Wisconsin Personhood Amendment: Front page news, along with Ryan Braun

Need I say more about the watershed moments of both Braun's achievement and the introduction of personhood legislation...

Today's Wisconsin State Journal:

Many Wisconsin abortion foes are cheering the introduction of legislation that would amend the state constitution to extend personhood to the moment an egg is fertilized, although the state's two largest anti-abortion groups are at odds over the approach.

The legislation is patterned after a similar measure that Mississippi voters rejected earlier this month.

Critics say such measures would outlaw all abortions, including in cases of rape and incest, and ban all forms of hormonal contraception, including birth control pills and intrauterine devices (IUDs).

Wisconsin's "personhood" amendment, introduced last week by Rep. Andre Jacque, R-Bellevue, would define the terms "people" and "person" in the constitution to include "every human being at any stage of development."

Matt Sande, lobbyist for Pro-Life Wisconsin, which backs the legislation and is working closely with Jacque, said the amendment "undoubtedly" would outlaw all forms of surgical and chemical abortion. On other issues, "we don't know exactly what it would mean, but our intent is to protect the preborn child at any stage of development from any violent attack, whether chemical, surgical or experimental," he said.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin has concluded the proposed language would ban hormonal contraception, said Nicole Safar, public policy director. "This is way out of touch with Wisconsin values," she said.

In a twist, Wisconsin Right to Life, the largest anti-abortion group in the state, has come out forcefully against the personhood amendment strategy, calling it "just plain wrong for Wisconsin."

Read the rest here.

Telling how PPWI acknowledges the abortion-causing effect of hormonal contraceptives, no? And yet certain pro-lifers refuse to address the issue. Cardinal Burke has something to say about that.

WI Assembly Education Committee to hold public hearing on contraception madate of 2009

The Assembly Committee on Education has scheduled a public hearing for Assembly Bill (AB) 337, the "Strong Communities…Healthy Kids Act," on Wednesday, November 16, at 10:00 a.m. in Room 417 North (GAR Hall) of the State Capitol building in Madison.

Please consider attending the hearing and registering for or testifying in favor of this critically important legislation.

Assembly Bill 337 is legislation authored by State Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R-Fond du Lac) that reverses the contraception education/instruction mandate of 2009, giving public school districts the freedom to adopt abstinence-only human growth and development curricula. Chastity/abstinence is the only message that will protect our children's bodies and preserve their innocence, and local school districts should be given this option. The bill also prohibits school-based volunteer health providers from providing instruction in human growth and development. Sexual development is not properly under the purview of a school health room physician or nurse, especially one from Planned Parenthood. The bill prevents Planned Parenthood nurses and physicians from teaching about abortion and contraception in our public schools. The Senate companion bill to AB 337, Senate Bill 237, passed the Senate on November 2.

Thank you for speaking up for our children!

PLW

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin rakes in $26 million from taxpayers for birth control

From Pro-Life Wisconsin:

Recently-obtained figures from the state of Wisconsin show that from 2007-2010, Planned Parenthood received $26 million from taxpayers for providing “family planning” services under the Medicaid Family Planning Waiver Program. Graph, below, breaks it down by county. Planned Parenthood operates 27 facilities across Wisconsin; two of those provide surgical abortions.


As you can see from the final total, $81.5+ million was paid out across the state from 2007-2010 under the Medicaid FPW program.

Read the rest here.

Natural marriage or ...

Sword of Peter

HT CM Report

Reversal of forced contraception indoctrination proposed

The Senate Committee on Education has scheduled a public hearing for Senate Bill (SB) 237, the “Strong Communities…Healthy Kids Act,” on Wednesday, October 19, at 12:00 p.m. in Room 201 Southeast of the State Capitol building in Madison.

Please consider attending the hearing and registering for or testifying in favor of this critically important legislation.

Senate Bill 237 is legislation authored by State Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) that reverses the contraception education/instruction mandate of 2009, giving public school districts the freedom to adopt abstinence-only human growth and development curricula. Chastity/abstinence is the only message that will protect our children’s bodies and preserve their innocence, and local school districts should be given this option. The bill also prohibits school-based volunteer health providers from providing instruction in human growth and development. Sexual development is not properly under the purview of a school health room physician or nurse, especially one from Planned Parenthood. The bill prevents Planned Parenthood nurses and physicians from teaching about abortion and contraception in our public schools.

