The Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life
9 WEEK NOVENA - from Friday August 3rd - Friday September 28th
From Friday, August 3, 2018 to Friday, September 28, 2018, the weekly Call to Prayer will be adapted as a nine-week Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life. In addition to the current invitation to fast on Fridays, participants are encouraged to pray one Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be for the intention of the novena.
The Committee on Pro-Life Activities is initiating a Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life. This nine-week effort will include prayer and fasting for the intention that this change in the membership of the Supreme Court will move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life. The Novena will also include materials to help educate the public about how Roe v. Wade is not health care, is bad law, and fails women.
The Novena takes place from Friday, August 3, to Friday, September 28. Individuals are urged to sign up for the Novena as part of the USCCB Call to Prayer at www.usccb.org/pray. Those who sign up will receive weekly email or text message reminders to pray and fast along with a fact about Roe to share with others including their two U.S. senators (through NCHLA/Human Life Action).
The Committee on Pro-Life Activities is initiating a Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life. This nine-week effort will include prayer and fasting for the intention that this change in the membership of the Supreme Court will move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life. The Novena will also include materials to help educate the public about how Roe v. Wade is not health care, is bad law, and fails women.
The Novena takes place from Friday, August 3, to Friday, September 28. Individuals are urged to sign up for the Novena as part of the USCCB Call to Prayer at www.usccb.org/pray. Those who sign up will receive weekly email or text message reminders to pray and fast along with a fact about Roe to share with others including their two U.S. senators (through NCHLA/Human Life Action).
July 19, 2018
WASHINGTON— Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan, Archbishop of New York and Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, issued a statement today inviting all people of good will to join in a prayer campaign that the change in the U.S. Supreme Court will move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.
Cardinal Dolan's full statement follows:
"As soon as Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, pro-abortion groups began lobbying the U.S. Senate to reject any nominee who does not promise to endorse Roe v. Wade. While the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops does not support or oppose the confirmation of any presidential nominee, we can and should raise grave concerns about a confirmation process which is being grossly distorted by efforts to subject judicial nominees to a litmus test of support for Roe v. Wade. And we must pray.
week 1 - August 3
PRAY
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
Roe and Doe legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.
Many people don't realize that Roe v. Wade legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. Roe says abortions may not be restricted at all during the first three months and in the second three months may be regulated only for the mother's health.1 After "viability"2 Roe allows abortion to be prohibited but must make an exception for the woman's life or health.3
But in Roe's companion case, Doe v. Bolton, the Court defined "health" to include "all factors—physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age—relevant to the well-being" of the mother.4 In most states, that is broad enough to permit virtually any abortion in the seventh, eighth, or ninth months of pregnancy5 if any of these reasons is invoked.6
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
Roe and Doe legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.
Many people don't realize that Roe v. Wade legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. Roe says abortions may not be restricted at all during the first three months and in the second three months may be regulated only for the mother's health.1 After "viability"2 Roe allows abortion to be prohibited but must make an exception for the woman's life or health.3
But in Roe's companion case, Doe v. Bolton, the Court defined "health" to include "all factors—physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age—relevant to the well-being" of the mother.4 In most states, that is broad enough to permit virtually any abortion in the seventh, eighth, or ninth months of pregnancy5 if any of these reasons is invoked.6
week 2 - august 10
PRAY
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
If Roe is overturned, the democratic process—not the courts—will determine abortion policy.
If Roe is overturned, abortion policy will be decided through the democratic process in each state. Before Roe, all states permitted abortion if necessary to save the mother's life, and some permitted abortion in additional circumstances.1 But Roe deemed any prohibition on abortion as unconstitutional.
If Roe is overturned, policy decisions about abortion will be made by the citizens of each state through the democratic process, rather than by courts. Some states will place limits on abortion, in others there will likely be few limits.2
Not until Roe v. Wade is reversed will the people again be able to govern themselves on the important public policy issue of abortion.
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
If Roe is overturned, the democratic process—not the courts—will determine abortion policy.
If Roe is overturned, abortion policy will be decided through the democratic process in each state. Before Roe, all states permitted abortion if necessary to save the mother's life, and some permitted abortion in additional circumstances.1 But Roe deemed any prohibition on abortion as unconstitutional.
