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Dublin, Ireland, Jan 4, 2022 / 12:00 pm (CNA). Ireland is preparing to follow France in offering free contraception to women under 25 years of age. The French government introduced the measure on Jan. 1, while the Irish authorities have promised to make contraception free for women aged between 17 and 25 years from August. French officials said that the change would apply to three million young women out of a population of 67.4 million people. Contraception is already free for minors (under 18s). Along with Sweden, France has the highest total fertility rate of the 27 member states of...

Scientists have created the ultimate GM crop: contraceptive corn. Waiving fields of maize may one day save the world from overpopulation. The pregnancy prevention plants are the handiwork of the San Diego biotechnology company Epicyte, where researchers have discovered a rare class of human antibodies that attack sperm. By isolating the genes that regulate the manufacture of these antibodies, and by putting them in corn plants, the company has created tiny horticultural factories that make contraceptives. 'We have a hothouse filled with corn plants that make anti-sperm antibodies,' said Epicyte president Mitch Hein.

Many women are realizing the synthetic hormones in most methods of contraception come with side effects and risks that are annoying and sometimes dangerous.If you’ve watched TV in the last week, you’ve likely seen a commercial for a novel form of birth control called Phexxi. You could hardly miss it, starting as it does with “Welcome to my vagina,” and starring actress Annie Murphy from the wildly popular Emmy award-winning Canadian sitcom “Schitt’s Creek.” As the bubbly Murphy struts about in a cavernous pink bedroom, she promises that Phexxi is something that women have always wanted: an effective, “in the...

Well, the democrats have, once again, with help from their media buddies, muddied the waters and reframed the issue of Obamacare trampling on religious freedom. That issue can now be seen quickly disappearing in everyone’s rear-view mirrors. Barbara Boxer, D-CA, said, “…they [religious organizations like Catholic hospitals] would no longer have to offer breast cancer screenings, cervical cancer screenings – all they have to do is say ‘Oh – I’m really sorry – we believe prayer is the answer…’”

Francis delivers “good news”On Friday, May 14, Jorge Bergoglio (stage name, Francis) addressed the opening of a meeting held in Rome called the General States of Birth. The online meeting was hosted by the Forum of Family Associations, a European “organization that unites 47 national associations and 20 regional Forums representing the reality of 4 million families.” I heard of the address from a “contributing writer at National Catholic Register” who hailed the presentation in a Facebook post, writing:IMPORTANT and UNDERREPORTED (ask why?)VATICAN—This speech by Pope Francis took place yesterday, addressing Italian leaders including PM Draghi. Note his support of...

Pope to speak on Italy’s ‘demographic winter,’ offer perspective on birth ratesVATICAN CITY, May 5, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will join politicians and journalists in addressing an Italian conference on the demographic crisis facing the nation, and the declining rate of births.The Vatican’s Monday announcement noted that the Pope is to provide the opening address at the conference, for the General States of Birth, due to be held just outside the Vatican on May 14 at the Auditorium della Conciliazione.The “Forum for Family Associations,” which organizes the conference, mentioned the “demographic winter” and the...

Vatican Health Gig Gets Contraception CashScandal erupts after exposé on investments in morning-after pillThe John Templeton Foundation, committed to promoting contraception in partnership with faith-based organizations, is pumping $750,000 into the Vatican's global health conference as its main financier. Pfizer, which pushes its injectable contraceptive Sayana Press in collaboration with global aid groups in the world's poorest countries, will also feature at the Vatican conference "Exploring the Mind, Body and Soul," beginning Thursday.The new alliance leaves the Vatican "binding hands and feet to the contraception industry," according to Italy's New Daily Compass.Vatican Invested in AbortifacientThe revelations come days after former...

Human beings bear the image and likeness of God. They are to be reverenced as sacred. Never are they to be used as a means to an end, not even to satisfy the deepest wishes of an infertile couple. Husbands and wives "make love," they do not "make babies." They give expression to their love for one another, and a child may or may not be engendered by that act of love. The marital act is not a manufacturing process, and children are not products. Like the Son of God himself, we are the kind of beings who are "begotten,...

[Catholic Caucus] “Humanae Vitae” Farewell. Here Comes the One Who Will Celebrate Its FuneralPublished as received. The author of the commentary, Thibaud Collin, is a professor of philosophy at the Collège Stanislas in Paris and has written important essays on “gender” theory, same-sex marriage, and political secularism. His latest book, from 2018, is entitled: “Le mariage chrétien at-il encore un avenir?”The starting point for his reflection is the appointment of Philippe Bordeyne, 61, moral theologian, rector of the Institut Catholique of Paris, as president of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, replacing PierAngelo Sequeri.The...

Many Catholics today already possess the intuition that there is a crucial link, so to speak, between Humanae Vitae and homosexuality. They can see how the severing of the unitive and procreative meanings of marital relations—and the reduction of marital relations to mere “sex”—paved the way for the ideologies of “orientation” and “gender” that generate so-called “sexual minorities” and “sexual identities.” Yet, the genie was let out of the bottle so long ago that most of us can no longer see just how glaringly obvious this connection really is. To get a glimpse, one needs to go back to the...