For those of you who reside in the Beloit area, the Beloit School District has been developing human growth and development curriculum proposals through an ad hoc committee since last December. The district is currently without a sex education program. Listening sessions on curriculum proposals will begin on October 24 and continue into early November.

Thank you for speaking up for our children!

Pro-Life Wisconsin

Great news!

Women's Medical Forum on the Pill at St. Norbert's College

Women's Medical Forum on the Pill -- The Data. The Links. The Facts.

When: Saturday, September 24, 2011, 8:30 a.m. to noon

Where: St. Norbert College, Ft. Howard Theatre, De Pere, WI (click here for map/directions)

Speakers

• Dr. Angela Lanfranchi, breast cancer surgeon, VP/co-founder of Breast Cancer Prevention Institute

• Mercedes Arzu’ Wilson, speaker, author, president of Family of the Americas Foundation, Inc.

• Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay
Information: Click here for flyer

Contact: Christina Pallini, e-mail cpallini@gbdioc.org; phone (920) 272-8271

details at GB Diocese

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Abp. Nienstedt calls proposed HHS Contraception Mandate "A Serious Threat To Religious Freedom"

I fully intended to publish “Part Two” of my commentary on the marvelous experience of World Youth Day in today’s column. I now hope to do so in the next issue.

But, in the meantime, there has arisen a very serious threat to the religious freedom of all religious institutions, especially our Catholic health care programs and Catholic social services, a threat posed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Under HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (a Catholic), the department is imposing a “preventative services” mandate requiring all private health plans — including ones administered by the church and its agents — to provide coverage for surgical sterilizations, prescription contraceptives approved by the FDA, and “education and counseling” for “all women of reproductive capacity.”

Unfortunately, this is the logical result of a seismic change in this administration’s approach to religious groups involved in providing social services to, among others, the poor, the homeless, the sick, the immigrant.

It began when President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton started using the term “freedom of worship” as distinct from what we have always known as “freedom of religion.”

Under the concept of “freedom of worship,” church agencies are restricted to hiring employees only from their own denomination and providing services for clients only from their own denomination.

continue at The Catholic Spirit 

HT Bliss

Catechism of the Catholic Church on Personhood

"Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life." -- Catechism of the Catholic Church 2270, from Donum Vitae [1987] written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

Beautiful, no?

OpEd: Defunding the promiscuity of others

In The Reporter article on Aug. 14 addressing women's reproductive health care and cuts in funding to Planned Parenthood, Jessica McCardell points to Planned Parenthood as the savior that helped her prevent unplanned pregnancy.

At the age of 16 she says she began using their services. The article says women are seeking contraception and reproductive health services "at even younger ages."

So, why should the rest of us pay for programs that encourage and enable recreational sex?

At a time when working families are struggling to cover their mortgages or send their kids to college, it makes absolutely no sense to tax them to fund the promiscuity of others. And if parents are willing to turn their parenting over to Planned Parenthood they shouldn't expect the rest of us to pay for it.

Thanks to Gov. Scott Walker's biennial budget, taxpayers will no longer be funding Planned Parenthood.

continue at FDLReporter

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Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin sees 180% increase in private donations after taxpayer funding cuts

From Pro-Life Wisconsin:

In a remarkably coincidental situation as Planned Parenthood of Indiana found itself in (including sympathetic reporters), Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is claiming to see a significant increase in the size and number of donations, but — surprise, surprise! — that won’t be enough to cover the loss of taxpayer dollars.

The Oshkosh Northwestern:

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin has experienced a significant increase in the number of new donors this year, but these new donors have not provided enough money to close the gap left by the state budget that slashed more than $1 million from the organization to help shore up the state’s $3 billion shortfall. [What this article fails to mention: $1 million of PPWI's $18 million in taxpayer funding was cut; hardly draconian or extensive.]

The agency that provides birth control services and health screenings — as well as abortions and abortion referrals at three of its 27 centers statewide — has experienced a 180 percent increase in new donors in 2011 [if people are so ideological and driven they will pay up for someone else's birth control, etc, why should taxpayers?].

