X

Browsing News Entries

Montana Supreme Court OKs pro-abortion measure for voters in 2024

null / Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 21, 2024 / 11:35 am (CNA).

The Montana Supreme Court this week gave the green light to a pro-abortion amendment to the state’s constitution that may appear before voters in November. 

In a 6-1 decision issued on Monday, the court held that state Attorney General Austin Knudsen had “erred” when his office determined that the proposed pro-abortion ballot measure was “legally insufficient” to be placed on the ballot in this year’s election. 

The measure as described on the Montana secretary of state’s website would “[prohibit] the government from denying or burdening the right to abortion before fetal viability” and would further forbid any restrictions on abortion “when it is necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.”

State Deputy Solicitor General Brent Mead said in a Jan. 16 letter that the measure fails the state’s “separate-vote requirement,” which mandates that multiple state ballot measures be prepared and submitted separately so that voters can distinguish between them. 

The measure would change Montana state law in numerous ways, Mead argued, including rules regarding fetal viability and medical regulations; the measure as it was written “creates an express right to abortion but denies voters the ability to express their views on the nuance of the right,” he argued. 

In their ruling, the justices disagreed with Mead’s assessment, arguing that the ballot proposal “effects a single change to the Montana Constitution on a single subject,” namely the right to abortion.

“If [the measure] is placed on the ballot, voters may ultimately agree or disagree with the proposed change that [it] offers,” the justices wrote, “but they will be able to understand what they are being asked to vote upon.”

The court ordered that Knudsen “prepare a ballot statement consistent with the applicable statutory requirements” and that his office “forward the statement to the Montana secretary of state within five days.”

In his dissent, Justice Jim Rice argued that the attorney general “properly determined that the initiative, in its totality, is legally insufficient.” 

He wrote that the measure makes “two or more changes to the constitution that are substantive in nature” and that it is “virtually impossible … for a voter to fully comprehend the effects of its multiple provisions.”

Abortion supporters and pro-life advocates have been battling at the ballot box in the nearly two years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 repeal of Roe v. Wade. 

Voters in seven other states around the country — California, Vermont, Michigan, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, and Ohio — have voted in favor of abortion since Roe’s repeal with residents either voting to expand abortion access or else voting down pro-life measures at the ballot box. 

Nearly a dozen other states, meanwhile, are considering various abortion measures, both pro-life and pro-abortion, in November. 

CUA panel: Prenatal testing poses unique threat to preborn children with Down syndrome

Carissa Carroll, pictured with her son Jack, founded the nonprofit organization Jack's Basket to celebrate babies with Down syndrome / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN Pro-Life Weekly

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 21, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

As many countries celebrate World Down Syndrome Day on March 21, a panel of pro-life leaders and scholars is calling attention to the threat that prenatal testing poses to preborn children who are diagnosed with Down syndrome in the womb.

“[The mother] often faces tremendous internal and external pressure to undergo an abortion,” said J.D. Flynn, who moderated the panel at the Catholic University of America’s Institute for Human Ecology and is himself the father of two children with Down syndrome. 

Prenatal screening within the first 11 through 14 weeks of pregnancy can determine whether a preborn child has a higher likelihood of having Down syndrome, but a follow-up diagnostic test can confirm whether the child has the condition. Although efforts to destigmatize the condition have had some success, the likelihood that a mother will abort her child increases dramatically after such a diagnosis. 

A 2012 study that compiled data from 24 studies between 1995 and 2011 found that more than two-thirds of preborn children who were diagnosed with Down syndrome in the womb were killed via abortion. Rates throughout Europe are even higher — more than 90%. In Iceland, nearly all preborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted and only about two or three children with Down syndrome are born every year.

Mary O’Callaghan, a visiting fellow at Notre Dame University’s McGrath Institute for Church Life, noted a disconnect between the “more positive” attitude the public expresses about people with Down syndrome and the “more aggressive targeting” of abortion for preborn children with Down syndrome.

