The second legislative funnel…

Mar 18, 2024 |

The second legislative funnel passed this last week, and several pro-life bills made it through the committee process.  Through the next several weeks, these bills will be placed on the calendar for debate in the House and Senate.  Here is a list of the bills that survived the funnel that Pulse registered in support:

  • SF 2251 Expands Medicaid Coverage for One Year Post-Partum – passed Senate floor
  • HF2583 Expands Medicaid Coverage for One Year Post-Partum
  • SF 2252 MOMS (More Options for Maternal Support) Program- passed Senate floor
  • HF 2267 MOMS (More Options for Maternal Support) Program
  • HF 2276 Requires Zoning of Maternity Homes as Residential Property
  • HF 2617 Human Growth & Development to Include Life in the Womb

There was one bill that also survived the first funnel that Pulse was registered against:

  • HF 2584 Over-the-Counter Birth Control Without a Prescription, but this bill did NOT survive the second funnel and is therefore dead for this legislative session.

Olivia Rodrigo promotes death

Mar 15, 2024 |
Olivia Rodrigo
Olivia Rodrigo

Olivia Rodrigo

How could so much talent be squandered? Olivia Rodrigo is one of the hottest female singer/songwriters around. The twenty-one year old sensation is the #2 female pop singer in the world according to Ranker, trailing only Taylor Swift. Tragically, she is leveraging her celebrity to promote abortion.

Her musical mentor is Taylor Swift; her genre is teenage break ups, focusing not so much on love, but on love lost.

“Guts World Tour”

Ms. Rodrigo was in the news a couple of weeks ago with her announcement that some proceeds from her wildly successful “Guts World Tour” will be funneled to abortion activist groups, such as:

  • National Network of Abortion Funds
  • Fund Texas Choice
  • Jane’s Due Process

These are groups that help teens cross state lines to get abortions when their home state has laws protecting their unborn babies.

Ms. Rodrigo is a beautiful young woman with immense talent, including a soaring soprano voice and formidable song writing skills. She is a master of the power ballad, which apparently enthralls her young, impressionable fanbase. They made songs like “Good 4 U,” “Vampire,” and “Drivers License” into #1 hits on Billboard’s pop charts.

Squandered talent

These are songs with melodies that utilize more than three chords, unlike so many of the harmonically challenged songs being cranked out by her contemporaries. Hers really pull you in. And she demonstrates real potential as a lyricist, but then she squanders her talent with gratuitous use of profanity:

From “good 4 u”:

“You bought a new car and career’s really takin’ off,

It’s like we never even happened,

Baby, what the f*@# is up with that?”

From “Vampire”:

“Bloodsucker, fame f*@#er,

Bleedin’ me dry like a [Lord’s name] damn vampire.”

You get the idea.

The ‘f’ word and Lord’s name are peppered gratuitously throughout her lyrics. They reduce the overall artistry of her music, while influencing your daughters and granddaughters in ways that may not align with your values.

Olivia Rodrigo had this to say about her abortion initiative:

“ … before I pop onstage, I wanted to come on here and talk about something that I’m really excited about, which is the Fund 4 Good, which is an initiative I’m launching as part of the Guts World Tour. The Fund 4 Good works to support all women, girls, and people seeking reproductive health freedom. The fund will directly support community-based non-profits that champion things like girls’ education, um, support reproductive rights, and prevent gender-based violence.”

Reproductive ‘freedom’ = death

Ms. Rodrigo has been spoon fed Big Abortion’s propaganda, contorting reproductive rights into a license to kill inconvenient daughters and sons residing in the wombs of impressionable young women. Someone should inform that her that over half of women seeking abortions were pressured into it by boyfriends or family members. 

So much for reproductive freedom.

Abortion certainly isn’t “good 4 u,” your baby, your family, your community, your state, or your country. And it certainly isn’t good for your relationship with your Creator, in whose image you and your daughter are made.

So what can you do to help counter a misguided artist like Olivia Rodrigo? Support good art, art that celebrates Godly values and beauty.

Attend the WOMEN OF WORTH musical event

To that end, Pulse is hosting a musical event on April 14th with the theme of “Women of Worth.” It will feature a set of songs composed just for this event that honors the Blessed Mother, Ruth of the Old Testament, and especially Joan of Arc in a piece presented theatrically.

The event begins at 3PM on Sunday, April 14th, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in West Des Moines, followed by a wine and cheese and cookie reception.

This event doesn’t just support Pulse Life Advocates, it also supports our friends at Mary’s Helping Hands.

If you’re not familiar with this incredible ministry, Mary’s Helping Hands provides hope, love, and support for expecting mothers who may need a helping hand with basic needs for their child’s first two years of life.

So we’re asking you to bring diapers, baby clothing up to size 2t, and nursery items to this event for Mary’s Helping Hands to distribute to their clients.

So while Olivia Rodrigo is handing out condoms and Plan B abortifacient pills at her concerts, Pulse is collecting diapers, baby clothes, and formula to help babies after they’re born, after they survive the best efforts of Big Abortion and their celebrity minions to abort them.

Pulse’s WOMEN OF WORTH Spring fundraiser will inspire you. We will use proceeds to educate a new generation on the sanctity of human life from fertilization to natural death.

Tickets are $10 each or $25 per family. Order yours online today at www.PulseForLife.org.

The risks of prescription-free birth control are real

Mar 11, 2024 |
prescription-free birth control

 

prescription-free birth control

STOP: prescription-free birth control is NOT a good idea

A poll conducted by the Des Moines Register shows that 79% of Iowans support Governor Kim Reynold’s proposal to make prescription-free birth control available to women over the age of eighteen.

Pulse Life Advocate’s executive director, Maggie DeWitte, testified before the legislature on our objections to the bill. Most Iowans are unaware of the real risks associated with hormonal birth control in the best of circumstances, much less when unsupervised by a doctor.

We reached out to a medical doctor for a “second opinion” on this issue: Thanks to Shannon Hood DO for a doctor’s perspective on the downside of over-the-counter, prescription-free birth control.

Physicians and pharmacists need to be in sync

Below is my opinion of Iowa Bill HSB642 coming to subcommittee soon:

During my 25 years as a Family Practice Physician at Mercy Clinics in Ankeny, I worked side by side with pharmacists.   We were a team.    However, during those years, a large pharmacy in town had an incentive to start patients on medications such as statins and Ace inhibitors (cholesterol and blood pressure lowering medications) due to new guidelines in the management of Diabetes.  The pharmacists would tell my patients that they needed to change their meds without consulting with me.  It created confusion and distrust on both sides.   Many times, there were reasons why the patient was not started on a new medicine, such as elevated kidney or liver labs, allergies, or previous failures on the medicines.     For good reason the pharmacy program eventually ended. 

Well-defined responsibilities

Both pharmacists and physicians are part of the healthcare team with well-defined responsibilities.  Pharmacists are trained to prepare, dispense and educate patients about medications.    Physicians (including mid-levels) are trained to obtain medical history and diagnose problems using physical exam and review of medical records.   In the proposed Iowa Bill’s situation, we would use diagnosis code ICD-10 Z40 for the initiation of contraceptive management.  There are algorithms and relative risk charts to review surrounding this diagnosis. 

The 4 problems with prescription-free birth control 

Problems I have with the Bill HSB642

  1. Blood Pressure is measured at first visit.    Will it be measured periodically during the standing order potentially lasting 27 months?     The hormonal birth control can raise blood pressure.  
  2. If a woman has a side effect with the first hormonal birth control, will the pharmacist continue to try another medication or refer to health care?   
  3. Key preventive care may be missed in the 27 months during the standing order.  This makes me think of the loss in preventive care during COVID. 
  4. Health is dynamic and constantly changing.   Over time a woman may find a breast mass, develop liver disease, start smoking, develop migraines with aura, gain significant weight, or have a primary relative die of a pulmonary embolism, thus making the hormonal birth control offered in this bill contraindicated.   Who is responsible for stopping the medication?  With this bill the pharmacists are not legally responsible if no action is taken and morbidity occurs.  

I do not agree with this Iowa Bill HSB642.    Primary healthcare providers diagnose and treat.   The treatment includes preventive care (the key to quality) and corrective action using the risk vs benefit problem solving model.    The Pharmacist model of education is complementary and important, but not the same.   

Forthright deceit

Mar 9, 2024 |
forthright deceit

forthright deceit

 

Presidents often use hyperbole on the stump. But at Thursday night’s 2024 State of the Union speech, the President went far beyond exaggeration in an address brazen in its deceit.

Casual viewers noticed less than forthright assertions by Mr. Biden on a wide array if issues. Pulse Life Advocates is particularly concerned with his remarks on the subject of abortion, a word, by the way, he refused to utter.

The transcript of his remarks on human abortion follow, accompanied by our comments:

***

In Vitro Fertilization

THE PRESIDENT: History is watching another assault on freedom.

PULSE: Actually, abortion is the opposite of freedom, since it kills a unique human being. The aborted girl’s freedom to grow, prosper, laugh, and fall in love are all negated, accompanied by a toll on her mother. Many women suffer physical, emotional, and spiritual consequences because of their abortion.

THE PRESIDENT: Joining us tonight is Latorya Beasley, a social worker from Birmingham, Ala. Fourteen months, 14 months ago, she and her husband welcomed a baby girl thanks to the miracle of I.V.F.

PULSE:  IVF may use miraculous technology, but is it wise? As the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently wrote, “we can understand the profound desire that motivates some of these couples to go to great lengths to have children, and we support morally licit means of doing so.The solution, however, can never be a medical process that involves the creation of countless preborn children and results in most of them being frozen or discarded and destroyed.”

THE PRESIDENT: She scheduled treatments to have that second child, but the Alabama Supreme Court shut down I.V.F. treatments across the state, unleashed by a Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

PULSE:  False. The Alabama Supreme Court’s decision had nothing to do with Roe v Wade or the Dobbs decision that overturned it, as they made crystal clear: “The parties to these cases have raised many difficult questions, including ones about the ethical status of extrauterine children, the application of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution to such children, and the public-policy implications of treating extrauterine children as human beings. But the Court today need not address these questions because, as explained below, the relevant statutory text is clear: the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applies on its face to all unborn children, without limitation.”

THE PRESIDENT: She was told her dream would have to wait. What her family got through should never have happened. Unless Congress acts, it could happen again, so tonight, let’s stand up for families like hers.