Most of these donations are from working families in amounts between $25 and $50, said Amanda Harrington, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.

Read the rest from Pro-Life Wisconsin here.

WRTL sends opposition to Personhood to all Wisconsin legislators

Last week Wisconsin Right to Life dropped off a letter at all the legislators’ offices in Madison about any potential Personhood amendment (which hasn’t even been introduced as of this point in time).  The first page is their letter and pages 2-3 is their analysis. This is a little surprising since there's no bill and no discussion at this time.  It would seem that WRTL feels they have a very weak argument legally and wouldn't be as persuasive once all their concerns are answered.  I've read both sides.  It is becoming apparent that any legislation that could infringe on any form of contraception(which can cause abortion) will be staunchly opposed by WRTL.  By the way, officially WRTL teaches that any connection between contraception and abortion is "speculation."

Wisconsin Right to Life views the idea that the pill causes abortions as "speculation," according to executive director Barbara Lyons.

There is a place for groups like WRTL, and I mean that.  Politics is a tricky game.  When Protestant groups first began supporting contraception in the 1930s(and a very limited support at that), it left a rift there for future generations of Christians who would never be taught what a natural marriage really is.  Certainly they should still be given a voice in the pro-life movement without having to contradict what their own denomination teaches on the matter.  I know, there are good people involved with Wisconsin Right to Life. But all of that said, there is nothing more scandalous than hearing that Catholic dioceses in this state take direction from and fund raise for Wisconsin Right to Life.  We have been given Humanae Vitae and Evangelium Vitae(The Gospel of Life).  We can't simply reject Church teaching because we might score some token political points.  Christ's Church has a plan not just for how we personally must act, but how laws and society should reflect that plan. 

Do you really believe abortion can totally and completely be defeated in our lifetime?  If not, you should find another movement.  If so, then how will you do it?  Compromising the Gospel of Life is admitting defeat.  Supporters of Wisconsin Right to Life, consider contacting the home office and ask them to reconsider their position on this important legislation, and ask what their alternative plan is for defeating abortion in Wisconsin. 



WRTL Opposes Person Hood

FDA on contraception: We're from the government and we're here to help

Since Matt is nominated for an award, I guess that means I have to kick it up a notch as well! - Virginia



From Pro-Life Wisconsin:



The Food and Drug Administration [FDA] has a chart on their website summarizing the available methods of contraception. The chart, below, reminds me of the Ronald Reagan quip, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

The chart has a rather cheery way of summarizing the risks (heart attack, toxic shock, tear in the uterus, etc) along with the expected failure rates (1 out of every 100 women will get pregnant after a failed sterilization vs. up to 32 out of 100 women will get pregnant after a condom fails). Why would any woman be sold on the idea of having menopausal symptoms for 20 years (or more, if you go on the pill at 15 as many girls do)? Read more about contraception’s risks, the abortion-contraception connection and more on our website here.

Who thought up the “Nothing to remember” line? Like, “Ain’t no big thing, snip snip, off you go!”

Access the FDA’s chart on its website here [PDF].

Fairy tales

 

 

"Fairy tales are more than true; 

not because they tell us that dragons exist, 

but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

- G.K. Chesterton

 

HT RD 

 

MJS: New health rule irks Catholic hospitals

They defied the bishops to support President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Now Catholic hospitals are dismayed that the law might force them to cover birth control free of charge to their employees. [Ah! To be young and naive again!]

A provision in the law expanded preventive health care benefits for women, and the administration said recently that must include birth control with no copays. The Catholic Health Association said a proposed conscience exemption is so narrowly written that it would apply only to houses of worship. Some other religious-based organizations agree.

"I call this the parish housekeeper exemption - that's about all it covers," said Sister Carol Keehan, president of the 600-member umbrella group for Catholic hospitals. "What we are trying to do is make workable the conscience protection the administration says it is willing to give."

Most Catholic hospitals do not cover birth control for their employees, Keehan said, but in some cases, they are required to by state law. Doctors caring for patients at the hospitals are not restricted from prescribing birth control.

