1. Pregnancy centers exist to help mothers and babies. Why is that making the left so angry?, It’s jarring that crisis pregnancy centers and maternity homes are the target of both political animus and actual violence., By Ingrid Jacques, USA Today, July 14, 2022, 5:03 AM, Opinion
With Roe v. Wade now overturned, a refrain I keep hearing from abortion proponents is that those who claim to be “pro-life” need to step up to do just that: Protect life.
The message goes along the lines that if the anti-abortion camp really believes in helping women and saving babies, then it should do more to aid them before – and after – the child is born. It’s jarring then that the crisis pregnancy centers and maternity homes that do this work are the target of both political animus and actual violence.
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Recently, Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced she had a bill that would “crack down on ‘so-called crisis pregnancy centers’” – and fine them – if they “mislead and deceive patients seeking abortion care.”
Warren went as far as to say that these centers “fool people” and “torture” them, and that “we need to shut them down all around the country.”
Other Democrats in Congress, along with Warren, sent a letter to Google last month, requesting that it suppresses search results for pregnancy centers they label “fake clinics.”
So much for giving women choices.
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For the past 16 years, Kathleen Wilson has worked to give pregnant women in crisis options other than abortion.
As executive director of Mary’s Shelter in Virginia, Wilson said the shelter has taken in 400 women since 2006. The shelter has grown to offer 24 bedrooms to pregnant women and their existing children. Families can stay up to three years, although a few have stayed even longer.
Not only does the shelter, funded through donations, ensure that immediate needs are met, but it also offers pathways to education and employment, counseling and parenting classes.
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While these centers aren’t political organizations, they would welcome more discussion about policies that could help families longer term and complement the work they do. Some Republicans have legislation that deserves attention, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney. The GOP should take on these issues as more states limit abortion.
Part of Rubio’s proposal is to remove barriers to federal grants for faith-based organizations that provide social services, as well as pregnancy centers. Given the expansive network that already exists, this seems a smart way to help them scale their impact.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2022/07/14/pregnancy-centers-elizabeth-warren/10039939002/
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2. Abortion-Related Drugs Get Guidelines, By Anna Wilde Mathews and Sharon Terlep, The Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2022, Pg. A3
The Biden administration is warning pharmacists that refusing to dispense medications used in abortions might violate federal protections against discrimination, in its latest move aimed at limiting the impact of state antiabortion laws.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights released guidelines on Wednesday that spell out examples when a pharmacist’s refusal to dispense a drug to a patient might be a violation of federal antidiscrimination law.
Among the situations are cases involving patients seeking drug treatment after a miscarriage and for an ectopic pregnancy, in which a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-urges-pharmacists-to-fill-prescriptions-for-drugs-that-can-be-used-in-abortions-11657730714?page=1
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3. Christians see ultrasound technology as way to discourage abortions, By Mark A. Kellner, The Washington Times, July 14, 2022, Pg. A1
Evangelical Christians say they are stepping up efforts to provide high-tech ultrasound machines to more than 2,700 pregnancy resource centers, faith-based outposts that counsel women in crisis pregnancy situations across the nation.
The devices, which can cost $30,000 to $40,000 apiece, are credited with helping change the minds of many women who were committed to having an abortion, pro-life advocates say.
Leading the effort are Focus on the Family and the Psalm 139 Project, a long-term initiative by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). The Psalm 139 Project said in June that it had raised $1.5 million to purchase 50 machines.
Robyn Chambers, executive director of advocacy for children at Focus on the Family, said “nearly 60% of women who are really abortion-determined will change their minds and choose life” after viewing an ultrasound image of a fetus and having one-on-one counseling.
https://amp.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/jul/13/technology-deployed-encourage-abortion-determined-/
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4. Leading Laywoman and Co-President of German ‘Synodal Way’ Calls for ‘Nationwide Provision of Abortion’, Germany currently permits abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, with mandatory counselling at a state-approved center, as well as later abortions in certain circumstances., By Catholic News Agency, July 14, 2022
A leading laywoman and co-president of the German “Synodal Way” has demanded a “nationwide provision of abortion” across the European Union’s most populous country.
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The Central Committee of German Catholics is organizer of the controversial “Synodal Way,” together with the German Bishops’ Conference. As serving president of the lay committee, Stetter-Karp is also co-president of the German process.
https://www.ncregister.com/cna/leading-laywoman-and-co-president-of-german-synodal-way-calls-for-nationwide-provision-of-abortion
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5. Hong Kong’s Coming Religious Crackdown, A Vatican envoy warns Catholics in the city of possible persecution, By The Wall Street Journal, July 13, 2022, 7:00 PM, Editorial
Freedom of speech, assembly and the press are gone in Hong Kong, and there’s good reason to fear religious liberty will be the next target.
