Mississippi personhood amendment rejected
The personhood amendment in Mississippi was rejected by voters.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/us/politics/votes-across-the-nation-could-serve-as-a-political-barometer.html The implications of this vote are not clear. As the New York Times article notes, the personhood amendment effort has split the pro-life movement. Some pro-life groups object to the personhood effort on strategic grounds. Richard M.
Nurses’ jobs threatened by their refusal to assist in abortions
Here is a LifeNews report on a lawsuit that was filed by a dozen nurses whose jobs were threatened because they refused to assist in abortions. The suit, brought by lawyers from the Alliance Defense Fund, contends that the nurses’ rights under federal and state were violated by the hospital’s threats. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/01/hospital-told-nurses-assist-abortions-or-lose-your-job/ UPDATE: The court issued a temporary […]
NY Times article on proposed personhood amendments
Here is a link to an article in today’s New York Times on the personhood proposals pending in Mississippi, and being considered in several other states. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/us/politics/personhood-amendments-would-ban-nearly-all-abortions.html?_r=1 Richard M.
Sam Calhoun’s paper on Kermit Gosnell
Here is the abstract of Sam Calhoun’s paper on Philadelphia abortion provider Kermit Gosnell, and a link to the abstract and paper. Sam presented a version of this paper at the University of Faculty for Life conference at Notre Dame in June 2011. “This article focuses on three of the atrocities committed by Philadelphia abortion […]
Michael Paulsen essay on sex-selection abortions
Here is a link to an essay by Michael Paulsen that was published today on the Public Discourse blog. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2011/10/4149 After noting the practice of abortion for sex-selection, Paulsen discusses the prospect that a law banning abortion for reasons of sex selection might force the Supreme Court to confront the realities of its abortion case law. […]
Dutch proposal to expand meaning of “unbearable suffering”
Here is a link to a post on Wesley Smith’s blog about a position paper from the Dutch Physician’s Association seeking to expand the factors to be considered in assessing whether a patient’s suffering is “unbearable,” thus making the patient eligible for assisted suicide. According to the article to which Smith refers–“Until now, factors such as income […]
Changing Minds, Saving Lives
“Changing Minds, Saving Lives” is the title of a good essay by Nicholas DiFonzo (Rochester Institute of Technology) in the November 2011 of First Things. The essay is based on a talk that Nicholas delivered at the 2011 University Faculty for Life conference, whcih was held in June at the University of Notre Dame. The essay […]
NCBQ and the Phoenix abortion case
The most recent issue of the National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly (Vol. 11, no. 3; Autumn 2011) contains several articles that continue the discussion about the Phoenix abortion case and related matters. The issue contains articles by Rev. Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco, OP (Abortion in a Case of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension), Thomas A. Cavanaugh (Double-Effect Reasoning, […]
San Jose Articles presented at UN briefing
The San Jose Articles were presented at a UN briefing today. The Articles, which challenge the widespread claims that international law supports a right to abortion, were discussed by Robert George and Grover Joseph Rees. See www.sanjosearticles.org. Richard M.
abortion and mental health
Courtesy of the National Right to Life News, here is a story discussing a new journal article on the link between abortion and mental health. http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2011/09/study-in-prestigious-journal-shows-abortion-harms-women%e2%80%99s-mental-health/#more-4996 Richard M.