In response to a court decision that annulled the pro-life law of the state of Georgia (United States), which protects unborn babies from six weeks, the Bishop of Savannah, Bishop Stephen Parkes, recalled the damage caused by abortion and urged women who consider resorting to this practice to “go to any Catholic church” for help.
“I am very disappointed by the ruling. We, as a society, need to remember the sacredness of human life and therefore our responsibility to protect it. We need to hear the cries of the unborn,” Bishop Parkes told CNA, the English agency of EWTN News.
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In his remarks given Tuesday, the bishop noted that the ruling “opens up the potential loss of innocent human life and psychological and sometimes physical harm that abortion causes to people.”
He praised Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s decision to immediately appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court, saying it is “obviously a good thing.”
Kara Murray, a representative from Carr’s office, told CNA on Wednesday that the attorney general had requested an emergency block of the ruling to allow the pro-life law to continue to apply while the case moves through court.
Regardless of the legal outcome, Bishop Parkes indicated that “Catholics must continue doing what we have been doing even before the ruling, which is working to build a culture of life.”
“Laws that protect the unborn are important, but as we saw yesterday, laws are not necessarily permanent,” he said. He recalled that “a culture of life is cultivated in the home. It is grown in the public square. It is cultivated when we help pregnant women, when we assist those in need, when we recognize Jesus Christ in our neighbors and offer hope and comfort.”
In that sense, he expressed that to that woman “who feels that an abortion is the only option,” “I urge you to talk to your pastor or go to any Catholic church. I promise you that you are not alone and that there are other options.”
Donald Trump vows to veto national pro-life law
During Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump posted on social media that he would veto any federal abortion ban sent to his desk.
“Everyone knows that I would not support a federal ban on abortion, under any circumstances, and, in fact, I would veto it,” Trump said in a post written in capital letters.
Although his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has previously said that Trump would veto any national abortion restrictions sent his way, this is the first time the former president himself has said so. Trump has previously said he would not sign a national restriction on the practice.
Consistent with his campaign message on abortion, Trump said in his post that “it is up to the states to decide based on the will of their voters.”
The former president noted that he supports exceptions for abortion in cases of rape, incest and when the mother’s life is in danger.
He added that Democrats like Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, support a “radical late-term abortion position” up to the ninth month of pregnancy with “the possibility of execution of the baby after birth.”
During the debate, Vance confronted Walz about a Minnesota bill he signed as governor. It removed language that previously required doctors to “preserve the life and health of the baby born alive” after a failed abortion. The new rule only requires that they “care for the baby who is born alive,” but does not expressly require them to take measures to save the baby’s life.
In response, Walz stated that “that’s not what the law says.” He did not further explain his interpretation of the legislation, but accused Vance of “trying to distort the way a law is written to try to make a point.”
Ohio reports spike in abortions in 2023
The Ohio Department of Health released a new report showing an uptick in abortions in 2023.
According to the report, the total number of abortions in Ohio in 2023 was 22,000. This is an increase from the 2022 number (18,488), but is relatively on par with the state’s abortion numbers over the past 10 years.
In October 2023, Ohioans voted in favor of a constitutional amendment that repeals the state’s six-week pro-life law and enshrines the “right” to abortion. Currently, this practice is legal until 20 weeks of pregnancy, or later if necessary to protect the mother’s health.
63% of abortions were performed on women who were less than nine weeks pregnant, 23.4% on women between nine and twelve weeks pregnant, 10.4% on mothers between twelve and eighteen weeks pregnant , 1.4% were performed at week nineteen or twenty and 0.6% were late-term abortions at 21 weeks or more.
Likewise, 49.8% of the 22,000 abortions in Ohio were performed on black women, 42.2% on white women, and the remaining 8% on women of other races.
The most common abortion method was surgical curettage, which accounted for 45.7% of the state’s total. The study noted that surgical abortions have been systematically performed
The most common abortion method was surgical curettage, which represented 45.7% of the state’s total. The study noted that surgical abortions have been steadily declining since 2001, when this type accounted for 87% of all abortions. The abortion pill mifepristone accounted for approximately 45% of all abortions in 2023.
Overall, abortion numbers in the state have been declining from an all-time high of more than 45,000 in 1982.
California sued over censorship of pregnancy centers
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a law firm specializing in religious freedom cases, sued California Attorney General Rob Bonta this week over his efforts to block the state’s pregnancy centers from promoting abortion pill reversals.
ADF filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates and the SCV Pregnancy Center, which is based in Santa Clarita, California.
The law firm contends that Bonta’s censorship violates pregnancy centers’ First Amendment right to free speech and constitutes “point-of-view discrimination.”
The abortion pill reversal is a medication intended to stop a chemical abortion once the process has already started.
While the abortion pill mifepristone cuts off progesterone, essentially starving the fetus, reversal can restore the flow of progesterone in the uterus, reversing the effects of mifepristone.
In 2023, Bonta sued a group of pregnancy centers in California in order to prevent them from promoting what he called “false and misleading claims” about abortion pill reversals that he claimed endangered women.
Caleb Dalton, a senior attorney with ADF, said that “every woman should have the option to reconsider having an abortion, and the pro-life pregnancy centers we represented in this case truthfully inform women of that choice.”
“Attorney General Bonta and her allies at Planned Parenthood may not like it, but the truth is that many women regret their abortions, and some seek to stop the effects of chemical abortion drugs before taking the second medication in the process. of abortive medication,” Dalton said.
“Women deserve to know all their options every step of the way,” she said.
Translated by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.
Peter Pinedo
Peter Pinedo is a Washington DC correspondent for CNA. A graduate of Franciscan University, Peter previously worked for Texas Right to Life. He is a first lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve.