Week in Review – New “Brain Death” document; Becerra confirmed
The subject of “Brain Death” is one that is affecting more and more families across America. Whether it is to save money on treatment or to obtain organs for transplant, we are receiving an ever-increasing number of questions on its legitimacy. On March 12, 2021, the Homiletic and Pastoral Review magazine ran an article titled Brain Death: What Catholics Should Know. The article takes a look at how the idea of Brain Death (BD) was first introduced in 1968 by the Harvard Medical School and how the definitions of what constitutes BD have evolved since then. The authors of this article, By Dr. Doyen Nguyen and Dr. Joseph M. Eble, state: “The BD controversy is of great importance for two main reasons. First, it seems that the Church, through Pope John Paul II, has accepted BD as a valid criterion for the determination of death. Second, there is an ongoing push for changing the existing law, the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA), so that it will preclude families from challenging the validity of BD. We will focus on those aspects of BD most relevant to Catholics, basing our discussion on factual evidence and the principles of Catholic anthropology.” We encourage all our readers to read the article.
In last week’s Action Item, we asked you all to contact your US senators and tell them to vote NO on the confirmation of Xavier Becerra to be the next head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Because the Senate committee did not move his nomination out of committee (due to a tie vote), the Senate had to undertake a two-step process. First, it had to move the question on whether or not to consider Becerra for the job to the Senate and then it had to vote to confirm him. The first step took place earlier this week and the full Senate voted 50-49 to move forward with the confirmation vote. Then, yesterday, the Senate confirmed Becerra again by a vote of 50-49. All Democrats (Sen. Hirono [D-HI] did not vote), along with Republican Susan Collins of Maine, voted for Becerra; all other Republicans voted against him.
Those immersed in the fight against abortion and against Planned Parenthood know that the toughest state in the nation is California. California pays for almost all abortions in the state—even for those residing there illegally. California refuses to report the number of abortions performed in the state to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There are 107 Planned Parenthood locations in the state (all but seven commit surgical and/or pill abortions). With the confirmation of Becerra to head DHHS, California will essentially run health care in the nation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a self-proclaimed Catholic who has unabashedly pushed abortion for decades, is from California. Our new vice-president Kamala Harris—who refused to prosecute Planned Parenthood for its baby body parts business—was US senator from California before she became the VP. Now, Xavier Becerra—another self-proclaimed Catholic and the former representative from California who took over from Harris as state attorney general and led the persecution of David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt—will run the country’s top national health department. We are going to need the voices and support of every pro-life individual in the country if the pro-life movement is going to be able to protect the very young and the very old in the coming years.
As all of this is unfolding, during the last election, there was a group formed that called itself “Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden.” As things have developed over the last two months, that group is now disillusioned. They issued the following statement below. I mention this because Becerra’s confirmation could have been denied if the usually “pro-life” Democrat senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, had voted NO. He didn’t; he voted YES. Here is his explanation for his vote: “While Attorney General Xavier Becerra and I have very different records … he has affirmed to me his dedication to working with Members on both sides of the aisle to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the numerous needs of our nation in a bipartisan way.” I wonder how long it will be before Manchin writes a statement similar to the evangelicals.
ALL in the News – ALL Staff Member Speaks to High Schoolers in South Carolina; Hugh Brown Hosts a TV Segment with ALL President
Last weekend, Marian Blue Wave director Katie Brown traveled to St. Philip Neri Catholic Church in South Carolina. Katie gave a presentation on the dignity and sanctity of human life to a group of parishioners and high school-aged students. The presentation covered facts about abortion and euthanasia and what the audience members could do every day to promote a culture of life.
Every Friday afternoon, the American Life League social media team, Dwain Currier and Katie Brown, host the Friday Live Show on Instagram Live. The show regularly discusses current events and provides young adults a platform where they can have their culture of life questions answered. Replays of the show can be found on Facebook.
This week, American Life League vice president Hugh Brown hosted his own segment on IAMTV. During his segment, he interviewed Judie Brown about the state of the Church, Canon 915, and what Catholics can do to support and encourage their priests and bishops. The full interview will appear on the show, “Let’s Talk America with Alan Keyes”. Clips of the show can be found on ALL’s Facebook page.
Twice a week, Judie Brown’s commentaries are distributed to an expansive media list. The list contains over 100 media outlets such as Fox News, The Federalist, Breitbart, and The Daily Caller, among others. Judie’s Tuesday commentary, The Bishops and Eucharistic Coherence, was featured on the front page of ALL.org. Each commentary is also featured as a part of Judie’s recurring column on Renew America.
