News Briefs

Catholic Congressman standing down to put family first

August 26, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Washington D.C., Aug 26, 2019 / 11:00 am (CNA).- Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI), a practicing Catholic who has served in Congress since 2011, will be stepping down from his seat on September 23. He made the announcement in a post on his personal Facebook page. 

Duffy made the announcement Aug. 26, citing a desire to be with his family ahead of the imminent arrival of his ninth child as the reason he will leave Congress before the end of his term. 

“With much prayer, I have decided that this is the right time for me to take a break from public service in order to be the support my wife, baby and family need right now,” he said. 

“It is not an easy decision – because I truly love being your Congressman – but it is the right decision for my family, which is my first love and responsibility.” 

Duffy and his wife, television personality Rachel Campos-Duffy, announced in May that they were expecting their ninth child, saying “God isn’t done with our family yet!” In his Facebook post on Monday, he explained that new family developments, coupled with the difficulty of being in Washington for most of the week, contributed to his decision to quit. 

“As you all know, raising a family is hard work. It’s especially true for one as large and busy as mine. Being away from home in Washington four days a week is challenging and for that reason, I have always been open to signs from God when it comes to balancing my desire to serve both my family and my country,” said Duffy. 

His ninth child, a girl, is due in late October. In the Facebook post, Duffy explained that they recently learned that she will “need even more love, time, and attention due to complications, including a heart condition.” 

Duffy thanked his constituents for “the faith and sacred trust you have put in me all these years,” and said he was especially thankful for the people who have prayed for his family. He encouraged people to continue praying. 

“I will miss being your Congressman, but I am also looking forward to having more time with my family, being home for more birthdays and hockey games, and having time to enjoy and care for our new baby girl, who is already so loved by our family,” he said.

The congressman’s district, Wisconsin’s 7th, is a reliably safe Republican district. Duffy was re-elected in 2018 with 60 percent of the vote. In the past, he has expressed his consistent support for President Donald Trump.

Duffy and his wife both participated in the reality television series, “The Real World,” broadcast on MTV. Campos-Duffy was on the show’s third season, which was filmed in San Francisco, and Duffy participated in the sixth season, which was filmed in Boston. The two met in 1998 while participating in a related TV project titled “Road Rules: All Stars.”

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Abortion groups in South Africa can’t find doctors willing to perform abortions

August 24, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Johannesburg, South Africa, Aug 24, 2019 / 03:38 pm (CNA).- Despite efforts by abortion advocates to expand the number of abortion clinics in South Africa, doctors in the country are largely unwilling to perform the procedure.

Under the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1996, abortions are legal in South Africa up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. In cases of rape, incest, and financial hardship, abortions are legal up to 20 weeks.

Kgaladi Mphahlele, manager of Doctors Without Borders’ Choice of Termination of Pregnancy in Rustenburg, said it is hard to find clinics willing to perform abortions or doctors willing to give referrals.

Mphahlele said access to abortion clinics is necessary to prevent women from seeking unsafe abortion methods, according to Health-E News.

Guttmacher-Lancet Commission in Johannesburg issued a report last year finding that out of the 8000 medical clinics in South Africa, about 7% performed abortions, Health-E News reported.

Judiac Ranape, a nurse who trains doctors on abortions, argued that conscientious objection is a problem.

“You’ll find an operations manager who says, ‘We won’t perform it [an abortion] because it’s against my religious beliefs’,” Ranape said, calling for restrictions on conscientious objection.

However, surveys show that the general population in the country is strongly opposed to abortion.

The South African Social Attitudes Survey, conducted 2003-2006, found that 9 of out 10 adults in South Africa believed abortion to be wrong in times of financial dilemma, and three-quarters said abortion was still immoral if the child was to be born with a disability.

Church leaders have called for efforts to provide women facing difficult pregnancies with alternatives to abortion. Catholic Mater Homes, a pro-life group in the Archdiocese of Cape Town, is one such organization. It works to provide shelter for women during a crisis pregnancy.

“The establishment of Mater Domini was was born out of the need that existed within Archdiocese of Cape Town to create an alternative to abortion for women who might have felt forced into making such a decision out of desperation,” the organization’s Facebook page reads.

“When we talk about the nameless, faceless and voiceless victims of abortion, we have to include the mothers, who so often find themselves in helpless circumstances, with little other alternative but to make the difficult choice to end the life of their unborn child.”

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