But in the United States, she's winning praise from pro-life Americans, including former Vice President Mike Pence, founder of Advancing American Freedom.

"When radical pro-abortion Biden administration officials demanded that the words ‘abortion' and ‘reproductive rights' be included in the G7's official statement, you stood strong for life. By doing so, you stood not just for pro-life Italians, but for every pro-life citizen of the G7 countries," Pence wrote in a letter to Meloni.

Pence's June 19 letter, shared exclusively with The Daily Signal, expresses his "gratitude and admiration for your uncompromising stand for life."

Read More

She hadn't realised there was a safety strap on the trolley so didn't use it. Her infant was saved from falling out - in the nick of time - by a staff member.

Many injuries

ACC data shows in the five years since 2019, almost 1,100 claims related to babies or toddlers and shopping trolleys have been made.

Over 100 were for children under one-year-old. Older children are also at risk.

In 2019 there were:

• 306 new claims lodged for children under the age of six
• 21 involving children under the age of one
• 80 were aged between one and two
• 76 were between two and three.

ACC data relies on information provided at the time of the claim. It is possible therefore that the number of children being injured at the supermarket could be higher than recorded.

An old problem

Back in 2016, ACC data revealed over 400 babies had been injured by trolleys in the previous year.

Some supermarkets were considering using in-store signage to encourage parents to safely restrain their children in trolleys.

Now it's 2024. Fewer accidents are being reported.

But signage doesn't appear to be widespread.

Some supermarkets, like Pak'nSave, play audio messages encouraging parents to properly restrain their children.

Woolworths stores have printed information on trolley handlebars about their correct use.

Accidents are still occurring.

Options

Most stores provide trolleys for people with young children.

Some have booster-seat attachments designed for babies, others a cage-like seat for older children.

Woolworths say they regularly check their trolleys' safety features.

Worksafe says under the Health and Safety at Work Act, supermarkets must ensure other people's health and safety is "not put at risk from work carried out as part of the conduct of the business or undertaking".

The safety guidelines for trolleys are less stringent than for other baby-carrying devices like prams or car seats.

Plunket comment

Whanau Awhina Plunket says young children need to be within arm's reach at the supermarket.

That goes for any activity where a child is seated above the ground.

Active supervision and strapping them in where a harness is provided is key to keeping young children safe .

Source

• The Spinoff

We need to re-evaluate the strategy in a different way, using new approaches that refrain from further judgment and condemnation.

During the Mass for this year's "Walk for Life" on Saturday, Advincula - who is the head of Manila's Catholic Church - spoke of the need for the Church to walk with the times.

The Church needs to explore "new pathways" to respond better to today's dominant values he said.

"We need to engage in more listening and dialogue. This is part of walking for life.

"Yes, we are clear about teachings on the different issues connected with life and family but we also need to rethink our approaches, methodologies and strategies" he said.

Diverse family life and ways of living

Finding better ways to deal with today's problems in today's world is of particular concern Advincula told the congregation.

We need to find better ways of dealing with, among other issues, the dilemmas and complexities of modern families, irregular situations in the home and what he termed "the diversity in understanding identity and personhood".

He said that accompanying families on this journey, especially the young people, is necessary.

"They don't need more judgments and condemnations.

"To lead people to the truth, we must do so in love, truth and charity, walking together for life, this is where the holy spirit is leading us today."

Life is sacred

One of the Mass concelebrants was Bishop Severo Caermare who chairs the CBCP Episcopal Commission on the Laity.

This year's Walk for Life has raised important family and life issues, he told the crowd. Pro-life includes opposing attempts to revive the death penalty, divorce and same-sex unions.

"Our participation, our presence today is a demonstration of how we value the sacredness of life" he said.

Advincula encouraged all the faithful to work together to defend the sacredness of life "in a rapidly changing world that is oftentimes more welcoming to a civilisation of death and so hostile to a civilisation of life and love.

"I encourage you to continue to be passionate in your ministry. Do not be disheartened if sometimes you feel if what you have been doing is not even noticed or ends up in an apparent failure. Take courage. You are not alone.

"Our society today needs teachers that can lead others to the right path and to the right choices. We must not abandon this mission of being teachers and catechists of the Gospel of life."

A united appeal

The Council of the Laity of the Philippines which organised the Walk for Life says the pro-life event brought together more than 3,000 people from various religious and lay organisations.

The Council says they were all united in one aim - to demonstrate solidarity in upholding the dignity of human life.

Source

• CBCP News

He happens to be Catholic.

So why did Abbott put razor wire and a floating barrier in the Rio Grande? Do migrant children not have heartbeats?

There is an angry selectivity when it comes to life issues.

Abortion is certainly a tragic reality in too many places in the world.

Without denying the ability of the polity to allow or disallow abortion legally, the better course is to make it unnecessary.

To respect life means just that: the unborn, yes, and the elderly and the stranger, the migrant, and the homeless individual. Respect life includes the "other," no matter how defined — by gender, skin colour, language, ethnicity — the list is endless.

Yet too many so-called pro-life advocates demonstrate an abject denial of others' right to life.

The task of religion is to expand the conversation, model good behaviour and call out the frauds.

