Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Voting booths on Election Day. / Credit: vesperstock/Shutterstock

Ann Arbor, Michigan, Sep 16, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The aggressive advocacy of abortion by Democratic Party candidates up and down the ballot this year, coupled with abortion ballot measures in 10 states, is causing pro-life groups across the political spectrum to adjust their tactics as well as expand collaborative efforts. 

At the state level throughout the country, “there are things that we are excited about and others that are very troubling,” said Americans United for Life (AUL) Chief Executive Officer John Mize in an interview with CNA.

“What we find most troubling are the ballot initiatives that are very deceptive by pro-abortion forces that have caused utter confusion in a vast swath of the American public,” Mize indicated.

In view of the current electoral panorama, Mize said his nonpartisan organization is stepping up its partnerships with other groups as part of their common objective to defend preborn lives and defeat pro-abortion measures. For example, he said, AUL has expanded its collaborative efforts with organizations such as CareNet, Heartbeat, Lifeline, and the Vitae Foundation.

Given the magnitude of the challenge the pro-life movement faces this year, National Right to Life (NRL) spokesperson Laura Echevarría said her group also welcomes increased collaborative efforts.

“We tend to be very accepting of other groups that want to work with us on issues. And we look at that commonality and we don’t get into other issues,” Echevarría observed. 

On the left, Democrats for Life and Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) are two groups that align with most aspects of the Democratic Party’s policy agenda yet are vociferously challenging its pro-abortion stance. 

PAUU executive director Caroline Taylor Smith, a Catholic who also volunteers for Democrats for Life, told CNA her pro-life principles are compatible with progressivism. She criticized both the Democratic and Republican parties for their respective stances on abortion. 

“I am very left-leaning and progressive and agree with every progressive value except for abortion. I condemn the idea that progressives have to support child-killing. My worldview is that I’m against violence and oppression against all people. I support liberation for all people. Embryos are preborn people that should be free from violence,” she said. 

Smith said that an example of PAAU’s pro-life commitment was set by PAAU activist Lauren Handy, 30, who was convicted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for occupying the Surgi-Clinic abortuary in Washington, D.C. Handy, who identifies as a “queer Catholic,” is now serving a four-year sentence. 

Allied organizations identified by PAUU’s Smith also include Pro-Life San Francisco and Rehumanize International. 

Despite their common goals, Mize acknowledged, the groups take different approaches. For example, Mize said he is skeptical about “overly aggressive tactics” such as displaying photos of aborted babies or screaming over bullhorns at women. Such tactics, he said, “add to the trauma that a woman feels when she is making a very difficult and complex decision. There’s a better way. And that is to be incremental and focused on providing alternative options to women.”

In addition, while Mize said ALU is not opposed to PAAU’s work, he said ALU is “more apt to partner with an organization like Democrats for Life, who share a lot of the same values we do in terms of the appropriate process to advance the pro-life cause.” There are also organizations like Secular Pro-Life, Mize added.

“Unfortunately, this has become far too political and it’s really not,” Mize maintains. “It’s a moral issue that isn’t defined by the politics of the party. It’s defined by the morality and character of the person.”

Echevarría and Mize agreed that the challenges for all pro-life organizations are only multiplying. Intense political battles, both said, lie in state legislatures and ballot initiatives that threaten to overturn hard-fought limitations on abortion, such as requirements for parental notification and consent.

null / Credit: Melnikov Dmitriy/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Sep 16, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A new study has found that daily pornography consumption among young adults leads to statistically significant negative mental health outcomes, including higher rates of reported depression.

The Institute for Family Studies/YouGov survey of 2,000 adults under the age of 40 determined that “pornography has become a daily part of life for many young adults.” About 10% of young adults aged 18–39 report watching pornography online “at least once a day.”

Men “are about twice as likely as women to report being daily users of online pornography,” the study found, while “liberal young adults” were roughly twice as likely as conservatives to report watching online pornography at least once daily.

Daily porn usage was similar for married and unmarried respondents and was roughly consistent across income and education levels, the survey found.

And “frequent use of online pornography is linked to an increased occurrence of negative mental health outcomes among young adults,” the study found, with roughly one-third of daily pornography users reporting feeling “down, depressed, or hopeless” most or all of the time, compared with just 19% of those who rarely or never watch porn.

An even higher number of daily porn users — 36% — report feeling lonely “all or most of the time,” compared with 20% of those who consume porn rarely or never. 

