Ohio pediatricians voice ‘disgust’ as partial birth abortion ‘inventor’ moves in next door
November 30, 2010
Update (9:34pm EST): An Ohio Department of Health spokeswoman told LifeSiteNews.com Monday evening that the Sharonville clinic has in fact received an ambulatory surgical center license, correcting the Department’s earlier assertion.
SHARONVILLE, Ohio, November 29, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – After a notorious late-term abortionist moved in next-door, a group of Ohio pediatricians are giving vent to their outrage, calling the move “a slap in the face” to a group that has nurtured children in the area for decades.
Late-term abortionist Martin Haskell has closed his Cincinnati, Ohio, abortion clinic and reopened in the suburb of Sharonville – mere steps away from Liberty Sharonville Pediatrics. There, parents would have to enter a common driveway and pass by Haskell’s surgical abortion facility, Women’s Med Cincinnati, in order to get the pediatric office. The abortion mill even shares a sign with the pediatricians’ office next door.
Dr. Steve Brinn, M.D., was so upset that he wrote a letter to the editor that appeared in the Cincinnati Inquirer on Saturday, November 27, expressing his opposition to the abortion business.
“Imagine our shock and disbelief, when we learned that an abortion clinic was opening in the building 50-feet from our front door. Why would a clinic performing abortions be so insensitive to a group practice treating children for 31 years?” wrote Dr. Brinn.
He continued, “To have a group of OB/GYN doctors terminating fetuses just outside our door, to force our mothers and their babies drive through a common driveway, driving by the front of an abortion clinic, in order to park in our lot to have their babies cared for is an atrocity.
“We are here to prevent infant diseases, and they are here to end infant lives. We may not have the legal right to get them to move but we will do anything in our power to vocalize our personal disgust with their mission.”
Haskell is perhaps best known for his claim - believed to be false - that he invented the gruesome and now illegal partial-birth abortion procedure. Today, a modified version of that procedure, which exploits a loophole in the law, is in wide use by Haskell and other late-term abortionists.
Dr. Brinn told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that one longtime patient has already vowed to leave the practice because of its new next-door neighbors.
The pediatrician of 31 years called the decision to locate the abortion mill nearby “a slap in the face to any physician who treasures saving lives and helping kids … to have to know what’s going on right over there.” He said his calls to Sharonville mayor Virgil Lovitt have yet to be answered.
Operation Rescue president Troy Newman lauded Dr. Brinn’s “brave stand in defense of children” and encouraged him to pursue all available legal means to chase Haskell out of town. “With prayer and public support, we know these efforts can be successful.” he said.
The newest location is not listed as a licensed ambulatory surgical center on the Ohio Department of Health website. A Department spokeswoman confirmed to LSN that there was no pending license for an ambulatory surgical center at the clinic’s location, which she indicated would require the license to operate legally as a surgical abortion clinic.
Operation Rescue notes that a receptionist for Haskell told one of their undercover investigators that the Sharonville clinic is a surgical center. When LSN asked for similar information, Haskell’s receptionist refused to state whether a Sharonville clinic existed and conveyed a message to the clinic’s PR department, which did not return LSN’s call.
The Women’s Med Cincinnati center website lists the Sharonville address as its location and gives driving directions to the same site.
Operation Rescue reports that another mill of Haskell’s, located in Dayton, ran afoul of the law by refusing to comply with state law that required abortion clinics to be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers and have a transfer agreement with a local hospital. After years of legal wrangling, the state capitulated and granted Haskell a “variance” that allows him to operate without meeting the legal requirements that bind other clinics.
Pope heralds beginning of Advent with pro-life vigil
November 29, 2010
Vatican City, (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI heralded the beginning of Advent this year with an unprecedented worldwide pro-life vigil. On Saturday night at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, he urged respect for human life and warned against adult “selfishness” and the “darkening of consciences” in modern society.
On Nov. 27, St. Peter’s was the center of global focus, as dioceses around the world joined the Pope’s invitation to prepare for the season of Christmas by joining in a special Vespers service for the unborn.
Although it is common for the Pope to encourage prayer for particular intentions, the request for a coordinated worldwide vigil – to be held on the same date and approximately the same time, in all dioceses – is highly exceptional.
Pope Benedict began his homily saying that God became a child to experience the life of man in order to “to save it completely, fully.”
