Pro-life blog buzz 2-4-14
by Susie Allen, host of the blog, Pro-Life in TN, and Kelli
We welcome your suggestions for additions to our Top Blogs (see tab on right side of home page)! Email Susie@jillstanek.com.
- Americans United for Life notes that the Guttmacher Institute’s latest report shows a decline in abortion numbers, along with a record number of pro-life laws enacted. And yet, Guttmacher claims the laws had no impact on abortion. AUL also notes that the reporting of surgical and chemical abortions is still voluntary, by state, and California chooses not to participate at all.
- Ethika Politika reports on the involvement of their “sister project”, Reproductive Research Audit (spearheaded by Dr. Jacqueline Harvey) in the court cases pending against the HHS Mandate:
Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby… on questions of the “contraceptive mandate.” You can read the full brief here, or a summary here.
- Live Action picks up on abortion regret portrayed in the popular TV show, Parenthood. In episode 11, entitled “Promises”, the character Amy has an abortion her senior year of high school even though her boyfriend Drew says he will stand by her. Her only counseling comes from Planned Parenthood and she aborts. Following the abortion, they go their separate ways. Amy finds herself lonely and unhappy at college and tells Drew she wishes she could have a “do over.”
- Life Training Institute applauds the latest news on the stem cell research front:
… Japanese researcher Dr. Haruko Obokata has successfully “shocked” blood cells with a mild acid bath into acting like stem cells.These new cells are called stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP) cells. Obokata’s research was successful using mouse blood cells, and is now taking place to see if human blood acts the same way.
This procedure does not take the lives of any embryonic human beings.
- Down on the Pharm has strong words for Hollywood and those who ignore the rampant sexual abuse of children, honoring alleged pedophiles like Woody Allen (and proven pedophile Roman Polanski).
- Josh Brahm blogs about a different type of Sanctity of Human Life message in which he appeared with his pastor to answer questions that were texted in during the sermon.
- Never afraid to call it as she sees it, American Life League’s Judie Brown has strong words regarding the lack of teaching in the Catholic Church on important doctrinal issues:
This is surely borne out by the confusion among Catholics who are not well-informed on what the Church teaches. A recent statement by the Archdiocese of Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley [pictured right] bears this out.During a recent interview with the Boston Herald, the cardinal was asked about Pope Francis’ statement that some Catholics appear to be “obsessed” with abortion. His response is enlightening:
The normal Catholic in the parish might hear a sermon on abortion once a year. They’ll never hear a sermon on homosexuality or gay marriage. They’ll never hear a sermon about contraception. But if you look at the New York Times, in the course of a week, there will be 20 articles on those topics. So who is obsessed?
Phil Lawler commented on the O’Malley statement: “If I were a bishop, I could not acknowledge this failure without a deep sense of shame. And of fear.”
But there is no fear of the consequences wrought by admitting freely that Catholics are being cheated daily by those who have a moral obligation to teach the truth. O’Malley’s admission is stunning.
[Photos via NBC and flickr.com]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
“During a recent interview with the Boston Herald, the cardinal was asked about Pope Francis’ statement that some Catholics appear to be “obsessed” with abortion”
Except that Pope Francis NEVER SAID THAT. *headdesk* And my priest regularly talks about the evil of abortion and the culture of death. Sheesh, you’d think that pro-lifers of all people would know better than to believe what the MSM says when they quote anyone who isn’t in lockstep with their agenda.
The USCCB is my other boycott…… for falling down on the job year after year.
Certainly O’Malley watches the collection plate in his leftie archdiocese.
Judie Brown’s constant negative spewing about the Catholic Church is why I stopped donating to ALL. The problem is not that priests don’t spend enough time in their homilies talking about life issues. The problem is most Catholics either don’t attend Mass at all or those that do think the Mass is all the faith formation they need. What other faith community has written/published/talked more about life issues than the Catholic Church? You can find articles and statements going back decades on the USCCB site, all the way to the 1970’s. Pfft.
The USCCB is killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
They clamored for obamacare, which brings abortion/birthcontrol/sterilization, funded by those who don’t believe in it.
They clamor for government regulated wages / increased minimum wage to kill an already moribund economy (that funds them).
They clamor for unregulated immigration, which specifically rewards those who break the law, placing them ahead of those who wait in line to enter the U.S.
One wonders if the USCCB is not purposefully trying to bring the U.S. down, or if they’re just stupid.
The USCCB has clamored for none of those things, Pharmer.
Judy Brown is correct. Cardinal O’Malley is weak, he is more concerned about being popular than leading the faithful.
Then we always have the apologists for this poor leadership like Joanna.. they constantly provide cover for these terrible leaders in the Church.
Not accurate, Jasper. I’m not a fan of Cardinal O’Malley, for example, or any of the cowardly bishops who won’t stand up for the truth or who cover up abuse by priests. I just don’t like seeing Pope Francis misquoted.
As for the USCCB, they have dropped the ball on many occasions, but Pharmer’s accusations are without merit. For example, the USCCB has advocated for universal healthcare, but universal healthcare =/= Obamacare. Their stance against the HHS mandate alone proves Pharmer wrong on that count. They advocate for just wages (which is a teaching of the Church as well), not a certain minimum wage. And while they advocate for good treatment of immigrants and mercy toward same, they certainly don’t support unregulated immigration.
