Doctors

Ireland group calls for inquiry into deaths of 108 babies born alive after abortion #Catholic Ireland group calls for inquiry into deaths of 108 babies born alive after abortionAn advocacy group in Ireland is calling for an inquiry into the deaths of 108 babies who were born alive after attempted abortions in Ireland.In a story published March 1 and authored by Ireland’s Life Institute and others, the institute cited figures released by Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) from 2019 to 2023.“Were these babies simply left to die and were they denied the lifesaving interventions that might have saved them?” Life Institute spokesperson Sandra Parda asked.“We need answers, we need transparency,” Parda said. “Looking at the evidence, clearly these babies are then simply being left to die, yet everything is shrouded in silence and secrecy.”Deputy Mattie McGrath, who obtained the numbers after requesting them from the HSE, said he was “gravely concerned about any approach that reduces transparency around perinatal outcomes.”Woman forced to induce labor while in prison sues IllinoisA former inmate from Illinois filed a lawsuit against the state prison because it allegedly forced her to give birth via induction rather than spontaneous labor.At about seven months pregnant, Amy Hicks was convicted of an illegal drug offense. Two weeks before her due date, in early 2024, she underwent induction due to prison requirements.Labor is usually induced only if there is a health concern for the mother or baby. Women will often elect to avoid induction because it can increase pain and lead to higher intervention rates such as C-sections, among other concerns.The lawsuit, argued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, alleges that the prison’s requirements violate the state’s Reproductive Health Act, an amendment that created a right to abortion in the state law. The federal lawsuit names Gov. JB Pritzker’s Illinois Department of Corrections, the prison’s medical provider, and Wexford Health Sources, among others.Wyoming Senate passes heartbeat actThe Wyoming Senate passed a heartbeat bill to protect unborn children from abortion when their heartbeats are detectable.The act prohibits “procedures that terminate the life of a child with a detectable heartbeat” with some exceptions.The bill now moves to the governor’s desk; If signed, the act would immediately take effect.Indiana court blocks protections for unborn children on religious freedom claimsAn Indiana court blocked a law protecting unborn children under religious freedom claims on March 6.The American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of the advocacy group Hoosier Jews for Choice and anonymous women, claimed the law violated religious freedom by preventing women from aborting their children.Lawsuit alleges Virginia abortion rights ballot initiative is invalidA lawsuit dated March 6 alleges that a Virginia ballot initiative to create a right to abortion is invalid.District 3 Supervisor for the Bedford County Board of Supervisors Charla Bansley claimed in the lawsuit that the House of Delegates missed mandated procedural steps, making the ballot initiative invalid.The 35-page lawsuit claims that Virginia’s House of Delegates failed to send it to all circuit court clerks so they could post it for public inspection three months prior to the 2025 House of Delegates elections.North Dakota trains physicians to understand new protections for unborn childrenA training for doctors required by a North Dakota law recently became available, part of a recent law passed to enforce laws surrounding abortion.The online training is required after the Legislature passed a bill requiring training for physicians on how to apply the state’s laws protecting unborn children in various scenarios.Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America to campaign in OhioSusan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and Women Speak Out PAC launched a seven-figure campaign in Ohio to elect pro-life legislators.The organizations announced on March 2 that they are dedicating .25 million to campaign in support of U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, who is running against former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, and plan to canvas 500,000 houses.The Ohio campaign is part of SBA’s million investment for the 2026 midterm cycle across the nation.
