On EWTN with Fr. Groeschel
On EWTN with Fr. Mitch Pacwa
The Guild
The Saint Gianna Physician Guild is an association of faithful Roman Catholics that aims to uphold and promote the values of the Roman Catholic Church in the lives and professional practices of those in the medical field and to bring them together to defend these values in a public way. The guild has as its patroness St. Gianna Beretta Molla, a saint canonized by John Paul II in 2004. She died in 1962 at the age of 39. She was a devoted wife, mother and physician.
| St. Gianna Physician’s Guild Launches Online Petition to Stop Birth Control Mandate |
 |
 |
|
August 22, 2011 St. Gianna Physician’s Guild today launched an online petition www.StopTheBirthControlMandate.com) requesting the Obama Administration and Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, to immediately withdraw all references to contraception and contraception counseling from the “Guidelines for Women’s Preventive Services” under The Affordable Care Act, and to provide a conscience clause to protect the religious freedom and beliefs of Catholics. On August 1, 2011 the Department of Health and Human Services directed by Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic, adopted new guidelines for women’s health that stipulates mandatory coverage be provided for surgical sterilization, all prescription contraceptives approved by the FDA -- including drugs like Ella that can cause abortions in the early weeks of pregnancy – as well as counseling to promote them. “We are going to send a message to the Obama Administration that this contraception mandate is wrong, discriminatory and violates the religious rights of Catholics all across America,” stated the Guild’s president, Thomas McKenna. The Obama administration is taking heat from many Catholic leaders including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said: “Those who sponsor, purchase and issue health plans should not be forced to violate their deeply held moral and religious convictions in order to take part in the health care system or provide for the needs of their families or their employees.” “To force such an unacceptable choice would be as much a threat to universal access to health care as it is to freedom of conscience.” St Gianna Physician’s Guild (www.StGiannaPhysicians.org) was founded to unite and encourage Catholic physicians, as well as others in the health care profession, to promote and defend Catholic principles in a public way and to inspire sanctification in their lives. The petition can be signed at: www.StopTheBirthControlMandate.org
|