Tag Archives: pro-life
Legislative Fight Over Human Embryo Experiments Coming
The good news continues. According to the Washington Post, the National Institutes of Health Monday ordered a immediate halt to all experiments on human embryonic stem cells. Last week the NIH shelved any requests for new funding for experiments and Monday’s announcement applied to experiments done by NIH. This was in response to the temporary injunction barring the federal government from funding experiments on human embryonic stem cells. The judge in the case upheld the law which prohibits the use of taxpayer money on human experimentation through embryonic stem cell research. The Dickey-Wicker amendment, that has been attached to annual appropriations bills for the Department of Health and Human Services since 1996, prohibits the use of federal funds to support research in which embryos are destroyed or discarded.
The American people should not be forced to pay for needless experiments–prohibited by federal law–that destroy human life. Deriving stem cells results in destruction of the embryos; this cannot and should not be paid for by taxpayers. Expect the battle to move quickly from the courts to the legislature.
The polls are in our favor; a new Rasmussen Reports national survey shows 57% Oppose Taxpayer Funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research, but we expect the Congress to move quickly to try to repeal the Dickey-Wicker amendment.
From the Lips of Walter Dellinger to the Ears of God
What was probably a publicity stunt to energize pro-abortion activists on the eve of the nomination hearings of Obama’s latest Supreme Court pick Elena Kagan, former acting Solicitor General Walter Dellinger predicted Tuesday night that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe vs. Wade, the landmark decision that brought about the murder of millions of children. The POLITICO today reports:
The noted liberal scholar said the 1973 decision has become a “trophy” that the court’s conservative bloc could overturn if a Republican president chooses a replacement for Justice Anthony Kennedy.
“I absolutely believe it,” Dellinger said during a forum cosponsored by POLITICO.
“For a while I thought that one could simply chip away at a lot more and more regulations that sort of protected access (to abortions) for the most affluent women but really made it impossible for women who were vulnerable to geography, poverty (and) youth,” he added. “But now I think that, actually, it is such a symbol of a kind of jurisprudence that conservatives have set themselves in opposition to.”
Catholics need to be engaged. Information on Elena Kagan found here and Students for Life has organized a petition. Sign it here.
Andrea Bocelli: Almost Aborted, Devout Catholic
Award-winning pro-life blogger Jill Stanek has posted a great piece “Almost Aborted: Tenor Andrea Bocelli .” Her story links to video of the esteemed opera singer sharing his personal connection to abortion, which is both moving and beautiful:
This is a powerful reminder that every life truly is special and worth fighting for despite difficulty, pain, risk and even “expert” opinion. I’m inspired by Mrs. Bocelli having the courage to continue with her pregnancy even while knowing her child may have a severe disability. Only God could have foreseen that her child would bring so much joy – to her and to millions of people around the globe – through the gift of his voice.
It’s sad to think of how many people like Andrea we are missing today because parents feared a disability for their child and thought it was better to abort. There are so many friends, colleagues and family members we should have in our lives, but don’t. Let Andrea’s story inspire those facing difficult pregnancies, and remind us to encourage and support those who parent children with disabilities. God blesses each child with gifts, talents and the ability to touch so many lives regardless of their ability or disability.
This isn’t the first time Bocelli has publicly stood for what he believes in. As a devout Catholic, he declined the invitation from friends Tom Cruise and Katie Holms to sing in their wedding ceremony in 2007 because of his faith. He attended the post-ceremony festivities, but did not join them for the Scientology wedding “because I’m Catholic. I didn’t think it was respectful for my religion to be there.”
What a class act. Bocelli follows his faith and his heart in a respectful yet assertive way. Hollywood could stand to benefit from a whole lot more than singing lessons from him.
Ignorance of Thinking Only of the Practical
The Catholic philosophical tradition has long recognized a basic distinction (that the Greeks had already discerned) between speculative and practical orders of knowledge. Simply put, rational processes are “speculative” when their goal is to know reality in and of itself. Distinctly, “practical” kinds of reasoning are ordered toward making or doing something in particular. Similarly, we distinguish between “theoretical” and “applied” divisions of some sciences.