PULSE: Let’s remember what happened in Alabama. Frozen human embryos were accidentally destroyed at a fertility clinic in Alabama, leading to law suits from two couples whose posterity had been destroyed. A trial court sided with the clinic, asserting that the embryos weren’t children since they weren’t in the mom’s uterus. The Alabama Supreme Court disagreed, leaving the ‘public policy implications’ to the legislature. That is why three Alabama IVF clinics suspended services, waiting for the legislature to sort things out, but another clinic continues to operate, negating the president’s assertion that the “Court shut down I.V.F. treatments across the state.”

THE PRESIDENT: To my friends across the aisle, don’t keep this waiting any longer. Guarantee the right to I.V.F. Guarantee it nationwide.

PULSE: It’s hard to take seriously the president’s characterization that pro-lifers are his “friends” when he sends SWAT teams into their homes, labels them as potential terrorists, and begins to monitor their churches.

Roe v Wade

THE PRESIDENT: Like most Americans, I believe Roe v. Wade got it right. I thank Vice President Harris for being an incredible leader, defending reproductive freedom and so much more.

But my predecessor came to office determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned. He’s the reason it was overturned. And he brags about it. Look at the chaos that has resulted.

PULSE: Roe v Wade got it wrong, because it allowed the unfettered killing of 65 million unique human beings, a direct contradiction to the unique Creed of our nation which recognizes immutable, God-given rights of LIFE, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. It specifically violates the essence of the Preamble to our Constitution which demands that we “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our POSTERITY.”

THE PRESIDENT: Joining us tonight is Kate Cox, a wife and mother from Dallas. She’d become pregnant again, and had a fetus with a fatal condition. Her doctor told Kate that her own life and her ability to have children in the future were at risk if she didn’t act.

PULSE:  False. The Texas Court wrote that Ms. Cox’s doctor, did NOT state that her patient had a life-threatening situation: “The exception requires a doctor to decide whether Ms. Cox’s difficulties pose such risks. Dr. Karsan asked a court to pre-authorize the abortion yet she could not, or at least did not, attest to the court that Ms. Cox’s condition poses the risks the exception requires.”

THE PRESIDENT: Because Texas law banned her ability to act, Kate and her husband had to leave the state to get what she needed. What her family got through should have never happened as well. But it is happening to too many others.

PULSE: But is the intentional killing of a child who is disabled really what parents need? No, and it was especially ironic to see who was sitting next to Ms. Cox at the 2024 State of the Union address: Maria Shriver, whose family pioneered the Special Olympics. Pulse reached out to an Iowa dad whose son has the same condition as that as Kate Cox’s aborted child. Ryan Buck told us: “Trisomy-18 should not be a part of the abortion debate because it results in the medical discrimination of disabled children.” Maria Shriver should be ashamed of herself for being a part of this assault on less-than-perfect unborn human beings.

Reproductive death

THE PRESIDENT: There are state laws banning the freedom to choose, criminalizing doctors, forcing survivors of rape and incest to leave their states to get the treatment they need.

Many of you in this chamber and my predecessor are promising to pass a national ban on reproductive freedom. My God, what freedom else would you take away?

PULSE: The freedom to kill innocent human beings. And we believe our God agrees with us. Abortion has nothing to do with freedom and everything to do with reproductive death. And for the record, most states permit abortion exceptions for rape and incest.

THE PRESIDENT: Look, in its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court majority wrote the following, and with all due respect justices, “Women are not without electoral, electoral power” — excuse me — “electoral or political power.” You’re about to realize just how much you got right about that.

PULSE: The Supreme Court is supposed to be independent of politics. But the president joined Senate Majority leader, Chuck Schumer, in making an implied threat to justices who continue to follow the Constitution instead of Big Abortion’s marching orders. We know the president’s threats have teeth (see above). And we know he is reluctant to protect justices who have pro-abortion mobs protesting on their front lawn (ask Justice Cavanaugh).

THE PRESIDENT: Clearly, clearly, those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women. But they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot. We won in 2022 and 2023, and we will win again in 2024.

PULSE: Actually, pro-life candidates who went on the offense on the Life issue smoked their competition last election cycle, as we have pointed out in previous posts.

THE PRESIDENT: If you, the American people, send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you, I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again.

PULSE: This is the only true thing the president said on this subject. With the announced retirement of Senator Kyrsten Sinema, the end of the Senate filabuster will once again be in play. The Abortion Party has vowed to pass a number of pieces of legislation, including Medicare for All, which would nationalize abortion up until birth, remove conscience protections for Catholic doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, and require taxpayer funding to kill our posterity via human abortion.

Yes, the president was quite forthright in his deceitful 2024 State of the Union rant.

The medical discrimination of disabled children

Mar 7, 2024 |

By Ryan Paul Buck

Disabled children are being discriminated against, and many can’t see it. Three days after my son Alexander was born we received his diagnosis, Trisomy-18. The doctor told us 90% of kids don’t make it to the age of one, that he was likely to die, that feeding him was a choice. We learned that genetic abnormalities can require interventions like tracheostomies to prevent the child suffocating to death, or a gastrostomy tube to prevent their starvation, as their muscle tone can be low. Is it humane to abandon a child to suffocate or starve to death?

When I learned today that Joe Biden would be highlighting a Trisomy-18 abortion story to scold his political adversaries in his State of the Union address, my heart churred up the same anger I felt towards the doctors who treated us so callously in the hospital.

