Recently in Life Issues Category

At the Weekly Standard, we read a good summary of what happened last night in the House Energy and Commerce Committee: 

Last night, the House Energy and Commerce Committee narrowly passed the Stupak-Pitts amendment to prohibit tax dollars from paying for abortions through the national health care bill, but when Chairman Henry Waxman brought the amendment up for reconsideration minutes after passage, Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee flipped his vote to 'no', defeating the Stupak-Pitts amendment 30 to 29. "I misunderstood it the first time," Gordon said of his flip-flop, according to The Hill. Gordon and Zack Space of Ohio were the only Blue Dogs on the committee to vote against the amendment to ban taxpayer-funding of abortion.

Instead of the Stupak-Pitts amendment, the committee passed an amendment that is being billed by some Democrats as a "common ground" measure on abortion. The amendment--sponsored by Lois Capps (D-Calif.), whose National Right to Life Committee vote-scorecard is 0 for 74--would allow the "public option" to provide coverage for elective abortions and would allow federally subsidized private plans to provide abortion coverage as well. How exactly could this be construed as "common ground"? Congress isn't requiring the public option to cover abortion--merely allowing it. And through some nifty bookkeeping, abortions will supposedly be paid for out of private funds rather than tax dollars.

Because money is fungible, it's difficult to say that tax dollars wouldn't fund abortions through this plan. Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee says, "Federal subsidies would also flow to private plans that cover elective abortions, under meaningless bookkeeping schemes -- and the amendment actually creates a federal mandate that there must be at least one private abortion plan in each premium rating areas of the health insurance exchange.

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(Update: Jack Smith at the Catholic Key blog has an excellent roundup of this week's past and coming events on this issue, including news about the presser which I mentioned below...which happened this morning.)

Tomorrow is the day for a nationwide effort to bring attention to the issue of abortion coverage in the proposed health care legislation.

Many groups are involved including Democrats for Life  and the American Association of Pro-Life  OB/GYNS - and the place to go for more information is "Stop the Abortion Mandate"

For his part, President Obama told Katie Couric:

President Obama on Tuesday said he would "rather not wade into" the issue of whether or not health care reform should include federal funding for abortions.

The president told CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric that he is "not trying to micro-manage what benefits are covered."

"I'm pro-choice, but I think we also have the tradition in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government-funded health care," he said, adding: "My main focus is making sure that people have options of high quality care at the lowest possible price."

Today, two reps from opposite sides of aisle, but not the issue, will hold a press conference:

On Wednesday, House Democrat Bart Stupak of Michigan and Republican Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania, the co-chairmen of the Pro-Life Caucus, will hold a press conference on the so-called "abortion mandate." Later in the day, Stupak will discuss the issue on CBSNews.com's Washington Unplugged.

Stupak was one of 19 Democrats who sent a letter to Pelosi in late June, calling the issue a deal-breaker.

"We cannot support any health care reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan," the letter said. "Without an explicit exclusion, abortion could be included in a government subsidized health care plan under general health care."

In the Senate, Chris Dodd, who, remember, is Catholic, is leading the way against...well...take his word for it:

During the ongoing health care reform debate taking place in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) has worked to ensure that family planning and women's reproductive and preventive health services are covered by the health reform bill. He has also led the fight against key anti-choice amendments offered by Republican Senators.

As I blogged before, my friend Matthew Lickona is hard at work on his multi-part graphic novel Alphonse. He has taken matters into his own hands and is self-publishing the work, and since he is the writer, that means he must pay an artist. He's been fundraising for part 2 - with little more than a week to go, he's pretty close, but needs a bit more.

If you want to help directly fund the project go here to the "Kickstarter" site.

To order copies of the first issue, go here - it's very inexpensive - 2.99. I ordered 10 copies to give out to folks involved in various pro-life efforts and those I think might be impacted by Alphonse.

To read more about Alphonse go to Matthew's website.

There are articles about Alphonse here:

At Catholic News Agency:

The first issue, titled, "Untimely Ripp'd" is described as a story about the intersection of eight lives following an attempted abortion on Alphonse. 

