We have victories for life to celebrate. A year ago on Saturday we marked the end of Roe v. Wade. I wrote these words in my Sunny Side for that week:

June 24, 2022. Roe has fallen. What a good day.

This new weekly column is dedicated to highlighting the good, light and funny in the midst of the evil we expect to read about in the news. But in a rare occurrence, the biggest news of the day is good news. States are now free to pass and enforce laws protecting human life in the womb at any stage of development!

Pro-life advocate Lila Rose wrote the following on Twitter:

One year ago, I typed the words many believed they would never see in their lifetime.

Since that day, at least 25,000 lives have been saved from abortion. https://t.co/OVa9hrmQzz

— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) June 24, 2023

Her thread celebrates the achievements of the pro-life movement in America since then and lays out a new pro-life goal for America: “ensuring complete protection for children in the womb” with the help of “every branch and level of government.”

In the immediate aftermath of the overturn of Roe, 13 states completely banned abortion.

Across 47 states, over 360 pro-life bills were filed & 36 were enacted.https://t.co/IQ3PLDUkmP

— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) June 24, 2023

The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution says: “No state can deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Abortion is already unconstitutional at the federal level.…

— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) June 24, 2023

May we continue to “seek justice” and “plead the cause” of the oppressed.

A Pro-Life Victory in Malta

The pro-life vision Rose has for America is perhaps largely realized in Malta. Malta is the only country in the European Union that does not allow abortion for any reason.

Malta is a tiny island off the coast of Italy with a population in the ballpark of 500,000 that is largely Catholic. You may recall the island from the book of Acts: the apostle Paul was shipwrecked there on the way to his trial in Rome. A snake bit his hand, making the Maltese people think he was cursed. Then he shook it off and suffered no effects, making the Maltese people change their mind to think he was a god. Paul prayed for the sick on the island and God healed them. He was on the island for three months before continuing the voyage.

The story of Paul being unharmed by the snake in Malta makes for a good allegory for what’s just happened on the island with the right to life and a culture war surrounding abortion. Paul, in this allegory, represents the nation of Malta — and especially Malta’s preborn babies, but not just them. Abortion is a venom to women and a nation’s entire society.

A snake struck, intending to bring death to Malta’s innocent. But instead, the snake bite turned out to be harmless. The snake was a bill that would originally have allowed abortion when the mother’s health or life are at risk.

Pregnancy Means Two Patients

In reality, abortion — meaning killing a human being before delivering/removing it — is never medically necessary. If you end a pregnancy to save the mother’s life by delivering the baby alive, you may be able to save both lives in some cases. Sometimes the baby is too young or too unwell to survive. But intentionally killing a baby before removing her from her mother is unnecessary and immoral.

After protests against the bill succeeded, a new version of the bill is now pro-life. A pro-life coalition gave this verdict about the bill:

The Coalition concludes that the amendment as now proposed does not introduce abortion to Malta but will codify the existing life-saving practices currently being applied in Malta, and provide further safeguards for mothers, unborn babies, and doctors.

The event that sparked the pro-abortion bill was sadly an abortion. Reuters reported: “The reform was drawn up after a U.S. tourist, Andrea Prudente, was refused a request in June 2022 to terminate a non-viable pregnancy after she began to bleed profusely. Her doctors said her life was at risk and she was eventually transferred to Spain where she had an abortion.”

But was this abortion really necessary? Lila Rose’s Live Action reported, “doctors who treated the woman have testified that she did not need an abortion — and that her baby could have survived.” There was a chance of survival, but the baby wasn’t given that chance.

It’s amazing to read this Live Action article and the opinions of Maltese medical personnel. “She was in hospital, so if any risks arose, they would be dealt with,” said Alberto Vella, who cared for the woman in question.

This is an example of a nation in which little baby humans inside their mothers are treated as equal patients alongside their mothers. It’s so right. It makes so much sense. Could America get there one day?

Aliya Kuykendall is a staff writer and proofreader for The Stream. You can follow Aliya on Twitter @AliyaKuykendall and follow The Stream @Streamdotorg.