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News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
You are currently browsing the archives for the Contraception category.
The ever insightful Dr. Michael New made some interesting observations recently in response to Slate‘s William Saletan, who continues to beat the drum for the idea that increased funding for contraception programs will surely reduce abortion rates.
Saletan’s approach is, of course, wholly unoriginal, and has proven repeatedly to be an abject failure.
Dr. New writes:
Interestingly, if one examines Planned Parenthood’s annual reports dating back until the year 2002, there is a consistent increase in both the number of individuals receiving contraceptives from Planned Parenthood and the number of abortions they have performed. This is probably not a coincidence. All contraceptive measures have a failure rate. As such, by giving out more and more contraceptives, Planned Parenthood has successfully created an ever growing clientele for its most lucrative service — providing abortions.
Read the whole thing here.
The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan, issued a letter [PDF] to his brother bishops on Friday in which he strongly hinted that the USCCB intends to file a legal challenge to the Obama Administration’s HHS Mandate:
[O]ur bishops’ conference, many individual religious entities, and other people of good will are working with some top-notch law firms who feel so strongly about this that they will represent us pro bono. In the upcoming days, you will hear much more about this encouraging and welcome development.
As with so many of the public statements issued by U.S. Bishops regarding the HHS Mandate, Cardinal Dolan did not mince words, calling the mandates, at various places, “choking,” “suffocating,” and “strait-jacketing.”
One thing I noticed while reading the letter is that every time Cardinal Dolan used the phrase “religious freedom” — 19 times throughout the three and a half page letter — it appeared in italics.
Make no mistake, His Eminence wants to remind his brother bishops, and everyone else, too, for that matter, that we must keep our focus on the fact that the HHS Mandate is first and foremost an assault on religious freedom, and that is how we need to frame this issue. [Continue reading ...]
In the current issue of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s newspaper, the Catholic New World, Francis Cardinal George has a must-read column in which he explains how high the stakes are in the fight against the HHS contraception mandate.
Never one to mince words, His Eminence states clearly that if the contraception mandate is not rescinded, there will be no Catholic hospitals left in the U.S. in two years.
Perhaps the most important paragraph of the column is the following:
The strangest accusation in this manipulated public discussion has the bishops not respecting the separation between church and state. The bishops would love to have the separation between church and state we thought we enjoyed just a few months ago, when we were free to run Catholic institutions in conformity with the demands of the Catholic faith, when the government couldn’t tell us which of our ministries are Catholic and which not, when the law protected rather than crushed conscience. The state is making itself into a church. The bishops didn’t begin this dismaying conflict nor choose its timing. We would love to have it ended as quickly as possible. It’s up to the government to stop the attack.
The Cardinal goes on to recommend getting a copy of the 2012 Archdiocesan Directory “as a souvenir”: [Continue reading ...]
In response to President Obama’s HHS Mandate, the Pro-Life Action League is partnering with Citizens for a Pro-Life Society in calling for a national day of prayer and protest.
The Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom will take place in cities and towns all across the country on March 23 at Noon.
Thousands of faithful, pro-life Americans will meet at U.S. government sites—Federal Buildings, Congressional offices and historic sites—to stand up for religious freedom and demand that Obama rescind the HHS Mandate.
Over 50 cities and towns have already signed on to be a part of the Nationwide Rally on March 23, with more locations being added to the map every day. Contact the League for information on leading a Rally in your town.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is now mandating [Continue reading ...]
Earlier this hour, President Obama announced in a White House Press Conference an “adjustment” to the HHS Mandate. The Mandate is set to go into effect in August, and will require all employer health plans to provide free contraceptives, sterilizations and abortifacients.
The HHS originally provided a “religious exemption” so narrow that it would exclude Catholic hospitals, universities and charities, forcing these institutions to act in direct opposition to Catholic teaching through the health care plans they provide. Institutions run by other religious organizations would be likewise affected.
