Senators speak out for the unborn on the day before the March for Life

Washington D.C., Sep 19, 2019 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- New poll results show that a large majority of Americans believe that healthcare professionals should not be forced to provide procedures that violate their moral beliefs. 

The results of two polls… […]

CNA Staff, Jun 17, 2020 / 05:29 pm (CNA).- In the face of recent protests, a Catholic art magazine has organized the Bakhita Prize for the Visual Arts to encourage artists to display the dignity of those affected by racial violence.

“Dappled Things is calling on visual artists to help us see more clearly: to help us honor and highlight the infinite worth inherent within each victim of racial violence,” reads a statement from the magazine.

“The shocking death of George Floyd has shaken not just the United States but the whole world, reminding us starkly of how far we still are from seeing each other’s infinite dignity as children of God.”

The magazine “Dappled Things” has challenged artists to represent the human dignity and God-given worth of the victims of racial violence. The artists may use photography, painting, illustration, or sculpture.

The prize will pay $1000 to the winner and $250 to the runner-up. The two winning pieces of art, along with eight honorable mentions, will then be displayed in an illustration of “Dappled Things.” All winners will also receive a year’s subscription to the journal. The contest will end Aug. 31.

The prize is named after Saint Josephine Bakhita, the patron saint of Sudan and human trafficking. Born in 1869 in Sudan, she was captured around 1877 and sold into slavery by Arab slave traders.

“Saint Josephine Bakhita, after whom the prize is named, was a Sudanese slave brutalized by her captors, who later became a religious sister renowned for her joyfulness, gentleness, and charity,” the statement reads.

In 1883, Bahkita was sold to Callisto Legani, an Italian vice consul. After moving to Italy, she became the family’s nanny until the family left her with the Canossian Sisters in Venice when they traveled to Sudan for business. There, she became Catholic.

When the family returned, she refused to return to her life as a slave and instead joined the Canossian Sisters. Since slavery had been outlawed in Sudan prior to her birth, the Italian court ruled that she was not legally a slave.

During her time in the community, she assisted as a cook, seamstress, sacristan, and portress. She also helped prepare other young sisters for their missionary work in Africa.

The contest was issued after a May 25 video showed a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck for several minutes while in custody. Floyd could be heard saying “I can’t breathe” several times. He died soon after.

In the wake of Floyd’s death, cities across the U.S. have seen widespread protests against police brutality and racism. Some protests had turned into nights of rioting, and conflicts with police.

“If Floyd’s death has led to a great societal outcry, it is because he is only one among so many others who have lost their lives in similar circumstances. Like many others, we are asking ourselves questions of how to respond to violence and the violation of human dignity, including persistent racial violence that has been directed especially against the black community,” the statement reads.

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Boston, Mass., Jan 4, 2020 / 04:20 pm (CNA).- In the latest move from Massachusetts state legislators to block abortion restrictions and expand access to the procedure, state Sen. Harriet Chandler has introduced a bill that would remove the longstanding requirement for teens to obtain parental consent before getting an abortion.

Currently, Massachusetts state law requires that minors obtain the consent of a parent or guardian before getting an abortion, a rule that can only be bypassed if the minor is granted permission for the abortion by a state judge.

The bill, entitled “An Act to remove obstacles and expand abortion access,” would also grant physicians the right to perform an abortion on a patient who is past 24 weeks of pregnancy if it “is necessary to protect the patient’s life or physical or mental health, or in cases of lethal fetal anomalies, or where the fetus is incompatible with sustained life outside the uterus.”

The bill also seeks to establish a state right to an abortion, which would stand even if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned. Roe v. Wade is the 1973 Supreme Court decision mandating legal abortion nationwide.

“The Commonwealth shall not interfere with a person’s personal decision and ability to prevent, commence, terminate, or continue their own pregnancy consistent with this chapter. The Commonwealth shall not restrict the use of medically appropriate methods of abortion or the manner in which medically appropriate abortion is provided,” the bill states.

Those in favor of abortion have ramped up efforts to protect and expand the procedure in light of Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court in 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump’s second appointment to the court.

Sen. Chandler, 82, told NPR that she believes the bill in part anticipates what could happen if Roe v. Wade were overturned.

“I think if people realize what a post-Roe world would be, that would make it even more reasonable to do this bill,” she said.

Pro-life advocates told NPR that laws requiring parental consent in the case of minors seeking abortions is meant as a protective measure for the minor as well as her unborn child.

“In our laws, we need to do as much as we can – especially given the kind of epidemic abuse that we’re facing – to interrupt that cycle,” David Franks, chairman of the board of the group Massachusetts Citizens for Life, told NPR.

Michael New, a visiting professor of political science and social research at The Catholic University of America, said in testimony against the new bill that the parental consent restriction has helped to save an estimated 10,000 – 44,000 lives since the enactment of the current law.

“…every peer-reviewed study I have seen, 16 in total, finds that state-level parental involvement laws reduce the in-state abortion rate for minors,” he said in his testimony.

“I think most people are uncomfortable with minor girls obtaining abortions without their parent’s knowledge,” he added to NPR.

Twenty-five other states have similar laws to current Massachusetts law, regarding parental consent for minors seeking an abortion. Some such laws have faced added scrutiny in recent years.

In August of last year, a federal appeals court upheld an injunction against part of an Indiana law that allowed judges to notify parents if their daughter is seeking to have an abortion without their consent. In 2017, a federal judge struck down an Alabama law requiring more scrutiny for minors seeking to procure abortions through judges. The law would have allowed for hearings on the maturity level of the minor in question, and for her parents or guardians to partake in the proceedings if they found out about them.

The Massachusetts bill also comes roughly 6 months after the state’s passage of the “NASTY Women” abortion act, which repealed an 1845 ban on “procuring a miscarriage.” The full title of the act is the “Negating Archaic Statutes Targeting Young Women Act,” a reference to a comment made by then-candidate Donald Trump about Hillary Clinton during a presidential candidates debate on Oct. 19, 2016.

A Massachusetts state law prohibiting protests and prayer vigils within a 35-foot “buffer zone” of an abortion facility was unanimously struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2014.

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