Pro-life Democrats organize ‘Day of Action’ in support of Hyde Amendment

March 17, 2021 CNA Daily News News Briefs 2 Print

Pro-life Democrats march outside the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee Aug. 17, 2020 Credit: Aaron of L.A. Photography/Shutterstock

Washington D.C., Mar 17, 2021 / 08:00 am (CNA).- The group Democrats for Life of America announced on Tuesday that they will organize a nationwide “Day of Action” in support of the Hyde Amendment.

Named for the late congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois, the Hyde Amendment is longstanding federal policy that prohibits the use of taxpayer funds for elective abortions. However, the policy is not permanent law and must be attached to individual appropriations bills in order to take effect.

House Democratic leaders have pushed for the repeal of the policy in recent years, however, including a group of House members who asked President Joe Biden to leave the policy out of his budget request for the 2022 fiscal year. Biden himself reversed his support for the Hyde Amendment in 2019, and now opposes it.

Last week, the House passed a nearly $2 trillion COVID relief bill without including the Hyde Amendment, a departure from last year’s CARES Act which included the abortion funding restrictions and which received bipartisan support.

In response, Democrats for Life of America is organizing a national Day of Action on April 10, encouraging supporters to contact their members of Congress and urge them to defend the Hyde Amendment.

“We just need as many people to speak up as possible right now,” Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America, told CNA in an interview.

“Hyde has saved so many lives by not paying for abortion. When you look at states like California and New Jersey – they both pay for abortion – they have some of the highest abortion rates in the nation. So if you allow more federal funding for abortion more lives are going to be lost,” Day said.

Day told CNA that “this COVID relief bill should not set precedent.”

“As Democrats, we want to make sure that people know there is bipartisan support for Hyde,” Day said, noting that her group is “very disappointed” in the COVID relief bill that passed Congress.

The pro-life group is encouraging its supporters to peacefully demonstrate at their representative and senators’ offices in support of Hyde.

Because the provision is not permanent law, Day said, “we have this discussion every year.”

Day said that talking to members of the House and Senate appropriations committees is “critical,” particularly members who have supported Hyde in the past.

Members of both the House and Senate attempted to insert pro-life amendments into the COVID relief bill – the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 – but their efforts were thwarted.

Pro-life groups, including the U.S. bishops’ conference, warned that without the abortion funding restrictions, billions of dollars in health care spending and funding of state and local governments could go to abortion coverage and abortion providers.

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced an amendment with Hyde language as the Senate was considering the legislation, but his measure failed to receive the necessary 60 votes for inclusion in the package. Three Democrats – Sens. Tim Kaine (Va.), Bob Casey (Pa.), and Joe Manchin (W.Va.) – voted for Lankford’s failed amendment. All three senators ultimately supported the final passage of the relief bill without the pro-life funding protections.

President Biden signed the bill into law on March 10.

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News Briefs

Coming soon: A virtual tour of the tomb of Jesus

November 9, 2017 CNA Daily News 0

Washington D.C., Nov 9, 2017 / 03:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Next week, the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C., will open a 3D virtual tour of the Holy Sepulchre, the site of Jesus’ tomb.

While the exhibit will likely draw tourists from around the country, could it also be used as a type of virtual pilgrimage, perhaps for those who are unable to visit the Holy Land in person, due to cost, disability, or other factors?

Yes, says Dr. Anthony Lilles, academic dean and theology professor at Saint John’s Seminary in Camarillo.

Lilles told CNA that the intention is key in making the experience a pilgrimage. “A tourists goes because they are curious, a pilgrim goes for a sacred purpose,” he explained.

“We must not, so to say, stay on the level of surface appearance, but instead allow our imaginations to be baptized by the places we are visiting virtually – thinking about the reality of Christ’s historical presence and what it means for our lives now.”

The three-dimensional tour opens on Nov. 15 in Washington D.C. and will continue until August 15, 2018.

It will give viewers an inside look at one of the most revered spots in Christian history.

Veneration of Christ’s burial place dates back to St. Helena in the fourth century, who discovered and identified the tomb. St. Helena’s son, Emperor Constantine, built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 326 and enshrined the tomb.

The shelf on which Christ’s body was laid is the central point of veneration, which has been encapsulated by a 3-by-5 foot marble structure – the Edicule – since at least 1555.

A year-long restoration of the site was recently completed, and scientists are looking into additional restoration work on the foundation.

The virtual exhibit takes visitors through the history of the holy site and shows the new technologies used in its restoration.

However, Dr. Lilles said the virtual tour offers not only a lesson in history, but an opportunity for a deeper devotion to Christ.

“As beautiful as a virtual exhibit may be, we can be too passive in our engagement with holy places precisely because we are only experiencing them virtually,” he cautioned.

Those who wish to attend the exhibit as a type of spiritual pilgrimage should take careful steps to prepare, he said.

He suggested reading the Gospel accounts of Christ’s passion and resurrection before visiting. Going to station from station in the 3D tour, a pilgrim might choose a prayer or scripture verse to meditate on at each stop.

Additionally, he said, the pilgrimage should be accompanied closely by Mass, confession, and a work of charity. It should culminate with firm resolutions on how to “live differently in light of the mystery of our faith.”

While the spiritual pilgrimage to the D.C. exhibit would not have an indulgence attached to it as other formally recognized pilgrimages do, Lilles said, virtual pilgrimages have been supported by the Vatican before.

“John Paul II once led pilgrims in the footsteps of Abraham from Ur to the Holy Land to Egypt and back to the Holy Land. He wanted to actually go to these places during the Great Jubilee of 2000, but Saddam Hussein refused permission,” he recalled.

“So instead, in the Paul VI audience hall, he led us on a ‘spiritual’ pilgrimage where slides of the sacred sites of Abraham were shown,” and the Pope led prayerful meditations.

With the right mindset and adequate spiritual preparation, Lilles said, a virtual pilgrimage can yield spiritual fruits.

“One who goes as a pilgrim goes to out of devotion to Christ who became a pilgrim for our sake, do penance for his own sins and the sins of our society, to ask for the mercy of God for forgiveness and healing, and to thank God for pouring out His loving kindness.”

 

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2 Comments

  1. I never know whether to laugh or cry when I see the phrase “pro-life democrat.” It’s about as ridiculous as “pro-integration Klan member.” Political parties have certain principles – they put them in their platform. The democrat platform position on abortion is, “anytime, anywhere, for any reason, paid for by the government”. No matter what modifier you put in front of “democrat” you are a member of an organization that is in favor of killing unborn children.
    I would be ashamed to be a member of that party.

    Reply

  2. “Democrats for Life of America”

    If they are voting for Democrats for national office, they are voting against life.

    Reply

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