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Anna Del Duca (right) and her daughter, Frances, traveled from Pittsburgh to attend a pro-life rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021, in conjunction with oral arguments for the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization abortion case. / Katie Yoder/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 4, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Three legal experts are expressing optimism for a pro-life victory in the U.S. Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that directly challenges Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationside.

“I am hopeful that the court will take the opportunity in Dobbs to correct the grievous error of Roe v. Wade, and get the court out of our nation’s abortion politics,” Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network, told CNA after the Supreme Court heard arguments on Dec. 1.

The case involves a Mississippi law restricting most abortions after 15 weeks and centers on the question of “Whether all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional,” or whether states can ban abortion before a fetus can survive outside the womb. 

In Roe v. Wade, the court ruled that states could not ban abortion before viability, which the court determined to be 24 to 28 weeks into pregnancy. In 1992, the court largely upheld Roe in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. If Roe is overturned — one possible outcome of the Dobbs case — abortion law would be left up to each individual state. 

“Today the court did a great job articulating its constitutional role: not to pick winners and losers on divisive issues like abortion, but to remain ‘scrupulously neutral,’ as Justice Kavanaugh said,” Severino tweeted just hours after the arguments. “The way it works out will look different in different states, but the Court should let the people decide.”

Although the arguments were held in December, the Supreme Court generally releases decisions in high-profile cases, such as this one, at the end of its term in June. 

“I am very encouraged by oral argument and the prospect of a favorable decision this summer, but we should keep up our prayers for the justices,” legal scholar Erika Bachiochi told CNA.

Bachiochi serves as a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a senior fellow at the Abigail Adams Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she founded and directs the Wollstonecraft Project.

She identified one part of the oral arguments that she found surprising.

“Although I suppose shouldn’t have been, I was surprised by Justice Sotomayer’s naked pro-abortion rhetoric, especially with regard to her question concerning the ‘religious’ source of a 15-week abortion ban,” she said. “Does she really not know the science of fetal development?” 

During the oral argument, Justice Sonia Sotomayor questioned Scott G. Stewart, the solicitor general of Mississippi.

“How is your interest anything but a religious view?” she asked. “The issue of when life begins has been hotly debated by philosophers since the beginning of time. It’s still debated in religions.”

She added, “So, when you say this is the only right that takes away from the state the ability to protect a life, that’s a religious view, isn’t it — because it assumes that a fetus’ life at — when? You’re not drawing — you’re — when do you suggest we begin that life? Putting it aside from religion.”

In anticipation of the oral argument, the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of the Susan B. Anthony List, documented information about 15-week-old unborn babies, who can, among other things, already exhibit whether they prefer sucking their right or left thumb.

Earlier this year, Bachiochi, together with law professors Teresa Collett and Helen Alvaré, filed an amicus brief representing 240 women scholars and professionals and various pro-life organizations in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

In a piece published by the National Catholic Register, Alvaré, a professor of law at the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University, found the oral argument “promising for the pro-life cause.”

But, she added, “it would be impossible to cram into the few minutes of an oral argument all the reason, facts, principles, analyses — and hopes — of 50 years of pro-life argumentation,” she wrote. “There was no time to call out abortion advocates’ lies, more lies, and made-up statistics. No time to show that women have not depended upon abortion for their dignity and freedom, but that the opposite is true. No time to detail the miraculous, the beautiful humanity of the unborn.” 

“Based strictly upon the oral arguments, it is clear that Justices Sotomayor, Breyer and Kagan will vote to uphold abortion rights,” she said. “It is more difficult to pronounce where the remaining Justices might fall, but their comments were largely promising.”

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Jen Psaki responds to EWTN News Nightly’s Owen Jensen question regarding Texas’ heartbeat law. / EWTN News Nightly

Washington D.C., Sep 2, 2021 / 15:50 pm (CNA).

President Joe Biden, the second Catholic president in U.S. history, believes that abortion is a “woman’s right,” White House Press Secrentary Jen Psaki said on Thursday. Her comments came in response to a question about Texas’ newly-enacted abortion ban asked by EWTN News Nightly White House Correspondent Owen Jensen.

“I know you’ve never faced those choices, nor have you ever been pregnant,” Psaki told Jensen, “but for women out there who have faced those choices, this is an incredibly difficult thing.”

Beginning Sept. 1, the “Texas Heartbeat Act” bans abortions statewide after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can happen as early as six weeks into pregnancy. The law also enables citizens to enforce the ban through private lawsuits.

When the Supreme Court rejected an emergency request to block the law in a 5–4 decision, Biden declared a “whole-of-government” response to “ensure” abortion access in the state.

On Sept. 2, Jensen asked Psaki about Biden’s position at a White House press conference.

“Why does the president support abortion when his own Catholic faith teaches abortion is morally wrong?” he wanted to know.

Psaki said that the president believes that abortion is a “woman’s right, it’s a woman’s body, and it’s her choice.”

In a follow-up question, Jensen asked, “Who does he believe, then, should look out for the unborn child?”

According to Psaki, Biden “believes that it’s up to a woman to make those decisions and up to a woman to make those decisions with her doctor.”

She added, “The president believes their right should be respected.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which summarizes Church teaching, recognizes the inherent dignity and worth of the unborn human person and considers abortion a “crime against human life.” 

“Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception,” the catechism reads. “From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”

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Scene from “It’s a Wonderful Life” / Credit: RKO Radio Pictures, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

St. Louis, Mo., Dec 24, 2022 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Fire up your favorite streaming service, and there’s no shortage of Christmas movies for you to snuggle up with this year. But if you’re a Catholic parent looking for a classic Christmas movie — especially a classic that’s appropriate and enjoyable for the entire family — here are some ideas:

1. It’s a Wonderful Life

Does this movie really need an introduction? Severely underappreciated in its day but gaining status as one of the most perennially rewatched Christmas movies of all time, “It’s a Wonderful Life” is the epitome of classic Christmas movies.

It’s the story of a smart and ambitious small-town guy, George Bailey, who for a variety of reasons never manages to escape his provincial life and travel the world like he had always planned. When a seemingly insurmountable disaster besets George on Christmas Eve, he wishes he had never been born — a wish that, thanks to a friendly angel named Clarence, suddenly comes true. It’s only after this heavenly intervention that George realizes how important and yes, wonderful, his “ordinary” life truly was. (Try not to shed a tear during the final scene. I dare you. I always do!)

George’s lesson is a lesson for us all.

The director, Frank Capra, was Catholic and his faith shines through in this film (even if some elements, like the depictions of angels, are more poetic than they are theologically sound).

A famous quote is attributed to Capra: “My films must let every man, woman, and child know that God loves them, that I love them, and that peace and salvation will become a reality only when they all learn to love each other.”

Rated: PG

Where to watch: Streaming on Prime Video, or available to rent from iTunes, Google Play, and others

2. A Muppet Christmas Carol

It hasn’t been around for quite as long as “It’s a Wonderful Life,” but if at this point you still haven’t seen this beloved movie… What are you waiting for? This is, quite simply, the definitive film adaptation of a classic novel, and in the 30 years since it came out, it has itself become a classic.

This movie features the fun and witty Muppets you know and love playing Dickens’ characters with colorful gusto alongside a stoic Michael Caine, who turns in a genuinely compelling performance as the miserly Scrooge. Despite some predictably silly shenanigans throughout, few adaptations of Dickens’ work contain so many direct quotes from the book, and it makes for a genuinely moving film. 

Of course, the story of “A Christmas Carol” contains few, if any, explicit mentions of Christ’s birth as the reason for the season. But the themes contained in Dickens’ ghostly tale — including care and concern for others, especially the poor — are vital to meditate on this time of year.

Be warned: You’re sure to be singing the songs from this movie for many Christmases to come! (“It’s in the singing of a street corner choir…”)

Rated: G

Where to watch: Streaming on Disney+, or available for rent from Prime Video, iTunes, Google Play, and others

3. A Charlie Brown Christmas

Commissioned by the Coca Cola Company, most of the people involved in creating the Peanuts Christmas special — the first TV adaptation of Charles M. Schulz’s smash-hit comic strip — thought it would be a total failure. Instead, they created a classic. Vince Guaraldi’s music alone is enough to make this worth an annual rewatch.

The special’s use of humor to lampoon the “commercialization” of the holidays serves as a great reminder to all of us to step back from the nonessential elements of the Christmas season and to focus on what truly matters: Christ’s birth.

Even in the 1960s, public displays of religion on network television were rare. But the Nativity story, recited in all its glory by the cerebral Linus, is the crux of the special and fills the melancholic Charlie Brown with a radiant — and infectious — joy.

Good grief!

Not rated

Where to watch: Streaming on Apple TV (for free Dec. 22 through Dec. 25 only)

4. White Christmas

A true Christmas family classic, “White Christmas” is about as old-school cinema as you can get, if you’re into that kind of thing. The musical numbers are witty and memorable, the dance routines are impressive, and the nostalgia factor — well, that’s off the charts. Featuring the dulcet tones of Bing Crosby and the hilarious Danny Kaye, the movie follows the pair — old war buddies turned entertainers — as they fall in love with a pair of singing sisters and follow them to a Pine Tree, Vermont, inn for the holidays. There they plan and execute a special Christmas event as a surprise to offer love and support to their former commanding officer, who now owns the floundering inn.

“White Christmas” may not be spiritually deep, but it has many positive themes throughout. Kids may not understand all the intricacies of the plot, but they’ll enjoy the Technicolor and the dancing. 

Rated: TV-PG

Where to watch: Streaming on Netflix, or available for rent from Prime Video, iTunes, and others

5. The Sound of Music

This may seem like an unconventional choice, but hear me out. This timeless classic, packed with some of the best and most singable songs in all of cinema, takes place in summer, that’s true, and there’s no mention of Christmas. But it’s packed with joy and positive themes — including familial love, obedience, and resistance to evil. Plus, I’m certainly not the first person to point out that lyrics like “snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes” and “brown paper packages tied up with string” can’t help but conjure images of Christmas.

Beyond that, here is a movie that truly celebrates the Catholic faith. True, much of the storyline revolves around Maria leaving her life as a religious sister — but she does so because she’s found a new vocation as a mother to the Von Trapp children and as a loving companion to the formerly strict and jaded Captain Von Trapp. The scene where the couple wed in a beautiful Catholic cathedral is awe-inspiring unto itself.

Admittedly, part of the reason “The Sound of Music” stands out in people’s minds as a Christmas movie is the fact that ABC has aired the movie on cable close to the holidays every year for the past 20 years. The movie’s “universal themes of love, family, and overcoming hardship in the face of adversity are exactly what we’re all thinking about over the holiday season,” according to the channel’s programming executive. I’m inclined to agree!

Rated: G

Where to watch: Streaming on Disney+, or available for rent from Prime Video, iTunes, Google Play, and others. Airing on ABC Dec. 18 at 7/6 Central.

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