News Briefs

Montgomery, Ala., Apr 3, 2019 / 10:26 am (CNA).- New legislation in Alabama would ban all abortions in the state, except in cases where the mother faces a “serious health risk.”

The bill, introduced in both the Alabama House and Senate April 2, would make it a felony for doctors to perform or attempt an abortion. Women would not be criminally culpable or civilly liable for receiving abortions.

The bill would include an exemption “in cases where abortion is necessary in order to prevent a serious health risk to the unborn child’s mother.”

It defines a serious health risk as a condition requiring an abortion “to avert [the mother’s] death or to avert serious risk of substantial physical impairment of a major bodily function.” It only includes emotional and mental illnesses if they have been diagnosed by a licensed psychiatrist and “there is reasonable medical judgment that she will engage in conduct that could result in her death or the death of her unborn child.”

Opponents have already pledged to challenge the legislation in court if it is enacted. However, its supporters say it could be the key to a reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, which found a right to abortion nationwide.

Bishop Robert Baker of Birmingham said the legislation reflects “the strong commitment that the people of Alabama have to life.”

In an April 3 statement, the bishop praised the lawmakers’ efforts.

“I strongly support these bills and stand behind the efforts of these legislators to promote life and to, hopefully in the near future, eliminate this evil we know as abortion from within the boundaries of the State of Alabama; and, eventually, to make the killing of unborn children in our country something that is no longer viewed as anything but the horrendous and inhumane killing of the most innocent among us that it is,” he said.

Rep. Terri Collins (R-Decatur), sponsor of the House bill, said the legislation is a follow-up to 60 percent of Alabama voters approving Amendment 2 last November. That amendment changed Alabama’s constitution so that it explicitly “recognizes and supports the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, most importantly the right to life in all manners and measures appropriate and lawful; and provides that the constitution of this state does not protect the right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.”

Although the amendment had no immediate effect due to the national applicability of Roe v. Wade, it would be significant if Roe were to be overturned, preventing a state-level legal ruling from finding a similar “right to abortion” in the Alabama constitution.

“With liberal states like New York rushing to approve radical late-term and post-birth abortions, passage of this bill will reflect the conservative beliefs, principles, and desires of the citizens of Alabama while, at the same time, providing a vehicle to revisit the constitutionally-flawed Roe v. Wade decision,” Collins said, according to AL.com.

“It is meant to actually use some of the same language that is addressed in Roe vs. Wade. So, hopefully it just completely takes it all the way to the Supreme Court eventually to overturn.”

Collin’s bill has the support of 65 co-sponsors, out of 104 lawmakers. The Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Greg Albritton, (R-Range), has 11 co-sponsors, of 35 senators, AL.com reported.

The Alabama legislation is among dozens of bills seeking to either expand or restrict legal abortion in states across the country, as changes on the Supreme Court have led to speculation that Roe v. Wade may be overturned.

In January, New York passed an expansive law declaring abortion to be a “fundamental human right,” broadening the legality of late-term abortions, and allowing non-physicians to perform abortions, as well as removing protections for babies born alive after a botched abortion.

A similar bill in Virginia failed in February after video circulated online of the bill’s proponents suggesting that it would allow abortion even during labor and that babies who survived an abortion attempt could be left to die of exposure.

Other states, including Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia, have passed or are considering bills that would ban abortion once the unborn baby’s heartbeat can be detected, usually around six weeks into pregnancy.

Several states have also passed “trigger bills” that would ban abortion if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned by the Supreme Court, placing the question of legal abortion back with the states.

Randall Marshall, executive director of Alabama’s American Civil Liberties Union, told WHNT 19 that the new bill would not hold up in court and would cost taxpayers a significant amount of money in legal fees.

Collins responded to this criticism by saying, “We think this is the bill that could overturn, what I consider to be a bad law, then it’s well worth spending the money.”

In addition to Amendment 2 last fall, Alabama has made several attempts to pass pro-life legislation in recent years.

Last August, a federal appeals court ruled against a state law that would have banned a second-trimester abortion procedure, known as “dialation and evacuation.”

The previous year, a federal judge struck down an Alabama law requiring more scrutiny for minors who seek an abortion without parental consent.

The state is still considered to be one of the most restrictive in terms of abortion law. Alabama requires that women be given counseling and an ultrasound prior to having an abortion, though it is optional for the woman to view the ultrasound image. It also has restrictions on the health insurance coverage of elective abortions that are not performed for reasons of life endangerment, rape or incest.

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Knoxville, Tenn., Apr 2, 2019 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- During an annual week of controversial sex-ed events at a Tennessee college, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students has organized an alternative event based on a Catholic view of human sexuality.  

A student group at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville has hosted “Sex Week” on its campus since 2013. Organizers bill it as “a week of free, comprehensive sex education events.” This year’s program includes a drag show, a cabaret, and free HIV testing, according to the organizers’ website.

Kara Logan, a FOCUS alum and doctoral student in theology at Ave Maria University, offered an alternative talk April 2 entitled “How to have Worthwhile Sex: An Alternative View.”

