Daly Focus Blog
I’m on the road today, but wanted to take a minute and share an important piece in National Review by Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse and pro-life activist Jill Stanek.
“Abortion Survivors Deserve Our Care” went live on National Review’s website yesterday and it’s already a top trending news story on Facebook – and I’m glad it is.
The piece highlights the horrors faced by babies who survive abortion attempts. In short: they are left to die alone, without medical care.
It started out as a day filled with eager anticipation for a 3-year-old boy going to the zoo with his mom and siblings. We can imagine the happiness of the Saturday morning scene.
But the carefree adventure quickly took an ominous turn once the family made it into the park.
By now, you’ve heard what happened. Trying to get a better look at the endangered gorillas, the youngster somehow fell 15 feet into the enclosure’s water-filled moat.
For 40 years the United Methodist Church has supported the Supreme Court’s infamous Roe v. Wade decision – that is, until last week.
Delegates of the country’s third-largest religious body voted 445 to 310 to repeal the official resolution supporting the case establishing a constitutional “right” to abortion during its General Conference. They also voted to sever its affiliation with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), an interfaith organization co-founded by the United Methodist Church.
We’re pleased today to learn that the Little Sisters of the Poor will not be forced by the government to compromise their religious beliefs after all.
Allow me to explain.
Rather than issue a final verdict, the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the lower courts to allow the over two dozen religious organizations and individuals involved in the Zubik v. Burwell case (in which Little Sisters is one of the religious parties) to work with the federal government to reach a compromise that takes care of the concerns of all parties.
When I was 9 years old, I was put in foster care. In many ways, it was only another obstacle in a life full of hard knocks.
My parents divorced when I was 5, after Dad threatened to kill Mom with a hammer. My mom soon remarried a harsh man named Hank who loved Mom, but didn’t like us kids. Hank abandoned us after Mom died of cancer. His departure was what landed me in foster care.
Child abuse is a very real problem here in the United States.
When we talk about abuse, most states recognize (and report) four major types: neglect, physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, and sexual abuse. Sometimes a child suffers from only one type of abuse, other times a child suffers from a combination of maltreatment.
In 2014 alone, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services reported an estimated 702,000 children were victims of maltreatment. Of these, roughly 75 percent of victims suffered neglect; 17 percent were physically abused; and 8.3 percent were sexually abused.
Actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley, best known for her 90s hit movie “Father of the Bride,” has written a book about her mother’s dementia.
Kimberly first noticed something was awry with her mom, Linda Williams, on her wedding day in 2003. (She married country singer Brad Paisley.) Her mom was acting irrationally that day, and uncharacteristically struggled through a reading during the ceremony.
Two years later, at age 61, Williams was diagnosed with a rare and incurable form of early-onset dementia called primary progressive aphasia.
When Pat decided to have an abortion, she was convinced it was the right thing to do.
Her first marriage had ended a few years before as a teenager when her husband, also a teen, abandoned her, leaving her with a newborn son. She tried to pick up the broken pieces of her life by enrolling in college despite the responsibilities she carried as a single mom. As a student, she wrote articles for the National Organization for Women and wholeheartedly supported abortion as a woman’s right to choose.
When I spoke at the March for Life event in Washington, D.C., in January, I thanked the Catholic Church for its faithful leadership on the abortion issue. It was the Catholic community that mobilized immediately after the Roe v. Wade ruling, in part because it had been grappling with the issue of abortion long before the Supreme Court rendered its horrific ruling in 1973.
That heritage and sincere commitment to defending life was evident in Father Lawrence W.
Were you in one of the 12 states that held primaries or caucuses last night? If so, I’d love to hear your impressions. There is much that I could say about this campaign season, but for now, I think we can all agree that we need to be in deep prayer for our country.
For example, just today the Supreme Court will be hearing the most significant abortion case in nearly 25 years. The new case involves a 2013 Texas law that imposes modest requirements on abortion providers designed to protect the health and welfare of women.
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.
