Washington D.C., Jul 31, 2014 / 04:18 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholic teaching on sexuality and fertility is being hailed as a moral alternative to hormonal birth control that embraces nature and respects the fullness of women’s lives and dignity. Author Mary Rice Hasson, a fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Ethics and Public Policy Center, noted that many women, both religious and secular, are seeing the “terrible side effects” of artificial contraception and searching for “a better way” to monitor fertility. “There’s increasingly an openness to what’s good for women,” she told CNA July 24, explaining that there has been a disconnect in society when “we buy organic milk to avoid hormones, but yet we’re putting these same hormones into our bodies” through hormonal contraception. As hormonal birth control is called into question, Hasson said, the Church’s teaching on the dignity of women, fertility and sexuality offers an alternative. “From the Church’s position, women are equal in dignity to men, but our maternity, our motherhood is a part of who we are,” she explained, adding that whether or not a woman has children, “there’s something about that capacity that is to be valued.” Rather than artificial contraception, Hasson said, Natural Family Planning respects a woman’s capacity for motherhood while giving couples tools to expand or limit family size. The mindset behind this approach recognizes that “this woman is a whole person who needs to take into account what is God’s will, what are the goals for our family, but you work with that: you don’t have to segment off this part of you.” Natural Family Planning is the name given to a range of methods that can be used by couples to identify fertile periods, and can be used as a tool to either achieve or postpone pregnancy. The various scientific methods measure a range of fertility signs, including a woman’s basal body temperature, changes in cervical fluid, and the detection of reproductive hormones with a monitor. Unlike artificial contraception, Natural Family Planning does not disrupt any natural fertility cycles, nor does it require any hormonal or physical barriers between couples. The U.S. bishops have released resources offering information about Natural Family Planning – known as NFP – which is considered morally acceptable under Catholic Church teaching. “NFP is unique because it enables its users to work with the body rather than against it,” they explained. “Fertility is viewed as a gift and reality to live, not a problem to be solved.” When used according to their guidelines, these methods “achieve effectiveness rates of 97-99 percent,” the bishops said. In addition, these methods can be used by women “during breastfeeding, just before menopause, and in other special circumstances,” as well to identify and treat special circumstances such as irregular menstrual cycles, reproductive illnesses, and risk of miscarriage. A brochure posted online by the U.S. bishops’ conference underscored that the Catholic view of fertility values “responsible parenthood,” while respecting fertility. Natural Family Planning methods encourage spouses to “weigh their responsibilities to God, each other, the children they already have, and the world in which they live,” and prayerfully discern family size while untimely trusting God’s plan for their lives. While the methods included under Natural Family Planning can be used to delay as well as achieve pregnancy, they are “different from and better than contraception,” the bishops’ resource explained. Benefits of NFP include low cost, no harmful health or environmental side effects, and cooperation with fertility rather than suppressing it. In addition, the brochure highlighted that NFP is the responsibility of both spouses rather than just the wife or the husband, and how the mindset behind the practice works to “honor and safeguard the unitive and procreative meanings of married love.” California writer Chrissy Wing recently wrote on Ethika Politika about what she sees as a disconnect between attitudes towards health and diet- particularly an emphasis on all natural and hormone-free products- and the promotion of artificial contraceptives. She told CNA that while many people “scrutinize other products for possible toxins,” they often “seem to dismiss the much more blatant health risks” that accompany some artificial contraceptives, such as the formation of blood clots or contribution to early embryo death. Wing suggested that Natural Family Planning “honors women's and men's ability to procreate and accepts the clear and natural link between sex and children,” while still helping families to plan their family expansion or limitation. Hasson further critiqued society’s promotion of contraception, saying that the rejection of a couple’s procreative capacity says to women that “your fertility is a risk” and views that part of womanhood as “a problem.” “It says that ‘something about the way you’re made is not really a good thing,’” she said. In contrast, fertility monitoring and abstinence when necessary, to limit or expand family size, treats fertility as “a factor in who you are, and it’s a factor in your relationship.” These Natural Family Planning methods, Hasson said, encourage couples to work with – rather than against – their natural cycles, recognizing that fertility shouldn’t be “controlled, circumscribed, limited or on the back shelf.”     While “we have a responsibility towards responsible parenthood,” she acknowledged, the Church’s acceptance of the entirety of woman, including her capability for motherhood, shows that “you don’t have to alienate this part of you – your motherhood – in order to do other things.” Read more