If Roe is overturned, policy decisions about abortion will be made by the citizens of each state through the democratic process, rather than by courts. Some states will place limits on abortion, in others there will likely be few limits.2
Not until Roe v. Wade is reversed will the people again be able to govern themselves on the important public policy issue of abortion.
week 3 - august 17
PRAY
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
Abortion is not health care.
Abortion advocates speak as if abortion is health care, a procedure that is morally and emotionally equivalent to surgically removing one's tonsils or appendix. It is often conveyed as so morally neutral that only a few religious outliers find it objectionable. Yet in reality, the vast majority, over 85%, of OB/GYNs, coming from many faiths or no faith refuse to be associated with or perform an abortion.1 In addition, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, 86% of hospitals were not involved in abortion.2 Finally, even Roe acknowledges that abortion is unlike other procedures performed by a health professional and that unborn children deserve some protection.3 Abortion is not health care and we do a disservice to women and health care providers to pretend it is.
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
Abortion is not health care.
Abortion advocates speak as if abortion is health care, a procedure that is morally and emotionally equivalent to surgically removing one's tonsils or appendix. It is often conveyed as so morally neutral that only a few religious outliers find it objectionable. Yet in reality, the vast majority, over 85%, of OB/GYNs, coming from many faiths or no faith refuse to be associated with or perform an abortion.1 In addition, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, 86% of hospitals were not involved in abortion.2 Finally, even Roe acknowledges that abortion is unlike other procedures performed by a health professional and that unborn children deserve some protection.3 Abortion is not health care and we do a disservice to women and health care providers to pretend it is.
week 4 - august 24
PRAY
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
Roe's extreme abortion license is not widely supported.
Abortion advocates claim that Roe enjoys broad public support and some recent polls seem to provide evidence for this claim. But most polls don't explain Roe's extreme abortion license and some misrepresent it. For example, a 2016 Pew Research Center poll claims 69% of Americans favor Roe v. Wade and 28% oppose it.1 But the poll wrongly describes Roe as establishing "a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, at least in the first three months of pregnancy." The fact is, Roe made abortion legal through all 9 months of pregnancy and for virtually any reason.2
The vast majority of Americans oppose the policy of nearly unlimited abortion dictated by Roe, and most believe abortion should not be legal for the reasons it is most often performed. A June 2018 Gallup poll shows that 72% of Americans said abortion should be illegal in the second trimester and 87% said abortion should be illegal in the last trimester.3 A 2018 Marist poll shows that 51% of women said abortion should never be permitted (9%) or permitted only in cases of rape, incest, and to save the woman's life (42%).4
So why do polls show a majority of Americans favoring Roe v. Wade? Because they don't really know what Roe did.
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
Roe's extreme abortion license is not widely supported.
Abortion advocates claim that Roe enjoys broad public support and some recent polls seem to provide evidence for this claim. But most polls don't explain Roe's extreme abortion license and some misrepresent it. For example, a 2016 Pew Research Center poll claims 69% of Americans favor Roe v. Wade and 28% oppose it.1 But the poll wrongly describes Roe as establishing "a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, at least in the first three months of pregnancy." The fact is, Roe made abortion legal through all 9 months of pregnancy and for virtually any reason.2
The vast majority of Americans oppose the policy of nearly unlimited abortion dictated by Roe, and most believe abortion should not be legal for the reasons it is most often performed. A June 2018 Gallup poll shows that 72% of Americans said abortion should be illegal in the second trimester and 87% said abortion should be illegal in the last trimester.3 A 2018 Marist poll shows that 51% of women said abortion should never be permitted (9%) or permitted only in cases of rape, incest, and to save the woman's life (42%).4
So why do polls show a majority of Americans favoring Roe v. Wade? Because they don't really know what Roe did.
week 5 - august 31
PRAY
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
Roe is bad Constitutional law.
Even legal experts who support abortion believe Roe is not well-reasoned and is a case of extreme judicial overreach.
When experts on both sides of the abortion debate agree that Roe is bad law, reversing it makes good legal sense and would return abortion policy back to the people to be decided through the democratic process.
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
Roe is bad Constitutional law.