In constructing his evangelical family ethic, [Martin] Luther placed emphasis on Genesis 1:28: “Be fruitful and multiply.” This living-together of husband and wife—that they occupy the same home, that they take care of the household, that together they produce and bring up children—is a kind of faint image and a remnant, as it were, of that blessed living together [in Eden]. Luther knew that the contraceptive mentality was alive and well in his own time. He noted that this “inhuman attitude, which is worse than barbarous,” was found chiefly among the well born, “the nobility and princes.” Elsewhere, he linked...

Millions of women and girls globally have lost access to contraceptives and abortion services because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now the first widespread measure of the toll says India with its abrupt, months-long lockdown has been hit especially hard. Several months into the pandemic, many women now have second-trimester pregnancies because they could not find care in time. Across 37 countries, nearly 2 million fewer women received services between January and June than in the same period last year, Marie Stopes International says in a new report — 1.3 million in India alone. The organization expects 900,000 unintended pregnancies worldwide...

The Supreme Court has no excuse for allowing Nevada officials to use a public health crisis to fill poker tables while emptying pews. All four gospels record that the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus cast lots for his clothing. This was not the last time government agents were more interested in gambling than God. The latest instance is in Nevada, where the state government has granted casinos special privileges denied to churches. Casinos are allowed to operate at half-capacity, while churches are restricted to a hard cap of 50 people, no matter their capacity.When this double standard was challenged in...

[Catholic Caucus] Funding Anti-Fertility Bishops' agency caught peddling contraception — again WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - A new report by the Lepanto Institute reveals that Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the U.S. bishops' charitable arm, is "knowingly and willingly implementing a project in at least four African countries that was created specifically for — and aimed directly at — the spread of contraception." CRS claims it doesn't promote condom use because another program partner does it. But it's CRS' responsibility to ensure all facets of the program, including teaching the use of contraception, is carried out.  In part five of a series of reports on CRS...

A group of Maine abortion and birth control clinics is extending contraception prescriptions for women by three months for fear more time at home due to the coronavirus will result in a “baby boom.” “It’s just human nature, if you’re home, there are more opportunities to have sexual relations,” said Evelyn Kieltyka, vice president of program services at Maine Family Planning, reported the Union Leader. “I haven’t looked at the data, but my memory says that in times when people have had to stay home for long periods of time, there could be a little baby boom,” she added.

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 31 (C-Fam) Last November at a summit in Nairobi, the UN Population Fund announced that it would take $264 billion to reduce global maternal deaths and protect women and girls from violence. The agency just released a publication outlining the details of how the billions would be spent—and the fine print includes abortion. One of the enduring legacies of ICPD in 1994 is the compromise that was struck among nations: that the legal status of abortion was for national governments to determine, and that where legal, it should be “safe.” In the past quarter century, the same...

[Catholic Caucus] German bishops’ working doc calls for approval of contraception, homosexuality, women’s ordination The 'synodal path' working doc defended the use of contraception, masturbation, and homosexuality. January 29, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – The working documents in preparation for the assemblies of the German bishops’ “Synodal Path” defend the use of contraception, the practice of masturbation, and an active homosexual lifestyle. Additionally, neither the question of the ordination of women nor that of making celibacy optional for priests is taken off the table. In 2019, four panels of experts were preparing working documents to serve as the basis for discussion among...

TRENTON, N.J. — The Democratic governor of New Jersey has signed a bill into law that grants $9.5 million to family planning groups in the state, including the abortion and contraception giant Planned Parenthood, after the organization declined to comply with new Health and Human Services (HHS) rules and consequently lost federal Title X funding. “Today, I signed a bill replacing Title X funding to ensure access to health care and family planning resources,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement posted to social media on Thursday. “The Title X gag rule is nothing less than an attack on the...

1. A long time ago, before I was sexually active, I was put on the pill to control symptoms of extreme PMS. Not only did I see no relief from symptoms, truthfully, everything stayed the exact same, including my cycles being irregular and unpredictable. After more than a year on the pill, I decided to stop taking it and my cycle became regular, my extreme symptoms of moodiness and irritability literally stopped and the severe cramping was reduced – none of which had happened on the pill like it was supposed to. 2. At the same time I stopped taking...

During the advent of my first pregnancy, in 2012, I was comfortably settled into my own unique brand of postmodern feminist Christianity. I remember lounging on the couch amidst waves of debilitating nausea, watching news coverage of the controversial Contraceptive Mandate, rolling my eyes in anger and disgust at those regressive Catholic priests in their prim white collars, telling women what to do with their bodies. Yet almost exactly two years later, I would be standing before such a priest at the Easter Vigil Mass, publicly confessing my desire to be received into the largest, oldest male-helmed institution in...