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Ireland group calls for inquiry into deaths of 108 babies born alive after abortion #Catholic Ireland group calls for inquiry into deaths of 108 babies born alive after abortionAn advocacy group in Ireland is calling for an inquiry into the deaths of 108 babies who were born alive after attempted abortions in Ireland.In a story published March 1 and authored by Ireland’s Life Institute and others, the institute cited figures released by Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) from 2019 to 2023.“Were these babies simply left to die and were they denied the lifesaving interventions that might have saved them?” Life Institute spokesperson Sandra Parda asked.“We need answers, we need transparency,” Parda said. “Looking at the evidence, clearly these babies are then simply being left to die, yet everything is shrouded in silence and secrecy.”Deputy Mattie McGrath, who obtained the numbers after requesting them from the HSE, said he was “gravely concerned about any approach that reduces transparency around perinatal outcomes.”Woman forced to induce labor while in prison sues IllinoisA former inmate from Illinois filed a lawsuit against the state prison because it allegedly forced her to give birth via induction rather than spontaneous labor.At about seven months pregnant, Amy Hicks was convicted of an illegal drug offense. Two weeks before her due date, in early 2024, she underwent induction due to prison requirements.Labor is usually induced only if there is a health concern for the mother or baby. Women will often elect to avoid induction because it can increase pain and lead to higher intervention rates such as C-sections, among other concerns.The lawsuit, argued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, alleges that the prison’s requirements violate the state’s Reproductive Health Act, an amendment that created a right to abortion in the state law. The federal lawsuit names Gov. JB Pritzker’s Illinois Department of Corrections, the prison’s medical provider, and Wexford Health Sources, among others.Wyoming Senate passes heartbeat actThe Wyoming Senate passed a heartbeat bill to protect unborn children from abortion when their heartbeats are detectable.The act prohibits “procedures that terminate the life of a child with a detectable heartbeat” with some exceptions.The bill now moves to the governor’s desk; If signed, the act would immediately take effect.Indiana court blocks protections for unborn children on religious freedom claimsAn Indiana court blocked a law protecting unborn children under religious freedom claims on March 6.The American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of the advocacy group Hoosier Jews for Choice and anonymous women, claimed the law violated religious freedom by preventing women from aborting their children.Lawsuit alleges Virginia abortion rights ballot initiative is invalidA lawsuit dated March 6 alleges that a Virginia ballot initiative to create a right to abortion is invalid.District 3 Supervisor for the Bedford County Board of Supervisors Charla Bansley claimed in the lawsuit that the House of Delegates missed mandated procedural steps, making the ballot initiative invalid.The 35-page lawsuit claims that Virginia’s House of Delegates failed to send it to all circuit court clerks so they could post it for public inspection three months prior to the 2025 House of Delegates elections.North Dakota trains physicians to understand new protections for unborn childrenA training for doctors required by a North Dakota law recently became available, part of a recent law passed to enforce laws surrounding abortion.The online training is required after the Legislature passed a bill requiring training for physicians on how to apply the state’s laws protecting unborn children in various scenarios.Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America to campaign in OhioSusan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and Women Speak Out PAC launched a seven-figure campaign in Ohio to elect pro-life legislators.The organizations announced on March 2 that they are dedicating $3.25 million to campaign in support of U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, who is running against former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, and plan to canvas 500,000 houses.The Ohio campaign is part of SBA’s $80 million investment for the 2026 midterm cycle across the nation.