Even legal experts who support abortion believe Roe is not well-reasoned and is a case of extreme judicial overreach.
- The late Yale Law Professor John Hart Ely said, Roe v Wade is "a very bad decision…because it is not constitutional law and gives almost no sense of an obligation to try to be."1
- Attorney Edward Lazarus, former law clerk to Roe's author, Justice Blackmun, put it this way: "As a matter of constitutional interpretation and judicial method, Roe borders on the indefensible… [It is] one of the most intellectually suspect constitutional decisions of the modern era."2
- Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Tribe criticized Roe saying, "behind its own verbal smokescreen, the substantive judgment on which it rests is nowhere to be found."3
- Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said, "The Court's abortion decisions have already worked a major distortion in the Court's Constitutional jurisprudence…no legal rule or doctrine is safe from ad hoc nullification by this Court."4
- And then-Circuit Judge (now Justice) Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Roe "ventured too far in the change it ordered and presented an incomplete justification for its action."5
When experts on both sides of the abortion debate agree that Roe is bad law, reversing it makes good legal sense and would return abortion policy back to the people to be decided through the democratic process.
week 6 - september 7
PRAY
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
Pro-life laws can and do reduce the abortion rate.
Most people on both sides of the abortion debate agree that reducing the number of abortions is a desirable outcome. While some argue that contraception is the key to reducing the abortion rate, real-world evidence does not back that up. Instead, research shows that even when women were provided with free "emergency contraception" ahead of time, the pregnancy and abortion rate remained statistically equivalent with those who were not provided with it.1 In fact, the availability of contraception and abortion can increase the rate of unintended pregnancies (as well as sexually transmitted infections) as studies show that people engage in more frequent and riskier behavior if they believe their risk has been lowered.2 On the other hand, evidence suggests that laws restricting the funding of abortion (like the Hyde amendment preventing Medicaid funds from going to abortion) or limiting its availability, involving parents, and providing women with more information lower the rate of abortion. Unfortunately, Roe, its companion case Doe, and some subsequent rulings have been used to invalidate many laws meant to lower the rate of abortion.
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
Pro-life laws can and do reduce the abortion rate.
Most people on both sides of the abortion debate agree that reducing the number of abortions is a desirable outcome. While some argue that contraception is the key to reducing the abortion rate, real-world evidence does not back that up. Instead, research shows that even when women were provided with free "emergency contraception" ahead of time, the pregnancy and abortion rate remained statistically equivalent with those who were not provided with it.1 In fact, the availability of contraception and abortion can increase the rate of unintended pregnancies (as well as sexually transmitted infections) as studies show that people engage in more frequent and riskier behavior if they believe their risk has been lowered.2 On the other hand, evidence suggests that laws restricting the funding of abortion (like the Hyde amendment preventing Medicaid funds from going to abortion) or limiting its availability, involving parents, and providing women with more information lower the rate of abortion. Unfortunately, Roe, its companion case Doe, and some subsequent rulings have been used to invalidate many laws meant to lower the rate of abortion.
week 7 - september 14
PRAY
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
Abortion fails women.
Abortion is often portrayed as essential for women to achieve freedom and equality with men, yet many report feeling some degree of pressure or aborting to please someone else—often their partner.1 Further, after the abortion, many women report feelings of depression, suicidal or self-harm inclinations, sadness, shame, and regret.2 For example, Cynthia Carney in an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court described the aftermath of her abortion saying, "For 23 years, I went into crying spells, depression, suicidal thoughts. Emotionally it devastated me." Camelia Murphy explained, "I have suffered with low self-esteem, self-hatred, suicidal impulses, constant anxiety (especially about sex and about making decisions)." Donna Razin said that her abortion caused her "[d]eep regret – initially I was suicidal – as the years have progressed I have developed a heightened level of bitterness and anger and self-hate."3 Women would be better served if society tried to creatively answer the needs of single mothers, mothers trying to get through school, mothers needing higher or more stable finances, etc. rather than telling them that the death of their children is the best answer. We can and should do better for all women.
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
Abortion fails women.