“Those with Down syndrome are increasingly showing us their ability to flourish,” said O’Callaghan, who also has a child with Down syndrome. In spite of this, she said, “we’re in a much worse place in respect to abortion and Down syndrome.”

Bridget Brown, a 36-year-old woman with Down syndrome who serves on the National Catholic Partnership on Disability Council on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, expressed the same concern. 

Noting the trends in countries such as Iceland, Brown said she may be from the last generation of people with Down syndrome: “The world may never again benefit from our gifts.”

“This is genocide — the systematic killing of a whole people,” Brown added, citing a letter she wrote to Pope Francis about the situation in Iceland before meeting the pontiff in 2017.

Bridget Brown meets with Pope Francis in Vatican City on Oct. 21, 2017. Credit:  L'Osservatore Romano.
Bridget Brown meets with Pope Francis in Vatican City on Oct. 21, 2017. Credit: L'Osservatore Romano.

According to Tracy Winsor, who co-founded an organization to support couples who carry their children to term after a prenatal diagnosis called Be Not Afraid, many women consider abortion after a diagnosis because receiving the news is a “traumatic event” for most couples and is presented as a “worst-case scenario.” 

Winsor noted that doctors will present a lot of information, which “can be overwhelming” at the moment. She advises parents to immediately connect with parents who have children living with Down syndrome and to advocates for individuals with Down syndrome.

O’Callaghan agreed: “Meeting with other parents around this time is very helpful [in reducing abortion].” Prenatal testing, she noted, should be oriented toward preparing for their child.

“They need to think about prenatal testing oriented toward the health of their child,” O’Callaghan said.

Brown similarly noted that like everyone else, her “life is filled with hopes and possibilities” and encouraged couples who receive a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis for their preborn child to approach the situation positively. 

“Make plans based on dreams and not on fears,” Brown said. “Believe in yourself and your child.”

Notre Dame Law grad pilots legal program for parents of children with disabilities

Veronica Webb leads a seminar for parents in fall 2023. / Credit: Courtesy of Notre Dame Law School

CNA Staff, Mar 21, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

An occupational therapist turned lawyer is piloting a legal program, now midway through its first semester at Notre Dame Law School, to help children with disabilities receive the education they need. 

Veronica Webb helped launch the Special Education Law Clinic in November 2023 to enable parents of children with disabilities to maneuver the challenging legal realm of obtaining education for their children.

The clinic has a practical component, enabling it to offer free services, including legal aid, to parents of children with special needs. 

“Some cases are direct representation where we work directly with the families,” Webb told CNA. “In other cases, we’re doing consulting services, so we’re more behind the scenes, helping support the family as they work with the schools.” 

Webb says that special education “can be difficult for parents to navigate without legal support.”  

“The schools will deny certain services or disagree with what the parents think is appropriate for the child,” she said. 

Sometimes it’s a case of the school treating the diagnosis, not the child, Webb said.

“But we really have to look at what [a child’s] specific strengths and specific needs are to do him justice and support him in the most meaningful way to him specifically,” she explained. 

“We work really closely with their parents so that we really understand and get to know the child’s strengths and their needs,” she said. 

The clinic helps parents “to advocate for their child in a more effective and knowledgeable way,” Webb told CNA. “… All of these components and people kind of come together to support the child because the child is at the heart of everything that we’re doing.”

Veronica Webb at law clinic, pictured next to a Notre Dame law student. Credit: Casey Patrick, courtesy of Notre Dame Law School
Veronica Webb at law clinic, pictured next to a Notre Dame law student. Credit: Casey Patrick, courtesy of Notre Dame Law School

‘A desire in my heart’

Webb’s path to special education law began when she was young. 

“I have a cousin who has autism, and he and I had a very unique bond when we were growing up,” Webb recalled. 

Because of this, she decided to volunteer at her cousin’s summer camp.

“I found out through volunteering that I also had similar connections with other children with special needs,” she said. “And it really just kind of put a desire in my heart to serve them.”

Webb was interested in occupational therapy (OT) and law school “from a young age” but ultimately decided on OT because she “wanted to have a more hands-on impact with the children.” 

