Beginning today, women’s rights groups – including the Feminist Majority Foundation, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the National Organization for Women (NOW), the National Council of Jewish Women, and others – have launched a campaign and blog carnival to support the Obama Administration’s decision to maintain full contraceptive coverage under the Preventive Care package of […]
By Janet Hill, Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), National CLUW Vice President (United Steelworkers) Catholic bishops are pressuring the Obama administration to dilute the rule proposed by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to allow women access to birth control without paying out of pocket. There is a narrow exemption that allows religious […]
The Catholic Church is at odds with the Obama Administration over a recent decision to end Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) funding to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops because of its stance on birth control and reproductive rights. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was previously awarded grants from HHS to help […]
On Tuesday, a New York City mandate was announced requiring that public school students take one semester of sex education classes during 6th or 7th grade and then an additional semester during either 9th or tenth grade. The sex-education curriculum would emphasize abstinence as the most effective way of preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and […]
Last week, the Maryland Board of Public Works has agreed to lease public land in Montgomery County to Holy Cross Hospital, a Roman Catholic Hospital. The hospital will likely not offer a full range of reproductive health services, including access to birth control or abortion services. Jodi Finkelstein, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, stated, […]
Despite two recent scandals involving child sex abuse by priests, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops voted to make only minor changes to the church’s abuse policies at a gathering in Bellevue, Washington on Thursday. “The changes are paltry, belated and largely insignificant,” David Clohessy, Executive Director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, […]
A coalition of pro-reproductive rights groups, including the National Organization for Women (NOW), NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, Catholics for Choice and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, have joined to encourage the Maryland Health Care Commission to reject Holy Cross Hospital’s proposal to build a hospital in Montgomery County, Maryland. The coalition objected to […]
A group of women gathered in St. Peter’s Square last Tuesday to protest the exclusion of women from the Roman Catholic priesthood, reports the American Free Press. According to the National Catholic Reporter, the eight protesters demanded “full and equal participation” in the church, as they marched on the Vatican holding signs reading “Ordain Catholic […]
Originally posted on Ms. blog by Angela Bonavoglia It was indeed outrageous that the Reverend Raniero Cantalamessa, with the Pope in eyeshot, compared the public outcry over the Catholic Church priest abuse scandal to homicidal anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany.
Washington, DC-based Catholic Charities announced yesterday that health insurance for the spouses of their employees will no longer be provided due to the recent legalization of same-sex marriage in the District. Catholic Charities will also discontinue their foster care program in the District. The changes take effect immediately, according to the Washington Post. Current employees […]
The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, DC, threatened Wednesday to stop offering social services if the city passes a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. The Church expressed that one of the driving reasons for their opposition to the law was that it does not include an exemption that would allow the Church to discriminate against gay […]
A report issued this week by Ireland’s Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse on abuse within at least 216 Catholic orphanages and state institutions has resulted in a global outcry against the continued abuse of children by the Catholic church. The report investigated alleged incidents of abuse dating back to 1914 and included evidence from […]
A pilot contraceptives program under development in England has already drawn criticism from the Catholic Church. Under the proposed program, students at six schools in Oxfordshire, a county in southern England, would be able to use text messaging to access general medical advice and contraceptives, including emergency contraception, from a school nurse. According to the […]
A senior Vatican cleric defended the Catholic Church of Brazil’s plans to excommunicate those who aided a child pregnant as a result of rape. According to the BBC, the church plans to excommunicate the girl’s mother and several doctors who helped to secure a medically necessary abortion for the girl, who is 9 years old […]
The Catholic Church in Brazil plans to excommunicate all of the doctors involved in securing an abortion for a 9-year-old girl who became pregnant with twins after being raped by her stepfather. The Church also plans to excommunicate the girl’s mother, according to the BBC. Abortion is legal in Brazil only in cases of rape […]
Over 50 Catholic organizations published a letter addressed to Pope Benedict XVI last week urging the Pope to lift the Church’s anti-contraception policy introduced in the Humanae Vitae, the1968 Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI. The letter was advertised in the Corriere della Sera, Italy’s largest circulating newspaper, according to Catholics for Choice. The letter […]
Hundreds of Chileans announced that they will leave the Catholic Church on April 29, in protest of the Vatican involvement with a court’s anti-contraception ruling. Chile’s Constitutional Court outlawed President Michelle Bachelet’s free emergency contraception distribution program on April 18. The court ruled that free distribution of emergency contraception was unconstitutional. According to Women’s eNews […]
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is urging lawmakers to pass state legislation that would guarantee all women the right to an abortion. The Catholic Church has launched an aggressive campaign against the new bill, the Reproductive Health and Privacy Act, according to the New York Sun. The bill was drafted in April of last year, […]
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers issued a legal opinion last week approving the sale of two Colorado hospitals to Catholic organizations. The sale would result in the halting of services banned by the Catholic Church, including emergency contraception, abortion, and some forms of sterilization, such as tubal ligation and vasectomies, according to the Denver Post. […]
Two Missouri women, Rose Marie Hudson and Elsie Hainz McGrath, were ordained as Catholic priests on Sunday by Roman Catholic Womenpriests. 600 well-wishers came to view the ceremony, held at the Central Reform Congregation synagogue in St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke threatened to excommunicate the women if they proceeded with the ceremony. […]
