Meeting on Wednesday

Come to our April meeting on Wednesday, April 8, at 7 pm.

And PLEASE read the post below. Its about contacting President Obama and telling him NOT to rescind Conscience Clauses for healthcare providers. If he did that, doctors and nurses would be forced to provide abortions against their consciences. The President has given the public a 30 day window (which was not publicized) to give their opinions on the conscience clauses. The deadline is April 9. Please participate.

Protect Conscience Rights

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is inviting public comment on a proposal to rescind an important December 2008 federal regulation. The 2008 regulation implements and enforces three federal laws protecting the conscience rights of health care providers, especially those at risk of being discriminated against because of their moral or religious objection to abortion. For background, see: www.usccb.org/conscienceprotection. The rescission proposal was published in the Federal Register on March 10. See: nchla.org/docdisplay.asp?ID=233. The public has until April 9 to submit comments.   As they did when the conscience regulation was first proposed, pro-abortion groups are again trying to flood HHS with comments attacking conscience rights. Their chief message: Rescind the regulation because conscience clauses (which they call “refusal” or “denial” clauses) interfere with women’s “access” to health care. These groups want to force doctors, nurses and hospitals to violate their consciences or leave the profession. The Catholic community and others must speak out so this will not happen. Talking points:   - Religious liberty and freedom of conscience have been building blocks of our society since its founding. We respect conscientious objection for those opposed to war, physicians opposed to taking part in capital punishment, and others who object to involvement in the taking of life. We can do no less in the context of abortion.   - Conscience protection does not threaten access to health care. Allowing health care providers to serve the public without violating their consciences protects and enhances access to health care, by ensuring continued participation by some of our most dedicated health professionals. Catholic and other faith-based providers are specially called to serve the poorest and most vulnerable, from the inner city to remote rural areas – if they are driven away, who will replace them?   - Abortion, in particular, cannot be seen as “standard” health care. Most physicians, nurses and hospitals choose not to provide abortion, and the Hippocratic Oath that established medicine as a profession has rejected abortion for many centuries. Forcing health professionals to be involved in abortion against their will shows a distorted sense of priorities—one that will irreparably damage the healing professions and undermine efforts to work together for health care reform.    All persons are encouraged to submit comments. Health care professionals—hospital administrators, physicians, pharmacists, nurses, technicians, and the like—should submit examples or personal experiences where discrimination was or is a concern. Please write now urging the Administration to retain the regulation protecting conscience rights! For excellent comments by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of General Counsel, see: www.usccb.org/conscienceprotection/hhs_comments_conscience_09final.pdf.   Action: An e-mail message can be sent through the NCHLA Action Center. Please click below. Comments can also be submitted electronically by e-mail to proposedrescission@hhs.gov or online through www.Regulations.gov (check “Select to find documents” and then enter “Rescission Proposal”). Comments also can be mailed. See instructions in the March 10 Federal Register cited above. In all comments, refer to “Rescission Proposal.”  Suggested Message: “Please retain the conscience regulation, and enforce the laws protecting the right of health care providers to serve patients without violating their moral and religious convictions. The government has a special responsibility to ensure that the conscience rights of health care providers are fully protected.” When: Please submit your comments by close of business April 9, 2009. Thanks!                 3/16/09; updated 3/25/09   Click the link below to take action on this issue.: http://actions.nchla.org/link/forward/nchla177426.aspx

Pro-Life Update

Everett 40 Days for Life Victory Rally
The rally will be held on April 5 from 4:30-7:30 pm in Hensen Hall at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic parish in Everett.

It's About Life Conference
Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, is coming to Olympia and Seattle April 18-19, 2009.

Fr. Frank Pavone will be at the Planned Parenthood Abortion Mill in Olympia on Saturday, April 18, at 3 p.m. He will then preach at the 5 p.m. Mass at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Olympia. Mass will be followed by dinner and an evening conference. Tickets are available from the Knights of Columbus.

