Debbie Roberts Shultz says she lived with guilt and shame for 15 years after having an abortion at age 20.

The lifelong Christian and former Galesburg High School basketball standout got pregnant in the summer of 1986 when she was visiting her then-boyfriend, Abingdon native Tim Shultz, in Mississippi.

She had just graduated from Carl Sandburg College - where she led the women's basketball team to two conference championships and a trip to the National Junior College Athletic Association national tournament in 1985 - and soon would be attending the University of Evansville in Indiana on a basketball scholarship.

"All we could see was, here's a pregnancy - and here's college," she said Sunday night at an interdenominational, pro-life prayer service at First Church of the Nazarene in Galesburg. "We thought abortion was our only option."

Knox County Right to Life has held a pro-life prayer service in Galesburg for 30 years near the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion on Jan. 22, 1973.

"Some of you I know and some of you I don't know," Shultz, who graduated from Galesburg High School in 1984, told a crowd of around 150 pro-lifers gathered at the church. "But I am glad you are here to support life, because that's why I'm here."

Shultz said there were no pickets and no counselors on the hot July day she visited an abortion clinic in Jackson, Miss.

"I had the abortion and that was it," she said.

But on the drive home from the clinic, her mind began to race.

"I began to think, what have I done?" she said. "Sometime later, with a truly repentant heart, I asked God to forgive me."

Shultz went to Evansville a couple months later and she excelled in athletics and academics.

"I just pretended it never happened," she said.

She and Tim married in 1987, but they didn't talk about the abortion - and they didn't tell their family and friends what had happened.

"We still had this secret locked away," she said.

When Shultz had a miscarriage in 1988, she struggled with guilt and depression. A year later, Shultz was inducted into the athletic hall of fame at Galesburg High School for her athletic accomplishments. The former career scoring leader for GHS with 1,090 points, Shultz still ranks seventh on the all-time girls scoring list.

The couple had their first three children in the early 1990s, but Shultz said their marriage was on the rocks.

"I loved God, I prayed and I went to church. I had a happy face on the outside," Shultz said. "But inside, I was living in a prison. I felt like I was shackled inside from the trauma of the abortion."

The death of a family friend in 1997 led the couple to try to get closer to God.

"There was a wall standing in my way," Shultz said.

The couple had two more children, but Shultz still struggled with guilt.

Shultz said it was five years ago - and 15 years after her abortion - that something changed. She said her faith led her to realize she needed to forgive herself.

"I forgave myself for taking the life of an innocent baby," she said. "That wall finally came down."

Ann Norton told WND that she's documented a number of cases of underage girls being taken to the abortion business, has contacted child protection officials, police, the district attorney, and even the state attorney general's office, with a complete lack of response.

"I've stood on my head, trying to get action," she said. "This is something that needs to be brought out into the open." [..]

Norton said the conspiracy of silence around such assaults is leaving her frustrated in trying to protect young children. She cited one case in 2005 in which an 11-year-old girl was taken to the Kalamazoo abortion clinic. Norton talked with the girl's mother, collected witness statements, sworn affidavits, and other evidence, but still was unable to get anyone to investigate the attack that resulted in her mother bringing her to an abortion clinic.

"She [the girl's mother] confirmed the girl was 11 years old. The poor girl was in the back, crunched into the fetal position, scared to death," Norton recalled.

Norton asked about the girl's situation, and her mother responded that, "I'm not going to have any blankety blank babies in the house."

"We know the girl did test positive, and we feel strongly that she did have the abortion," Norton told WND. But after police were called and child protective services were notified, nothing happened.

Norton was told that child protective services reported it couldn't act without a police report, and police reported they couldn't act unless they knew the location of the alleged child rape.

Michigan authorities did not return a message left by WND asking for a comment on the case.

But Norton noted state law calls for an age of consent of 16 years, and the law's assumption that a pregnancy in a child is "reasonable cause" to believe there was child abuse.

Because there has been no response from authorities, on the recent anniversary of Roe. vs. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court opinion that discovered the "right" to abortion, she assembled her documentation, called a news conference and waited, and waited, and waited.

No one showed up.

"It's like knocking your head against a wall," Norton told WND.

She said authorities confirmed that Planned Parenthood did not file a report on the abortion given to the 11-year-old, and police and child protective services officials have told her that is what is needed to start an investigation.

"Here in Kalamazoo, I don't know what is going on," she said. "Everything is hush-hush." She said her work even brought her into contact with the state attorney general's office, but again nothing was accomplished.

She said one investigator in the state office told her, "Everyone's been told to shut up," and without that testimony authorities "can't do anything."

A Texas state appeals court has upheld a state law that protects pregnant mothers and their unborn children from acts of violence. The court validated the law that says criminals who attack a pregnant woman and kill her baby can be charged with two crimes for the death or injury to both mother and child.

The Texas Ninth Court of Appeals upheld the law in a case concerning a double capital murder conviction involving a man who killed his unborn twin sons.

Attorneys for 21 year-old Gerardo Flores claimed the law was unconstitutional because it applied throughout pregnancy in protecting mother and child.

In May 2004, then 16-year-old Erica Basoria asked Flores to step on her stomach because she didn't want to give birth to the twins. Basoria has told authorities she had been trying to kill her unborn children for weeks before Flores attacked them.

"When I was four months pregnant, I began to show, and at that time I decided that I should have gotten an abortion,"Basoria said in an affidavit.

Authorities say Basoria and Flores had been dating more than a year when she became pregnant in January 2004. Flores told the Associated Press that Basoria had difficulties with her family and lacked support for her pregnancy.

Flores was convicted of killing the babies and received two concurrent life sentences that won't let him be eligible for parole until 40 years from now.

A coalition of 40 pro-life associations participated in the protest, with organizers estimating more than 18,000 people attended the march. The demonstrators carried flags and banners representing all stages of life, from conception to old age. The route led from a maternity center in the center of Lisbon to the western section of the city, the Associated Press reported Sunday.

The governing Socialist Party, under Prime Minister Jose Socrates, called the abortion referendum last fall, following up on an election promise to definitively address the ongoing battle over abortion in the country. Portugal has relatively stringent laws in place against abortion, permitting it only in cases of rape, serious physical deformity of the child, or when the health of the mother is at risk, and then only up until twelve weeks gestation.

