast cancer.

After extensive surgeries and chemotherapy, doctors suggested having a hysterectomy to make sure a future pregnancy didn't trigger a return of the cancer. As Veronica prepared for the surgery, doctors found she was 16 weeks pregnant.

According to the Tucson Citizen newspaper, Veronica was soon in the hospital in severe pain as the cancer returned. Doctors advised her to have an abortion and she agreed.

"I didn't want to push her," Aaron told the newspaper. "I told her, 'Honey, we have more things to lose than just the baby. She agreed that it (the abortion) was best.'"

But Veronica eventually had a dream, Aaron explained, where she saw her baby, a girl the couple has named Veronica, and she decided she couldn't go through with it.

"My wife's last wish to me was 'Take care of the baby,' " Aaron told the Associated Press. "This was such a hard decision to make, so hard, but I made a promise to my wife - and I'm going to keep it."

After going home, two weeks later, Aaron rushed Veronica to the emergency room as she again experienced excruciating pain.

Her brain shut down in August though her heart kept beating. Since then, doctors are working to keep her alive and give her baby the best chance possible.

A cream-colored statue of the Virgin Mary towers over several toddlers as they scramble around a tile floor, chasing a plastic football.

Some of their mothers hold infants. One has a stomach that's swollen in the late stages of pregnancy. Most are teenagers.

It's an after-school evening at Annunciation Maternity Home, a residence for those 14 and older who are pregnant or recently gave birth. Some have been kicked out of their homes by their parents. In other cases, a boyfriend or family member had tried to pressure them to have an abortion.

The home is now receiving taxpayer dollars to give counseling and support for up to 15 young women who chose to have their children.

It's the first site in a new state program that promotes childbirth over abortion and diverts $2.5 million a year from the state's $54 million family planning budget.

The initiative is run by a newly formed nonprofit group that includes lawyers and business owners.

The Texas Pregnancy Care Network is modeled after a similar group in Pennsylvania that distributes money to anti-abortion organizations.

Critics have attacked the program for what it's not funding, medical care, and what they say it's promoting: a religious and political agenda.

"Instead of money going to organizations that can demonstrate they can meet medical needs, it's going to organizations that put ideology ahead of those medical needs, not just religious ideology but political ideology," said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which promotes the separation of church and state.

Centers in the state program must "maintain a pro-life mission."

With the money shifted away from family planning, each year 16,000 fewer low-income women are getting pap smears, diabetes screening, information about contraception, and tests for kidney disease, sexually transmitted diseases, hypertension, anemia and more, said Peggy Romberg, CEO of the Women's Health & Family Planning Association of Texas.

But state officials counter that women's health services under Medicaid, including contraception and health screenings, will expand in January. It is expected to serve an additional 84,000 low-income women in the 2007 budget year.

"I would hate for disagreements about funding to overshadow the potential good that this program can do," said Vincent Friedewald, executive director of the Texas Pregnancy Care Network.

"At its core, it's helping organizations that provide free and confidential support, encouragement, guidance and assistance to women facing unexpected pregnancies so those women can feel confident about choosing childbirth," he said.

Sometimes you have to remember exactly what it means to be pro-choice. Sometimes the word "choice" is more than a focus-group label to avoid saying the word "abortion." Sometimes the slick bumper sticker - Who Decides? - actually defines the argument.

In April 2004, a nurse named Abby* made an appointment with Richard Collier of the Legal Center for Defense to tell him of an incident she thought violated the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.

Abby worked in the labor and delivery department of a major regional hospital in New Jersey. Abby told Collier about a baby boy who was aborted alive there earlier that year and placed in the "dirty room" until he died several hours later.

The attending nurse was so disturbed she described the event to Abby.

The boy was between 20-23 weeks old and aborted after a doctor noticed on ultrasound his limbs were not measuring properly. He told the mother the baby would be born with abnormal arms and legs and sword-like feet.

The procedure of choice was induced labor abortion, wherein a pill called Misoprostol (aka Cytotec) is inserted in the mother's birth canal every 4-8 hours to irritate the cervix until it opens.

The abortionist may kill the baby beforehand by injecting a heart-stopping drug into the baby's heart through the mother's abdomen. Or the abortionist may not, anticipating the baby will die during the birth process or soon after.