“The beginning of the liturgical year helps us to relive the expectation of God made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary,” he said, adding that the “Incarnation reveals to us, with intense light and in an amazing way, that every human life has an incomparable, a most elevated dignity.”
Because “God loves us so deeply, totally, without distinction,” the Pope noted that belief in “Jesus Christ also means having a new outlook on man, a look of trust and hope.”
Humankind, therefore, “has the right not to be treated as an object of possession or something to manipulate at will, not to be reduced to a mere instrument for the benefit of others and their interests,” he said.
“In this vein we find the Church’s concern for the unborn, the most fragile, the most threatened by the selfishness of adults and the darkening of consciences,” the Pontiff added.
He then reiterated the Church’s stance against abortion, warning against “cultural tendencies that seek to anesthetize consciences with misleading motivations.”
“With regard to the embryo in the womb, science itself highlights its autonomy capable of interaction with the mother, the coordination of biological processes, the continuity of development, the growing complexity of the organism,” he said. “This is not an accumulation of biological material, but a new living being, dynamic and wonderfully ordered, a new unique human being.”
“So was Jesus in Mary’s womb, so it was for all of us in our mother’s womb.”
Pope Benedict went on to say that even after birth, children around the world face abandonment, hunger, poverty, disease, abuse, violence or exploitation.
“I urge the protagonists of politics, economic and social communications to do everything in their power to promote a culture which respects human life, to provide favorable conditions and support networks for the reception and development of life,” he said.
The Pope concluded by entrusting prayers for the unborn to the Virgin Mary, “who welcomed the Son of God made man with faith, with her maternal womb, with loving care, with nurturing support and vibrant with love.”
SBA List Claims ‘Year of the Pro-Life Woman’ Victory in Buerkle NY-25 Win
November 25, 2010
WASHINGTON, (MetroCatholic) — Today, the Susan B. Anthony List celebrated the election of the eighth pro-life woman U.S. Representative in the 112th Congress and a major upset in Ann Marie Buerkle’s defeat of pro-abortion incumbent Dan Maffei.
- “Ann Marie Buerkle’s win is historic for women, the unborn and New York’s 25th Congressional District,” SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said. “A pro-life gain in this district — thought by many to be out of reach — affirms the wave of pro-life feminine leadership pouring into the 112th Congress. That wave, including Buerkle’s election, further confirms that 2010 is the Year of the Pro-Life Woman.
“As the first woman elected to Congress from NY-25, she brings years of experience speaking out for Life and feminine leadership harkening back to its roots in authentic pro-life feminism. At the same time, she replaces a consistently pro-abortion vote with dependable advocacy for Life on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.”
As a registered nurse and mother of six, Buerkle will contribute a unique medical background and a strong commitment to ending taxpayer funding of abortion to Congress.
In the weeks leading up to the November general election, the SBA List mailed nearly 23,000 households in NY-25 and bundled nearly $24,000 for the Buerkle campaign. The SBA List spent $2.3 million electing pro-life women to congressional and statewide office, resulting in a 70 percent increase in the number of pro-life women in the U.S. House of Representatives, an increase in the number of pro-life women governors from one to four and the election of the 112th Congress’ first pro-life woman Senator. SBA List-endorsed candidates won 83 percent of the time in SBA List-versus-EMILY’s List head-to-head races.
The Susan B. Anthony List spent $11 million during the 2010 midterm elections, including: $3.4 million on its “Votes Have Consequences” project targeting self-described “pro-life” Democrats who voted for abortion funding in the health care bill; $2.3 million on its efforts to elect pro-life women to congressional and statewide office; and $1.4 million on defeating pro-abortion incumbents and protecting pro-life leaders. SBA List members across the country bundled more than $600,000 in direct contributions to candidates. Overall, the SBA List was involved in 90 races including 62 wins, 27 losses, and 1 yet to be called. Successes included: defeating 15 of 20 “Votes Have Consequences” targets; increasing the number of pro-life women in the House by 70 percent; filling the void of pro-life women in the U.S. Senate and increasing the number of pro-life women governors from one to four. In SBA List-versus-EMILY’s List head-to-head races, SBA List candidates won 83 percent of the t ime.
For further information, please contact Kerry Brown at (703) 470-1926 or [email protected].
