In 1997 the state of Oregon legalized physician assisted suicide (PAS), allowing a physician to aid and abet an individual in the unthinkable act of self-murder without fear of criminal prosecution. In many ways this disastrous decision both marked and helped to effect a shift in the thinking of Americans, many of whom increasingly view … Read more
In the mid-’90s, the abortion industry in the United States realized it was facing an existential threat — the population of abortionists was aging and nobody was stepping up to take their place. Although plenty would pay lip service to a right to “choose,” when it came to the grisly work involved in “terminations,” few … Read more
A mist gathers around the Capitol. Glowering clouds obscure the sun. Dark Forces are pulling the levers of power. The very laws of the land are being forged to enslave freemen (and freewomen) by a sinister power beyond our ken. Somewhere, a council has gathered. Blofeld, Mrs. Danvers, Prof. James Moriarty, Cruella de Vil, Sauron, … Read more
In October 2009, I published a column titled, “Can Obama and Congress Order You to Buy Broccoli?” Now I need to ask a follow-up: Can Obama order grocers to give away bread? I wrote the broccoli column after Sen. Orrin Hatch raised serious questions in the Senate Finance Committee about the constitutionality of President Obama’s … Read more
A quiet, closed-door meeting in Washington next month will be of crucial importance in shaping the Church’s response to the nation’s biggest church-state crisis in decades. When some 40 bishops of the administrative committee of the national bishops’ conference gather March 14-15 at conference headquarters, they’ll be looking at the Obama administration’s January mandate to … Read more
No, I’m not exaggerating. The American experiment in religious liberty is officially over. The First Amendment provided institutional structures that allow different religions to peacefully coexist. All groups agree to not try to capture governmental structures for the benefit of their own particular denomination. But the Obama administration has ended that truce. The administration made … Read more
Do you remember this summer’s debt debate debacle? It ended with the supercommittee, which ended in failure, which resulted in no cuts in government spending. Do you remember the summer before that, when tea party protesters came out in full force against Obamacare and members of Congress who were contemplating supporting it? Do you remember … Read more
Under this administration and this Congress — which includes the Republican-controlled House of Representatives led by Speaker John Boehner — the right of Catholics to freely exercise their religion is treated with less deference than the presumed right of stockyard owners to fill the skies with effluvia. I mean this literally. When Congress wants … Read more
It’s highly unusual in a presidential debate for two Republican candidates — the two leading in current national polls — to heap praise on a liberal Democratic senator. But in the Fox News debate in Sioux City, Iowa, Thursday night, both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney had very good words to say for Oregon’s … Read more
A couple of months ago, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Beth Brinkmann was standing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, defending the federal law requiring Americans to buy government-approved health insurance, when Judge Laurence Silberman asked her about broccoli. Specifically, he wanted to know whether a law requiring Americans to buy … Read more
During the last Republican presidential debate, Herman Cain argued that, as a survivor of colon and liver cancer, he would have died if “Obamacare” had been in place when he sought critical treatment. It was a stunning statement, and it certainly underscores the real concern that people have with bureaucratic control of their health care. … Read more
The fight to protect Catholic institutions from the Obama administration’s new health-insurance mandate is not only a dispute over contraception and abortion. For many colleges, schools, and charities, it is a fight for the right to be Catholic. If the outrageously narrow “religious employer exemption” put forward by the Department of Health and Human Services … Read more
As health care costs continue to rise and a growing number of Baby Boomers approach old age, end-of-life issues are looming larger than ever in the public debate. What is “the right to die”? How should we, as a society, approach questions of health care, treatment for the elderly, and euthanasia? The Patients Rights Council, … Read more
On April 26, 1783, two weeks after Congress approved a preliminary peace treaty with England, the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey entered into a compact over their shared use of the Delaware River. The waterway was an important shipping route, and any interference in its operation, either from dams or bridges, would harm both … Read more
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is currently trying to determine whether infertility treatments should be included in individual and small-business health-care policies that will be made available through state-based insurance exchanges in the new health-care plan. If these treatments are deemed an “essential health benefit,” they will be covered when these policies … Read more
In my column last week, I asked the question, “Does the USCCB understand subsidiarity?” I received a variety of responses to that piece, the most interesting being from Msgr. Charles Pope, pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian, who posted his thoughts on the website of the Archdiocese of Washington. Writing in a judicious and even-handed way … Read more
2010 was a horrible year for health care — that is, if you believe abortion is not “health care.” The ObamaCare health legislation, if not amended by the next Congress, will result in hundreds of thousands of federally funded abortions that would not happen without that funding. But Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, who is a … Read more
After the passage of the new health care legislation, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a Catholic, filed suit, questioning the constitutionality of the federal government requiring its citizens to buy health insurance. Yesterday, U. S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson (no relation) ruled that: “The mandate on individuals in President Barack Obama’s health-care legislation goes … Read more
Sr. Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, has been a frequent guest at the obama White House. Visitor logs just released reveal that Sr. Keehan visited the White House 15 times since the beginning of the present administration. However, on seven occasions, Sr. Keehan met with President Obama himself — that’s a remarkable … Read more
With the decision of the Ohio Elections Commission to allow a hearing to decide whether the Susan B. Anthony List has falsely represented the voting record of Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-OH), the question is again raised: Was abortion funding authorized by the health care legislation signed into law by President Barack Obama? The complaint arose … Read more