The referendum will ask voters if abortion should be permitted on demand up until 10 weeks gestation. The exact wording of the referendum question will be, "Do you approve that an abortion, carried out during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, with the woman's consent and in an authorized medical facility, no longer be a crime?"

"It only makes sense that Instant Messaging is the fastest growing contact channel for the demographic segment facing a potential crisis pregnancy," according to a statement from the organization called www.OptionLine.org.

The electronic communication allows individuals seeking help or advice - or options - to speak to counselors in complete anonymity, but still have their concerns addressed - and addressed right now.

"The stories we hear day in and day out are amazing," said Joe Young, Option Line's executive director. "In 2006 we had over 204,000 contacts from young men and women seeking advice. More and more of them believe abortion is NOT the answer, but unfortunately do not know the options available to them for supporting through parenting or adoption."

He said the organization's outreach through IM is becoming bigger and bigger - and already has proven its success..

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David Tolleson
770/604-9500 January 23, 2007

ATLANTA - The National Down Syndrome Congress (NDSC) condemns recent recommendations by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) that convey tacit approval for terminating pregnancies where the fetus has Down syndrome.

The recommendation for first trimester screening of all pregnant women is a change from the current practice of primarily screening women over age 35 who have a higher probability of having a baby with Down syndrome. Women under age 35 are also being screened, often without their full knowledge or consent.

Among the concerns cited by the medical doctors comprising NDSC's Professional Advisory Committee:

The primary medical reason for first trimester screening is to encourage earlier diagnostic testing in "at risk" pregnancies, in order to facilitate early terminations. Other reasons for prenatal diagnosis, such as hospital selection and delivery management, do not require first trimester testing.

Based on ACOG's figures, the recommended screenings will produce numerous false positives, potentially leading to unnecessary patient distress and possible termination of pregnancies where medical concerns do not exist.

All screening or diagnostic tests need to be fully explained to patients, who should be provided the opportunity to decline or give their informed consent for testing. If patients decline certain tests, physicians and other medical personnel should respect the individual's wishes and not overtly or covertly pressure patients to undergo undesired screenings.

Recent studies by Dr. Brian Skotko, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (2005) and Pediatrics (2005) note that many doctors are inadequately prepared to deliver a diagnosis of Down syndrome, and often use negative language or out-of-date information. ACOG's recommendations do not address this situation, nor how it will be corrected.

Studies have shown that parents and siblings of children with Down syndrome overwhelmingly report that having a family member with that diagnosis has been a good situation. Early intervention and inclusive education have led to largely positive outcomes for children with Down syndrome. It is unacceptable that many obstetricians present negatives -- and seem to emphasize pregnancy termination -- rather than reporting the facts, which paint a much more positive picture.

Parents who receive a diagnosis that their fetus has Down syndrome should have the opportunity to meet a family that includes a person with the syndrome, a move in keeping with the spirit of the Kennedy-Brownback bill.

NDSC Executive Director David Tolleson notes that "Down syndrome is a serious diagnosis; however we have seen families thrive." "We empathize with obstetricians who fear 'wrongful life' lawsuits," Tolleson adds, "but the cure for that problem is tort reform, not preventing the births of a whole class of people."

Jeff Mattson, a man with Down syndrome, agrees: "People with Down syndrome want to live life to the fullest."

According to Tolleson, "the NDSC is here to support doctors in delivering a diagnosis and parents through the pregnancy, birth and life of their child."

Lawmakers confirmed Friday that a bill banning most abortions in South Dakota will be introduced again in the Legislature, although it will contain exceptions for rape, incest and the health of women.

The measure was in the final drafting stages, and it is expected to be offered early next week. Tuesday is the deadline for individual lawmakers to introduce bills.

A measure that would have banned all abortions except those necessary to save women's lives was passed last year, but it was referred to the ballot and voters ultimately rejected it.

Two other abortion-related bills were scheduled Friday for introduction in the South Dakota Legislature.

One of those bills, SB172, would require abortion doctors to read a notice to women, telling them it is against the law for anyone to force or pressure them to get abortions.

Women also would have to be told that doctors cannot do abortions unless consent is voluntary.

SB171 would require clinics and hospitals that offer abortions to display prominent signs informing women that it is against the law for anyone to force or coerce them into getting abortions and it is illegal to do abortions unless they are freely requested.

We recently had a conversation with Leslie Graves, a counselor with Rachel's Vineyard.

A young lady called her office and offered the following: "She told us that after her abortion, she drove to the clinic every day to see that billboard located near Planned Parenthood that says 'I REGRET MY ABORTION - and if you do too, there is hope ...'

"She drove there every day just to see that billboard. It was her lifeline. She said that after the abortion her despair was so deep that she had taken a couple of overdoses of pills. I think that billboard probably saved her life."

We also heard from a pro-life friend of a young pregnant lady who was driving down to Madison for her appointment at the Planned Parenthood abortion center. When turning into the clinic parking lot, she saw the "I REGRET MY ABORTION" message and turned around, went back home, and made an appointment at the local crisis pregnancy center. She gave life to her baby!

The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Bishop Elio Sgreccia, denounced this week the different attacks on human life in all its stages, saying mankind is "marching towards a self-genocide of the human race."

"The weakness of the Christian community and the strength of secular society could spell disaster," Bishop Sgreccia warned, and he urged all European citizens to work at reversing the trend. "Up to now the culture of death has been accepted and this path leads to self-destruction."

Amber Abreu, 18, used a combination of the RU 486 drug and an ulcer drug sometimes misused by abortion businesses to cause abortions, that resulted in the death of her baby.

The abortion drug combination failed and Abreu delivered a 1 1/4 pound baby on January 6 who was between 23 and 25 weeks into the pregnancy. Abortions are legal in Massachusetts up to the 24th week of pregnancy.

Despite the delivery, baby Ashley Abreu was unable to be saved and she died four days later at a local Boston hospital.

According to a report in the North Andover Eagle-Tribune newspaper, Abreu was arrested yesterday and charged with producing a miscarriage, a felony that involves the use of a drug to end a pregnancy without an abortion and includes as much as seven years in prison.

