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December 24, 2008
BISHOPS WELCOME HHS REGULATION PROTECTING CONSCIENCE RIGHTS IN HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON — A final regulation protecting health care providers’ conscience rights was issued December 18 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The U.S. Catholic bishops’ spokesperson on abortion, Deirdre A. McQuade, welcomed the published regulation as a way to protect medical personnel from being coerced to violate their consciences in federally funded programs. The regulation clarifies and implements existing federal statutes enacted by Congress in 1973, 1996 and 2004. (For the text of these laws see www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/abortion/crmay08.pdf.)
“Individuals and institutions committed to healing should not be required to take the very human life that they are dedicated to protecting,” McQuade said. “The enforcement of federal laws to protect their freedom of conscience is long overdue.”
“Catholic health care providers will especially welcome this mark of respect for the excellent life-affirming care they provide to all in need. But Catholics do not stand alone in opposition to the deliberate destruction of nascent human life. All health care providers should be free to serve their patients without violating their most deeply held moral and religious convictions in support of life,” McQuade said.
“The USCCB thanks Secretary Michael Leavitt for implementing this regulation,” McQuade said. “We urge the incoming Congress and Administration to honor this much-needed implementation of longstanding laws. Respect for conscience rights on abortion should be a strong point of agreement among those considering themselves ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-choice.’ Yet this regulation is already under attack. A month before it was even published, pro-abortion senators had introduced a bill (S. 20) to invalidate it regardless of its content.”
The USCCB issued a statement on August 21 welcoming the proposed regulation when it was first released for public comment (www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2008/08-118.shtml). Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chair of the bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities, also wrote to Congress urging respect for conscience protection measures (www.usccb.org/prolife/rigali-conscience071808.pdf). Formal comments on the proposal were later submitted by the USCCB Office of General Counsel (www.usccb.org/ogc/ruleind.shtml).
USCCB Pro-Life Secretariat
December 18, 2008
Please participate in the the USCCB postcard campaign against the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) during the weekend of January 24-25, 2009. If passed, FOCA would nullify all federal and state laws restricting abortion in this country. The Archdiocese of Seattle will provide postcards and flyers to pastors for parish distribution. For more information, please visit www.nchla.org/datasource/idocuments/Instructions.pdf).
December 17, 2008
THE RESISTANCE TO ASSISTED SUICIDE HAS BEGUN
Doctors, Hospitals Stand Against Washington's Assisted-Suicide Law
Doctors and hospitals in Washington state are standing strong for life after voters legalized physician-assisted suicide last month.
Hospice of Spokane has said its mission is to care and support its patients, not help them kill themselves.
Spokane's Sacred Heart Medical Center, one of the largest hospitals in the Northwest, also opposes assisted suicide.
"This position is grounded in our basic values of respect for the sacredness of life, compassionate care of dying and vulnerable persons, and respect for the integrity of medical, nursing and allied health professions," according to a statement on the hospital's Web site.
"We do not believe health care providers should ever be put in a position of aiding a patient in taking his or her own life. … We will continue to advocate for increased support and resources for hospice and palliative care programs, at the Medical Center and in our community, that provide compassionate, pain-relieving comfort and care for those who are at the end of life." Read more...
Human Life of Washington-State Office, Dan Kennedy, CEO
December 8, 2008
Pope Benedict XVI's general prayer intention for December is: "That, faced by the growing expansion of the culture of violence and death, the Church may courageously promote the culture of life through all her apostolic and missionary activities."
His mission intention is: "That, especially in mission countries, Christians may show through gestures of brotherliness that the Child born in the grotto in Bethlehem is the luminous Hope of the world."
December 4, 2008
From September 24 to November 2, the fall 2008 nationally coordinated 40 Days for Life campaign mobilized people of faith and conscience in 179 cities across 47 states, 2 Canadian provinces, 1 American territory, and the District of Columbia.
During these unified efforts, we witnessed countless blessings from God:
- More than 76,000 believers joined together in an historic display of Christian unity, praying and fasting for an end to abortion, and conducting peaceful 40-day prayer vigils outside Planned Parenthood centers and abortion facilities
- Reports from around the country documented 614 lives spared from abortion -- and those are just the ones we know about
- Eight abortion workers quit their jobs and walked away from the abortion industry
- Numerous abortion facilities cut back their days and hours of operation during the campaign, and another abortion facility announced on day 38 of this fall’s campaign that it was closing its doors for good
- Hundreds of women and men have been spared from the tragic effects of abortion, including a lifetime of regrets
- More than 130 news stories were featured in newspapers, magazines, radio shows and television programs from coast to coast
- Many people with past abortion experiences have stepped forward to begin post-abortion healing and recovery
- And after 35 years of legalized abortion in America, many believers are experiencing a renewed sense of HOPE!
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December 3, 2008
