Does the Catholic Faith Permit the Use of Artificial Wombs?

Last updated on: June 2, 2017 at 1:28 pm By Jennifer Fitz

If Brave New World is coming soon to a hospital near you, what does that mean for your premature baby? Over the Register, today I’m making predictions about what the next edition of The Catechism will have to say about “artificial womb” technology: Here at the Register, Angelo Stagnaro has recently expressed his grave concerns about the invention of “artificial wombs.” The technology in question is a medical device that simulates an unborn baby’s environment in utero. It is designed as an improvement over... Read more

Catholic? Like to Write? There’s a Conference for That

Last updated on: May 31, 2017 at 5:49 pm By Jennifer Fitz

I have always enjoyed writing. In school and then at work as an accountant, I was the person who ended up with the writing jobs. If you leave me with no computer for more than about a day, I will somehow get hold of pen and paper and start writing stuff. But I didn’t necessarily think of myself as a writer. I didn’t know how to make the transition from “person who likes to write” to “writer.” Obviously I’ve made... Read more

McDonald’s to Close Down After Accusations of Cultural Appropriation

Last updated on: May 25, 2017 at 8:17 pm By Jennifer Fitz

Just weeks after launching its Great Tastes of America burger series in the United Kingdom, McDonald’s Corporation reports it is shutting down amid accusations that they ripped off their recipes. The accusations arose after advertisements touted a “sweet and tangy South Carolina sauce” that some viewers believed may bear a vague resemblance to mustard-based barbecue sauces used in some regions of the state. Fox News reports: Though the eatery had been open for several months decades, the owners of Kooks McDonald’s were... Read more

Why Does the Ascension Matter?

Last updated on: May 26, 2017 at 4:34 pm By Jennifer Fitz

Jesus isn’t just a warm feeling before we slip into eternal nothing. Heaven is no abstraction. Read more

Bleg: Name this Pain

Last updated on: May 6, 2017 at 3:43 pm By Jennifer Fitz

Two interesting things happened this week: (1) I finally met the physician I’d been referred to last October, and now I know why there was a seven-month wait on appointments. The guy is both competent and humane (like Tod Worner, but a different guy). I like that in a doctor. (2) I’d been planning to tell him everything’s fine now, but actually it’s not fine. I’ve had a wind-up of fatigue and the same kind of pain I was having last... Read more

When Warfare Doesn’t Work

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 12:42 am By Jennifer Fitz

The excellent guest post at Simcha Fisher’s blog about the experience of being a Catholic woman in an abusive marriage provoked a heated discussion among several of my online friends. What is the good solution to this problem? Sometimes there is not a good solution. I’m as prone to, “If we just did ___” thinking as anyone else. Because I’m from Gunlandia, when I read about a domestic abuse victim shot at a school, my instant reaction is: What an injustice... Read more

Chastity for Thee But Not for Me?

Last updated on: April 3, 2017 at 5:58 pm By Jennifer Fitz

Here is what I find most amusing about the reactions to the Pence Anti-Adultery plan: It turns out the people who ordinarily believe that it is both impossible and undesirable to refrain from intercourse out of wedlock are, in the case of the sitting Vice President, certain he must be an exception to that rule. Ordinary mortals have no such capacity for self control! They’d be harmed by trying, and anyway it wouldn’t work! But either they know Mr. Pence... Read more

Conservative Healthcare Reform

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 10:47 am By Jennifer Fitz

In reaction to the proposed Republican repeal of the Affordable Care Act, some have asserted that the only way to provide health care coverage to the poor is via an insurance mandate and a single-payer system. I don’t believe that’s true. There are no doubt other good solutions, but I’ll toss out an idea for a system that conservatives could love. #1 Cut the cord between employment and insurance. Employer-provided health insurance stifles the labor market. It leads to underemployment... Read more

Child Welfare and State Supervision of Homeschools

Last updated on: March 10, 2017 at 10:27 am By Jennifer Fitz

In discussion online recently, the topic of child welfare came up. Question of the day was, “How do we provide adequate state supervision in order to ensure parents aren’t using homeschooling to cover up abuse or neglect?” My answer: State supervision doesn’t work. It does not work in foster care. Here we are speaking of the most extensively state-supervised family population in the nation: Sally Schofield, the foster mother of Logan Marr, was found guilty June 25 of wrapping the... Read more

Why Conservatives Should Support Wetlands Protection Laws

Last updated on: February 28, 2017 at 1:33 pm By Jennifer Fitz

This article from The State newspaper came to my attention this morning. It concerns a proposed law that would, its opponents say, make it easier for developers to build on wetlands and other protected areas. I haven’t researched the law, so I’m not writing on the particulars of it. Like many conservatives, I’m generally in favor of less bureaucracy rather than more. Like many conservative conservationists, I don’t automatically fall in with every single “green” idea heaped on the environmentalist... Read more