The speculative philosopher seeks to know what the human is. What makes all humans be what they are, always and everywhere? What is the raison d’être of the human creature? Classically, the answer is something like the following: All “human beings” are animals that possess the capacity for moral freedom. All human life is personal. To be pro-life is, more accurately, to be pro-person. Those of us who recognize this say “pro-life” because pro-abortion activists do not admit that all human life is sufficiently personal: the pro-abortionist generally believes that only those who can exercise choice are worthy of having their lives preserved.
Most of us are not habitually speculative thinkers. But each of us is routinely practical, ordered, as we are, for the exercise of moral freedom. And even if we don’t know this in a speculative way – in a clear, definitional sort of way – we know it from our concrete experience: The goodness of our lives depends on ordering our understanding and hopes into particular acts of doing this thing or that, whether life-changing or mundane. Each of us, to be sure, has an agenda.
The difficulty is that the subject of morality, and more specifically, of politics and public policy, melds these two categories together. Those whose prerogative it is to judge what is beneficial for a particular society of persons must know what makes it a society “of persons” to begin with.
Government, then, must be thoughtful in a speculatively practical kind of way.
But this distinction between “speculative” and “practical” is rejected by the modern world. Karl Marx proclaimed that reason’s reason is not to understand the world but to change it. The American philosopher (and impresario of predominant educational theories), John Dewey, said, “Truth is what works.” In our own day, we are encouraged to “Just do it” … as the motto’s own icons evidently do.
And a Constitution manifestly conceived as based upon essential truths is claimed to be “living.”
So what’s the problem? Well, if a society is unable to believe, much less converse in speculative truth, its practical judgments can only be based on other practical judgments. And if practical judgments are not moored to speculative truths, the only thing that can make one practical judgment more convincing than another is the influence of power. This play of suasion and power is what we pejoratively mean by “politics.”
“Pro-choice” activists for abortion-rights are pragmatists. They “defend” the rights of those who are actively capable of exercising choice. They dismiss the radical continuity between the relative ability to exercise choice (in the competent adult) and the radical capacity to exercise choice that begins when human life is identifiable, both by modern science and classical philosophy. But it is this capacity to exercise choice that remains throughout human development, even when a competent adult is sleeping, or when senility renders him or her no longer actively able to make free decisions.
Our government and media certainly need to become more speculative; but we the people actually need to become even more practical, and fight the good fight against our culture’s murderous ignorance.
Rev. Bruno M. Shah, O.P.
Need a Cool Pro-Life Graduation Gift?
Need a cool gift for a grad? Consider helping them spread their pro-life message during their own graduation with a pro-life graduation cap sticker.
As you know, so many college graduation speakers are adamantly pro-choice and unfortunately, after working so hard for years on their degrees, graduates who disagree with the speakers either have to sit through the speeches or opt not to attend graduation ceremonies.
Almost a year ago, the University of Notre Dame caused an uproar when they not only invited the most pro-abortion president in our nation’s history to speak at commencement, but also awarded President Obama an honorary degree.
Here’s one very inexpensive gift that would have come in handy then and can help pro-life graduates get their message across to their university, administration, commencement speakers and fellow graduates.
It’s a Pro-Life sticker that is designed to go on top of the graduation cap, complete with a hole in the middle to slide the tassel through:
You can purchase the sticker from Students for Life for only $2 here: http://www.studentsforlife.org/index.php/gradsticker/.
A note from Congressman Randy Neugebauer
Erick Erickson has the full story at Redstate:
Bart Stupak’s Betrayal
For the Editors of St Michael Society, the shock over Bart Stupak’s betrayal this weekend has begun to turn into anger and grief. Its one thing to cave to pressures and intimidation but Stupak’s speech on the House floor sheds new light on the man. This was not a man who changed his vote because he was worn down by attacks. Bart Stupak’s speech on the House floor revealed a man, who in the end, decided to put the Democratic Party ahead the life of the unborn, the lives of women who will suffer from abortion, obedience to the bishops and sadly his faith. We need to pray for him and we must work to undo the damage he has done.
Here are the writings of respected voices on the topic:
Unfortunately, if Bart Stupak truly wanted to ensure that human dignity was respected in this legislation, he wouldn’t have surrendered. But surrender he did — and then some, declaring the Democratic party the protectors of the unborn on the House floor last night.
