Tag: pro life

House Bill 2354, Illinois State Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), passed the Illinois House Human Services Committee on March 11.  The bill will now head to the Illinois House floor for the consideration of the entire body.

Visit the Illinois General Assembly’s web site at www.ilga.gov to find your Legislator.  If you encounter any difficulties, please call the Catholic Conference of Illinois at 312-368-1066.

Cardinal Francis E. George’s letter on HB 2354:
Cardinal’s letter HB2354.pdf

The head of the Vatican’s Academy for Life, Archbishop Rino Fisichella said that his hope is that Eluana Englaro’s tragic death will provoke a societal affirmation of human dignity. Watch a video clip.

Read Communion & Liberation’s statement on Eluana’s death.

Our nation is at a critical point in the fight to protect the unborn. The latest proposed legislation, the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), calls for a significant increase in unlimited amount of abortions in this country. But FOCA goes far beyond that – it seeks to force hospitals and health care providers to violate their own consciences by requiring that abortions and abortion referrals be made available to clients seeking such services. This legislation seeks to eliminate the choice for those whose beliefs would preclude their participation in the acts of death which the proposed law would require.

The impact on the lives of those who practice medicine and those, such as the Catholic Church, who provide hospitals and health care facilities, would be profound. This is on top of the “rights” which the bill purports to protect that virtually eliminates any restrictions on abortion and removes parental rights of notice when abortions are performed for minors.

The Bishops of the United States have asked all Catholic organizations to support a campaign that will also be rolled out through parishes throughout the country – it is being called the National Pro-Life Postcard Campaign to Congress. Cardinal Justin Rigali referenced this campaign in his homily at the Pro-Life vigil on Wednesday at the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.

Every person who believes that abortion is wrong, that “Freedom of Choice” actually denies choice to those whose conscience would be violated by the legislation’s requirements, needs to take action. As the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have said, “FOCA goes far beyond the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision. No other piece of legislation would have such a destructive impact on society’s ability to limit or regulate abortion… The national postcard campaign will send a timely message to Congress that abortion advocates are out of step with mainstream America, and that their agenda should not become part of our nation’s laws in any way.”

Please link to the USCCB’s website by using the URL here – it will conveniently allow you to send electronic postcards to your Senators and your Congressional delegate, expressing your strong opinion in opposition to FOCA. As Edmund Burke is so often quoted, “All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.” Place your cursor on the URL and press Ctrl & click or paste the URL in your internet browser.

http://actions.nchla.org/Core.aspx?Screen=compose2&SessionID=$AID=970:SITEID=-1:VV_CULTURE=en-us:APP=GAC:ISSUEID=15856$

We cannot do nothing – this postcard campaign is not enough, but it is something – a small but important step to insure that the voices of those who support the pro-life movement are heard, loud and clear. Please take the few moments required to send the electronic postcards.

AND we have to be even more vigilant in a variety of areas legislation which threatens the unborn and the conscience, e.g., foreign policy.

Dear Sara, “Little Princess”
(the meaning of your name),
How fitting you should have it-
Too soon your glory came.

Your little heart was broken
When Mommy let you go.
But angel, please remember
She really didn’t know.

Some said it wasn’t beating,
Your tiny little heart,
And so it didn’t matter
They tore you all apart.

They said you couldn’t feel it.
How Satan can deceive!
The agony you suffered
So many disbelieve.

No grave to mark your passing,
And few to mourn or pray,
But Grandma will remember
That awful, tragic day.

My arms will never hold you.
My rocking chair is still.
But Grandma’s heart is full of love
That death can never kill.

Sweet Angel pray for Mommy,
And pray for Daddy too,
And say a prayer for Grandma
And I will pray for you.

And you and I together
Will pray for all your friends
Who never had a birthday!
We’ll pray abortion ends!

Love,

Grandma

Written by Mary Kathryn Johnson

Prescott Valley, AZ

Today begins the Novena for the Protection of the Unborn. The Novena is available in English and Spanish at Women for Faith & Family. Share this site with family and friends.

It is clearly an understatement to say that this is a crucial era in our lives as persons and as Catholics (not to be separated, of course). How we protect and care for those on the margins of our society is critical as our actions say volumes about who are as thinking and praying persons. Of course, who is more vulnerable than the unborn? The importance of this moment in history has little to do with the Obama ascendency, though his presidency will mark a significant change in direction in matters pertaining to matters of life, as much as it is a recognition that the act of aborting persons before birth is an act of evil, one that has cost 45 million lives. Think of the populations of countries that have roughly 33-45 million people: Tanzania, Argentina, Sudan, Poland, Kenya, Algeria, and Canada. If you did simple addition you the list of combined countries would be numerous. The point really is that one soul is lost to abortion is a sin and a crime. Our prayer is multifaceted: for the peaceful repose of the abortion souls, for the overturn of Roe v. Wade, for the new president not to repeal the Bush policies and enacting more liberal ones and for the healing of the women and men who have aborted their sons and daughters.

We should be united in this work of prayer and peaceful protest. Liturgically, the Church has asked that January 22^nd be a day of penance. Therefore, the US bishops have said that the Sacrifice of the Mass on this day celebrated using the votive Mass for Peace and Justice and the vestments be purple. The intention is “Day of Penance for violations to the Dignity of the Human Person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life.”