I vividly remember the tone in our interactions with our son’s doctors after he received his diagnosis. Conveying to us disdain and belittlement for advocating for treating a disabled child. I had always assumed the medical community would be motivated to treat a person. But what we experienced was the de-personing, the stripping of human rights immediately after a medical diagnosis was confirmed. To them our son wouldn’t live and therefore lost his right to live. They were WRONG. Our son can walk and communicate with us. Not only did our son deserve his life, but his life inspires joy and hope. He puts a smile on the faces of those who spend time with him. My son gives what the doctors didn’t, acceptance and acknowledgement of value in every person he meets. He treats every human as a human, and expresses his desire to share a smile.

But our story is rare. With the Amniocentesis test that most moms get with the child still in the womb, it provides genetic screening without absolute certainty. Which prompts most doctors to recommend pregnancy termination with abortion for Trisomy-18, even in Catholic hospital systems (as our family learned).

We exist now in a world where many have become callus and cold. Some have turned from God with hardened hearts. This is a world where humans have usurped God’s values system for their own. Deciding who’s life is and isn’t worth saving and preserving. Since our son’s birth we have worked so hard to show that Trisomy-18 is compatible with life. It’s an uphill battle against what we found was a community head belief that Trisomy-18 meant certain death. And that same message is being affirmed again in the halls of the United States Congress by the 46th president in the State of the Union, for political points. A woman being honored for her choice to kill a child in the womb like our son, because of a diagnosis. A diagnosis used to assert the kind of life that would happen, deeming it not worth living. What about the choice and rights of the child? Does the child not have a right to life guaranteed in the US constitution?

Trisomy-18 should not be a part of the abortion debate because it results in the medical discrimination of disabled children. In our story, and the stories of hundreds of other families we have met with similar circumstances, the diagnosis changes the medical treatment opportunity for the child. In the case of the child spoken of in the State of the Union and many others, the diagnosis was his death sentence. God have mercy, please rescue this fallen world from such depravity.

Maggie DeWitte’s testimony on oral contraception at the state house

Mar 4, 2024 |
over-the-counter contraception

over-the-counter contraception

Pulse Life Advocates opposes a pending bill (HSB 642) before the Iowa legislature that would allow oral contraception to be sold over-the-counter without a prescription. Here Pulse Executive Director, Maggie DeWitte’s, testimony:

***

1. Oral contraception is dangerous.  The World Health Organization has classified combined hormonal contraception as a Group 1 carcinogen.  This is the same classification as tobacco, arsenic, and asbestos.  Women who use contraception for 11 years or longer are at a 210% increased risk of breast cancer. Contraceptives have been proven to increase the risk of blood clots, which can be fatal. They also have an increased risk of causing heart disease, especially in smokers. Lawsuits have been filed blaming the Patch for several deaths due to blood clots, heart attacks and strokes. The Food and Drug Administration has cautioned that the Patch carries a higher risk of blood clots than the birth control pill. These medications should not be prescribed by anyone except a medical doctor who has access to accurate medical records and the necessary medical tests. 

A study in 2014 in the Journal of Medical Hypothesis found a link between oral contraception use and prevalence in autism spectrum disorder.  

A study in 2016 linked birth control and depression.

A study in 2017 in the American Journal of Psychiatry documented an increased risk for suicide- nearly doubled for suicide attempts and more than tripled for successful suicide-among adolescent girls who use hormonal contraception.  

A study in 2019 revealed that women who use oral contraception had a smaller hypothalamus (a part of the brain) than women not taking the pill.  

We have an epidemic of STDs in the country and in Iowa.  Oral contraception does nothing to combat these rising numbers and leaves out the fact it provides her absolutely no protection from STD’s, some of which are life long and incurable.  

2. Hormonal Contraception is ineffective and gives women a false sense of security.  The New York Times published an article that stated that the fail rate is 38% by year five and that by year ten, 61 out of 100 women who use the pill will become pregnant. According to a March 2017 Guttmacher Institute study, “A substantial proportion of unintended pregnancies occur despite women’s and their partners’ use of contraceptives. In 2001, some 48% of women experiencing an unintended pregnancy had been using a contraception method in the month of conception.” In the same study Guttmacher also reported that “about half of pregnancies terminated by induced abortions in 2008 occurred during use of contraceptives.” So, you can give them the pills, but faulty or incorrect use makes them ineffective in reducing unplanned pregnancies.

3. This bill states it does not include any drug intended to induce an abortion.  Unfortunately, oral contraception can be abortifacient in nature. Most, if not, all hormonal birth control drugs and devices, including the Patch and the Pill, can act to terminate a pregnancy by chemically altering the lining of the uterus (endometrium) so that a newly conceived child (human embryo) is unable to implant in the womb, thus starving and dying. This mechanism of action is termed a pre-implantation chemical abortion. 

4. If the intent of this bill is to reduce abortions, providing OTC birth control will not reduce abortions.  More contraception leads to more abortions, not less.  And frankly, we don’t have an access problem; birth control is readily available in the state of Iowa. This will undercut / damage the physician-patient relationship.  Any prescription medication carries risks, and a doctor should be monitoring those risks — it’s not the role of a pharmacist to monitor symptoms and they do not have access to the patient’s medical history.  And relying on a self-administered questionnaire is not reliable — people frequently do not remember the name or type of medication they have been on or currently on and would not know of the risks associated with that medication.’

