Washington D.C., Oct 28, 2019 / 05:12 pm (CNA).- A group of pro-life leaders is calling on the Trump administration to finalize a rule that would require abortion to be billed separately from other services in taxpayer funded health insurance plans.
A… […]
Denver, Colo., Oct 28, 2019 / 03:12 pm (CNA).- When Eddie Cotter Jr. was a youth minister in the diocese of Orlando, Florida, he had his students watch the 1989 film “Dead Poets Society.” The […]
Washington D.C., Oct 28, 2019 / 04:39 pm (CNA).- As many pregnant students say they face pressure to have abortions to advance their education and careers, one pro-life group has released a “bill of rights” to help pregnant and parenting st… […]
In his 2008 book entitled The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West, Columbia professor Mark Lilla elucidated the newness of modern political thought, which is predicated upon the rejection of the political theology […]
St. Louis, Mo., Oct 28, 2019 / 02:40 pm (CNA).- A hearing began on Monday in Missouri to determine the fate of the state’s last remaining abortion clinic.
“Planned Parenthood’s stubborn refusal to correct its gross deficiencies is the reason Missouri may soon be the first state since Roe v. Wade in 1973 to be free from abortion clinics,” Jeanne Mancini, president of the group March for Life, stated on Monday before the hearing.
Mancini said the St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic “has left the state no choice but to deny renewal of its clinic license” because of its health violations and failure to comply with health requirements.
“Planned Parenthood should put the safety of women before its profits – the women of Missouri deserve as much,” Mancini stated.
The Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission held the hearing on Monday, months after the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services in June refused to renew the license of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region to perform abortions.
Jacinta Florence, the Missouri & Arkansas Regional Coordinator for Students for Life of America attended the hearing.
“What’s tragic is that Planned Parenthood is fighting to stay open but doesn’t want to comply with Missouri’s laws designed to protect women’s lives at this dangerous location,” Florence said.
Before it refused to reissue a license for the St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic, Missouri’s health department had submitted a “Statement of Deficiencies” of the clinic to a court.
In that statement, the department cited an “unprecedented lack of cooperation” on the part of the clinic, as well as its “failure to meet basic standards of patient care, and refusal to comply with state law and regulations protecting women’s health and safety that resulted in numerous serious and extensive unresolved deficiencies including multiple that involved life-threatening conditions for patients.”
Planned Parenthood reneged on its agreement to perform pelvic examinations as a “preoperative health requirement,” the state said, several doctors at the clinic refused requests to provide interviews with the health department, and the clinic would not have been prepared for a case of “severe hemorrhaging” of a woman that occurred at a hospital.
The clinic had submitted a “Plan of Correction” as requested by the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services, but it had not properly addressed all the stated deficiencies, the health department said.
Planned Parenthood responded by saying that the health department “weaponized a regulatory process” and required pelvic exams that it admitted were “medically unnecessary” amidst “public outcry and the medical community coming out strongly against” the required exams.
After the state’s refusal to grant a license, a judge and the Administration Hearing Commission both granted a temporary stay of the health department’s decision, allowing the clinic to remain open while the case was reviewed.
Missouri had also enacted a comprehensive abortion ban in 2019, with Governor Mike Parson (R) signing it into law in May. The legislation was supported by St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson.
Missouri’s law set up a multi-tier ban on abortions after eight weeks, 14 weeks, 18 weeks and 20 weeks, as well as bans on abortions conducted solely because of the baby’s race, sex, or Down Syndrome diagnosis.
The law was crafted to be able to survive in the courts, but a federal judge in August struck down all of the bans related the stage in pregnancy, leaving intact the disability, race and sex-selective abortion bans for the time being.
Meanwhile, as the fate of the St. Louis clinic is being determined, Planned Parenthood has opened a “mega” abortion clinic just 13 miles away across the Mississippi River in Fairview Heights, Illinois that will have the ability to see 11,000 patients annually.