On abortion, for example, the leading candidates in the United States' presidential race exhibit distinct approaches to the question. One has said women who suffer abortion should be legally charged; the other supports legalized abortion.

We could call the first a "pro-lifer," but does he in fact respect life?

He has bragged about molesting a woman and has been found guilty of sexual assault. He currently faces 91 felony counts in four different jurisdictions.

He does not pay his own legal bills, including those from one of his lawyers, Rudy Giuliani. (He complained that Giuliani lost. Recall his comments about the former Vietnam POW, Sen. John McCain.)

Since the federal right to abortion was overturned by a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, the other candidate has worked to circumvent the resulting patchwork of state laws.

The complicating factor is his Catholicism, and it is hard to reconcile his position.

Still, he seems to be a decent man. While in the U.S. Congress, he took the train home each night to Delaware. He is said to call his children every day.

So, what to do? The U.S. bishops say not to vote on any candidate because of one position on one issue.

Abortion is important, and Catholic opposition is well known. But what happens when you expand the conversation? What happens when you look at other life issues, and how they fare inside the Catholic Church?

The church has stepped up to house immigrants, and there are some places for unwanted children. But here and there is not everywhere.

Too many questions linger.

Does the pastor pay women employees on the same scale as the men? Or are women workers part-timers without benefits or vacation pay? Does he snicker at the thought of ordaining women deacons? Is he capable of informed discussion? Is he an autocrat, a dictator?

Did the bishop move the pederasts, and cover up his — and their — tracks?

Has he drained diocesan bank accounts to fight rather than settle with the victims? Does he tweet against Pope Francis? Has he paid lip service to the Synod on Synodality? Does he answer letters of complaint?

These are real questions for the Catholic Church, as it continues to bleed money and adherents while it seems to focus only on abortion.

If clerics preach against abortion, they must also preach against the razor wire. If they preach about the value of life, they must respect the people of the church.

Immigration? The death penalty? Workers' rights?

Too many clerics have replaced the Gospel with their personal politics. Until they demonstrate respect for all life, they will continue to be ignored.

• Phyllis Zagano is an American author and academic. She has written and spoken on the role of women in the Roman Catholic Church and is an advocate for the ordination of women as deacons.
• First published in Religion News Service. Republished with permission.

Heidi Crowter says the current legislation discriminates against people with disabilities. It allows abortion up to birth if the foetus has a condition such as Down syndrome.

"I am taking this case to Strasbourg because it is downright discrimination that people with disabilities are treated differently," she says.

Crowter, a 27-year-old mother, has been actively campaigning against the legislation on social media to no avail.

She is preparing to appeal to the ECHR this week because England's Supreme Court refused to hear her case.

Crowter has campaigned for a law change since 2018. It was then she joined a legal challenge brought by a mother whose son has Down syndrome.

She argues the law's message is that people with disabilities are not valued equally and that it violates their human rights.

"In 2023, we live in a society where disabled people are valued equally after birth but not in the womb," she says.

The UK government defends the law as a balance between women's and unborn children's rights.

Abortion is a personal choice and women should have access to safe and legal services, the government argues.

The Court of Appeal ruled last November that the law was not unlawful and did not interfere with the rights of those who live with disabilities.

Growing support for Crowter

Disability-rights groups and pro-life organisations support Crowter's case.

Ross Hendry, CEO of CARE, a Christian charity that advocates for life issues, has this to say:

"It is completely wrong that disability is a ground for abortion up to birth. Would we accept a law allowing babies to be aborted to term based on their sex, or their race? The current approach sends a message that the lives of people with disabilities are worth less than others."

Lynn Murray, spokesperson for Don't Screen Us Out has a daughter with Down syndrome.

"It's inspiring to see that Heidi is now going to be taking her landmark case all the way to ... Strasbourg. As a mother of a 23-year-old daughter who has Down syndrome, I see every day the unique value she brings to our family and the positive impact she has on others around her."

Increasing statistics

There were 3,370 disability-selective abortions in 2021 - a nine percent increase from 3,083 in 2020.

Late-term abortions at 24 weeks' gestation or over where the baby had a disability increased by 20 percent from 229 to 274.

The law

In England, Wales and Scotland, there is a general 24-week time limit for abortion.

If the baby has a disability, including Down syndrome, cleft lip or a club foot, abortion is a egal right up to birth.

If Crowter wins her case at the ECHR in Strasbourg, it could have implications for all 46 Council of Europe countries as they are bound by its rulings.

Crowter hopes her case will inspire others to stand up for their human rights and dignity.

The ECHR decision is expected to be issued sometime in 2023.

Source

• Catholic News Agency

The decision was met with enthusiasm by those opposed to abortion here, including opposition National MP for Tamaki Simon O'Connor.

Pro-choice groups such as Abortion Rights Aotearoa (ALRANZ) expressed alarm, not only for American women but for what this might signal for our country.

This has left Opposition Leader Christopher Luxon with a dilemma. He found himself caught up in questions that put a spotlight on his pro-life values, politics and integrity.

Luxon's anti-abortion beliefs are not news. In the days following his election as party leader late last year, when asked to confirm if, from his point of view, abortion was tantamount to murder, he clarified "that's what a pro-life position is".

