Responding to news that the Obama administration will continue plans to force employers to pay for employee insurance coverage for contraceptives and embryocidal drugs and services, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has characterized the decision as an unprecedented attack on religious liberty. The Conference promises to continue working to reform the law. [USCCB News Release] Cardinal Designate Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and USCCB president, has issued a video calling for people to let the government know that they want “religious liberty and rights of conscience restored.”
Category: News
‘Expert panel’ on abortion generates controversy in Ireland
A panel of 13 ‘experts’ chaired by Mr. Justice Seán Ryan of the High Court of Ireland is to study a European Court of Human Rights ruling on abortion and advise the government what should be done in response [News release; Irish Times]. Four members of the panel – Mary O’Toole, Dr. Peter Boylan, Dr. Deirdre Madden, and Ailish Ní Riain – have been identified by anti-abortion groups in the country as having previously indicated that they favour legalizing abortion or reducing restrictions on it. [Life Institute 16 Jan 2012, 20 Jan 2012]
Pope warns of attempts to limit freedom of religion in USA
Addressing American bishops at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI warned of “grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism.” He voiced special concern about “certain attempts” to limit freedom of religion. “Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.” [Text of address]
South Carolina Senate takes up protection of conscience bill
The Freedom of Conscience Act, a bill that passed the South Carolina House of Representatives last year, is to be considered by the state senate. It is a procedure-specific statute that focuses on embryonic and foetal research and acts that cause the death of an individual. [Post and Courier]
Midwives in Scotland go to court over forced facilitation of abortion
Scotland’s largest health board, the National Health Service Greater Glasgow and Clyde, ordered two Catholic midwives to schedule and supervise other health care workers providing abortion. The organization rejected a grievance from the midwives, claiming that the protection of conscience provision in the Abortion Act exempts objectors only from active and direct participation in an abortion. It insists that it can lawfully order objectors to perform other duties necessary for the provision of abortions. The two midwives have gone to the Court of Session in Edinburgh seeking an order overturning the employer’s decision. [BBC; The Telegraph]