Prenatal care is no victory for pro-lifers

To the editor:

The Bush administration's announcement that from now on the definition of a fetus would be that of an unborn child and that there would be federal funding for prenatal care for low-income pregnant women and their babies cannot be seen as a pro-life victory, For one thing, the program would only be used by women who already have rejected abortion as a option.

Amniocentesis and ultrasound have long been used to pinpoint babies who are less than perfect and used as a method to convince women that they should have an abortion.

Unless the unborn child is immediately protected by a constitutional amendment protecting all life from the moment of conception, this program will do little to slow down the pace of abortions which now amounts to 4,000 babies lost every day in the United States alone.

The Bush administration continues to compromise away the lives of the innocents in the name of bipartisan politics. If President Bush were serious about protecting all unborn children, he would cut federal funding for other programs that push abortion.

CHRISTINE E. STEPHENS

Cape Girardeau