For readers unfamiliar with the Japanese cartoons known as "Manga," the powers attributed to Alphonse might seem ridiculous. But the exaggeration of emotions, actions and powers is part and parcel of the Manga style, which has become quite popular with American youth in the form of "Anime." 

The comic's website explains that Alphonse is "grotesquely abnormal" due to his mother's "use of controlled substances" which has left him "both sentient and coordinated."

"He is also deeply wounded, twisted by fear and rage after the attempt on his life, and bent on revenge," the site says.  "But violence begets violence. Alphonse is pursued even as he is pursuing, and haunted by the claim that there may be another way... ."

Alphonse is "a living nightmare" Lickona explained in an interview with CNA.  The author likened the character to "'the Misfit' in Flannery O'Connor's short story 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' - a twisted, violent soul who nonetheless bears a kind of prophetic witness, both in spite of the violence and, in a way, through it."

An interview at American Catholic:

Q: What's the reaction to the book been? Has it been covered at all by secular comics sites?

A: Reaction has been varied, and it's come mostly from other Catholics. Some have understood the project right off and thought it worthwhile, others have expressed concern that the central premise will prove too radioactive, that it will prevent the story from getting through. Some, I think, have simply found it puzzling. Plenty of folks have simply kept silent, and I won't venture to guess at why.

I am just now beginning the push to secular comics sites. The comics market is extremely crowded, and I think for a project like this - self published, and dealing with a difficult subject - to attract any notice, it's going to have to have something of an established fanbase. Most of the media people I know are involved with the Catholic press, so I've started there in my effort to build support and find an audience. Also, it seemed to me that a story like this might be dear to the Catholic heart - particularly if that Catholic heart was fond of the grotesque scenarios found in Flannery O'Connor. I don't want to preach to the choir here - I don't want to preach, period - but I thought maybe the choir would find it worth singing about.

A break from SIcily - and I discover that my internet connection is much better in the morning. So maybe I can start some other kind of blogging in the meantime, if I can just get up early enough.

My friend Matthew Lickona has written a graphic novel - the first volume of several - about Alphonse. As far as I am concerned, Alphonse expresses the core of the abortion issue, without sentimentality or a fear of offense. It is a fascinating, rich, deeply suggestive work.

Here's the basic webpage for Alphonse.

Here's where you can buy Alphonse - it's only 2.99 - and perhaps worth buying especially for the hard core young adult in your life who is unfazed by violence and brutality, including that of abortion.

Here's Alphonse's Twitter page.

Here's where you can support Matthew's work on Alphonse in a bigger way.

As promised several days ago, I want to quickly add a bit more to the discussion about Caritas Christi and Catholic health care in general.

I recommended Dr. Leonard Nelson's new book, Diagnosis Critical as a start. It's a very clear intro to the subject  - the historical, ethical, canonical and legal context of the provision of health care by the Catholic Church in the United States. For deeper background, he has some helpful introductory chapters on the shifting grounds of Catholic moral theology over the past few decades.

He looks at the development of ethical guidelines over the past century, and the origins of Catholic health care institutions which, it's important to know, in the case of hospitals at least, have never been totally disengaged from government, even before Medicaid and Medicare. Many Catholic hospitals were actually built by local communities, with the physical plant paid for by local governments, with Catholic religious orders invited to staff and run them. This arrangement developed a federal element with the Hill-Burton act in 1946.

The issue of the provision of procedures contrary to Catholic moral teaching broke open in the mid-60's with Humane Vitae and the resistance to it by large numbers of ethicists. This internal resistance, combined with the external economic and government pressures have resulted in the current situation that some Catholic health systems find themself in.

I want to isolate two points from the book.

First, this: One of the arguments you hear - I've read it in relationship to the Caritas situation  - quite often is that these arrangements in which Catholic institutions are in some way connected to the provision of morally objectionable procedures is justified by the larger social justice concern of providing health care for communities, especially health care for the poor. Basically: we have to do this to survive economically, and if we don't, what we provide will be lost.

