Pediatrician: ‘trans’ procedures for kids ‘faulty from the foundation’

The executive director of a premier group of American pediatricians said a newly published report from the UK revealed significant flaws in the studies that have been used to treat young people with experimental puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. “The protocol that all these guidelines are based on ... are flawed, and they’re based on these Dutch studies that were done and they were not done on children,” explained Dr. Jill Simons. READ 

Pew research: 6 in 10 U.S. Catholics say abortion should be legal

Pew Research Center recently published an article about trends in Mass attendance, abortion support, and the politics of Americans who identify as Catholic. “While the Catholic Church opposes abortion, about six in ten Catholics say abortion should be legal,” Pew reported. A Catholic priest on X pointed out that Pew’s surveys include large numbers of self-identifying Catholics who do not regularly practice the Faith and do not regularly attend Mass.  READ

Two juveniles vandalize KY Catholic church

Louisville, Kentucky police have detained two juvenile suspects on vandalism charges after they allegedly caused over $10,000 in damages to St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church on April 9. Security footage inside the Meade County church captured the suspects spraying fire extinguishers throughout the church, destroying several religious artifacts, and pouring holy oil over the sanctuary’s carpet. READ

Biden admin to impose pro-abortion rule on employers

The Biden administration announced a new rule Monday which aims to force employers to cover abortion under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). The over 400-page rule mentions the word “abortion” a total of 348 times. House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-NC, a Catholic, slammed the rule stating, “Adding this controversial provision into the PWFA is wrong. Period.”  READ

Jesuit university to host ‘drag’ show

St. Joseph’s University (SJU) in Philadelphia will host its annual on-campus “drag” show this Friday. “Join us for SJU Pride’s annual Drag Show where student, local, and nationally recognized drag queens will perform! All are welcome,” states the event’s official description. The event will take place on Friday, April 19, from 8 to 10:30pm at The Perch, which is located in the Jesuit-affiliated university’s Campion Student Center.  READ

Why Deny the Student Prayer Club?

‘The quiet part out loud’: Bill Maher says abortion ‘kind of’ is murder

On Friday’s episode of his HBO show, comedian Bill Maher said abortion “kind of is” murder. “I’m just okay with that,” he added. “I mean there's 8 billion people in the world. I'm sorry, we won't miss you.” “Is that not your position if you're pro-choice?” Maher asked. “Bill Maher said the quiet part out loud about abortion,” one X user wrote.  READ

Multiple Texas universities ditch ‘diversity’ programs

Multiple universities in the University of Texas (UT) system have recently announced the firing of their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) staff, in order to comply with state law. Conservative scholar and prominent DEI critic Christopher Rufo praised UT’s decision. “The ‘pink slip revolution’ has begun,” he wrote on X Friday.  READ

News from the Iowa Catholic Conference

There’s still time to send a message to your Senator in support of House File 2617, the “Baby Olivia” bill. HF 2617 requires middle and high school curriculum to include a video showing fetal development. The proposal would ensure students can see the miracle of life and how it develops in the womb.

The ICC also supports HF 2690, which relates to the "Medicaid for employed people with disabilities" (MEPD) program. It would allow employed people with disabilities who are married to retain more monetary resources (up to $21,000) before going over the limit and losing coverage. The ICC has supported similar bills which help people with disabilities and lessen any disincentive to marriage. The bill is eligible for consideration on the floor of the House.

Last week at the State Capitol

The governor has signed SF 2340, the "illegal entry by certain aliens” bill. It is scheduled to go into effect on July 1. The ICC opposed the bill and will collaborate with diocesan staff and community groups to help educate the public on the bill.

Some provisions of the law:

Makes it an aggravated misdemeanor for a person who has been previously denied admission or deported from the US to be in Iowa.

Does not allow police to make arrests on the school property, church grounds or hospitals.

Requires a judge, after a finding of probable cause for an arrest under the bill, to order the person released and to leave the country.

The governor also signed SF 2252, a corrective bill for the Iowa MOMS (More Options for Maternal Support) law. It will allow Iowa groups to apply to be the administrator of the program. This program connects expectant mothers with resources like counseling and baby supplies from pro-life organizations.

Arguments took place on Thursday in front of the Iowa Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of the state’s prohibition on abortions after a heartbeat can be detected. A decision is expected in June. We are hopeful the Court will send the case back to district court and ask it to apply a rational basis test so the law could go into effect in the meantime.

HJR 2006, a constitutional amendment proposal opposed by the ICC, passed the Senate by a vote of 31-13. It has already passed the House and waits for possible future action in the legislature next session. If approved by the legislature during the next two years and then ultimately ratified by the people of Iowa, it would require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to increase the personal or corporate income tax. Another constitutional amendment proposal requiring a single tax rate will be considered in a House committee this week.

HF 2586 was passed by the Senate by a vote of 30-14 and returned to the House for consideration. The bill includes a process for school staff to receive professional permits to carry weapons and offers public school staff qualified immunity from liability for the application of reasonable force at the school. This is intended to help schools get insurance coverage when they arm staff. The bill was amended to eliminate grants for School Resource Officers. Democrats called for alternatives such as an "extreme risk protective order” allowing people to go to court to temporarily remove a person’s gun rights, and additional funding to lower teacher-student ratios in public schools.

The Senate also passed HF 2276 by a vote of 42-3 and sent it to the governor. The bill provides for maternity group homes to be zoned as residential property, much like group homes for people with disabilities. This solves an issue which has come up where there has been opposition to a maternity group home receiving a conditional use permit to move into a neighborhood.