Milwaukee's Columbia-St. Mary's and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare systems don't provide employees coverage for contraceptives, except for certain prescribed medical conditions, and they will be watching the process through the comment period.

"We share the Catholic Health Association's concerns that the definition of religious organizations is too narrow," said Anne Ballentine, spokeswoman for Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare.

more at MJS

WausauDailyHerald: Birth-control plan draws controversy

Anti-abortion advocates are criticizing the mandate, saying birth control is not preventive care but a lifestyle choice.

Virginia Zignego, spokeswoman for Pro-Life Wisconsin, said her organization expects the change to lead to even more dramatic shifts in what must be covered.

Along with eliminating financial barriers, Bublik-Anderson said making birth control more accessible than it is today could benefit women's general health. For instance, spacing births apart results in less financial strain on parents and lowers risks during pregnancy, according to Bublik-Anderson and national research.

Zignego, though, said a main concern for Pro-Life is that businesses that don't want to provide the coverage for personal or religious reasons will be forced to do so if they are going to have health insurance for workers.

The rule does include a provision that would allow religious institutions not to offer birth control coverage.

Phil Dougherty, senior executive officer for the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans, said mandating complete coverage of birth control is expected to increase insurance premiums, because any increase in coverage typically drives up costs.

Newman argued any shift in premium costs will likely be minor compared to the financial ramifications businesses face when workers are gone for an extended period of time because of unplanned pregnancies.

Wausau Daily Herald

Empowering women by making sure their employers can mandate they not have more children. That's the implication right?  The employer is fine with paying for the coverage as long as his female employees don't have too many children, right?

You know if that child has any abnormalities like autism, maybe we could just pay for an abortion instead because that's cheaper than child care.  Or maybe employers could just mandate that both male and female employees be sterilized before hiring them.  That would really solve this problem. 

Paying for college by hooking up with "sugar daddies"

From Pro-Life Wisconsin:

An article in today’s Capitol Times discussed the “phenomenon” of female college students who are paying for college or paying down student debt by hooking up with “sugar daddies” — wealthy men who pay for companionship and sex. The University of Wisconsin is among the national leaders in producing “sugar babies” — young adults willing to provide these services.

Without the wide availability of contraception, none of this would be possible.

All of the vaunted sexual liberation women seem to have these days — “Be in control of your own sexuality! Birth control will set you free!” — has not resulted in male-female equality, at least where sex is concerned.

Read more here.

Poll Alert! Covering Contraceptives without Copays

From the Wisconsin Public Radio website

Covering Contraceptives without Copays

The Obama administration says it plans to require insurance companies to provide birth control services at no extra cost to women beginning in 2012. Do you mainly support or oppose this idea?

VOTE HERE

Virginia Zignego on Wisconsin Public Radio tomorrow

Virginia from Pro-Life Wisconsin will be on WPR tomorrow debating debating Sara Finger of the Wisconsin Alliance for Women's Health to discuss Pres. Obama's oppressive move to mandate private insurance companies cover contraceptive, direct sterilization coverage.  That is to say that all private insurance holders must pay for other peoples sexual disorders.

Show starts at 7am.  Podcast will be available later here.

WAWH was founded by Tommy Thompson, another... ahem... Catholic pro-abort governor.

I'm certain WPR will be fair and balanced in their moderation
</sarcasm>

Let's pray for her.

Stanek poll: Is contraception a pro-life issue?

I'm not sure whether to be encouraged or discouraged....

Online Surveys & Market Research

Click here to see the results mapped out.

Obamacare requires insurance companies to cover contraception and abortion pills

It seems the decision is left to Kathleen Sebelius and Congress doesn't get a say which pretty much means everyone's getting contraception coverage.

The report raises the canard that an increase in contraception would lead to a decline in the number of abortions. And, of course, the Times passes this on uncritically as if this were indisputable despite every indication that the truth is the exact opposite.

In fact, this recommendation would require coverage of emergency contraceptives including pills like ella and Plan B which are abortifacients themselves. And there is no out clause for this requirement so it appears to me that Catholic and Christian institutions will be forced to cover contraceptive abortifacients and sterilization procedures.

details at Creative Minority Report