But after practicing in a sensory integration clinic in California for three years, she realized she wasn’t making “the impact … that I wanted to make.”

Webb would advocate for the kids as their therapist, attending meetings and trying to communicate their needs to the schools. But she lacked legal training.

“And so I went to law school,” Webb said. “I uprooted my life. I moved across the country.” 

She said the decision would have been hard to make without her faith guiding her. 

“I loved my occupational therapy job,” she recalled. “I was so happy there … But I felt such a strong desire for justice and just a strong calling that I had to respond,” she said. 

Shaped by faith  

Webb, one of six children, says that being Catholic has “shaped” her.

“From a Catholic perspective, we’re called to serve those in need. We also have to protect them and do justice for them,” she said, adding: “I think being Catholic and very purposefully trying to discern God’s will for my life opened me to these experiences and undoubtedly led me to the work I’m doing now.”

Webb says she’s “very grateful to Notre Dame” and “the local community, who is inviting us into this very intimate, personal aspect of their lives.”

“It’s very humbling to be allowed to witness what is going on in their lives and serve them in this capacity,” she said of the families who work with them.

“I really am hopeful that we’re able to serve these families and provide justice and peace and support to their families and their children so that they don’t have to shoulder the burden alone anymore,” she continued.

Veronica Webb leads a seminar for parents last fall. Credit: Courtesy of Notre Dame Law School
Veronica Webb leads a seminar for parents last fall. Credit: Courtesy of Notre Dame Law School

Webb says that South Bend, Indiana — the city where Notre Dame is based — didn’t have the resources parents need for their children’s special education. 

“We saw a need in this area specifically, and it just made sense to fill it,” she said. “Especially at a Catholic university, where the mission of serving and supporting these families with special needs who are often marginalized and have a lot thrown at them — it so beautifully aligns with the Catholic Church’s mission and Our Lady’s university.”

Jonathan Roumie of ‘The Chosen’ to be Catholic University’s 2024 commencement speaker

Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie during a visit to Unbound's headquarters in Nov. 2023. / Danika Wolf/Unbound

CNA Staff, Mar 20, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

Jonathan Roumie, the actor who plays Jesus in the popular television series “The Chosen,” will speak at the spring 2024 commencement at the Catholic University of America (CUA), the school announced Wednesday. 

“Countless numbers of people have had their lives changed for the better by Jonathan Roumie through his portrayal of Jesus Christ,” CUA president Peter Kilpatrick said in a March 20 press release

“Jonathan’s work is a testament to how Catholics can use their God-given talents to deliver messages of hope and to bring people closer to God,” Kilpatrick continued. “I look forward to welcoming him to The Catholic University of America.”

Besides playing Jesus Christ in “The Chosen,” which is now in its fourth season, Roumie has been featured on the Hallow prayer and meditation app, and has served as a ministry leader. He was also a keynote speaker at the annual March for Life in 2023 in Washington, D.C., and has more than 1.4 million followers on Instagram. 

“Speaking at The Catholic University of America’s commencement is such an honor because I will be among those who not only value a quality education but a college experience formed by the Catholic faith,” Roumie said in the press release. 

“I so look forward to celebrating with these graduates and sharing some insights into how one can live an inspired, fulfilling, and faithful life using the skills, talents, and intellect given to them by God,” he continued. 

Roumie will speak at commencement on May 11 and receive an honorary doctoral degree, along with four others.

Rabbi Jack Bemporad, an interfaith leader, will also receive an honorary doctorate. Having fled the fascist takeover of Italy when he was 5 years old, Bemporad has since dedicated himself to improving relations among Christians, Muslims, and Jews across the world. He has authored several books about Christian and Jewish relations and is the founding director of the Center for Interreligious Understanding. 

John Finnis, professor emeritus of University of Oxford and University of Notre Dame Law School and a Catholic legal and political thinker and renowned philosopher, will be receiving an honorary doctorate, along with speaker and writer Teresa Pitt Green, advocate, speaker, and co-founder of The Healing Voices magazine. 