Because the self-abortion resulted in the baby's birth and subsequent death, police Chief John Romero said Abreu could face manslaughter charges.

"The difference here is that the child was born and lived," Romero told the newspaper.

"The rate and number of abortions in the United States continue to decline, most notably among teens," he said to applause during the homily. He said many teens "are wisely choosing to abstain from sexual activity" because of religious and moral values and also to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.

"To be free of disease, to be free of the fear of an ill-timed pregnancy, to be free of a broken heart -- this is the freedom that we want for our young people, and we rejoice that it is unfolding," he added to further applause.

"Another reason to rejoice is that the American people are becoming more pro-life. According to a significant poll last year, general support for Roe v. Wade fell under 50 percent for the first time since 1973," Cardinal Rigali said, eliciting more clapping.

"More and more citizens are coming to question abortion and to recognize -- as a starting point for deeper conversion -- that there is something radically wrong with abortion and the support given it by our laws," he added.

"In the midst of the enormous challenge posed by threats to life, there are new reasons to hope that the truth of God's law will prevail as a great light in our nation as our people move increasingly toward valuing human life from its earliest and most vulnerable stages onward. This indeed is cause for rejoicing in the Lord!"

The church's position on abortion is "one of profound concern for the unborn and deep compassion for all those affected by abortion," Cardinal Rigali said. "With utmost respect we express in the public debate our strong conviction that something terribly wrong has weakened our nation -- something that flagrantly violates human rights and human dignity, in addition to the law of God."

The cardinal blasted "the so-called freedom of choice" that resulted from the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, which legalized abortion virtually on demand, saying that those who get abortions do not experience freedom.

"Freedom comes only when they are able to turn to God in their sadness and brokenness and accept his forgiveness, his mercy and his healing grace," Cardinal Rigali said.

The impact of abortion isn't really discussed in our society. But it is very real -- and the fact that some authorities discount abortion pain makes it all the more difficult for hurting women to find relief. Women who suffer from abortion pain need to know that they are not alone.

Abortion is the taking of a human life and profoundly troubles women for this obvious reason. We have lost children and, for many, that loss is very real and very painful.

That is why more and more post-abortive women agree with another sign to be held today by several women, including myself: "I regret my abortion."

"As we move forward, we've all got to remember that a true culture of life cannot be built by changing laws alone. We've all got to work hard to change hearts. We will find areas where we can agree and, at the same time, work to persuade more of our fellow citizens to join this great cause. The sanctity of life is written in the hearts of all men and women. And so I say, go forth with confidence that a cause rooted in human dignity and appealing to the best instincts of our citizens cannot fail."

Early on a a windy Saturday morning in November, Rhonda Arias drove her Dodge Caravan past a Wal-Mart at the end of her block and onto the Interstate. She was beginning the 50-mile drive from her house in southwest Houston to Plane State Jail, where she is, as she puts it, an "abortion-recovery counselor." To Arias, that means helping women at the prison who have had abortions to understand how that procedure has stained them, and how it explains what has gone wrong in their lives. The prisoners' abortions, she told me, "have a great deal to do with their pain."

As a pastor and leader of Operation Outcry, Arias ministers to women who regret their choice.

Arias, who is 53, often wears silver hoop earrings and low black boots, and she has a weakness for edgy zingers. She started doing post-abortion counseling 15 years ago. After what she describes as a revelation from God, she decided that her own pain and unhappiness were rooted in the abortion she had in 1973, when she was 19. "It was the year Roe v. Wade was decided, and I remember saying, 'No guy in Washington is going to tell me what to do with my body!'" Arias said with a sharp laugh as we were driving. But after the procedure, she says, strange feelings washed over her. "I remember having evil thoughts, about hurting children," she said. "It was like I'd done the worst thing I could possibly do. A piece of evil had entered me."

In 1983, Arias became pregnant again and planned to keep the baby. But in the fourth month, she says, she became scared about raising a child alone. She called her obstetrician. He scheduled her for a second-trimester saline abortion the following morning. Arias said she woke up from the anesthesia to the certain knowledge that she had killed her child.

Because of this knowledge, she is now equally certain, she slipped into years of depression, drinking and freebasing cocaine. One night when she was in her early 30s, she got as high as she could, lay down in the dark in a bathtub filled with water and slit her wrists. In her mind, all of her troubles-the drugs, the suicide attempt, the third and fourth abortions she went on to have, the wrestling match of a marriage she eventually entered-are the aftermath of her own original sin, the 1973 abortion. It's a pattern she sees reflected everywhere: "In America we have a big drug problem, and we don't realize it's because of abortion."

In the '90s, Arias volunteered and then was on staff at the Women's Pregnancy Center, a Houston group that tries to persuade women to keep their pregnancies. In 2001, after being ordained as an evangelical preacher, she founded her own abortion-recovery ministry, Oil of Joy for Mourning, named after a verse from the Book of Isaiah. She now operates 10-week counseling programs at seven penitentiaries in the state, including Plane State Jail.

When Arias talks about the effects of abortion, she's so fervent that it's hard to maintain her gaze. But the idea that abortion is at the root of women's psychological ills is not supported by the bulk of the research. Instead, the scientific evidence strongly shows that abortion does not increase the risk of depression, drug abuse or any other psychological problem any more than having an unwanted pregnancy or giving birth. For Arias, however, abortion is an act she can atone for. And this makes it different from the many other sources of anguish in her past. As a child, she was sexually abused by her stepbrother, she told me. An older boy forced her to have sex when she was 14; seven months later, she says, she woke in the middle of the night to wrenching cramps and gave birth to a baby girl who was placed for adoption. A year later, Arias's father, a bricklayer to whom she was close, plummeted from several stories of scaffolding to his death. She left home and fell out of touch with her mother and two brothers.

By concentrating on the babies she feels she has lost (she has named the first two Adam and Jason), Arias has drained other aching memories of some of their power. "I think about the baby girl I gave up for adoption, and I think I made a good parenting choice. I know she had a good life," she said. "I think about my sons, Adam and Jason, my sons who I never held in my arms, and I know I'm forgiven. But" - her voice cracked. "I didn't give them life. And I am so very sorry."

Some of us eventually come to believe that what we did was wrong. Unprepared for the intense emotional upheaval, it's difficult to articulate how we feel and so we keep it bottled up inside, quietly living in pain.