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Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.

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Patient advocate on passage of New York assisted suicide bill: ‘Reexamine your consciences’ #Catholic In spite of opposition from Catholic bishops and patient advocate groups, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Feb. 6 signed a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the Empire State.Assisted suicide is already legal in California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Washington, D.C.Hochul, a Catholic, had already announced she would sign the bill once “guardrails” were added — specifically, laws to allow faith-based hospice providers to opt out of offering assisted suicide.The Catholic bishops had urged Hochul not to pass the bill, saying that it undermined her own work on anti-suicide programs.“How can any society have credibility to tell young people or people with depression that suicide is never the answer, while at the same time telling elderly and sick people that it is a compassionate choice to be celebrated?” the bishops said in a recent statement.The Catholic Church is outspokenly opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Church condemns assisted suicide and euthanasia, instead encouraging palliative care, which means supporting patients with pain management and care as the end of their lives approaches. Additionally, the Church advocates for a “special respect” for anyone with a disability or serious health condition (CCC, 2276).Any action or lack of action that intentionally “causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator” (CCC, 2277).“We call on Catholics and all New Yorkers to reject physician-assisted suicide for themselves, their loved ones, and those in their care,” the bishops continued. “And we pray that our state turn away from its promotion of a culture of death and invest instead in life-affirming, compassionate hospice and palliative care, which is seriously underutilized.”“While physician-assisted suicide will soon be legal here in New York, we must clearly reiterate that it is in direct conflict with Catholic teaching on the sacredness and dignity of all human life from conception until natural death and is a grave moral evil on par with other direct attacks on human life,” the New York bishops said.Hochul said the law, which goes into effect 180 days after its signing, gives New Yorkers “the choice to endure less suffering.”“Our state will always stand firm in safeguarding New Yorkers’ freedoms and right to bodily autonomy, which includes the right for the terminally ill to peacefully and comfortably end their lives with dignity and compassion,” Hochul said in the Feb. 6 statement.“I firmly believe we made the right decision,” she concluded.A national disability rights group, the Patients’ Rights Action Fund, along with the New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide, advocated against the law.Jessica Rodgers, a spokeswoman for the Patients Rights Action Fund, urged those behind the new law “to reexamine your consciences.”“New York’s assisted suicide law will turn some doctors and pharmacists into executioners,” Rodgers said in a statement shared with EWTN News. “It will turn coroners into liars by requiring them to provide false information about the cause of death for each person who chooses assisted suicide.”Rodgers noted that the bill “will do nothing to address New York’s low rates of hospice care use.”“Instead of doing the difficult work of making hospice care more accessible and helping to ease the pain of terminal illnesses, the governor has chosen to enact a law that will, likely, result in some New Yorkers’ premature deaths,” she said.“It will stigmatize and endanger the terminally ill, whose lives are deemed of so little worth by our governor that other New Yorkers will now be allowed to help them expedite their own deaths,” Rodgers continued.“It will encourage vulnerable people to view suicide as a legitimate response to suffering of all kinds; it could even raise the overall suicide rate,” she said. “It opens the door to future expansions of doctor-assisted death, like those we have seen in Canada in recent years.”“Finally, it willfully ignores the fact that physicians’ estimates of their patients’ life expectancies can be mistaken, and that such mistakes could lead people to choose assisted suicide when they could otherwise have gone on living for years,” Rodgers concluded.
