Catholic News 2
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- For all its bluster and over-the-top propaganda, North Korea often does just what it says it will do when it comes to its weapons development....
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Nicolas Maduro is pledging to go after his political foes with the virtually unlimited powers of a constitutional assembly that his backers will select Sunday as his opponents wage a last-ditch battle to halt what they call the replacement of Venezuelan democracy with a single-party authoritarian system....
Austin, Texas, Jul 29, 2017 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday the Texas Senate passed a bill which would ban general insurance policies from covering abortions for private citizens, government employees, and those insured under the Affordable Care Act.The bill, SB8, would still allow for coverage of abortions that are considered medically necessary to save a woman’s life.Senate Republicans defeated a series of amendments to the bill July 26 that would have expanded exceptions to include fatal fetal health conditions, serious mental health impairment, and pregnancies resulting from sexual assault or incest.Women who desire abortion coverage for other reasons would need to purchase a separate, supplemental plan, estimated to cost $12-$80 a year.“I believe the majority of Texans prefer not to subsidize the elective abortion coverage of others,” said Republican Sen. Brandon Creighton, the bill’s author, according the Statesman.According to 2016 statistics...
Austin, Texas, Jul 29, 2017 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday the Texas Senate passed a bill which would ban general insurance policies from covering abortions for private citizens, government employees, and those insured under the Affordable Care Act.
The bill, SB8, would still allow for coverage of abortions that are considered medically necessary to save a woman’s life.
Senate Republicans defeated a series of amendments to the bill July 26 that would have expanded exceptions to include fatal fetal health conditions, serious mental health impairment, and pregnancies resulting from sexual assault or incest.
Women who desire abortion coverage for other reasons would need to purchase a separate, supplemental plan, estimated to cost $12-$80 a year.
“I believe the majority of Texans prefer not to subsidize the elective abortion coverage of others,” said Republican Sen. Brandon Creighton, the bill’s author, according the Statesman.
According to 2016 statistics from the University of Texas at Austin, 42 percent of Texans identify as pro-life, while 40 percent identify as pro-choice, with the remainder identifying as ‘neither’ or ‘unsure’.
The state has passed some of the strongest abortion restrictions in the U.S., and has become a hotbed of abortion controversy in the past few years.
In the 2016 Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt decision, the US Supreme Court struck down abortion restrictions in the state that required abortion clinics to meet the standards for ambulatory surgical centers and required doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
Currently, 25 states ban abortion coverage under the Affordable Care Act, while 10 states prohibit private insurance plans from offering general abortion coverage.
“I believe Texas is behind, where we always lead on pro-life issues,” Creighton said.
Opponents say the bill discriminates against women, noting that the bill doesn’t include vasectomies. Creighton said that vasectomies don’t end a human life, which was his motivation for authoring SB8, according to a local T.V. channel.
Republican Sen. Don Huffines voiced support for the bill, noting the large number of pro-life Texans.
“There are millions and millions of Texans that are pro-life. Should they be compelled to finance the costs of abortions that are essentially socialized by insurance companies in the cost of every consumers’ premium?” he said.
The bill will now head to the Texas House for consideration.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Police disrupted a terrorist plot to bring down an airplane and arrested four men on Saturday in raids on homes in several Sydney suburbs, the prime minister said....
London, England, Jul 28, 2017 / 11:51 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A spokesperson for the parents of terminally ill British infant Charlie Gard has reported that their “beautiful little boy” has died.He had been taken into hospice care on July 27, a day before the announcement of his death. In a statement, his mother said: “Our beautiful little boy has gone, we are so proud of you Charlie.”Gard, 11 months old, and his parents, Connie Yates and Chris Gard, had been at the center of a months-long legal debate regarding parental rights and human life. They had been denied the chance to take him to the U.S. for experimental treatment as well as their wish to spend a week with him in hospice care at home.Charlie had been baptized earlier this week. His parents shared a photo of him clutching a medal of St. Jude, patron of hopeless causes.The case garnered international attention and support, with President Donald Trump and Pope Francis both weighing in via twitter in earl...
London, England, Jul 28, 2017 / 11:51 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A spokesperson for the parents of terminally ill British infant Charlie Gard has reported that their “beautiful little boy” has died.
He had been taken into hospice care on July 27, a day before the announcement of his death. In a statement, his mother said: “Our beautiful little boy has gone, we are so proud of you Charlie.”
Gard, 11 months old, and his parents, Connie Yates and Chris Gard, had been at the center of a months-long legal debate regarding parental rights and human life. They had been denied the chance to take him to the U.S. for experimental treatment as well as their wish to spend a week with him in hospice care at home.
Charlie had been baptized earlier this week. His parents shared a photo of him clutching a medal of St. Jude, patron of hopeless causes.
The case garnered international attention and support, with President Donald Trump and Pope Francis both weighing in via twitter in early July in support of the boy and his parents. The pediatric hospital Bambino Gesù in Rome, known as “the pope’s hospital,” offered to care for the boy.
The parents had raised £1.35 million for treatment.
He suffered from a rare mitochondrial disease which paralyzes muscles and causes brain damage. He was believed to be only one of 16 sufferers in the world.
Born on August 4 of last year, Gard’s condition was discovered in September and he was admitted to the Great Ormund Street Hospital (GOSH) the following month, in October. His life support was recommended to be withdrawn in April, and his parents subsequently took the case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. All courts which reviewed the case upheld the GOSH doctors’ decision.
On July 17, Charlie was examined by US neurologist who claimed an experimental therapy could provide up to a 10 percent of improvement in the child’s condition. This came after unpublished research suggested there was a chance for some reversal in Charlie’s brain damage. The child and his parents were subsequently granted U.S. residency.
However, after new medical reports were revealed in court last week, Yates and Gard conceded that Charlie no longer has a chance for improvement, and on Monday withdrew their legal fight.
Greg Burke, the Holy See press officer, had said July 24 on that “Pope Francis is praying for Charlie and his parents and feels especially close to them at this time of immense suffering. The Holy Father asks that we join in prayer that they may find God’s consolation and love.” Pope Francis again stated his support on his own twitter account after the announcement of the child's death.
I entrust little Charlie to the Father and pray for his parents and all those who loved him.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) July 28, 2017
The child suffered from permanent brain damage and could not breathe on his own. His mother had expressed hope that he can spend a week in hospice before life support was withdrawn. That wish was not granted, as his parents could not assemble the team of doctors required.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- Caeleb Dressel knows the comparisons are coming....
YPRES, Belgium (AP) -- Dismembered soldiers sucked into cesspools of mud. Shattered tree trunks and the waft of poison gas hovering over the wounded who were awaiting their fates on the scarred soil of Flanders Fields....
A "steady stream" of tourists left a North Carolina island Saturday under evacuation orders prompted by a widespread power outage, wiping out a significant chunk of the lucrative summer months for local businesses....
NUUK, Greenland (AP) -- After 24 days at sea and a journey spanning more than 10,000 kilometers (6,214 miles), the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica has set a new record for the earliest transit of the fabled Northwest Passage....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened once more to end required payments to insurance companies unless lawmakers repeal and replace the Obama-era health care law....