America needs you, Joan of Arc!

Feb 29, 2024 |

Who is the most amazing saint in history? If you asked Mark Twain that question, his response would’ve been instant: Joan of Arc. Said the great writer, Joan of Arc is “the most noble life that was ever born into this world save only One.”

Joan of Arc really touched the heart of a cynical man who considered his 1886 novel, “Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc,” to be his masterpiece, despite his hostility towards Catholicism. He conceded that he had been “educated to enmity toward everything that is Catholic.” And yet he spent a dozen years researching and writing a most reverent and riveting narrative on the life of a 15th century peasant girl whose greatness was defined by her Catholic faith.

The essence of Joan of Arc’s saintliness

Mark Twain’s novel is more relevant than ever, because the essence of Joan’s saintliness is needed more than ever. And what is this essence? Faith. Trust. Courage.

Her life was a miracle. Born in lowly circumstances, Joan was uneducated but strong in her faith. At the age of 13, she began to hear voices from God. The voices included angels and saints who presented her with a directive: free France from English occupation.

The voices, which included those of the angels Michael and Gabriel, and Saints Margaret and Catherine of Alexandria, provided counsel to help Joan govern herself. But by the time she reached the age of seventeen, her voices’ directive expanded to liberating France from the English. And she did it, at a steep price. 

Joan’s courage is contagious

Pulse Life Advocates believe that Joan’s example of utter faith in God and the courage to trust his promptings are immediately relevant to our age. We see the need in the pro-life movement. Imagine: if a single Catholic teenage girl relying on nothing other than faith in God could liberate an entire country, just think what an entire Catholic community could do today.

You’re invited to the Women of Worth musical event

In order to inspire our local Catholic community, Pulse is hosting a musical event on April 14th with the theme of “Women of Worth.” It will feature a set of songs composed just for this event that honors the Blessed Mother, Ruth of the Old Testament, and especially Joan of Arc in a piece presented theatrically.

The event begins at 3PM on Sunday, April 14th, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in West Des Moines, followed by a wine and cheese and cookie reception.

This event doesn’t just support Pulse Life Advocates, it also supports our friends at Mary’s Helping Hands.

If you’re not familiar with his incredible ministry, Mary’s Helping Hands provides hope, love, and support for expecting mothers who may need a helping hand with basic needs for their child’s first two years of life.

So we’re asking you to bring diapers, baby clothing up to size 2t, and nursery items to this event for Mary’s Helping Hands to distribute to their clients.

Pulse shares office space with these “women of worth,” and we see the difference they’re making in the world on a daily basis.

Women of Worth is an event

This isn’t just a concert, it’s an event. Be inspired by these ‘women of worth’ who changed the world. Be encouraged by the faith that reveals nothing is impossible with God, including an end to abortion.

The price for admission to “Women of Worth” is $10 per adult or $25 per family. Reserve your seats online at PulseForLife.org.

Just as Mary trusted totally in God, so did Joan, who said:

“Since God had commanded me to go, I must do it.”

If you’d like Joan’s courage, trust, and obedience to God to rub off on you, bring your entire family to the Women of Worth musical event. Joan’s message to modern man is simple:

“Act, and God will act.”

If this lowly peasant girl could captivate a crusty cynic like Mark Twain, imagine what her inspiring story will do to you!

The case against the IVF bill

Feb 28, 2024 |
Access to Family Building Act

Access to Family Building ActCongress introduced a new bill, the “Access to Family Building Act,” with the goal “to prohibit the limitation of access to assisted reproductive technology, and all medical care surrounding such technology.” It is a response to the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that frozen embryos are children.

Pulse Life Advocates opposes the bill, as does the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The USCCB release a letter today, excerpted below, with their reasons for opposing this piece of legislation. We presented it in a Q & A format, with questions provided by us:

What is the issue?

USCCB: The often-painful experience of infertility is a challenge facing an increasing number of families. As pastors, we grieve with many couples bearing this cross and seek to be part of a community that accompanies them in a way that helps them to flourish in love. In this, we can understand the profound desire that motivates some of these couples to go to great lengths to have children, and we support morally licit means of doing so.

The solution, however, can never be a medical process that involves the creation of countless preborn children and results in most of them being frozen or discarded and destroyed. For this and other deeply troubling problems with the bill, we strongly oppose the Access to Family Building Act (S. 3612). 

Could this bill jeopardize our religious liberty?

USCCB:Even if you do not agree with us on the evident humanity of every conceived person, there are problems with S. 3612 that raise serious concerns on other grounds. If enacted, the Access to Family Building Act would be the first law ever to exempt itself from the longstanding Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), led by then-Representative Schumer and passed in the Senate by a vote of 97 to 3 in 1993.

An unprecedented self-carve-out from RFRA would be devastating. The bill’s command that private entities and individuals must not “unreasonably limit[], or interfer[e]” with a new right to provide or obtain assisted reproductive technologies (ART) is, while ambiguous, certainly sweeping. For example, faith-based non-profit charities, schools, and church organizations that serve your communities and, out of principle, cannot cover in vitro fertilization (IVF) in their employee health plans could face impossible, potentially existential choices. Faith-based health care facilities and providers of faith could likewise be forced to facilitate procedures that violate their beliefs or to exit the field. Such consequences would hurt not just organizations but, more importantly, those whom they serve. 

