LITTLE NUGGETS OF LIFE AND LOVE.(pregnant widows after World Trade Center attack)(Brief Article)

"In the vast toll of casualties wreaked Sept. 11, one that has barely been mentioned to date is the number of babies who will be born in the coming months already having lost their fathers."

Newsday, October 15

In the aftermath of the detestable, horrific terrorist attacks, it seems as if every week produces a new batch of American heroes.

We all know about the magnificently courageous acts of the hundreds of police officers, fire fighters, and emergency medical workers, many of whom lost their lives saving others. Likewise, we can only stand in awe of the sacrificial courage of passengers on a fourth highjacked airplane who evidently fought with their captors. While they gave their lives when the plane went down, there is good reason to believe that had they not bravely risen to the challenge, our nation's capitol would have been hit.

But there is still another category of heroes about whom little has been written. They are small in number but big in heart, part of a different kind of rescue operation following the atrocities of September 11. Those heroes or, more precisely, those heroines, also deserve our recognition and our gratitude.

On that terrible September day dozens of the men who died left behind widows who were pregnant. With their deaths, a new and tragic sorority of single mothers was created.

Those women, some already with other children, have been left to face an unknown future. Surely, said some people, they will want abortions. Given the circumstances, said others, those fatherless children would be better off not being born.