These findings remain even after controlling for factors like sex, marital status, and income. Overall, daily porn consumption “doubles the risk of being depressed and increases the risk of feeling lonely by a similar amount,” the research said. 

The new findings echo earlier studies that showed a similar link between heavy porn usage and negative mental health outcomes.

The researchers noted that daily porn use also “may displace activities that contribute to healthy social relationships, leaving users feeling more lonely and depressed.”

‘You’re thirsty, but you’re drinking salt water’

Father Sean Kilcawley is the director of the Freedom From Pornography apostolate in the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska. He said he has observed in his ministry that frequent pornography, as well as frequent masturbation, “does lead to a kind of depression.”

“Some of the neuroscience research out there would validate that,” he said. “When we talk about living a life of chastity in the Church and purity in the Church, it really comes down to our mental health and our physical health.”

Regarding individuals who suffer from mental health ailments due to pornography consumption, Kilcawley said that such people “aren’t always aware that one is causing the other.”

“For instance, people often say the reason they look at porn is because of loneliness. But then at the same time their reason for loneliness is that they’re looking at pornography,” he said. 

“When I’m talking to young people I might use the analogy that it’s like you’re thirsty and you’re drinking salt water,” he said.

Kilcawley said that, as with many addictions, the first step for many people struggling with porn usage is to simply acknowledge they have a problem. 

“I might start with just asking them, do you believe you have a problem? Do you want help? Is it bad enough that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to get help?” he said.  

“Breaking free, from a Christian perspective, is when we have a conversion,” he continued. “And we come to realize that Our Lord can meet all of our needs, and that whatever porn and masturbation is doing for us, Our Lord is the one who is capable of giving us that sense of affirmation and longing, that feeling of being hurt and [yet] being understood.”

“Whatever it is, Our Lord can give it to us,” he said. “And that path to conversion needs accompaniment. We need others to walk with us.”

Those who have finally acknowledged the depth of their problem, Kilcawley said, can pursue help including 12-step addiction programs and individual counselors. Group therapy, he noted, can offer an antidote to loneliness as well as help with addiction and dependency.

The priest stressed the importance of “raising the bottom,” a concept promoted by Alcoholics Anonymous as a means to help more people beat their addictions before they reach a ruinous place.

“When AA started, it was full of people who were in-the-gutter drunks,” he pointed out. “They’d lost jobs, families, horrible things that happened to them, and then they went to the meetings. In the earlier years it was just those kinds of people.” 

“And then over time people started talking about how you can get off the train earlier, you don’t have to ride all the way down,” he said. “People started getting help sooner.”

“I think we can do the same thing with those who are addicted to pornography,” he argued. “Before it affects their marriage and their family, and before it escalates to something worse.”

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw holds a photograph of the rifle and other items found near where a suspect was discovered during a press conference regarding an apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. / Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Sep 15, 2024 / 19:48 pm (CNA).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said on Sunday that it was investigating an apparent attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life, the second such incident in roughly eight weeks.

“The FBI has responded to West Palm Beach, Florida, and is investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump,” the bureau said in a brief news release on Sunday.

Trump was reportedly playing golf at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach when shots were fired on the course. A Secret Service agent had reportedly spotted a gun barrel sticking out of a nearby fence and had engaged with a suspect.

It was unclear on Sunday evening if the suspect had fired any shots. The suspect reportedly attempted to flee the scene but was subsequently apprehended by police on Interstate 95.

Photos on Sunday showed law enforcement cordoning off an area near the golf course after the alleged attempted assassination.

The former president said in an email to his fundraising list shortly after the incident that he was “safe and well.”

“My resolve is only stronger after another attempt on my life,” he said in a second email on Sunday evening.

Law enforcement reportedly found a rifle with a scope attachment at the scene of the incident on Sunday.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who is currently running against Trump in the 2024 presidential contest, said on Twitter on Sunday that she had been “briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe.”

“Violence has no place in America,” Harris added.

null / Credit: Stephen Velsaso via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0), filter added

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 13, 2024 / 15:54 pm (CNA).

Two proposed constitutional amendments — one pro-life and one pro-abortion — will appear on Nebraska ballots on Nov. 5, the state Supreme Court ruled on Friday.

One referendum would establish constitutional protections for unborn children in later stages of pregnancy and the other would create a constitutional right to obtain an abortion.

