Obama Administration moves to overturn Bush's 'Conscience rule'

The Washington Post brings word that the Bush Administration's 'conscience' rule on abortions will likely be rescinded by the Obama administration:

The administration's plans, revealed quietly with a terse posting on a federal Web site, unleashed a flood of heated reaction, with supporters praising the proposal as a crucial victory for women's health and reproductive rights, and opponents condemning it as a devastating setback for freedom of religion. [...]

Administration officials stressed that the proposal will be subject to 30 days of public comment, which could result in a compromise. They said they remain committed to seeking a middle ground but acknowledged that will not always be possible.

"We recognize we are not going to be able to agree on every issue," said an administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the process has just begun. "But there remains a substantive area of common ground, and we continue to believe we can make progress and will make progress." [...]

The debate centers on a Bush administration regulation, enacted in December, that cuts off federal funding for thousands of state and local governments, hospitals, health plans, clinics and other entities that do not accommodate doctors, nurses, pharmacists or other employees who refuse to participate in care they feel violates their personal, moral or religious beliefs.

Pregnancy = Involuntary Servitude

Carl Olson (Insight Scoop) provides an extensive and detailed analysis of President Obama's nominee for the head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), Dawn Johnsen -- a woman who reportedly once analogized pregnancy to involuntary servitude.

Bishop Martino repeats criticism of Senator Casey regarding his vote against the Mexico City Policy

Patrick Archbold (Creative Minority Report on the notifications of the bishop of Scranton Pennsylvania, Joseph F. Martino, to Sen. Robert P. Casey regarding his vote against the Mexico City Policy and promotion of contraception:

Bob Casey of Pennsylvania ran for Senator as a pro-life candidate; a fact which clearly made his defeat of pro-life Senator Rick Santorum more likely.

But recently, many believe Senator Bob Casey has not lived up to the rhetoric of candidate Casey when it comes to being pro-life. Casey failed to vote against President Obama's change of the Mexico City policy which allowed the United States to fund groups that perform abortions overseas. Casey, in fact, went so far as to argue that giving the groups money was somewhat pro-life in that it could reduce the number of abortions by promoting contraception.

Bishop Martino obviously did not agree, according to the diocesan website. In a letter earlier this month Bishop Martino condemned Sen. Casey’s vote and urged him to reverse it.

“Your vote against the Mexico City Policy will mean the deaths of thousands of unborn children. This is an offense against life and a denial of our Catholic teaching on the dignity of every human being. This action is worthy of condemnation by all moral men and women...Your failure to reverse this vote will regrettably mean that you persist formally in cooperating with the evil brought about by this hideous and unnecessary policy,” says the Bishop.

And now Bishop Martino has sent a second letter to Senator Casey urging him to reverse his vote; this time with even stronger language ...

Nice to know Vice President Biden made it to Mass yesterday

Hope and pray he takes the message of Ash Wednesday to heart.

David Schrader

President Obama calls Archbishop Dolan

No joke. Archbishop Dolan at first thought it was, but it really was the President. Nice move.

 

David Schrader

Will Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius be our next HHS Secretary?

When groups like Catholics United are upset you know that she is a top contender.

 

I may not know the answer to that but, I do know that Archbishop Naumann was correct in telling the governor to stop receiving communion for her “30-year history of advocating and acting in support of legalized abortion."

 

Saint Thomas More, patron of politicians, pray for Governor Sebelius!

 

David Schrader

Professor Kmiec is upset...

…boo hoo.

 

David Schrader

 

PS. Should we stop caring what Professor Kmiec thinks or writes? I’m getting close.

Board Chair of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good heralded for her fundraising, and "getting out the Catholic vote", for Obama

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good proclaims itself to be

"a non-partisan, non-profit, 501c3 organization dedicated to promoting the fullness of the Catholic Social Tradition in the public square. Founded in 2004, our mission is to provide information to Catholics about Church social teaching as it relates to public participation in our society, and to advance the prophetic voice of the Catholic social tradition.

According to The Catholic Key, it turns out that Catholics in Alliance completely beholden to Obama:

Elizabeth Frawley Bagley is the board chair of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. As reported here earlier, Bagley is anything but nonpartisan. In fact, she has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the DNC and scores of pro-abortion Democrat politicians including Al Franken, Barbara Boxer, Claire McCaskill, Charles Schumer, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. She personally raised at least $350,000 for the Obama campaign and was a member of his national finance team according to an interview in the Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror.

The former Ambassador to Portugal and Clinton State Department official is wife of RJ Reynolds tobacco heir and former DNC Finance Chair, Smith Bagley. ...