In this case, the baby obviously was not killed en utero and survived.

The nurse wrapped the baby in a blanket and took him to the dirty room, realizing after several minutes he was alive. She reported this to her charge nurse, who did nothing. The family was not told.

The nurse noticed the baby was clutching something in one fist. She pried the baby's fingers opened and saw he was grasping a Cytotec pill.

The nurse requested a reassignment.

Still, she felt compelled to check on the baby four or five hours later. Thinking the blanket was keeping him alive, she unwrapped the baby and placed him naked on a stainless steel table.

When she checked 15 minutes later, he was dead.

Collier reported the incident to the U. S. Department of Justice. The DOJ and the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services are charged with enforcing the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, signed into law by President Bush in 2002.

Abby began reporting other incidents to Collier, who reported them to the DOJ.

Abby said doctors were ordering nurses to chart live aborted babies' APGAR scores as "zero-zero," indicating they were born dead, not alive.

Once, for instance, when Abby was told a live aborted 21-week-old girl had been shelved to die in the dirty room, she went to rock her. (Abby, being pro-life, never participated in these abortions.) This aggravated the attending physician, who reminded Abby to score her at zero-zero. Abby refused. The abortionist found someone else.

Abby reported to Collier that hospital personnel falsely told the DOJ no babies survived induced labor abortions - statistically impossible if babies aren't killed before the procedure is started.

Thus, the hospital not only falsified legal documents, it lied outright to the DOJ.

This hospital is a Level III mother-baby care facility. It has equipment and personnel to care for the sickest, youngest babies born.

Abby reported that when the neonatal team was called for the delivery of a wanted preterm baby, it came running. But it did not come running for the delivery of an aborted preterm baby. During confusing times, when the team did not know the preemie was aborted, it would come running but be turned back.

Of course, all these actions violated the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which indicates all live born babies, no matter what gestational age or reason for birth, are legally protected and, therefore, deserving of equal medical treatment.

In July 2005, a year after the DOJ began to investigate, the hospital instituted a new abortion policy. Live aborted babies were no longer to go to the dirty room; they were to go to a hospital room within the department for comfort care.

This still violated the principles established in BAIPA.

Almost two years after the DOJ began to investigate, this past Christmas, Abby reported the good news that amazed staff finally provided treatment to an aborted healthy baby girl who lived six hours on comfort care alone. She thrived and ultimately went home.

It has now been two and a half years, and the DOJ has not intervened to stop that New Jersey hospital.

I pondered with Collier the other day just how many hospitals are committing induced labor abortion. He said the easier question would be how many hospitals are not committing it.

To date, no U. S. hospital or abortion mill has been prosecuted for giving disparate treatment to live aborted babies versus wanted babies.

During the Te Deum for the anniversary of Chile's independence, Cardinal Errazuriz recalled that "from the point of view of Christianity, we do not distinguish between wanted and unwanted persons," and that the vocation of Christians is to love everyone "as Christ loved us."

"Little by little, more people speak of 'wanted children' and 'unwanted' children, and not of the children we receive and welcome with all of our affection. The terminology stems from the field of family planning. It contains a grain of truth, but it cannot prevail as a dominant category in our human relations," the cardinal warned.

He told Chileans to be on guard against this terminology that "in other countries is used to justify abortion." Each unborn child should be welcomed and does not lose his or her dignity and worth, "even though he or she may not have been wanted."

The Food and Drug Administration said it updated the label on the Ortho Evra birth-control patch to reflect the results of one study that found women using the patch faced twice the risk of clots than did women on the pill. A second study, however, found no difference in risk between the two forms of birth control.

"Even though the results of the two studies are conflicting, the results of the second epidemiology study support FDA's concerns regarding the potential for Ortho Evra use to increase the risk of blood clots in some women," the FDA said in a notice published on its Web site.

The risk of clots in women using either the patch or pill is small. Even if it doubled for those on the patch, perhaps just six women out of 10,000 would develop clots in any given year, said Dr. Daniel Shames, of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

Planned Parenthood of Connecticut sponsors the course which began last year and requires second-year ob-gyn residents to complete two 4-week rotations at Planned Parenthood clinics. But while Dr. Gene Rudd, associate executive director for the CMDA, says the medical students can opt of actually performing abortions, they can also face extreme pressure for having a pro-life stance.

