Reproductive Rights Prof Blog

Mexico City Struggles to Make Newly Legalized Abortions Available

NY Times: Mexico City Struggles With Law on Abortion, by Elisabeth Malkin & Nacha Cattan:

When Mexico City’s government made abortion legal last year, it also set out to make it available to any woman who asked for one. That includes the city’s poorest, who for years resorted to illegal clinics and midwives as wealthy women visited private doctors willing to quietly end unwanted pregnancies.

But helping poor women gain equal access to the procedure has turned out to be almost as complicated as passing the law, a watershed event in this Catholic country and in a region where almost all countries severely restrict abortions.

Since the city’s legislature voted for the law in April 2007, some 85 percent of the gynecologists in the city’s public hospitals have declared themselves conscientious objectors. And women complain that even at those hospitals that perform abortions, staff members are often hostile, demeaning them and throwing up bureaucratic hurdles.

Bush Admin. Proposes Onerous Funding Restrictions That Would Protect Religious Refusals by Health Care Providers

Wash. Post: Protections Set for Antiabortion Health Workers, by Rob Stein:

The Bush administration yesterday announced plans to implement a controversial regulation designed to protect doctors, nurses and other health-care workers who object to abortion from being forced to deliver services that violate their personal beliefs.

The rule empowers federal health officials to pull funding from more than 584,000 hospitals, clinics, health plans, doctors' offices and other entities if they do not accommodate employees who refuse to participate in care they find objectionable on personal, moral or religious grounds....

The proposed regulation, which could go into effect after a 30-day comment period, was welcomed by conservative groups, abortion opponents and others as necessary to safeguard workers from being fired, disciplined or penalized in other ways. Women's health advocates, family planning advocates, abortion rights activists and others, however, condemned the regulation, saying it could create sweeping obstacles to a variety of health services, including abortion, family planning, end-of-life care and possibly a wide range of scientific research.

Calif. Supreme Court Rules Doctors Cannot Deny Fertility Treatments Due to Patient's Sexual Orientation

Via Law.com:

Three months after approving same-sex marriage, the California Supreme Court gave gay rights another boost Monday by unanimously ruling that doctors can't invoke religion to refuse treating homosexual patients (pdf)....

Monday's case began in 2001 when Oceanside, Calif., lesbian Guadalupe Benitez sued Drs. Christine Brody and Douglas Fenton, who claimed their Christian faith prevented them from providing intrauterine insemination in some circumstances. The doctors, who worked at the North Coast Women's Care Medical Group in Vista, Calif., argued that they couldn't provide fertility treatments to Benitez because she wasn't married, but Benitez said they refused because of her sexual orientation.

H/T: Amy Leipziger

Obama and McCain Discuss Abortion and Supreme Court Justices at Religious Forum

USA Today: Religion, ethics experts comment on forum, by Cathy Lynn Grossman:

Sen. Barack Obama, frequently leaning on Bible passages, and Sen. John McCain, sharply delineating his opposition to abortion, sought to burnish their Christian credentials with voters Saturday night in a civil forum at a California mega church.

The presidential candidates took very different approaches to the same set of questions by Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of the mega-selling Bible study book, The Purpose-Driven Life.

Both candidates were asked when a "baby" first acquires "human rights."  Obama answered that he supports Roe v. Wade, but added that "On this particular issue, if you believe that life begins at conception ... and you are consistent, then I can't argue with you on that.  What I can do is say, are there ways we can work together to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies?"  McCain said he believes that human rights attach "upon conception," something that cannot be squared with his support for rape and incest exceptions or for stem cell research (although Warren gave him a pass on those inconsistencies). For coverage on the candidates' comments on abortion, see: McCain and Obama try to navigate the politics of abortion (LA Times); Sharing stage, Obama and McCain split on abortion (AP).  CNN Politics has a link to a video of the forum.

