Catholic News 2
BIBNINE, Lebanon (AP) -- Alaa plays the horrifying video she kept on her phone that shows her moments after she was riddled with bullets, her jaw shredded, hand punctured, and chest bleeding. "Did you not see the video?" the Syrian teenager asks visitors, in defiance of its cruelty, to show how far she has come....
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's representative at the Syria talks says the "de-escalation zones" will be closed to military aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition....
The Republican push to replace the Affordable Care Act was revived this week in Congress by a small change to their plan designed to combat concerns over coverage for those with pre-existing health problems....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans are claiming a triumph by pushing their legislative centerpiece scuttling much of President Barack Obama's health care law through the House. It was a perilous journey, and its Senate pathway will be at least as bumpy with little doubt the measure will change, assuming it survives....
Washington D.C., May 4, 2017 / 06:39 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- “Life is winning in America,” U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told attendees at a pro-life gala on Wednesday evening in Washington, D.C.“Life is winning through the steady advance of so many areas of science” that provide a glimpse at the unborn baby in the womb, the vice president said, “through the generosity of millions of adoptive families,” and “through the compassionate caregivers and volunteers at crisis pregnancy centers and faith-based organizations, who minister to women in cities and towns across America.”“Compassion is overcoming convenience, hope is defeating despair,” he said. Pence delivered the keynote address at the 10th annual gala of the Susan B. Anthony List on May 3rd in Washington, D.C.The pro-life group honored Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) with the Marilyn Musgrave Defender of Life Award, and Leonard Leo, the executive vice president of The ...
Washington D.C., May 4, 2017 / 06:39 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- “Life is winning in America,” U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told attendees at a pro-life gala on Wednesday evening in Washington, D.C.
“Life is winning through the steady advance of so many areas of science” that provide a glimpse at the unborn baby in the womb, the vice president said, “through the generosity of millions of adoptive families,” and “through the compassionate caregivers and volunteers at crisis pregnancy centers and faith-based organizations, who minister to women in cities and towns across America.”
“Compassion is overcoming convenience, hope is defeating despair,” he said.
Pence delivered the keynote address at the 10th annual gala of the Susan B. Anthony List on May 3rd in Washington, D.C.
The pro-life group honored Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) with the Marilyn Musgrave Defender of Life Award, and Leonard Leo, the executive vice president of The Federalist Society, with the 2017 Distinguished Leader Award.
SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser, in a statement, praised Black’s “tireless efforts to investigate and defund Planned Parenthood, the nation’s #1 abortion business, and redirect their taxpayer dollars to real, comprehensive health care for women.”
Black sponsored a joint resolution, ultimately signed by President Trump, that nullified an Obama administration rule which pro-life leaders had called the President’s “parting gift to the abortion industry.” Black’s resolution allowed states to, once again, block clinics from receiving federal Title X grants if they performed abortions.
Vice President Pence had cast the tiebreaking vote in the U.S. Senate to ensure the passage of the resolution.
Leo, meanwhile, was credited for his work to help the Trump administration nominate Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, a pick that pro-life leaders applauded.
SBA List highlighted Pence’s past pro-life record as a U.S. congressman and as governor of Indiana, sponsoring “more than two dozen pro-life bills in the U.S. House of Representatives” as well as signing pro-life legislation into law in his state.
He also became the first sitting vice president to address the March for Life, this past January.
White House senior advisor Kellyanne Conway briefly addressed the gala attendees at the beginning of Wednesday’s event, thanking them for their help in defending human life and promising that more would be done by the administration to protect life.
Pence, in his keynote speech, emphasized that “life is winning” in many ways, including “through the quiet counsel between mothers and daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters,” he continued, “friends across kitchen tables.”
He exhorted those in attendance to carry on the work of Susan B. Anthony, known for her activism for the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage and women’s rights, and temperance. “Let us strive with all our might to finish the work that Susan B. Anthony started,” he said.
Susan B. Anthony fought against injustices, too many of which “still survive to this day,” Pence said, “and abortion is the worst of them.”
“I truly believe that we’ve come to a pivotal moment in the life of this movement, the life of our nation,” he said, asking those in attendance to “continue to stand up and speak out.”
“We need every ounce of your energy and enthusiasm,” he said. “We need your prayers.”
The recent passage of Rep. Black’s joint resolution was only “the beginning” of the fight, Pence said, and “we’re going to see that fight all the way through.”
NEW YORK (AP) -- Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is returning to a Brooklyn courtroom Friday, a day after a judge rejected his request to be allowed in the general inmate population....