"There's pressure from the program directors that you will participate in this," explains Rudd. "In fact, you're very likely to get blackballed before you even get accepted into a program unless you're willing to participate."

According to Rudd, there is really no need to force students into the abortion clinic environment. "All the techniques that are done with an abortion, up until late abortions ... can be learned by taking care of the routine complications," the Christian physician says. "They're hardly routine when it's happening to you, but they're fairly common complications to early pregnancy."

The CMDA spokesman says while students are able to opt out of performing abortions, they are still required to perform ultrasounds on women who are about to have abortions. He suspects Planned Parenthood is using the rotation program has a recruitment tool for new abortionists.

The National Institute for Statistics study showed that in 2003 there were 8.8 abortions for every 1,000 women under 19 in Spain, up from 5.5 for every 1,000 women in 1995.

Experts blamed the rising abortion rate on a reduction in sexual-educational programs in some parts of the country.

"Until a few years ago, most family planning services were supplied by the Family Orientation Centers (COF) and municipal organizations, but today almost half of the COFs have disappeared," said Isabel Ferrer, a gynecologist from the State Federation of Family Planning.

"This website exposes the pro-choice movement as the most violent political movement in United States history. In fact, we have documented over 7,000 acts of violence and illegal activities by those who support or practice abortion," stated Brian Clowes, Ph. D., senior analyst for Human Life International. "We have launched this site to expose this troubling truth and to draw attention to the fact that this violence is escalating at a very disturbing rate. Since 2000, there have been an astonishing 269 homicides and other killings committed by the pro-abortion movement."

ProchoiceViolence.com also exposes how the pro-abortion movement has systematically targeted minorities and had a devastating impact upon the African-American community. "Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, was a known eugenicist who bragged about speaking before meetings of the KKK and at one time wanted the organization's slogan to be 'to breed a race of thoroughbreds,'" explained Clowes. "Sanger's vision has set the agenda for Planned Parenthood and much of the pro-abortion movement to this very day."

The commercial claims that Referred Law 6 gives women who are victimized by rape and incest "no options" even though the measure does not prohibit women in such circumstances from using the morning after pill.

Since the state legislature approved the ban, the FDA has approved sales of the Plan B drug to anyone over the age of 18 at a local pharmacy without a prescription.

The abortion ban also does not restrict or limit medical care, treatment for possible sexually transmitted diseases, and care to help victims with mental health issues following such incidents.

Leslee Unruh, who heads up the pro-life group defending the abortion ban, told the Dakota Voice, "The opponents of Referred Law 6 are dishonest about the options available to rape and incest victims."

"Their message that abortion is the only option available to victims of rape and incest is dishonest. It is harmful to women who need to know the truth. They exploit those victims to protect the abortion industry," Unruh added.

Unruh also attacked the ad for saying that women with health problems would no longer have abortion as a medical option, even though abortions cause a myriad of medical and mental health issues and are not normally necessary to protect a woman's health. Abortions in cases of the pregnancy threatening the life of the mother would still be legal.

"Again, on the issue of medical care for pregnant women with health problems, those who support legal abortion in South Dakota blur the truth to further their cause," Unruh told the Voice.

"Pro-lifers across the country are preparing to pay their respects to the estimated 47 million babies lost through surgical abortion by participating in American Life League's Pro-life Memorial Day on October 2," said Erik Whittington, director of youth outreach for American Life League. "The innocent children who have fallen victim to this American tragedy have no voice of their own. It is our job to speak up for the babies."

October 2 was the date chosen for the second annual event because it marks the U.S. Supreme Court's first day in session. "It was the Supreme Court decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton that decriminalized abortion and began more than three decades of slaughter," said Whittington. "Each of us should take time on this day to pray for an end to the tragedy of abortion, which has scourged our nation for the past 33 years."

Thus far, groups in Washington, D.C., South Dakota and Florida are among many that have announced plans to hold Pro-life Memorial Day activities. ALL's youth outreach team will lead a candlelight vigil outside of the United States Supreme Court building at 7:30 p.m. on October 2.

