Insights & Resources
IN LIGHT OF THE HISTORIC 2020 elections, the most recent issues of Conscience have generated a great deal of reflection for me. Taken together, the...
As an estimated 98% of abortions in Poland are directly attributable to severe defects and fetal abnormalities, the practical consequences of the c...
AFTER DECADES OF STRUGGLE on the part of pro-choice activists, in a historic move that made news across the globe, Argentina in late January 2021 become only the second democratically elected government in South America to legalize abortion.
AS REPORTED IN A FEBRUARY 2021 New York Times piece by Julie Turkewitz, unplanned pregnancies in Venezuela have exploded as the country sinks furth...
THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT of Human Rights heard a case in March 2021 that could force El Salvador to acknowledge that its draconian abortion policie...
As only the second Catholic president in American history, Biden is the first to oppose hierarchical church dogma on the teaching on abortion, and ...
“The Long Southern Strategy: How Chasing White Voters in the South Changed American Politics” Angie Maxwell and Todd Shields (Oxford University Pre...
NEAR THE END OF HIS SECOND presidential term, Ronald Reagan attempted to make good on a campaign promise to restrict abortion rights. He turned to ...
What does it mean to trust women and value individual conscience? World-renowned experts agree: Catholics - and many people of faith - all over the...
As the Holy See, representatives of the Catholic church use direct access to the UN’s General Assembly and influential international conferences to...
In 2018, members of the Coalition for Liberty & Justice produced "When Religious Freedom Hurts." The video tells the story of three women--Debbie,...
The Value of Life: Scientific and Moral Reflections on Abortion What is life? When and how does it begin? How do we know it's present? Can we end ...
The Secret History of Sex, Choice and Catholics
BRACING FOR THE POSSIBILITY that the Supreme Court will further weaken, or even overturn, Roe v. Wade—potentially allowing states to ban abortion entirely—legal scholars and activists are preparing for an assault on the Constitution. Similarly, people of faith see an assault on our values, teachings and faith commitments. Julianna Gonnen’s “Equal Dignity – A Way Forward If Roe Falls?” argues that constitutional protection for reproductive freedom may be found not only in Roe’s imperiled privacy sphere, but also in a holistic understanding of equal protection, indicating both a compelling legal strategy and a space that allows shared values of law and faith to intersect.
US CATHOLIC VOTERS PLAYED A pivotal role in the 2020 election, helping lift Democrat Joe Biden to a narrow victory over President Donald Trump. In so doing, they sent a powerful message about support for abortion rights and access to reproductive healthcare among US Catholics today, as well as the limited role they believe US bishops should play in our electoral system.
I was originally asked to give my personal analysis on how people of color voted and participated in this past election. I spent a few days considering one of those words most: …“how.”
WITH A VOTE OF 4-1 AGAINST, Mexico’s Supreme Court blocked the decriminalization of abortion in the state of Veracruz in late July. The Court ruled against removing sections of the legal code pertaining to abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
ON OCTOBER 22, A RULING from the Polish Constitutional Tribunal tightened preexisting abortion laws to exclude the use of the procedure in cases of severe birth defects and fetal abnormalities. With an estimated 98 percent of abortions within the country attributable to fetal abnormalities and defects, the Tribunal’s ruling drastically impacts abortion access throughout Poland.
While 1960 brought us our first Catholic president, 2020 brought us our first prochoice Catholic president—a fact about which Catholics could not be prouder. Every election with a Catholic candidate (especially an election for president) features varying degrees of braying and pearl-clutching by self-appointed arbiters on the question of choice.
