The flag of the Republic of Ireland. / Michael Care Anderson (CC BY-NC 2.0).
CNA Newsroom, Aug 9, 2022 / 09:51 am (CNA).
Pro-life campaigners and advocates for religious freedom in Ireland have expressed dismay following the news that the Irish Government intends to introduce fines and prison sentences for people who pray, hold signs, or try to persuade women not to have abortions while they are within the vicinity of an abortion clinic.
The proposed legislation would mean that individuals would not be allowed to express pro-life views within 100m of abortion clinics while also prohibiting silent prayer, the holding of placards, and any peaceful offers of alternatives to abortion.
Pro-life activists have reacted by highlighting that there is no evidence that pro-life vigils near abortion clinics in Ireland are dangerous or unlawful.
In an August 4 statement, Megan Ní Scealláin of the Life Institute said: “Garda Commissioner Drew Harris wrote to the Minister for Health [Stephen Donnelly] to clearly state that there was ‘no evidence’ to suggest that pro-life protests at any centers were abusive or threatening. He confirmed that the vigils were, in fact, peaceful and lawful”.
“Of course, Stephen Donnelly knows this, and he is choosing to ignore the advice of Gardai to do the bidding of campaign groups and to punch down at pro-life activists who he knows are breaking no laws”, she said.
“In fact, the Garda Commissioner also stated that if any laws were to be broken existing laws were sufficient to deal with that”.
The Irish Government’s position differs to that of the UK Government’s which maintains that there are sufficient laws already in place to protect women seeking an abortion from harassment and intimidation.
Following the unveiling of the Irish Government’s proposals, David Quinn, Director of the Iona Institute, a Christian advocacy group, questioned the constitutionality of the Government’s controversial plans.
He told Catholic News Agency on August 9: “Assuming the law goes through, it will be one of the most restrictive in the whole of Europe because other countries have more respect for the right to protest and consider laws like this to be disproportionate. We already have laws in Ireland against intimidation or harassment and our Garda Commissioner has said so in the context of calls for these buffer zones. But the Government is pressing on anyway, egged on by most opposition parties and pro-abortion lobby groups.
“Ireland has gone from being an extremely pro-life country to the opposite end of the spectrum in just a few short years. Banning even pro-life prayer vigils within 100m of places that conduct or facilitate abortion shows how badly we have changed. If the law is as restrictive as promised, it may actually be unconstitutional. The president has the power to refer it to the Supreme Court when it is ready for him to sign in the months to come and he ought do so’.”
Meanwhile, solicitor and prominent pro-life campaigner, Cora Sherlock said that the proposal should concern everyone, whatever their views on abortion. She said: “This proposal sets a very worrying precedent, and it should be of concern regardless of your view on abortion. The right to freedom of expression, movement and peaceful assembly and freedom to protest have always been held very highly in Ireland and given high priority in the Irish Constitution. Proposed legislation that would infringe on this should ring alarm bells for everyone.
An August 4 statement from the pro-life group, Right to Life, said that although the Irish Government has yet to decide on the extent of prison time or penalties for those peacefully offering alternatives to abortion, a pro-abortion campaign group, Together for Safety, had drafted a previous version of the bill that demanded a a jail sentence of six months or a €3,000 fine ($3,070).
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Leon is a baby boy cared for and loved at Mary’s Shelter, a pro-life maternity home in Fredericksburg, Virginia. / Courtesy of Mary’s Shelter
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 24, 2022 / 13:15 pm (CNA).
Amid a shortage of baby formula in the U.S., experts recommend parents scour smaller drug stores, check online, and join social media groups sharing information.
But here’s another, perhaps lesser-known, option they can also turn to for help: pregnancy resource centers.
Nearly 3,000 pro-life pregnancy centers serve millions of people each year in the United States. They offer women and parents in need everything from health care and material assistance to educational classes and job support — at little to no cost. Right now, for many of these centers, their work also includes connecting struggling families to baby formula.
One center in Michigan, an affiliate of Heartbeat International, a pro-life pregnancy resource center network, revealed to CNA that it has a surplus of formula.
“At this time, we haven’t heard of formula shortages at the pregnancy centers,” Andrea Trudden, vice president of communications and marketing at Heartbeat International, told CNA. “Quite the contrary, actually!”
Trudden recommended families turn to their local pregnancy help organizations for assistance and use OptionLine.org as a tool to find the center closest to them.