American Life League is also circulating a petition urging President Bush to designate the first Monday of every October as Pro-life Memorial Day. The petition is available online.

"It is tragic that we must set aside a day to remember the millions of children killed every single year in this country by abortion," said Whittington. "However, we will continue to fight through prayer and peaceful activism until no more children die."

"To abandon this long held position would be a tragic mistake, dividing human rights advocates and diverting Amnesty International from its central and urgent mission of defending human rights as outlined in the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights," Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in a Sept. 12 letter to Irene Khan, Amnesty International secretary general.

"Please," the bishop urged, "do not dilute or divert its mission by adopting a position that many see as fundamentally incompatible with a full commitment to human rights and that will deeply divide those working to defend human rights."

"Amnesty International and the Catholic Church have both been in the forefront of the struggle to promote the dignity of the human person and basic human rights," Bishop Skylstad wrote. "Much more urgent work remains, work which we believe will be harmed by this unprecedented and unnecessary involvement in the abortion debate."

"If Amnesty International were to advocate for abortion as a human right, it would risk diminishing its own well-deserved moral credibility," Bishop Skylstad said.

After disclosing to her parents that she was pregnant, a 19-year-old Maine girl was allegedly bound with rope and duct tape by the parents, who then allegedly attempted to drive the girl to an abortion clinic in New York on Friday for an emergency abortion, police said.

Katelyn Kampf, 19, was able to escape from her parents' custody when they stopped to use a restroom in Salem, New Hampshire. Police said the girl fled to a local department store where she was able to call police. Police found her behind a shopping mall and, shortly after, found the parents, Nicholas Kampf, 54, and Lola Kampf, 53, driving around a parking lot looking for the girl.

The parents were taken into custody by Salem Police and brought to police headquarters. A search of the vehicle revealed rope, duct tape, scissors, and a .22 caliber rifle. The father was found in possession of a loaded .22 caliber clip in his pants pocket.

During an interview with the girl, police found that her parents were upset after she recently told them she was pregnant. The girl told police that a physical altercation ensued and the girl was forced to the floor. The girl was then allegedly bound with rope around her legs and hands. She told police that she was carried to a vehicle and driven away by her parents.

According to the girl, her parents were driving her to a location in New York State to have an emergency abortion performed.

During the abortion procedure, Leeuw is said to have tried to use a suction abortion on the woman but ended up tearing a five centimeter hole in her cervix.

The woman's lawsuit, according to a report in the Citizen newspaper, indicates that Leeuw tried three times to complete the abortion and eventually told her he had failed. he instructed her to go to Pretoria Academic Hospital or to return to the abortion building the next day saying she may have a miscarriage before then.

She returned to the abortion business and another abortion practitioner attempted to complete the abortion but stopped and told her her cervix was too narrow and had been injured in the previous abortion attempt.

Another person examined her and said he could not repair the injury because it had become infected.

The woman went to see her family doctor after that, Citizen reported, and he referred her to a local hospital. There, she had a miscarriage and required a hysterectomy because of the infection and the damage the abortion caused.

Herman Cain is best known as the former chairman and CEO of Godfather's Pizza. He is a political commentator and was a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

"More and more African Americans are pro-life," Cain said in a statement LifeNews.com obtained. "Our message to African Americans is simple -- it's time you vote for candidates who support our values."

Cain will underscore that message with a $1 million advertising campaign in key states and congressional districts targeting black radio programs and urban radio stations young African Americans enjoy. Some of the ads focus on abortion.

The campaign is a second go-round based on a highly successful Ohio campaign in 2004 that helped President Bush garner 17% of the African American vote in the Buckeye State - double his vote total from the 2000 presidential race.

The ads appeared in Dayton, Cleveland and Cincinnati Ohio, as well as in Colorado, Minnesota, Florida, Georgia and other states.

The Illinois Parental Notification of Abortion Act of 1995 was passed and signed into law, but remains unenforced because the Court has failed to write the judicial bypass rules required by the law. Consequently, Illinois continues to be a "user-friendly" state for under age girls to have abortions without their parents' knowledge since we are the only state in the Midwest without a parental involvement law in effect.