DALLAS (AP) -- The prosecutor's office investigating the death of a black teenager who was shot by a Dallas-area police officer had once filed a complaint over that officer's aggressive behavior, according to records obtained Thursday by The Associated Press....
CHICAGO (AP) -- While many Americans his age are planning for retirement, Joseph Rodriguez is looking for his first permanent job....
NEW YORK (AP) -- Donald Trump turned his first trip home as president into a victory lap on Thursday, returning to the city that has largely opposed him while celebrating House passage of legislation undoing much his predecessor's health law....
Vatican City, May 4, 2017 / 05:27 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The House passed a repeal of the Affordable Care Act and a replacement health care bill on Thursday, but one bishop warned that the new bill poses serious problems for the vulnerable.Bishop Frank Dewane, chair of the domestic justice committee for the U.S. bishops' conference, said the legislation “still contains major defects, particularly regarding changes to Medicaid that risk coverage and affordability for millions.”In a May 4 statement, he called it “deeply disappointing that the voices of those who will be most severely impacted were not heeded.”“Our health care policy must honor all human life and dignity from conception to natural death, as well as defend the sincerely-held moral and religious beliefs of those who have any role in the health care system,” Bishop Dewane said.The House voted on Tuesday afternoon to pass a bill repealing the Affordable Care Act and replacing it with t...
Vatican City, May 4, 2017 / 05:27 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The House passed a repeal of the Affordable Care Act and a replacement health care bill on Thursday, but one bishop warned that the new bill poses serious problems for the vulnerable.
Bishop Frank Dewane, chair of the domestic justice committee for the U.S. bishops' conference, said the legislation “still contains major defects, particularly regarding changes to Medicaid that risk coverage and affordability for millions.”
In a May 4 statement, he called it “deeply disappointing that the voices of those who will be most severely impacted were not heeded.”
“Our health care policy must honor all human life and dignity from conception to natural death, as well as defend the sincerely-held moral and religious beliefs of those who have any role in the health care system,” Bishop Dewane said.
The House voted on Tuesday afternoon to pass a bill repealing the Affordable Care Act and replacing it with the American Health Care Act. The bill passed narrowly, by a vote of 217 to 213.
The American Health Care Act was introduced in the House in March, but ultimately failed to reach the House Floor for a vote. It replaced the ACA's individual insurance mandate with a 30 percent premium fine for having a significant gap in coverage. More tax credits would be offered and the allowable contributions to health savings accounts would also be expanded.
Bishop Dewane expressed serious concerns about the legislation although he commended its pro-life provisions. The sick and the elderly could end up paying far more for health care, he warned of the original AHCA bill in March.
As the revised health care bill re-surfaced recently in the House, Bishop Dewane said that “serious flaws” still remained, like changes to Medicaid that eventually capped the Medicaid expansion and a lack of conscience protections for doctors and health care providers.
Revisions to the bill included allowing states to determine “essential health benefits,” or benefits that health plans had to include under the ACA which included hospitalizations and maternity care.
Also, under the new bill states could charge more per person based on their health history, which the ACA forbade, provided they set up high-risk pools.
Bishop Dewane warned that proposed amendments “could severely impact many people with pre-existing conditions while risking for others the loss of access to various essential coverages.”
The bill “as it now stands, creates new and grave challenges for poor and vulnerable people, including immigrants,” he said April 27. “The House must not pass the legislation as it is. Members should insist on changes, especially for the sake of those who are struggling in our communities.”
Several pro-life leaders applauded the bill's passage.
“The March for Life congratulates the U.S. House of Representatives for passing the American Healthcare Act and for reaffirming their commitment to life,” said Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life.
Pro-life groups noted that the bill barred federal funding of Planned Parenthood and instead funded health care providers that do not perform abortions.
These health care providers, said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, “provide comprehensive primary and preventative care to women and girls.”
That redirection of funding would amount to $422 million, she said. The bill also established protections against taxpayer funding of abortions in health care plans.
“We urge the Senate to keep these non-negotiable provisions and quickly advance this bill to the President’s desk,” Dannenfelser said.
The Christ Medicus Foundation (CMF) CURO, a Catholic health care ministry, said the new health care bill would “offer truly affordable, patient-centered health care.”
“This is a hugely important step, but it is just the first step to improving health care for all Americans, especially the vulnerable,” Louis Brown, director of CMF CURO, said.
“The American Health Care Act begins the process of increasing meaningful medical access for individuals and families across the country by returning focus to the doctor-patient relationship.”
And, the group added, “there is much more work to be done to protect the right of conscience and religious freedom in health care.”
The White House announced on Thursday that the bill provided billions in funding for vulnerable populations, including $15 billion “for the care of maternity, newborn, mental health, and substance abuse.”