Father Piotr Nawrot, a Roman Catholic priest of the Divine World Ministries known for rediscovering and reconstructing 13,000 pages of music held by members of the Moxo and Chiquito tribes, among others, will also receive an honorary doctorate. 

The commencement ceremony will take place on the steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, with about 1,300 graduating students.  

CUA, established in 1887, just announced the launch of its “Lead with Light” brand platform, which Kilpatrick said “encapsulates who we are as an institution.” 

The platform, he said, highlights “our dedication to academic excellence” as well as the “warm and welcoming community” at CUA, “where Christ is at the center of everything we do.”

Five U.S. Catholic priests chosen to attend Synod on Synodality meeting at the Vatican

Father Joseph Friend, Father Artur Bubnevych, and Father Donald Planty are among five U.S. parish priests who have been selected to attend a global gathering of 300 priests at the Vatican from April 28 to May 2, 2024, as part of the ongoing Synod on Synodality. / Credit: Courtesy of Father Joseph Friend; courtesy of Father Artur Bubnevych; EWTN News in Depth/Screenshot

CNA Staff, Mar 20, 2024 / 16:45 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) announced Wednesday the names of five parish priests who have been selected to attend a global gathering of 300 priests at the Vatican this spring as part of the ongoing Synod on Synodality.

In a March 20 announcement, the USCCB said the five priests consist of four Latin-rite priests and one Eastern Catholic priest, at the request of the Vatican. 

The five priests include Father Artur Bubnevych, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Byzantine Catholic Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Father Joseph Friend, parochial administrator of three parishes in the Diocese of Little Rock, Arkansas; Father Luis Navarro, a canon lawyer and pastor of St. George Church in Stockton, California; Father William Swichtenberg, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Appleton, Wisconsin; and Father Donald Planty, a canon lawyer and pastor of St. Charles Catholic Church in Arlington, Virginia. (Planty’s work with young adults at his Arlington parish was recently highlighted on “EWTN News in Depth.”)

The gathering, “Parish Priests for the Synod: An International Meeting,” will be held April 28 to May 2. Announcing the event last month, the Vatican said bishops were asked to give preference to parish priests with “significant experience in the perspective of a synodal Church” while also selecting priests from “a variety of pastoral contexts.” 

During the five-day meeting, the priests will participate in roundtable discussions, liturgical celebrations, workshops on pastoral proposals, and “dialogue with experts,” according to the press release by the synod organizers, at the Fraterna Domus retreat center in Sacrofano, near Rome. 

The goal of the meeting, the Vatican says, is “listening to and valuing the experience of parish priests” and providing them with “an opportunity to experience the dynamism of synodal work at a universal level.”

The meeting is part of the ongoing Synod on Synodality initiated by Pope Francis in October 2021. A multiyear process, the synod aims to enhance the communion, participation, and mission of the Church. The first monthlong session of the Synod on Synodality concluded on Oct. 28, 2023, with the finalization of a 42-page synthesis report. The October 2024 session is expected to produce a final report, which will be presented to Pope Francis for his consideration in issuing any related teaching.

The General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, which governs the synod, said that the meeting was organized in response to the first synod assembly’s Synthesis Report, which identified a need to “develop ways for a more active involvement of deacons, priests, and bishops in the synodal process during the coming year.” 

The priests will also have the chance to speak with Pope Francis in an audience on May 2, the Vatican said in February. The Vatican also said the results of the priests’ meeting will contribute to the drafting of the Instrumentum Laboris, the working document for the second session of the Synodal Assembly, in October 2024.

House members highlight ‘horrific’ organ harvesting of aborted babies

David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress, and Terrisa Bukovinac, founder of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, share testimony in a Capitol Hill panel March 19, 2024, accusing the abortion industry of harvesting aborted baby organs. / Credit: Courtesy of Office of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 20, 2024 / 16:15 pm (CNA).

Several Republican House members hosted a panel on Tuesday highlighting what they called the “horrific” organ harvesting and trafficking of aborted babies.