This week, Thomas More Society, on behalf of ten organizations, including Concerned Women for America, filed a supplemental petition with the Illinois Supreme Court in support of State's Attorney Joe Birkett's petition. The petitions ask the Court to write the rules that will allow the law to be enforced.

26 said they had a few or no regrets about their abortions, including one aged 74 who had had three, by the same doctor, in the 1960s and 70s, and another who had aborted twins. Many said that there had been no alternative or it was "the right thing" at that moment in their lives, though they would not want to do it again. Nine others were undecided when asked if they would have gone ahead with abortion if they had known what the after-effects would be.

But the overwhelming majority, 204 out of 248, deeply regretted what had happened. 64 out of the 96 who answered the question "if you had known what the effects might be would you have gone through with the abortion?" answered "no", sometimes very emphatically. Almost all those 96 were adamant that women ought to be given more information and more counselling beforehand.

Many had suffered severe post-abortion symptoms. 14 had seriously contemplated or attempted suicide (one had tried to hang herself), 15 had become alcoholics, three reported eating disorders (including three years of anorexia), five confessed to resorting to drugs, several simply said they went off the rails. Four had "atonement" babies quickly.

And the familiar symptoms of PAS have been reported again and again: anger, shame, guilt, self-hatred, loss of confidence, nightmares, flashbacks, the pain of anniversaries - of abortions or the birthdays that never were - and Christmases.

The following comments are typical: "it completely ruined my life", "I felt crippled, crucified, stupid, insane", "I felt dirty and ashamed", "I'm totally grief-stricken, I want my baby and I feel like a monster", "it was the worst mistake of my life... I cry all the time", "every baby I see I yearn for the one I got rid of".

Only three respondents said they had any earlier history of mental disease. Some reported that the doctors and nurses had been kind. But more talked of being treated "like cattle", "conveyor-belted" and "pushed by bossy nurses". They described the bleak atmosphere of waiting rooms and abortion clinics, and how they were often crying when they came round from the anaesthetic.

Many were angry because they had received little or no counselling beforehand and been given little or no warning of what the operation could do to them.

With its ultrasound machine and its location, the Severna Park Pregnancy Clinic demonstrates two of the most important tactics in an intensifying campaign to woo women away from abortion clinics. Antiabortion organizations in recent years have added medical services to hundreds of Christian-oriented pregnancy counseling centers nationwide. Many of these antiabortion clinics have opened in or near places where women go to end pregnancies.

The new Severna Park clinic's operators say their strategy is akin to a business plan. "Just like McDonald's and Starbucks look for competitors to be next to," the pregnancy centers look to set up "where women will be seeking abortions," Pam Palumbo said.[...]

Abortion rights advocates say the proliferation of antiabortion pregnancy clinics is a dangerous trend, confusing vulnerable women by mixing a seemingly neutral clinical environment with a religious agenda.

Schoolchildren should be given compulsory lessons about the benefits of abortion, ministers' advisers on sex education claim.

Abortion should be included in teaching about sex to ensure that girls who become pregnant 'can make an informed decision' about whether to have one, they said.

And the abortion teaching should combat 'myths' that turn teenagers away from terminating their pregnancies, a report for ministers said.

It cited the idea that abortion can lead to infertility as misleading.

The recommendation from the Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy would mean - if accepted by the Government - that pupils would be taught about abortion from the age of 11.

But they could also have abortion lessons in primary schools that teach children from the age of five.

Real Women of Canada says the Status of Women Canada doesn't represent the views of all women in the country because the organization promotes abortion.

Real Women recently wrote a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper which has prompted the pro-abortion group to conduct a letter campaign of its own.

The initial letter, sent to Harper and members of parliament, urged the government to stop funding Status of Women, which is technically a government agency. The letter also urged the government to disband the organization.

According to a Canadian Christianity report, Real Women's letter said Status of Women has no purpose except "to promote the views of a handful of extremist feminist organizations at the expense of the Canadian taxpayer."

Abortion creates more problems for rape and incest victims than it solves, according to the Ad Hoc Committee of Women Pregnant by Sexual Assault (WPSA).