“Since pregnancy centers are equipped to help pregnant women and new families with practical resources such as diapers and formula,” Trudden said, “they have been able to step into that gap during this time.”
Some pro-life maternity homes in states such as Virginia and North Carolina said mothers are in desperate need and exploring all of their options, including feeding their babies with formula samples. But, these homes tell CNA, they are walking with mothers in their search, every step of the way.
What is this shortage about?
The nationwide baby formula shortage was caused, and then exacerbated, by a series of factors: supply-chain issues, recalls, the closure of a major production plant in February, and even U.S. trade policy. The result, data-firm company Datasembly found, is that more than 40 percent of baby formulas were out of stock in early May.
Babies with special needs and allergies rely on formula, along with babies in general. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 63.3% of infants were exclusively breastfeeding seven days after birth in 2018. Three months after birth, only 46.3% of infants exclusively breastfed. Six months after birth, that percentage changed to 25.8%
The trouble with formula began partially with the Covid-19 pandemic. Parents stockpiled baby formula at the beginning, which increased production, only to later discover that they had a surplus to use up, which decreased production.
After consuming formula from an Abbott plant in Sturgis, Michigan, four babies became sick, including two who died, from bacterial infections. This led to a recall and the plant shutting down in February.
These incidents exposed the formula market as one not structurally prepared for emergencies, with just four companies largely in control of supply in the United States. U.S. and regulatory trade policy only added to the problem, restricting the exchange of formula internationally, The Atlantic reported.
Months into the shortage, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reached an agreement with Abbott, one of the largest U.S. baby formula manufacturers, to reopen its Sturgis plant in the coming weeks. President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to prioritize the production of formula. And, in the meantime, the U.S. military has begun importing formula from Europe.
Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have called for action. Senate Democrats are pushing a bill that would send $28 million in emergency funding to the FDA. Congress passed, and Biden signed into law, a bill to expand access to formula for lower-income families during emergencies.
In the meantime, before the shelves are fully stocked once more, pregnancy centers and maternity homes around the country are helping parents in need.
“I have never seen this much formula. We have an overflow!” Lois Stoll, a volunteer who manages the formula supply at the center, said in a press release. The center, one of Heartbeat International’s 1,857 affiliate locations, accumulated its surplus over the last two years, during the pandemic.
“It really is the result of an unexpected set of circumstances,” Bryce Asberg, the executive director, added in the release. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of clients fell but donations continued to come in.”
Baby formula is stored on shelves at Helping Hands Pregnancy Resource Center in Hillsdale, Michigan. Courtesy of Helping Hands
Asberg told CNA that the center has been running a material assistance program for several years where it provides mothers and families with baby clothes, diapers, wipes, and baby food or formula.
“We still offer all those items to clients who come in, but recently we have noticed a surge of interest in formula,” he said. “God has been building our supply of formula for many months, and we didn’t know why we had so much. Now we do!”
Washington, D.C.
In Washington, D.C., Janet Durig, the executive director of Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center, said that her center also has baby formula on hand.
“We’ve had some phone calls seeking help and we’ve had formula to give them,” she told CNA. But, she emphasized, the supply is limited because they rely on donations.
“We have it to help people on a limited basis and are helping people on a limited basis,” she said, adding that the center welcomes donations of unopened bottles or cans of formula as long as they have not expired.
Connecticut
Leticia Velasquez, executive director and co-founder of Pathways Pregnancy in Norwich, Connecticut, encouraged moms and families to reach out if they need formula.
She told CNA that the three-year-old center is there for any woman or mom in need.
“We just say, ‘How can we fill the need? That’s what we’re here for,’” she said. “We definitely stand with them in any crisis, whether it be a formula shortage or an unplanned pregnancy.”
Parents in eastern Connecticut looking for baby formula can text the center at (860) 222-4505.
North Carolina
Debbie Capen, the executive director of MiraVia, said that the baby formula shortage is affecting her group’s work in supporting and providing resources to new moms in need. The Catholic nonprofit runs an outreach center in Charlotte and a free college residence at nearby Belmont Abbey College where a pregnant student — from any university or college — can stay until her child turns two years old.
“Yes, the mothers we serve are very concerned about the baby formula shortage,” Capen told CNA. “We always encourage breastfeeding for our expectant mothers, but for those who cannot breastfeed, they usually rely on vouchers for baby formula through the USDA’s WIC program.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s WIC program, also known as the “Special Supplementation Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children,” offers federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant and postpartum women, and young children at nutritional risk.
