The Most Precious Baby Contest held in the Merchants Building at the County Fair drew 42 entries of babies under age 2, and the four winners shared $550 among them. In September the Urbana Daily Citizen will publish photos of these babies and a list of the donors who made the event possible. We also wish to give thanks to the 17 volunteers who staffed the booth over the seven days. We had on display a set of rubber models of the child in the womb, from conception to birth, that the public really enjoyed handling. We also had many questions about the photos in Dr. Stuart Campbell’s book Watch Me Grow (2004), which show ultrasound images of the forty weeks of a pregnancy. Is the zygote that appears at the moment of conception a human being? The answer was yes, because every future feature of the born child and adult he or she will become is encoded there: gender, height, skin color, bone structure, hair, and even eye color. By the sixth week the heart is beating and blood circulating.

The public who visited the booth were very generous in filling the baby jars with coins and bills, which Champaign County Right to Life uses to pay the costs of the booth, award prizes, and fund outreach to the local community. The more children that are born, the more prosperous the County tends to become, as we know from historical records.

We also wish to thank Sycamore House for sharing our booth space and letting the public know of the many services it offers to pregnant mothers, and mothers with newborns.

Our meetings are open to the public (call 937 653-6745 for the next date).

Sincerely

David George & Members

Champaign County Right to Life