Washington D.C., Jul 31, 2014 / 02:06 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Abortion advocates' recent shift away from the term “pro-choice” could be due to improving medicine and technology showing the harsh reality and effects of the procedure. “Health is a popular buzz word for abortionists, but is much weakened as medical science shows women's health is harmed by abortion,” Dr. Charmaine Yoest, president and CEO of Americans United for Life, told CNA. A July 28 article in the New York Times detailed how abortion rights activists are beginning to change the pro-choice label to more vague terminology, saying that they do not want to limit the abortion spectrum to the term. The issue has been transferred to the general labels of “women's health” and “economic security,” but advocates have still not found a suitable alternative name. Yoest believes that abortion rights supporters are seeking another term as they are working to normalize abortion by creating the misconception that – since it is publicly funded – abortion is healthcare. “The abortion industry is moving from choice to coercion, changing their strategy from mainstream abortion in culture to integrating it into healthcare,” she said. Planned Parenthood released a video in January 2013 promoting the change in terms, called “Not In Her Shoes.” This production discussed how abortion advocates do not want to be limited to the pro-choice label because they hold that the issue encompasses more than just a choice. However, pro-life activists see this shift as a victory, noting that after a forty-year battle, abortion advocates are needing to change their strategy. Advances in medical science and technology have also been viewed as dismantling abortion advocates' cause.   “Thanks to the miracle of the ultrasound, generations are able to see what the abortionist's 'choice' is – the death of an unborn child. And thanks to a growing body of medical research, we know that 'choice' hurts women as well,” Yoest said. According to the Times, various polls have shown that many women – when asked if they are pro-life or pro-choice – will answer pro-life, even if they supported the 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling that legalized abortion in the U.S. “As exposure to the horror of abortion grows, more and more people identify as pro-life based on their concern for both mother and child,” Yoest noted. “Today, the abortion industry has moved from 'choice' to coercion, attempting to use the force of government to force compliance with an abortion agenda, or face dire consequences.”   Yoest added that Americans are increasingly aware of this phenomenon, and that it is making them rethink what the term “pro-choice” really means. “Pregnancy is not a disease 'cured' by the death of a child,” she reflected. “Real health care respects life.” Read more

Washington D.C., Jul 30, 2014 / 05:18 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Gathering outside the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, D.C. to mark the 100th day since the kidnapping of nearly 300 girls in Nigeria, protestors urged more effective action to return them home. “We're here to talk about over 200 girls who are still in captivity, who have been violated, who some are pregnant, who have been put into sex trafficking,” said Faith McDonnell, Religious Liberty Program Director of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. “But that's not the end with Boko Haram,” warned McDonnell, who helped organize the July 24 rally. “That's just the beginning.” The event commemorated the 100 day anniversary since 276 schoolgirls, most between the ages of 16 and 18, were kidnapped from a boarding school in Chibok, Nigeria, in the northeastern part of the country. The girls were taken and held captive by Boko Haram, a militant terrorist organization launched in 2009 with the aim of enacting a narrow view of Sharia law in the country. Previously, the organization has targeted government officials, security forces, Christian minorities, and moderate Muslims in the predominantly Muslim Northern region of Nigeria. Protestors at the Nigerian embassy wore shirts bearing the #bringbackourgirls Twitter hashtag. The hashtag was popularized on social media in the weeks after the attack, particularly through its promotion by First Lady Michelle Obama. “We've had hashtags, we've had voices, we've had marches and rallies, we need more of those,” commented Ann Buwalda, director of the Jubilee Campaign who also helped host the protest. “But on the other hand Boko Haram is still engaged in its violence and barbaric campaign to exterminate Christians from the northeast of Nigeria.” Human rights lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe also spoke at the event, weighing in that “Boko Haram is waging a relentless war against Nigeria’s Christians and the world is doing nothing to stop it.” “The abduction of these innocent schoolgirls is a tragedy that has upset millions across the globe, and yet our governments are incapable of rescuing them.” McDonnell warned that the “intentions of Boko Haram to forcibly Islamize Nigeria through horrific violence are a very serious threat both to U.S. security and to the citizens of Nigeria,” and called for greater action from the United States government. “The State Department continues to downplay Boko Haram’s Islamist nature, preferring to see the terrorist murderers as victims of poverty and marginalization, even though they have been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization,” she said in a statement. “Moral equivalency is not the way to handle Boko Haram.” “Although this rally is about the Chibok girls, it is also to call attention to all of the Nigerians who have been killed, left widowed or orphaned, and/or displaced from their homes and communities by these jihadists,” she emphasized. Read more