Yet, in recent days, Luxon has repeatedly and emphatically sought to reassure voters National would not pursue a change to this country's abortion laws should it win government.

Abortion is legal in Aotearoa, decriminalised in 2020 within the framework of the Abortion Legislation Act. It's clear Luxon hopes his assurances will appease those of a pro-choice view, the position of most New Zealanders according to polling in 2019.

Principle and pragmatism in leadership

It has long been argued good leadership is underpinned by strength of character, a clear moral compass and integrity - in other words, consistency between one's words and actions.

Whether a leader possesses the prudence to gauge what is a practically wise course of action in a given situation that upholds important values, or simply panders to what is politically safe and expedient, offers insights into their character.

Over time, we can discern if they lean more strongly toward being values-based or if they tend to align with what Machiavelli controversially advised: that to retain power a leader must appear to look good but be willing to do whatever it takes to maintain their position.

Of course both considerations have some role to play as no one is perfect. We should look for a matter of degree or emphasis. A more strongly Machiavellian orientation is associated with toxic leadership.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has characterised herself as a "pragmatic idealist". Her track record indicates a willingness to accept considerable political heat in defence of key values. This is seen, for example, in her sustained advocacy of COVID-related health measures such as vaccine mandates and managed isolation, even when doing so was not the politically expedient path to follow.

Luxon's leadership track record in the public domain is far less extensive. Much remains unknown or untested as to what kind of leader he is. Being leader of the opposition is, of course, a very different role to that of prime minister.

However, in his maiden speech Luxon described his Christian faith as something that anchors him and shapes his values, while also arguing politicians should not seek to force their beliefs on others.

His response to this week's controversy proves he is willing to set aside his personal values for what is politically expedient. This suggests he is less of an idealist and more a pragmatist.

This may be a relief to the pro-choice lobby, given his anti-abortion beliefs. But if the political calculus changes, what might then happen?

The matter is not settled

New Zealand's constitutional and legal systems differ from those of the US, but the Supreme Court decision proves it's possible to wind back access to abortion.

Even if Luxon's current assurance is sincerely intended, it may not sustain should the broader political acceptability of his personal beliefs change. And on that front, there are grounds for concern.

The National Council of Women's 2021 gender attitudes survey revealed a clear increase in more conservative, anti-egalitarian attitudes. Researchers at the disinformation project also found sexist and misogynistic themes feature strongly in the conspiracy-laden disinformation gaining influence in New Zealand.

If these kinds of shifts in public opinion continue to gather steam, it may become more politically tenable for Luxon to shift gear regarding New Zealand's abortion laws.

In such a situation, the right to abortion may not be the only one imperilled. A 2019 survey in the US showed a strong connection between an anti-abortion or "pro-life" stance and more general anti-egalitarian views.

It's clear Luxon is aiming to reassure the public he has no intentions to advance changes to our abortion laws. But his seeming readiness to set aside personal beliefs in favour of what is politically viable also suggests that, if the political landscape changes, so too might his stance.

A broader question arises from this: if a leader is prepared to give up a presumably sincerely held conviction to secure more votes, what other values that matter to voters might they be willing to abandon in pursuit of political power?

• Suze Wilson Senior Lecturer, School of Management, Massey University.
• First published in The Conversation. Republished with permission

The crowds assembled at Parnell Square at lunchtime, before marching down O'Connell Street and onto Custom House Quay.

The Rally For Life was the first in-person march to be held since 2019 because of Covid restrictions.

Organisers said the chief aim of the rally was to urge the public and the Government to rethink abortion.

A campaign to retain the three-day waiting period before undergoing an abortion was launched at the rally.

Megan Ní Scealláin, a spokesperson for the Life Institute, said: "Voters were guaranteed that women would have a three-day period to reflect between a first abortion appointment and the doctor giving the abortion pill, and it is appalling to see abortion campaigners now push to have that time to think scrapped.

"We know from figures released to Carol Nolan TD that between 800 and 1,000 women did not proceed with an abortion after that initial appointment."

Archbishop Eamon Martin has said campaigners will continue to advocate that "both lives matter".

He said those who support the pro-life movement are constantly "reminding society that every human life is sacred".

Archbishop Martin said the right to personal choice has "been elevated above the fundamental right to life itself" in today's society.

Sources

• RTE News
• The Independent

"Being for life always, for example, means being concerned if the mortality rates of women due to motherhood increase," wrote Andrea Tornielli in his Vatican News editorial last Saturday.

Anti-abortion activists can't pick and choose pro-life issues, he added.

His comments followed Friday's Supreme Court's ruling to end the constitutional right to abortion.

Tornielli cited statistics from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention showing an overall rise in the maternal mortality rate, which is nearly three times higher for black women.

"Being for life always means asking how to help women welcome new life," he wrote.

He cited an unsourced statistic that 75 percent of women who have abortions live in poverty or are low-wage earners.

He also cited statistics from the Harvard Review of Psychiatry. These show the US has much lower rates of paid parental leave compared with other rich nations.

"Being for life also means defending it against the threat of firearms, which unfortunately have become a leading cause of death of children and adolescents in the US" he wrote.