Articles to read

The Pro-Life Movement as the Politics of the 1960s

We Shall Worry, We Shall Not Rest

Abortion after Obama

On Abortion and the African American Family

Current Statistics

USCCB Pro-Library

National Right to Life

Prayer Resources

USCCB Pro-Life Office

Activities

The March for Life (Washington, DC)

Walk for Life West Coast (San Francisco, CA)

Yesterday (10/21/2008) I received an email from Ashley informing me that was I wrong in my assessment of Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer and Fordham University’s giving the Fordham-Stein Ethics Prize. Her email states:

Last I checked Pro-Abortion wasn’t an option in the fight between Pro-Life and Pro-Choice.  Justice Breyer is not PRO-ABORTION…no one is PRO-ABORTION.  He simply wrote the opinion honoring a woman’s right to choose. That means in cases of rape and incest included.

This award is not given by Father McShane.  It is awarded by the LAW SCHOOL as an award of LEGAL ETHICS.  That means that during his legal career spanning decades he has governed in a fair and ethical way not taking bribes for instance or being caught up in scandal.  Whether or not you agree with his morals is irrelevant.

Making it as a Supreme Court Justice is pretty outstanding if you ask me.  He must have done something right.  I admire all 9 of them and have respect for all of their achievements.

Also, to better inform you, there is a selection committee of people all over the country that vote on the awardee. This process has resulted in several Supreme Court Justices honored, former Deans of Fordham Law, Fordham Law alumni and others in the legal community with outstanding legal careers.  This committee is made of people from all walks of life nominating those strictly based on the ethics (NOT MORALS) of their legal careers. After nominations are made it is narrowed down and there is a vote and whether it goes your way or not we respect the democratic system that we live in.

Ashley is unaware of many basic points of theology. She is also playing games with the English language and politicizing it to her advantage akin to what George Orwell writes in his1946 essay “Politics and the English Language.”  Moreover, Ashley is clearly unaware of the expectations of the Church and the Jesuits, never mind the rights of the Catholic faithful who have a right to expect priests and Catholic universities to closely adhere to the objectivity of the Faith. If you call yourself Catholic then act as a faithful Catholic who knows Jesus Christ and the Church.

In regard to the process of making an award and Father McShane’s role in this matter: as president of the university McShane makes the final decision on who is given a university honor. He is, however, ultimately responsible for what every school in the university does and says. This is just a suggestion but I hope Ashley would  read the New Testament, the oath of fidelity (which Father McShane took), Evangelium Vitae (1995) and Ex Corde Ecclesia (1990) says before she tries to parse out who does what when and why. The faith is not voted on in a court of public opinion; faith is truth. And here objective truth exists.

I counter, therefore, the giving of an ethics award to Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer by Fordham University Law School. Justice Breyer’s service to unborn children in the legal system is regrettable in every way because of his constant and influential work in favor of legalized abortion. I fail to see how Breyer “promotes the advancement of justice” when he advocates for abortion. Breyer’s smugness with moral evil is irreconcilable with the dignity of the human person, in this case with the unborn, and with the fundamental teachings of the Catholic Church. Since Fordham University does not stand apart from neither Catholic theology nor the Church and therefore it ought not to honor those who advocate policies and laws that are contrary to human flourishing and Church teaching. Abortion is contrary to the eternal, divine, natural laws. The United States Catholic Bishops have said that people who hold positions that oppose Church teaching “should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions” by Catholic universities.

Nowhere in my previous post on this blog or in any other media have I launched an ad hominem attack on the Justice. Further, I think one can only reasonably question and challenge one’s thinking and not trash the person’s character. Certainly Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer is a man of great intellect, an accomplished lawyer and acknowledged as a valuable Justice in this nation’s highest court. It would be unreasonable to argue to the contrary. In the context of Fordham the responsibility and duty to uphold Catholic teaching in all matters of life belongs to Society of Jesus to which Father McShane belongs as he is a solemnly professed Jesuit and an ordained Catholic priest, to Fordham University where the exercise of faith and reason is promoted and the Archdiocese of New York as the local magisterium.

In the 2000 Stenberg v. Carhart case the Justice said: “[B]efore ‘viability the woman has the right to choose to terminate her pregnancy.” Breyer wrote the Supreme Court’s majority opinion for the (a 5-4 decision), which overturned a Nebraska state law banning partial-birth abortion. Therefore, I assert that Breyer’s thinking is pro-abortion and not merely pro-choice.

Are partial-birth abortions medically necessary? No, never; no science would support this act. And the majority on the court recognized this fact. But Breyer voted against a Congressional ban on partial-birth abortion in Gonzalez v. Carhart, and the Supreme Court upheld that law, again by a 5-4 decision.

It seems to me that Fordham forfeits its mission as a place where faith and reason collaborate as a Catholic university by bestowing the Fordham-Stein Ethics Prize on Justice Breyer, or anyone else, who demonstrates contempt for Catholic teaching. I reiterate my earlier question: Is it time for Fordham University to disavow its Catholicity if it is going to honor public figures who advocate and/or support the right to choose abortion? The death of the vulnerable, the unborn child, even in the case of rape and the mother’s health, is tragic and should be avoided.