An international commission committed to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Americas recently published two reports that challenge laws protecting life from conception in both North and South America. One report published by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights denies physicians the right to conscientiously object to performing an abortion, while the […]
Thirty-nine years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in Roe v. Wade, that the laws outlawing abortion in Texas were unconstitutional because a woman had a right to privacy, guaranteed by the Constitution. Suddenly, the unborn had no legal protection in the United States. But Roe v. Wade did not just deny legal protection to […]
The politically approved scientific use of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) for research and experimentation has plagued our quest for recognition of intrinsic human rights ever since the first such experiment became public in 1993. In 1998, a University of Wisconsin press release touted a discovery by UW researcher James Thomson and stated, “The dream […]
Americans United for Life (AUL) has released its seventh annual “Life List” — a ranking of all 50 states based on the way each deals with a comprehensive list of life issues — from abortion to euthanasia. For the second time in three years, Louisiana tops the list, followed closely by Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, and […]
This weekend, close to half a million souls will descend upon Washington D.C. Teens will stay up all night Saturday, praying and praising in our national Shrine. Housewives from the south will stand next to University presidents from the north in the freezing cold, while businessmen from the east mingle with college students from the west, […]
Every parent should consider their child a gift and a miracle, because every human life is an unrepeatable, absolutely incredible, physical manifestation of God’s image and His love in this world. Our daughter Clare is a miracle because of that truth; but there’s something even more miraculous about her story that merits repeating. In this […]
One city in China has introduced a surprising measure to deal with the consequences of the government’s cruel one-child policy. It’s cracking down on the morning-after pill. Bloomberg reports that on December 21, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Fuzhou, the capitol city of Fujian Province, ordered pharmacies to register the names, phone numbers […]
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Dana Milbank’s column on abortion in today’s Washington Post: It’s an old tactic—attacking the advocates of both sides of a contentious issue. In doing so, the pundit attempts to seize the mantle of objectivity. But it often doesn’t work, and it certainly didn’t work for Dana Milbank. Milbank […]
Political systems and popular representation are changing. Movements like the Spanish 15-M, or the American Tea Party are spontaneous movements which indicate that democracy — while a good system of government — is currently in crisis. What this means is that there are some citizens whose voices are not being heard — so they have […]
It’s like peeling up the edge of tape. The instant a society places more value on some human lives than others, it’s only a matter of time until that edge has been picked, pried and yanked enough to leave unsuspecting people grieving and wondering what happened to their right to life, liberty and the pursuit […]
I have suffered from depression my whole adult life. Symptoms of depression and anxiety run in my family. So any story about new treatments for depression always catch my eye. But this one caught my eye for another reason. One of the indications of depression is a reduced hippocampus, a part of the brain that […]
In America, today commemorates the life of the great civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was one of those moral giants God raised up to guide a nation toward a new stage in its collective moral development. Like Abraham Lincoln, William Lloyd Garrison, and others, he played a pivotal role in opening […]
In the summer of 2009, the Population Research Institute went out on a limb. We made a cartoon. It wasn’t a very long cartoon, only about a minute and a half—and the animation was deliberately minimalist. But it was clever, quick, and easy to watch. The music was original, cool, and jazzily low-key. It avoided […]
Couples in Kenya are embracing Natural Family Planning (NFP) with the help of a new clinic opened by the pro-life group Human Life International (HLI) Kenya in collaboration with the Catholic Church. The St Mary Mother of Charity and Consolation Clinic for NFP opened last November in Nyeri, Kenya as part of the pro-life outreach […]
I suffered a sneak attack last week while sitting at the head table for a dinner at Providence’s prestigious Hope Club (my husband Toshi was the evening’s speaker). Surrounded by the grandeur of the old place (still Christmas-clad) and enjoying a good meal, I was happy to be placed between a Navy fighter pilot getting […]
It is a constant chant from those who would like the defenders of unborn life to disappear, and leave them undisturbed in their killing. “Your concern for life does not go any further than the uterus.” “All you want is to stop the abortion, and then you abandon the mother.” “You don’t care about the […]
I talk about transhumanism a lot because I believe it is the greatest threat to humanity that no one knows about. Transhumansim is a philosophy that wants to use technology to surpass treating or preventing disease and use it to enhance otherwise healthy humans beyond natural capabilities. They envision a world where you can leave […]
We have just concluded the Christmas season, and find ourselves immersed in the election season. And so it should be. Christmas is actually the best preparation for elections. It is the feast of God becoming human, and thereby joining all humanity to himself. Each person, in Christ, has immediate access to God, and has a […]
It was predictable that Spain’s parliamentary elections last November would end in victory for Spain’s conservative People’s Party after the abject failure of the Spanish Socialist Party in combating rising unemployment and languid economic growth during the economic crisis. Similarly, it was thought to be predictable that a conservative victory would yield major gains for […]
Things designed for good can be used for bad purposes. Art in its proper context captures images of beauty in the world or perverted to promote evil such as pornography. Books can teach and enlighten while others promote falsehoods or hatred. (Be careful what you read or watch.) Sometimes that which is life affirming in […]
Should your community participate in the next 40 Days for Life campaign — from February 22 to April 1? Ask Gerry Brundage. He would probably say YES. Gerry lives in Sherman, Texas. He had thought about applying to lead a 40 Days for Life campaign in his town in the fall of 2010 but, in […]
European human rights lawyer J.C. von Krempach has taken a close look at the funding stream of the International Gay and Lesbian Association – Europe (ILGA) and concluded that most of their money comes from governments. Writing in the foreign policy blog Turtle Bay and Beyond, von Krempach found a vast majority of ILGA’s funds […]
In 2009 two researchers filed a lawsuit claiming that new National Institutes of Health (NIH) guidelines easing restrictions on human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research are a violation the Dicky-Wicker Amendment, a budgetary amendment prohibiting federal tax dollars from being used to create or destroy human embryos for scientific research. In August 2010, district court […]
For those of you that missed it, December 10th was Human Rights Day here at the United Nations. Sixty-three years to the day, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948 by unanimous vote at the General Assembly of the United Nations in Paris, France. When the declaration was first authored, it was […]
