Abortion - Network For Church Monitoring

The Next Roe v. Wade?: Jennie McCormack’s Abortion Battle

Posted by N4CM News, Top Stories 12 Dec 2011

Source: The Daily Beast. The last thing on Jennie Linn McCormack’s mind when she realized she was pregnant was that she might, with a single telephone call, upend the vitriolic national debate on abortion. All she thought about was how it would be impossible for her to take care of another baby. Surviving, barely, on the $250 of monthly child support for one of her three kids, the unemployed, [...]

The Catholic church: A house divided?

Posted by N4CM Reproductive health 9 Dec 2011

Source: CBS News. It’s a battle between Catholic and Catholic, a battle between the past and the present. A battle centuries old that rages yet today. In Phoenix, it’s a battle between Bishop Thomas Olmstead and the city’s oldest hospital, St. Joseph’s, whose staff includes a respected nun. It began in November 2009, with a pregnant 27-year-old mother of four who, in her 11th week, was admitted with severe [...]

US: Assault on Reproductive Health Services Shifts to States

Posted by N4CM News, Reproductive health, Top Stories 14 Aug 2011

Source: IPS. In February, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would have stripped federal Title X funding from Planned Parenthood, cutting money for contraceptives, HIV tests, breast cancer screenings and reproductive health services for predominantly low-income patients. The main justification for this defunding was, according to Republicans, [...]

Right to life Guatemala

Posted by N4CM Reproductive health 1 May 2011

Source: Al Jazeera. Today, illegal abortions are the leading cause of death among young women in Latin America. Whether they are performed in major cities or in the isolated countryside, these ‘back room’ abortions are leaving thousands of young women dead each year. Guatemala has the highest fertility rate among women and yet it remains the poorest country in the region where women can ill afford large families.

Religious hospitals’ restrictions sparking conflicts, scrutiny

Posted by N4CM Reproductive health 21 Jan 2011

Source: Washington Post. In Texas, a Catholic bishop made two hospitals cease doing tube-tying operations for women who are not going to have more babies. In Oregon, another bishop cast a medical center out of his diocese for refusing to discontinue the same procedure. In Arizona, a nun was excommunicated and the hospital where she works was expelled from the church after [...]

Catholic Madness

Posted by N4CM Opinion, Reproductive health 29 Dec 2010

Source: Choice in Dying, 27 December 2010. By Eric MacDonald. It is important to cut through sanctimonious crap, and stop pretending that religious institutions have privileged access to the truth about morality. The case of St. Joseph’s Hospital vs. The Bishop of Phoenix is an especially good example of the kind of madness that occurs when [...]

Will states consider new tests for ‘Roe’?

Posted by N4CM Reproductive health 29 Dec 2010

Source: Washington Post. Mike Flood, the 35-year-old speaker of Nebraska’s legislature, had a problem: He wanted to stop the state’s well-known abortion provider from offering late-term abortions. A long line of Supreme Court precedents seemed to stand in his way. But Flood believes that a 2007 decision offers hope for him and [...]

How to think about abortion

Posted by N4CM Opinion, Reproductive health 16 Nov 2010

Source: Salon, 16 November 2010. By Frances Kissling. The midterm elections resulted in significant gains in the antiabortion political delegation: In the House, there are 44 more antiabortion votes and six in the Senate. Blue Dog anti-choice Democrats were also replaced by right-wing Republicans who are not only antiabortion but anti-family planning and far more [...]

The big lie about abortion and mental health

Posted by N4CM News, Reproductive health 8 Nov 2010

Source: The Washington Post, 7 November 2010. Such warnings might sound like a good idea. The decision to terminate a pregnancy can be difficult, and some women end up regretting it. It’s commendable to help women make an informed choice. But an informed choice requires accurate information. And these laws mandate that women be misled. [...]

GOP Hopefuls Threaten Reproductive Rights, Support for Poor Women

Posted by N4CM Christian Right Watch, Reproductive health 30 Oct 2010

Source: Truthout, 30 October 2010. The national media proudly proclaimed 2010 as the Year of the GOP Woman, but they’ve largely failed to bring actual women’s issues into the conversation. Take abortion. “The media silence on abortion means we might end up forcing women to bear their rapists’ baby and the average American doesn’t even [...]