Editorial

Many of us recall the death of a UW-Eau Claire college student and her newborn baby girl in early 2002. The infant's mother had apparently concealed her pregnancy or was unaware of it.

Sadly, this tragedy could have been prevented had the college student known about a safety-net law passed in Wisconsin the year before. The law passed on April 3, 2001 made it legal for a mother or father - on the verge of abandoning their newborn child - to turn the unharmed baby over anonymously within 72 hours of birth to any Wisconsin hospital employee, police officer, or emergency personnel without prosecution. He or she could even call "911" and give the baby away.

Organization raises awareness. Safe Place for Newborns (SPN) was an organization formed to educate our state about the new law. It also established a toll-free crisis hotline (877-440-BABY) and a Web site, www.safeplacefornewborns.com SPN has been working with the Wisconsin Residence Hall Association on state college campuses and other organizations to raise awareness.

So what has happened since this law was enacted? Have babies been saved? Yes, they have!

Safe Place for Newborns has been able to confirm that at least 22 newborns are alive and in loving homes because of this law. One example was reported last summer in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Two baby boys now live safe and sound in the arms of foster families after their mothers anonymously gave them up to West Allis Hospital under the State's Safehaven law."

We don't need to know why their mothers gave them up. But we do know that these mothers made loving choices for their babies that will allow them to be adopted into loving homes. "Individuals and communities have embraced the importance of this law," says Terry Walsh, SPN executive director. "We've come a long way in the three short years since the law passed."

Many accomplishments. Safe Place for Newborns is a small organization, but it is getting the word out and saving lives. Here are some of their accomplishments:

• Development of standard-sized public service announcements formatted to fit most bus interiors. These announcements now run in major cities throughout the state and are available from the SPN office.

• Many local hospitals have begun posting signs on emergency room doors to signify it is a safe place for newborns. These window clings, created by SPN, are another tool communities can use to end infant abandonment.

• Public service announcements for radio have been developed and played on many stations across the state.

• A student group of Safe Place for Newborns was formed on the UW-Madison campus and more outreach is being done in other cities with college campuses.

• In 2003, the SPN crisis hotline fielded more than 300 calls. The hotline is operated by Newborn Lifeline Network, an independent non-profit organization staffed by professionals specializing in newborn abandonment and crisis pregnancy issues.

You can help. In this season of the birth of Our Savior, I would encourage interested people to consider helping Safe Place for Newborns by contributing a monetary gift or helping promote the organization's services in your community. In the Madison area call 608-225-5544; write to Safe Place for Newborns, P.O. Box 628124, Middleton, WI 53562; or e-mail: Safeplacefornewborns@hotmail.com

Let us continue to reach out with a positive message. Encourage parents to give their babies the gift of life and a loving adoptive home.

Mary C. Uhler, editor

Mailbag

	Mailbag policy We reserve the right to edit or reject letters. Limit letters to 200 words or less. All letters must be signed. Please include your city or town of residence. Send letters to: Mailbag The Catholic Herald P.O. Box 44985 Madison, WI 53744-4985 Fax: 608-821-3071 E-mail: info@madisoncatholicherald.org

Scary future in medical research

To the editor:

As we have companies today that raise mice to be sold to medical research centers, in the future we will have companies that raise babies. These companies will bypass God - who needs Him anymore; we're in charge. They will conceive babies in artificial wombs. The babies will be nurtured and cared for in small incubators. Visualize sterile rooms with incubators stacked one on top of another with a baby in each one with tubes inserted for growth.

Company personnel walk down each aisle, recording each baby's growth rate, ensuring everything is on schedule. As the baby's heart beats, the baby stirs, a finger moves, the company worker smiles in a motherly way and moves on. Then at the right time, the worker sticks a red ABORT sign on the incubator. Later, other workers look for the ABORT signs, slide the incubators onto a cart, and head for the ABORT room. The baby will be aborted.

The embryos will be sold at a high price to the medical research centers that MAY find a cure for a medical condition. Not all will benefit, because the price will be high. Medicaid will pay zero dollars and Medicare will pay only 50 percent, so the poor and the elderly will be at the bottom of the list for service.

Life for some continues at the age of 90. Presidents with minds intact, Hollywood stars will walk, a selected majority will be standing tall, walking with a perfect stride, their minds functioning well, no wrinkles, no health problems, and with no understanding of why they are even here.

L. Billings, Madison

Terrorists kill persons in abortion

To the editor:

The only terrorists I fear are those who tell us you have the right to kill a human being through abortion. It is a scientific fact that a being in the womb feels pain, but those who favor abortion tell us you have the right to condemn these innocents to a painful, horrible death.

The pope recently thanked George W. Bush for his moral leadership, and although they originally differed on the war in Iraq, the Vatican now sees the necessity of our troops remaining there to insure democracy takes a solid foothold, as happened in Germany and Japan after World War II.

Rather than becoming selfish isolationists, our nation needs patience and the wisdom to seek God's holy will. Rather than declaring war upon the unborn, our nation needs the healing that can only come through a belief in the power and mercy of Christ.

Vincent Bemowski, Menasha

Separation of church and state

To the editor:

Kudos to writer Anthony Testolin for his well written letter in the Nov. 11 Mailbag.

In keeping with his comments on separation of church and state I was very surprised to view the front page photo (of a polling place in a church) in the same Nov. 11 issue of the Catholic Herald [print edition only]. It seems to me that there would not be much better example of not adhering to this American principle than this photo. When has a church been approved as a polling place in our country?

Ron Lins, Blue Mounds

Editor's note: A Catholic News Service article published in the Nov. 4 issue of the Catholic Herald [print edition only] says that many churches and synagogues serve as polling places across the U.S. The article notes that there is no prohibition against using church buildings as polling places. In fact, in the District of Columbia alone, 38 of the 142 voting sites are located in churches.