The Diocese of Albany, NY, said it would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after New York’s highest court ruled that NY can continue to require companies with health insurance plans to cover what is called medically necessary abortions. Catholic Charities, churches, and other religious groups argued that the regulation could force some employers to violate their religious beliefs<\/strong>. Yet Gov. Hochul said: “While right-wing extremists attempt to undermine our fundamental freedoms, New York will continue standing strong to protect women’s health care and safeguard abortion rights.” Dennis Poust, exec. dic. of the NY State Catholic Conference, said that Hochul “delved into name calling, referring to the plaintiffs in the case as ‘right-wing extremists.'” [excerpted, Kate Scanlon, OurSundayVisitor.com, 5\/22\/2024]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Baby Wren was born at just 22 weeks and was the smallest baby (14 oz) her neonatal intensive care unit had ever seen, measuring about the same size as her father Rob\u2019s hand. The family just celebrated her first birthday by visiting the neonatal unit to thank the medical staff who helped Wren survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When she was only 22 weeks pregnant, Naomi went into hospital after noticing unusual symptoms. \u201cI didn\u2019t know you could go into labour that early. We didn\u2019t know what to expect, we were shocked\u201d, she said. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t much hope and we were told to prepare ourselves as she was unlikely to survive<\/strong>. Yet, she exceeded all expectations. By all accounts Wren shouldn\u2019t have survived, but she did. She is the happiest smiley baby. We are so lucky & I couldn\u2019t be prouder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Korea\u2019s birth rate continues to remain at an all-time low, slowly reducing the nation\u2019s population<\/strong>. In a Bloomberg column, American economist Tyler Cowen wrote that Korea is considering \u201cbaby bonuses of 100 million won (US$73,500<\/strong>) each,\u201d two times the nation\u2019s average annual income per capita. \u201cAt current birth rates, the plan would cost more than US$16 billion a year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnfortunately, it is impossible to say how much impact the subsidies would have, as there is no precedent,\u201d Cowen wrote, noting that the only precedent that could account for such financial incentives would be Hungary\u2019s childbearing subsidies and tax exemptions, which were only instated a few years ago. Having children changes everything you do and how you do it. If you are not interested in that life-altering transformation, a birth subsidy is not going to make a difference. Subsidies might convince a couple with two children to have a third, because now the additional child is easier to afford. The problem of course is that so many families are not having two children to begin with. \u201cWe all would learn from the results,\u201d he concluded: There is not enough social experimentation in the world, and humanity has to try something to avoid disappearing.<\/strong>\u201d[excerpt from Madalaine Elhabbal, catholivote.org, 5\/21\/24] We, the entire church, having given our fixations & absolute certainties a primacy of place, and become infused with idolatry. Oh, we still display the \u201cI love Jesus\u201d certificate on the mantel, but now \u2026 our fervent ideas stand before it, reflecting what truly enthralls us — our politics, our celebrity obsessions, our outsized liturgical scruples \u2026, our focus on our climate or sexuality or gender, our gadgets and — most destructively — the chaotic black mirror of our smartphones. Their addictive invitation to fall ever-more deeply down the echoing well of thought-narrowing self-reflection draws us away from silence and the natural world, where we may so readily find something greater than ourselves.<\/em> Elizabeth The U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) has announced a lawsuit against even more pro-lifers for supposed violations of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, as sentencing continues for nine pro-life advocates convicted last fall of the same. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, citing the FACE Act, said: \u201cThe Civil Rights Division is committed to enforcing federal law to protect the rights [sic] of those who seek and those who provide access to [abortion].\u201d Pro-lifers entered Northeast Ohio Women\u2019s Center in Cuyahoga Falls last June by falsely claiming to be patients, then began distributing roses to women in the waiting room and encouraging them to leave (five reportedly did so).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRed Roses Rescues DO NOT violate the FACE Act,\u201d said Monica Miller, the head of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society who oversees RRR. \u201cIn an RRR pro-lifers never block anything or anyone \u2013 and if the Department of Justice is coming after us for our peaceful life-saving efforts it\u2019s because they will simply play fast and loose with the FACE language having to do with \u2018physical obstruction\u2019 that prevents \u2018freedom of movement.\u2019 There have been 37 RRRs. We have NEVER been charged with FACE, and indeed, for the RRR we did at the PP in Bedford Heights, June 5, 2021, one of the two that involves this DOJ accusation, all charges were dropped!\u201d Since May 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s intention to overturn Roe v. Wade was first leaked, \u201cthere have been at least 90 attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers<\/strong>,\u201d the Daily Signal reports. Yet the DOJ \u201ccharged only pro-life activists with FACE Act violations in 2022, and has since charged only five individuals with violating the FACE Act by targeting pregnancy centers.