The new clinic replaced a smaller Planned Parenthood clinic in Fairview Heights that offered medication abortions but not surgical abortions.
In a controversial move, the organization used a shell company under which the facility was purportedly being constructed, and tried to shield from public view the fact that the facility under construction was an abortion clinic.
Vatican City, Oct 28, 2019 / 12:15 pm (CNA).- Leaders of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam presented a signed declaration to Pope Francis Monday expressing their total opposition to euthanasia and any form of physician-assisted suicide, as well as voici… […]
Vatican City, Oct 28, 2019 / 06:15 am (CNA).- Pope Francis declared Monday that the Vatican Secret Archive be changed to the title of Vatican Apostolic Archive, to avoid the negative associations which accompany modern interpretations of the word &ldqu… […]
On October 11, Attorney General William Barr delivered a powerful speech on religious freedom at the University of Notre Dame. The Attorney General detailed the many ways in which the State has taken sides with […]
Baltimore, Md., Oct 27, 2019 / 04:08 pm (CNA).- The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will be electing a new president, vice president, and committee chairs, and will vote on seven action items during the upcoming Fall General Assemb… […]
Vatican City, Oct 27, 2019 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis Sunday encouraged protesters in Lebanon who have taken to the streets to challenge government corruption and mismanagement of finances. The pope’s message coincided with a series of protests taking place in countries around the world.
“I address a special thought to the beloved Lebanese people, in particular to the young people, who in recent days have made their cry heard in the face of challenges and the social and economic problems of the country,” Pope Francis said in his Angelus address Oct. 27.
Protests in Lebanon began Oct. 17 after the government announced a new tax on internet-based calls made over WhatsApp. Lebanon has high levels of public debt and low employment.
The peaceful protestors’ chants include “Revolution! Revolution!” and “All of them means all of them!” calling for the removal of all corrupt government officials.
Hezbollah supporters have attacked and injured the nonsectarian protestors, according to local Lebanese media, causing government riot police to intervene on Oct. 24 and 25.
“I urge everyone to seek the right solutions in the way of dialogue,” Pope Francis said.
“I pray, Virgin Mary, Queen of Lebanon, so that, with the support of the international community, that country will continue to be a space of peaceful coexistence and respect for the dignity and freedom of every person, for the benefit of the entire Middle East Region,” he said.
Protests also took place this week in Hong Kong, Iraq, Chile, Egypt, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and India.
Pope Francis spoke out about the protests in Lebanon 11 days after they began.
In Hong Kong, pro-democracy and free speech demonstrations have now entered their seventh month, drawing hundreds of thousands of people, and support from the local Catholic community, though the pope has yet to comment on the situation there.
At least 63 people have been killed in Iraq in the past two days of anti-government protests, according to the Iraq High Commission for Human Rights. In the first wave of protests earlier in October more than 150 people protesting corruption and unemployment died in protests.
In Chile, officials said at least 18 people have died as protests against the country’s increasing cost of living and economic inequality turned violent, causing the Chilean president to declare a state of emergency on Oct. 19.
Protests across Ethiopia killed 16 people this week. In Egypt, more than 4,300 people have been arrested by government authorities since protests calling for the removal of President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi began in September.
On Sunday, Pope Francis called for Catholics to continue to pray the rosary for peace, recalling that October is the month of the rosary and an extraordinary missionary month for the Church.
“I renew the invitation to pray the Rosary for the mission of the Church today, especially for missionaries who encounter great difficulties,” Pope Francis said.
The pope expressed his gratitude for the conclusion of the Oct. 6-27 Synod of Bishops on the Pan-Amazonian region, and said the Church must not remain indifferent to the difficulties in the region.
“The voices of the poor, together with those of many others inside and outside the synod assembly – pastors, young people, scientists – urge us not to remain indifferent,” he said.
“The cry of the poor, together with that of the earth, came to us from the Amazon. After these three weeks we can’t pretend not to have heard it,” Pope Francis said.
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