Hosted by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, on Capitol Hill, the presentation included testimony by David Daleiden, founder of the investigative group Center for Medical Progress, and Terrisa Bukovinac, founder of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAUU).

They testified that Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics throughout the country are selling the organs and body parts of aborted babies in a lucrative biomaterial black market.

Daleiden, who has released several undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood employees discussing the sale of body parts, called on the House to open a formal investigation into the abortion industry’s participation in organ harvesting. 

“At a time when powerful government and media forces are trying to silence this message, it is imperative for the people’s House to reopen formal investigations of the black market and aborted baby organ harvesting so that taxpayer-funded entities can never put a price tag on human beings,” he said.

The event can be viewed here

Selling baby body parts on the black market

Greene pointed out during the panel discussion that the abortion industry operates with virtually no federal or independent oversight, allowing it to conduct illegal activities.

Daleiden claimed that his undercover research has found a network of biomaterial companies partnering with Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to obtain baby body parts for experimentation and other purposes.

“I’ve met with dozens of Planned Parenthood’s top abortion providers at their lavish commercial abortion trade shows sponsored by companies buying baby parts,” he said.

One undercover video shown by Daleiden during the event showed a Planned Parenthood executive in Washington state projecting her organization would make $250,000 on baby part sales to a single biotech company called StemExpress (now called CGT Global).

He also described Planned Parenthood’s partnership with the University of California and the University of Pittsburgh in which the abortion provider receives money in exchange for providing baby body parts. 

One of the experiments uncovered by Daleiden in 2020 revealed that the University of Pittsburgh was grafting aborted baby’s scalps to lab rats, enabling the rodents to grow human hair. This experiment, Daleiden claimed, was funded by federal grants from the National Institutes for Health (NIH), which is taxpayer-funded.

The NIH reports spending an average of $108 million per year on fetal experimentation, according to data gathered by the Charlotte Lozier Institute.

Mentioning the ongoing budget negotiations in Congress, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, commented at the press event that House members should investigate this further and that the fetal experimentation money should be cut from the NIH’s budget.

Allegations about Kamala Harris’ involvement  

Daleiden also alleged that Vice President Kamala Harris was involved in a “cover-up” of the abortion industry’s organ harvesting scheme, pointing to her actions as attorney general of California.  

Following the release of the Center for Medical Progress’ viral videos exposing Planned Parenthood executives, Harris ordered a raid on Daleiden’s apartment to seize “hundreds of hours of unreleased undercover footage,” he said. 

Under Harris, Daleiden said that the California justice system prosecuted him, issued an injunction to keep him from releasing the rest of the footage, and ultimately fined his group $25 million. A federal court in California found Daleiden’s undercover work violated state and federal laws.

“The abortion industry, led by Planned Parenthood, is a powerful special interest [group] in our country; they fight to silence reporting on their black market of aborted baby harvesting and the ongoing cover-up goes to the highest levels of our government,” Daleiden said.

The ‘D.C. Five’ and the FACE Act

During the panel pro-life activist Bukovinac showed members of her group finding a fully intact, third-trimester dead baby boy stored in a plastic shipping container in March 2022. Bukovinac said that based on the baby’s level of development he was 33 weeks old. She said that the fact that the baby’s body was largely intact indicates he was likely killed after being delivered alive.

The boy was found in a crate outside the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, D.C. Bukovinac said he was meant, along with the remains of 114 other babies, to be shipped to Baltimore by a company called Curtis Bay Medical Waste Services to be burned “to provide renewable energy for the city.”

The 33-week-old baby was one of five late-term babies discovered outside the Washington Surgi-Clinic, which is operated by Dr. Cesare Santangelo. 

Despite outrage over these children, who have come to be called the “D.C. Five,” the Department of Justice (DOJ) has not announced any plans to take action. The office of the D.C. medical examiner, meanwhile, has refused to allow an independent examination of the bodies. 