Warren also asked the candidates which Supreme Court Justices they would not have nominated.  Obama named Clarence Thomas, while McCain listed all four of the Court's most liberal Justices.  CNN Politics.com: Obama, McCain talk issues at pastor's forum:

"I don't think [Thomas] was a strong enough jurist or a legal thinker at the time for that. I profoundly disagree with his interpretation" of the Constitution, [Obama] said.

McCain said he would have never nominated Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, David Souter and John Paul Stevens.

"This nomination should be based on the criteria on a proven record of strictly adhering to the Constitution and not legislating from the bench," McCain added.

The Arizona senator said he was "proud" of President Bush for nominating conservative Justices Samuel Alito and John Roberts to the court.

NY Times Magazine Photo Essay Examines the Young Women of Yearning for Zion Ranch, The Texas Polygamous Religious Sect

NY Times: Children of God, by Sarah Corbett:

On a humid Wednesday in late June, as she waited to be summoned by a grand jury, 16-year-old Teresa Jeffs hitched up her navy blue prairie dress and hoisted herself into the crooked arms of a live oak tree that sits in front of the Schleicher County Courthouse in Eldorado, Tex. For a few minutes, she was not — as has been speculated about many of the young women of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or F.L.D.S. — a possible child bride, or a sexual-abuse victim, or a member of an out-of-touch, polygamous religious sect. She was just a kid in a tree, perched serenely above the heads of all the lawyers, reporters and sheriff’s deputies — a moon-faced girl with an auburn coxcomb of hair and a mischievous grin.

We understand so little about the view from that tree, about what the world known simply as “outside” looks like to someone like Teresa Jeffs, who was among more than 400 minors forcibly removed from the Yearning for Zion Ranch, which belongs to the F.L.D.S., in early April.

More on the 40th Anniversary of the Catholic Church's Contraception Ban

Chicago Tribune: Contraception ban remains bitter pill, by Robert McClory (Northwestern University; former Catholic priest):

Forty years ago last week, Pope Paul VI issued his encyclical Humanae Vitae, condemning the birth control pill and all other forms of artificial contraception.

So, four decades later: Did Paul get it right or wrong?

Right, say the encyclical's throng of proponents (just Google Humanae Vitae and scroll on forever). The pope predicted a lowering of moral standards, a rise in infidelity and promiscuity, a lessening of respect for women and government-enforced limitations on population. All these things have come to pass, and the pope's supporters see contraception at the center of them all.

Wrong, say the numbers who have left the church since 1968 (so that one in every 10 Americans is now a former Catholic, according to a Pew survey this year) and the majority of believers (more than 75 percent, according to the 2005 Catholic Identity Study) who remain in the church yet reject the encyclical. The proclamation was, they insist, a disaster.

See also:

NY Times: The Pope vs. the Pill, by John L. Allen, Jr.
BBC News: Catholics 'ignore rules on sex'

Anti-Choice Student Group Sues Wayne State Univ. Over Free Speech Rights

Detroit Free Press: Anti-abortion group sues WSU:

An anti-abortion student group at Wayne State University has sued WSU and its student government, claiming the group was denied free speech rights when it tried to organize an event.

According to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, WSU bars the use of student activity fees for political advocacy or for events that "advance religion." Student Council helps develop that policy, according to the lawsuit.

Catholic Groups Urge Pope to Lift Ban on Contraception

Reuters UK: Catholic groups ask pope to end contraception ban, by Philip Pullella:

ROME (Reuters) - More than 50 dissident Catholic groups published an unusually frank open letter to Pope Benedict on Friday saying the Church's ban on contraception had been "catastrophic" and urging him to lift it.

   

The letter was published as a paid half-page advertisement in Corriere della Sera, Italy's largest newspaper, on the 40th anniversary of the late Pope Paul VI's controversial encyclical "Humanae Vitae," which enshrined the ban.

Bush Administration's Proposed Regs Threaten Access to Birth Control

US News & World Report: A Government Threat to Birth Control, by Deborah Kotz:

A new set of health laws that could be proposed by the government sometime in the next few weeks has women's health activists steaming. If the laws are implemented, they claim, women will have a harder time getting access to contraception.