This isn't a new argument. It was advanced forty years ago by ethicist Richard McCormick. Nelson quotes him as he criticized the bishops' 1971 Ethical and Religion Directives (ERDs) for Catholic health care institutions. McCormick's first argument was that many "Catholic hospitals" are no longer that anyway:

Increasingly they have become community hospitals, often with heavy non-Catholic staff and clienteles. They were frequently financed through public funds or by appeal to the whole community, and still often enough the only health facility reasonably available to a community. In this climate the concept of a 'Catholic hospital' becomes problematic. (that's McCormick, cited in Nelson)

Nelson continues to summarize:

McCormick argued it was morally permissable for a hospital to permit immoral procedures when it served 'the total good of its patients.' By way of example he suggested that a prohibition on postpartum sterilization would be unjustified if it would result in the closing of an obstetrics-gynecology department. He thus concluded that 'the revised code does not adequately deal with the phenomenon of cooperation.'

This should sound familiar. We're hearing a lot of it these days - and the argument plays on the other side as well, as, for example, abortion and contraceptive advocacy groups have fought against Catholic health care institutions buying up other systems, moves that would result in the end of sterilization and/or abortion services in a certain area.

So there's the bottom line: Catholic health care institutions have to survive, and in the present climate, the only way they can is to partner with other entitities, no matter what these other entitites provide or finance. Don't worry, it's said, these bad things will happen in different rooms, on different floors and we won't see the money.

Catholic hospitals must survive.

But...do they?

That's the question with which Nelson ends his book.

Some recent reminders of the gift. Many of you have probably seen them here and there. I thought I'd gather them in one place.Jen at Conversion Diary with an interview with the parents of a child with serious disabilities:The best...

Wendy Wright of Concerned Women of America writes in Human Events of the specific nature of the conversations that have taken place in the Obama - administration-sponsored meetings about abortion, seeking to find common ground:This meeting took place two days...

ND Response has put texts and videos up on their websiteAll the texts from all the speeches and homilies. It's there. So before anyone emotes about what those objecting to ND's honor of Obama were really up to, please read...

In the post below, I asked a couple of questions, and the comments, while mostly good, strayed quickly from the questions, moving quite naturally, to the difficulties of dialogue.(comments are closed down there now.)As conversations about dialogue on the abortion...

....about dialogue.Over the past few days everyone has discovered dialogue about the abortion issue and decided it hasn't been happening, and it's about time. Whether that is true or not, let's lay it out. Some beginning questions. 1) Who are...

Nicholas Kristof is devoting time and energy to writing about maternal mortality in the developing world - his Sunday column:Take Mariama, a 21-year-old pregnant woman with a 3-year-old child living in a village here in southern Sierra Leone. Mariama started...

Well not really, but maybe on this past weekend's festivities.Two posts at other blogs with megalinks to texts and commentary. Between the two, they've got you covered.Carl OlsonOpinionated CatholicWell, maybe not. Here are a few more that's flashed across the...

There will be, we can hope, an increasing number of conversations about reducing the number of abortions in this country - President Obama has said that this is something his administration will work on. The National Catholic Register has an...

I'm sure accounts of this past weekend's activities sponsored by NDResponse will soon be filtering out...here's a good one to get us started, from Dierdre Mundy, who sent it into Erin Manning:The speakers at the rally weren't terribly famous, but...

(Photo, Reuters, via NCRegister)I'll post interesting ones here as they come in.Michael Sean Winters, an Obama supporter with whom I agree sometimes and disagree others, and who often surprises me, gives Obama an C-. What disappoints here is that the...

Hash it out.So, what's the post-speech meme going to be?I'll take a shot at it - because Obama was rapturously welcomed at Notre Dame and delivered a good-sounding speech well, "the bishops lost."Does that sound about right?I want to work...

The text:Thank you, Father Jenkins for that generous introduction. You are doing an outstanding job as president of this fine institution, and your continued and courageous commitment to honest, thoughtful dialogue is an inspiration to us all. Good afternoon Father...

I think...then I'll move on to other topics.Jody Bottum goes to Notre Dame one more time, looking at this week's responses, and especially responses to his previous pieces.I think the most commented aspect of what he wrote has been his...

The questions are being raised in the comments boxes. Ron, for example:The supposed "common ground" between the Obama Democrats and pro-lifers is support for poor women who might otherwise be inclined to choose abortion. Ann's comments here are very relevant....