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Patient advocate on passage of New York assisted suicide bill: ‘Reexamine your consciences’ #Catholic In spite of opposition from Catholic bishops and patient advocate groups, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Feb. 6 signed a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the Empire State.Assisted suicide is already legal in California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Washington, D.C.Hochul, a Catholic, had already announced she would sign the bill once “guardrails” were added — specifically, laws to allow faith-based hospice providers to opt out of offering assisted suicide.The Catholic bishops had urged Hochul not to pass the bill, saying that it undermined her own work on anti-suicide programs.“How can any society have credibility to tell young people or people with depression that suicide is never the answer, while at the same time telling elderly and sick people that it is a compassionate choice to be celebrated?” the bishops said in a recent statement.The Catholic Church is outspokenly opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Church condemns assisted suicide and euthanasia, instead encouraging palliative care, which means supporting patients with pain management and care as the end of their lives approaches. Additionally, the Church advocates for a “special respect” for anyone with a disability or serious health condition (CCC, 2276).Any action or lack of action that intentionally “causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator” (CCC, 2277).“We call on Catholics and all New Yorkers to reject physician-assisted suicide for themselves, their loved ones, and those in their care,” the bishops continued. “And we pray that our state turn away from its promotion of a culture of death and invest instead in life-affirming, compassionate hospice and palliative care, which is seriously underutilized.”“While physician-assisted suicide will soon be legal here in New York, we must clearly reiterate that it is in direct conflict with Catholic teaching on the sacredness and dignity of all human life from conception until natural death and is a grave moral evil on par with other direct attacks on human life,” the New York bishops said.Hochul said the law, which goes into effect 180 days after its signing, gives New Yorkers “the choice to endure less suffering.”“Our state will always stand firm in safeguarding New Yorkers’ freedoms and right to bodily autonomy, which includes the right for the terminally ill to peacefully and comfortably end their lives with dignity and compassion,” Hochul said in the Feb. 6 statement.“I firmly believe we made the right decision,” she concluded.A national disability rights group, the Patients’ Rights Action Fund, along with the New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide, advocated against the law.Jessica Rodgers, a spokeswoman for the Patients Rights Action Fund, urged those behind the new law “to reexamine your consciences.”“New York’s assisted suicide law will turn some doctors and pharmacists into executioners,” Rodgers said in a statement shared with EWTN News. “It will turn coroners into liars by requiring them to provide false information about the cause of death for each person who chooses assisted suicide.”Rodgers noted that the bill “will do nothing to address New York’s low rates of hospice care use.”“Instead of doing the difficult work of making hospice care more accessible and helping to ease the pain of terminal illnesses, the governor has chosen to enact a law that will, likely, result in some New Yorkers’ premature deaths,” she said.“It will stigmatize and endanger the terminally ill, whose lives are deemed of so little worth by our governor that other New Yorkers will now be allowed to help them expedite their own deaths,” Rodgers continued.“It will encourage vulnerable people to view suicide as a legitimate response to suffering of all kinds; it could even raise the overall suicide rate,” she said. “It opens the door to future expansions of doctor-assisted death, like those we have seen in Canada in recent years.”“Finally, it willfully ignores the fact that physicians’ estimates of their patients’ life expectancies can be mistaken, and that such mistakes could lead people to choose assisted suicide when they could otherwise have gone on living for years,” Rodgers concluded.

