Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University announced last week that they have produced embryonic stem cells from cloned human embryos that are genetically identical to an 8-month-old child who needs treatment. Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston issued a statement that said human cloning was immoral, even if for therapeutic purposes. “Whether used for one purpose or [...]
The Missouri House of Representatives this week passed a bill protecting the conscience rights of healthcare providers. House Bill 457, sponsored by House Speaker Tim Jones (R-Eureka), provides healthcare workers the right to opt out of providing medical care in certain circumstances when to do so would violate their religious or moral convictions. The bill [...]
Defending religious liberty, protecting human life at all stages of development and ensuring economic justice for all are among the policy priorities adopted by the Missouri Catholic Conference (MCC) for work in 2013. Each year the MCC, the public policy agency for the Catholic bishops of Missouri, adopts priorities for special attention. To review the [...]
A group of Catholic physicians have responded to a recent Washington University study that claims widespread use of IUD’s and other contraceptives reduces the number of abortions. Michael Dixon, M.D., an OB/GYN and President of the St. Louis Guild of the Catholic Medical Association, stated he had a concern about the methods employed in the [...]
Earlier this year Missouri changed its protocol to use the drug propofol as its lethal injection drug. This week the only domestic supplier of the painkiller moved to prevent its use for executions. The company, Fresenius Kabi, has sent a letter to health care providers to inform them that the company would only sell the [...]
This November, voters in Massachusetts will decide whether to approve a measure that would legalize physician-assisted suicide. If approved, Massachusetts would become the third state, along with Oregon and Washington, to legalize the practice. Catholic teaching condemns physician-assisted suicide, calling it a “false mercy, and indeed a disturbing ‘perversion’ of mercy.” (Evangelium Vitae, No. 66) [...]
The Senate General Laws Committee heard testimony this week on HB 1541, sponsored by Rep. Tim Jones (R-Eureka), which would allow health care workers to opt out of participating in certain medical procedures that violate their conscience. The procedures include abortion, provision of abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, sterilization, assisted reproduction, human cloning, human embryonic research, human [...]
This week, the MCC joined other pro-life organizations in testifying in support of a bill to extend a tax credit for pregnancy resource centers in the state. Sponsored by Rep. Shane Schoeller (R-Willard), HB 1435 would remove 2012 as the sunset date for the $2 million tax credit. Without passage of the bill this year, [...]
By Bishop William Lori, chairman of the USCCB’s Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty Two short weeks ago, on Jan. 20, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that virtually all health plans provided by virtually all employers, including those affiliated with the Catholic Church, would now be forced to cover sterilization [...]
“Obama’s decision also reflects a certain view of liberalism. Classical liberalism was concerned with the freedom to hold and practice beliefs at odds with a public consensus. Modern liberalism uses the power of the state to impose liberal values on institutions it regards as backward. It is the difference between pluralism and anti-clericalism.” – Michael [...]