City council unanimously votes to stop Carhart late-term abortion plans
November 24, 2010
Council Bluffs, Iowa, November 23, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Council Bluffs City Council in Iowa unanimously voted last night to shut down any plans late-term abortionist Leroy Carhart may have had to set up shop in the town.
Pro-life supporters packed the meeting last night to voice opposition to the announced plans of Carhart, who has said he wants to open up a late-term abortion mill there.
The abortionist has been forced to seek other locations for his late-term abortion business after Nebraska passed a fetal pain bill that banned abortions after 20 weeks, when the pre-born baby is believed to feel pain. Carhart is also interested in taking over an existing abortion facility in Indiana, where he has worked part-time for years, and Maryland.
Iowa Right to Life and other groups mobilized over 300 people to turn out to the meeting after rumors began to circulate that Carhart may have been interested in purchasing a city-owned lot for his proposed new Council Bluffs clinic.
The City Council, however, voted to sell the property only with the condition that it not be used for an abortion clinic.
While Carhart continues to raise money for the Council Bluffs facility, which he says is tentatively scheduled to open in January, Mayor Tom Hanafan told the crowd at last evening’s meeting that no one has approached the city for the needed permits for an abortion clinic.
During the meeting, Councilman Mike Shultz stated that the council had over the years tried to make the community a “positive place to work and live,” adding, “I think the council is unified on this. We’ll try to do what we can to prevent this type of activity,” according to the Associated Press.
“Carhart is desperate to relocate his late-term abortion business, because that is the only way he can make money,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “Carhart is a notoriously poor businessman who seems to be in constant financial distress. He doesn’t have the money to open in Council Bluffs right now, and this strong show of community opposition will make it even harder for him to move there, if he ever were to get the money.”
Last year, Carhart vowed to open a late-term abortion clinic within 25 miles of Wichita, Kansas, but failed to do so when Operation Rescue successfully blocked his efforts there.
Teen Defenders International Walk for Life
November 22, 2010
WASHINGTON (MetroCatholic) — Teen Defenders, a Pro-Life Unity project, is inviting teens from all over the world to walk for the unborn this January 24th in Virginia. The walk will end at the site of the annual March for Life in Washington D.C. at 11:30 am.
Event Details—
What: Teen Defenders International Walk for Life
When: January 24th, 2011
Where: Virginia - Washington D.C.
Jake Dagel, International Youth Director for Pro-Life Unity and Teen Defenders, stated: “Teens are the ones who will help end what was started by so many good leaders in the movement. For almost 38 years, strong and determined pro-life leaders and organizations have carried the torch to end abortion around the world. We are ready to accept that torch and bring an end to the intentional killing of children in the womb.”
Peter Shinn, President of Pro-Life Unity added, “I’m glad to see the determined spirit of defending the unborn rising out of the young population. For too long, pro-abortion people have claimed that the pro-life movement is made up of angry old men who have no feelings for women who are struggling with pregnancy. The youth of the world will help those people understand that a woman will suffer more by killing her child, and that abortion is not compassion.”
The exact time and location of the 1st Annual International Teen Defenders Walk for Life are to be announced, but teenagers should seek reservations for flights and hotels immediately, as the March for Life and other events of the week bring many thousands of good pro-life people to the Washington D.C. area.
Teens who cannot make it to Washington D.C. are encouraged to start their own Teen Defenders Walk for Life in their town or city. People who wish to do so can contact Teen Defenders at [email protected] or by calling 703-953-2134. All Teen Walks for Life and other walks/marches will be posted on the website. Go to TeenDefenders.com for more information.
No Charges for Unlicensed Abortionist as ND Prosecutors Ignore Laws
November 17, 2010
FARGO, N.D. (MetroCatholic) — State’s Attorney Birch Burdick has announced that he will not file criminal charges against an abortionist Lori Lynn Thorndike, who committed illegal abortions at the Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo, North Dakota, while her medical license was lapsed.
Brudick used abortion clinic rhetoric word for word by describing Thorndike’s licensing issues as “an administrative oversight” and noted that she had active medical licenses in South Dakota and Colorado at the time she was doing abortions on a lapsed license in North Dakota.
“North Dakota laws are very explicit. It is a Class B Felony to commit abortions in that state without a valid North Dakota medical license. Burdick has decided all on his own that the laws of North Dakota that were enacted for the protection of vulnerable women should not be enforced,” said Operation Rescue spokesperson Cheryl Sullenger.
Sullenger also received a letter today from the North Dakota Board of Medical Examiners Executive Secretary Duane Houdek, dated November 9, 2010, informing her, “At this point we are soliciting additional information regarding the complaint against Dr. Thorndike. All of this information will be forwarded to the members of one of the Board’s investigative panels who will decide whether formal proceedings should be brought against this physician.”
The letter went on to say that the matter would be discussed at a meeting of the Board scheduled for November 18, 2010. However, the day after the letter was written, the Board unilaterally decided to reinstate Thorndike’s license without a hearing of the Board, and has since equivocated on whether or not the matter will be brought up at the referenced meetings.
“There is obviously some kind of monkey business at work in North Dakota. In this case, no one is saying that Thorndike did not break the law. They simply refuse to enforce the laws that were broken,” said Sullenger. “When authorities give abortion abuses a wink and a nod, it only serves to reinforce the dangerous notion that is prevalent among abortionists that they are above the law,” said Sullenger. “Allowing abortionists to break the law without consequences creates an atmosphere that opens the door to further abuses that eventually cost women their health and sometimes their lives. Burdick and Houdek will have a lot to answer for when - not if - their lack of good judgment comes back to haunt the women of North Dakota.”
About Operation Rescue®
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation and has become a strong voice for the pro-life movement in America. Operation Rescue is now headquartered in a former abortion clinic that it bought and closed in 2006. From there, Operation Rescue launches its innovative new strategies across the nation, exposing and closing abortion clinics through peaceful, legal means. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to stop abortion and ultimately restore legal personhood to the pre-born in obedience to biblical mandates.
Bishops’ Spokeswoman Urges Institute of Medicine Committee to Focus on Life-Saving Preventive Health Services for Women, Exclude Contraception, Sterilization
November 16, 2010
Contraception is not authentic preventive health care because pregnancy is not a disease
Birth control poses serious health risks to women and adolescents
Mandating coverage would pose unprecedented threat to conscience rights
WASHINGTON (MetroCatholic) — Deirdre McQuade, spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, addressed the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Preventive Services for Women as they convened for the first time on November 16th. She urged them not to recommend contraception or sterilization among mandated “preventive services” to be announced next August by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as the Department implements the new health care act.
“As you study the vital question of preventive services for women under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), I urge you to focus on services that will offer authentic care and save lives,” she said. McQuade serves as assistant director for policy and communications at the bishops’ Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities.
Echoing the letter sent by the Office of the General Counsel (www.usccb.org/ogc/preventive.pdf) to HHS on September 17, McQuade said, “The Conference has a particular concern that contraceptives and sterilization not be mandated as ‘preventive’ services. To prevent pregnancy is not to prevent a disease—indeed, contraception and sterilization pose their own unique and serious health risks to women and adolescents. In addition, contraceptives and sterilization are morally problematic for many stakeholders, including religiously-affiliated health care providers and insurers.”
According to McQuade, the preventive services recommended under the Interim Final Rules share a basic medical profile. “They pose little or no medical risk themselves, and they help prevent or ameliorate identifiable conditions that would pose known risks to life and health in the future,” McQuade said, but contraception “presents the opposite profile.”
She continued, “Use of prescription contraception actually increases a woman’s risk of developing some of the very conditions that the ‘preventive services’ listed in the Interim Final Rules are designed to prevent, such as stroke, heart attacks and blood clots (especially for women who also smoke), so a policy mandating contraceptive services as ‘preventive services’ would be in contradiction with itself.”
McQuade added, “At various times women may have serious personal reasons for wanting to avoid or delay a pregnancy. However, these personal reasons do not transform a temporary or permanent condition of infertility into a prerequisite for health, or turn a healthy pregnancy into a disease condition.”
She also highlighted the potential impact on conscience rights. “Currently, such employers and insurance issuers [who object to contraception and sterilization] are completely free under federal law to purchase and offer health coverage that excludes these procedures. They would lose this freedom of conscience under a mandate for all plans to offer contraception and sterilization coverage,” McQuade said. “Thus the Administration’s promise that Americans who like their current coverage will be able to keep it under health care reform would become a hollow pledge.”