The legislation, a draft of which was leaked last week to the New York Times, stokes the debate over when human life begins by taking the position that birth control that prevents the implantation of a fertilized egg actually results in abortion. It would prohibit federally funded medical facilities—including teaching hospitals and Planned Parenthood clinics—from refusing to hire doctors who don't want to dispense birth control pills and other types of contraception that may cause the expulsion of a fertilized egg. (It's already illegal to discriminate against doctors who refuse to perform abortions.) The new laws would also override state laws that require hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape victims and those that require employers to provide contraceptives along with other prescriptions.

See also: The Seattle Times: An Anti-Abortion Ploy.

Australians Protest Pope's Position on Birth Control

The Canberra Times: Condoms All Round as Annoying Law Dashed, by Malcom Brown:

RACHEL EVANS and Amber Pike handed out condoms on the steps of Sydney's Federal Court yesterday - flushed with a ruling that struck out a World Youth Day law that made it a crime to annoy participants in the Catholic event.

The NoToPope Coalition protesters object to several Catholic moral teachings and Ms Evans - emboldened by the court triumph - immediately went and handed more condoms to Catholic pilgrims posing for photographs outside a nearby church.

Obama's Pro-Choice Stance Complicates His Efforts to Appeal to Evangicals

CBS News: Obama's Call For Unity Faces Abortion Test, by Brian Montopoli:

...Obama has made a point of reaching out to evangelicals during his presidential campaign, a group that Democrats have largely ceded to Republicans in recent years. He has come out in favor of faith-based programs and stressed social justice issues that appeal to evangelicals in his speeches. There is even a radio ad running on Christian stations highlighting Obama's religious rhetoric, including statements like "I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth."

Mahoney's media offensive, which CBN's David Brody writes "represents the broader feelings with many conservative Evangelical groups," reflects an effort to counter Obama's appeals by spotlighting his stance in favor of abortion rights, which is at odds with the anti-abortion beliefs of many of the evangelicals he is now courting....

I found this part of the article highly misleading:

Obama has come under some pressure from Sojourners founder Jim Wallis and others to consider what's known as an abortion reduction agenda. Anti-abortion voters might be more willing to look past Obama's views in favor of abortion rights, some believe, if the candidate were to embark on a serious effort to reduce the number of abortions performed in America each year.

But the Obama campaign has resisted calls to adopt an aggressive abortion reduction agenda, possibly over fears that doing so could alienate voters - among them former Hillary Clinton backers - turned off by what they perceive as anything less than a total commitment to the abortion rights position.

This implies that pro-choice voters (including all those "former Hillary Clinton backers"), as well as the Obama campaign, oppose efforts to reduce abortions. 

To the contrary, it is pro-choice Democrats who support the most effective strategies to reduce unintended pregnancies.  Granted, pro-choice advocates often prefer to focus not just on abortion, but on the the underlying social problem, unintended pregnancy.  If we "reduce abortions" simply by preventing or dissuading pregnant women from getting them, without reducing unintended pregnancy, we haven't addressed the underlying social problem at all. 

Obama and other Democrats have promoted legislation aimed directly at reducing unintended pregnancy by increasing access to birth control, supporting comprehensive sexuality education, and other efforts.  Obama is a lead co-sponsor of the Prevention First Act, which proposes a number of preventive-health and education measures designed to reduce unintended pregnancies.  This kind of legislation has far more promise than anything Republicans have put forward.

 

Bishop Apologizes for Catholic Charities' Role in Helping Teen Obtain Abortion

Do people really think it's OK when a teenager, already the mother of one child, is forced to bear another child because she is stuck in foster care with a Catholic agency?  The girl in this story got the abortion, but would not have if the Bishop had gotten his way.  (According to the story, the Bishop declared, “I forbid this to happen.”)

NY Times: Catholic Aid for Abortion Creates Stir in Virginia, by Ian Urbina:

The Roman Catholic bishop of Richmond, Va., apologized this week after workers from a Catholic organization helped a teenager in its care have an abortion....