On Divine Mercy Sunday, April 19, Fr. Frank Pavone will preach at the 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 a.m. Masses at Holy Family Church in Seattle.  That afternoon Fr. Frank will lead the Hour of Mercy Prayers, beginning at 3 p.m., in front of the Madison Street Planned Parenthood (2001 E Madison Street).  At 5:30 p.m. Fr. Frank will speak at a Social/Dinner/Conference at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Seattle.

Dinner tickets for both nights are $25 per person. Group rates are available. Tickets are limited and will go quickly.

Contact Tom Hruska (360-561-5548) or Matt Ulrich (206-546-3923)  for tickets.

One Million Rosaries for Unborn Babies
Consider registering to participate in the One Million Rosaries campaign for an end to abortion on May 1, 2 and 3.  Please visit www.saintmichaelthearchangelorganization.org for more information.

Credit
Some of the information in this post is courtesy of www.gospeloflifeinstitute.org.

Kickoff Rally for Everett 40 Days for Life

Just a reminder that the Everett 40 Days for Life Kickoff rally is tonight (Tuesday) at 7 pm at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Everett. The address is: 2913 W Marine View Dr, Everett. See you there!

40 Days for Life

Hey everyone,

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and the start of the Spring 40 Days for Life campaign. Please prayerfully consider participating. These locations need all the help they can get! The closest locations to most YFLers will be Everett, Bremerton, and Tacoma. There are other locations listed on the national website: 40daysforlife.com. Look under the Locations tab for Washington, click on the location you will be attending, and sign up for vigil hours! Everett will not be holding a 24-hour vigil, so keep that in mind if you sign up there. Thanks!

Pro-Life People Must Not Lose Heart with Obama Election Says Vatican Archbishop

Exclusive Interview: Pro-Life People Must Not Lose Heart with Obama Election Says Vatican Archbishop

Says the movement must never stop trying to overturn Roe v Wade

By Hilary White - Rome Correspondent
VATICAN CITY, January 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews.com earlier this week, Archbishop Raymond Burke sent a message of support from Rome to those in the U.S. who defend human life and the traditional family, telling them not to give up the fight, even though things may seem dire with the election of Barack Obama. The Archbishop particularly urged pro-life people to continue the political and legal battle against the 1973 US Supreme Court decision, Roe vs. Wade, that legalised abortion.

"We are in a very dark period for the pro-life movement, which means that now we have really to re-double all of our efforts," he said.

The new president, Archbishop Burke said, must hear from the American people "who I believe are, in the end, pro-life, above all else." But the time has come, with the election of the man who is being called by pro-life advocates the "most pro-abortion president" in US history, to announce clearly and firmly the message of the sanctity of life and family more than at any other time.

"There can never be any let-up on the effort to overturn Roe versus Wade," he said, "because there is, at its deepest core, our most unjust judicial decision. It has to be overturned."

He agreed that people of good will could work with the Obama administration to provide improved services to women in crisis pregnancies and pointed out that the Catholic Church has "above all, been in the forefront of that." But, he said, "that can never exempt us from the duty" to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Despite the difficulties ahead, he urged the pro-life people to be the "tough who get going when the going gets tough."

"It's going to depend upon the pro-life movement to make that voice heard, and to get people to express to the president their dismay with what he's doing, so that he understands that the people of the United States are not for the murder of infants in the womb."

LifeSiteNews.com spoke to Archbishop Burke, who is regarded as a hero by many in the pro-life and family movement, at his offices in Rome, where he was recently appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as head of the Catholic Church's highest tribunal, the Apostolic Signatura. The office of Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura is normally regarded as a "red hat" position that brings with it appointment as a Cardinal. It is widely expected among Vatican watchers that Pope Benedict will name Archbishop Burke a Cardinal at the next consistory.
He told LifeSiteNews.com that he is becoming "very concerned" at the number of people who have written to him to say that the election of Obama is a sign that the pro-life movement has definitively failed to overturn Roe vs. Wade. He particularly denounced the idea, put forward by some in the pro-life movement in the US, that the time has come to abandon the fight against Roe and turn exclusively to "education" and to cooperate with the new administration in "reducing abortions" by improving welfare and health services for women.
Archbishop Burke responded, saying, "To me this is a form of self-deception because the law itself is one of the principle teachers in any culture, and you have a law, a decision of the Supreme Court of your country, which says, in effect, that an infant in the womb can be destroyed right up to the time of birth and even in the act of birth."