\u201d At the same time, it has zealously pursued incidents involving pro-lifers, from the D.C. defendants to Philadelphia sidewalk counselor and Catholic father of seven Mark Houck. [Excerpted from Calvin Freiburger, LifeSiteNews, 5\/21\/24]<\/p>\n\n\n\n To protect children, over a third of the states in the U.S. either have required age verification<\/strong> for access to pornographic websites or are in various stages of passing such legislation. In April, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition from a pro-pornography organization to block Texas from enforcing its age verification laws. \u201cWe need to demand more protective The case for treating children with gender transition procedures is falling apart in real time before our eyes. Earlier this month, the German Medical Assembly overwhelmingly voted for restrictions, as more evidence shows the harms of these procedures <\/strong>& lack of benefits. No substantial studies show that children with gender dysphoria live happier lives if affirmed in their delusion. Advocates demand others to \u201ctrust the science\u201d (meaning experts) when they themselves do not \u201cfollow the science\u201d (data). Also, the Assembly passed a resolution disapproving of \u201cself-ID\u201d legislation and stated that minors should not be allowed to \u201cself-identity\u201d gender without psychiatric diagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Countries like the U.K. once performed gender transition procedures on minors at government-run health care centers. But, after a four-year review led by Dr. Hilary Cass, the nationalized health care system turned sharply away from procedures for which there was such \u201cremarkably weak evidence.\u201d An updated draft guidance released by the UK secretary of state for education says students older than nine will find that \u201cbiological sex\u201d is the program foundation rather than a narrative that claims gender is on a spectrum. [Susan Berry, CatholicVote.org, 5\/21\/24] Last week, Dr. Cass criticized American medical associations <\/strong>for \u201cholding on to a position that is now demonstrated to be out of date by multiple systematic reviews.\u201d A study published last month found that people who underwent gender transition surgery were 12 times more likely to attempt suicide than those who did not. [excerpted, Joshua Arnold, The Washington Stand, 5\/21\/24]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Produced in collaboration with Heartbeat International, Care New, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, and Focus on the Family’s Option Ultrasound Program, the report by the Charlotte Lozier Institute highlights the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n At a time when the federal administration is trying to cripple pregnancy centers and the national media smears them, it\u2019s important to demonstrate the value they provide and the real choices they give to pregnant and parenting moms. (See Newsweek, 5\/22\/24 article by Chuck Donovan,\u201cEnd the War on Pregnancy Resource Centers.\u201d)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Churches, Religious Groups Called Right-Wing Extremists The Diocese of Albany, NY, said it would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after New York’s highest court ruled that NY can continue to require companies with health insurance plans to cover what is called medically necessary abortions. Catholic Charities, churches, and other religious groups argued that the…<\/p>\nBorn the Size of Her Father’s Hand<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The latest annual abortion statistics for England and Wales (2021) reveal that 755 abortions were performed when the baby was at 22 or 23 weeks gestation. But, according to a recent study, there were 261 babies born alive at 22 and 23 weeks who survived to discharge from hospital in 2020 and 2021. This means there could be doctors at one end of a hospital fighting to keep a baby born at 23 weeks gestation alive, and, at the other end, there could be other doctors aborting the life of a 23-week baby. [excerpted from Right to Life UK, 5\/20\/24]<\/p>\n\n\n\nWill Baby Bonuses Save South Korea?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Scalia, OurSundayVisitor.com, 5\/22\/24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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States Require Age Verification for Online Porn Access <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
measures from device manufacturers to filter out this content. Parents can always do more, but help from the institutions we build and fund is long overdue\u201d said Family Research Council Senior Fellow Meg Kilgannon. Dani Pinter, senior legal counsel at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said: \u201cPornography can be extremely harmful to children<\/strong>, with negative impacts on the brain<\/strong> and relational development.\u201d She continued, \u201cSome studies show that pornography exposure is a tool in grooming and those exposed are more vulnerable to assault and predatory acts. Online pornography sites have allowed filmed child sexual abuse, rape, sex trafficking, and other non-consensual explicit material on their websites \u2014 material that normalizes criminal activity.\u201d A Common Sense Media survey released last year revealed that a lack of age verification laws impacts and harms minors: 73% of current teens aged 13 to 17 said that they had been exposed to internet pornography by the age of 12, most of them through porn advertisement links. [excerpts, S.A. McCarthy, The Washington Stand, 5\/21\/24]<\/p>\n\n\n\nGrowing Skepticism of Gender Transition Procedures for Minors <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
New Report on Pregnancy Centers (PRCs)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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