What Prayerfully Pro-Choice Looks Like

I am a busy parish priest half-way through Lent with Holy Week and Easter in sight in my rear view mirror — so I quite frankly did not have time this week to write about what it means to be prayerfully pro-choice... again. But the orchestrated efforts to turn back the clock on women’s reproductive freedom left me no other principled choice.....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-susan-russell/what-prayerfully-pro-choi_b_9380064.html

The Weird, Offensive Argument At The Heart Of The Supreme Court Case Against Birth Control

Pro tip: if you’re about to file a brief in the Supreme Court, it’s a good idea to make sure that you haven’t made any arguments that could give the Court’s blessing to race discrimination. Otherwise, you risk falling into the same trap that caught the lawyers behind a major challenge to women’s access to birth control now pending in the Supreme Court...
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/03/15/3760254/the-weird-offensive-argument-at-the-heart-of-the-supreme-court-case-against-birth-control/

Trump Takes His Fourth Position On Abortion In Three Days. He’ll Need To Change This One Immediately

Trump is having a lot of trouble making up his mind about where he stands on abortion...
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/04/01/3765914/trump-abortion-four-positions-three-days/

Mississippi could now legalize discrimination against people who have premarital sex

...But as this bill is actually written, though, a whole lot of people in Mississippi besides sexual minorities could face discrimination, too — like the vast numbers of people who have had sex outside of marriage...
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/mississippi-could-now-legalize-discrimination-against-people-who-have-premarital-sex/

Fetal Tissue Research Uncovers New Information About Zika | ThinkProgress

New medical research has quickly advanced doctors’ understanding of how the Zika virus infects a fetus and how to detect its presence much earlier in a woman’s pregnancy. These findings — released Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine — would have been impossible to uncover without the help of one crucial, yet controversial, resource: tissue collected from an aborted fetus infected by Zika...
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2016/03/31/3765233/fetal-tissue-zika-study/

Fueling Fascism: The Secret History of How Texaco Supplied Oil to Fascists in Spain

http://democracynow.org - While thousands of Americans fought against fascism in the Spanish Civil War, some chose to back Franco’s fascist regime. The most notable was the CEO of the American oil giant Texaco. He violated U.S. law by selling Franco’s regime discounted oil on credit. Also in violation of U.S. law, the oil was transported to Spain on U.S. ships. For more on this remarkable story, we’re joined by Adam Hochschild, the author of the sweeping new history book, "Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939."
Interview:
https://youtu.be/ROe6oNRoJHY

Spoiler Alert: Women Are Already Being Punished For Having Abortions | ThinkProgress

Multiple U.S. women -- with few options to get themselves to one of their state's dwindling legal clinics -- have been arrested for illegal abortions after they bought abortion-inducing medication online. And thanks to the growing number of laws aimed at protecting “fetal rights,” other women have been punished for doing activities that allegedly harmed their pregnancies. Americans have been charged with murder for allegedly seeking to harm their fetuses by attempting suicide, using illicit drugs, or even falling down the stairs...
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2016/03/30/3765073/women-punished-abortion/

Zika Is Headed For States With Harsh Abortion Restrictions. What Happens When It Gets There?

Zika’s Spread Across The U.S. May Change The Narrative Around Abortion.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2016/03/30/3764270/zika-comes-to-anti-abortion-states/

Pope Francis Calls for Ending Tax-Exempt Status of Churches That Don’t Help the Needy

“Some religious orders say ‘No, now that the convent is empty we are going to make a hotel and we can have guests, and support ourselves that way, or make money.’ Well, if that is what you want to do, then pay taxes! A religious school is tax-exempt because it is religious, but if it is functioning as a hotel, then it should pay taxes just like its neighbor. Otherwise it is not fair business.”
http://usuncut.com/world/pope-francis-calls-for-ending-tax-exempt-status-of-churches-that-dont-help-the-needy/

Brazil Confiscates Abortion Pills From Pregnant Women Exposed To Zika

“I contacted Zika four days ago. I just found out I’m about six weeks pregnant. I have a son I love dearly. I love children. But I don’t believe it is a wise decision to keep a baby who will suffer. I need an abortion. I don’t know who to turn to. Please help me ASAP.”
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2016/03/28/3763898/brazil-abortion-pill-confiscated-zika/