Both proposed amendments faced legal challenges, which claimed the proposals violated the constitution’s single-subject rule. The Supreme Court found that both amendments contain one general subject and are not in violation of the rule.

Pro-life amendment

The pro-life referendum would grant constitutional protections to “unborn children” that protect them from “abortion in the second and third trimesters” except in the case of a medical emergency or when the pregnancy results from sexual assault or incest.

It would effectively prohibit elective abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy.

Although the proposed amendment would not grant constitutional protections to unborn children in the first trimester of pregnancy, state lawmakers would be allowed to adopt stronger pro-life protections than what is established in the amendment.

Pro-abortion amendment

The pro-abortion referendum would establish “a fundamental right to abortion until fetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.” It would prohibit “the state and its political subdivisions” from interfering with the newly established constitutional right.

It would effectively guarantee the legality of elective abortion until viability, which occurs around the 23rd or 24th week of pregnancy.

The text defines viability as the point at which “there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’ sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.” A preborn child’s viability would be determined by “the patient’s treating health care practitioner,” who is often the abortionist.

The text does not elaborate on when the “health” of the mother exception would apply or whether “mental health” would be included in the exception.

Because the Nebraska measures are mutually exclusive and cannot both be added to the constitution, the measure with the most “for” votes will be added. For a ballot measure to pass in Nebraska, it needs more “for” votes than “against” votes and must receive at least 35% of the total votes cast at that election to be in favor of the measure. The governor is responsible for determining whether there is a conflict, per state law.

Nebraska’s current abortion laws

Under current law, Nebraska allows elective abortion through the 12th week of pregnancy. After 12 weeks, a woman can only obtain an abortion when the child is conceived in rape or incest or if there is a medical emergency.

The pro-life referendum would allow the current law to stay in place. However, the pro-abortion referendum would substantially expand abortion.

Nebraska is one of 10 states where abortion will be on the ballot this fall.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks about Florida’s new six-week abortion ban on May 1, 2024, in Jacksonville, Florida. Harris has made abortion policy a central issue of her presidential campaign. / Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 13, 2024 / 10:45 am (CNA).

A political action committee that supports Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential candidacy launched a $15 million advertisement campaign in key battleground states that promotes the Democratic nominee’s pro-abortion political agenda.

The campaign, launched by American Bridge 21st Century on Thursday, will air television, radio, and digital advertisements promoting Harris’ support for abortion and criticizing former President Donald Trump. The advertisements will air in three important swing states: Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

“American Bridge’s program to defeat Donald Trump has always been about three things: abortion, democracy, and freedom,” Bradley Beychok, co-founder of American Bridge 21st Century, said in a statement.

“Voters in the Blue Wall states, especially women, will make or break this election,” Beychok continued. “That’s why American Bridge is putting their true stories about Trump’s threats to reproductive rights [abortion] at the forefront of our paid media program, and why we’re fighting to make sure that voters know how much is at stake this November.”

One of the television advertisements airing in Michigan opens with a resident who works as a physician’s assistant saying: “I think Kamala Harris understands the people I serve [because] she’s not going to stop until reproductive rights [abortion] are restored.”

“We know exactly where Trump stands on abortion,” the physician’s assistant continues. “When I heard him bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade, it gutted me.”

The advertisement quotes the former president taking credit for the United States Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which allowed states to pass restrictions on abortion. Trump has campaigned on the position that abortion policies should be set by states but has said he would not sign a federal law that prohibits abortion.

Harris has said she would support legislation to codify Roe v. Wade’s abortion standards into federal law, which would prevent states from adopting pro-life laws that restrict abortion. In the Sept. 10 presidential debate, the vice president refused to say whether she supports late-term abortion. 

The advertisement alleges that Trump could restrict birth control and in vitro fertilization or sign a federal law that prohibits abortion. The former president has said he does not support federal restrictions on abortion or restrictions on birth control or in vitro fertilization.

This advertisement campaign builds on Harris’ emphasis on abortion policy as a key element of her 2024 presidential campaign. The vice president has led the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to promote abortion and has consistently supported abortion as a senator and as the attorney general of California.

American Bridge 21st Century intends to spend about $140 million on advertising campaigns to support Harris’ candidacy. The political action committee’s funders include billionaires Michael Moritz and Reid Hoffman, according to OpenSecrets.

Polls are showing tight races in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. According to averages compiled by RealClearPolling, Harris is ahead by less than two percentage points in Wisconsin and by less than one percentage point in Michigan. The polls show Harris and Trump virtually tied in Pennsylvania.

