Jesse Helms, RIP

Yesterday, while I was en route to the National Right to Life Convention to conduct a mini-seminar on writing op-eds, the news media was reporting on the death of former Senator Jesse Helms. Senator Helms was a stalwart defender of the right to life and worked for the protection of women and their unborn children until his retirement from the senate.

NRLC released a statement from Executive Director David N. O'Steen, Ph.D. who is a native of North Carolina:

National Right to Life mourns the loss of a great pro-life champion and one of the earliest pro-life leaders in the United States Senate, Senator Jesse Helms. Our sympathies and thoughts are with his family today.

Senator Helms was a man of great political courage who always stood up and spoke out for the unborn child in the U.S. Senate.

While he was a tenacious and courageous political giant in the Senate chamber, he was personally a very humble man, thoughtful, kind, soft-spoken, and friend to everyone he met. Countless children are alive today because of his efforts to help mothers and their unborn children. He will be greatly missed by all of us in the pro-life movement, but we are comforted by knowing that this man of great faith has gone to his eternal reward.

I did not personally know Senator Helms. I know that he will be remembered for his controversial stances on some issues and for opposing many things (he came to be known as "Senator No" after his first term). He opposed communism early on and was a fierce opponent of Fidel Castro. But one of his greatest achievements will be his support on the issue of human life-- never wavering in his demand that all unborn children-- whether male or female, black or white, Native American or Asian, hispanic or middle eastern-- all deserved the same right to life.

May he rest in peace.