She based her talk on the teachings of St. John Paul II, and his series of addresses on human sexuality that have come to be known as the Theology of the Body.  

Logan told CNA in an interview before the talk that she hopes to help students understand that the so-called “sexual revolution” of the 20th century hasn’t brought with it the happiness and  fulfilment that it promised.

“I think we just want them to see that this ‘doing whatever we want’ [attitude], sexual promiscuity, all these things— they’re just not fulfilling,” Logan told CNA.

“We’re not finding happiness here. And if I can just show them the beauty of the Theology of the Body, the beauty of true love, and of sacrifice, of making a gift to the other and not reducing the other person to an object of use, that would be great. That would be the main thing.”

Logan said she plans to share statistics with the students about the negative effects of hooking up, pornography, contraception and other common practices that society consider part of normal sexual expression.

“The hookup culture is really making young adults less social; they’re more anxious,” she noted.

“The number one reason women go off of oral contraception is because she’s depressed…People who take oral contraception are significantly more depressed than women who aren’t.”

She said she hopes to help the students understand what it means in the Theology of the Body to “give a gift of yourself,” which is rooted in self-mastery and self-possession.

“The heart knows what it’s called to be…that there’s still a call to be a gift, but we’re battling it now because of concupiscence, because of sin,” she said.

“Christ comes to restore the human heart, to fix it…and he shows us, too, that true love is to die to one’s self for the sake of the beloved.”

Logan said that she hopes to show the students that it’s possible to live out the Theology of the Body and be fulfilled in a meaningful way, as opposed to the “lie that you can do whatever you want, or that you don’t really have any meaning, or that Catholicism is just a set of rules to enslave us.”

The concept of “Sex Week” was first introduced at Yale University in the early 2000s. Attendance at the Sex Week events at UTK has ranged from 1,650 participants to more than 3,500, according to Inside HigherEd.

Sex Week at UTK has been controversial ever since its inception in 2013, when it was revealed that student fees were going to fund controversial activities, including a condom scavenger hunt.

Sex Week is not unique to UTK’s campus— other public and private institutions across the country hold similar events— but Tennessee legislators have called the week a “national embarrassment” and have moved to exclude the event from using public funding. University administrators have said that they have done as much as they can to tone down the event without violating the group’s First Amendment rights.

The Tennessee state comptroller released a 269-page report in February about the use of public funds for Sex Week, which detailed the fact that university departments and programs originally committed over $11,000 in funds for Sex Week.

The university chancellor ultimately withdrew the public funds before the 2013 event, and the organizers of UTK’s Sex Week have had to use other funding sources, such as online crowdsource funding, for subsequent years’ events.

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Denver, Colo., Apr 2, 2019 / 04:56 pm (CNA).- A death penalty repeal effort has failed in the Colorado legislature after failing to win enough votes in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

The Colorado Catholic Conference is “deeply disappointed&rd… […]

Washington D.C., Apr 2, 2019 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) filed a discharge petition for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act Tuesday. The petition needs 218 signatures to force a debate on the floor of the House of Representatives.

The bill would make it a crime for a doctor to refuse to provide age-appropriate medical care to an infant who survived an abortion procedure. It also would provide mothers with the opportunity to file a civil claim against their doctor.

Speaking at a press conference April 2, several members of Congress criticized Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for her refusal to give the bill a hearing. House Republicans have requested that the legislation be considered 25 times.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), chairwoman of the Republican Conference, said that for her colleagues to truly be for the people, “that has to start with being for the most vulnerable among us, for the babies.”

“If you don’t stand with the babies, and you won’t protect the babies, you are not for the people.”

Scalise echoed Cheney’s point.

“All of us here today have a message for Nancy Pelosi: if you won’t bring it up, we’ll bring it up,” he said. “And that’s what this discharge petition is about.”

“How can you be a leader in Congress and say that they think it’s okay to murder a baby once it is born outside the womb?” Scalise asked. “It’s happening, and we’re here to make it stop.”

Scalise said that the practice of denying medical care to infants who survive abortions is “not only wrong, it’s murder” and that this should not be legal. The Born-Alive Act would make laws “consistent all across the board” to ensure that babies are cared for.

The bill must garner the signatures of a simple majority of the House of Representatives. Scalise acknowledged that this will be an “uphill battle” in the Democrat-controlled House.

“But we don’t come here to do the easy things,” he said. “We come here because it’s hard.”

The bill’s lead sponsor, Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), said that her legislation was “a measure that has passed with bipartisan support in the past.”

Presently, 26 states have some sort of legal protection for babies who survive abortions. Wagner said that it was important that this be extended throughout the entire country.

“We need to make sure that we make this a criminal act,” said Wagner. “That we give mothers civil remedies, and that most of all, we give life-saving care to babies that are born alive.”

Wagner said she was grateful for the “brave” Democrats willing to sign the discharge petition. Right now, three Democrats have agreed to co-sponsor the bill.

