1. A Catholic’s Duty in Post- Roe America, By Paul S. Coakley, The Wall Street Journal, July 12, 2022, Pg. A17, Opinion
Reversing Roe represented a necessary first step to bring about a culture of life, from conception to natural death, and end a culture of abortion and death. The court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization will save many lives and help to affirm human dignity at all stages of development. But the demise of Roe is, as Churchill put it, only the end of the beginning.
It also is a reminder of our duty as Catholics. By virtue of our baptism, we are called to see Christ in every human life, and to work and pray for a society in which laws reflect the inherent dignity of the human person. This commitment requires us to create alternatives to abortion and ultimately to make it unthinkable. The end of Roe challenges us anew to open our hearts, and our doors, to mothers and children in need through foster care and adoption—to what Pope Francis called “the highest form of love, and of fatherhood and motherhood.”
A year ago the high court unanimously protected Catholic ministries that serve vulnerable children in need of loving foster and adoptive homes. In Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, the justices ensured that Catholic Social Services, serving in the heart of inner-city Philadelphia, can fulfill its foster-care ministry in accordance with the faith that animates its mission. Fulton was a major victory for religious liberty and for people of faith across America. But it was also a clarion call for the church to redouble its millennia-old service to the most vulnerable among us.
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In Fulton, the Supreme Court vindicated the right of Catholic foster and adoption services to continue their ministry in accordance with their faith. It is now time to embrace this freedom with full force. Supporting life-affirming ministries like crisis pregnancy centers and foster and adoption agencies is an excellent start. All Catholics dioceses, churches, schools, families and individuals are essential in this effort.
Working together in faith and confidence, our Catholic communities, in every state in this union, can restore America’s dedication to treasuring the miracle of life.
Archbishop Coakley is archbishop of Oklahoma City.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/catholic-duty-post-roe-america-adoption-women-health-ministry-babies-mothers-11657576192?
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2. Biden admin: Docs must offer abortion if mom’s life at risk, By Zeke Miller, Associated Press, July 11, 2022, 8:14 PM
The Biden administration on Monday told hospitals that they “must” provide abortion services if the life of the mother is at risk, saying federal law on emergency treatment guidelines preempts state laws in jurisdictions that now ban the procedure without any exceptions following the Supreme Court’s decision to end a constitutional right to abortion.
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Currently, even the states with the most stringent bans on abortion do allow exceptions when the health of a mother is at risk.
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When asked about the Biden administration’s new guidance, Michelle Williams, chief of staff to Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, pointed to the existing exception in Mississippi’s abortion law.
“Mississippi’s law already makes an exception for preservation of the mother’s life,” Williams told The Associated Press on Monday. “The Biden Administration’s statement of existing law today is about nothing more than maintaining the false narrative that women’s lives are in danger in order to appease his base.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-admin-docs-must-offer-abortion-if-moms-life-at-risk/2022/07/11/3cb3f206-015e-11ed-8beb-2b4e481b1500_story.html
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3. Federal judge blocks Arizona’s ‘personhood’ abortion law, By Bob Christie, Associated Press, July 11, 2022, 10:13 PM
A federal judge in Phoenix on Monday blocked a 2021 state “personhood” law that gives all legal rights to unborn children and that abortion rights groups said put providers at risk of prosecution for a variety of crimes.
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Rayes agreed with the challengers that the law appears to be unconstitutionally vague.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-judge-blocks-arizonas-personhood-abortion-law/2022/07/11/2ec1c8ac-017d-11ed-8beb-2b4e481b1500_story.html
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4. Abortion rights poised to go before Michigan voters in fall, By Joey Cappelletti, Associated Press, July 11, 2022, 2:27 PM
Abortion rights are poised to come before Michigan voters in November after an abortion rights campaign turned in a record-breaking number of signatures Monday for a ballot initiative to the secretary of state’s office.
The effort will further increase attention on Michigan’s elections, where the battleground state’s Democratic governor and attorney general have made abortion rights a centerpiece of their reelection campaigns.
The push to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution comes weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and gave states the power to decide whether to ban the procedure. The ruling is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/abortion-rights-poised-to-go-before-michigan-voters-in-fall/2022/07/11/7ced5e36-0134-11ed-8beb-2b4e481b1500_story.html
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5. USCCB Official Warns of Rise in ‘Polite Persecution’ of Catholic Views on Abortion and Sexuality Internationally, The Biden administration and groups overseas continue to push an ‘LGBT,’ pro-abortion agenda in poor countries., By Lauretta Brown, National Catholic Register, July 11, 2022
During last week’s 2022 International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, Lucas Koach, director of the Office of International Justice and Peace for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, warned that in the developing world there’s an impulse “to push for policies that the Church thinks run contrary to the innate human dignity of the human person and attach that to U.S. foreign assistance or other diplomatic levers.”
Koach spoke on a Heritage Foundation Panel titled “Victims of ‘Polite’ Persecution: Believers Targeted by Secular Abortion and Gender Activists.” The title referenced 2016 remarks by Pope Francis about persecution “disguised as culture, disguised as modernity, disguised as progress.” The Pope called it “polite persecution, when someone is persecuted not for confessing Christ’s name, but for wanting to demonstrate the values of the Son of God.”
Koach said that policies that are at odds with Church teaching on human dignity “are often framed under the guise of protecting others, such as a mother facing an unwanted pregnancy, or someone who is same-sex attracted or has gender dysphoria, experiencing undue violence or discrimination. So, one may say or can see that this seems well enough intended, and we certainly agree that the vulnerable and marginalized need to be protected.”
https://www.ncregister.com/news/usccb-official-warns-of-rise-in-polite-persecution-of-catholic-views-on-abortion-and-sexuality-internationally
__________________________________________________________TCA Media Monitoring provides a snapshot from national newspapers and major Catholic press outlets of coverage regarding significant Catholic Church news and current issues with which the Catholic Church is traditionally or prominently engaged. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Catholic Association. |
