1. In interview, pope says he’ll name women to panel that advises on bishops, By Stefano Pitrelli, The Washington Post, July 7, 2022, Pg. A13  In a historic first, Pope Francis announced his intention to include two women on the committee advising him on the selection of bishops, in an interview published Wednesday. In the interview with Reuters, conducted on July 2 at his residence, Francis said he was “open to giving [women] an opportunity,” including lay ones, to take on more top jobs in the administration, as allowed by a recent reform of the Vatican Curia. “Two women will be appointed for the first time in the committee to elect bishops in the Congregation for Bishops,” he said, while stopping short of naming names or offering a time frame for the nomination. “This way, things are opening up a bit.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/06/pope-francis-women-bishops/__________________________________________________________ 2. Scramble as last Mississippi abortion clinic shuts its doors, By Emily Wagster Pettus, Associated Press, July 7, 2022 Mississippi’s only abortion clinic has been buzzing with activity in the chaotic days since the U.S. Supreme Court upended abortion rights nationwide — a case that originated in this conservative Deep South state, with this bright-pink medical facility that is closing its doors Wednesday. Physicians at Jackson Women’s Health Organization have been trying to see as many patients as possible before Thursday, when, barring an unlikely intervention by the state’s conservative Supreme Court, Mississippi will enact a law to ban most abortions. https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-health-mississippi-06430712bf221d4da21e7fee7980b0ff__________________________________________________________ 3. Science Informs the Moral Case Against Abortion, By Lila Rose, The Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2022, Pg. A18, Letter to the Editor In “My Mind Isn’t Made Up About Abortion” (op-ed, June 28), Rebecca Sugar argues that pro-life Americans “confuse moral and ethical arguments with scientific ones.” She quotes me: “The science is conclusive. Human life doesn’t begin at birth. It begins before birth, at the moment of fertilization.” I stand by this statement. Pro-life Americans reference the science of when human life begins because it is essential to resolving the moral and ethical question of abortion: Does it intentionally end an innocent human life? Science shows us that from the moment of fertilization a single-cell human embryo comes into existence. The embryo is alive and growing, and it is an individual of the human species—a unique human life, only younger and less developed than a born child or a toddler.  Science illustrates what humans have intuitively understood since time immemorial: When a mother is pregnant, she is carrying a human child. When Americans learn the truth, the only way forward is for abortion to become illegal and unthinkable. Lila Rose is Founder and CEO of Live Action https://www.wsj.com/articles/abortion-pro-life-live-action-lila-rose-science-human-life-11657059164?__________________________________________________________ 4. We Owe the Unborn Their Burials, By Mark Naida, The Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2022, Pg. A19 My wife and I lost our first child. We had a “missed miscarriage.” Our baby died at 6 weeks, which we learned at our 12-week ultrasound. As we waited for the miscarriage and mourned our baby, we didn’t know what we would do with the remains. But a funeral seemed appropriate. That isn’t necessarily easy. When a woman undergoes a dilation-and-curettage procedure, which removes tissue from the uterus, at a hospital, she needs to insist that staff give her the remains—“products of conception” in the medical lingo. If the remains aren’t given to the parents, they are often treated as medical waste and could be incinerated. Some women who miscarry at home flush the remains.  Being open to life also means being open to death. More than 25% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, and although pro-life advocates have focused, for good reason, on the principle that a human life begins at conception, they should also focus on honoring the death of a human through miscarriage. https://www.wsj.com/articles/we-owe-the-unborn-their-burials-pro-life-babies-miscarriage-abortion-dobbs-roe-v-wade-11657130783?__________________________________________________________ 5. Doctors fight Biden’s abortion pill push, Pro-life organization warns about risk of death, urges in-person clinic visits, By Valerie Richardson, The Washington Times, July 7, 2022, Pg. A1 Pro-life doctors sounded the alarm Wednesday about the Biden administration’s effort to expand access to abortion pills, arguing that lifting restrictions will put the lives of pregnant women at risk. Leaders of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) said the White House and leading medical groups are failing to warn the public about the dangers associated with allowing at-home chemical abortion medication to be delivered by mail without an in-person clinic visit. “We need to protect our women patients from this push for DIY medication abortions,” Dr. Christina Francis, a board-certified OB-GYN in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the CEO-elect of the pro-life physicians group, said on a press call. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/jul/6/post-roe-push-increase-access-abortion-pills-hits-/__________________________________________________________ 6. ‘Women deserve better’: Experts criticize EU Parliament resolution on ‘right to abortion’, By Hannah Brockhaus, Catholic News Agency, July 7, 2022, 2:20 AM Legal experts have called “inaccurate and misleading” a proposed resolution by the European Parliament to include a “right to abortion” in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The law-making body is set to vote on the resolution in the afternoon on July 7. It is titled “On the US Supreme Court decision to overturn abortion rights in the United States and the need to safeguard abortion rights and women’s health in the EU.” “Every government has a sovereign right to protect the most vulnerable in their countries — those in the womb,” Adina Portaru, senior counsel for ADF International in Brussels said in a statement to CNA July 6. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251737/women-deserve-better-experts-criticize-eu-parliament-resolution-on-right-to-abortion__________________________________________________________

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.
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