Capen highlighted that WIC only covers one specific brand of formula, which means that moms must pay full price for any other label. Formula is at a premium price right now, she added, which only puts more stress on their limited resources.
In each state, baby formula manufacturers bid for exclusive rights to provide formula to WIC participants in that state. In return, they offer the state discounts, or rebates. For those who rely on WIC, this means that they face limited options.
In response to the scarcity, the mothers at MiraVia are turning to alternatives: food pantries and the MiraVia community.
“They communicate with our staff and each other when they find formula at a certain location, as well as contact stores to find out when shipments are expected,” Capen said. “They substitute with generic brands when possible and reach out to their pediatricians for recommendations and even free samples.”
Capen listed some ways that people can help during this shortage, beginning with communication and the sharing of resources.
“For example, you can help by searching posts on social media and community apps like NextDoor or OfferUp to find those with formula and suggest where it can be donated,” she said. “Remind friends and family not to stockpile so that the supply of formula can flow to those in most urgent need. If you are pregnant and have received free samples of formula, donate what you won’t use to food pantries or programs for new mothers.”
Virginia
Kathleen Wilson, the executive director of Mary’s Shelter, a faith-centered maternity home in Fredericksburg, Virginia, agreed that “our moms have had many difficulties.”
She told CNA about one of their mothers who gave birth to her fourth baby three months ago. At first, she used a formula brand called Enfamil Reguline. After it became unavailable, she began switching between brands and using whatever she can find, Wilson said. The mother has also tried ordering on Amazon and turned to her pediatrician for samples.
Yaretzi is a baby girl cared for and loved at Mary’s Shelter, a pro-life maternity home in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Courtesy of Mary’s Shelter
“This is a mom who is trying to hold down a job, with an infant and other children to tend to,” Wilson stressed the “very difficult” situation.
Wilson said that two of the other mothers spent days driving around at one point to try to find formula for their babies. When necessary, they are also turning to sample packets of baby formula.
“Our staff and volunteers have been assisting with this and picking up and delivering formula when they can get their hands on it,” Wilson said, adding that donors have also pitched in.
“We are blessed with wonderful donors,” she said. “A friend just stopped in this morning with two cans of formula that he was able to find.”
“If donors are willing and can find formula, we would be thrilled to take their donation,” she said, concluding that she is “praying this comes to an end soon.”
Dome of the Rock with Christian church in foreground in Jerusalem. / Shutterstock
Rome Newsroom, Mar 9, 2023 / 10:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis underlined the “universal value” of Jerusalem in a meeting with members of a Vatican-Palestinian interre… […]
Vatican City, Feb 17, 2021 / 03:15 am (CNA).- The 40 days of Lent are an opportunity to turn from the slavery of sin to the freedom found in reconciliation with God, Pope Francis said on Ash Wednesday.
It’s tragic news but perhaps God will use this for good. Let the population controllers & secularists become “The Man” now. The Irish have a heart for the oppressed & persecuted. This may wake them up.
Like in Britain, the Irish are embracing an atheism that appears to them as reasonable. Imagine the terror the government types must encounter when they see someone silently praying 300 feet from an abortuary and therefore must legislate it away.
It’s all about drawing arbitrary lines…why 100 yards? Why not ten, or one thousand yards, or even the national boundaries?
And, instead of a “jail sentence of six months or a €3,000 fine ($3,070),” why not capital punishment, thereby showing full equality (!) with unborn children executed prior to crossing the line of the birth canal?
Or, why not the line between two of the neck vertebrae, as was so logical under the guillotine during the Reign of Terror? The proposed penalties are as arbitrary as the line on the public sidewalk.
It’s tragic news but perhaps God will use this for good. Let the population controllers & secularists become “The Man” now. The Irish have a heart for the oppressed & persecuted. This may wake them up.
Like in Britain, the Irish are embracing an atheism that appears to them as reasonable. Imagine the terror the government types must encounter when they see someone silently praying 300 feet from an abortuary and therefore must legislate it away.
The seductive wide road beckons once again.
It’s all about drawing arbitrary lines…why 100 yards? Why not ten, or one thousand yards, or even the national boundaries?
And, instead of a “jail sentence of six months or a €3,000 fine ($3,070),” why not capital punishment, thereby showing full equality (!) with unborn children executed prior to crossing the line of the birth canal?
Or, why not the line between two of the neck vertebrae, as was so logical under the guillotine during the Reign of Terror? The proposed penalties are as arbitrary as the line on the public sidewalk.