People have tried to console me by telling me I was young, or that times were different, or that I did what I thought was right at the time. Unfortunately, that doesn't make it any less painful.

Not all women regret their abortion, but many do. Many manage to deny it for decades, but it lurks in the back of our minds, the depths of our hearts and the pits of our stomach, leaving a legacy of pain that can manifest itself in psychological trauma, addictions, depression, physical illnesses, miscarriages, breast cancer and, in some cases, suicide. It has a detrimental impact on our families and our employers.

It wasn't until I acknowledged what I did, repented, sought and received forgiveness from God, and grieved the life I recklessly discarded that I was able to forgive myself and begin to heal.

"Abraham Lincoln recognized that we could not survive as a free land when some men could decide that others were not fit to be free and should therefore be slaves. Likewise, we cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion or infanticide. My Administration is dedicated to the preservation of America as a free land, and there is no cause more important for preserving that freedom than affirming the transcendent right to life of all human beings, the right without which no other rights have any meaning."

- Ronald Reagan

Announcements of anniversary celebrations were easy to find this week as plans to mark the 34th year since the passing of Roe v. Wade came near. Planned Parenthood of New York's web site announced it was "pleased to partner" with Wrens and some other music acts "to celebrate the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade." But it's not just the calloused souls from the Empire state who are celebrating; the same lingo came out of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Their celebration is the "Rock for Roe" concert to be held this Monday, January 22 in St. Paul when such delightfully named acts as Smitten Kitten and Hair Police will perform.

Celebration is a curious term to use to mark an event which has now resulted in the death of over 47 million babies. Such language only serves to underscore, once more, the sickness which has pervaded the hearts and minds of those who can so callously refer to the deaths caused by abortions as nothing more than a choice.

What are they celebrating one may wonder? Perhaps they are excited how Planned Parenthood continues to hold the title as the nation's leading provider of abortions. Perhaps they are celebrating the methods they have devised for ending life in the womb.

Borrowing heavily from one of the best pro-life news organizations, LifeSiteNews.org, the following is a brief run down of what abortionist will be celebrating this week, such as suction aspiration, the most common method of abortion and used for most first trimester killings.

During the abortion a powerful vacuum is used to tear the fetus and placenta from the womb in order to kill the baby. The remains are then carefully inspected to make sure all of the baby's parts are accounted for before being thrown into a red hazardous waste bag to be disposed of.

Do you feel like celebrating yet?

Suction aspiration is actually tame compared to other methods of abortion which Planned Parenthood celebrates. Dilation and Curettage, commonly known as D&C, and its cousin Dilation and Evacuation (D&E) both rely on hideous procedure which cut the baby into pieces before they are scraped out through the cervix and discarded. As the babies grow in the womb the more grisly the destruction becomes. During D&Es it is usual for the spine to be snapped and the skull to be crushed in order to remove them.

Other methods include salt or chemical poisoning injected through the mother's abdomen into the baby's sac. The baby swallows this fluid and is poisoned by it. It also acts as a corrosive, burning off the outer layer of skin. Of course this still leaves the most hideous surgical procedure, the partial birth abortion. In these sickening operations the abortionist delivers the baby's entire body, except for the head. The abortionist then jams a sharp object, usually scissors, into the baby's skull. The scissors are then opened to enlarge the skull. At this point the child's brains are sucked out, causing the skull to collapse. The dead baby is then removed.

It boggles the mind that anyone could routinely perform such butchery and be able to live with themselves. The fact that people travel for thousands of miles to reach third trimester clinics such as the one in Kansas owned by George Tiller, dubbed "Tiller the Killer," testifies that in reality there are very few who can; for which we should be thankful.

Most abortions, however, are done much sooner than necessitates the need for the partial birth method, and many doctors can still be found who do perform other methods.

Abortionists try to minimize the human death which transpires by calling the unborn baby a fetus. This has had a dehumanizing effect because "fetus", which is Latin for 'little one', sounds abstract and thus morally neutral. They seek to minimize the fatality by referring to abortion as female reproductive health, which is the exact opposite of what it really is. The tragic fact remains that when a fetus is aborted, a human being dies.

In an extremely significant admission the United States Government's finally confessed that a fetus is human. President Bush's Domestic Policy Council just issued a report stating "The only differences between embryos and other human beings are accidental differences in levels of development." The report titled "Advancing Stem Cell Science Without Destroying Human Life," makes this important condescension while ironically assuring us that billions of state research dollars are being diverted towards embryonic stem cell research. Such a report is encouraging, but reminds us that there is still a lot of work yet to do.

It is nothing new to say that abortion has become acceptable only because of the lies used to support it, such as the incredibly offensive pretense that there could possibly be something to celebrate at the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. But the lie is being exposed, and when most legal abortion is stopped, then we can celebrate.

Abortion was, in President Reagan's view, an infringement on God's sacred command to protect innocent human life. Indeed, Reagan felt so passionately about the right to life that he felt without it, other rights had no meaning. He called the restoration of the right to life the most important challenge facing the character of America. President Reagan believed that the continuance of abortion, the taking of some 4,000 lives of children everyday, would only bring about trouble for America. He even posed the ominous question: "Do you really think...God will protect us in a time of crisis even as we turn away from him in our day-to-day life?"

As she climbed the steep staircase to the second floor offices, Bendelow had no idea how volunteering at the PRC would impact her life.

As she filled out the paperwork she read that the PRC, recently renamed Care Net of Cadillac, was a pro-life ministry dedicated to defending pre-born children and helping heal lives traumatized by abortion. As a Christian, she had no problem with that.

But during her interview with director LuAnn Graf, Bendelow was overcome with emotions from her past, a past that she had buried. During the conversation about abortion, Bendelow admitted her deepest, darkest secret, something only her husband of 20 years knew.

Overflowing with emotion, blinded by tears stinging with shame and regret, she told about the abortion she had when she was 16.

As she spilled her secret, her mind raced with concern. Would she be shunned and rejected by this Christian agency? Was her confession so shameful that she would walk away, forever traumatized by being so candid about her past?

Graf's response was a huge relief, for Bendelow was welcomed with open arms.