Abortion is often portrayed as essential for women to achieve freedom and equality with men, yet many report feeling some degree of pressure or aborting to please someone else—often their partner.1 Further, after the abortion, many women report feelings of depression, suicidal or self-harm inclinations, sadness, shame, and regret.2 For example, Cynthia Carney in an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court described the aftermath of her abortion saying, "For 23 years, I went into crying spells, depression, suicidal thoughts. Emotionally it devastated me." Camelia Murphy explained, "I have suffered with low self-esteem, self-hatred, suicidal impulses, constant anxiety (especially about sex and about making decisions)." Donna Razin said that her abortion caused her "[d]eep regret – initially I was suicidal – as the years have progressed I have developed a heightened level of bitterness and anger and self-hate."3 Women would be better served if society tried to creatively answer the needs of single mothers, mothers trying to get through school, mothers needing higher or more stable finances, etc. rather than telling them that the death of their children is the best answer. We can and should do better for all women.
week 8 - september 21
PRAY
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
Abortion stops a beating heart.
Abortion advocates usually refer to the human being growing in her/his mother's womb in dehumanizing terms like "product of conception" and suggest that most abortions are done before fetal organs are functioning.
Actually, the vast majority are done after the fetal heart has begun beating. A baby's heart begins to beat at about 21 or 22 days after fertilization.1 That's at about 3 weeks of development. The vast majority of abortions in the United States are done well after this point.2
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
Abortion stops a beating heart.
Abortion advocates usually refer to the human being growing in her/his mother's womb in dehumanizing terms like "product of conception" and suggest that most abortions are done before fetal organs are functioning.
Actually, the vast majority are done after the fetal heart has begun beating. A baby's heart begins to beat at about 21 or 22 days after fertilization.1 That's at about 3 weeks of development. The vast majority of abortions in the United States are done well after this point.2
week 9 - september 28
PRAY
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
The chief strategist for legalizing abortion lied about deaths from illegal abortion.Claims that thousands of women were dying from illegal abortions at the time of Roe were fabricated for political purposes. The late Dr. Bernard Nathanson, a chief strategist for legalizing abortion, said he and his associates invented the "nice, round shocking figure" of "5,000 to 10,000 deaths a year" from illegal abortions:
I confess that I knew the figures were totally false, and I suppose the others did too if they stopped to think of it. But in the "morality" of our revolution, it was a useful figure, widely accepted, so why go out of our way to correct it with honest statistics?1
Research confirms that the actual number of maternal deaths resulting from abortion in the 25 years prior to 1973 averaged 250 a year, with a high of 388 in 1948.2 In 1966, before the first state legalized abortion, 120 mothers died from abortion.3 While any death is a tragedy, by 1972, when abortion was still illegal in 80 percent of the country, the number dropped to 39 maternal deaths from abortion.4
Furthermore, a groundbreaking 2012 study of abortion in Chile published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal found that Chile's abortion prohibition in 1989 did not cause an increase in the maternal mortality rate (MMR). On the contrary, after abortion was prohibited, the MMR decreased by 69.2% in the following fourteen years.5
May a change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
FAST
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
LEARN
The chief strategist for legalizing abortion lied about deaths from illegal abortion.Claims that thousands of women were dying from illegal abortions at the time of Roe were fabricated for political purposes. The late Dr. Bernard Nathanson, a chief strategist for legalizing abortion, said he and his associates invented the "nice, round shocking figure" of "5,000 to 10,000 deaths a year" from illegal abortions:
I confess that I knew the figures were totally false, and I suppose the others did too if they stopped to think of it. But in the "morality" of our revolution, it was a useful figure, widely accepted, so why go out of our way to correct it with honest statistics?1
Research confirms that the actual number of maternal deaths resulting from abortion in the 25 years prior to 1973 averaged 250 a year, with a high of 388 in 1948.2 In 1966, before the first state legalized abortion, 120 mothers died from abortion.3 While any death is a tragedy, by 1972, when abortion was still illegal in 80 percent of the country, the number dropped to 39 maternal deaths from abortion.4
Furthermore, a groundbreaking 2012 study of abortion in Chile published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal found that Chile's abortion prohibition in 1989 did not cause an increase in the maternal mortality rate (MMR). On the contrary, after abortion was prohibited, the MMR decreased by 69.2% in the following fourteen years.5