Aggie Catholics had a statistician look at recent study by the Guttmacher Institute (a research wing of Planned Parenthood).
Matt C. Abbott posts an article by Bill Beckman, current executive director of the Illinois Right to Life Committee.
‘A headline in the October 15th Chicago Sun-Times reads, ‘Planned Parenthood is not the enemy in abortion fight.’ Such a statement could have come straight out of Planned Parenthood’s own marketing plan. Unfortunately, the facts do not support the perception Planned Parenthood wants to create with this marketing message.
‘In 2006, the Guttmacher Institute (research arm of Planned Parenthood) rated the states on the effectiveness of their state-funded birth control distribution programs. States such as New York and California were rated excellent while Nebraska was rated poor. Which of these states do you think have high abortion rates? Remember, Planned Parenthood claims that better access to birth control will reduce abortions. Well, New York and California are among the states with the highest abortion rates while Nebraska has low abortion rates. Thus, Planned Parenthood’s own statistics demonstrate the failure to achieve their claimed results.
‘In 2005, the Guttmacher Institute, in a study on unplanned pregnancies, noted that 53 percent of women who have unintended pregnancies used a contraceptive method during the month they got pregnant. Of those unplanned pregnancies, 47 percent end in abortion, 40 percent are carried to full term, and 13 percent end in miscarriage. Whether this is due to usage failure or method failure, it shows that artificial contraception is largely ineffective in preventing unplanned pregnancy and abortion.
…
Dawn Eden as part of The Cardinal
Newman Society and in
cooperation with St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Worcester Diocese?s
Respect Life Office will be speaking. This will be on the eve
of Holy Cross having a conference with representatives from Planned
Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.
In her talk, Miss Eden will detail
how Church teachings on chastity offer a solution to not only the
problem of teen pregnancy but also the wider problems of family
breakdown — while abortion, contraception, and other
“solutions” offered by Planned Parenthood and their allies exacerbate
those problems. She will also place the issue, in accordance with
Church teachings, into the context of what steps Catholic colleges can
and should take to promote Catholic values on life, love and sexuality.
This event is open to the public and The Cardinal Newman Society
encourages a strong showing of support for Bishop McManus?s principled
stand.
Bishop McManus has been great on this
and there is some chance that he will act on the provision of Canon Law
808 in regard to the university calling itself Catholic.
Deal Hudson has some commentary on this
aspect and the history of the document signed in 1967 at the Land
O’Lakes Conference that set the stage for the false autonomy from the
Church that is so prevalent.
My two cents is that if the school doesn’t start going down the right path that they should change their name from Holy Cross to Double Cross.
THE Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, has stepped up his criticism of Catholics who support contraception, abortion and stem-cell research on the basis of their own moral conscience as proponents of a “Donald Duck heresy”.
In a compilation of 10 short essays to be published this week, Cardinal Pell also warns that the pill has created a “contraceptive” mentality with “evil consequences” for the world, including a plummeting fertility rate in which many children will one day know no siblings, aunts, uncles or cousins.
He says a new approach is needed to combat unacceptably high levels of abortion, including the possibility of television advertisements to encourage women to proceed with a pregnancy by framing it as a means of regaining control of their lives, rather than it ruining them.
His treatise on religion politics and society came as Cardinal Pell avoided backing either side of politics for the election, saying they have “scarcely distinguishable” policies.
But Australia was “blessed” to have serious Christians leading both sides of politics, he told the National Press Club yesterday.
Asked how he rated the Howard Government on humanitarian issues such as the involvement in the Iraq invasion and treatment of asylum-seekers, he said both parties had policies that, from a Christian point of view, were imperfect.
…This argument lies at the heart of debate in the church over contraception and moral and ethical questions surrounding bioethics, euthanasia and abortion. It was aired recently when Cardinal Pell controversially called on state politicians to follow church teaching and not their conscience on issue of stem-cell research.
Referring to the work of the English historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Cardinal Pell said he was concerned about the consequences of support for a Donald Duck heresy.
“Too many Donald Ducks produce the feel-good society which works to remove personal guilt, anything that would make people feel uncomfortable so that complacent self-satisfaction becomes a virtue; confession is replaced by therapy and self-reproach by self-discovery.”
I always love Cardinal Pell, but I do wonder about calling contraception a Donald Duck heresy. At first it doesn’t seem really fair to connect Donald to contraception. Donald is unable to get involved in a contraceptive act considering his total lack of sexual organs having been neutered by artists. But Cardinal Pell knows his Donald Duck and surely knows that Donald once was involved in a Disney propaganda cartoon that encouraged families in the developing world to have few children. The cartoon "Planificacion Familiar" (Family Planning) was created by Disney for the U.S. Population Council.
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 Jay Anderson |
The Truth About Margaret Sanger blog is having its 3rd Annual Margaret Sanger at the Ku Klux Klan Rally Art Contest. This year they are having two prestigous bloggers as judges, Jill Stanek and Sean Dailey. Rules and regulations are there.
Washington DC, Oct 8, 2007 / 09:41 am (CNA).- The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, a national association of 600 priests and deacons, has issued a statement endorsing Archbishop Raymond Burke’s position that clergy must deny Holy Communion to public figures who openly support abortion or euthanasia.