The Catholic church teaches abortion is murder because life begins at the moment of conception and ends with natural death.

Pope Francis says it's like "hiring a hit man" to eliminate a problematic person.

At the same time, he has tried to steer members of the Catholic Church in the United States away from seeing abortion as the single, overarching life issue in the country's so-called culture wars.

The death penalty, gun control, support for families and immigration are also life issues, he has said.

The Vatican's Academy for Life has praised the Roe v Wade ruling. It challenges the world to reflect on life issues and calls for social changes to help women keep their children.

US President Joe Biden, a lifelong Catholic, has condemned the ruling, calling it a "sad day" for America and labelling the court's conservatives as "extreme".

Source

• Reuters

He and his team will help any woman seeking help. Many are asking.

"We help all women including Muslims, atheists, and others," he says.

"I know that human life begins from conception and I believe that new life is a precious gift from Our Lord. Let's work together to have more babies on Earth and more happiness."

For a time, abortion - legal in Russia since 1920 - saw the Soviet Union having one of the world's highest abortion rates, with millions of abortions performed each year.

Although official numbers are now about 450,000 a year, the estimated 500,000 medical abortions - such as those procured through the abortion pill - aren't reported, say Pro-lifers.

Abortions "are very affordable and easily available everywhere," Fokin says.

He began helping women who had sought drug-induced abortions and then changed their minds in 2016.

Many take the first of the prescribed pills (mifepristone) "impulsively, without strong decision," Fokin says.
Many then almost immediately decide they don't want to go on with the process, which involves taking a second pill containing misoprostol.

Spurred by the inquiries, Fokin found a Heartbeat International's (HBI) website that guides women who have taken mifepristone through an "abortion pill reversal" (APR) process involving prescribed doses of progesterone.

Sure of its efficacy, Fokin and his colleagues adapted the treatment - which is taken under medical supervision usually within 24 hours of taking the first pill.

"In 2018, we published the first video on YouTube with APR instructions in Russian," he says.

"We had 20,000-30,000 views and about 2,000 visitors per year."

Some US abortion advocates and pro-choice media claim the therapy is "unproven" and "unethical." However, Fokin assures critics APR is "absolutely ethical, highly efficient, and safe."

"Mifepristone induces chemical ‘miscarriage.' It is the mifepristone, which blocks the natural development of pregnancy and kills babies, that is unethical. Mifepristone is a legalised poison," he says.

"It blocks progesterone receptors and causes the death of a normal and healthy baby."

Progesterone has been known for decades to be an "effective and safe drug for the treatment of miscarriage," he says.

"Giving progesterone, we unblock progesterone receptors and turn back the natural process in the right direction. This is absolutely ethical."

APR critics often cite a U.S. study of the treatment that was stopped in 2019 after some participants were admitted to emergency rooms.

HBI says the 'Creinin study' "actually showed that the abortion pill carries major health risks to a mother." Another study involving the same doctor (Creinin) showed that the abortion pill regimen resulted in hemorrhaging ... confirming "the bleeding is attributable to mifepristone and not progesterone."

A 2018 peer-reviewed study indicates APR saved 64-68 percent of pregnancies without an increase in birth defects. It concluded "the reversal of the effects of mifepristone using progesterone is safe and effective."

Fokin says officials are concerned about Russia's population, which fell by more than 700,000 in 2020.

He hopes APR therapy will be included in the standard of care for miscarriage or to develop a new standard of care.

Source

• CNA
• Image: Catholic News Agency

The bills were included in the UK Government's flagship Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

If passed in a vote on Monday this week, the proposed New Clause 55 would have allowed abortion, for any reason, up to birth.

The other bill - New Clause 42 - proposed introducing jail sentences for people demonstrating outside abortion clinics. It was also withdrawn on Monday.

"I welcome the fact that the radical amendment (New Clause 55), which was well outside the scope of the bill, was withdrawn," says Bishop John Sherrington, who leads the bishops' Life Issues portfolio.

"It would have swept away the few protections remaining for the unborn child and enabled abortion on demand as well as removing the possibility of the doctors' conscientious objection."

Commenting about the withdrawal of the abortion clinic censorship zone (New Clause 42) he said "we must stay vigilant to attempts to widen access to abortion by hijacking other bills."

Sherrington thanked the thousands of people who lobbied MPs "and helped to prevent dangerous amendments to the bill from moving forward."

Right To Life UK is also relieved the bills have been withdrawn.

Speaking on behalf of Right to Life, Catherine Robinson commented that the amendment allowing abortion for any reason up until birth "would have left England and Wales with one of the most extreme abortion laws in the world."

Catholic Bishops and more than 800 medical professionals had urged the MP who introduced the abortion until birth proposal to withdraw her amendment.

"Your proposal to allow abortion up to birth in this country would be to attack the heart of the medical profession: our core duty to protect life whenever and wherever possible," the medical professionals said.

On Tuesday, a woman with Down's syndrome took a challenge to the current abortion law to the High Court in London.

The law as it stands permits the late termination of pregnancy if a "severe abnormality" is found,

The woman, Heidi Crowter, says the law discriminates against foetuses with Down's Syndrome and the 24-week limit on abortions should apply to all babies.