Nope. There are no do overs with abortion.
I wish for the same thing. Not going to happen.
Joanna, are you on the payroll of the USCCB ?
Who knows how many abortions are the results of situations like this?
http://www.newser.com/story/181795/catholic-school-fires-pregnant-unwed-teacher.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=united&utm_campaign=rss_lifestyle
OK, the policy shouldn’t be blamed. But had there been no policies like this, others would have brought their pregnancies to term in similar situations; instead they got abortions.
No, Jasper, I’m not. I just prefer the truth to lies.
Merit, the article you posted didn’t say anything about an abortion, so I’m confused.
What consequence do you think there should be for employees who freely and deliberately break their contracts?
Dear Merit,
Your comment has been deleted.
I will not allow this thread to go in that direction.
It’s really silly to lambast the Catholics for not being pro-life enough, lol. Pro-life movement started with Catholics, was kept going with Catholics, and is disproportionately made up of Catholics. If there’s one thing you can’t get mad at the Church about it’s the life issue.
JoAnna I agree with you about the USCCB it’s nice to agree on something!
Ummmm… Catholics aren’t *prolife* enough?!
I mean, sure, some of them aren’t. But what religion doesn’t have people who are lukewarm? I’d say the Catholic Church do the best at making pro-life a serious issues. The vast majority of faithful pro-lifers are Catholic. I have long admired my Catholic brothers and sisters.
“..And while they advocate for good treatment of immigrants and mercy toward same, they certainly don’t support unregulated immigration.”
For Pharmer, Jasper and JoAnna (btw I stand with her on this):
http://usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/immigration/churchteachingonimmigrationreform.cfm
So, Carla, only women working in a Catholic environment have to follow the policies or pay the piper? And men don’t? Anyway, you are a moderator, so whatever you do is your prerogative.
Merit I think the deal was that he never signed a “moral contract”, they offered him a job later after she got pregnant and they got married I believe. I think firing an employee for getting pregnant out of wedlock is purely awful, but thy had the legal right to do so in at will states at least. Wish they wouldn’t have though and I don’t think it’s very pro-life.
Thanks for the page on immigration Thomas, I enjoyed it. It’s reasonable. I don’t find it charitable or loving when people rail against “illegals” like they aren’t even human sometimes. Yes, it’s wrong to illegally enter the country, but it’s much better to look at the causes of this and make it easier for workers and families to get here legally than it is to just smack down on them. People are not going to just sit in Mexico and starve and watch their kids not eat, they are going to try and make it over here. People die trying to get into this country all the time, Cubans end up drowning in the ocean, Mexicans get shot by border patrol or dying of dehydration in the desert. Our policies are awful at the moment and are causing more problems than they solve, tearing families apart and illegal immigrants get exploited by American business owners all the time because they have no real rights here.
I agree Jack. Those who rail against the USCCB on this issue need to pay very close attention to their stance on enforcement. The days of sanctuaries are long over but ICE also recognizes that enforcement needs to be targeted and reasonable. The thing that blows my mind is how some hard core “Americans” want to penalize children for the status of their parents (and some of these are pro-lifers who scream not to penalize the unborn for the deeds of the born).
About the border issue, I think that you need to thank the almighty O for not following up on his “immigration reform’s” promise to secure it. These problems you speak of it would not exist if Obama took securing our border seriously instead of pandering to potential voters…
Thomas, I agree with you 100% in reference to the penalization of children for their parents’ legal status. This is an area where I veer from the Republican Party’s view, and it is something that I struggle with around election time because the area I live in has a large immigrant (and illegal immigrant) population, and Republican candidates will often rely heavily on the issue.
I believe from your posts that you are an immigrant as well, and that may be why we feel that way.
Well I am not an immigrant but this issue makes me very angry (and an angry LB is not a good thing). It’s one of the reasons I identify more closely with the Libertarian party now. Because it is absolutely inhumane to treat these PEOPLE with the contempt that most Republicans do.
It all goes back to putting a face on the issue. Would these politicians in their cozy homes with their nice little families say those things to the face of the people they are hating? I agree that illegal immigration causes issues, absolutely. But we need to look at the policy and change our views about what immigrants bring to this country – ESPECIALLY when our economy is flopping. Immigrants who come *want* to be here. They want to be here for a reason. They are obviously willing to work (they often take horrible, hard jobs). So as far as enforcement goes, I think we should be more concerned about drug cartels taking their fights over here/abusing poor, starving, impoverished people by making them drug mules than we are about people trying to make it over here to give themselves and their families a fighting chance at survival. Is it such a crime to want to stay with your family? Would you not do the same thing?!
Whew okay sorry.
To me LibertyBelle its not that Republicans treat immigrants less than human. This dilemma is about securing our borders against illegal immigrants first before we can effectively address already existing illegal immigration and all the headaches for our nation that come with it. Any immigration reform has to start and end with that. All the other issues are secondary. Jack eluded to that by discussing the ongoing crossings that very often result in death.
I blame Obama for this. His “immigration reform” has become a joke precisely because he does not want to secure our border.
Republicans would be open to a discussion if Obama had the guts to follow through with this promise.