The situation involved a 16-year-old Guatemalan, who church officials said already had one child and wanted to end her pregnancy, said Stephen S. Neill, a spokesman for the bishop.

The girl was being cared for by a program that helps illegal immigrant children in the country without guardians obtain foster care, Mr. Neill said. She received the abortion in January after a staff member of Commonwealth Catholic Charities signed a consent form and after a volunteer drove her to the facility, he said.

H/T: Amy Leipziger

Abortion Becomes Less Taboo in the Middle East

L.A. Times: Number of Abortions Rising in Middle East, experts say, by Borzou Daragahi:

BEIRUT -- Unmarried and pregnant, Ranya gathered up her courage and confided to a friend that she was considering a drastic step: an illegal abortion.

She braced for criticism. But to her surprise, her friend disclosed that she had had one too....

Despite legal and religious restrictions against abortion in much of the Arab world, changing social values and economic realities as well as demographic shifts have contributed to an apparent increase in the number of the procedures in the Middle East.

"There's definitely an increase compared to 10 to 15 years ago," said Mohammed Graigaa, executive director of the Moroccan Assn. for Family Planning. "Abortion is much less of a taboo. It's much more visible. Doctors talk about it. Women talk about it. The moral values of people have changed."

Rev. Jim Wallis Denies Urging New Democratic "Abortion Reduction" Plank

Newsweek: Reducing Abortions, by Sarah Kliff:

Jim Wallis devoted a significant chunk of his latest book, "The Great Awakening," to outlining his views on abortion. The evangelical leader wrote in favor of "protecting unborn life in every possible way, but without criminalizing abortion." And when he talks, people listen; the editor of Sojourners, a magazine that champions "the biblical call to social justice," Wallis is a leader of a liberal wing of the evangelical movement.         

So Wallis was a bit confused when he saw those same views on abortion making news on Wednesday, first in an ABC News article and then on Good Morning America and in the blogosphere the next day. The stories reported that Wallis wanted Obama to add a plank to the Democratic Party platform urging a reduction in the number of abortions performed. "I've been talking to Barack for 10 years and didn't start any new initiative lately," says Wallis. "I've been on record for years supporting a new approach." Wallis told NEWSWEEK that he isn't all that interested in revising Democratic Party ideals. "If either platform discussion moves in that direction, it'll be a big news story for a few days and then the candidates will run on whatever they want to run," he says.

James Dobson Attacks Obama on Religious Views, Abortion

NY Times: Evangelical Leader Attacks Obama on Religious Views, by Larry Rohter:

Just days after Senator Barack Obama met quietly with religious leaders, including the son of the Rev. Billy Graham, another of the evangelical movement’s most prominent names, James C. Dobson, has sharply attacked Mr. Obama, accusing him of having “a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution” and twisting the meaning of both the Old and New Testaments.

...One focus of Mr. Dobson’s objections was abortion, which provoked his attacks on Mr. Obama’s view of the Constitution. Mr. Obama, who supports abortion rights, wants “to go to the lowest common denominator of morality,” Mr. Dobson said, and impose “his bloody notion of what is right in regard to the rights of tiny babies.”

 

Dobson didn't seem so concerned about the rights of those "tiny babies" when he applauded the Court's decision in Gonzales v. Carhart, in which the Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on abortion procedures that the Court claimed would not prevent a single abortion, but rather would only steer doctors to different methods.  See Supreme Court Ruling Brings Split in Antiabortion Movement (Wash. Post) and Open Letter to Doctor James Dobson (Colorado Right to Life).

See also CNN: Obama says Dobson 'making stuff up', by Alexander Mooney:

Sen. Barack Obama said evangelical leader James Dobson was "making stuff up," when he accused the Illinois senator of distorting the Bible and taking a "fruitcake interpretation" of the U.S. Constitution.

