Respect Life News Our last Respect life News was printed in the March 15th bulletin. Since that date the coronavirus pandemic has raged lethally through much of the world radically impacting an enormous number of human activities. The spring 40Days for Life campaign was one of those activities.
Shawn Carney, director of 40 Days for Life, on March 22, suspendedthe public vigil portion of the spring 40 Days for Life campaign. It had been scheduled to end on May 5, Palm Sunday. Some individuals, however, continued to participate publicly in front of abortion sites, keeping social distance, or from their cars.
Many campaign leaders shifted to a 24-hour, around-the-clock at-home vigil. Despite harassment, even persecution by “pro choice” advocates at several locations, and early closing of the public vigils, the final results were once more very successful:
The organization’s April 21 blog announced that, there were 484 confirmed reports of babies saved from abortion; that ten abortion workers quit their jobs and that the 107th abortion facility closed following 40 Days vigils.
Also, occasioned by the pandemic was an April 17 letter signed by Archbishop Joseph Naumann, head of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities and by Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, Chairman of the bishops’ committee on Doctrine. The letter was addressed to the Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Stephen M. Hahn, M.D..
Regarding COVID vaccines, it reads, in part: “…. among the dozens of vaccines currently in development, some are being produced using old cell lines that were created from the cells of aborted babies. For example, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a substantial contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and is working on a vaccine that is being produced using one of these ethically problematic cell lines. Thankfully, other vaccines such as those being developed by Sanofi Pasteur, Inovio, and the John Paul II Medical Research Institute, utilize cell lines not connectedto unethical procedures and methods…. no American should be forced to choose between being vaccinated against this potentially deadly virus and violating his or her conscience.
Parishioners are strongly encouraged to urge commissioner Hahn to ensure that Americans will have access to a COVID vaccine that is free from abortion, To do so, contact the bishops’ Action Center here: votervoice.net/USCCB/Campaigns/73486/Respond. A message is provided; however, parishioners may also compose their own message if they wish.
Also related to the pandemic, shamefully related, were a number of big businesses which received emergency loans intended for small businesses. Among the former, was Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider with around 330,000 abortions performed annually, and with nearly $2 billion in net assets. The organization applied for and received $80 million in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), designed to help small businesses and non-profits stay open and maintain payroll during the pandemic.
We note still another effect of the pandemic, an encouraging one for the pro-life cause. Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which runs 10 facilities in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma because of financial troubles due to low patient numbers and the coronavirus pandemic, offered severance packages to 36 employees; moreover, more layoffs have been predicted to follow soon.