No matter what your position is on the broad issue of health reform, it seems obvious that the health care bill should help protect the innocent and the helpless. And that will require language that forbids the government from covering abortions or paying for them.

Lawsuits were filed on Sept. 14 at state and federal levels against Arizona to block the enforcement of a new state law that would require women seeking abortions to make two separate trips to a physician's office before obtaining the procedure.

Senators passed two measures June 23 that would put additional restrictions on abortions performed in Arizona and modify the statutory definition of partial-birth abortion.

Women who seek an abortion will have to wait at least 24 hours between the time they speak to a doctor about terminating a pregnancy and the actual procedure, under legislation adopted by a Senate committee June 10.