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LIFE DIGEST: 40 Days for Life reports more than 580 unborn babies saved


WASHINGTON (BP)–The 40 Days for Life campaign reported more than 580 unborn children were saved and eight abortion clinic workers left the business by the close of the initiative Nov. 1.

In the waning days of this fall’s effort, the initiative surpassed 2,000 unborn babies saved in all the campaigns it has conducted, national director David Bereit reported.

40 Days for Life, which began locally in Bryan, Texas, in 2004, involves peaceful prayer vigils outside abortion clinics and Planned Parenthood offices, as well as fasting for the end of abortion. The latest campaign involved tens of thousands of people in 212 cities in 45 states, Canada and Denmark.

Two abortion clinics that have been the sites of 40 Days vigils announced their closings recently.

The Community Healthcare Center in Pensacola, Fla., shut down Oct. 30, according to a report by WEAR-TV, the local ABC affiliate. State inspectors discovered the clinic’s lab license had expired 413 days earlier. The state gave the clinic the option of paying a $413,000 fine or closing. Though Florida’s Agency for Healthcare Administration offered the center a reduced fine, it never received a reply.

The closing came two days before the end of a 40 Days for Life prayer vigil outside the clinic.

“People have prayed there that abortions would cease, and it was during the fall 40 Days for Life campaign … that it was finally announced that this facility, where untold numbers of unborn children perished, was closing,” Bereit said in a written statement. “That is not just a coincidence. God works in mysterious ways, and this is indeed an answer to prayer!”

Planned Parenthood of Montana has announced its clinic in Kalispell, Mont., is closing because of the “economic downturn,” effective Nov. 20. The center was the site of a 40 Days for Life vigil in the spring.

13 OR 14 KILLINGS? — The U.S. military should prosecute Army Maj. Nidal Hasan for 14 murders, not just 13, in the shooting rampage he conducted Nov. 5 at Fort Hood, Texas, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) said.

Hasan has been charged in 13 deaths, but an additional charge should be added in the killing of the unborn child of Francheska Velez, who was three months pregnant when she was shot to death, ADF contended in a Nov. 12 letter to the staff judge advocate at Fort Hood. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, it is a crime to cause the death of a child in his mother’s womb.

“All murder victims — born and preborn — deserve equal justice,” ADF senior legal counsel Steven Aden said in a written release. “Women who volunteer to protect our country deserve to know that the government will enforce the laws that protect their children.”

Velez, 21, returned early from a tour of duty in Iraq after learning she was pregnant. She was preparing to take maternity leave, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

EX-BAPTIST ADMITS ‘KILLING’ — An ordained Baptist minister turned Unitarian readily acknowledges what he is doing in his abortion practice.

“Am I killing?” Dallas abortion doctor Curtis Boyd said in an interview with WFAA-TV, the local ABC affiliate. “Yes, I am. I know that.”

Boyd, who opened the first abortion clinic in Texas in 1973, unveiled his latest clinic the last week in October — a clinic that performs abortions up to 24 weeks into pregnancy.

Boyd said he often prays regarding the abortions he performs. “I’ll ask that the spirit of this pregnancy be returned to God with love and understanding,” he told WFAA.

WFAA did not report if Boyd said what Baptist church ordained him.

WOMB TRANPSLANTS IN 2 YEARS? — British researchers have forecast a human womb transplant could occur in the next two years.

They made the prediction after experiments at the Royal Veterinary College in London resulted in two rabbits living with successfully transplanted wombs for 10 months, according to British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) News. Scientists had transplanted wombs in five rabbits, connecting major blood vessels in the process.

After further experiments, scientists expect to try the same method on larger animals, the BBC reported.

Skepticism was expressed about the effort, however.

“I think there is a big difference between demonstrating effectiveness in a rabbit and being able to do this in a larger animal or a human …,” said Tony Rutherford, chairman of the British Fertility Society, according to the BBC.

‘SNOWFLAKES’ SCHOLARSHIPS — Nightlight Christian Adoptions, which has become known for its Snowflakes frozen embryo adoption program, has established a $50,000 scholarship fund for couples who would like to adopt but lack the finances to do so. The fund was started in honor of Nightlight’s 50th anniversary. The agency expects to seek donations to the fund next year.

Couples will be eligible for scholarships of between $2,000 and $5,000 for domestic, international and embryo adoptions, based on their needs and the children they seek to adopt, said Kathryn Deiters, Nightlight’s director of administration, in a written release. “Eligible children will include special needs children, children over 10 years of age and other children for whom there are fewer waiting adopting parents.”

Interested couples may gain more information by emailing Deiters at [email protected] or calling her at 714-693-5437.
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Tom Strode is the Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press.