By Dave Andrusko

Mary Spaulding Balch, Director of State Legislation

Any conversation with Mary Spaulding Balch, NRL’s Director of State Legislation, promises to be both educational and filled with motivation. I checked with Mary today after reading a hysterical pro-abortion article subtly titled, “9 New Laws in the GOP's War Against Women.”

I wanted her overall response, but especially to this paragraph: “All across the country, legislatures are moving abortion restrictions forward on the docket, and although there are a few bright spots, overall the picture is pretty grim. Even the New York Times editorial board is up in arms after its own paper’s story on the subject, offering us some frightening statistics.”

[It is very significant that the one “silver lining” to the writer is that a law may pass in Washington state to harass Crisis Pregnancy Centers.]

Of course, what is “hysterical” and war-like and “pretty grim” to pro-abortionists is music to pro-lifers’ ears.

Balch pointed out how unnerved pro-abortionists are by laws that require that women scheduled to have an abortion have a chance to look at an ultrasound of their baby. “When legislatures add the opportunity to hear the baby’s heartbeat, pro-abortionists come unglued,” she told me.

And it goes without saying that giving parents the chance to learn about their minor daughter’s abortion is unthinkable. It is very instructive that in the videos that are now on YouTube of PPFA clinics in New Jersey and Virginia, the staff appears to pour contempt on parents’ desire to “protect” their daughters.

“Unlike years past, in 2011, legislatures are taking up pro-life bills early,” Balch said. “Too often in the past our bills lost out not because of a lack of support but because of a lack of time at the end of the session.”

Five states have already introduced bills to protect unborn children capable of feeling pain from abortion, Balch said. “The model is Nebraska's "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" that prohibits abortion after 20 weeks gestation based on compelling evidence that by 20 weeks, if not before, unborn children have the capacity to experience pain.”

But that’s just one area. Some states are pushing bills to "opt-out" of abortion coverage in state insurance exchanges mandated by the new Obama Health Care Law. Others are enacting or strengthening laws to make sure organizations report apparent sexual assaults against minors, as is required by virtually every state's law, so as not to protect sexual predators. Still others look to pass Unborn Victims of Violence Acts. And in the light of the eight charges of murder against abortionist Kermit Gosnell, clinic regulation is back on the radar.

“The common denominator is that all these proposed laws enjoy solid public support,” Balch said. “We are still very early in the legislative process—and the legislative wheels do turn slowly—but we are the verge of a lot of victories.”

To do the best job possible I need your feedback on both Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today. Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha.