Pope Francis and abortion
It was trendy for a while to picture Pope Francis as “soft” on social issues that other popes were “hardliners” about, such as abortion. In his new Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis makes his most authoritative statement on abortion. Let’s let him speak for himself: 213. Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to […]
Moral Theology and the Irish abortion law
LifeSiteNews.com, in “Ireland’s abortion bill the result of 40 years of bad moral theology: priest/professor,” reports that a leading Catholic moral theologian and long-time defender of life, Fr. Vincent Twomey, blames the passage of the recent Irish abortion law on years of bad moral theology training in the seminaries that is “radically at variance with […]
Commonweal “Can we talk about abortion?”
Rick Garnett over at Mirror of Justice blog has recommended Commonweal’s new story, “Can we talk about abortion?‘ It will come as no surprise to Catholic readers of this blog that none of the three contributors to the article, Dennis O’Brien, Peter Steinfels, and Cathleen Caveny, give a robust defense of the view that innocent […]
Abortion and Sainthood
Kathryn Jean Lopez has written a moving piece responding to Stephen Prothero’s very odd commentary on Dorothy Day’s abortion and her cause for sainthood. Prothero’s conclusion suggests that his real purpose is not to reflect on the possible cannonization of Dorthy Day but to argue that the sinfulness of abortion is not accepted by all […]
Abortion and Conjoined Twins
A young single mom from Wisconsin has become the subject of international commentary due to her decision to continue her pregnancy after being informed that the twin daughters she is carrying are joined at the heart and share other internal organs. Some readers of this blog may recall the controversy that arose in England a […]
Symposium on Gender Justice in the Americas: A Transnational Dialogue on Violence, Sexuality, Reproduction, and Human Rights
The Miami Law Review has published a symposium issue containing papers and talks given at the 2011 conference involving advocates and scholars from 20 countries in North and South America to explore Gender Justice in the Americas: A Transnational Dialogue on Violence, Sexuality, Reproduction, and Human Rights. The introduction to the symposium issue is now […]
One more post on the contraception-coverage mandate
Yesterday I linked Helen Alvaré’s comments on the recent Obama Admin decision. Here are a couple of additional pieces. One is political scientist Michael New’s “Our Fears Are Realized.” Prof. New has presented some of his research on the effects of abortion laws at a UFL conference. Another is by Greg Pfundstein: “The Misguided Birth-Control […]
The Obama Admin, contraception, and conscience
Rather belatedly adding my first post to the UFL blog, and following up on Richard Myers’s post just below, here are a couple of good recent pieces by Prof. Helen Alvaré – formerly of the USCCB, now of George Mason Univ. School of Law – regarding the Administration’s decision to require health insurers to cover […]
North Carolina’s Woman’s Right to Know Act
The North Carolina legislature recently passed the Woman’s Right to Know Act, which requires a 24 hour waiting period before an abortion during which the pregant mother would have an opportunity to consider information and view an ultrasound. Governor Perdue vetoed the Act. North Carolina’s Catholic bishops have issued a statement urging an override. http://www.dioceseofraleigh.org/news/view.aspx?id=1167 […]
Push for Abortion Training in Faith-based Medical Schools
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists supports comprehensive preclinical education about family planning that includes contraception and abortion for medical students. Furthermore, the Association of Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO) have set standards for medical students on the topics of contraception and abortion. The rationale is that many women in the United States […]