On Wednesday, the Vatican's "foreign minister" that the Holy See rejects the assertion in a report adopted by the European Parliament that abortion is a "human right."

Archbishop Paul Gallagher made the comment during a visit to Portugal's capital, Lisbon.

Source

• The Tablet
• CNA
• Image: Don't Screen Us Out

The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, involves a Mississippi law that bans abortion starting at the 15th week of pregnancy.

Significantly, the statute draws the line before fetal viability—the point at which survival is possible outside the womb.

The Court has previously held that before viability, "the state's interests are not strong enough to support a prohibition of abortion or substantial obstacle to the woman's effective right to elect the procedure."

To uphold Mississippi's law, the Court would have to rewrite the rules—perhaps just the opportunity it needs to overturn Roe altogether.

If that happens, it will represent the culmination of decades of work by anti-abortion-rights activists.

But for those activists, gutting Roe would be just the beginning.

Ever since Roe, abortion-rights foes and their Republican allies have been asking the Court to reverse course—to acknowledge that the Constitution has nothing whatsoever to say about abortion, either in favor of or against it.

Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court justice arguably most beloved by conservatives, routinely stated that the Constitution is silent on abortion.

Republicans have railed against the Court's judicial activism in Roe, insisting that the justices robbed the American people of the opportunity to decide the abortion issue for themselves.

In this account, Roe did not just destroy valuable opportunities for compromise on abortion; the decision did fundamental damage to America's democratic principles, removing one of the most controversial issues from representative legislatures and resolving it by judicial fiat.

But within the anti-abortion-rights movement, there is not so much talk about democracy anymore.

Now some abortion-rights opponents are quite literally looking for a Roe of their own, asking the Court to recognize fetal rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Remember that overturning Roe wouldn't make abortion illegal; it would mean that states could set their own abortion limits, which would no longer be subject to constitutional review.

That will never be enough for anti-abortion-rights activists, though.

In the conservative magazine First Things, John Finnis, a professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, recently made an argument that could provide the framework an anti-abortion-rights Supreme Court could use to outlaw abortion across the country: that the legislators who wrote the Fourteenth Amendment viewed unborn children as persons.

If the Constitution recognizes fetal personhood, then unborn children would have the right to equal protection under and due process of the law.

Abortion would be unconstitutional in New York as well as in Alabama.

Other leading anti-abortion-rights scholars have made the same argument.

Finnis's article has provoked debate across the ideological spectrum.

The conservative attorney Ed Whelan has taken issue with the substance of Finnis's claim, suggesting that unless the anti-abortion-rights movement first wins over public opinion, Finnis's approach will backfire.

Progressives have been far harsher, unsurprisingly.

Writing in The New York Times, the columnist Michelle Goldberg denounced what she calls an authoritarian turn in anti-abortion-rights advocacy—one more sign that the GOP has changed fundamentally in the post-Trump era.

The abortion debate has never been about just Roe—and it's never been about letting a popular majority have a say.

What's new is that this argument now meets a receptive Supreme Court for the first time in more than a generation. Continue reading

Being anti-abortion and being pro-life are in effect, not the same thing.

The first is negative and confrontational, while the second is positive and pro-active.

Which is likely to work?

I'm not dismissing the way we feel about the first.

Abortion is always a tragedy.

There may be some women for whom it is convenience, but I have never met such a person.

The women I know who have had an abortion, could not see any other option.

Preaching does not present an option.

Sometimes our ideals do not fit reality. I think it is important to move from anti-abortion to pro-life.

How do we do that?

First, we can be better informed about changes in society and female development.

It is recognised that approximately three years after the onset of menstruation, a woman's body is ready for pregnancy. Her hormones are clamouring to have a child even though her body may not be structurally ready.

In my day, girls began menstruation between 14 and 16 years of age, and often were married at 18 or 19.

Today, girls as young as 8 are menstruating. An obstetrician says 8 years is common.

This means that children are getting pregnant.

Why is this happening? Obviously, it is related to our environment and hormones in food. It's not something we seem unable to change.

If we are truly pro-life, how do we help a pregnant teenager who wants to keep her baby? Sometimes the girl has a partner her own age who slso wants to be a parent.

There are secondary schools in New Zealand that have creches where babies are cared for while young parents continue their education.

Do Catholic secondary schools have such facilities? If not, why not?

And what can we, as pro-life individuals, do?

In the Wairarapa a caring Catholic woman has set up a trust, to provide a one-to-one mentoring programme for pregnant teens.

I was very grateful when asked to be its patron.

It's a one-to-one mentoring programme providing practical support, encouragement and kindness. There is also emphasis on continuing education.

This kind of programme exists elsewhere but we need to change "elsewhere" to "everywhere."

Is there a programme for pregnant teens in your area?

If not, do you want to find out more about the Wairarapa programme?

November 6 at the Art and History Museum, 12 Bruce St, Masterton. There will be a talk "Companioning New Life" and luncheon for a cost of $45 per person. Some of that money will go to the trust. 11.45am arrival. Finish 1.30pm.

If you are interested in attending, you can contact Trudy Hullena at Sellar and Sellar, Masterton, phone 06 377 3199 .

Or t.hullena@sellar.co.nz.