Until Roe vs. Wade is overturned, he said, "that law remains a teacher in the culture" and "represents a direction given to the life of the society, of the nation.

"So I'm very concerned that some of the dedicated pro-life people don't fall prey to this false reasoning, and then not continue their work for the repeal of this Supreme Court decision."

Archbishop Burke is known in the US as one of the most outspoken members of the US hierarchy on the Church's teachings on the sanctity of life. He was the first among a very small number of US Bishops who enforced can. 915 of the Code of Canon Law, saying that pro-abortion Catholic politicians are not to be given Holy Communion. His position was confirmed by a letter of then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in June of 2004.Upon the announcement of his transfer to Rome, Judie Brown, the president of the American Life League, said, "Archbishop Burke's contributions to the Church go beyond anybody's imagination. He is among the most courageous bishops that I have known in my entire life."

The archbishop said, "I have been for years very much in the heart of the pro-life movement as I believe that I should be as a bishop."

"It was painful for me to leave the United States because of my strong conviction about the importance of strong leadership, a prophetic leadership on the part of the bishops in the whole work of promoting the respect for human life."

He particularly urged pro-life and family people to be on guard against becoming discouraged. "Discouragement is itself a prime temptation that Satan uses to get people to stop working for the good," he said. "But the minute you give into discouragement he can get you to do whatever he wants. But if we are people of life, if we are people who honour the dignity of every human life, then we also are necessarily people of hope.

"I understand, from a human point of view, why people are discouraged and why they want to give up or try some radically different approach, but as people of hope we don't have any choice in this matter. We have to continue the battle."

Reminder

If you haven't already sent a letter to your local hospital or hospice center alerting them to the fact that they do not have to provide assisted suicide and asking them not to, then please visit the Coalition's website (www.noassistedsuicide.com) to find out how to do that. Click on "What Can I Do?" It doesn't take very long and it can have a huge impact. Thank you!

Upcoming Pro-life Events

9 Days of Prayer to Prevent the Freedom of Choice Act
A novena will be prayed from January 11 until January 19 for the intention of preventing the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). President-elect Barack Obama has promised Planned Parenthood that he will enact the FOCA as soon as he is in office. This act would undo many of the safeguards and laws pro-lifers have worked so hard to put in place over the years, including parental notification laws and the partial birth abortion ban. Not only that, but doctors would be required by law to perform abortions regardless of their personal beliefs. These are just a few of the things FOCA would enable and require. Please pray that President-elect Obama will not be able to keep his promise to PP.

Youth for Life Meeting
It will be held on January 14 at 7 pm. We have an awesome guest speaker this time who is very excited to be coming!

Olympia March for Life
This year's March for Life will be held on Tuesday, January 20. If you would like to ride down on a bus, check at your local parishes to see if they have one going. You can also carpool down with a group of friends. Directions are here.

Walk for Life West Coast
If you're feeling adventurous this month, you can take some time to attend the Walk for Life in San Francisco on January 24. To organize a group or for more information, call 415-586-1576 or e-mail info@walkforlifewc.com. The official website is www.walkforlifewc.com.

Prolife Prayer Vigil in Everett
To mark the 36th anniversary of the Roe verses Wade abortion decision, please join us for a prayer service for the unborn and their mothers on Saturday, January 31 at 9:30 am at

Immaculate Conception Church (2501 Hoyt Avenue, Everett).

CAAS needs YOU!

Dear awesome CAAS Coordinators and Volunteers,

So many of you have called and emailed asking, "What next?" and your grit and determination have been nothing short of inspiring.  We all needed a chance to step back, take a breather and regroup.  But, as promised, it ain't over!

As we all know, I-1000 will be written onto the Washington state books this March, making it legal for doctors to help patients kill themselves.  And while I-1000 is a devastating blow to the vulnerable in our state, we can still work to protect them until this awful law is overturned.  Over these next few months, CAAS will be sending updates about easy ways that YOU can continue to rally against I-1000, impact the way the law is written and continue to advocate for the vulnerable.

