plus 4, Tough sentence needed for pregnancy cases - Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Tough sentence needed for pregnancy cases - Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
Crisis pregnancy resources available - BP News
Stress during pregnancy increases asthma, allergy risk to baby - canada.com
Doctor: Obese limit pregnancy weight - United Press International
Keyshia Cole Engaged and Confirms Pregnancy - TV.com

Tough sentence needed for pregnancy cases - Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Posted: 07 Jan 2010 04:10 PM PST

Jared Merril Ahlstrom was in court in Mesa County this week, facing a single felony count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy.

That certainly is an appropriate charge for what Ahlstrom is accused of doing — slipping drugs to his ex-girlfriend without her knowledge to cause her to abort the baby she was carrying — a baby for which he was the father.

But that charge in itself seems inadequate. After all, not only did Ahlstrom allegedly end the woman's pregnancy against her wishes, he assaulted her on two different occasions by giving her chemicals that endangered her and the baby she was carrying.

The chemical he purchased in Mexico and put in the woman's food in September 2008 caused the woman pain and made her bleed while the two were hiking, according to police records. However, the baby she was carrying survived and remained healthy.

Ahlstrom allegedly used the chemical again prior to a hike the two took on Grand Mesa a year ago. This time he was successful.

So, based on the police report, Ahlstrom not only killed the baby, against the wishes of its mother, but he tricked her into consuming dangerous chemicals on two separate occasions.

Colorado law makes it clear that ending the life of a baby still in the mother's uterus cannot be considered murder. That was amply demonstrated when District Attorney Pete Hautzinger filed murder charges against a man who crashed his car into a vehicle driven by a pregnant Mesa County woman, injuring her and causing the death of her nearly full-term baby.

Even so, taking a baby from a mother's womb against her wishes is a terrible crime that is likely to cause deep emotional scars for the woman, on top of her physical pain and suffering.

Ahlstrom deserves as severe a sentence as possible for what is alleged to be intentionally harmful conduct. And we still believe there needs to be a law in this state that allows for more serious charges, short of murder, when someone willfully takes a fetus from a mother against her wishes.

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Crisis pregnancy resources available - BP News

Posted: 07 Jan 2010 12:57 PM PST

Posted on Jan 7, 2010 | by Staff

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--New resources for crisis pregnancy ministry can be accessed from the North American Mission Board for use on Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, Jan. 17.

The resources, available free of charge at www.nambforlife.net through a new NAMB initiative called "The Invitation Stands," includes a downloadable video of Dawn Pate, director of the Osceola Pregnancy Center in Kissimmee, Fla., who faced two crisis pregnancies and an abortion by the time she was 19.

Also available are downloadable bulletin inserts designed for Anglo, Hispanic and Asian congregations; a 12-page planning guide; and sermon suggestions.

Hard copies of these resources can be ordered for a small fee by calling 1-866-407-NAMB.

The North American Mission Board partners with 270 pregnancy resource centers, where more than 3,600 babies were saved from abortion in 2009. Additionally, some 1,700 women accepted Christ because pregnancy center staff members shared the Gospel with them.

For suggestions on how churches can connect with a pregnancy resource center or start a center in their community, visit www.namb.net/pregnancy.

To learn more about Dawn Pate's ministry, visit www.theinvitationstands.com. A CD of six original songs called "The Invitation Stands" and a three-minute DVD can be ordered as well as an accompaniment track.
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Compiled by Baptist Press staff.

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Stress during pregnancy increases asthma, allergy risk to baby - canada.com

Posted: 07 Jan 2010 01:18 PM PST

Babies born to mothers who are stressed during pregnancy may be at increased risk for asthma and other allergic disorders, a new study suggests.

Harvard Medical School researchers say that stress is like a pollutant to pregnant women that, when "breathed" in, may affect not only her own immune system but her unborn baby's as well and make babies more sensitive to dust and other allergens.

"There is a lot of evidence to support the notion that negative experiences that cause stress get into the body and disrupt immune function," says Dr. Rosalind Wright, an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dust mites, pollen, moulds and other substances in the environment are known triggers for asthma and allergies. But they don't fully explain rising rates of asthma or why there's more of the disease in inner city and lower income populations.

Wright and her team wondered whether stress might play a role.

In an ongoing study involving about 1,000 families, researchers measured women's stress levels while they were pregnant. They also measured how much dust was in their houses.

After testing 387 babies so far, the Boston researchers have found increased levels of antibodies involved in an allergic response in the cord blood of babies born to mothers who experienced higher levels of stress -- even when they were exposed to relatively low levels of dust while pregnant.

The finding held even after they took into account whether the mother smoked, her own history of allergies and other factors.

Stress can increase the amount of cortisol and adrenalin produced by the body.

"If mom is under chronic stress these changes may be more persistent and can even be transmitted to the baby," Wright says. And cortisol can alter the immune system.

"So when the baby is now exposed to increased cortisol from the mother this may change the way their immune system develops" and make them more vulnerable to develop asthma and allergies, she says.

The children are being followed to see how many actually go on to develop asthma. In the meantime, Wright says doctors should talk to pregnant women "about the importance of trying to reduce stress because it may affect their own health as well as their baby's."

The findings were presented Sunday at the American Thoracic Society's 2008 International Conference in Toronto.

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Doctor: Obese limit pregnancy weight - United Press International

Posted: 07 Jan 2010 10:34 AM PST

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. doctor challenges the recommended guideline that obese women should gain 11-20 pounds during pregnancy.

Dr. Raul Artal, chairman of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and women's health at Saint Louis University in Missouri advises overweight or obese mothers-to-be to eat a nutrient-rich diet of between 2,000-2,500 calories a day, and in some cases, to lose weight. He says overweight or obese women should not gain more than 10 pounds when pregnant.

"Recommending a single standard of weight gain for all obese classes is of concern since higher body mass index levels are associated with more severe medical conditions and have long-term adverse health implications," Artal says in a statement.

Artal writes in a commentary for Obstetrics & Gynecology, that he does not endorse recommendations made by the Institutes of Medicine in Washington -- an independent, non-profit organization that provides advice for health decision makers and the public.

"The recently published Institutes of Medicine recommendations for gestational weight gain are virtually identical to those published in 1990 with one exception -- obese women are now recommended to gain 11-20 pounds compared to the previous recommendations of at least 15 pounds," Artal says.

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Keyshia Cole Engaged and Confirms Pregnancy - TV.com

Posted: 07 Jan 2010 11:09 AM PST

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