Denver, Colo., Jan 23, 2019 / 01:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A “comprehensive sex education” bill in the Colorado legislature would require public schools to adopt a curriculum that could stigmatize Catholic beliefs about sexuality and gender, … […]
New Orleans, La., Jan 23, 2019 / 11:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday rejected a request from abortion rights’ advocates to rehear a case challenging a Louisiana law that requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.
The Jan. 18 decision effectively upholds its earlier ruling in favor of the bipartisan law, known as the Unsafe Abortion Protection Act, or Act 620. Unless an appeal to the US Supreme Court is filed, it will take effect Jan. 28.
A three judge panel of the Fifth Circuit had upheld Act 620 in September by a 2-1 vote. Abortion rights’ advocates were asking the court to rehear the case en banc – by a greater share of the court’s judges.
“I applaud the Fifth Circuit’s decision to reject the abortion providers’ latest legal challenge to Louisiana’s pro-life and pro-woman admitting privileges law,” said Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry. “Act 620 is common-sense measure that ensures women will receive proper care if they have complications.”
The Fifth Circuit voted 9-6 to reject the petition for rehearing en banc.
Act 620 was authored by Democratic State Rep. Katrina Jackson, who authored the legislation and is chair of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus. She has said the law is about “the safety of women.”
It was passed in 2014 by an 88-5 vote in the Louisiana House, and a 34-3 vote in the Senate.
The Unsafe Abortion Protection Act requires that abortion doctors have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their clinic.
The law also clarifies that informed consent protections also apply to chemical abortions, procured by ingesting mifepristone, and that chemical abortions must be reported anonymously to the Department of Health and Hospitals, which already tracks surgical abortions. Doctors who perform more than five abortions per year must also maintain proper licensing.
When the Fifth Circuit upheld Act 620 in September, it found that the law does not impose a substantial burden on women seeking to procure abortion.
Act 620 was challenged in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2016 Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt decision.
In that case, the high court struck down a Texas law that required doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, and abortion clinics to meet the standards for ambulatory surgical centers. In the 5-3 vote, the majority found that the law put an “undue burden” on a women’s right to an abortion, posing a “substantial obstacle” to that right without showing the necessary benefits of its regulations to women’s health.
Considering Louisiana’s law in light of Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the Fifth Circuit wrote that “the facts in the instant case are remarkably different from those that occasioned the invalidation of the Texas statute in WWH.”
“Here, unlike in Texas, the Act does not impose a substantial burden on a large fraction of women under WWH and other controlling Supreme Court authority. Careful review of the record reveals stark differences between the record before us and that which the Court considered in WWH.”
“The Louisiana Act passes muster even under the stringent requirements of WWH,” wrote Circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith.
Similarly, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in September ruled that Missouri may enforce its own law mandating that doctors who perform abortions have hospital privileges and that abortion clinics to have the same standards as similar outpatient surgical centers.
The Eighth Circuit also cited the Hellerstedt case, saying that decision analyzed purported benefits of the law at issue related to abortion in Texas, not Missouri, and that it found courts should consider the asserted benefits of a law.
Fifth Circuit Judge James L. Dennis dissented from the court’s decision not to rehear the challenge to Act 620, asserting it is “in clear conflict” with the Hellerstedt decision and that “the panel majority’s attempt to distinguish WWH is meritless because it is based on an erroneous and distorted version of the undue burden test required by WWH and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey.”
Landry welcomed the majority’s decision not to rehear the challenge to Act 620, saying: “The Fifth Circuit once again affirmed what we have repeatedly said: our law is both factually and legally different from the Texas law that the Supreme Court ruled against.”
“I once again thank Representative Katrina Jackson for authoring this public safety legislation and Solicitor General Liz Murrill for preserving the Legislature’s intent,” he added.
When the Unsafe Abortion Protection Act was passed in 2014, there were five abortion clinics in Louisiana. By the time the Fifth Circuit upheld the law in September 2018, there were three, in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Shreveport.