Are there potential unintended consequences to the Access to Family Building Act?

USCCB: The terms of S. 3612 could also be readily interpreted to fabricate and impose new rights to human cloning, gene editing, making human-animal chimeras, reproducing children of a parent who is long deceased, engaging in the buying and selling of human embryos, commercial gestational surrogacy, and more. Human cloning and commercial surrogacy are otherwise prohibited in some States.

Why should this issue be federalized?

USCCB: We would observe an incongruity, then, in those who say (erroneously) that protecting preborn children from abortion is now only an issue for the States, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, to then say that the federal government must intervene in States to provide IVF nationwide. Further, with no limits on age or who is liable, even parents could be sued by the government or a provider if they try to prevent their underage child from using ART (assisted reproductive technologies). 

This would be all the more probable if the ambiguous syntax of the parenthetical in Sec. 4(a)(1) of the bill indicates that “financial cost” is an “unreasonable” barrier, requiring undefined others to pay for one’s use of ART. And like any of these results, a new nationwide right to commercial surrogacy would also be deeply problematic. As Pope Francis recently observed, the practice exploits vulnerable women and commodifies both them and their children.

It also violates children’s right to a mother and father, and tears them away from the mother in whom they grew and whose voice is the first and only one they had ever known.

Is there really a need for this bill?

USCCB: All of the foregoing problems would seem to be disproportionate to the perceived benefits that the bill would achieve even for its supporters. This is because federally ensuring the availability of IVF is wholly unnecessary for those who wish to do so. Contrary to repeated misconceptions, the Supreme Court of Alabama’s decision of February 16 did not “ban” IVF. It merely took existing law, in effect long before Dobbs, and applied it to embryos in IVF facilities so that parents could hold the latter accountable for negligent wrongful death. IVF providers and clinics that have responded by pausing operations have done so voluntarily, possibly in a bid to resist accountability to parents, financial liability, and, effectively, regulation. 

Is this bill pro-life?

USCCB: While we highlight a range of concerns that we believe are shared by a majority of Americans regardless of their political persuasions, we must make clear that, even if such problems are addressed, we will continue to oppose the Access to Family Building Act as a threat to the most vulnerable of human beings. Contrary to what some have claimed, a position that supports legal enshrinement of IVF, however well-intended, is neither pro-life nor pro-child. Approaches such as investing in life-affirming research on infertility, or strengthening support for couples who desire to adopt, would be better to explore. 

Among those to whom we and our parishes minister, we know well the deep yearning and even suffering of families struggling with infertility. We seek to ameliorate that personal suffering. Yet we cannot condone a practice and an industry that is built on millions of children who are created to be destroyed or abandoned. For all of the above reasons, we implore you in the strongest possible terms to oppose S. 3612 and any similar legislation that comes before you. 

This letter was signed by:

Most Reverend Robert E. Barron, Bishop of Winona-Rochester,Chairman, Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth;

Most Reverend Borys Gudziak, Archbishop of Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, Chairman, Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development;

Most Reverend Michael F. Burbridge, Bishop of Arlington, Chairman, Committee on Pro-Life Activities;

Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades, Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Chairman, Committee for Religious Liberty.

Top ten religious movies for Lent 2024

Feb 16, 2024 |
top 10 religious movies for Lent 2024

By TOM QUINER

top 10 religious movies for Lent 2024Lent presents you with an opportunity to check out some quality films with themes that align with your faith. There are some fabulous options. Some are historical, others tell stories with subjects that tease you with Christlike motifs without hitting you over the head.

I’ve been compiling this list for over a decade. This year is remarkably different than 2014. I don’t have to spell it out. Basic ideas of right and wrong have been turned upside down. The FBI targets Catholic extremists and sends SWAT teams to the homes of pro-life advocates.

This Lent presents an opportunity to work on a particular virtue: courage. We need to be courageous in the face of a power structure that works overtime to intimidate those who dare to stand up for the unborn in the public square.

In the Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis says that courage is the ultimate virtue:

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.”

So this year’s list of top ten religious movies for Lent 2024 includes some movies that showcase courageous heroism in particularly creative ways. For example, one of the most amazing saints in all of history is Joan of Arc. We include not one, but two remarkably different films on this most amazing young woman. We’ll even tell you which movie of Joan not to watch.

Good religious movies help us appreciate the profound meaning of our lives as it ultimately draws us nearer to Christ. It reveals the Truth, with a capital T. If you have not had the good fortune of watching any of these films yet, then you may want to see what your Cable TV package has available and where you could watch these with your entire family.

Grab the popcorn. It’s showtime!

#10 NEFARIOUS: Blaze tv show host, Steve Deace who happens to be an Iowan, conceived this subversive film as a sort of follow up to The Screwtape Letters. The plot is seemingly straightforward: A serial killer is scheduled to be executed at 11PM. The state needs to confirm that the man is of sound mind before they electrocute him. They employ a psychiatrist to conduct an evaluation. The condemned man maintains he is possessed by a demon, and tells the shrink that he (the shrink) will have committed three murders of his own before the day is done. The movie contains no sex, nudity, crudity, profanity, or serious violence, other than the depiction of an execution. For parents and pastors who wonder if their teens should see this film, the answer is a qualified yes. The film is an eye-opener for young people whose minds have been clouded by a secular religion that says right is wrong and wrong is right. The devil is scary, and some kids can’t handle it. But the devil is also real, and Jesus spoke about demons and confronted them on many occasions. Intense. Scary. Worth seeing without a doubt.