I hope to see you there.

• Joy Cowley is a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and retreat facilitator.

The comments come from staunch Catholic and former Australian Liberal Party Prime Minister, Tony Abbott.

Abbott claims COVID is costing as much as A$200,000 (~NZ $220,000) to give an elderly person an extra year's life.

He says the sum is substantially beyond what governments normally pay for life-saving drugs.

"In this climate of fear, it was hard for governments to ask ‘how much is a life worth?' because every life is precious, and every death is sad, but that has never stopped families sometimes electing to make elderly relatives as comfortable as possible while nature takes its course."

Abbott says the aim of preserving almost every life at any cost is a case of Governments shifting their goals from preventing hospitals from being overwhelmed with COVID patients to achieving zero transmission.

He accused Governments of approaching the pandemic trauma doctors instead of thinking like health economists trained to pose uncomfortable questions about a level of deaths countries might have to live with.

He told the Policy Exchange thinktank in London that it is not possible to pay so much to keep the elderly alive for another year while 40% of the workforce is on some kind of government benefit.

At some point we just have to live with this virus, he said.

Abbott claimed the response to COVID was causing a form of deep psychic damage.

"People once sturdily self-reliant are looking to the government more than ever for support and sustenance, a something-for-nothing mindset, reinforced amongst young people spared the need of searching for jobs."

"Every day it goes on, it risks establishing a new normal," adding: "Fear of falling sick is stopping us from feeling fully alive."

Abbott also claimed officials were getting trapped in crisis mode for longer than they needed, "especially if the crisis adds to their authority or boosts their standing."

Abbott proudly identifies as being pro-life and labelled last year's changes to the NSW abortion bill as "death on-demand" and "morally shocking" also opposes euthanasia.

Australian Opposition leader, Anthony Albanese was swift in his condemnation.

"Tony Abbott was never known for his compassion. This is a new low,"Albanese said.

Senior Liberal cabinet minister Mathias Cormann distanced himself from the former prime minister, saying the economic cost of the virus was justified.

"Clearly, the first priority was to protect people's health and save people's lives by suppressing the spread of the virus, and that was absolutely necessary," he told reporters at Parliament House.

"As part of that, we did have to impose significant restrictions on the economy in order to suppress the spread of the virus, and that was appropriate."

Sources

• The Telgraph
• The Guardian
• The New Daily
• The Canberra Times

"Life is a great gift that comes from God … No one achieves life on their own. We all receive it, and we receive it not to keep it, but to multiply it like those talents in the Gospel," Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Vatican's Academy for Life, (pictured) told Crux in an interview.

It is because the life of each unique individual - from its natural beginning to its natural end - is a gift, he said, "that the human person is never a means but always an end. Period."

Referring to the United States' current presidential race, where appeals to religion and life issues have become a core strategy for both President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Paglia said issues of ethics and morality are not solely the concern of one nation, but they have become "a global issue."

Because of this, he said, Christian churches in the U.S. ought to feel "a universal responsibility" toward life, and called for greater engagement on the life issue "in all its dimensions …That is, a perspective of global bioethics, one that engages all the major topics that touch on life, of the individual and of the human family."

"It would do great harm," he said, "if some topic of bioethics is extracted from its general context and put toward ideological strategies. It would do great harm."

"Today we are all called to discover a new alliance that goes beyond politics," he said, describing it as an alliance in which "all believers and all men and women of goodwill commit to saving all the lives of all the peoples who live in this one common home."

"This is why I believe that to instrumentalize some topic for political ends or for laziness [in one's own] horizon" is harmful, he said, voicing hope that the whole of Christianity, not just in the United States, "finds in men and of goodwill an alliance so that the lives of all, particularly the weakest, are defended from the beginning to the end, from the mother's womb until the moment of death." Continue reading

It's about what it means to be truly "pro-life."

Is pro-life only about opposing abortion? Or is it about supporting all human life?

I've pondered that forever.

What prompted me to think about it most recently was an article on August 7 on Kentucky.com under the headline, "Trump ‘is so much anti-life,' Kentucky Catholic bishop says in abortion discussion."

According to that piece, Stowe criticized Trump's pro-life bona fides in a video chat July 31 with the International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs.

"For this president to call himself pro-life, and for anybody to back him because of claims of being pro-life, is almost willful ignorance," Stowe said.

Trump spoke last year at the March for Life in Washington, an annual gathering to protest abortion, where he advocated for limiting abortion access. He's also pleased white evangelicals and many Catholics by nominating conservative, anti-abortion judges to the federal bench.

Stowe, who's criticized Trump before, said in effect all that wasn't sufficient.

"Pope Francis has given us a great definition of what pro-life means," Stowe said. "He basically tells us we can't claim to be pro-life if we support the separation of children from their parents at the U.S. border, if we support exposing people at the border to COVID-19 because of the facilities that they're in if we support denying people who have need to adequate health care access to health care, if we keep people from getting the housing or the education that they need, we cannot call ourselves pro-life."

As the Kentucky.com article points out, Pope Francis earlier questioned Trump's pro-life stance when the president tried to end DACA, a federal program offering protections to some people brought to the United States illegally as children.

Which leads me to my own thoughts.