Below is super time-sensitive information (deadline is this Monday, December 22) regarding the Washington State Department of Heath; curl up with a cup of coffee or cocoa (since no one should be doing anything outside in this insane weather), read through the info and send a quick comment to the DOH (and get your family and friends to do the same; the more comments sent to the DOH, the more they will take notice).  This is the first step to muddying the waters surrounding assisted suicide.

So onwards and upwards, my friends!  We CAN do this; we have the volunteers, we have the dedication and we have the vulnerable to protect.  Let's do it.

CAAS Outreach

____________________________

CAAS Needs YOU!

The Washington State Department of Health is in the process of creating the rules and program administration that will govern Initiative 1000 now that it is set to become law.  In Oregon, the rules set up by the health department are seriously flawed and have resulted in secrecy and abuse.

In order to prevent that from happening here, we need as many people as possible to contact the Department of Health before the end of the work day this Monday, December 22.   The Department of Health keeps track of how many people comment about proposed laws-so even a few minutes of your time and that of your volunteers, family, friends, or relatives will make a huge difference in trying to keep as many vulnerable people as we can safe from this lethal law.  

To comment, go here https://fortress.wa.gov/doh/policyreview/  and click on "Add Comment".  Here are some helpful points to make regarding the institution of I-1000 (choose a few to send in or come up with some of your own):

     1) The Death with Dignity Act allows physicians licensed by the Department of Health to prescribe substances to intentionally cause their patient's death.  This poses a real danger to the public if not properly regulated. 

    2) Since The Death with Dignity Act was adopted by initiative, experienced legislators did not have a chance to identify and correct the risks to the public.  The Department of Health therefore has a special responsibility to enact regulations to help to protect those made vulnerable by I-1000.

    3) Oregon's administrative regulations are flawed. They should not serve as a model for the people of Washington.  The Oregonian, Oregon's largest newspaper, stated that the Oregon system of administrating their Death with Dignity act "seems rigged to avoid finding answers."  The Disability Rights Education Defense Fund deems the Oregon reporting system "flimsy." In the Michigan Law Review, Herbert Hendin  and Kathleen Foley give a detailed account of the flaws in the Oregon system.  They report that: "The problem lies primarily with the Oregon Public Health Division ("OPHD"), which is charged with monitoring the law. OPHD does not collect the information it would need to effectively monitor the law and in its actions and publications acts as the defender of the law rather than as the protector of the welfare of terminally ill patients." ([1]"Physician-Assisted Suicide in Oregon:  A Medical Perspective." Michigan Law Review; [Vol.106:1613])

    4) Neither the Oregon regulations nor the proposed rules from Washington have any sufficient requirements for transparency in order to assure patient safety from abuse. The Death with Dignity Act lacks adequate informed consent and information about life-affirming alternatives to assisted suicide such as hospice and palliative care. Even more seriously, it lacks protections against coercion, elder abuse, and disability abuse.  The Department of Health should dedicate sufficient resources to detect underreporting, noncompliance and violations. The DOH should keep track of data, including information about patients who are requesting assisted suicide, physicians who are prescribing it or not prescribing it and why, and accurate documentation about terminal illness, mental competency and clinical depression.  The DOH should also retain information about witnesses to the request, the medications prescribed, the effect of those medications, and whether witnesses were present at the time of death. 

    5) I urge the Department of Health not to copy Oregon's inadequate regulations and flawed structure.  Please protect the welfare of Washington citizens by creating robust administrative rules and common sense reporting requirements which will serve as a safety net for vulnerable Washingtonians.  

To read the draft of the DOH rules and forms regarding I-1000, go here:  https://fortress.wa.gov/doh/policyreview/Documents/DWDArulesandformsdraft.pdf

Night of Prayer for Unborn on December 8

Everyone is invited to a National Night Of Prayer which is being held
at Saint Jude's Parish (10526 166th Ave NE, Redmond) on the evening of
Dec. 8 following the 7 p.m. Mass. 700 other parishes around the
country will also be participating. We will celebrate the gift of life
by reciting the rosary and divine mercy chaplet and by participating
in Eucharistic adoration.