The day before it declined to rehear the challenge to Act 620, the Fifth Circuit vacated a previous injunction barring Texas from stripping Planned Parenthood affiliates of Medicaid funding.
Circuit Judge Edith Jones affirmed that Texas has the right to exclude a healthcare provider from Medicaid funds, and criticized the Planned Parenthood affiliates’ argument that the Office of Inspector General has insufficient expertise to determine the qualifications of abortion providers.
Aboard the papal plane, Jan 23, 2019 / 08:07 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis will visit Japan in November of this year. The pope confirmed the timing of the upcoming trip during remarks to journalists on the flight from Rome to Panama City, Panama, W… […]
Washington D.C., Jan 23, 2019 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Diocese of Lincoln sent more than 200 young people to Washington, D.C., to stand up for the unborn, and they believe they are part of a growing trend of pro-life sentiment.
CNA spoke to some of these students outside of the capitol to see what motivated them to embark on a daylong journey to the nation’s capital. The group was meeting with pro-life Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), who represents their district.
Earlier that day, Fortenberry had given a floor speech where he said that “women deserve better” than abortion, and that “no matter how hard the circumstances,” human life is a gift.
The students largely expressed excitement about being in a crowd of young people from across the country. The March for Life drew an estimated crowd of 100,000, many of whom were college-age or younger.
Abby Pella, a 17-year-old from Lincoln, admitted that she found the bus ride to be “pretty awful,” but that she found the trip to be a “great opportunity.” She told CNA that she was most looking forward to standing alongside her peers, and fighting for an end to abortion.
“Being able to stand up for something I believe in is really empowering and is really worth the 24-hour drive,” Pella added.
Ziyal McArthur, 16, also from Lincoln, agreed with Pella. McArthur said that while she has always been pro-life, she did not get involved in activism until a few years ago, and is now a member of the pro-life club at her school. She told CNA that she was most excited about “seeing people my age marching against abortion.”
Hunter Stutzman, 14, is from David City, about 50 miles northwest of Lincoln. He said he was motivated to come to Washington because teens like himself may find themselves dealing with unexpected pregnancies. He told CNA that he is pro-life because “babies don’t have a choice.”
His sentiment was echoed by Logan Walker, an 18-year-old from Lincoln.
“That is a baby in there, but it’s also one of us, one of our own kind,” said Walker.
“It’s a person.”
Annie Timmerman, 18, was on her second trek to D.C. from Nebraska. She described the trip as “a cause worth sacrificing for,” and said that her travel companions were a “joyful group.”
Timmerman said that she had run into “more and more people who are pro-life” and that she thinks she is part of a generation who is changing on abortion.
“We just really want to be the pro-life generation,” Timmerman told CNA. “The generation that really makes the horrors of abortion end.”
Suva, Fiji, Jan 23, 2019 / 12:21 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Catholic Church in Fiji is prepared to shut down all of its 44 primary and 19 secondary schools if the government continues to elect non-Catholics as the head of those schools.
Fiji’s edu… […]
Aparecida, Brazil, Jan 22, 2019 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- Colombian José David Correa González has been selected as the new superior general of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a Catholic society of apostolic life.
The selection took place during Fifth General Assembly of the Sodalitium, which is being held at the Aparecida Marian shrine in Brazil, Jan. 6-27.
Correa, 49, will serve a six year term. He was chosen by the Vatican Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life from a three-person list chosen by members of the society during the general assembly.
The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae was founded in 1971 in Peru, and granted pontifical recognition in 1997. CNA’s executive director, Alejandro Bermúdez, is a member of the community.
The Sodalitium’s founder, Luis Fernando Figari, stepped down as superior general in 2010, after allegations surfaced that he had committed serial acts of abuse while leading the community. Other former leaders of the community have since faced related abuse allegations, and several remain subject to law enforcement investigations.
In February 2017, a team of independent investigators commissioned by the Sodalitium reported that “Figari sexually assaulted at least one child, manipulated, sexually abused, or harmed several other young people; and physically or psychologically abused dozens of others.”
