With facts in hand, we stand with Wendy Warburton

We are members of the Fifth Avenue Christian Church and were in attendance Jan. 24 when Wendy Warburton spoke. In opposition to William Thackery's supposition that Wendy gave a political and not a spiritual message, we give you these facts. First of all, the Sunday prior to the date that Wendy spoke was National Right to Life Sunday. Most of the members at Fifth Avenue Christian Church hold the right of the unborn in high regard. We always have a special message on that Sunday concerning the value of human life — especially that of the unborn. Wendy had a previous engagement and could not be at our church on that Sunday, so she spoke to us the following Sunday. The date of the message had nothing to do with her filing for re-election, and for everyone's information, Wendy has given this same message in other towns that are not even in her congressional district. Secondly, her message contained a personal account of her nephew's premature birth and how precious he is to their family. Also, she read to us from Psalms and the Gospel of Luke. Then she gave us some information on a baby's development in the womb. Also, she talked to us about how the state of Montana views the right to life issue. She shared that we are the only state where a person with only two years medical experience, who is not a doctor, can perform an abortion. She shared that in our state, parents have no right to notification if their minor daughter gets an abortion, and our state has no restrictions on abortions performed up until the time of delivery. She told us that to change this situation, we would need to change Montana Constitution so that the unborn baby is recognized as a person. To do this an initiative would have to be placed on the ballot in November for the people of Montana to vote on. Nearly 50,000 signatures are needed on a petition before an issue can come before the voters. Churches all over the state are gathering signatures. CI-102 is the initiative that will hopefully be on the ballot in November. Finally, we have gotten to know Wendy Warburton and find her to be a very conscientious and intelligent person. We're only sorry that we are not in her voting district, as she certainly would have our votes. Tom and Deb Bergren Havre