In Pennsylvania, both mail-in and in-person early voting begins on Sept. 16. In Michigan, mail-in early voting begins on Sept. 26 and in-person early voting starts on Oct. 16. In Wisconsin, mail-in early voting begins on Sept. 19 and in-person early voting starts on Oct. 22.

Deacon Bob Young, representing Knights of Columbus Council 694, accepts the First Liberty Institute's Philip B. Onderdonk Jr. Religious Liberty Award award at the American Legion’s National Convention in New Orleans on Aug. 28, 2024. / Credit: Jeric Wilhelmsen/The American Legion

CNA Staff, Sep 13, 2024 / 10:15 am (CNA).

A council of Knights of Columbus in Virginia has received a religious freedom award after it won a dispute earlier this year with the government over celebrating Mass at a federal cemetery.

The First Liberty Institute awarded the Knights of Columbus Council 694 its Philip B. Onderdonk Jr. Religious Liberty Award in recognition of the Petersburg council’s successful challenge to a federal rule prohibiting Mass at Poplar Grove National Cemetery. The religious freedom group assisted the knights in their challenge.

The Knights’ council has held an annual Memorial Day Mass at the Petersburg-area cemetery for decades, yet the National Park Service (NPS) had determined in 2023 that the observance was prohibited due to it being a religious service.

The Knights filed a challenge to the rule in May of this year, arguing that the prohibition violated the First Amendment as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The federal government ultimately backed down and allowed the council to hold the Mass.

First Liberty Institute senior counsel Roger Byron said in giving the award that the Knights’ “commitment to its mission and the ideal of religious liberty was made clear once again this year when it stood firmly to keep their annual Memorial Day Mass at a national public cemetery in Virginia.”

“In the face of an unconstitutional policy adopted by the National Park Service, the Knights refused to back down and stood up to defend the First Amendment,” Byron said.

“We honor the Knights’ commitment to our first freedom.”

Prior to backing down and allowing the Mass, park service officials had said the Knights could hold the observance “outside the cemetery on a patch of grass near the parking lot,” which the Knights’ filing said was “unreasonable, unnecessary, and unconstitutional.”

In their filing, the Knights said the Petersburg council “has hosted a Memorial Day Mass inside the Poplar Grove National Cemetery every year (with few exceptions)” for upwards of 60 years or more.

“[T]he location is important to us,” the Knights told NPS when filing for the Mass permit.
“It’s our religious belief that the memorial service needs to be inside the cemetery itself, not outside the cemetery somewhere. That’s why we’ve always had it there every year since at least the 1960s or before.”

The Onderdonk award has been given since 2015 to “a hero and protector of religious liberty,” First Liberty Institute says on its website.

Instead of a trophy, the recipient “receives a Henry Repeating Arms Military Service Tribute Edition .22 caliber commemorative rifle, specially engraved for the award,” the organization says.

The Knights were also recently in the news when former President Donald Trump sharply criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for her earlier aggressive questioning of judicial nominees who were members of the Knights of Columbus.

In 2018 Harris questioned three different nominees over their membership in the global Catholic organization. She said that the pro-life and pro-marriage views of the Knights conflicted with constitutional rights to abortion and same-sex marriage and questioned the nominees’ suitability for office.

null / Credit: Fabio Sola Penna via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 13, 2024 / 08:51 am (CNA).

For the pro-life movement to achieve its goal of eliminating abortion, it must first help bring about a dramatic change in societal sexual ethics, according to a new essay by Ryan T. Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

“So long as nonmarital sex is expected, large numbers of Americans will view abortion as necessary emergency contraception,” Anderson concludes in his essay, titled “The Way Forward After Dobbs,” published in the Catholic-led ecumenical journal First Things.  

“So long as marriage rates are declining and marriage age is delayed — but the human sex drive persists — abortion rates will remain high,” Anderson writes.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, he argues, while a major victory for the pro-life movement, came at a time when support for abortion had already become firmly entrenched in the culture.  

“Generations of Americans were catechized in the beliefs that abortion is a right and that unborn babies have no rights — and that we have no duties to the unborn,” Anderson, who is Catholic, writes.

“Though [the] Dobbs [Supreme Court decision] did important work to repair part of the damage to our constitutional order, it doesn’t — couldn’t — erase half a century of political and social corruption,” Anderson said. 