She concluded, “The Administration rightly does not include contraceptives or sterilization as preventive services in its Interim Final Rules, and future rulemaking or other guidance should also refrain from doing so. We hope these considerations will be taken into account as the Institute of Medicine prepares to make its recommendations on a final list of required preventive services for women.”
Voluntary extinction: America’s one child policy?
November 16, 2010
Commentary by Chuck Colson
November 15, 2010 (BreakPoint.org) - According to Britain’s Guardian newspaper, the Chinese government “has been considering options for relaxing” its infamous “one-child” policy.
While economic realities are forcing the Chinese to rethink that disastrous and cruel policy, many Americans seem to be voluntarily adopting a one-child policy of their own.
At least that’s the conclusion of a recent article in the Weekly Standard.
On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be a problem: America’s average fertility rate is 2.06 births per woman.
While that is slightly below what demographers call the “replacement level,” it is higher than China’s and much higher than Japan’s or that of most European countries.
But the difference is almost entirely the result of high levels of Hispanic immigration. In 1980, before the wave of Hispanic immigration, America’s fertility rate was the same as China’s today and trending downward.
This reprieve probably won’t continue: As Hispanic immigrants and their children become more assimilated into American culture, they, also, will have fewer children.
Absent a shift in cultural attitudes, the United States will eventually face the demographic realities that Japan, Western Europe, and sooner rather than later, China are facing. These societies will have fewer workers to support an increasing number of elderly.
In China’s case, the reality will be all the worse because it “may be the first major country to grow old before it grows rich.”
The reasons for this possible downward trend in America are cultural: As author Jonathan Last notes, the decline in fertility coincided with the arrival of contraception and the sexual revolution that made it possible. Add abortion-on-demand, and we would be shocked if birth rates weren’t in danger.
Then there’s increasing emphasis on work and career. Americans are waiting longer to get married, and the inevitable by-product of postponing marriage is decreased fertility.
Now, to a generation raised on population-control dogma, this sounds like good news. But, as many countries are realizing, the “birth dearth” is the stuff of economic stagnation and a loss of cultural vitality.
Of course, there are exceptions to this trend: There is a strong relationship between fertility and religious commitment. Whereas two-thirds of Americans who don’t attend church think two or fewer children is the ideal family size, 41 percent of those who do attend church weekly think that three or more is ideal.
As Last writes, “When you meet couples with more than three children today, chances are they’re making a cultural and theological statement.”
Well, I don’t think that they are so much making a statement as they are bearing witness to what they believe about God’s intentions for the family - what the Bible says. They’re simply living out a Christian worldview.
On the other hand, the population-control worldview is not only morally problematic, it is literally unfruitful and ultimately self-negating - no matter how it’s adopted, voluntarily or otherwise.
From BreakPoint, November 12, 2010, Copyright 2010, Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with the permission of Prison Fellowship Ministries. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or distributed without the express written permission of Prison Fellowship Ministries.
Grammy Winner Rebecca St. James Urges World Support for Pope’s Call to Prayer for the Unborn
November 15, 2010
NASHVILLE (MetroCatholic) — In comments today from Los Angeles, Grammy Award winning Christian singer Rebecca St. James is speaking out strongly in support of Pope Benedict XVI’s unprecedented call this week for worldwide prayer against abortion.
An outspoken voice for pro life, the Australian born singer, now living in the U.S, has dedicated a large portion of her time this year to a series of special appearances and support events for Crisis Pregnancy Centers throughout America. St. James 2009 starring role in the film, Sarah’s Choice, impacted audiences with her moving portrayal of a young career woman pregnant outside of marriage and faced with the decision of the life of her baby. Since its release, the movie has been used by CPC Center’s nationally in their pro life messaging to young women facing the real life issues presented in Sarah’s Choice.
Of the Pope’s worldwide call to prayer for the unborn on November 27th, Ms. St. James believes it’s an urgent mandate for life that crosses all denominational lines.
“I applaud Pope Benedict for this call to pray for abortion to end,” she notes, adding: “I applaud him for standing for life with strength, as he continually does, and I respect him and stand with him in this battle against abortion. Abortion not only steals life from an innocent child, but it invariably wounds the mother.”
