North Dakota Bishops Oppose Outlawing Abortion

American Life League ^ | Feb 13, 2003 | Judy Brown

[Maximilian]

North Dakota Bishops Oppose Bill that Outlaws Abortion

On the EWNT website, "Adam T." asked:

Dear Ms. Brown, In my state (North Dakota), the House of Representitives recently introduced a bill that would make abortion a "class AA felony," therefore making abortion illegal. What joy for me! My prayers were answered after so many years of cruel murder. The bill also stated that those who have an abortion would be prosecuted (which makes sense, since abortion would be a crime). I do agree with this, but also think the man who was with the woman should also be prosecuted, as he holds 50% responsibility of beginning a new life. The bishop of my diocese, however, sided with abortionists and stated that "those who have abortions should not be punished by civil law, as not every moral law that is broken should be overseen by civil authorities." This made me quite upset. After all, how can a bishop of the Holy Roman Catholic Church state that he is against a bill that would ban abortion? My bishop is not liberal: I want to make that clear. However, his remarks are completely wrong and should be changed (in my opinion). What is your opinion on the matter?

Judy Brown, President of American Life League answered:

American Life League provided testimony in favor of the bill and I issued a statement which I post here for your edification because, as you have said, in this case, the Bishop is wrong to have opposed the bill, and none of us understand why he did.

My statement, supported by Fr. Tom Euteneur, Human Life International, reads:

February 11, 2003

Re: North Dakota House Bill 1242 – Preborn Child Protection Act

On behalf of the Board of Directors of American Life League, and the more than 350,000 American families supporting our work, it is my privilege to endorse the language of House Bill 1242. The scientific facts are clear and undeniable: a human being begins at conception/fertilization.

House Bill 1242 acknowledges these facts and accurately concludes that when the act of abortion results in the death of a preborn child, the act is nothing less than a felonious assault on a human being which results in the death of that person.

In the same way that the perpetrator of an act of killing would be held responsible under the law and subsequently tried for that crime, so too the act of abortion and those who perpetrate the act should be held responsible under the law and tried for that crime.

Though we support this bill in whole—the way it is currently written—we would also support an amendment reducing the penalty for mothers who perpetrate this crime against their own preborn children from a AA felony to a class B or C felony due to their reduced empirical knowledge of the preborn child’s humanity and the vicious cultural climate in which they would make such decisions. In service to justice and as a deterrent from committing this abominable crime however, a serious penalty should never be wholly removed.

It is our hope that the good people of North Dakota will be heard through their elected representatives and that House Bill #1242 will be enacted into law.

Judie Brown, President, American Life League

The policies expressed herein have also been endorsed by Fr. Tom Euteneuer, President, Human Life International Front Royal, Virginia

[Maximilian]

This bill introduced in North Dakota making abortion a crime was previously debated on FreeRepublic here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/836400/posts

Now Judy Brown of American Life League has released an official statement on the issue. She makes it clear that the bishops are just plain wrong. Judy Brown, by the way, is one of the very few pro-life leaders who has been 100% consistent in defending innocent life from conception to natural death.

[Land of the Irish]

This full page add appeared yesterday in the Washington Times. Judy Brown also mailed a copy of it to all American Cardinals and Bishops.

http://www.all.org/crusade/sharpton.pdf

[Maximilian]

>>This full page add appeared yesterday in the Washington Times.
>>Judy Brown also mailed a copy of it to all American Cardinals and Bishops.

http://www.all.org/crusade/sharpton.pdf

This ad was brilliant! Great design, good use of humor, and the message was delivered unmistakably: "We're watching you bishops so don't think you can hide any longer. Your cowardice on behalf of innocent life is being noted."

[iconoclast]

those who have an abortion would be prosecuted

IMO, the Bishops are right.

The abortionist, who is obviously the murderer, should be prosecuted.

Again, IMO, the woman, while complicit in the crime, is as much as her child a victim.

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[d-back]

You're right, Iconoclast. Everyone's a victim in America, even a woman who goes to a doctor so he can suck her baby's brains out. SHE's a VICTIM, too! Poor thing!

Value-free, consequence-free, responsibility-free America! You're really on to something here, Ico!

[rmvh]

North Dakota Bishops Oppose Outlawing Abortion

The Catholic Chhurch has died...It has gone the way of Thor; Zeus: Ra: and the rest of the Dieties.

The RC Church has morphed into an organization that exists solely for the benefit of the Clergy....It is all very sad but it is also quite true...Learn it! Believe it!

[Aquinasfan]

the woman, while complicit in the crime, is as much as her child a victim.

Sometimes.

[Faith]

Great ad! I only wish they had added Hillary's picture to the gallery of those to avoid.

[SuziQ]

The abortionist, who is obviously the murderer, should be prosecuted.

I agree completely. The abortionist is nothing more than a hired killer

Again, IMO, the woman, while complicit in the crime, is as much as her child a victim.

While I don't agree that the woman is as much a victim as the unborn child, she is NOT ALONE in her complicity. The father of the child, as well as the parents of the young girl in the case of a teenager are as guilty as she is if they encourage her to 'get rid of it' so they don't have to be bothered.

"Choice" is the biggest fiction in this country. Most women who have abortions are pressured into it by the father of the baby, if they aren't married (or sometimes even if they ARE), by her parents or her 'so called' friends.

I commented on this bill on a thread a few days ago. It is a ham handed way to criminalize abortion, the the majority of voters will NOT accept that. All this bill will do is create bad feelings for pro-lifers among the general public, which will make it harder to get ANY restrictions later on, if Roe-v-Wade is ever overturned. As my Mama always taught me, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Don't get me wrong. I understand the frustration; I've been involved in the pro-life movement since the spring of 1973, but legislation like this is not the best way to go about saving babies in the long run. It will, in the short run, create ill will for the pro-life side, and that that will make it HARDER to protect babies in the long run.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Bump

[Land of the Irish]

"Choice" is the biggest fiction in this country. Most women who have abortions are pressured into it by the father of the baby, if they aren't married (or sometimes even if they ARE), by her parents or her 'so called' friends.

Pure B.S.

The mother is the only one with "choice". Father's of unborn children have no rights to defend the life of their child if the mother decides to have an abortion. Roe vs Wade was all about a woman's right, not the child who is about to die's right nor his/her father's right, to do with her "body" as she wishes. I think mothers who kill their pre-born children are guilty of graver sins than the actual abortionist. At least the abortionsist isn't "killing his own".

[attagirl]

,i>The RC Church has morphed into an organization that exists solely for the benefit of the Clergy

Well, whatever happened to "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of helll shall not prevail against it?"

[rmvh]

Re your # 15...(mine)The RC Church has morphed into an organization that exists solely for the benefit of the Clergy

(yours) Well, whatever happened to "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of helll shall not prevail against it?"

I meant no insult to the Catholics or any other religion....formal or informal.

The RC Church has done enormous good in this world...hospitals, schools, and other noble works. It just seems to me that it has lost its way after Vatican II...The sexual misconduct issue that many bring forth is certainly not unique to the Cathoilic clergy.

I was raised a Catholic but over time have observed that most of the Gods worshipped by all of humanity over time (Zeus, Thor, Woden and their friends...as well as the Inca and Myan Gods...among many others)..have in their turn vanished from the earth....and five or six thousand years is mere peanuts since the first human appeared. Jesus and the God of Abraham etc are worshipped and believed in by many good folks and they are deserving and to be admired for their wonderful faith

Have a nice day.