Bukovinac said that one of the members of her group, Lauren Handy, was arrested in 2023 for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act in another protest. Bukovinac decried the DOJ for prosecuting Handy while ignoring the “very likely federal crimes” at the D.C. abortion clinic.

“The DOJ is spending their time instead prosecuting and jailing my friends for totally peaceful, nonviolent direct action when instead they should be going after killers who are committing federal crimes,” she said.

She called on Congress to subpoena Santangelo and order an independent examination of the babies’ bodies.

Rep. Mary Miller, R-Illinois, decried the DOJ for ignoring the D.C. Five, saying during the event: “We must call on the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services to enforce federal law and stop Planned Parenthood from their illegal activities, and we must stop funding these centers of death.”

If the heads of the DOJ and HHS refuse to investigate these killings, Miller said Congress has the power to remove them from office. 

Biden pushes for taxpayer-funded abortion nationwide in 2025 budget plan

When Biden was a senator (pictured with former Rep. Henry Hyde), he consistently supported and voted for the Hyde Amendment, which banned federal spending on abortion. / Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 20, 2024 / 14:45 pm (CNA).

President Joe Biden is calling for taxpayer-funded abortion nationwide and more funding for a program that funnels money to Planned Parenthood facilities in his 2025 budget plan unveiled last week.

The $7.3 trillion budget would eliminate two safeguards that prevent taxpayer-funded abortion: the Hyde Amendment and the Dornan Amendment. Both amendments have been included in federal budget bills for decades, but the president’s proposal leaves them out completely. His plan would also increase funding for the Title X family planning program, which funnels millions of dollars to the abortion provider Planned Parenthood.

“Since flip-flopping on taxpayer-funded abortion to run for president, Biden has lost any resistance to his party’s pro-abortion activist wing,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement.

“Democrats’ ongoing assault on Hyde proves their commitment to abortion above all, as they continue pushing unlimited abortion nationwide, throwing out long-standing, bipartisan consensus for the sake of their abortion lobby allies,” she added.

The president’s message accompanying his budget lists “defending and protecting reproductive rights and health care” in his section about investing in the American people. It criticizes pro-life laws passed since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and urges congressional action on legislation “restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law,” which would mandate legal abortion nationwide.

In a shift from long-standing precedent, the budget proposal would erase the Hyde Amendment, which has prohibited direct taxpayer funding for most abortions for nearly half of a century. If this plan were enacted, federal agencies could legally fund elective abortions with tax dollars. This could include expanding Medicaid to cover abortions, which funded hundreds of thousands of abortions every year before the amendment was adopted in 1980.

Biden’s budget proposal would also eliminate the Dornan Amendment, which prevents local tax revenue received in Washington, D.C., from directly funding most abortions. This protection has been in place for more than 30 years.

Jenny Popik, the legislative director for National Right to Life, told CNA that the elimination of these amendments is the “most sweeping [and] dramatic departure from current law” contained in the budget proposal.

“This would be an enormous funding stream that would be used to [perform] and fund abortion,” Popik warned.

When Biden was a senator, he consistently supported and voted for the Hyde Amendment. He first shifted his position and called for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment during his 2020 presidential campaign.

Many pro-abortion advocates and Democratic lawmakers have voiced opposition to the Hyde Amendment in recent years even though it received bipartisan support when it was introduced. In 2021, House Democrats passed a Biden spending package that excluded the amendment, but the safeguard was re-added amid pushback in the Senate. Republican lawmakers are expected to fight for its inclusion in the 2025 budget.

Although some spending provisions for the 2024 budget are still being debated in Congress, efforts to remove the Hyde Amendment for the 2024 fiscal year were defeated.

The budget would also increase funding for the Title X family planning program by more than 36% from $286 million to $390 million. The program does not directly fund abortions but feeds millions of dollars to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood to provide contraception, sexually transmitted disease screenings, and other services. It would also include $101 million for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program, which provides grants to Planned Parenthood and other organizations to provide their versions of sex education to teenagers.

Popik expressed concerns about federal funding being directed to organizations that provide abortion even if the money cannot be directly used to provide abortion.