"We encouraged her to heal," Graf stated. "We wanted her to heal so that she would in turn help other women. We were thrilled to have Sue."

Bendelow began her volunteer work at the center. In addition, she enrolled in a 10-week study called "Forgiven and Set Free," a program designed to heal the trauma of past abortions. Bendelow began to realize how the fallout of abortion had affected her life, drawing her toward drugs and alcohol in her late teen years. She never realized there was a connection between the buried grief and shame and her behavior.

"It started the path of destruction," she confided, reviewing her past. "I was not doing this stuff until the abortion. People don't understand there are emotional and behavioral changes after an abortion. I tried to go to college. I attempted and never finished. I didnt finish very many things."

Now free from the guilt of her past, Bendelow has become trained in leading the very private and small group sessions that include Bible study and discussion. As of January she is no longer a Care Net volunteer but a staff member. As the new post-abortion counselor, her mission is to help other women heal and "set themselves free."

She now insists that the very procedure meant to give women choice and freedom actually sentences them to a life of remorse, shame, guilt and emotional problems.

After working with post-abortive women for three years, Bendelow counts herself lucky. Some of them suffer with anger, nightmares, abusive relationships, self-imposed isolation and a string of psychological problems.

"I really haven't suffered a lot like some of the women," she said. "My heart goes out to those that know something is not right in their lives and they can't figure it out. It could be this."

I'm lucky. Lucky as hell.
Lucky that I live in a state where second term abortion is legal and accessible.
And safe.

21 weeks. 5 days.
Two days of mind numbingly painful laminara insertion and one day of D & E.

I don't feel guilty, I don't wonder what could have been.
I'm an adult who got into a rotten situation by doing nothing but being responsible.
I was on the Pill.
I was in a committed relationship.

I made the only choice I would ever make, and will fight to infinity that other women can do the same.

Miss New Jersey USA Ashley Harder has resigned from presiding over ribbon-cutting ceremonies and other world-saving photo-ops to focus on a more challenging matter: motherhood.

The 20-year-old beauty queen has announced that she was expecting her first child with her 28-year-old boyfriend, snowboard entrepreneur Gregg D'Antonio.

"I was so excited I wanted to tell the world," she told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "It was so difficult for me to keep quiet."

Harder, who is nearly three months pregnant, said that she informed the
Miss USA organizers right away of her bun-in-the-oven status so that they could prep New Jersey runner-up Erin Abrahamson for the Mar. 23 national pageant.

While Harder told the newspaper that she quit the pageant-as opposed to being fired-she didn't exactly have much of a choice. Competitors are forbidden from being pregnant, married or already a parent.

"Life happens," she told the Inquirer. "Initially, I was a tiny bit disappointed, I wouldn't be competing. But there was no comparing the two: Miss USA or a baby, a baby that had been sent to me by God."

ChristiaNet.com recently surveyed 500 members of its web site and asked the question "Does life start at conception, first heart beat, second trimester, or birth?"

Of the 500 participants 440, or 88%, believe that life begins at conception, subscribing to the idea that abortion at any time during a pregnancy is killing a life.

Comments in support of life at conception ranged from the scientific to the religious.

"Egg and sperm create a new cell and living cells begin dividing," cited one poll-taker with another saying, "Because God tells us that before he formed us in womb, he knew us (Jeremiah 1:5)."

"The Bible is clear about life," stated ChristiaNet's president, Bill Cooper. "But many people, even some Christians, are unclear on this fact because our society accepts abortion procedures. The truth has become skewed in order to ease the social conscience."

George W. Bush, like many Americans, opposes federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. No one opposes research on adult stem cells or stem cells acquired through umbilical cord blood or bone marrow - the debate is over stem cells acquired through the killing of an embryo. Bush is against the use of taxpayer dollars to fund the creation of human embryos for the sole purpose of scientific research.

For the record, Bush, like many Americans, indeed invokes his faith in explaining his position. He maintains that all human life is a "precious gift" granted by a "loving God," "a creation, not a commodity," and therefore should be protected at all stages of development.

Importantly, there is an equally significant non-religious component to his position. For example, on July 19, 2006, Bush exercised the first veto of his presidency - on embryonic stem-cell research. Holding a press conference surrounded by 18 families with children who had once been frozen embryos, Bush said that if the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act had become law, "for the first time in our history we would have been forced to fund the deliberate destruction of human embryos, and I'm not going to allow it.... [W]e all began our lives as a small collection of cells." Bush said that Americans "must never abandon our fundamental moral principles in our zeal for new treatments and cures."

Four years earlier, on April 10, 2002, Bush offered added insight into his thinking: "Advances in biomedical technology must never come at the expense of human conscience.... [E]ven the most noble ends do not justify any means." He warned against pursuing medical research "without an ethical compass into a world we could live to regret."

The president, like many Americans, is appalled at the prospect of "embryo farms" or "parts farms" - the start of a slippery slope into a Brave New World in which certain human beings may one day be raised merely for their parts; parts exploited by those lucky enough to have been born and not "harvested" for their parts.

Here, however, is the crucial point, missed by the aforementioned British observer and those who agree with him: One need not be a religious believer to oppose embryonic stem-cell research.

Not only should a father be committed to be present after a child is born - he should also understand that his familial duty starts at the moment of conception.

Jeniece Learned stood amid a crowd of earnest-looking men and women, many with small gold crosses in the lapels of their jackets or around their necks, in a hotel lobby in Valley Forge. She had an easy smile and a thick mane of black, shoulder-length hair. She was carrying a booklet called Ringing in a Culture of Life.

The booklet had the schedule of the two-day event she was attending organized by the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation. The event was "dedicated to the 46 million children who have died from legal abortions since 1973 and the mothers and fathers who mourn their loss."

Learned, who drove five hours from a town outside of Youngstown, Ohio, was raised Jewish. She wore a gold Star of David around her neck with a Christian cross inserted in the middle of the design.

She stood up in one of the morning sessions, attended by about 300 people, most of them women, when the speaker, Alveda King, niece of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., asked if there were any "post-abortive" women present.

Learned ran a small pregnancy counseling clinic called Pregnancy Services of Western Pennsylvania in Sharon, where she tried to talk young girls and women, most of them poor, out of abortions. She spoke in local public schools, promoting sexual abstinence, rather than birth control, as the only acceptable form of contraception.