Anderson argues that the shift in public opinion in favor of abortion that has taken place in recent years has resulted in the pro-life movement’s recent defeats at the ballot box. Although some states have passed legislation effectively restricting abortion, every ballot initiative that received a direct vote from the people has liberalized abortion policies, and in some cases, overruled state-level pro-life laws.

“The change in public opinion over the past decade is hard to come to grips with, but the pro-life movement needs to do just that,” Anderson said.

When Roe v. Wade was still in effect, Anderson said, “it was easier to affirm the dignity of the child in the womb” because such an affirmation “was abstract and did not imply a threat to anyone’s ‘choice.’”

“It seems that most Americans, even some who consider themselves pro-life, support four exceptions: rape, incest, life of the mother, and … ‘my case,’” Anderson continued. “Or ‘my daughter’s case,’ or ‘my girlfriend’s case.’”

Although some people who facilitate abortions “know that abortion stops a beating heart,” Anderson writes, “they don’t always care, or … they aren’t always willing to make the personal sacrifices that follow.” He noted that most abortions are procured when a pregnancy occurs outside of marriage and that one of the roots of the problem is “multiple generations of a sexual culture that incentivizes abortion.”

According to Anderson, the root cause is “the sexual revolution, a revolution that conservatives have never attempted to combat in a sustained way, despite many one-off campaigns and skirmishes.”

The sexual revolution began in the 1960s with a movement to increase social acceptance of sex outside of marriage. It was accompanied by the women’s liberation movement and the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the first birth control pill. 

“Our primary task isn’t to persuade people of the humanity of the unborn — anyone who has ever seen an ultrasound knows all about that — but to change how people lead their sexual lives,” Anderson says. “We have a pro-life movement, but could anyone seriously suggest that we have a pro-marriage or pro-chastity movement?”

Anderson notes that statistics show that among secular Americans, premarital sex is very common. It’s even common among Christians who regularly attend church services, he writes.

“Before we try to persuade the secular world of a Christian sexual ethic, we might try persuading Christians,” he says. 

Anderson encourages priests and pastors to preach about life and chastity from the pulpit, which he argues they do too rarely. He also says the movement needs “culture-forming, opinion-shaping organizations,” which he called “a daunting task.”

“Our cultural incrementalism can be broad-spectrum: new TV shows and movies that aren’t hokey after-school specials, policies to protect kids from the harms of social media and online pornography, effective church ministries,” Anderson adds. “The task is enormous. But we haven’t devoted enough time, treasure, or sophistication to it.”

Anderson also argues that the pro-life movement should “organize politically and help politicians find paths to success — not ask them to engage in political suicide missions.” He notes that even though pro-life efforts through ballot referendums have failed, many pro-life politicians have still found success in states in which the population voted to expand abortion.

“Policy wonks must devise effective pro-marriage policies,” Anderson concludes. “Cultural entrepreneurs must apply the professionalism of the conservative legal movement across our culture-shaping institutions. Most importantly, the Church must devise ministries that will transform lives, because short of religious revival, none of the changes we need will be possible.”

The Pro-Life Coalition of Pennsylvania holds a "Mercy Witness for Life" rally on July 23, 2016, outside of the former site of Dr. Kermit Gosnell's closed abortion clinic in Philadelphia. Gosnell was convicted of the first-degree murder of three infants, the involuntary manslaughter of his patient Karnamaya Mongar, and other felony counts. / Credit: Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 13, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

During Tuesday night’s presidential debate with former President Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris refused to say whether she opposes late-term abortions and denied that they happen in the United States.

However, more than a dozen states, in fact, allow on-demand abortions after the point of viability, and nine of those states permit abortions throughout the entirety of pregnancy.

What’s more, studies from pro-abortion groups and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that thousands of abortions happen late into pregnancy every year.

“Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion,” the vice president claimed. “That is not happening — it’s insulting to the women of America.”

During the debate, Trump said Harris’ vow to codify Roe v. Wade into national law would legalize late-term abortion. The now-defunct landmark Supreme Court ruling forced states to permit abortion at least until the point of fetal viability, at which point the unborn child could survive outside the womb. The exact moment of fetal viability is different for every pregnancy, but this usually occurs in the 23rd or the 24th week.

Trump said Harris would support abortion in “the seventh month, the eighth month, [and] the ninth month,” to which Harris retorted: “That’s not true.”