“Once you start mixing those funds, it’s very difficult to stop … the bad actors,” Popik said.

The budget would further include more than $3 billion to promote gender equity and equality internationally. The appendix included by the Biden administration would allow the Department of State to “promote gender equality” in other countries. It’s unclear whether this could be used to promote abortion, but the language does not specifically reference abortion and federal law prohibits funding to perform or promote abortion internationally.

Biden has made his support for abortion a key element of his 2024 reelection campaign. He said during the 2024 State of the Union address that he intends to establish nationwide abortion rules that would overturn pro-life laws in Republican states if he has congressional support.

“If you, the American people, send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again,” Biden said at the time.

Ballot initiative in Nebraska would prohibit abortion after 12 weeks

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen signed into law a 12-week abortion ban and a ban on transgender surgery on minors on May 22, 2023. / Credit: Courtesy of the Office of the Governor of Nebraska

CNA Staff, Mar 20, 2024 / 13:50 pm (CNA).

A recently proposed pro-life ballot measure would make Nebraska the first state in the nation to offer unborn children protection in its constitution. 

State residents, meanwhile, may also be voting on a measure to enshrine broad abortion rights into the state’s constitution, with both proposals potentially appearing on the ballot in November.

The Protect Women and Children constitutional amendment, preliminary language of which was filed with the Nebraska secretary of state’s office March 1, would “amend the Nebraska Constitution” to ensure that “unborn children shall be protected from abortion in the second and third trimesters.”

The amendment would outlaw abortion after 12 weeks except in medical emergencies or when an unborn child is the result of sexual assault or incest, the proposal says.  

Sponsors for the measure did not respond to a request for comment on the proposal on Wednesday. The pro-life Nebraska Family Alliance, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that if passed the measure would make Nebraska “the first state in the nation to provide constitutional protection to preborn children in a state constitution.”

The group said the proposal “would ensure that our existing pro-life laws remain in place while we continue working to create a culture of life that provides love and support to every mother and child.” The state last year banned abortion at 12 weeks into pregnancy.

Jackie Ourada, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska secretary of state’s office, confirmed to CNA on Wednesday that the measure had been received by the office but that “final language for the petition has not been submitted” yet. 

The group has until July 3 to collect signatures from 10% of the number of registered voters in the state before submitting. The state requires signatures to come from 5% of registered voters in at least 38 counties.

The pro-life proposal comes as pro-abortion advocates attempt to pass their own constitutional amendment in the state, one that would offer broad protections for abortion throughout most of pregnancy. 

The pro-abortion group Protect Our Rights filed language with the secretary of state last year that could see abortion on the ballot in November if petitioners can collect enough signatures. 

The measure, if approved, would “amend the Nebraska Constitution to provide all persons the fundamental right to abortion without interference from the state or its political subdivisions until fetal viability.”

Protect Our Rights is not publicly sharing the number of signatures it has obtained, but one abortion advocate told Nebraska Public Media this month that the campaign is “on track” to have enough signatures to qualify before the deadline. 

Voters in seven other states around the country, meanwhile — California, Vermont, Michigan, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, and Ohio — have voted in favor of abortion since the Supreme Court’s 2022 repeal of Roe v. Wade, with residents either voting to expand abortion access or else voting down pro-life measures at the ballot box. 

There is still time to receive a plenary indulgence during Lent

Monstrance for adoration, stock photo. / Zolnierek/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 20, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Did you know that there are several ways you can gain a plenary indulgence during Lent? There are actually four ways you can receive one. Even though Lent is nearly over, there is still plenty of time for you to complete any, or all, of these. 

First of all, what is a plenary indulgence?

A plenary indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove the temporal punishment due to sin. The indulgence cleanses a person of all temporal punishment due to sin. However, it must always be accompanied by a full detachment from sin. 

How do we receive one during Lent?

The first way is to spend at least 30 minutes in Eucharistic adoration. Visiting the Blessed Sacrament is important all year round. So why not take part in this beautiful practice during Lent and receive some additional graces too? 