Obama Disarms Another Abortion Rights Foe

More praise, this time from Doug Kmiec, for Barack Obama's meeting with religious leaders.  Top of the Ticket (LA Times): Prominent abortion foe extols Barack Obama, by Don Frederick:

Douglas Kmiec, a Justice Department honcho under two previous Republican administrations and an abortion foe who once headed Catholic University's law school, raised eyebrows within some conservative circles earlier this year when, in a Slate.com posting, he endorsed Barack Obama for president.

Today, Kmiec delivers another valentine Obama's way, writing glowingly in the Chicago Tribune about a "private conversation" the candidate had recently with him, the Rev. Franklin Graham (the son of the Rev. Billy Graham) "and a diverse group of 30 or so religious leaders from Protestant, Catholic, Evangelical and other traditions."

See related post: Anti-Abortion Leader Finds Obama Is "Not a Crazy Leftist"

Religious Refusals Extend to Many Facets of Reproductive Healthcare

Wash. Post: 'Pro-Life' Drugstores Market Beliefs, by Rob Stein:

When DMC Pharmacy opens this summer on Route 50 in Chantilly, the shelves will be stocked with allergy remedies, pain relievers, antiseptic ointments and almost everything else sold in any drugstore. But anyone who wants condoms, birth control pills or the Plan B emergency contraceptive will be turned away.

That's because the drugstore, located in a typical shopping plaza featuring a Ruby Tuesday, a Papa John's and a Kmart, will be a "pro-life pharmacy" -- meaning, among other things, that it will eschew all contraceptives.

The pharmacy is one of a small but growing number of drugstores around the country that have become the latest front in a conflict pitting patients' rights against those of health-care workers who assert a "right of conscience" to refuse to provide care or products that they find objectionable....

The pharmacies are emerging at a time when a variety of health-care workers are refusing to perform medical procedures they find objectionable. Fertility doctors have refused to inseminate gay women. Ambulance drivers have refused to transport patients for abortions. Anesthesiologists have refused to assist in sterilizations.

See also Daily Kos: "Moral refusal" extends to ambulances--and a potential fix:

In Part 2 of the miniseries which we began yesterday, we discuss how "moral refusal" clauses are increasingly going far beyond just doctors and pharmacists, and are now extending to the most basic thing we associate with healthcare--the trip in the ambulance to have emergency surgery.

Yes, you're reading this right--dominionist ambulance drivers are now refusing to take people to women's clinics just because the woman needs a medically necessary abortion.

And at the end of the post--because I never like to just bring bad news without discussing ways to fix what's broken--I present some possible solutions to the problem of "moral refusal".

(H/T: Rebecca Bratspies for the Daily Kos post)

For more on religious refusals in the reproductive rights context, see Religious Refusals and Reproductive Rights (ACLU).

Scientific Information Has Little Effect on Opinions About Stem Cell Research

Science Daily: Scientific Information Largely Ignored When Forming Opinions About Stem Cell Research:

When forming attitudes about embryonic stem cell research, people are influenced by a number of things. But understanding science plays a negligible role for many people.

That's the surprising finding from a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison communications researchers who have spent the past two years studying public attitudes toward embryonic stem cell research. Reporting in the most recent issue of the International Journal of Public Opinion, the researchers say that scientific knowledge - for many citizens - has an almost negligible effect on how favorably people regard the field.

"More knowledge is good - everybody is on the same page about that. But will that knowledge necessarily help build support for the science?" says Dietram Scheufele, a UW-Madison professor of life sciences communication and one of the paper's three authors. "The data show that no, it doesn't. It does for some groups, but definitely not for others."

Anti-Abortion Leader Finds Obama Is "Not a Crazy Leftist"

RH Reality Check: Obama "More Centrist" on Abortion Says "Pro-Life" Leader, by Scott Swenson:

Sen. Barack Obama met yesterday with several faith leaders, from a variety of political perspectives, in a private closed door meeting. Among the attendees, Rev. Franklin Graham, whose presence was deemed significant by CBN reporter David Brody, since Graham has yet to meet with McCain. Issues discussed included the senator's support for abortion rights and gay rights.