And she had found in the fight against abortion, and in her conversion, a structure, purpose and meaning that previously eluded her.

The battle against abortion is one of the Christian Right's most effective recruiting tools. It plays on the guilt of women who have had abortions, accusing them of committing murder, and promising redemption and atonement in the "Christian" struggle to make abortion illegal.

Her life, before she was saved, was, like many in this mass movement, chaotic and painful. Her childhood was stolen from her. She was sexually abused by a close family member. Her mother periodically woke Learned and her younger sister and two younger brothers in the middle of the night to flee landlords who wanted back rent. The children were bundled into the car and driven in darkness to a strange apartment in another town.

Her mother worked nights and weekends as a bartender. Learned, the oldest, often had to run the home. Her younger sister, who was sexually abused by another member of the family, eventually committed suicide as an adult, something Learned also considered. As a teenager, she had an abortion.

She was taking classes at Pacific Christian College several years later when she saw an antiabortion film called The Silent Scream.

"You see in this movie this baby backing up, trying to get away from this suction tube," she said. "And, its mouth is open and it is like this baby is screaming. I flipped out. It was at that moment that God just took this veil that I had over my eyes for the last eight years. I couldn't breathe. I was hyperventilating. I ran outside. One of the girls followed me from Living Alternative. And she said, 'Did you commit your life to Christ?' And I said, 'I did.' And she said, 'Did you ask for your forgiveness of sins?' And I said, 'I did.' And she goes, 'Does that mean all your sins, or does that mean some of them?' And I said, 'I guess it means all of them.' So she said, 'Basically, you are thinking God hasn't forgiven you for your abortion because that is a worse sin than any of your other sins that you have done.' "

The film brought her into the fight to make abortion illegal. Her activism became atonement for her own abortion. She struggled with depression after she gave birth to her daughter Rachel. When she came home from the hospital, she was unable to care for her infant. She thought she saw an 8-year-old boy standing next to her bed. It was, she is sure, the image of the son she had murdered.

"I started crying and asking God over and over again to forgive me," she said. "I had murdered His child. I asked Him to forgive me over and over again. It was just incredible. I was possessed. On the fourth day, I remember hearing God's voice: 'I have your baby, now get up!' It was the most incredibly freeing and peaceful moment. I got up and I showered and I ate. I just knew it was God's voice."

"We have to keep talking about abortion until it doesn't remain a four-letter word," Carhart said.

But in his view, too few supporters are talking about it.

If women are "not willing to stand up for abortion rights in public, then I feel we're eventually doomed to lose Roe v. Wade or the right to abortion," he said.

My problem with abortion advocates is their moniker - pro-choice. Excuse me, but if one side is pro-life then the other side must be pro-death. After all, isn't the opposite of life, death? If you called it pro-death, there would be very few people who would join that bandwagon. Who wants to walk around with a button on their lapel that says, "Pro-death and proud of it?"

One fact that continues to baffle is that both sides talk about when life begins after conception, like they're at the supermarket trying to decide whether a tomato is ripe or not.

Whether life begins at conception or not should not be up for debate. If the baby is left alone to develop in the mother's womb from conception, barring no abortion or natural problems, a baby will eventually enter the world. Guess what? The baby will be alive unless God decides otherwise. If you abort the baby, it will be dead, thus pro-choice once again equals pro-death. You don't have to be a Harvard graduate to figure this out.

In a statement of policy on behalf of the president, the Bush administration said he "strongly opposes House passage" of the bill.

"The bill would compel all American taxpayers to pay for research that relies on the intentional destruction of human embryos for the derivation of stem cells, overturning the President's policy that funds research without promoting such ongoing destruction," the White House said.

The statement promised that if the measure, HR 3, makes it to Bush's desk, "he would veto the bill."

That's because "this bill would provide federal funding for the first time for a line of research that involves the intentional destruction of living human embryos for the derivation of their cells."

"Destroying nascent human life for research raises serious ethical problems, and millions of Americans consider the practice immoral," the Bush administration said.

According to the Spanish Family Policy Institute (IPF) a growing number of Spanish women choose to abort their babies. IPF president Eduardo Hertfelder, said today 2 out of 10 pregnancies are terminated by abortion; every day in Spain there are 252 induced abortions which means one abortion every 5.7 minutes.

Describing the situation as a "social catastrophe" IPF calls for a National Birth Sustaining Plan (PANE). The Plan, says Eduardo Hertfelder, should be three yearly and turn on two fundamental pivots: increase resources for public and private assistance including practical means such as Experts Panel to offer alternative solutions; Help, Assistance and Care Centres for pregnant mothers (CAAA); 0.5 per cent of income tax to support NGOs which help, married and unmarried pregnant mothers give birth to the child.

The second pivot is assistance to pregnant women with larger family or child grants or a direct universal pregnancy grant in Euro.

Senate Bill 84 calls for abortion clinics to verify the baby's age with an ultrasound, review the ultrasound pictures with the mother and ask her to sign a consent form after they have been viewed.

"I've always been pro-life, so I thought, let's do something that might reduce abortions since changing the law in the near future doesn't look possible," Sen. Kevin Bryant (R-Anderson) said. "It doesn't interfere with choice but gives them a more informed choice. I would imagine the far-left extreme position would say this is limiting the right of an abortion. ... I think there's a difference there. There are those opposed to abortion but still want the right to choose. This would still keep intact that choice."

Sen. Bryant said the bill, which has been referred to the Medical Affairs Committee, has received support from state legislators on both sides of the debate. In its current form, the legislation would require abortion clinics to provide the ultrasound, but Sen. Bryant said it could be amended to include non-profit pregnancy support centers.

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, filed the "trigger" abortion bill that would take effect only if the Legislature first passes the measure and then the nation's highest court reverses its position on abortion in a new case.

"Many of us on the pro-life side and even those on the pro-choice side believe it is a matter of time before Roe vs. Wade is overturned," said Mr. Patrick, a conservative radio talk-show host who was sworn into office as a state senator Tuesday.

"I want to have a law on the books in Texas that clearly says if Roe vs. Wade is overturned, there will be no abortions in Texas."