It's a familiar claim directed at the pro-life movement, and I don't doubt we'll hear much of it in the next few days, perhaps even voiced by President Obama in his speech on Sunday. The simple version goes like this:*The...

I can't remember.Here's Fr. Jenkins' letter to the Class of '09:May 11, 2009 Dear Members of the Notre Dame Graduating Class of 2009: This Sunday, as you receive your degrees at Commencement, your joy - and that of your families...

...to go with Julia Duin's article of a few days ago..A 16-year old girl reflects on her baby brother's "brief, holy life"(thanks to commenter Cheri for pointing it out.)...

I am intrigued by comments here and there asserting that the opposition to Barack Obama's role in Notre Dame's commencement must be nothing but politics at work. Politically motivated. Obviously and clearly. Usually "hacks" is used at least once in...

Julia Duin of the Washington Times has written a very valuable article telling the stories of mothers who have chosen to bring their seriously disabled babies to term, quite often against the advice - and insistence - of medical professional. ...

The WSJ reports on meetings being held regarding reducing abortion rates, sponsored by the Obama administration:Interviews with several participants suggest there is some common ground, but plenty of disagreements remain. It will be challenging for the White House to settle...

NRLC claims that the Obama administration's proposed budget urges tax-funded abortions in DC:Today's White House budget submission explicitly urges the House and Senate -- which the President's party currently controls with nearly three-fifths majorities -- to repeal a law (sometimes...

You knew this was coming, didn't you?For several years, exhibits of preserved human bodies have been popular draws. Gunther von Hagen originated the concept and his "Bodyworlds" exhibits are the most extensive, although I think there are others who are...

The "Mass of Reparation" at St. James Cathedral in Orlando was last night.Did anyone attend?Here's one report, bare bones:Upset by an honorary degree being bestowed upon President Barack Obama by the University of Notre Dame, Bishop Thomas Wenski presided over...

From an alumna, in First ThingsFor many members of the Notre Dame Class of 2009, the uproar surrounding the university's decision to honor Barack Obama with this year's commencement address, and to bestow on him a doctorate of laws, has...

Mary DeTurris Poust makes an excellent point at the OSV blog:During last night's 100-day press conference, when President Obama was asked about methods of torture used to interrogate suspected terrorists, he eloquently referred back to Winston Churchill, saying that when...

Elizabeth Lev is an art historian living in Rome, which means, almost by default, that she also has been known to lead tours in Rome - our family was blessed to experience that. Her mom is also Mary Ann Glendon....

Has long-time commenter RP wrapped it up and tied it tight, or does he drop it?To grasp, as Glendon is doing here, for the moral high ground in opposition to a pro-abortion-rights president even as she has most recently been...

Thanks to commenter South Bender:Laetare Recipient Wanted (Notre Dame, IN) Reply to: gigs-zd7sb-1143896969@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?] Date: 2009-04-28, 9:24AM EDT URGENT!!! Laetare Award recipient needed ASAP!!! Christian preferred, agnostic case-by-case. If interested call Fr. John ,,, by May...

Today, at Public Discourse, from Christopher O. Tollefsen, Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina and co-author, with Robert P. George, of  Embryo: A Defense of Human LifeIt is important to be clear, as a moral matter, on what...

They're working on it: The following statement from Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, is in response to the decision by Mary Ann Glendon to decline acceptance of the University's Laetare Medal:"We are, of...

Mary Ann Glendon, in a letter to President Jenkins faxed just this morning, declines the Laetare Medal.(the link is to First Things, which seems to have crashed - much of the text of the letter is here.)Oh, my.Last month, when...

Dawn Eden has a fantastic post that begins with reflections about her book tour in Poland and continues by examining the words of one back in this country virulently opposed to the whole notion of attaching morality to sexual activity,...

I notice the Catholics for Sebelius site has been quiet for about a six weeks now.Well, anyway, the confirmation vote for Sebelius has been delayed. Last night she vetoed a bill adding some restrictions - mostly reporting requirements - to...

Tom Peters, the American Papist, reports that Bishop Conlon of Steubenville is exhorting those in his diocese to pay more attention to Friday penance and abstinence .From the bishop's letter on the matter, dated late last month:Next to Sunday, Friday...