That was the warning from Monsignor Javier Herrera-Corona, the Vatican’s unofficial envoy in Hong Kong, as he prepared to leave the city this spring after six years. Reuters reports that in four private meetings he encouraged some 50 Catholic missions in the city to safeguard their property, files and funds in anticipation of more mainland Chinese control.
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Monsignor Herrera-Corona’s warning underscores the folly of the Vatican’s 2018 attempt to appease Beijing by allowing Communist Party discretion over the appointment of Catholic bishops. Cardinal Zen said the secret pact was “selling out the Catholic Church in China,” which is probably the real reason for his arrest. The crackdown on believers has proceeded despite Rome’s concessions, and the deal with Beijing will tarnish Pope Francis’s record as head of the Church.
Beijing reserves special animus for mainland churches that welcome foreign missionaries or maintain ties with believers abroad. Hong Kong’s national security law prohibits “collusion” with vaguely defined foreign forces or external elements. Don’t be surprised if the Communist Party uses this provision against believers. Under the national security law, the maximum sentence is life in prison.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/hong-kongs-coming-religious-crackdown-beijing-china-monsignor-javier-herrera-corona-vatican-xi-jinping-11657142402
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6. Telemedicine abortion continues on Guam after Roe overturned, By Audrey McAvoy, Associated Press, July 13, 2022
Guam’s attorney general said a 1990 law that prohibited virtually all abortion is invalid and won’t take effect even though the U.S. Supreme Court last month overturned the national right to abortion outlined in Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that legalized abortion nationwide.
That means the status quo allowing women to obtain abortions via telemedicine may continue in the predominantly Catholic U.S. territory in the Pacific.
https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-health-religion-33b6f9dab6e157156bfa3d3922067e2d
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7. Democratic cities in Republican states seek ways around abortion bans, The net result is confusion, as GOP states impose bans while liberal prosecutors say they will decline to enforce them, By Scott Wilson, The Washington Post, July 13, 2022, 9:00 AM
Democratic-controlled cities within Republican states have launched improvisational efforts to preserve abortion services, even as officials acknowledge they will probably fall short of protecting doctors and patients sufficiently to serve as a substitute for a constitutional right to the procedure.
The moves stem from the Supreme Court’s decision last month that invalidated a federal right to abortion, meaning that states could decide whether to allow it. Last week, the city council here passed a resolution instructing the police department not to pursue cases against abortion providers or patients.
Dozens of big-city prosecutors, mostly in the South and Midwest, have said they will not file charges against medical workers who conduct abortions or their patients. Taken together, the steps do not amount to an affirmative right, but they could make the penalties for abortion more hypothetical than Republicans running the prosecutors’ states would prefer as they invoke bans on the procedure.
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The movement is spreading, even as its chief proponents acknowledge limits to what they can accomplish. Prosecutors in Charlotte, Atlanta and Indianapolis have pledged not to use public resources to pursue abortion providers. While New Orleans is among the first to direct police not to investigate abortion cases, several others are likely to follow in the coming weeks.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/13/abortion-bans-blocked-cities/
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8. Arizona attorney general asks court to unblock abortion ban, By Bob Christie, Associated Press, July 13, 2022, 8:59 PM
Arizona’s Republican attorney general on Wednesday asked a court to lift an injunction blocking the enforcement of a law that bans all abortions except when the life of the mother is at risk.
The filing from Attorney General Mark Brnovich asks a court in Tucson to lift an order in place since shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1973’s Roe v. Wade case that abortions are a constitutional right.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/arizona-attorney-general-asks-court-to-unblock-abortion-ban/2022/07/13/4c05e2a0-0307-11ed-8beb-2b4e481b1500_story.html
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9. Pregnancy center director tells Congress pro-life work ‘worth the risk’ of attacks, By Katie Yoder, Catholic News Agency, July 13, 2022, 6:45 PM
The head of a pro-life pregnancy center in Sacramento, Calif., spoke to members of the U.S. Senate on July 12 about the importance of pregnancy centers and the need to protect them.
“Just last week, a man approached our care center with an armed machete,” said Heidi Matzke, the executive director of Alternatives Pregnancy Center. “We have been forced to hire 24-hour on-site security. We’ve had to reinforce doors and bulletproof our walls. We’ve had to paint our building with anti-graffiti coating. We’ve added cameras, armed our staff with pepper spray, and stopped running our mobile clinic because of threats of violence.”
Matzke said her center has had to spend roughly $150,000 — money that could have been used elsewhere — to protect themselves and their patients.
“What we do, though,” she stressed, “is worth the risk.”
Matzke testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing titled “A Post-Roe America: The Legal Consequences of the Dobbs Decision.” Her comments come as pro-life pregnancy centers nationwide face escalating attacks, including firebombs, broken windows, and buildings defaced with pro-abortion messaging.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251780/pregnancy-center-director-tells-congress-pro-life-work-worth-risk-of-attacks
__________________________________________________________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. |