A Senate subcommittee approved HF 2672, which would allow counties to eliminate the forestry tax credit. The ICC has opposed the bill as we encourage care for the environment and encourage legislators to look ahead to the coming decades and ask themselves if it’s a good idea to disincentivize forestry. Trees are a water and air quality tool. We know that Iowa is losing trees at an alarming rate to storms, diseases, and pests.

Some farmers spoke in favor of the bill because they believe they are paying more property taxes than necessary because other people with forestry acres get a tax credit.

U.S. bishops file legal brief against criminalizing homelessness

The USCCB filed an amicus brief in the case of City of Grants Pass, OR v. Johnson et al. The City of Grants Pass has made it a crime to be homeless. This conflicts with principles of both western tradition and Catholic teaching, which have long held that punishment should be proportionate to an offense and that persons who lack shelter should be aided, not punished.

DDF releases document on human dignity

The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s has released a new document, “Dignitas infinita,” which commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and reaffirms "the indispensable nature of the dignity of the human person in Christian anthropology.”

The document includes a number of key themes from recent papal teaching. Abortion, euthanasia and surrogate motherhood are listed as violations of human dignity alongside war, poverty and human trafficking.

Planned Parenthood exposed for ‘transitioning’ children in Missouri, forced to turn over documents

Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion chain, has expanded heavily into the ‘gender transition’ industry since 2021, prompting action from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.

JEFFERSON CITY (LifeSiteNews) — On Thursday, Missouri courts ordered Planned Parenthood’s St. Louis affiliate to hand over documents pertaining to its subjection of minors to “gender transition” procedures.

The Missouri Circuit Court for the 22nd Judicial Circuit ruled that, while the attorney general’s office was not entitled to “federally protected documents under the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act” (HIPAA), it agreed that it had “broad investigative powers” and therefore Planned Parenthood St. Louis had to produce “any and all documents not protected by HIPAA.”

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced on Thursday that his office “will get to the bottom of how this clandestine network of clinics has subjected children to puberty blockers and irreversible surgery, often without parental consent. There is no more important fight than to ensure Missouri is the safest state in the nation for children. No stone will be left unturned in these investigations.”

The press release added that Bailey “is now 3/3” in lawsuits to force facilities involved in “transitioning” minors to comply with the state’s investigations.

While Planned Parenthood is best known as the nation’s largest abortion chain, the case highlights that it is also deeply involved in the LGBT movement. It advertises itself as a “safe and welcoming place to get transgender/nonbinary hormone therapy [sic],” including estrogen, anti-androgen, testosterone, and puberty blockers. Its expansion into the “transitioning” industry has risen substantially since 2021.

Last year, it was reported that a Planned Parenthood location in New Jersey provided estrogen to an autistic teenager after less than a half-hour of consultation, without his parents’ knowledge or consent.

A significant body of evidence shows that “affirming” gender confusion carries serious harms, especially when done with impressionable children who lack the mental development, emotional maturity, and life experience to consider the long-term ramifications of the decisions being pushed on them. Studies find that more than 80% of children experiencing gender dysphoria outgrow it on their own by late adolescence, whereas reinforcing dysphoria often fails to resolve, and may even exacerbate, mental strife by perpetuating delusion and neglecting the actual root causes.

Yet such “services” are highly lucrative, as illustrated by a 2022 exposé about Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Clinic for Transgender Health, where Dr. Shayne Sebold Taylor said outright that “these surgeries make a lot of money” – as much as $40,000 per patient for “chest reconstruction” and more than $20,000 for vaginoplasty.

Bailey has long been fighting the underage “transition” industry. Last year, he sued Southampton Community Healthcare, one of the state’s last remaining health centers, for continuing to “transition” minors in violation of the state’s Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act.

Caitlin Clark's number 22 will no longer be used by the Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball!

 

Carmelite nuns challenge New York abortion mandate

Nuns are leading the challenge against New York’s abortion provision mandate in a case set to appear before the New York Court of Appeals next week. In 2017, the New York state government issued a mandate requiring all private insurance companies that offer maternity care coverage to cover abortion costs for clients in New York. Four years later, the Diocese of Albany, along with Anglican and Catholic nuns, other dioceses, Christian churches, and religious ministries sued the state over the mandate. The Catholic nuns in the lawsuit are Carmelites who minister to the elderly at a nursing home.  READ

Report from UK says ‘misinformation’ and ‘weak evidence’ used to justify ‘trans’ for kids

A new report from the United Kingdom revealed that the medical industry’s justification for giving puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors is based on “remarkably weak” evidence stemming from “poor quality of the published studies,” and “misinformation." At the same time, the industry exhibits “expectations of care” that are “far from usual clinical practice,” Dr. Susan Berry writes.  READ

Rainbow wolves: a new report from the Catholic Accountability Project

The Catholic Accountability Project (CAP) has released a new report entitled "Rainbow Wolves" which investigates New Ways Ministry (NWM), an organization that aims to dismantle Catholic teachings on sex, the family, and marriage. Following the Vatican’s release of the controversial document Fiducia Supplicans, NWM was one of the pro-LGBT groups within the Church that joined the secular media in celebrating the document, claiming it was a “step” toward the Church embracing same-sex “marriage.”  READ

This week on Faith On Trial:

Podcast is now up, you can listen here:https://faith-on-trial.simplecast.com/episodes/stephen-holt-julianne-fleischer-4-12-2024-GtOT_dd1