She continues: “I dearly hope and pray that Protestants and Catholics alike will draw together in unity, especially as it pertains to protecting life. I, as a Protestant, have been able be partner with many Catholics to promote the pro life message together. It’s a true joy for me to do this.”
With international sales of her music and books taking her influence to audiences worldwide, Rebecca St. James performed for Pope John Paul II during his pastoral visit to the United States in 1999.
She will be in New York this Thursday, November 18th for a return guesting on Fox News Network’s “Hannity.”
Report: ‘Real Reform’ at Chicago CCHD Being Dismantled
November 15, 2010
By Patrick B. Craine
CHICAGO, Illinois, November 11, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Facing pressure from the old guard at the local and national level, the Chicago branch of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has begun dismantling the “real reform” that earned it so much praise from pro-life groups in the summer.
“Despite the attempts made by some well-intentioned individuals in the Archdiocese of Chicago’s CCHD, the powers-that-be at the USCCB and some local bishops and priests have plans to return to the national CCHD’s guidelines with this program,” said former Chicago CCHD director Rey Flores. Flores, among others, had initiated the reforms with the initial blessing of Cardinal Francis George.
But a cadre of liberal priests, led by Fr. Larry Dowling, has been calling on the cardinal to reverse the reforms, which included approving grants for the life-saving work of crisis pregnancy centers. Dowling claimed in a recent letter to Cardinal George, for example, that “It has been an insult to many (grantees) to be asked, “Does your organization support abortion or same-sex ‘marriage’?”
The same group of priests, who sought the removal of Flores last March, were recently also targeting Flores’ former boss, Office of Peace and Justice Director Nicholas Lund-Molfese.
“People really need to keep the CCHD program in their prayers, especially the Chicago CCHD staff, priests and bishops,” said Flores, who lost his position in the fall.
Under Flores’ leadership, Chicago’s CCHD had committed to defunding any group opposing Catholic teaching, particularly on life and family issues, as well as funding groups such as crisis pregnancy centres and the Pro-Life Action League, contrary to previous CCHD practice.
The former director told LSN that the rationale for funding such groups, and for ensuring that grantees are in line with Church teaching on life and family issues, is that “the lack of respect for the sanctity of life and the destruction of the necessary societal institutions of traditional marriage and family are the major reason for the moral, physical and spiritual poverty we suffer in the western world.”
Cardinal George – under the recommendations of Auxiliary Bishop Francis Kane, who serves on the U.S. Bishops’ CCHD subcommittee – has agreed to recommit the diocese to CCHD’s long-time policy of not funding groups that offer direct service to the poor, and will also require again that grantees’ boards be mostly composed of low-income people.
The Chicago reforms, which were held up by pro-life groups as a model for the nationwide organization, were especially significant because Chicago is where CCHD began and their collection still brings in the most funds of any diocese every year.
“For a brief moment in Chicago, we had everyone on the same page,” said Flores. “It was awesome to teach people on the social justice side of things about the value of respect life causes as being social justice issues and teaching the respect life warriors about the God-given human dignity of immigrants and workers. I pray that these efforts were not in vain.”
“It’s sad that the unborn and the innocent poor must suffer because of our misunderstanding of what true social Catholic justice is as Jesus Christ taught us,” he added, saying, “We must never sacrifice our Catholic faith and values for secular humanitarian causes.”
LifeSiteNews was refused an interview with Lund-Molfese to ask about the status of future funding to pro-life groups. According to Susan Burritt, the diocese’s media relations director, “There has been no change in the policy of the Archdiocese of Chicago regarding groups eligible for CCHD funding. Reports to the contrary are mistaken.”
“While we certainly pray that the new leaders of Chicago’s CCHD have the courage to continue Rey Flores’ excellent reform effort, it sounds like they’re returning to business as usual,” said Michael Hichborn, American Life League’s lead researcher on the CCHD. “Given the push to remove Flores from his post by a member of the CCHD’s subcommittee, one has to wonder just how committed to reform the National CCHD office really is.”
“We really commend Rey for his courage and fidelity to the Church for working so hard to make these reforms as the CCHD director,” said Hichborn. “But the strength and courage it took to go public with what really happened is a sign of his deep faith in Christ.”
Contact Information:
Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago
PO Box 1979
Chicago, IL. 60690-1979
Phone: 312-534-8230
Fax: 312-534-6379
E-Mail: [email protected]