The Dispatch

Bored and Boring Bishops 

September 7, 2021 Father Jerry J. Pokorsky 44

Boredom among priests and bishops has become a common malaise. After Texas passed a pro-life law that prohibits abortions after six weeks of gestation, Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, KY, tweeted: Those who vehemently fight […]

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News Briefs

Psaki rebukes EWTN reporter who asked why Catholic Biden opposes Texas abortion law

September 2, 2021 Catholic News Agency 6
Jen Psaki responds to EWTN News Nightly’s Owen Jensen question regarding Texas’ heartbeat law. / EWTN News Nightly

Washington D.C., Sep 2, 2021 / 15:50 pm (CNA).

President Joe Biden, the second Catholic president in U.S. history, believes that abortion is a “woman’s right,” White House Press Secrentary Jen Psaki said on Thursday. Her comments came in response to a question about Texas’ newly-enacted abortion ban asked by EWTN News Nightly White House Correspondent Owen Jensen.

“I know you’ve never faced those choices, nor have you ever been pregnant,” Psaki told Jensen, “but for women out there who have faced those choices, this is an incredibly difficult thing.”

Beginning Sept. 1, the “Texas Heartbeat Act” bans abortions statewide after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can happen as early as six weeks into pregnancy. The law also enables citizens to enforce the ban through private lawsuits.

When the Supreme Court rejected an emergency request to block the law in a 5–4 decision, Biden declared a “whole-of-government” response to “ensure” abortion access in the state.

On Sept. 2, Jensen asked Psaki about Biden’s position at a White House press conference.

“Why does the president support abortion when his own Catholic faith teaches abortion is morally wrong?” he wanted to know.

Psaki said that the president believes that abortion is a “woman’s right, it’s a woman’s body, and it’s her choice.”

In a follow-up question, Jensen asked, “Who does he believe, then, should look out for the unborn child?”

According to Psaki, Biden “believes that it’s up to a woman to make those decisions and up to a woman to make those decisions with her doctor.”

She added, “The president believes their right should be respected.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which summarizes Church teaching, recognizes the inherent dignity and worth of the unborn human person and considers abortion a “crime against human life.” 

“Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception,” the catechism reads. “From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”


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News Briefs

Pro-abortion groups appeal to Supreme Court against Texas’ ‘Heartbeat Act’

August 30, 2021 Catholic News Agency 0
Pro-life and pro-abortion advocates outside of the Supreme Court during oral arguments in the case Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, March 2, 2016. / Catholic News Agency

Washington D.C., Aug 30, 2021 / 16:10 pm (CNA).

Pro-abortion groups are asking the Supreme Court to block Texas’ law that would allow private citizens to sue abortion providers for illegal abortions. The law bans most abortions in the state after the detection of a fetal heartbeat – as early as five weeks into pregnancy

On Monday, several abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood’s affiliates in Texas, filed a motion at the Supreme Court requesting that Justice Samuel Alito issue an injunction blocking Texas’ law from going into effect before Sept. 1. 

The “Texas Heartbeat Act”, S.B. 8, is enforced by allowing private civil lawsuits against illegal abortions. 

In response to the motion by pro-abortion groups, the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List stated on Twitter, “Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry continually run to the courts since they are losing hearts and minds nationwide.”

The head of the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the abortion providers in the lawsuit against Texas, warned that the state “will have effectively overturned Roe v. Wade” if the law goes into effect. 

Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights said that the law will force women seeking abortions to “travel out of state – in the middle of a pandemic” to get an abortion. 

The groups appealed to the Supreme Court following their failed attempts in the lower courts to halt the law from going into effect. 

After the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law on Aug. 18, the pro-abortion groups asked for a court hearing on the law – which the Fifth Circuit canceled on Friday. On Sunday, the Fifth Circuit also rejected a series of emergency motions to block the law. 

Texas’ law requires doctors to search for a baby’s heartbeat before performing an abortion. If a heartbeat is detected – which can be as early as five or six weeks into pregnancy – doctors are prohibited from performing an abortion except in a case of medical emergency. 

The law is unique in that it is enforced by private civil lawsuits and not by the government; successful lawsuits are entitled to at least $10,000 in damages, plus costs and attorney’s fees. 

Pro-abortion advocates say that the law creates a “bounty hunting” system that rewards people for filing lawsuits against abortionists. 

The group Texas Right to Life created a website in late August that enables people to report anonymous tips of illegal abortions. 

On Monday, Susan B. Anthony List said that the state legislature “acted on the will of the people,” passing a law “reflecting the scientific reality that unborn children are human beings, with beating hearts as early as five weeks.”

“We stand with Texas and hope that, soon, the Court will finally unshackle all states to be able to protect the most vulnerable among us,” the group stated. In its fall term, the court will hear arguments in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case some legal experts say could result in the court’s Roe ruling being significantly altered or reversed.

“We are so gratified HB 1280, the Human Life Protection Act, and SB 8, the Heartbeat Act, passed and were signed into law by the Governor,” said Jennifer Allmon, executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops in a statement in May. 

Allmon said the legislation “goes a long way in building a culture of life in Texas.”


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