The Defense of Life at Its Most Vulnerable
As per an 8/3/12 letter to Congress from Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB),- "One year ago, for the first time, the federal government announced that it would forbid Americans to provide or purchase health coverage unless it includes female surgical sterilizations, all FDA-approved prescription drugs and devices for preventing pregnancy – including drugs and devices which can destroy a human life at its earliest stages – and 'counseling and education' to promote these to all women and girls of childbearing age....
- "despite widespread opposition to this coercive policy by religious organizations, lawmakers and the general public, Congress has still taken no action to counter it....
"the Catholic bishops of the United States and many others fervently hope Congress will address this urgent and fundamental issue before it completes its business this year."
Pennsylvania Senate Bill 3
As per the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference (6/29/12):- "Now that it is known that the Affordable Care Act will stand, Pennsylvania must take action to prevent abortion coverage in the insurance exchanges. Senate Bill 3...would prohibit insurance providers that participate in the insurance exchanges created by the federal health care reform law from covering elective abortion services."
- "Senate Bill 3 would prohibit abortion coverage (with certain...Medicaid exceptions) from being offered in Pennsylvania’s 'health insurance exchanges.' Without SB3, everyone who purchases insurance through a Pennsylvania exchange will be paying an additional premium for abortion coverage."
Let's appeal to our representatives who voted favorably on HB 1977, to join us in urging majority leader Rep Mike Turzai (717-772-9943; 412-369-2230) mturzai@pahousegop.com to bring SB 3 to a vote! From Bucks County, those representatives are:
- •Paul Clymer (145th) pclymer@pahousegop.com,
- •Gene DiGirolamo (18th) gdigirol@pahousegop.com,
•Frank Farry (142nd) Ffarry@pahousegop.com,
•John Galloway (140th) RepGalloway@pahouse.net,
•Bernie O'Neill (29th) boneill@pahousegop.com,
•Scott Petri (178th) spetri@pahousegop.com,
•Marguerite Quinn (143rd) mquinn@pahousegop.com, and
•Kathy Watson kwatson@pahousegop.com,
(Representatives Tina Davis (141st) and Steve Santarsiero (31st) voted AGAINST HB 1977.)
We need SB 3 to be passed and signed by Governor Corbett.
We need this protection for our consciences!
Pennsylvania HB 2405
As per the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference (5/24/12), "Legislation to prohibit Planned Parenthood and other abortion-on-demand providers from receiving taxpayer funding was introduced yesterday as House Bill 2405 – the Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priorities Act."
Let your representative know that you want to see HB 2405 move forward.
The Defense of Marriage
As per a 6/14/12 address to his brother bishops by the Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone, chairman of the USCCB's Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage (and new archbishop of San Francisco):- "Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, during his homily at the closing Mass of the recent Seventh World Meeting of Families in Milan, spoke about the fruitfulness of married love. A husband and a wife, the Holy Father noted, give their 'whole lives' to one another. Their love is fruitful for themselves, fruitful in their generous and responsible procreation of children, and fruitful for society, particularly since 'family life is the first and irreplaceable school of social virtues.' The Holy Father’s words remind us that the love of husband and wife is a decisive gift for the world, and it calls for stewardship and responsibility....
- "At the federal level, recent negative court decisions concerning both the federal Defense of Marriage Act as well as California’s Proposition 8 now open the door for both DOMA and Prop 8 to go before the Supreme Court....
"And as we learned last month, President Obama has now voiced his official support for the redefinition of marriage in the law....
"I would like to call your attention to an important new social-science study whose initial findings were just released a few days ago. The study, entitled 'New Family Structures Study,' was conducted at the University of Texas at Austin. The study has surveyed a very large, nationally-representative, and random sample of American young adults (ages 18 to 39) who were raised in different family or home environments, including homes with a parent in a same-sex relationship, as well as single-parent families, step-families, adoptive families and families where the children were raised by their biological parents married to each other.
"In an article recently published in the July issue of the peer-reviewed journal Social Science Research, the study’s principal investigator, Dr. Mark Regnerus, presented initial findings....The findings indicate several significant statistical differences when comparing young adults who were raised in an intact home with their married, biological parents and young adults raised in other home environments....
"this study has been noted to empirically call into question other studies with smaller and more restrictive sample sizes that have purported to show that there are no differences between father-mother parenting and other arrangements. Another paper by sociologist Dr. Loren Marks...reviewed fifty-nine (59) previous studies cited by the American Psychological Association (APA)....
"this New Family Structures Study is being acknowledged as one of the first studies on this topic to have a comprehensive and scientifically respectable approach—so much so that some social science researchers with views supportive of new or so-called alternative family structures have acknowledged the scientific validity of the study....a well-respected study is attesting to something very basic: fathers and mothers matter, and married fathers and mothers matter for children....
"social science continues to affirm that children thrive and do best with their mother and father in an intact home. The protection of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is a work of justice and is foundational to the good of all, especially for those most vulnerable among us, our children. It is the way of true compassion—love in truth and truth in love. Our young people are hungry for this truth and are in a position to witness to it in a uniquely powerful way."
- "A Marriage Protection Amendment to the Pennsylvania State Constitution may be the only way to preserve the definition of marriage as the union between one man and one woman....
- "After millennia of human experience and ethical reflection, history has shown the family to be the foundation of society. The institution of marriage plays an essential role in the continuation of the human race, the full and proper development of each person and the establishment of a society rooted in personal dignity, social stability and mutual respect. Marriage is the foundation of the family. In turn the family is the basic unit of society. Thus while marriage is a personal relationship it also has public significance.
"The Church’s vision of human sexuality in marriage is a great truth entrusted to us by God as reflected in the way he created us. Jesus Christ also revealed to us what God’s plan is for our sexuality and for marriage. We not only cherish this great truth but we must also speak up in its defense because we hold marriage to be a sacred reality.
"TAKE ACTION: Contact your state legislators to encourage them to support a Pennsylvania Marriage Protection Amendment."
Pennsylvania SB 1134
The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference (6/19/12) asks,- "did you know that a classic church-state struggle is underway in Pennsylvania regarding the authority of the state government to influence religious childcare ministries, including Catholic childcare?....Senate Bill 1134 corrects this overreach....This important legislation passed the Senate Education Committee with a vote of 9-2. The following Senators voted in favor of the bill -
- Browne, Patrick M. (R-Leigh, Monroe, Northampton)
Corman, Jake (R- Centre, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry, Union)
Dinniman, Andrew E. (D – Chester, Montgomery)
Folmer, Mike (R-Berks, Chester, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon)
Piccola, Jeffrey E. (R- Dauphin, York)
Scarnati, Joseph B., III (R – Cameron, Clearfield, Elk, Jefferson, McKean, Potter, Tioga, Warren)
Smucker, Lloyd K. (R-Lancaster, York)
Tomlinson, Robert M. (R- Bucks)
Williams, Anthony H. (D- Delaware, Philadelphia)
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