When Gov. Andy Beshear took dramatic measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Kentucky, various friends and I occasionally posted praise of him on social media.

Inevitably, these posts drew harangues from other readers dismissing Beshear's anti-coronavirus efforts as less than worthless because they claimed, he also supports Roe v. Wade and thus, in their opinion, is nothing more than a baby killer.

As if support for legalized abortion was the only thing about him that mattered.

To me, whatever you think of abortion, shouldn't his attempts to save older adults and those with chronic medical conditions be lauded? And didn't those efforts qualify as pro-life, in that he was trying to protect the lives of the vulnerable?

My views, unfortunately, will tick off almost everybody.

Unlike a lot of Democrats, I have serious reservations about legalized abortion. I find it deeply troubling, and, while I don't want all abortions banned, I do favour restrictions.

And yet, despite my hesitancy on the abortion issue, I vote Democrat nearly always.

I do this because I find the Democratic Party—even given its support for legalized abortion—significantly more life-affirming than the Republican Party.

Both parties, being political institutions, are flawed. But the Republicans seem way more flawed from any pro-life perspective.

As the bishop and the pope aptly pointed out, affirming human life isn't confined to opposing abortion. That's just one issue of dozens.

I'd suggest that if you really stand for life, you also have to oppose the climate change that threatens to destroy life on Earth. You have to value human beings over corporations. You have to support prison reform.

You have to oppose ripping helpless immigrant children from their parents' arms at our borders. You have to support protecting the elderly in nursing homes. You have to adequately fund education.

You have to support universal medical coverage. You have to oppose racism in all its forms, both individual and systemic. You have to contribute toward a merciful social safety net for the poor and unemployed. You have to love gay and transgendered people and all others who are marginalized, because they're God's children, too.

And you have to wear your danged mask every day to protect your fellow citizens.

You should not only support a subsistent life for everyone but, as Jesus put it, an "abundant life."

These aren't socialist principles. They're pro-life principles.

I'd take it a step farther. I'd say they're godly principles. After all, God created life.

So to be really pro-life, you have to love and respect everybody—not just the unborn, but those who are already here and those you may not like or agree with. Love them all, respect them all, protect them all.

That's being pro-life.

• Paul Prather is pastor of Bethesda Church near Mount Sterling.
• First published in the Lexington Leader. Republished with permission.
• The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of CathNews.

An American church leader, Bishop John Stowe of Kentucky challenged Trump's pro-life claims in a recent webinar. He told his audience that rather than being pro-life, Trump was actually anti-life.

"For this president to call himself pro-life, and for anybody to back him because of claims of being pro-life, is almost willful ignorance."

"He is so much anti-life because he is only concerned about himself, and he gives us every, every, every indication of that," Stowe said.

"Pope Francis has given us a great definition of what pro-life means," Stowe explained.

"He basically tells us we can't claim to be pro-life if we support the separation of children from their parents at the U.S. border, if we support exposing people at the border to COVID-19 because of the facilities that they're in, if we support denying people who have need for adequate health care access to health care, if we keep people from getting the housing or the education that they need, we cannot call ourselves pro-life."

Trump's alleged pro-life stance deliberately seeks to win over Catholic voters, Stowe said.

"Every unborn child is a precious gift from God," he said at the 2018 March for Life in Washington.

Stowe says being truly pro-life must include efforts towards racial, social and environmental justice.

"We have to be concerned for the unborn children, it's foundational for us."

While the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Conference often criticizes Trump administration, environmental and immigration policies, Stowe's critique is unusual in criticism of Trump himself.

The webinar, which was about the church's future after 2020, was hosted by the International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs.

The other two speakers on the webinar panel were Shannon Dee Williams, the Albert LePage assistant professor of history at Villanova University, and Michael Bayer, the former director of evangelisation and adult formation at St. Clement Parish in Chicago.

Speaking about the future of the church, they addressed the importance of racial and social justice advocacy.

"The church has to take leading roles in campaigns that are working to protect Black lives [and] working to dismantle white supremacy," said Williams.

In her view, the church needs to address inequities in health care access and outcomes, end mass incarceration and secure police reform and accountability.

"Where are our hierarchy on this? Why aren't we planning a million-person march in Washington, D.C. for immigrants?" Bayer asked.

"I've been in those marches protesting the assault on pre-born life. Where are our mass Washington, D.C. [efforts to] show up and protest the assault on Black and brown life?"

The webinar, which was about the church's future after 2020, was hosted by the International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs.

Source
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

Blenheim mum Aimee North was 23 when she and her husband opened their home to foster children.

In the seven years since they had taken in many children through the Open Home Foundation, ranging from emergency short term care to long term placements.

"[The] longest term was 18 months with an awesome teenage girl who is now 22 and still comes over for dinner from time to time," she said.

"It's so rewarding when you know you can make a change in a young person's life, even if it's just for a short time." Continue reading

Just 36 hours beforehand Flello was announced as the Lib Dem candidate for the Stoke-on-Trent South constituency.

The Party concluded his values diverged for theirs.

The British media report that Flello's views on abortion and same-sex marriage are the cause of his deselection.

"We do our best to screen candidates in our approval process," a Party spokesman said.