When asked by ABC debate moderator Linsey Davis whether she would support any restrictions on abortion, Harris ducked the question and said she supports what she called the “protections” of Roe v. Wade. Harris used the word “protections” in reference to making abortion legal, not to to mean protecting the unborn.

Although ABC’s debate moderators — Davis and David Muir — intervened to “fact check” Trump on several of his arguments, neither of them corrected Harris to inform viewers where late-term abortions are legal and occur in the United States.

However, Roe v. Wade did not prohibit states from allowing abortion much later into pregnancy, some of which do permit abortion in the seventh, eighth, and ninth months.

In nine states and Washington, D.C., abortion is legal for the entirety of pregnancy, until the moment of birth, for any reason. In one state, elective abortion is legal through the second trimester, which concludes at the end of the 27th week of pregnancy. In another four states, abortion is legal through the 24th week of pregnancy, regardless of whether the unborn child has already reached viability.

States where on-demand late-term abortion is legal

The most permissive abortion laws are in Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and the District of Columbia. A woman can procure a legal abortion through the ninth month of pregnancy, until the moment of birth, for any reason. 

Minnesota, the home state of Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, has some of the most permissive pro-abortion laws in the country. Walz signed legislation in January 2023 that declared abortion “a fundamental right” and prohibited local governments from taking any action that interferes with that legal right. This provided even stronger protections for Minnesota’s laws on abortion, which permit the procedure until the moment of birth.

Virginia allows elective abortion through the second trimester of pregnancy, which ends in the 27th week. This is three or four weeks after the unborn child could survive outside the womb.

In four other states — Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and New Hampshire — abortion is legal in the 24th week of pregnancy, regardless of whether the unborn child is viable. About a dozen states allow abortion up until the point of viability, which is often determined by the physician, who may be an abortionist. More than 20 states restrict abortion earlier than viability.

How often does late-term abortion happen?

State laws vary on what data abortion clinics must record and report to the government. Most states provide some data to the federal government, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not offer a comprehensive breakdown of the exact gestational ages of preborn children at the time of an abortion.

However, the CDC does report its estimates of how many abortions occur in the 21st week of pregnancy or later. In 2019, the CDC estimated about 4,882 abortions were performed at least 21 weeks or later into pregnancy. The data is incomplete because it excludes the nine states that permit abortions at that stage of pregnancy and the District of Columbia.

The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, which provides estimates through voluntary surveys, reported that about 0.9% of abortions were conducted in the 21st week or later in 2023. The report estimated more than 1 million total abortions, which would mean that more than 9,000 abortions occurred in the 21st week or later.

If the Guttmacher Institute’s reporting is correct, this would mean that, on average, between 24 and 25 abortions in the 21st week or later occur every day in the United States.

null / Credit: Chodyra Mike 1/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Sep 12, 2024 / 18:20 pm (CNA).

A state judge nixed North Dakota’s protections for unborn babies on Thursday, saying that the state constitution creates a right to abortion before the unborn baby is viable outside the womb, which is usually defined at 22 or 23 weeks of pregnancy. 

North Dakota District Judge Bruce Romanick’s 24-page order making abortion legal up to the point of fetal viability is set to go into effect in 14 days. 

The ruling overturned the law that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed in April 2023, which allowed abortion only in certain cases, such as pregnancies caused by rape or incest, within the first six weeks of pregnancy, and cases of serious health risk for the mother.

The Red River Women’s Clinic filed the original lawsuit in 2022 against a 2007 “trigger law” that went into effect after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. That law was later overturned by the state Supreme Court. The clinic has since relocated a few miles from Fargo, North Dakota, to Moorehead, Minnesota.

Romanick was ruling on the state’s request to dismiss the 2022 lawsuit. The state had argued that a trial wouldn’t make a difference as the clinic had since moved out of state.

Romanick ruled that the state’s abortion restrictions were unconstitutional because “pregnant women in North Dakota have a fundamental right to choose abortion before viability” under the state constitution, which protects “life, liberty, safety, and happiness” for individuals “including women.”

North Dakota Right to Life said in a statement Thursday that it is “deeply disappointed” by the ruling, arguing that the judge used “poor methodology” to go against “the standard legal process.”

“This ruling was made in response to the state’s request to dismiss the lawsuit, yet instead of either dismissing the case or setting a court hearing date, the judge unilaterally issued a ruling that dismantles critical protections for the unborn and vulnerable women across our state,” the statement read.