Part of the statement reads: “Archbishop Burke equally addresses politicians on both sides of the aisle. Whether Democrat, Republican or independent; executive, legislative or judicial branches; all public officials who publicly support, promote or give assistance to others to commit evil are cooperators in that evil.”
Archbishop Burke, head of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, recently published an essay in a prominent canon law journal reiterating the duties of Catholics in public office to receive Holy Communion worthily. His essay further emphasized the duties of ministers of Holy Communion to ensure the Sacrament’s worthy reception. He advised that clergy privately warn those potential communicants who are in manifest grave sin not to receive the Eucharist.
The confraternity’s statement quoted a 2004 letter to American bishops from Pope Benedict XVI(then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger): “not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia.” Therefore “”there may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about war and the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.” His letter insisted that the minister of Holy Communion “must refuse to distribute it to a Catholic politician [who] consistently campaigns and votes for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws.”
The statement alluded to the parable in Matthew 22 where a man is physically removed from a wedding banquet for not wearing a wedding garment. It continued: “the man was ‘speechless’ and Catholic politicians have no excuse, either. If they openly support abortion and/or euthanasia, even if ‘personally opposed’, they are in fact publicly unworthy to receive Holy Communion due to their cooperation in evil. Greater scandal is given when bishops, priests, and deacons do not protect the sanctity and dignity of the Most Blessed Sacrament by allowing public persons notoriously known for their positions which directly violate the Divine and Moral Laws.”
The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy appealed to all bishops to support Archbishop Burke at the General Assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in November.
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Fr. Trigilio |
GRAND RAPIDS — As a physician, Dr. William Passinault says it’s a bad bet to spend money on embryonic stem-cell research. As a Catholic, he says it is morally wrong.
But the retired surgeon also has seen patients helped by adult stem-cell therapy. So he applauded Michigan’s Catholic bishops for a campaign launched this week to educate parishioners about the church’s stand on stem cells.
“Since folks are going to be potentially asked to vote on (a ballot) issue — and surveys indicate the public on both sides are not well informed — this is certainly a praiseworthy effort at education,” said Passinault, chairman of the bioethics committee at Saint Mary’s Health Care.
The campaign comes as supporters of embryonic stem-cell research consider a petition drive to put a proposal on the 2008 ballot to lift the state ban.
More than 500,000 Catholic households statewide, including about 55,000 in West Michigan, were mailed packets from the Michigan Catholic Conference that are signed by the state’s seven bishops.
A 12-minute DVD and brochure outline the church’s opposition to embryonic stem-cell research and its support of using adult stem cells to treat dozens of diseases.
Parishes also received materials urging them to address the issue this weekend. The first Sunday in October is annually designated Respect Life Sunday by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Grand Rapids Bishop Walter Hurley encouraged parish priests to use the materials, saying they clarify church teaching on a complex issue.
“There is a perception the church is opposed to stem-cell research, and that’s totally not true,” he said. “There is no question about the commitment of the church to stem-cell research using adult stem cells.”
The best way to deal with misinformation is with true information and this looks like a great way to actually do that. The ballot measure in Missouri last year that was so deceptive in pretending to ban cloning got more opposition as time went on and ended up narrowly passing. Sending out short DVD is a great way to help get the truth out especially if they are well produced.
The National Catholic Bioethics Center has issued a statement on the Connecticut Bishop’s decision to allow Plan B without an ovulation test. This is a very informative statement that covers both the medical and ethical dimensions of this.
The role of bishops.
Bishops do not write medical protocols; health care professionals and medical institutions do that. If a protocol concerns a procedure that has ethical implications, it will be submitted to a bishop for his ethical judgment reached in consultation with medical and ethical experts. If the bishop is convinced the procedure will not violate the moral law, he will not stand in the way of its being implemented. He will basically grant what is called a �nihil obstat� which basically means there are no moral objections to the implementation of this protocol. Bishops simply do not have the competence to adjudicate between competing scientific claims about the mechanisms of drugs.
The NCBC.
In matters that have not yet been decided definitively by the Holy See, The National Catholic Bioethics Center has refrained from adopting one or another position on a disputed question. However, in the matter of protocols for sexual assault, there is virtual unanimity that an ovulation test should be administered before giving an anovulant medication. The protocol the NCBC has supported requires the ovulation test because it provides greater medical and moral certitude that the intervention will have its desired anovulatory effect. The NCBC objects strongly to state mandates, such as those passed by Connecticut and Massachusetts, that do not allow health care professionals and facilities to exercise their best medical judgment and which do not protect the consciences of all parties. We also object to state mandates that do not allow the victim of sexual assault to have all the information necessary for a medical intervention so that she might make an informed judgment. However, the NCBC understands the judgment of the Connecticut bishops that the administration of a contraceptive medication in the absence of an ovulation test is not an intrinsically evil act. However, it is immoral to violate one’s conscience, including the corporate consciences of health care agencies, and the unwillingness of the state to allow an exemption of conscience makes the law unjust and onerous.
You can read the full statement a the Catholics United for the Faith blog.
CUF is a great organization and I love their CUF Blog motto "Think with the Church!"