“The Constitution provides for life, liberty, and equal protection under the law,” said Wagner. “Our founding fathers didn’t put an age limit on that.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) expressed shock that 25 requests for the bill to be considered had gone unanswered. He said that it should not come down to a discharge petition to protect the life of a newborn baby, and rejected the idea that this is a partisan issue.

“This isn’t about Republican or Democrat, it’s about life,” said McCarthy.

The members of Congress were joined at the press conference by three young women who were themselves survivors of attempted abortions.

Melissa Ohden was born at about 31 weeks of gestation, following her teenage mother’s attempted saline abortion. She described herself as “one of the children who deserve to be protected by the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.”

Ohden said that after her birth, she was “laid aside” at the hospital, until a nurse saved her life and provided her with care.

“My life never should have been left in the hands of the abortionist that day,” said Ohden. “My life never should have been to the luck of the draw of who was working that day at the hospital.”

As part of the Abortion Survivors Network, Ohden said she has been in contact with 281 other abortion survivors. She urged lawmakers to give her and her fellow survivors “the basic dignity we deserve. Give us healthcare. It is a right.”

“We fought for our lives in the womb. Do not make us fight for our lives once again when we’re born alive.”

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Washington D.C., Apr 2, 2019 / 02:07 pm (CNA).- A new scientific study has found significant differences in the ways that the brains of male and female fetuses function prior to birth.

Researchers conducted MRI scans on human fetuses in the womb, studying the functional connectivity (FC), or the neurological connections between different areas of the brain, for both males and females. They found connections between parts of the female brains that were almost nonexistent in the male brains.

“The present study demonstrates for the first time that development of fetal brain FC varies with sex,” the researchers wrote, concluding that the fetal brain networks they observed likely lay the “building blocks” for brain development throughout rest of the baby’s life.

Dr. Leonard Sax, a family physician and author of the 2005 book “Why Gender Matters,” told CNA that the fact that there is a difference in brain function at all— at a stage of development when a baby has not yet been exposed to any societal influences— is significant in itself.

“I think the importance of this research is that it shows that the brain of a baby girl in her mother’s womb prior to birth is significantly different than the brain of a baby boy in the mother’s womb at the same stage prior to birth,” Sax told CNA.

“Exactly what those differences signify is controversial,” he noted.

Sax wrote a March 27 article for Psychology Today summarizing the study’s findings, in which he asked why the study had received relatively little media coverage. In some parts of the brain, the differences between males and females were “truly amazing,” he wrote.

“The human brain is gendered prior to birth. That may be politically incorrect, but it is an empirical reality,” Sax stated.

“Male and female are of God. The are hardwired, they are innate.”

He cautioned that it is not yet clear to neuroscientists what exactly the gender differences in brain function might mean, in terms of how activity in the brain relates to human emotion and experience.

“How does thinking happen? How does the brain mediate the process of thought or feeling? We don’t know the answers to those questions,” Sax said.

“In my article, I make no attempt to claim what that [brain function] difference signifies, because neuroscientists don’t know.”

He said while there are “plausible” interpretations that can be made based on the data, the researchers themselves “make no attempt to guess at the significance of their own findings.”

“The claim I’m making is girls and boys are different— that image strongly supports that claim,” he said.

Sax noted in his Psychology Today article that academics such as Judith Butler have pioneered popular theories that “male” and “female” are merely social constructs.

“The category of ‘girl’ and ‘boy’ are meaningful categories, they’re not a mere performance or a social construction as Judith Butler would have us believe. And they are clearly meaningful and real prior to birth,” he said.

Sax also pointed out that The New York Times published an op-ed April 1 in which Dr. Carol Hay, a professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, endorses Butler’s understanding of gender, calling gender “fundamentally a performance” based on and learned from social systems.

Sax posited that the author is unaware of “research showing that ‘male and female’ are present in the human brain prior to birth.”

“I wouldn’t say that she is lying, I would say that she is unaware of the relevant research,” he clarified.

CNA reached out to Hay for a reply. She told CNA in an interview that when it comes to gender, she tends “to be pretty critical of the science, because I think it’s often motivated by a particular political agenda, as all science is motivated by a particular political agenda.”

Despite this, Hay said that in her view, even if science can prove that there are innate biological differences in the male and female brains, “I’m not sure that would tell us anything about why boys and girls end up acting completely differently.”

“The question is whether those brain differences— if they do exist— the question is whether they then actually translate into the kind of gender differences that we’re used to associating with men and women and boys and girls,” she argued.

Sax, however, maintained that the data is meaningful, showing a concrete difference in brain function between males and females, even if it is not yet clear what that signifies.

“That claim that gender is meaningless, or gender as merely a ‘performance’ isn’t a true statement. It’s a false statement,” he said.

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Chicago, Ill., Apr 2, 2019 / 11:48 am (CNA).- Alexa Hyman navigated her white Kia Optima, peering through sheets of rain as she made her way to a Southern California Rite Aid. She already the answer, but she had to see it in flashing black and white. S… […]