Jim Sedlak’s Pro-Life Activism from Creation to Death is a weekly talk-radio program on the Radio Maria USA network. The show can be heard live every Friday at noon (Eastern Time) and is repeated on Saturdays (10 PM).
Video of the Week – Planned Parenthood, an Abortion Empire in Decline
Despite being the recipient of millions of taxpayer dollars and holding a billion dollars in assets, Planned Parenthood still exists in a state of decline. STOPP’s annual report documents that the racist abortion giant is killing off facilities at a rate faster than it opens them.
Action Item of the Week – Celebrate National Down Syndrome Day March 21
As pro-lifers, we fight every day to save the lives of preborn children. We pray, stand in front of abortion facilities, operate pregnancy resource centers, and offer help and supplies to women who are “with child.”
But we recognize that, even in the womb, there are certain babies who are more in danger of being killed than other babies. It seems the world at large is targeting preborn babies with Trisomy 21—Down syndrome. There are campaigns in many countries to “eliminate” Down syndrome babies. The way of doing that is to abort any preborn babies diagnosed with the condition.
CBS NEWS reported in 2017 that “mothers in Iceland are approaching an almost 100% abortion rate after they receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome. Other countries aren’t lagging too far behind in Down syndrome termination rates. According to the most recent data available, the United States has an estimated termination rate for Down syndrome of 67 percent (1995-2011); in France it’s 77 percent (2015); and Denmark, 98 percent (2015). The law in Iceland permits abortion after 16 weeks if the fetus has a deformity — and Down syndrome is included in this category.” These numbers have increased since 2017. The current estimate for the United States is 72.4 percent of Down syndrome babies killed in the womb.
These statistics are why it is necessary to have a special day set aside to focus on the slaughter of the Down babies. March 21, which this year falls on a Sunday, was selected as World Down Syndrome Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness about Down syndrome and celebrating individuals around the world living with the genetic condition. According to the World Down Syndrome Day website, the date for WDSD being the 21st day of the 3rd month was selected to signify the uniqueness of the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome which causes Down syndrome.
We invite all our readers to take the time to talk about and celebrate all those in your communities, young and old, who are living with Down syndrome. There are an estimated 400,000 people in the United States today who are living with this condition. Remember, for every child or adult you see with Down syndrome, there are three more who never made it out of the womb alive—just because they had the condition.
Please visit the WDSD website and read their international stories of people living with Down syndrome.
Then, spread positive messages about how those living with Down are truly God’s gifts to families and communities.
Pro-life Social Media – Anti-Catholic Media Always Sides with Anti-Catholic President
Progressives are all about separation of church and state—until one of their own refuses to separate church and state.
“As the president of @Catholic4Choice, I am urging President Biden to center his Catholic upbringing in… prioritizing justice and ensuring this bill has the full support of his administration.”
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) March 10, 2021
— @JamieLManson, writing for @MsMagazine https://t.co/oiy1cB3hiA
When a Republican president nominates a Catholic judge for the Supreme Court, progressives erupt in anti-Catholic bigotry. Now that their progressive man, Joe Biden, is president, miraculously, the bigotry is not only absent, but Biden’s fake Catholicism is celebrated. Suddenly, the mythical church-and-state separation isn’t such a great thing anymore, as long as the Marxists get their cut.
Biden’s American Rescue Plan is Catholic social doctrine in action:
— Catholics for Choice (@Catholic4Choice) March 14, 2021
“The plan constitutes a decisive repudiation of trickle-down economics in favor of a bottom-up approach to economic stimulus that is far more consistent with Catholic social teaching.”https://t.co/Xldg7fVntw
Biden’s American Rescue Plan is Catholic social doctrine in action
— Father Edward Beck (@FrEdwardBeck) March 12, 2021
| National Catholic Reporter @MichaelSWinters https://t.co/gBfh4K1r76
Charity is voluntary. Taxes are compulsory. So when government takes your money and spends it on left-wing pet projects, that isn’t Catholic social teaching. That’s Marxism. The heretical folks at the National Catholic Reporter, Crux, and America Magazine want fallen-away Catholics, who give little-to-none to church and charity, to feel like they’re contributing to the common good.
As long as Biden puts an axe to separation of church and state, perhaps he can propose federal recognition that marriage exists only between a man and a woman.
Devout Catholic Joe Biden defies Vatican to double down on support for same-sex unions https://t.co/ZIgHJNKwIx
— PinkNews (@PinkNews) March 18, 2021
Ok. Never mind that.
This is the rationale of pro-abortion media: religion is a curse when it proposes rules that respect the laws of God, but when a self-described Catholic pretends his faith compels him to redistribute wealth, it’s suddenly cool to be Catholic.