A companion bill has already been filed in the House by Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa.

"When you know you can't keep that child and that child is growing inside your body it is horrendous... You want it dealt with as quickly and as humanely as possible so that you can get on with your life."

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit against St. Tammany Parish Hospital in June 2005 for terminating the full-time employment of Nurse Toni Lemly after she refused to administer the early-abortion pill in conjunction with a new 'family planning' clinic at the hospital.

The lawsuit argues that the hospital's actions violated Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discriminating against employees because of their religious beliefs; the Louisiana Employment Discrimination Law; and another state law that protects employees who wish to refrain from participating in abortions.

"This case is about protecting a person's freedom of conscience, particularly when it is guided by religious beliefs," said ADF attorney Brian Arabie of Lake Charles. "The hospital acted unlawfully when it refused to make a reasonable accommodation for Ms. Lemly and instead terminated her full-time position."

Ms. Lemly, a nurse for 23 years, had worked at the Covington hospital's Community Wellness Center for eight months before the family planning program was initiated. According to the lawsuit, Ms. Lemly was required by the hospital to administer Plan B to those patients who requested it.

In a May 2004 letter to St. Tammany Parish Hospital staff, Lemly outlined her moral and religious objections to participating in the distribution of the pill. She asserted that the pill is prescribed to be taken within 72 hours after intercourse precisely in order to cause an early abortion if a pregnancy has occurred. The pill causes an abortion by preventing "a living, united female egg and male sperm which is HUMAN life from attaching itself to the uterus lining."

"I have an innate, deep-seeded belief in Supreme Holy God and I am one of His children," Lemly wrote to the center's director Judy Wischkemper. "Since He is my Lord and Savior, for me to give pills to take a life He creates would be for me to go against Him and His plan."

Lemly submitted to the hospital a list of suggested ways she could be allowed to refrain from directly participating in the administration of the pill while the hospital could continue making it available.

The hospital accepted none of these solutions, and though, from the outset, the family planning clinic only operated out of the Center on Thursdays, Lemly, a single mother, was quickly demoted from full-time status to part-time, working only three days a week and suffering a significant salary reduction and loss of benefits.

Mothers who have previously used oral contraceptive pills seem more likely to have children with nasal allergies, Finnish researchers report.

Dr. Leea Keski-Nisula, of Kuopio University, Finland, and colleagues note in the medical journal Allergy that there has been a suggestion of an association between oral contraceptive use and allergic diseases.

To investigate, the researchers studied 618 asthmatic children aged 5 or 6 years and compared them with 564 similar but unaffected children.

The team found that, compared to children whose mothers had not used oral contraceptives, those who had taken the pill within a year of becoming pregnant had a 67% greater likelihood of having a child with allergic rhinitis, or nasal allergy.

Scientists have been able to successfully manipulate stem cells found in the amniotic fluid of a pregnant woman that have many properties of embryonic stem cells. The finding could alter the debate on the controversial research by giving scientists another source of cells that don't involve the destruction of human life to obtain.

Researchers from Wake Forest University say the amniotic cells have the ability to grow into brain, muscle, fat, bone, and other tissues and could be used to treat a plethora of diseases and medical conditions.

The cells are shed into the fluid by the developing unborn child and can easily be retrieved during prenatal testing the scientists said.

Anthony Atala, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine told the Washington Post, "They grow fast, as fast as embryonic stem cells, and they show great pluripotentiality," which means they can become various types of tissues.

They are also easier to maintain in a laboratory than embryonic stem cells and don't pose some of the same transplant concerns that embryonic stem cells do. The embryonic cells, which can only be obtained by destroying a days-old unborn child, have caused tumors when injected into animals in experiments.

Atala told the Post the cells "remain stable for years without forming tumors."

He also explained that the amniotic stem cells are neither adult nor embryonic but something in-between that has some of the properties of both.

When abortion gained de facto legalisation in Victoria 38 years ago, the arguments for such action became accepted as realistic and sensible.

But beyond fanatical pro-life opponents, many people who supported the change were also well aware of the downside. Aborting an unwanted pregnancy may often be the "least worst" choice, but it is always sad, often tragic.

It is a very simple concept. It is logical. With everything we now know, given the advances in technology, it is the only position that makes sense:

The terms 'human person' and 'human being' include each and every member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including, but not limited to, the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.

In today's world of 3-D ultrasound and operations in utero, it is clear to even the most casual observer that a human person exists from his or her point of creation. Parents today happily display pictures of their children from the early months of pregnancy and everyone can see their beautiful faces and other features.

Yet there are those who still insist that it is okay to kill these innocent children just because somebody doesn't want them. It is a horrible fact that the youngest of our children are not protected by law.

In the last congress, 100 members of the House of Representatives supported a bill that simply said:

The Congress hereby declares that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being.

Sound reasonable?

Of course.

Yet the bill was considered very controversial. It was bottled up in committee and never did get any congressional hearings.

One of the major opponents of this personhood bill was, and is, Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Despite the fact that the bill does nothing more than declare the scientific fact that a person exists from the moment of its beginning, Planned Parenthood cannot let this bill be passed.

The reason for Planned Parenthood's position is also simple to explain. If the truth about the personhood of the human being from its point of creation was ever to be written into law, Planned Parenthood would be virtually out of business.

The special prosecutor in Kansas assigned by Attorney General Phill Kline to evaluate 30 criminal counts against late-term abortionist George Tiller of Wichita has gone to the state Supreme Court for help.

"I filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of Kansas against Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston and District Judge Paul Clark, on the grounds that they unlawfully usurped the authority of the chief law enforcement officer of the state, the Kansas Attorney General, and the authority of the Kansas Legislature, by improperly terminating a case lawfully filed by the attorney general," special prosecutor Don McKinney told WND.

He said the laws of the state specifically allow the attorney general to file charges as a result of cases that are generated by a state investigative procedure known as an "inquisition."

Kline, after an investigation of more than two years, had filed 30 criminal counts against Tiller, who is known world-wide for his late-term abortions, alleging he failed to follow Kansas law and performed abortions on babies that were beyond the age cutoff in state law. The charges also alleged he didn't have the proper medical diagnosis in the cases to legally allow the late-term abortions.