#9 PRINCE OF EGYPT. Some two decades have passed since I first viewed this 1998 film. I watched it again last year and was simply delighted from beginning to end. Maybe it’s because I was watching with my grandkids, but I loved this movie more than I did the first time. How could one not love it? It tells the story of Moses. The visuals are stunning. The songs catchy and singable, written as they were by the great Stephen Schwartz (Godspell) with a score by Hans Zimmer. The all-star cast of voices includes a Hollywood who’s who from the late 90s: Val Kilmer; Ralph Fiennes; Patrick Stewart; Helen Mirren; Steve Martin; Martin Short; Michelle Pfeiffer; Sandra Bullock. Its $70 million budget ensured that no expense was spared in retelling a classic biblical story. This is a great animated family film the adults will love at least as much as their kids and grandkids.

#8: WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND. You are in for a treat. This delightful gem of a movie is perfect for the entire family. Made in 1961, it may look a little dated, but I found this to be one of the most creative plot lines I have seen in a long time. A wife murderer (Alan Bates) is on the lam from the law. He’s been shot by the cops and hides out in a barn in rural England. The teenage girl who lives on the farm, the great Haley Mills, startles the killer and asks who he is. He blurts out, “Jesus Christ,” before passing out from blood loss. Mills’ character takes him literally, and before you know it, all of the kids in the village believe that he actually IS Jesus. But they don’t tell any of their parents. This is a tale of faith and redemption. Perfect for Lent!

#7: Gran Torino: Surprised to see a Clint Eastwood movie on the list? No one less than Bishop Robert Barron called Gran Torino “one of the great presentations of the Christ story.” Eastwood, who directed and starred, portrays grouchy Walt Kowalski, an old geezer who’s wife just died. His kids want to move him into an old folks home. His working class neighbor in Detroit is getting dangerous as gangs move in. Walt is a cantankerous, racist s.o.b. who hides his decency under the surface. He’s a heroic figure who uses violence to ward off violence directed at his Laotian neighbors … until he realizes it’s just not working. Violence begets violence. I really don’t want to say much more, because you need to see this film if you haven’t. Be warned that there’s violence and there’s no shortage of profanity. Suffice it to say, Bishop Barron said it was one of the best examples of what the church fathers called the “Christus Victor Theory.” Watch it.

#6: JOAN OF ARC:  My wife and I listened to a riveting book on tape, Mark Twain’s Joan of Arc, on a road trip to the East Coast last summer. Before we began the book, we read that Twain considered this his greatest achievement. Early on, he said he considered Joan to be the greatest person ever born, next to Jesus. He had our attention. The book totally mesmerized us, and we finished it before we got back home. The next step? Find a good movie of Joan of Arc. Do you know her story? A French peasant girl in the early 15th century begins hearing voices from God. The voices included saints and angels (St. Michael and St. Gabriel). The voices told the 16 year old Joan that she was to lead the French army against the English to liberate France and crown the French dauphin as king. Amazingly, she pulled it off, only to be captured by the English, tried as a witch, and burned at the stake. The first Joan movie we watched was, “The Messenger”, starring Milla Jovovich. While entertaining, it presents Joan as a warrior more than a faithful servant of God. They misrepresented her childhood, setting up false motivations for her mission. By contrast, the 1948 Joan of Arc (below) remains true to the Joan story for the most part. It gets the full Hollywood treatment, including a big budget and A-list cast, beginning with Ingrid Bergman as the Maiden of Orléans, Joan of Arc. Joan models faithfulness and courage, a great saint from history to ponder this Lent.

#5: THE PASSION of the CHRIST. This was more than a movie, it was an event that either united or divided people, much like Christ Himself. Mel Gibson’s movie was controversial. The violence is grotesque. It is not a fun movie to watch. I have seen it thrice, and I will see it again … someday. Jim Caviezel was perfect as Jesus. The movie is important because it gives modern man an inkling of what Christ did for us. I heard Fr. John Riccardo once say about Christ’s crucifixion: “If this is the cure, can you imagine the disease?” This movie forces us to think about that question seriously. The scene of Christ’s scourging is horrendous. Do you know why He was lashed 39 times? Because 40 was considered “death” by the Romans. It was unsurvivable. I would recommend the edited version with some of the violence excised. After watching this film, fall to your knees and thank Christ for what He did for us.

#4: HACKSAW RIDGE. Courage and conviction are in short supply these days. So when a movie comes along about a man who stood up for his religious convictions regardless of the cost, it’s worth checking out. I finally got around to watching Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge this year (it came out in 2016). The movie marked his return to directing after a ten year hiatus. Gibson knows how to tell a story. Hacksaw Ridge tells the story of Desmond Doss, a simple man from Lynchburg, Virginia, who enlists when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He had a catch: not only would he not use a rifle, he would not even carry one. Although the ‘cancel culture’ didn’t exist in the 1940s, Doss felt the brunt of the military establishment who attempted to ‘cancel’ him via a court martial. They failed. He went on to become an invaluable member of his unit as a medic, rescuing some 75 soldiers at the brutal battle of Okinawa. His courage was contagious. Following a particularly brutal attack, Doss was wounded and exhausted after saving countless of his fellow soldiers. It was a miracle he was still alive. The soldiers were once again called to battle (the entire campaign lasted 83 days). The soldiers wouldn’t go unless Doss was with them. The commanding officer said to Doss: “These men don’t believe the same way you do. But they believe so much in how much you believe. They want a piece of it. They’re not going up there without you.” The moral: courage is contagious.