[O]ne day after the election, on November 5, Bagley sat for an interview on the internet broadcast Paltalk News. Host Gary Baumgarten introduced Bagley as the person "who was responsible for getting out the Catholic vote for Obama," - a claim she did not deny. In his synopsis of the show, Baumgarten also describes Bagley as "an official of the Barack Obama campaign."

Speaker Pelosi gets a lesson from Pope Benedict

Take note Vice President Biden, Senator Kennedy, Senator  Kerry, Senator Mikulski, Rep. DeLauro, Governor Sebelius, Mayor Giuliani, Governor Schwarzenegger and all Catholic politicians and voters who enable the abortion regime. 

Statement from the Holy See after Speaker Pelosi's audience with the Holy Father:


Following the General Audience, the Holy Father briefly greeted Mrs. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, together with her entourage. His  Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception until natural death, which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists, and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of development.

 

Nancy got schooled folks.

 

Read more from USAToday.com and George Weigel

 

David Schrader

 

PS. Of course, Speaker Pelosi's statement did not refer to this aspect of their meeting.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi will meet with Pope Benedict XVI

“Ardent Catholic” Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, will receive an audience with Pope Benedict XVI tomorrow. Because of her role as a Head of State (she is 3rd in line to the presidency) the Vatican will treat this as an official meeting.

Although numerous reports have been published either confirming or denying that Pope Benedict would receive Pelosi in an audience, the Holy See’s Press Office confirmed to CNA on Monday at noon Rome time, that the Holy Father will receive the U.S. representative on Wednesday at midday.

The press office made clear that the Pope will meet with Pelosi in his capacity as a head of state since the Speaker of the House is the third in line to lead the U.S., should the president and vice president be unable to do so.

 

The idea of providing Pelosi with a photo-op has disturbed a significant number of U.S. Catholics and pro-life activists.

 

In August 2008, Pelosi attempted to offer a justification for why Catholics could support abortion and remain in good standing with the Church by giving a convoluted explanation based on misquotes of Sts. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas on "Meet the Press."

 

Pelosi's pretention at reinterpreting Catholic moral and theological teaching elicited strong criticism from more than 20 U.S. cardinals, archbishops and bishops.

 

More recently, Nancy Pelosi was strongly criticized for defending the insertion of millions in spending on contraceptives into the stimulus bill. Pelosi, who says she is an "ardent Catholic," told ABC's This Week that the money spent on family planning services would "reduce costs."  Source: CNA

 

No word on a private audience. I would think the Speaker will avoid such a meeting and the smack-down she would likely receive. Sorry, smack-down might not be the most charitable word to use. What do we call it when our bishops and/or the Holy Father tell Catholic politicians  who enable the abortion regime they are wrong? Regardless, this is most likely about a photo-op for the Speaker. My hope and prayer is for the Holy Father to help begin her conversion.

 

See also LifeNews.com, RedState, and Deal Hudson

 

David Schrader

 

P.S. I wonder if Vice President Biden is piqued about the Speaker getting her picture with the Holy Father before he does.

John Boehner on House Democrat's passing of 1,100 page trillion dollar spending bill

House Republican Leader (and Catholic) John Boehner (R-OH) gives a powerful speech on the House floor, shortly before House Democrats push through a 1,100 page trillion-dollor spending bill with less than 24 hours of public review time:

here I have, 1,100 pages, not one member of this body has read. Not one. There may be a staffer in the appropriations committee that read all of this last night. I don’t know how you can read 1,100 pages between midnight and now. Not one member’s read this. What happened to the promise that we’re going to let the American people see what’s in this bill 48 hours? No - we don’t have time to do that. We owe it to the American people to get this bill right. We owe to American families, we owe it to small businesses and we owe it to ourselves to get this right so we can, in fact, help our economy.

Here's the transcript.

Catholic News Agency: Catholics in Alliance "Abortion Reduction" Study Found to be Faulty - Social Welfare Policies Have Little Effect on Abortion

Surprise, surprise:

Washington DC, Feb 11, 2009 / 04:09 am (CNA).- Until recently, a Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good study of abortion data claimed that increased spending on welfare programs results in substantial reductions in state abortion rates but many pro-life laws do not. However, the study’s results have been revised following the discovery that incorrect abortion data was used and after criticism from a professor that the group’s conclusions did not follow from the data.

In August 2008, the group Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good announced the release of a study on the effects of public policy on abortion rates over a 20-year period. The group had commissioned Joseph Wright, who is a political science professor at Penn State University, and Michael Bailey, who is a professor of American government at Georgetown University, to conduct the study.

“The study of all U.S. states from 1982-2000 finds that benefits for pregnant women and mothers, employment, economic assistance to low-income families, quality child care for working mothers and removal of state caps on the number of children eligible for economic assistance in low-income families has reduced abortions,” the group reported in an August 28 press release. “In contrast, permitting Medicaid payments for abortions increased the abortion rate.”