"In this case, it only really became clear over the past few hours how greatly his values diverge from ours."

In 2005 Flello won the seat for Labour in 2005 but lost it in the 2017 election to the Conservatives.

Profoundly disillusioned with Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party, Fello joined the Lib Dems earlier in 2019.

During his political career, Flello had been once considered among Labour's most promising MPs, serving as private secretary to three Ministers.

However, Flello was consigned to the backbenches after his defence of human life and conversion to the Catholic faith.

"I could no more leave my faith at the door of the House than I could my name, my gender or my arms and legs", he is reported to have said during a debate on the defence of human life.

Flello was a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group that consistently voted against abortion, and in 2012 was one of 22 Labour MP's to oppose David Cameron's redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples.

At one point he also asked Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to resign.

Fello is accusing the Lib Dem's of religious discrimination and a lack of tolerance.

He said he was "deeply shocked and very disappointed" by his deselection, adding: "I feel utterly misled by the Lib Dem Party who claim in their constitution to acknowledge and respect the right to freedom of conscience."

"Not only do I feel betrayed by the false promises of the Lib Dems but I am profoundly concerned that people of faith who adhere to their religious beliefs are not welcome in their party."

Later, Lib Dem deputy, Sir Ed Davey insisted a judgement will have been made about values rather than religion.

"The party has many Catholics in it ranks and would continue to do so", he said to Shelagh Fogarty or LBC radio.

• Source: The Tablet

Elizabeth Cox is seeking financial compensation as well as reinstatement as a teacher at the school. The school has 30 days to respond to the lawsuit.

Although, in common with other staff, she signed a contract with the school agreeing to speak publicly and to act in accordance with Catholic beliefs, Cox is claiming her First Amendment rights have been violated.

The staff contract also says the agreement applies regardless of whether the signatory is Catholic, to aid in the "intellectual and spiritual development of students according to the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Roman Catholic Church."

Cox says her firing "violates political rights and privileges of free speech guaranteed by the United States Constitution and/or the Constitution of the State of South Carolina."

Furthermore, she says her firing violates South Carolina law which prohibits firing employees for expressing political opinions.

The events leading up to Cox's dismissal began when she shared several Facebook posts and links expressing pro-choice views. Her Facebook information at the time listed as her employer the Catholic school where she was teaching.

Cox's social media posts included a quotation from feminist activist Gloria Steinem asserting gun purchasers should be subjected to rigorous screenings similar to those of women seeking abortions.

She also posted an unattributed quotation casting suspicion on pro-life claims of people who do not also support gun bans, free healthcare, and other political causes ostensibly meant to protect and improve quality of life.

Another post included a link to a news story headlined "Leslie Jones leads the charge against Alabama's abortion ban in the SNL season finale".

The Church has consistently upheld the sanctity of the life of the unborn child.

It has also consistently condemned direct abortion, the intentional taking of an innocent human life, as a grave moral evil.

"When we confronted you with the post, you admitted to it and, moreover, reacted in a manner leading us to conclude you would not do so differently in the future," the school's principal Patrick Finneran is quoted as saying in Cox's termination letter.

"Parents send their children to [the school] expressly because they want a Catholic teaching and upbringing. Your public expression of disagreement with Catholic values undermines that."

Several other cases of teachers being fired for failing publicly to uphold Catholic teaching are ongoing in the US.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Huffpost
• Image: Catholic News Agency

He emphasised his willingness to help after New York State's Reproductive Health Act 2019 legalised abortions for any reason up to birth.

The public outcry after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the new law included calls for Dolan to excommunicate Cuomo who claims to be Catholic.

Rather than the current "almost pro-abortion atmosphere out there," Dolan is emphasising the Church's willingness to help expectant mothers.

He says support is available to help pregnant women choose life for their unborn babies.

"Any woman feeling a difficult pregnancy and tempted to have an abortion is assured of a warm welcome, encouragement and loving support.

"Any pregnant woman can come to this Archdiocese of New York.

"We will do all in our power to assist you, to welcome you so that you never have to feel that you have no alternative except abortion."

Dolan says sometimes the Catholic Church needs "to trumpet and put a spotlight on" the good work it does.

"Most of us bristle when the church is criticised for speaking all the time but not offering action. Nothing could be further from the truth."

Dolan says he worries poor women especially are getting the impression abortion is their only choice.

"This is a very teachable time [immediately following the new legislation] for us to stand up and say, 'We're here. We love you. We welcome you. There is an alternative here and we'd be honored to serve you.'"

Many pro-lifers - who are people of all faiths - have felt discouraged since Cuomo signed the law, Dolan says.

Since it was signed in January, several other states have seen similar late-term abortion bills.

"Abortion has been very much in the news lately," Dolan says.

"And it sometimes seems as if each day brings with it a further attack on the rights and dignity on all human life, especially the life of the most innocent and powerless among us — the baby waiting to be born.

"No matter the hurt, the frustration or even anger we may feel at the passage of the recent abortion expansion bill, we should not respond with bitterness or divisions, but put our faith and trust in the Lord and reach out with love to troubled moms and their expectant babies."

Source

• LifeNews
• The Boston Pilot
• Image: LifeSite