Monthly Archives: June 2012

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(CNSNews.com) – In his deciding opinion in the cases challenging the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare), Chief Justice John Roberts first says the mandate in the law requiring individuals to buy health insurance is not a tax.

Then he says it is a tax.

He upholds the individual mandate—as a tax, not a penalty—as the law of the land. But then says it would not be “unlawful” for Americans to violate the law’s mandate that they “shall” buy health insurance–as long as they are willing to pay the “penalty” for not obeying the law.

Continue reading this craziness here: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/chief-justice-roberts-its-not-tax-it-tax-its-…

40 Days for Life and Thomas More Society Protest South Carolina Prosecutor’s Double Standard in Reducing Felony Charges against Abortionist Who Aimed Pistol at Pro-Lifer

(CHARLESTON, SC) – June 29, 2012 – 40 Days for Life, an international pro-life ministry outreach, and Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based Public Interest Law Firm, have registered a strong protest upon hearing news that Scarlett Wilson, South Carolina’s Solicitor for its Ninth Judicial Circuit, is further reducing the criminal charge she had filed against abortionist Dr. Gary Boyle, arrested for having pointed a loaded semi-automatic firearm at 40 Days for Life volunteers who were peacefully praying and counseling outside his abortion facility, the Charleston Women’s Medical Center in 2010.

Dr. Boyle originally had been charged with a felony punishable by up to five (5) years in jail, but Solicitor Wilson announced that the charges would be reduced to a mere misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of $100 or a 30-day jail sentence – a step likely to culminate in a sentence amounting to a mere inconvenience for cash-rich abortionist Dr. Boyle, despite his having deliberately put pro-lifers in fear for their lives, threatening them with the imminent infliction of deadly force.

“We are outraged at this latest evidence of a double standard applied by too many prosecutors – federal, state, and local – when it comes to charging abortion proponents with serious crimes against pro-life advocates,” said Shawn Carney, campaign director of 40 Days for Life. Carney continued, “How different would Judge Wilson’s charge be if the roles had been reversed? Threat of violence is threat of violence – and should always be treated as a serious crime. Dr. Boyle should be fully punished for his reckless and despicable actions.”

Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society, said: “The U.S. Justice Department has launched federal prosecutions against pro-life advocates across the country for merely offering literature to cars entering Planned Parenthood, calling this pristine exercise of basic First Amendment rights a criminal ‘obstruction’ of ‘access’ to abortion facilities when cars suffer only slight delays in turning into driveways.  These cases have been defeated, albeit at great expense.  Yet such threats of deadly force against pro-lifers as occurred here in Charleston are now brushed off with a mere slap on the wrist.” Brejcha said that, “Public safety is paramount, and it is high time that pro-lifers’ rights are fully and equally protected.”

Dr. Boyle was originally arrested for “aggravated assault with a fire arm,” but this was later reduced to “presenting a fire arm” and now further reduced to “disorderly conduct,” a charge typically aimed at public drunkenness. While one police report claims that three pro-lifers surrounded Dr. Boyle’s car, evidence proves that the abortionist was never even approached by the pro-life advocates.

“It was shocking to see that he [Boyle] was pointing a gun at us,” said John Karafa, a 40 Days for Life participant and one of three victims at whom the gun was aimed. “Our lives should not be threatened because we are exercising our right to peacefully pray….A mere slap on the wrist is insufficient and will not keep him from threatening us with his gun in the future.”

Brejcha also pointed out that Boyle was only charged with a misdemeanor, therefore his gun license will not be revoked and he may continue to carry a firearm. The court hearing occurred today, Friday, June 29, 2012 at 9:00 am before Hon. James B. Gosnell at the Charleston County Judicial Center in Courtroom 4D. Karafa read a “victim statement,” before sentencing. A link to the statement is here.

 

 

 

 

Yesterday the Supreme Court found the “individual mandate” of the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) to be constitutional, essentially renaming the provision that forces almost everyone in the nation to purchase health insurance as a “tax” — something that the Obama administration repeatedly claimed it was not while it was being sold to the American people.

As we said yesterday, this decision upholds a law that is thoroughly unjust and anti-life, and which must be repealed in its entirety. So although the Justices were addressing questions unrelated to the main problems we have with the law, it is a clarion call to action.

To reaffirm what is at stake in the months ahead, let’s consider two quotes. The first is from a statement by Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

This decision will have a profound and concrete impact on millions of people’s lives. Affordable, quality health care will now be available to millions of women who had no coverage or inadequate coverage before. Today, we are closer than ever to realizing the promise of health care for all. This is a victory for the American people, and we thank President Obama and the members of Congress who passed the Affordable Care Act for their leadership on this issue.

Watch Fr. West’s speech at the Supreme Court yesterday.

The second is from our own Father Peter West, who was able to give a short statement on the steps of the Supreme Court following the decision:

Though many think that contraception actually leads to less abortions, in practice, a contraceptive mentality that fails to see a child as a gift actually leads to more abortions. Besides being a violation on the right to life, Obamacare is a direct assault on personal and religious liberty, and the rights of conscience which should be protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees free exercise of religion.

As an international organization, we have seen how other governments throughout the world violate these rights, but I never thought it would happen right here in the United States of America.

It was not just the individual mandate that was a problem, it’s the entire bill that’s a problem, and it needs to be repealed. It forces religious employers, such as Human Life International, to pay for abortion inducing drugs, sterilization, contraception–regardless of our moral and religious objections. It allowed a group of bureaucrats to make and life and death decisions for patients based in large part on a cost-benefit analysis.

Planned Parenthood is thrilled that the law was upheld, which tells us something very important, and which deserves notice by any Christians who still defend the law. Human Life International and all those who defend the dignity and authentic rights of every human person are disappointed, but in no way discouraged in our efforts to see the Affordable Care Act replaced by a system that affirms the value of every human being from conception to natural death, and that takes a measured approach to a system that does indeed need reform.

I encourage you to view Father West’s entire statement on HLI World Watch, and to join us for the remainder of our One Million Rosaries for Freedom challenge during the Fortnight for Freedom, which culminates on the 4th of July, next week.

The stakes could not be higher, so let’s pray as if everything depended on God, and act as if everything depended on us.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Father Shenan J. Boquet
President, Human Life International