Washington D.C., Jul 30, 2014 / 01:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The head of the U.S. bishops’ migration committee challenged U.S. President Obama and the leaders of Central America to respond to violence in that region in order to protect children who... Read more

Washington D.C., Jul 30, 2014 / 08:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A “national retreat” from marriage could worsen social divides between the married and unmarried and plummeting rates are partly due to religious groups failing to reach the working class, says one scholar. “We have seen that Catholic and mainline Protestant churches have not been successful in reaching poor working class Americans and bringing them into the pews on a regular basis, particularly men,” W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project told CNA July 28. He said that religious communities, which have provided a significant source of community support for marriage, bear some responsibility for trends like the decline in marriage rates. Wilcox suggested churches need to “be more intentional in figuring out what kind of messages and ministries will be more effective in drawing working class and poor Americans back into the fold.” A study from the Urban Institute suggests that among women in the “Millennial” generation, those born from 1980 to 1990, less than 70 percent will marry by age 40 at the present marriage rate. If the downward trend in marriage rates continues, even fewer will marry. Even if marriage rates rebound, fewer women will be married than those of previous generations. By comparison, 91 percent of women were married by age 40 in 1990, 87 percent in 2000 and 82 percent in 2010. The Urban Institute also found a divergence in marriage rates by race and education. The study’s authors project “steeper decreases” in marriage rates for Hispanic women and non-Hispanic black women, compared to non-Hispanic white women. Fewer than half of non-Hispanic black women and men will have married by age 40, in one projected scenario. Those without a four-year degree will face “much steeper decreases in marriage.” Millennials who have graduated college are “either slightly less or no less likely to marry than the generation preceding them.” Wilcox voiced concern that the decline in marriage is concentrated among “less educated and more economically insecure Americans.” “We’re going to see a growing social divide in America in part because of the retreat from marriage.” He said that young adults are “more likely to flourish emotionally and socially when they are married.” “We know that kids are more likely to thrive educationally, economically and socially when they are raised in a married household,” he said. “And we know that the nation’s retreat from marriage is a significant contributor to family inequality in America.” Wilcox said that both conservative and liberal explanations for the decline in marriage have merit. “Conservatives will argue that this trend is rooted either in poor public policies that have a tendency to undercut marriage or in cultural shifts, for instance, expressive individualism or feminism,” he said. “I think progressives tend to point the finger at economic changes that have made working class and poor men's job prospects bleaker.” Marriage is similarly unpopular across the Atlantic. The numbers of weddings are at historic lows in France and have significantly decreased in Italy, Ireland, Poland and Portugal, as well as in other European countries, the U.K. newspaper The Guardian reports. Antonio Golini, chairman of Italy’s National Institute for Statistics, told the Guardian that the fall is “very significant” and “beyond all expectation.” He said the decline is due to cultural causes like the fact that many young people live together without marrying. He said there are also economic factors, such as wariness of a costly wedding celebration during a time of economic crisis. About half of Europeans aged 18-30 still live with their parents, in part due to a lack of employment, high debt, and high property costs. Many no longer see the need for marriage, favoring a life without commitment. In France many choose civil partnerships as an alternative to civil marriage. Teresa Castro-Martin, a research professor in population studies at the Spanish National Research Council, said a lack of stable jobs and credit harms family formation. The average age for a newlywed man is now 37.2 years, an increase of 10 years since the 1980s. “Marriage has traditionally been a rite of passage to adulthood but it has lost its centrality,” she told the Guardian. Read more

Washington D.C., Jul 30, 2014 / 04:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops have urged the U.S. government to assist Iraqi Christian victims of persecution, while France has offered asylum to Iraqi Christians who have fled Mosul. “The Islamic ... Read more