What would the pro-life movement be without its perennial infighting? From the absolutists vs. the incrementalists to the Seamless Garment vs. everyone else, it is a feature of our movement that just never goes away. The latest controversy over something mislabeled as “new” is evidence that there is nothing new about these internecine fights. Rebecca … Read more
Something has been terribly lost in the story of Maddi Runkles, the 18-year-old who became pregnant and was punished by her Evangelical school for breaking the morality clause she signed when becoming a student. To begin, I believe it has been a tad unseemly that she has taken to the national airwaves to air her … Read more
More on arguments. “It’s only a clump of cells,” says my interlocutor. I’ll call him Mike. “I’m not aware of the scientific meaning of the word clump.” In all arguments regarding abortion, sex, marriage, and the raising of children, we may well steal a march on our opponents by appealing to biological or anthropological facts, … Read more
Father, I must confess: I have made comments on social media. There is at least one thing that social media illuminate, and that is the unwillingness or the incapacity of people to reason. I attribute it in part to “critical thinking,” which turns otherwise intelligent people into perpetual sophomores, ready to play what they think … Read more
The name Kermit Gosnell is now relatively well known. It should, of course, be better known. He is after all one of the worst serial killers in the history of the United States. He was an abortionist and it is alleged that this fact alone has contributed to the media committing an astonishing act of … Read more
Vecuronium bromide is a drug that relaxes skeletal muscles and can be used in conjunction with surgical anesthesia. That is its usual medical application. Some states also use it in connection with capital punishment: it is one of several drugs used together to execute prisoners. Vecuronium bromide paralyzes the prisoner’s breathing. Potassium chloride is then … Read more
Recently in Ireland a body called the Irish Citizens’ Assembly took steps long feared by supporters of the right to life. The assembly is not a regular constitutional component of the Irish government. Rather it is a body called into being by the government to make suggestions as to potential constitutional amendments for the legislature … Read more
“The entire population of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them because they were seized with great fear. So he got into a boat and returned.” (Luke 8:37) It is amazing. Our Lord has just freed a man from a legion of demons, a man that presumably these folks had, at one … Read more
In February, a group of pro-abortion doctors penned a commentary for the New England Journal of Medicine explaining why the drug Mifepristone should be available in pharmacies, citing safety and convenience. This group was spearheaded by Dr. Daniel Grossman of the ANSIRH program at the University of California, San Francisco, the same program that produced … Read more
Last week, California brought fifteen criminal counts against our client David Daleiden. Counts one through eight deal with the 2014 National Abortion Federation Annual Meeting. Counts nine through eleven deal with the two restaurant visits with Planned Parenthood personnel in the Los Angeles area (the videos that reveal “crush above, crush below,” and “I want … Read more
France, the land of the French Revolution, of liberty, fraternity, and equality, is displaying few of these qualities these days. Not that the French revolutionaries ever did in their time. They guillotined those who belonged to the wrong class, the wrong (i.e. losing) political party, those adhering to Church and King and ultimately each other. … Read more
After Hillary Clinton defended partial-birth abortion at a presidential debate, a poet promised that late-term abortion could unleash a mother’s “compassion.” Her sheeny New York Times essay about aborting a wiggling son whose name meant “heart” is heartbreaking. He’d need a heart transplant one day if he survived delivery; he’d face “horribly painful obstacles” and … Read more
A study published last week in the journal JAMA Psychiatry claims to show that women facing an unwanted pregnancy do not suffer any negative impact on their mental health after abortion. Carried out by the ANSIRH (Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health) program at the University of California, San Francisco, the study sought to respond to … Read more
Though he has local roots in the Kansas City area, I have never met vice presidential candidate, Senator Tim Kaine. From those who do know him, I understand that he is a very affable and likable person. In the Oct. 4 vice presidential debate, Senator Kaine acknowledged he was blessed with great Irish Catholic parents … Read more
“I die in the Catholic Apostolic and Roman religion, that of my fathers, that in which I was brought up, and which I have always professed” wrote Queen Marie Antoinette in the early morning hours before her execution on October 16, 1793. She penned these words in her final letter, written to her sister-in-law Princess … Read more
First there was Bella, then there was October Baby, followed by Gimme Shelter—three films with unabashedly pro-life messages—and not surprisingly all three produced by Christian film-makers in what has become known as the faith-based film genre. This reviewer has been quite open about her opinion of nearly all films created by dedicated Christians—with a few … Read more
Forty-eight years ago this past July, our story reached a dramatic climax. But it began in the dawn of Christianity, with a document called the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (or Didache). Written thirty to fifty years after Christ’s death, it gives the earliest evidence of a Christian condemnation of contraception. For the next 1900 years, it was the … Read more
We Catholics constantly deal with questions about pro-abortion or pro-“gay marriage” Catholic politicians and their conflict with Church teaching. The likes of a Nancy Pelosi or Andrew Cuomo or Kathleen Sebelius are regularly called out. During the 2004 presidential race, Democratic nominee John Kerry, a lifetime Roman Catholic, was strongly criticized for his support of … Read more
Ten months ago, David Daleiden and his investigative journalism group, The Center for Medical Progress, released the first fruits of their inaugural study, Human Capital. Like many Americans, I didn’t immediately watch the first ten-minute video with Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Dr. Deborah Nucatola. As the president of a non-profit law firm, I am very … Read more
The headline talked of more blood as the usual suspects called for the killing of Down syndrome children not yet born. I started to feel anger, but then the image of a face came into my mind. And, as it did so, glancing at the calendar, I wondered if the headline and that image were … Read more