If you’ve never been to adoration, or struggle to stay awake, try reading a couple of chapters from the Gospels, pray a rosary, or really focus on being in Christ’s presence. 

The next way is to take part in the Stations of the Cross, which is when we meditate on the Lord’s passion and death. Every Catholic church should have some kind of Stations of the Cross, whether they are simple or elaborate. Any will do! 

However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. The Holy See’s Manual of Indulgences, Fourth Edition, does state that there has to be 14 stations “representing the 14 stations of Jerusalem.” 

The manual also reminds us that “progression from one station to the next is required.” Although, if there are too many people and moving would cause an inconvenience, it is sufficient that at least the one conducting the Way of the Cross move from station to station. In other words, if you attend the Stations of the Cross with many participants and everyone remains in the pews while the priest moves to each station, that is still valid. 

This specific indulgence can even be gained once a day for those who can attend church daily and wish to perform the Stations of the Cross on their own. 

The next way is by praying the rosary “in a church or oratory, or in a family, a religious community, or an association of the faithful.” 

The last way is by reading or listening to sacred Scripture. Just make sure you spend at least half an hour with the word of God and it counts. 

All right, so you took part in one, or all four, of these ways. But, did you actually receive a plenary indulgence?

How do you know if you received one?

There are some conditions, like the fine print, that assure you receive your indulgence. 

First, you must have complete detachment from all sin, even venial.

Then you have to go to confession, receive holy Communion, and pray for the intentions of the pope. Sacramental confession and receiving the Eucharist can happen up to about 20 days before or after the act performed to receive a plenary indulgence. 

It is appropriate that Communion and the prayer take place on the same day that the work is completed. One sacramental confession is sufficient for several plenary indulgences. However, for each plenary indulgence one wishes to receive, a separate reception of the Eucharist and a separate prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father are required.

Once you have followed these steps, rest assured that you have received a plenary indulgence.

This story was first published on CNA on March 31, 2022, and was updated March 18, 2024.

Supreme Court declines to hear Catholic couple’s lawsuit over transgender child custody

null / Addie Mena/CNA

CNA Staff, Mar 19, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

The Supreme Court rejected without comment this week an Indiana Catholic husband and wife’s petition over a dispute involving custody of their transgender-identifying son. 

Mary and Jeremy Cox refused to accept their son’s self-declared female identity in 2019 and instead sought therapy to address what they saw as underlying mental health concerns. The government subsequently removed their son from their home, placing him in another home that “affirmed” his transgender beliefs. 

The state government eventually dropped its abuse allegations against the couple, though it ultimately refused to return him to their custody, claiming that the child had developed an eating disorder due to the dispute. Multiple court decisions upheld the state’s order. 

The couple, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, subsequently petitioned the Supreme Court last month. On Monday the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, turning down the Coxes’ petition without comment.

The Coxes’ child has turned 18 since the dispute began, though the Coxes argued in their appeal that the state’s decision should still be challenged in part because they have other children at home and were “gravely concerned that Indiana will make similar claims and allegations” regarding those children.

In a statement provided to CNA on Tuesday via Becket, the Coxes said that “no other loving parents should have to endure what we did.” 

“The pain of having our son taken from our home and kept from our care because of our beliefs will stay with us forever,” the parents said. 

“We can’t change the past, but we will continue to fight for a future where parents of faith can raise their children without fear of state officials knocking on their doors.” 

Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, said in a statement that Indiana’s handling of the case “was a shocking attack on parental rights.” 

“Loving parents should not lose custody of their children because they disagree with the state about gender,” she said. 

Though the justices declined to hear the case, Windham said Becket was “confident that the Supreme Court will ultimately protect this basic right and ensure that parents can raise their children consistent with their religious beliefs.” 

Windham had in February described Indiana’s conduct as “an outrage to the law, parental rights, and basic human decency.”

“If the Supreme Court doesn’t take this case,” she said last month, “how many times will this happen to other families?”