As a result, the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life issued a decree the same month forbidding Figari from any contact with the religious community, and banning him from returning to Peru without permission from the current superior of the Sodalitium. Figari was also forbidden to make any public statements.
In January 2018, Pope Francis appointed Colombian Bishop Noel Antonio Londoño Buitrago C.Ss.R. as papal commissioner for the society, tasking him with overseeing an ongoing process of reform that began after allegations against Figari came to light. Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark was tasked in 2016 with assisting the community’s reform process and its internal investigations of alleged misconduct.
The election of Correa is seen as the latest step in the reform process.
The new superior general of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae was the first Colombian member of the community. He was born in Medellin July 26, 1969, entered the SCV on September 4, 1992 and made his perpetual vows May 13, 2000.
Correa had been serving as superior of the Our Lady of Alta Gracia community in the prelature of Ayaviri, Peru, one of the poorest regions of Peru, situated 12,800 feet above sea level. Until now he was also the Secretary General of Caritas in Ayaviri.
Correa is the first non-Peruvian superior general of the Sodalitium.
The SCV general assembly next elect the community’s vicar general, who functions as an executive officer to the superior, and five members of its governing council.
The Holy See has also announced that with Correa’s selection, the Sodalitium will no longer be directly governned by its commissioner. Tobin, however, will continue to assist the community as a papal delegate, especially on financial matters.
The general assembly will conclude with a Mass of thanksgiving at the Aparecida Marian shrine Sunday, January 27.
This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Amsterdam, Netherlands, Jan 22, 2019 / 04:39 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide have the longest history in the Netherlands: 17 years ago, the two practices became legal, under what were supposed to be very limited circumsta… […]
Washington D.C., Jan 22, 2019 / 03:58 pm (CNA).- While chanting and playing ceremonial drums, a group of Native American rights activists reportedly led by Nathan Phillips attempted Jan. 19 to enter Washington, D.C.’s Basilica of the National Shr… […]
Washington D.C., Jan 22, 2019 / 02:26 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The US Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender persons serving in the military to go into effect, while the issue continues to be adjudicated in lower courts.
The Supreme Court’s five conservative members voted Jan. 22 to lift nationwide injunctions that had blocked the ban from going into effect. However, the policy is being appealed in lower courts, and those appeals will still be going forward despite the ruling.
In July 2017 Trump announced on Twitter that anyone identifying or presenting as a sex different from their biological sex would be prohibited from military service, with extremely limited exceptions. The policy was formally issued in 2018 by then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis.
Previously, under President Barack Obama’s administration, military policies were changed to allow people who do not identify themselves according to their biological sex, or who were seeking surgical “gender transition”, to join the military.
Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Carla Anderson insisted that the policy is in fact not a ban on transgender troops, but rather is a “personnel policy” that is “necessary to ensure the most lethal and combat effective fighting force in the world.”
Slightly under 1,000 people in the military have undergone a gender transition. In 2016, the government estimated that there were about 9,000 transgender troops in the U.S. military. Including reservists, there are about 2.1 million people in the military.
When Trump announced the policy in July 2017, a theology professor at the Catholic University of America said it was the “right decision.”
Those who identify as transgender are “people made in God’s image, and they deserve our compassion, and they deserve to be treated with dignity, but that doesn’t mean that they are fit for combat in the defense of a nation,” Dr. Chad Pecknold told CNA.
“Pope Francis is famous for his stress upon dialogue, and his non-judgmental approach with respect to the dignity of every person,” he said. “But the Holy Father has also been crystal clear that ‘gender theory’ represents a burning threat to humanity, starkly describing it as a ‘global ideological war on marriage’.”
Also on Tuesday, the Supreme Court declined to act regarding Trump’s plan to end the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This means that DACA will stay in place for the time being.
The USCCB has said in previous statements that they are in favor of a “permanent legislative solution” for DACA recipients as well as those under temporary protective status. This solution is “vital,” said the bishops.
Vatican City, Jan 22, 2019 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- The moderator of the Vatican’s February summit on child sexual abuse has written an article outlining his take on the Church’s most effective models of response for addressing its sexual abuse c… […]
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