Steve Strang, the founder of Charisma Magazine, attended and wrote this about the private meeting on his blog, The Strang Report, describing Obama's response to his question on abortion as being "more centrist than expected."

Of course, Strang ultimately disagrees with Obama's position on abortion, but he believes that Obama "won over the loyalties of many."  Strang reports that Obama was "warm and personable" and seemed surprised to find that he was not a "crazy leftist."  I find this both heartening and sad: heartening that Obama made Strang reconsider his reliance upon stereotypes (at least as applied to Obama), but sad to see how seriously people like Strang seem to take the right-wing media's caricatures.  Strang reports that, initially, he didn't even want to attend "[s]ince I am opposed to the leftist political stands of the Democratic Party and of Obama specifically."

Michele Alexandre on the Possibility of Feminist Polygamy

Michele Alexandre (Univ. of Memphis School of Law) has posted Big Love: Is Feminist Polygamy an Oxymoron or a True Possibility? on SSRN.  Here is the abstract:

For the past few decades, Islamic reformists have attempted to reverse patriarchal set-ups in Islamic practices. In light of these efforts, the time is ripe to consider what role women's agency will play in the implementation of such reforms. The way we account for agency in advocating for women's rights is an issue with which feminist legal scholars struggle. It has been explored particularly when analyzing women's rights in the area of pornography and prostitution. As the reform movements in Islamic law become concrete, similar explorations will have to take place. Agency driven explorations in the area of Islamic law will have to be tailored to issues of particular relevance to Islamic women. In addition, Feminist legal scholars will have to take care not to project western-based analysis into unique Islamic settings. Borrowing from transformative arguments advocated by feminist legal scholars like Martha A. Fineman, the author attempts to explore the implications of recognizing the possibility for agency in Islamic polygamous structures. The central idea is to analyze the possibility for a feminist based form of polygamy for women who decide to live in a polygamous structure. This exploration in no way assumes that Muslim women are solely defined by their religion. On the contrary, it recognizes that women's identities are so diverse that, even when given options, a number of them might opt for polygamy rather than monogamy. In this context, an assessment of the value of monogamy compared to polygamy is irrelevant. What comes to matter, instead, is the fact that women who choose polygamy, like those who make any other legitimate choice, must be protected.

The rising number of pro-polygamous movements indicates that it is imperative that we investigate the possibilities for a women centric polygamy. Islamic women have diverse views regarding polygamy and do not all seem to view it as detrimental. There exist some Muslim women who are unequivocally against Polygamy, but want to remain faithful to their Islamic faith, while there are others who are not against polygamy but would like to reform the practice to fit their needs. The common denominator in these two camps, however, is that women in both camps yearn for more choice and control over the decisions that affect their family life. The desire to enter or remain in a polygamous union does not necessarily equate in their eyes with a diminishment of their rights and privileges. This article intends to show that equal rights for women and Islamic faith are not necessarily mutually exclusive if the allocation of rights is based on the spirit of Islam. Furthermore, the article will demonstrate that Islam's inherent concern with justice and equality for women necessitates that women's desires and wishes serve as foundation for any system of polygamy.

Increasing Numbers of Muslim Women in Europe Seek Surgical Restoration of Hymen

NY Times: In Europe, Debate Over Islam and Virginity, by Elaine Sciolino and Souad Mekhennet:

PARIS — The operation in the private clinic off the Champs-Élysées involved one semicircular cut, 10 dissolving stitches and a discounted fee of $2,900.

But for the patient, a 23-year-old French student of Moroccan descent from Montpellier, the 30-minute procedure represented the key to a new life: the illusion of virginity.

Like an increasing number of Muslim women in Europe, she had a hymenoplasty, a restoration of her hymen, the vaginal membrane that normally breaks in the first act of intercourse.

“In my culture, not to be a virgin is to be dirt,” said the student, perched on a hospital bed as she awaited surgery on Thursday. “Right now, virginity is more important to me than life.”