“The judge’s poor methodology and decision to bypass the standard legal process reflect a troubling disregard for the legal protections that were put in place to ensure informed consent and promote the safety of North Dakotans,” the statement continued. 

The judge also ruled that the restrictions were void because of their “vagueness.” He argued that the law violated due process because it was not clear enough to physicians which abortions they could perform legally and could have “a profound chilling effect on the willingness of physicians to perform abortions.”

“All North Dakota citizens, including women, have the right to make fundamental, appropriate, and informed medical decisions in consultation with a physician and to receive their chosen medical care … Such a choice is a fundamental one, central to personal autonomy and self-determination,” the court document reads.

“Unborn human life, pre-viability, is not a sufficient justification to interfere with a woman’s fundamental rights,” the judge continued. “Criminalizing pre-viability abortions is not necessary to promote the state’s interest in women’s health and protecting unborn human life.”

North Dakota Right to Life argued that the ruling was dangerous for both women and unborn children.

“We firmly believe that this ruling does a grave disservice to our state and will lead to harmful consequences for women, minors, and unborn children alike,” the statement read.

The group argued that the decision “opens North Dakota to unrestricted abortion access — eliminating necessary safeguards such as waiting periods, parental consent for minors, and critical health and safety standards.”

“In doing so, the judge’s decision directly undermines the well-being of women and young girls, putting their health at risk and disregarding the will of the people in North Dakota,” the statement continued.

Signage is strewn across the intersection after Hurricane Francine swept through the area on Sept. 11, 2024, in Houma, Louisiana. / Credit: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Sep 12, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

Hurricane Francine made landfall in southern Louisiana on Wednesday evening as a Category 2 storm, bringing 100 mph winds in some areas and copious rainfall. Many parts of the state, already drenched with previous rains, remained flooded Thursday even as Francine moved out of the region heading north.

Low-lying areas near and to the east of where Francine made landfall faced storm surge of five to 10 feet, the Washington Post reported. At the peak of the storm, 450,000 people in Louisiana were without electricity, a figure that has dropped to around 350,000, per the AP.

Kim Burgo, vice president of disaster operations at Catholic Charities USA, told CNA on Thursday afternoon that the aid organization is helping to fund and coordinate relief efforts through local Catholic Charities agencies in the region. The hardest-hit diocese in southern Louisiana has been Houma-Thibodaux, as well as parts of the Dioceses of Baton Rouge and Lafayette and the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Burgo said the local Catholic Charities organizations in these areas are undertaking assessments to determine the needs of the affected populations, especially the poor whom they already serve on a regular basis. She said their primary concern is ensuring that people have access to necessary supplies and services — such as generators and food — to help them get by as power is restored and cleanup begins.

Each individual Catholic Charities agency in the region is accepting donations, as is Catholic Charities USA, which will distribute 100% of the donations to the affected areas.

“Each agency or each diocese will have their own criteria and different ways to help. And certainly, there are locations where people can drop off goods and items,” Burgo said, noting that some parts of Louisiana were spared flooding and storm damage despite their proximity to damaged areas.

Catholic Charities of Acadiana (CCA), which serves the Diocese of Lafayette, is already soliciting volunteers to help with relief efforts. The group says it needs volunteers who can do damage assessments, roof tarping, muck out and cleanup, debris removal and chainsawing, and in-kind donations management. The group also encouraged people of goodwill to donate to its disaster relief fund.

Burgo said CCA has begun assembling and distributing supplies, assisting the National Guard by unloading trucks filled with essential items like tarps and anti-mold products.

Meanwhile, in Houma-Thibodaux, a big focus is on distributing meals to people in need, especially for those still without power. The lack of electricity is especially impactful for low-income households as it disrupts the functioning of medical equipment and impedes food preservation, among other issues. 

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New Orleans is also mobilized to help the community, but weather conditions were so bad that the agency said on social media that its offices would be closed until Friday, Sept. 13. Officially, 7.33 inches of rain fell at New Orleans International Airport on Wednesday, making it the second-wettest September day on record, the Washington Post reported. 

Burgo emphasized that Catholic Charities serve as a long-term presence in the community, providing support not just in times of disaster but also during peaceful periods. She encouraged people in need of assistance or those willing to offer help to reach out to their local Catholic Charities office or visit the national website.

“We’re not an organization that just goes in and does some work and then leaves. We’re there in both the times of sunshine and the times of disaster events,” she said.