#3: JESUS of NAZARETH. This film is an epic work of cinematic craftsmanship. Robert Powell is an extraordinarily effective Jesus. It was originally broadcast as a 382 minute mini series on television in 1977. Every single minute of this film is worth it. Nothing is wasted. Director Franco Zeffirelli has created an artistic masterpiece. He is true to the Gospels and creates an ancient Holy Land that seems real to modern man. His presentation of Jesus’ telling of the Prodigal Son is a work of genius, surely inspired by the Holy Spirit! Interestingly, one of the writers was Anthony Burgess, also the author of “A Clockwork Orange.” What a cast. Each star was at the top of their game. In addition to Mr. Powell, James Farantino was a Peter for the ages. Ian McShane was a complex Judas whose motivations are slowly revealed in his deft political maneuverings. Olivia Hussey as the Virgin Mary, and Anne Bancroft as Mary Magdalene both shine. The list is endless: Christopher Plummer fleshes out the human weakness of Herod Antipas. You can’t stand him in the end. And James Mason brings Joseph of Arimathea to life. The conversation he has with Jesus about the idea of being “born again” draws you irresistibly into the essence of the Gospels. That’s why this film is so good. You feel like you’re walking right alongside of Jesus. Everything seems so authentic.

#2: THE CHOSEN: Not a movie, but rather the first original TV series about Jesus Christ. Three seasons are completed, 24 episodes in all, plus a pilot and Christmas special. What’s interesting is this was made outside of the Hollywood system. It was financed via crowd funding. The writers let us get to know Jesus through the eyes of key players from scripture: His disciples, Mary Magdalene, even little children.  You can watch it free on The Chosen app and/or Angel Studios website. They claim over 400 million views so far! If you want to sample an episode, check out the 3rd episode of season two, titled “Matthew 4:24.” The camera work is extraordinary, as a single camera weaves in and out of a crowd without a break for the first eight minutes or so. Watch:

Season 4 is in theaters right now. The tentative streaming date is March 14th, 024.

#1: THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC: Okay, this film was made in 1928. It’s black and white. And it’s a SILENT MOVIE! Don’t dismiss it out of hand, because you have never seen a finer piece of acting in your life. The late Roger Ebert said this about it: “You cannot know the history of silent film unless you know the face of Renee Maria Falconetti. In a medium without words, where the filmmakers believed that the camera captured the essence of characters through their faces, to see Falconetti in Dreyer’s “The Passion of Joan of Arc” (1928) is to look into eyes that will never leave you. Falconetti (as she is always called) made only this single movie. “It may be the finest performance ever recorded on film,” wrote Pauline Kael.”

Did you know that there is a transcript of every word spoken at Joan’s 1431 trial? This film focuses exclusively on the trial, using actual words from the transcript. It captures as no other film does the passion of a saint. If you want to see soldier Joan, this isn’t the film for you. But if you want to see the depth of a saint’s faith, devotion, and courage, this is a must-see.

Those are my picks. What are yours? Please let me know. I want to watch some great, new faith-filled films this Lent, starting today. So let me know your favorites right away!

[Tom Quiner is board president of Pulse Life Advocates. If you enjoyed this essay, be sure to subscribe to our blog. Every donation helps us expand our reach!]

Abortion hurts women in a profound way

Feb 15, 2024 |
abortion hurts women

abortion hurts women

By Maggie DeWitte, Executive Director Pulse Life Advocates

Since Roe v. Wade, abortion has taken the lives of over 65 million of our preborn brothers and sisters.  But also, in the wake of that tragedy, it has wounded 65 million women and countless men, siblings, grandparents and other family members.  Abortion hurts women in a profound way, and it has contributed to a society of walking wounded; women hurting and in need of healing from their abortion decision.

We need only talk to those involved in post-abortive counseling to understand the deep physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual pain these women endure because of their abortion decision.

A women chooses abortion for a variety of reasons.  But more times than not, she feels she has no other option.  She doesn’t have the support of her family, is lied to by the abortion industry that this is a quick fix with no consequences.

In many instances she is pressured by the father of the baby.

SHE is a victim of abortion.

SHE needs our compassion and support.

SHE needs help and healing.

Pulse Life Advocates has been a leader in the pro-life movement for over 50 years.  Each and every day is spent trying to create a culture of life.  It’s to save babies AND save mothers.  We love them both!

The pro-life movement is pro-woman.  As such, we will not support any legislation that would criminalize women.

We need to advance laws that protect unborn children and do not harm women, which is why Pulse Life Advocates withdrew support for HF2256 upon learning that it criminalizes women.

[Pulse supports women before and after a baby is born. Mark your calendar for our April 14th WOMEN OF WORTH Music Event and help us help even more babies and their moms.]