Robert Novak on Kathleen Sibelius

Wash. Post: A Pro-Choicer's Dream Veep, by Robert Novak:

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, whose Roman Catholic archdiocese covers northeast Kansas, on May 9 called on Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to stop taking Communion until she disowns her support for the "serious moral evil" of abortion. That put the church in conflict with a rising star of the Democratic Party who is often described as a "moderate" and is perhaps the leading prospect to become Barack Obama's running mate.

Naumann also took Sebelius to task for her veto April 21 of a bill, passed by 2 to 1 margins in both houses of the Kansas Legislature, that would strengthen the state's ban on late-term abortions by authorizing private lawsuits against providers. Last year, she vetoed a bill requiring explicit medical reasons for a late abortion, and she vetoed other abortion legislation in 2006, 2005 and 2003.

See also: The Fix (Wash. Post): Novak Takes a Swipe at Possible Obama VP Pick, by Chris Cillizza.

TX Court of Appeals Rules Against State in Polygamy Case

NY Times: Appeals Court Rules Against Texas in Polygamy Case, by Anahad O'Connor and Kirk Johnson:

A Texas state court of appeals ruled Thursday afternoon that the state of Texas had no right to seize more than 400 children from a polygamist ranch in Eldorado, in the western part of the state, because there was not sufficient proof that they were in immediate danger.

The ruling asserted that the state’s child protection agency acted hastily in removing the children from the Yearning for Zion ranch in April and did not make a reasonable effort “to ascertain if some measure short of removal and/or separation from parents would have eliminated the risk” of abuse toward the children of 48 mothers who filed the suit. The district court was ordered to remove its restraining order giving the state custody of those children, but it was not immediately clear how the hundreds of other children, now in foster care, would be affected....

The agency raided the ranch and the sect’s temple on April 3 after someone had called an abuse hot line and said that she was a 16-year-old child bride being abused by her older husband in the church’s compound. The caller has still not been found.

Pope Denounces Italy's Abortion Law

San Diego Tribune: Pope speaks out against Italy abortion law,  by Silvia Aloisi:

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict said on Monday that 30 years of legalised abortion had devalued human life in Italy, but the centre-left opposition said legislation had reduced the number of terminated pregnancies.

The pontiff's comments added to an emotional debate in Italy over abortion, which was a prominent issue in campaigning for last month's election, 30 years after it was legalised despite opposition from the Vatican.

'Allowing the termination of pregnancies not only did not resolve the problems afflicting many women and more than a few families, but has also opened more wounds in our societies,' the pope told a delegation from Italy's Pro-Life Movement....

However, Berlusconi's Equal Opportunities Minister, Mara Carfagna, said that the real problem was not the legislation allowing abortion, but the need for more family-friendly policies and incentives that would help women decide against it.

KS: Archbishop Tells Governor to Stop Taking Communion

Kansas City Star Editorial: Archbishop Naumann's scandalous dictate to Sebelius, by Barb Shelly:

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann is asking Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to choose between his will and the oath she swore to govern the state of Kansas to the best of her ability.

Naumann has told Sebelius, a Catholic she must stop taking Communion. The governor has run afoul of the church several times with vetos of anti-abortion bills, the latest being a draconion measure that would have exposed abortion providers to endless lawsuits for doing their job.

Naumann says atonement for Sebelius would involve a confession, an apology and a promise to repair the damage caused by her "scandalous behavior that has misled people into dangerous behavior."

Pro-Choice Scholar Barred From Speaking About Torture at Minn. Church

Minneapolis-St. Paul StarTribune: Anti-torture but pro-choice? Can't have that in church, please, by Nick Coleman:

Dr. Steven Miles, a world-renowned scholar, author and anti-torture activist, has won many awards in his career on the faculty of the University of Minnesota's Center for Bioethics. But the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has bestowed an especially rare distinction on Miles, one that puts him in excellent company:

He just got Tutu'd.

As you recall, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu recently was barred from speaking at the University of St. Thomas. Now Miles, who has written extensively about torture practices authorized by the Bush administration and who has warned that America is becoming "a torturing society," has received the Tutu treatment.