The old version of the report was removed from the site in November 2008 after critics pointed out problems with the study.

***
The feedback of Michael J. New, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Alabama, was acknowledged in the new version of the report. Writing at the web site MoralAccountability.com, New said that the authors of the study discovered that they had used incorrect abortion data for the years following 1997.

***
“The new version provides evidence that welfare policy has no more than a marginal effect on the incidence of abortion,” he argued. “In fact, the new regression results indicate that none of the three welfare policies which the authors previously argued were effective tools for reducing the incidence of abortion have a substantial abortion reducing effect.”

***
He also criticized the report’s finding that parental involvement laws and other state laws restricting abortion have little impact on overall abortion rates.

“Since parental involvement laws only directly affect minors, Wright should have mentioned that analyzing their effects on the overall abortion rate is not a methodologically sound way to gauge their actual impact,” New wrote.

The argument that informed consent laws are ineffective, New claimed, fails to acknowledge the “substantial differences” in the effects of informed consent laws that have been enacted and those that have been nullified. By the report’s criteria, New argued, the results provide evidence that informed consent laws are effective.

***
However, Professor New also pointed out that events in the political arena were impacted by the first study.

In an essay at MoralAccountability.com, New accused Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good of misleading the public and referred to “plenty of peer reviewed studies” which find that public funding restrictions and parental involvement laws reduce the incident of abortion.

He claimed the study had a “substantial impact” on the pro-life debate in the 2008 Presidential election and gave “intellectual legitimacy” to those such as Doug Kmiec and Nicholas Cafardi who argued that pro-life voters should vote for Democrats to advance the pro-life cause.

In a Tuesday e-mail to CNA, Prof. New said that the research produced by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good seems unwilling to acknowledge the “positive effect of pro-life laws such as parental involvement and informed consent laws.”

CNA asked New to speculate why welfare spending generally does not decrease the abortion rate.

He suggested that welfare “undermines societal mores against premarital sex” by enabling women to have more children out of wedlock. Welfare may result in more unplanned pregnancies and possibly more abortions, New said.

“Regardless of how generous welfare benefits are, women facing crisis pregnancies can find financial and medical resources at one of the thousands of crisis pregnancy centers across the country,” he added.

New noted the finding in both the current and previous versions of the group’s report that shows higher female employment is correlated with higher abortion rates.

***
New also mentioned a 2002 study which showed that Medicaid recipients have a higher incidence of abortion in states where Medicaid funds the procedure.

“In states that provide Medicaid funding for abortions, women with Medicaid coverage had an abortion rate more than four times as high as women without such coverage (89 vs. 21 per 1,000),” New summarized. “In contrast, in states that do not cover abortion services for women on Medicaid, the abortion rate among Medicaid recipients was only twice that of women without Medicaid coverage (35 vs. 16 per 1,000).”

While the Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good study reports an increase in abortion rates in states where abortions are funded by Medicaid, New charged: “they do not give this finding much attention in the write-up.”

“Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good continues to miss opportunities with their abortion research,” New told CNA.

“I think that they would be more effective if they would be more willing to publicly acknowledge the positive impact of pro-life legislation and try to constructively work with pro-life groups to promote social policies that will further reduce abortion rates. Instead Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good seems primarily interested in providing moral, political, and theological cover for supporters of Barack Obama and other Democrats who support ‘abortion rights.’”

[Read the whole thing]

(emphasis added)


UPDATED (12 February 2009)
Regular Guy Paul has something to say about the lies and those who chose to believe them:

It was a lie. The left told a convenient lie, and the Catholic left opted to accept it. As I said at the time, they knew it was a lie.

***
They would rather claim to believe lies than vote against abortion. And, having won, they offer nary a keystroke to argue against abortion. They claimed to believe this study. They claimed that Obama's pro-abortion promises were just pandering. They claim to be pro-life. They, like "Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good," are liars. They don't oppose abortion. They've made a negotiated peace on a non-negotiable issue. As I've called them before, they are turncoats in the culture war.

See also:
Prof. Robert George: Notion that Obama's Policies Will Reduce Abortion is "Delusional"

National Catholic Register: "Pro-Life Candidates Save Lives"

Archbishop Chaput: Kmiec Doing a "Disservice to the Church"

USCCB Sets Record Straight Re: Catholic Stance on Overturning Roe

Mark Stricherz: "Why the Democratic Abortion Strategy is Worse"

U.S. Catholic Bishops: "You Can't Reduce Abortions by Promoting Abortions"

Blackadder: "Would Overturning Roe Reduce the Abortion Rate?"

"Poverty and Abortion: A New Analysis"

W. James Antle, III on Doug Kmiec's " misinformation offensive for Barack Obama"