The Democratic party is nothing of the sort — which is another reason no one who wanted to defeat the taxpayer funding of abortion in Obamacare should have expected a Stupak-led victory in this Washington environment. It’s the party that will never offend the abortion industry. It’s the party that owns partial-birth abortion.
By caving at the last hour, he discredited all who stood with him. (What does it say about Ohio’s Marcy Kaptur and Pennsylvania’s Chris Carney that they had already agreed to vote yes even before the fig leaf of the executive order had come through?) In addition to undermining an encouraging partnership with pro-lifers across the congressional aisle, Mr. Stupak signaled that, in the end, you can’t count on pro-life Democrats.
Let me be clear: any representative, including Rep. Stupak, who votes for this healthcare bill can no longer call themselves ‘pro-life.’ The Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund will not endorse, or support in any capacity, any Member of Congress who votes for this bill in any future election. Now through Election Day 2010, these representatives will learn that votes have consequences. The SBA List Candidate Fund will work tirelessly to help defeat Members who support this legislation and make sure their constituents know exactly how they voted.
…in the 11th hour, he caved. He succumbed to the pressures of the most pro-abortion Administration in history just because they said they would write on a piece of paper that the federal government won’t fund abortion. It’s not even a law the President wrote. It’s not worth the Post-It note he wrote it on.
Shame on you Bart Stupak. Shame on all the other Members who walked the plank with you. You all sold out and scorned millions of voters who trusted you and believed in you.
Healthcare Update and Photos
UPDATE1: The Executive Order will NOT work to stop government-funded abortion. Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life says:
“Once again, the proposal to address the problem of abortion funding in the health care bill through use of an executive order is a tacit acknowledgement that the bill as it stands is pro-abortion legislation. Both the President and the Speaker have repeatedly denied this stark fact.
Furthermore, the AUL legal team has concluded that an executive order is not an adequate fix to mitigate the Senate bill’s establishment of taxpayer-funded abortion. For example, an executive order cannot prevent insurance companies that pay for abortions in the exchanges from receiving federal subsidies.
In addition, executive orders can be undone or modified as quickly as they are created. President Obama revoked the Mexico City Policy, through the use of an executive order, and thereby allowed federal tax dollars to finance organizations that provide abortions internationally for the first time in years.
This fact, coupled with the Administration’s repeated endorsement of the pro-abortion lobby’s agenda, force any reasonable person to conclude that this bill will clearly create the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded abortion in American history.”
A lot has happened in the past 24 hours on the healthcare front. The abortion talks collapsed in the House. “Deem and Pass” has been shelved. Obama floated the idea of using an executive order to say that the Senate bill doesn’t fund abortion (a bad idea). One key Democrat stated that the House “makes up rules as they go along”.
SMS editors covered the giant Code Red tea party rally where there were tons of people wearing “Abortion is Not Healthcare” stickers and holding up signs indicating they don’t support the government funding abortion. One protester (photo below) even had a sign about Pelosi invoking the intercession of St. Joseph.
Philip Klein has a good summary of what happened today, especially in the abortion area here: http://tinyurl.com/yjrrejw.
Pictures from the tea party rally are here and some favorites are below:
Oh No She Didn’t!
Today is a big feast day in the Catholic Church, so much so that we get a day off from fasting and abstinence on this Friday in Lent.
It’s the feast day of St. Joseph, the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus himself. We could write a lot on how awesome St. Joseph is, as we’re sure many of you know, but suffice to say, the Church wouldn’t give us a day off in Lent if there wasn’t a good reason.
Feast days of saints are great opportunities to ask them for their intercession and prayers as well. St. Joseph is the patron saint of workers (although St. Joseph the Worker feast day is on May 1st – today we celebrate the role of St. Joseph as husband and father) so we’re sure many requests are going up to him today asking for help with their jobs or in help finding or keeping a job.
But one person has called on the intercession of St. Joseph in a very public forum to “benefit the workers of America, which is exactly what our healthcare bill will do.” Want to guess who said it?
Watch till the end – Madame Speaker, a self-proclaimed Catholic, talks about the misleading letter from the nuns supporting the pro-abortion healthcare bill and says that two of the sisters who taught her signed it. Figures.
St. Joseph, pray for of us.