Miles was invited months ago to talk about torture and its effects on society before masses at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Minneapolis on Sunday. The invitation was issued by the peace and justice ministry at St. Joan's, which has a tradition of social justice work in the Twin Cities. In addition, Miles was scheduled to speak Tuesday to an adult education class at the church.

But last Wednesday, four days before Miles was scheduled to speak, the archdiocese intervened: St. Joan's was ordered not to let Miles talk before mass. Or Tuesday, either....

According to a spokesman for the archdiocese, Miles was barred from St. Joan's because he supports abortion rights, a position "contrary to the teachings" of the church. Miles acknowledges that, but says he had no intention of speaking about abortion and that he sent the text of his talk on torture to the archdiocese.

Cardinal Egan Decries Giuliani's Receipt of Communion During Pope's Visit

NY Times: Cardinal Egan Says Giuliani Shouldn’t Have Received Communion From Pope, by James Barron:

Cardinal Edward M. Egan said on Monday that former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani should not have received holy communion during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI because Mr. Giuliani supports abortion rights.

Cardinal Egan, head of the Archdiocese of New York, said in a statement that he and Mr. Giuliani had reached “an understanding” when he became archbishop in 2000 that Mr. Giuliani “was not to receive the eucharist because of his well-known support of abortion.”

Chilean Contraception Case Prompts Plans for "Massive Apostasy"

Womens eNews: Chile Birth-Control Case Spurs 'Apostasy' Planning, by Matt Malinowsky:                                 

Chilean judges, siding with the Vatican, have dealt a major blow to the Bachelet government by ending free emergency contraception in public clinics. A women's rights group is organizing a mass renunciation of Catholicism to express their outrage.

SANTIAGO, Chile (WOMENSENEWS)--Hundreds of Chileans are planning to renounce their membership in the Roman Catholic Church on April 29 as an outcry against a major blow to the government's push for expanded access to contraception.

On April 18 Chile's Constitutional Court outlawed distribution of emergency contraception in public health clinics to women 14 and older, a policy implemented in September 2006 by the government of President Michelle Bachelet to lower teen pregnancy rates in a country where 15 percent of births are to women 18 or younger. Emergency contraception remains available in the nation's private pharmacies.

Kathryn Joyce on "Catholics and Contraception"

AlterNet: Catholics and Contraception, by Kathryn Joyce:

In the midst of the wall-to-wall press coverage of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the U.S. last week, The New York Times paused to note that many American Catholics pay little heed to papal authority, and instead bestow on the pope a particularly American commendation: They'd love to sit down and chat with the man, Catholic to Catholic. However homey the image, a stained-glass rendition of the favored American method of choosing a president (sans beer), the Times also pointed out, in explaining the lack of official Church data on how Americans really feel about the authority of this or any pope, that the Church is not a democracy. And, despite how nonchalantly many Americans speak about the relevance of the Vatican on their lives, the effect of a hierarchy headed by a man who built his career on opposition to liberation and feminist theology is real, and renders liberal or pro-choice Catholics today dissenters criticizing doctrine from outside the Church.

Pope's U.N. Remarks Appear to Denounce Stem Cell Research

Daily Women's Health Policy Report: Pope at U.N. Speaks Against Science That He Says Violates 'Order of Creation':

Pope Benedict XVI on Friday at the United Nations General Assembly spoke against technology and science that he said violates the "order of creation," which seemed to refer to stem cell research and cloning, Long Island Newsday reports (Schuster/Dowdy, Long Island Newsday, 4/19).

Benedict said, "Notwithstanding the enormous benefits humanity can gain [from technology and science], some instances of this represents a clear violation of the order of creation, to the point where not only is the sacred character of life contradicted, but the human person and the family are robbed of their natural identity." The use of science and technology should be limited to "rational" ways to "rediscover the authentic image of creation," Benedict said, adding, "This never requires a choice to be made between science and ethics. Rather, it is a question of adapting a scientific method