In response to outcry from religious leaders—including 171 Catholic bishops—and Americans from across the political spectrum, Obama today outlined an “adjustment” to the HHS Mandate whereby the objectionable services will be paid for by insurers rather than directly by employers.
Setting aside the fact that contraceptives are not preventative health care—since pregnancy is not a disease—Obama’s adjustment is nothing but a shell game.
At the end of the day, religious employers are still required to provide health plans that offer free contraceptives, sterilizations and abortifacients. [Continue reading ...]
Panelists at the Illinois ACLU’s “War on Contraception” seminar Jan. 30 (from left): Damilla Taylor, Gaylon Alcaraz, Leah Bartelt and Lorie Chaiten [Photo by Paige Scarlett]
Last night I joined a group of pro-life activists to “crash” the Illinois ACLU’s meeting in Chicago Heights, Illinois, touting its sensationalist “War on Contraception” agenda. Pro-lifers made up for at least seven of the 20 people in attendance.
The seminar was the second of three being held in three Chicago suburbs at health clubs, libraries, or other intentionally innocuous locations as part of the ACLU’s “Defending the Targets of Intolerance” series to stand up for supposedly “oppressed” groups including gays, lesbians, and women. [Continue reading ...]
The decision earlier this month by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius not to allow girls under 17 to purchase the Plan B contraceptive without a prescription is still a hot topic in the news media.
Today an article appeared in the Los Angeles Times titled “A Look at the Plan B Pill Controversy,” for which the Pro-Life Action League’s Eric Scheidler was interviewed:
“It’s just a matter of common sense,” says Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League. “The idea that they could go into a pharmacy and buy these very powerful steroids without talking to [a parent] or a doctor is just completely mad.” Scheidler adds that in cases of minor girls having sex with older men, emergency contraceptives helps the abuser, not the girl.
You can read the article here.
Breast cancer awareness and research seems to dominate the news each fall. October is designated as the official breast cancer awareness month, but pink everything—ribbons, shoes, hats, gloves, T-shirts—spills over into the subsequent weeks of Autumn.
Now a new study has been issued by the Institute of Medicine on “Breast Cancer and the Environment: a Life Course Approach.” The interesting thing about this study is that it was expected to come down hard on industrial practices opposed by environmental groups. Instead researchers found that women’s life style choices are the more persistent factor in breast cancer risk.
The study found that substances to which women voluntarily expose themselves are much clearer sources of risk than environmental factors over which they have little or no control. Oral contraceptives made the list, along with cigarettes, alcohol and fattening foods. [Continue reading ...]
Editor’s Note: This article was published as an op ed in USA Today on Friday, December 9
The outrage coming from abortion advocates over Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ decision not to allow girls under 17 to purchase the Plan B contraceptive without a prescription shows just how far out of step they are with most Americans.
But the pro-life movement welcomes Sebelius’ decision, and hopes that HHS will revisit the question of whether Plan B should be available over the counter to anyone.
In rejecting a recommendation from the Food and Drug Administration that younger teens be allowed to buy Plan B over the counter, Sebelius said there are significant cognitive and behavioral differences between older adolescent girls and the youngest girls of reproductive age.
Any parent knows this is true. But this wisdom is lost on the pro-abortion lobby, which is demanding Sebelius reverse her decision, sacrificing girls’ health to their radical ideology. [Continue reading ...]
What could cause pro-life Christians to join forces with Planned Parenthood?
Lies. Planned Parenthood’s go-to move, and, I believe, the largest reason why Mississippi’s Initiative 26 ballot measure was defeated at the polls yesterday.
The measure, a proposed “Personhood” law, would have declared “every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof” to be a person deserving of the full protection of the law. Resulting laws the measure would require, would likely ban all forms of abortion.
There were strong indications prior to yesterday’s vote that the measure stood a very good chance of passing and that many, even most, Mississippians supported the idea. So what happened? [Continue reading ...]