Why pediatricians care so much about the Supreme Court’s birth control case - The Washington Post

For the second time in two years, the Supreme Court justices tangled over a question about personal beliefs and birth control: Must employers who are religiously opposed to it cover it in their health plans? A prominent group of pediatricians hopes the answer will be yes...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/24/why-pediatricians-care-so-much-about-the-supreme-courts-birth-control-case/

Denied contraception, Catholic mother of disabled child questions church teachings — at her peril

Sonia Guizar used to attend mass regularly and teach at a Catholic school. But her Catholic employer’s refusal to cover birth control brought her an ill-timed pregnancy and a child with developmental challenges that stretch her family thin. When she publically shared her experience and questioned Church teachings in a Washington Post story, what she got from fellow Catholics was a heap of abuse from people whose urge to defend religious dogma and authority trumped their kindness and compassion...
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/denied-contraception-catholic-mother-of-disabled-child-questions-church-teachings-at-her-peril/

A Once-Devout Catholic Woman Says She’s “Disillusioned” by the Church’s Anti-Contraception Stance

"The extreme measures the church is taking to block women’s access to common health care — including the 98 percent of Catholic women of reproductive age who have used a method of contraception other than natural family planning — is turning me away from the Catholic Church. I no longer celebrate Mass. They are out of touch with the people they claim to represent, and this time they’ve gone too far. I hope the Supreme Court recognizes that and protects my right to access the care that we’re promised under the law."

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/03/23/a-once-devout-catholic-woman-says-shes-disillusioned-by-the-churchs-anti-contraception-stance/

“Little Sisters” Being Sold As Face Of Contraception Case

The effort to make the Little Sisters the public face of the case has been so extensive, in fact, that you could be forgiven if you didn’t know that the actual name of the case that the Supreme Court is hearing Wednesday is Zubik v. Burwell, which is a consolidated case that includes the Little Sisters’ challenge to the mandate as well as the challenges of six other plaintiffs, including the anti-abortion group Priests for Life and two Catholic dioceses...
http://religiondispatches.org/little-sisters-being-sold-as-face-of-contraception-case/

Birth control is back at the Supreme Court

WASHINGTON – The anti-birth control coverage camp is returning to the Supreme Court Wednesday, and they’re feeling under siege.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/birth-control-back-the-supreme-court

10 Things to Know About the Supreme Court Showdown Over Contraception and Religious Freedom

Nonprofit religious groups have refused to provide birth control under Obamacare.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/03/10-things-you-need-know-about-supreme-court-contraception-showdown

Catholic Bishops Winning “Liberties,” Losing Humans | Religion Dispatches

"Maybe it’s not them, Cardinal. Maybe it’s you. Maybe the pews are empty and the Starbucks are full because the hierarchy is more concerned about the public performance of a very specific type of conservative Catholicism that infringes on the rights of others than on fostering a genuine Christian community that actually creates a sacred space. Where’s the Catholic Sandy Koufax? He’s probably at Starbucks."
http://religiondispatches.org/catholic-bishops-winning-liberties-losing-humans/

Mother Teresa to be made a saint, though not everyone will celebrate (+video) - CSMonitor.com

“Mother Teresa was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God,” wrote Christopher Hitchens, perhaps her best-known detractor. “She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2016/0315/Mother-Teresa-to-be-made-a-saint-though-not-everyone-will-celebrate-video

Trump Owns Bill O'Reilly Post Debate

In this Majority Report clip, another tragicomic situation unfolds as Donald Trump, head bully of the world, appears to neatly bring up the most hurtful things possible that he could rub in Bill O'Reilly's face after the Republican debate. O'Reilly may or may not be drunk and doesn't seem to notice, but ... can we honestly feel bad for Bill O'Reilly?? What is happening to reality?
Interview:
https://youtu.be/asAxn1zbH0U

Quote of the Day: "No, sir, I am not going to answer that"

Fascinating! What exactly is it that Blackburn is so loath to answer—and so unable to defend? Well, it turns out that she wants to issue a subpoena to get the names of individual medical researchers who use fetal tissue, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler wants to know why. Steve Benen picks up the story...
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/03/quote-day-no-sir-i-am-not-going-answer