Via our friend at the Catholic Key:Debate lasted only a few minutes Tuesday, apparently because most of the 65 representatives had made up their minds. All except Ed Vigil.The freshman Democrat from Fort Garland sat still as the House's electronic...

Bishop D'Arcy responds to Father Jenkins - this is on the Diocesan website, here:April 21, 2009 My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Recently, Father John Jenkins, CSC, in a letter of response to Bishop Olmsted of the Diocese of...

On Friday afternoon, the NIH released draft guidelines for federally-funded embryo-destructive research. Backstory:  The Bush administration had limited such research to a few already-existent cell lines - a decision some hailed as a good compromise, and others - like me...

This is rather amazing - via Fr. Z - Bishop Wenski of Orlando (not a raging "conservative" by any means) is presiding at a "Mass of Reparation" in the Cathedral:As Catholics we are aware of the many shortcomings and transgressions...

Father John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame, explained the university's decision to the Board of Trustees by saying that the 2004 USCCB document Catholics in Public Life only applies to Catholics:The 2004 document was clearly adopted by the Bishops as...

One of the many areas in which the Obama administration has settled into its role as promoting the abortion license is in regard to conscience regulations for health care professionals and institutions.As most who follow the news and these issues...

Yesterday, a prayer rally sponsored by Notre Dame Response (a student group) was held on the campus of Notre Dame to protest President Obama's commencement speech and honorary degree.The NDObserver student newspaper covered it. An estimated 400 people were there...

Thanks to Clayton Emmer in the comments (Clayton blogs here at "Weight of Glory") who alerts us to the CNS article noting that the Holy Cross superior general has written to President Obama:The head of the Holy Cross religious order...

Well, back to President Obama and Notre Dame for a moment.The Catholic Channel on Sirius/XM or whatever it is now, features the radio stylings of Greg and Jennnifer WillIts - the "Catholics Next Door" - midday. Greg and Jennifer are...

The Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge has unanimously elected a new dean, Dr. Katherine Ragsdale. Chris Johnson at the Midwest Conservative Journal posts:How radically pro-abortion is Katie Rags?  This radically pro-abortion:And when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive,...

Inside Catholic reports on the latest regarding Kansas Governor Sebelius:The bishops of Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia, confirmed publicly they would uphold the declaration of her ordinary, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, stating that Governor Sebelius should not present...

I want to pull a comment from below and use it to focus discussion:Although Kevin Jones's argument was a devil advocate's argument, I think it holds up. Barak Obama is OUR president. He is my president, he is your president....

I keep asking for a reasoned, principled defense of President Obama's role as commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient at Notre Dame, but it's just not happening yet. Unless I've missed it, which is thoroughly possible.The best I can find...

Here you go:(I am on the run - not able to comment right now.)March 24, 2009 On Friday, March 21, Father John Jenkins, CSC, phoned to inform me that President Obama had accepted his invitation to speak to the graduating...

A wrap-up of sorts. I was trying to wait to see if Bishop D'Arcy had a statement today, but nothing yet, so here goes.(Update: John Norton at OSV reports that D'Arcy's statement will come Tuesday morning.)I didn't do a massive...

If anyone viewing this page spots the contraceptive ad banner, go ahead and grab a screenshot and the page source if you can, and send it to me. We're going to try to do something about it.Many thanks....

As I noted below, Dr. Mary Ann Glendon will be the very deserving recipient of this year's Laetare Medal, presented by the University of Notre Dame:Established at Notre Dame in 1883, the Laetare Medal was conceived as an American counterpart...

Give it to me.(Update: And while I really do appreciate the discussion so far...I was serious. Supporters of the choice...tell me why it's a good choice.)Here's an arguments against, from the comments box:My heart is breaking at this invitation and...

President Obama will be Notre Dame's commencement speaker.President Bush was the commencement speaker in 2001.Should either have been invited?Neither?One or the other?...

One of the things most of us should have learned a long time ago is that it is not exactly wise to comment too quickly on any story the minute it comes across the Interweb wires, especially if that story...

A week ago today, President Obama reversed the Bush policy on embryo-destructive stem cell research. Predictably, and no surprise.(By the way, I was not a fan of the Bush decision. I somehow couldn't find it as awesomely Solomonic as some...