But within hours of Kline's filing the case in Sedgwick County District Court, the local prosecutor, Nola Foulston, stepped in and worked with a local judge to dismiss the charges. She alleged she is the only person allowed under Kansas law to file cases in her district.

McKinney told WND that wasn't correct.

"Under laws enacted to protect late term viable babies from routine abortions, the legislature delegated authority to the attorney general to obtain reports concerning such abortions and use them in criminal proceedings. K.S.A. 445. The legislature also authorized the attorney general to prosecute 'within the county' in cases of special investigations called 'inquisitions.' K.S.A. 22-3101," McKinney told WND.

"This case is the result of an official inquisition, and, to date, two judges have found probable cause to proceed, and the Kansas Supreme Court has authorized this investigation to proceed," he said.

The system to prosecute crimes and protect the innocent would disintegrate if the procedures aren't followed, he noted.

"The judicial system of this state cannot function properly if loose cannon local prosecutors can hijack a case from the attorney general and then dismiss the charges to protect their friends or political allies," McKinney told WND. "Such extraordinary conduct destroys equal justice, interferes with the attorney general's ranking position, and snubs the authority of the legislature to mandate prosecutions by the attorney general."

McKinney's petition for Writ of Mandamus noted that the "Kansas Legislature specifically designated the office of state attorney general as a proper party to obtain copies of the reports required under K.S.A. 65-6703, and specifically authorized the attorney general to use such documents for the purpose of a ... criminal proceeding."

The state "inquisition" held earlier "led to a finding of probable cause … and, among other areas of investigation, developed evidence against a Wichita doctor who specializes in providing late term abortions, George Tiller, which, in turn, led to preparation of charges against Tiller by the attorney general pursuant to the statutory mandates of K.S.A. 22-3101, 22-3103, and 54-445."

I saw no reason for a pregnancy test, which I was asked to undergo in the adjacent room. I already knew I was pregnant. The test turned positive and I was asked to pay Sh2,500 for the 'operation'. I looked at my boyfriend, Kevin sitting quietly and watching my every move.

We were conspirators in this. I wondered what was going through his mind. He was the architect of it all. We had been seeing each other for 10 months and I fell pregnant aged 19. Although I did not want a baby, I did not want an abortion either, but he had insisted. He was 20 and wiser, I reckoned.

"What is the alternative?" he had hammered the question in my head until it appeared to be the only solution. I met Kevin in town, where he had arranged everything with the clinic. He gave me Sh3,300 before escorting me to the posh clinic.

I kept praying silently that nothing would go wrong. Kevin had assured me that the clinic had the latest technology which would 'flush it' out with little pain. No one would suspect anything since I would immediately resume to my duties soon after, he assured me.

When the nurse ushered me into the small theatre, blood-stained clothes in a basket caught my eye and a cold shiver ran through my body. The realisation hit me that I was going to kill a human being growing inside me, but it was too late to turn back.

The neatly packed metal equipment in a tray beside the bed heightened my fear.

I was asked to lie on the bed and the next 20 minutes were the most agonising of my life. A cold metal object was inserted in my vagina and plucked my inside with a vengeance. The resultant pain befits no words. By the time the doctor cleaned my inside and asked me to dress, I was an emotional wreck.

Intense guilt gnawed at me and I could hardly wait to leave the abortion clinic. I knew I had done something unforgivable, which had changed my life forever.

Back home, I persevered the pain and went about preparing supper, so as not to give my parents and siblings the slightest suspicion. I went to bed without eating and took my drugs in secret so my younger sister would not notice.

I was haunted for several weeks and Kevin did everything possible to comfort me. This made me love him more, and before I knew it, we had resumed our sex life. Perhaps it was a punishment from God or the ignorant belief that I could not fall pregnant again, but believe it not, after six months I was in the same predicament all over again!

I vowed to keep the baby this time, but Kevin would hear none of it. He forced a naive me to have a second abortion at the same clinic! This time round, the pain and guilt came in double doses. Matters were not helped by the sudden change in Kevin's attitude, leading to our breakup in 2000. He got into another relationship almost immediately and rejected all my pleas for reconciliation.

The guilt has haunted me to this day and I have never brought myself to confess my ungodly act to my parents, who are devout Catholics.

It is worse now that I am married, but cannot share my traumatizing past with my husband. I hate myself for what I did. I wish I could use my real name and picture in this story, as a testimony, but this would deeply hurt the people I love. I will carry the guilt to my grave.

Michelman will serve as a senior adviser to the Edwards campaign, helping with outreach to women voters.

In an interview, Michelman said she was inspired by Edwards' commitment to women's rights and to the goal of eradicating poverty in the United States. Michelman spent time on welfare as a single mother of three.

"He has never backed down or retreated from a woman's right to choose, and he understands women's role in society. And he knows that most Americans in poverty are women and children," Michelman said.

Even with Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton poised to become the first major female presidential candidate in history, Michelman said she was unwavering in her support for Edwards.

"I made my assessment based on factors other than gender. Gender's important, but it's not the only factor," she said.

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund have filed complaints against a number of school districts on behalf of students who participated in Stand True Ministry's "3rd Annual Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity."

"Students don't shed their rights at the schoolhouse door," said ADF-allied attorney Tom Marcelle of Albany, N.Y., who serves as co-counsel in M.G. v. Bush and Shenendehowa Central School District, the most recent filing. "The Supreme Court, on more than one occasion, has said that the First Amendment applies to students. As long as the speech is respectful and not disruptive of the school, the students are allowed to engage in it."

The survey, published this month in the Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, covers the use of the Plan B drug in 10 countries.

Authors Elizabeth Raymond and James Trussell, advocates of the morning after pill, conducted a meta-analysis of studies conducted in 10 countries.

They conclude that "increased access to emergency contraception pills enhance use but has not been shown to reduce unintended pregnancy rates."

The authors note that "no study has shown that increased access to this method reduces unintended pregnancy or abortion rates on a population level" and that "the consistency of their primary findings is hard to ignore."

They say the morning-after pill "is unlikely to produce a major reduction in unintended pregnancy rates no matter how often women use it" and that "previous expectations that improved access could produce a direct, substantial impact on a population level may have been overly optimistic."

They also state the drug's effectiveness may be "substantially ... overstated."