unitedyam

In spite of opposition from Catholic bishops and patient advocate groups, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law physician-assisted suicide in New York.

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Archbishop Wenski makes case for ‘permanent’ solution for Haitian refugees in U.S. #Catholic Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami is calling on Congress to find a “permanent” solution for Haitian refugees in the United States.On Feb. 2 a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants that was given in 2010. TPS provides eligible Haitians in the U.S. with protection from deportation and work authorization, due to ongoing safety concerns in Haiti.As Florida has the largest Haitian population in the country, Wenski said there is “relief” after the judge blocked the order. Ending TPS “would affect possibly 300,000 Haitians, not only here in South Florida but throughout the United States,” he said in an interview with “EWTN News Nightly.”“It’s not the final solution … because the administration, I think, has the intention of making an appeal, and what is given could be quickly taken away as well. While the Haitians are breathing a sigh of relief, at the same time, we realize that it’s a temporary relief.”Now, Wenski said, it is up to Congress “to step up to the plate and provide a more permanent solution to the plight of these Haitians.” The administration “is applying the laws as they understand them, but it is Congress that makes the laws.”“If the laws are unfair, unjust, or inadequate to the real needs of our country, then they should be changed, and that’s a prerogative of Congress. So I would urge Congress to step up to provide a solution, because the Haitians being forced back to Haiti with very perilous, dangerous conditions right now … puts their lives in danger.”The Haitians “leaving South Florida and other places in the United States so abruptly would cause great economic damage to the United States,” Wenski said. He detailed that Haitians in the U.S. with TPS are working gainfully, paying taxes, and participating in the economy.“It is also important to remember, these people have temporary protective status, which also grants them a work permit. They are not illegals. They’re not violating any law because they have been given a status by the government,” Wenski said.TPS status does put them “in limbo,” Wenski said. It “doesn’t provide any path to permanent residency. If they would leave the country, they would not be able to return.”Concerns in HaitiAs the U.S. State Department tells Americans not to travel to Haiti, when “the Trump administration puts a travel ban, trying to stop people from Haiti,” it “shows the perilousness of the country conditions,” Wenski said.“For instance, the capital city, where there’s about 3 million people residing, is in the hands of gangs,” he said. “Here’s a country that has its school system in disarray because gangs make it impossible for kids to go to school.”Wenski also highlighted the issue of “almost nonexistent health care” as “doctors have been forced to flee and hospitals have been closed” in the country.“It is a place where there is no rule of law, no government, where these gangs and other criminals operate with impunity. For many people, the only lifeline that they have that allows them to survive is the remittances, small as they might be, that the Haitians in the United States are sending home to support families,” Wenski said.“It’s a real problem, not only in Haiti, but the Caribbean region,” Wenski said. He specifically noted Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador.“We see the drugs that are being transported into Europe from Asia and also Africa. It is a worldwide problem. What I think we have to recognize is that the poorest people are not the ones that are driving the problem. They are the victims of the problem.”The Haitians in the U.S. seeking refuge and protection “did not create the problems, but they were the ones that have been victimized by the problems,” Wenski said. “We have to be careful that we don’t blame the victims because it’s easier to do that sometimes because they don’t have the strength to oppose us,” Wenski said.
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Archbishop Wenski makes case for ‘permanent’ solution for Haitian refugees in U.S. #Catholic Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami is calling on Congress to find a “permanent” solution for Haitian refugees in the United States.On Feb. 2 a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants that was given in 2010. TPS provides eligible Haitians in the U.S. with protection from deportation and work authorization, due to ongoing safety concerns in Haiti.As Florida has the largest Haitian population in the country, Wenski said there is “relief” after the judge blocked the order. Ending TPS “would affect possibly 300,000 Haitians, not only here in South Florida but throughout the United States,” he said in an interview with “EWTN News Nightly.”“It’s not the final solution … because the administration, I think, has the intention of making an appeal, and what is given could be quickly taken away as well. While the Haitians are breathing a sigh of relief, at the same time, we realize that it’s a temporary relief.”Now, Wenski said, it is up to Congress “to step up to the plate and provide a more permanent solution to the plight of these Haitians.” The administration “is applying the laws as they understand them, but it is Congress that makes the laws.”“If the laws are unfair, unjust, or inadequate to the real needs of our country, then they should be changed, and that’s a prerogative of Congress. So I would urge Congress to step up to provide a solution, because the Haitians being forced back to Haiti with very perilous, dangerous conditions right now … puts their lives in danger.”The Haitians “leaving South Florida and other places in the United States so abruptly would cause great economic damage to the United States,” Wenski said. He detailed that Haitians in the U.S. with TPS are working gainfully, paying taxes, and participating in the economy.“It is also important to remember, these people have temporary protective status, which also grants them a work permit. They are not illegals. They’re not violating any law because they have been given a status by the government,” Wenski said.TPS status does put them “in limbo,” Wenski said. It “doesn’t provide any path to permanent residency. If they would leave the country, they would not be able to return.”Concerns in HaitiAs the U.S. State Department tells Americans not to travel to Haiti, when “the Trump administration puts a travel ban, trying to stop people from Haiti,” it “shows the perilousness of the country conditions,” Wenski said.“For instance, the capital city, where there’s about 3 million people residing, is in the hands of gangs,” he said. “Here’s a country that has its school system in disarray because gangs make it impossible for kids to go to school.”Wenski also highlighted the issue of “almost nonexistent health care” as “doctors have been forced to flee and hospitals have been closed” in the country.“It is a place where there is no rule of law, no government, where these gangs and other criminals operate with impunity. For many people, the only lifeline that they have that allows them to survive is the remittances, small as they might be, that the Haitians in the United States are sending home to support families,” Wenski said.“It’s a real problem, not only in Haiti, but the Caribbean region,” Wenski said. He specifically noted Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador.“We see the drugs that are being transported into Europe from Asia and also Africa. It is a worldwide problem. What I think we have to recognize is that the poorest people are not the ones that are driving the problem. They are the victims of the problem.”The Haitians in the U.S. seeking refuge and protection “did not create the problems, but they were the ones that have been victimized by the problems,” Wenski said. “We have to be careful that we don’t blame the victims because it’s easier to do that sometimes because they don’t have the strength to oppose us,” Wenski said.

unitedyam

The Haitians “leaving South Florida and other places in the United States so abruptly would cause great economic damage to the United States,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski said.

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