In the Sept. 26, edition of The Democrat, we read the heart-wrenching story of the 6-month-old puppy rescued from an apartment Dumpster where he had been left to starve to death.

Ms. Nan Garrison, board member of the Natchez-Adams County Humane Society, said she couldn’t believe people would opt to throw animals away instead of dropping them off at the humane society.

As an animal lover myself, I wholeheartedly agree with Ms. Garrison that it is staggering to think anyone could have so little compassion for a living creature that they would condemn it to such a dreadful fate, especially knowing options were readily available.

It is even more disturbing that a living newborn baby could be discarded, left squirming unattended on a cold table in the hospital until he or she died.

Yet presidential candidate Barack Obama, on three separate occasions, opposed legislation that would protect babies who survived abortion. The Born Alive Infant Protection Act is designed to provide medical care for babies, who survive an attempted abortion, equal to protection received by babies born spontaneously prematurely. No newborn can survive without care and nurture, especially one born prematurely by induced labor. Surely even the most dedicated pro-choice liberal can see putting the little newborn aside to die is infanticide.

Is the rationale here that since the mother requested an abortion she is therefore entitled to a dead baby? The answer to that question may be “above our pay grade.”

Ms. Jill Stanek testified before the Illinois Senate that when she worked as a nurse in an Oak Lawn, Ill., hospital she had witnessed this abandonment of abortion survivors but State Sen. Obama was unmoved by her words. He opposed the infant protection legislation in 2001 and again in 2002. Later he said he was against the bill because it didn’t contain a “neutrality” clause specifying that abortion rights would not be affected.

On March 13, 2003, while chairman of the Illinois Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee, he voted in favor of an amendment to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act which would assure Roe v. Wade would not be undermined. The amendment passed unanimously but immediately afterward Obama voted to kill the amended bill so babies who survived attempted abortions could still be left to die.

The story was repeated in a column by Terence Jeffrey, a contributing editor to Human Events, and was posed on Jan. 16. For four years Sen. Obama and his campaign have engaged in a cover-up for his record of refusing to protect live-born survivors of abortion.

Nat Hentoff, self-described pro-life Jewish atheist Democrat, well known as a columnist for Village Voice, is reported to have said that when he first heard about Sen.Obama’s opposition to the bill he thought of an old Hank Williams song “Cold, Cold Heart.”

We need to take a close look at our candidates’ record of positions on issues of importance and principle, not just listen to what they want us to hear but find out how they voted. There are a number of voter guides circulating these days. In my opinion, the best voter guide is the first one ever, in the book of Matthew: “You shall know them by their fruits.” What has your candidate supported in the past?

Back to the puppies — those with an animal they can’t care for are urged to put it in the drop bin at the Humane Society. Likewise, those expecting a child they can’t care for are urged to contact an agency, such as Catholic Charities, and arrange for an adoption.

An abandoned puppy is pathetic. An abandoned baby in a hospital delivery room is downright unthinkable!

Virginia O’Beirne, co-chair, Pro-Life Natchez-Adams County