In an effort to gain a public voice in the contentious abortion debate, the group has written a petition to Congress and state legislatures asking for public hearings at which women who've become pregnant through sexual assault can share their stories and address the real concerns that they have faced.

"In virtually every case, those people who claim to represent our interests have never taken the time to actually listen to us or to learn about our true circumstances, needs, and concerns," they wrote. "We are deeply offended and dismayed each time our difficult circumstances are exploited for public consumption to promote the political agenda of others."

The group is particularly concerned about the widespread misconception, even among people who generally oppose abortion, that sexual assault victims generally want or benefit from abortions.

For example, a statewide survey in South Dakota recently found a proposed abortion ban there would receive overwhelming support at the polls as long as it provided an exception for rape and incest cases. Without the exception, the ban is favored by only 39%, with 47% opposing it and 14% undecided.

However, the WPSA members say abortion does nothing to help women pregnant through sexual assault, and in many cases is actually detrimental to them.

"In many cases, we felt pressured to abort by family members, social workers, and doctors who insisted that abortion was the 'best' solution," they wrote. "For many the abortion caused physical and emotional trauma equal to or exceeding the trauma of the sexual assault that our abortions were supposed to 'cure.'"

Whitney will no longer do abortions at the Family Planning Center but plans to continue doing abortions in Orlando. He's been responsible for about half of the 1,000-,1500 abortions that occur annually in the area.

The Daytona Beach facility will continue to exist but only non-abortion reproductive health care will be offered and women seeking abortions will likely be referred to other centers.

Whitney told the Daytona Beach News Journal that he stopped doing abortions only because of disagreements with state officials on rules regulating how he ran his abortion business.

It's been more than 40 years, but Judy can still see the face of the white-haired doctor who snuffed out her pregnancy with an abortion.

She remembers floating in an ether-induced fog, smelling the pungent antiseptic odor wafting through the room, feeling the cold, hard examining table.

The early-1960s abortion turned out to be one of three heart-wrenching times the 64-year-old Daytona Beach woman had pregnancies end in ways she didn't choose.

Her first child was whisked away in a forced adoption, the second by the coerced abortion and the third by miscarriage.

When Judy, who didn't want her real name used, talks about her brushes with motherhood, her eyes still flood with tears. But she recently discovered a way to quell some of the demons of her past.

Several months ago, she became a volunteer counselor at the Pregnancy Crisis Center in Daytona Beach.

"God has formed a purpose out of my mistakes," she said with a soft smile. "I'd give up my job to be here every day if I could."

When she sits down with someone who feels like they're falling into a deep hole, the right words come to her.

"I just turn into somebody different," she said. "There's something about the presence of God in this place. There's nothing I can say wrong because it's not me talking."

Sometimes the women looking for help at the center hear Judy's story. It begins in 1959, when she was 17 years old.

She was fixed up with a handsome man almost 10 years older, and she started falling for him on their first date. She was so infatuated she didn't fight him coaxing her to have one drink after another.

She awoke the next morning to a horrific reality. She had been date-raped in her own home. Her virginity was stolen by the man she thought she was falling in love with.

It all got worse three months later, when she found out she was pregnant. Young and scared, she let her parents take over. They opted to send her out of state to a home where she would secretly have the baby and give it up for adoption.

She happened to be standing at the window when her baby girl was put in a cab and driven off to a life Judy has never known a thing about.

"That's when it really hit me, but what could I do?" she said.

Years later, Judy tried to find her daughter. But all the birth and adoption records were sealed or destroyed, and she never got anywhere.

She started to get on with her life, and began college. About 18 months later, she was out with a friend one night when they went to a frat party.

She got drunk, and got pregnant again.

"It was not a happy time at my home," Judy said. "There was no talk except of getting rid of it."

Her parents asked around, and found a doctor who performed abortions.

"They found out where the doctor was and trotted me down there," Judy said as she began to cry. "You'd think after all these years I'd harden to it."

She recalls "a small, dark and dingy office, a hole in the wall." The procedure was not performed during the doctor's normal business hours, and "it was all very secretive," she said.

"I couldn't even tell you the street, but I can recall what it felt like," she said. "No one said a word on the way home. No one talked about it for 40 years."