Catholic Hospitals Pressured To Perform Abortions!

ACLU Pressures Catholic Hospitals To Do Abortions

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has sent a letter to the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services claiming that Catholic hospitals nationwide are refusing to do supposedly life-saving abortions, saying “emergency reproductive health care” includes abortions.

Catholic norms allow physicians to treat a life-threatening condition even if it indirectly causes an abortion, but does not permit direct abortion.

The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty said in a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services that ACLU is misinterpreting the Emergency Medical Treatment Act, a law which initially was designed to protect the conscience rights of health care workers, and that ACLU’s claim overturns 25 years of case law. “The ACLU has no business radically re-defining the meaning of ‘emergency health care,’” the legal group asserted.

The Beckett Fund letter stated they would sue if HHS tried to force religiously-affiliated hospitals to do abortions against the conscientious objections of their doctors and nurses. The letter stressed that ever since the Roe v Wade. decision legalized unlimited abortions, the conscience of medical professionals has been protected.

“Forcing religious hospitals to perform abortions not only undermines this nation’s integral commitment to conscience rights, it violates the numerous federal laws that recognize and protect those rights,” the Beckett Fund letter stated.

The Beckett Fund also pointed out that “forcing Catholic or other religiously-affiliated hospitals to perform abortions will only result in nationwide closures, thereby reducing access to health care for everyone.” Moreover, this “would constitute a large step backwards for religious freedom and would turn this nation’s foundational commitment to conscience rights on its head,” the group added.

Beckett Fund President Kevin Hasson offered to represent pro-bono any religious hospital threatened because of their conscientious objection to abortion.

Tom Brejcha, president of the Thomas More Society, called on Catholics to provide “an enlightened, invigorated and sustained response” to the ACLU challenge.

Find this article and other Pro-Life News at: National Right To Life Committee (Choose Life Newspaper)

Opposing Abortions On Military Bases

Military Doctors Sign Letter Opposing Abortions On Military Bases

This article and other Pro-Life News can be found at: National Right To Life Committee (Choose Life Newspaper) 

A letter to the U.S. Senate protesting an amendment requiring U.S. military hospitals to provide abortions was signed by more than 200 military doctors. The letter was organized by the Christian Medical Association (CMA).

Pro-abortion Senator Roland Burris (D/Illinois) sponsored the amendment which would break the current long-standing policy of not allowing abortions at military medical facilities.

The letter urged senators to vote no on the National Defense Authorization Act unless the Burris amendment is removed.

The senior vice-president of CMA, Gene Rudd, M.D. emphasized that, “If enacted, requiring military physicians to perform abortions threatens military readiness. Morale will suffer among those already serving. Morale is a key component of military effectiveness.”

“Furthermore,” Dr. Rudd pointed out, “just as we have seen a marked decrease in young doctors entering OB/GYN training for fear of being forced to do abortion, this requirement will discourage young doctors from joining the military.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee approved the amendment 15-12, with all 11 Republicans plus Democratic Senator Ben Nelson voting against it. Senator Roger Wicker (R/MS), who fought against the amendment in committee, is planning to sponsor an amendment of the Senate floor to strike the language.

The Fire

I received this as an email from Fr. Tomas del Valle-Reyes of New York. I wanted to share it with all of you. What a wonderful reminder of a parent's love for her children...Abba's love for us. It made me wonder...if it is an instinct among animals to protect their young...how can it be so easy for a human to destroy her own?

An article in National Geographic several years ago provided a penetrating picture of God's wings.

After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree.
Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings.
The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise.
She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze had arrived and the heat had singed her small body, the mother remained steadfast. She had been willing to die so those under the cover of her wings would live.
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:4