Today's News & Views
March 27, 2008
 
Watching Pro-Life Young People Make the Case for Life
Part One of Two
 
Editor's note. Please drop me a line at daveandrusko@hotmail.com.
 
A quick "thank you" before I talk about something that is very close to my heart. Yesterday I wrote about Mr. Smoothie--pro-abortion maximus Sen. Barack Obama--and began by mentioning how limited the response had been to a critical two-part analysis of the presidential aspirant written previously.
 
While the feedback on yesterday's overview was both much, much better and very thoughtful, we still have a ways to go in alerting our people to just how dangerous Obama is. I would encourage our readers to share not only Wednesday's TN&V but also http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/March08/nv031408.html  and http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/March08/nv031708.html).
 
It is no secret to readers of National Right to Life News that we write often about the marvelous cadres of young people who give our Movement great confidence in the future. The front-page story in the March issue of the "pro-life newspaper of record" discussed how 500+ people, including scores of  high school and college students, attended a hearing in Wisconsin on SB 398.
 
The bill is an attempt to repeal Wisconsin's protective pro-life statute 940.04 which would immediately shelter unborn children from abortion upon the reversal of Roe v. Wade. I have attached the article, written by Joleigh Little, Wisconsin RTL's Teens for Life director, as Part Two.
 
Joleigh subsequently gave me a heads up that the hearing had been broadcast and was accessible online. I watched parts of it yesterday. Naturally (a) I spent most of my time transfixed by the Wisconsin kids who were (b) bunched at the very, very end of the six-and-one-half-hour long session. The chairman, no friend, was obviously impressed by their remarks and their behavior throughout the long, long day.
 
Joleigh, naturally, was inordinately proud of her charges. And with good reason.
 
The kids were marvelous. Articulate, courteous, and thoughtful, ready to make the case for life, including in those instances where abortion might be considered the "first response," such as a physically difficult pregnancy or in the case of a very young girl. The beauty of adoption was mentioned over and over again.
 
What struck me as I watched was an underlying theme that one young woman articulated out loud: these young people had a dream for Wisconsin that, when realized, could serve as a model for all states.
 
A nursing student, she spoke quietly but with immense power about the kind of state she wanted Wisconsin to be. She began by telling the committee that she had come to speak on behalf of "people whose lives are precious and whose voices are not heard."
 
What kind of state did she want Wisconsin to be? A "state in which God is honored by how we treat His creation"; a state in which unborn children have full protection under our laws--not a state where unborn children are "burned, torn apart, or killed in any other way while our leaders turn their backs and pretend that nothing happened"; and a state in which "pregnant women who are scared and confused will receive compassionate, hopeful and truthful care in giving their children life."
 
Joleigh is the first to tell you she's kind of weepy. I tell you, I ,too, cried as I watched these young people--tears of pride, of hope, and of admiration.

Part Two