Re: Stopping HHS

[Guest guest]

A group here in Dayton is planning to meet with Steve Austria, R-OH.

, you and Sheila would be magnificent visitors to your SW OH Congresspersons.

Everyone on this list can do this--I hope. We have the knowledge and the passion. Having a physician in tow is good. Tell a few horror stories--maybe bring a victim--breast cancer probably due to A or BC, girl, or mother of, who sufferred a stroke or blood clots. Bring someone who has been treated for chronic miscarriage, post-natal depression, infertility, etc. Bring a baby that might not otherwise be there.

Last January, following the March For Life (actually, before it ended), Kahlenborn, Ruth Deddens (OMS BD Chair), Tom Strobhar, Mike O'Dea, , Ruth's daughter Amy and son-in-law Tom Dalyrumple and myself visited 7 congressional offices, speaking primarily to staffers about: a) breast cancer risk from hormonal birth control, benefits of NFP, and c) superior gyn care available from NPT trained providers. We mostly planted seeds, left brochures (from OMS, PBCP for example--sent to the printer today, back on our web site tomorrow), and opened the eyes of the mostly female staffers--who, with evangelization, could be the heart and soul of WDC.

We were not all in every meeting; some arrived after the tour began; others had to catch transportation. Amy spoke of her NPT guided treatment for infertility by Dr Mark Stegman; Tom D spoke about NFP in marriage; Ruth told of her good friend's struggle/death with/from breast cancer, and abaout OMS's educational programs raising awareness of BC risk from abortion and hormonal bc in our community. Others chimed in as they felt called.

Ruth set up appointments a week to 10 days in advance. It was a GREAT experience for all of us--exhilerating. Our representatives need to hear these stories over and over and over.

You can do it. Make a call to your local governmental offices today. Gather your forces; storm the walls!

Blessings to all.

Steve Koob

To: nfpprofessionals From: jfkippley@...Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2011 14:29:39 -0400Subject: Re: Stopping HHS

I am waiting for someone to take the lead in this. I suggest that instead of framing this ABC funding as anti-Faith we should frame it as anti-women's health. Kahlenborn has some horrible statistics about young women taking this doctor-and-government approved carcinogen. Our congresspeople are back home. Perhaps there should be an organized visitation process.

Kippley

Stopping HHS

Our previous governor, current head of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebillius, has decided that Obamacare will cover contraceptives free of charge and all health plans will do the same. What can we do to stop this assault on our Faith and our world? I want to know what would be most effective. Time is short.

Amy Hogan, MD

[Guest guest]

When I saw Amy's email this morning, I didn't have time right then to respond, but the first thing that came to my mind was that we ought to try prayer and fasting.

Very shortly thereafter, I went to Mass, and heard a homily that began with the observation that we often hear people say things along the lines of, "Now all we can do is pray." The point was that prayer ought to be a first resort, not a last resort.

Then around midday I saw Fr. 's suggestion of (among other things) prayer and mortification for priests.

I think that's a good suggestion - and I think it applies regarding the HHS travesty also.

Now - of course, as with priests, so also with the government, we ought to make every good and honest effort at persuasion as well. I wonder whether "horror stories" are the thing to emphasize - or would people too easily dismiss them as just that?

Even though it's in a way even more of a frontal assault, I wonder whether it wouldn't be better to focus above all on continuing to hammer the message that even if/when contraceptives don't seem to cause physical/mental health problems (and even when they aren't abortifacient), they are still wholly at odds with anything that could legitimately be called 'health care.'

Getting back to the discussion of persuading/involving priests ... it seems to me that it's valuable for them to be aware of some of the key details of what NFP is, how it works, what the best quality studies tell us about how well it works, etc.

While I think Dominic is correct that proportionalism isn't all that it used to be in seminaries (and other faculties of theology), it's far from dead, unfortunately. And furthermore, while proportionalism certainly helps bring about the tendency to be willing to tolerate contraceptive use, I think it's also the case that the lack of a clear sense of the alternatives to contraception probably in turn helps reinforce the tendency to buy into proportionalism. (At least one scholar has persuasively argued that the key thing that the developers of proportionalism were trying to do was to justify contraception - and they had prior reasons to want to justify contraception - i.e. reasons prior to the proportionalism that they then developed - and those reasons are still around.)

So I think that sincerely and generously working to befriend priests and then to teach them about NFP is important here. Not because it's likely that we want them to give homilies that seek to teach NFP methods - not even because we want them to do that teaching in the confessional (or other places where they give counsel) - but because I think the more they know about NFP, the more likely it is that they'll send couples to NFP teachers rather than back to contraceptive-pushing docs and pharmacies.

As I've said more than once in the past, we have no guarantee that living a life of virtue/holiness will lead to health, wealth, fame, etc. All we're promised here is the cross. We certainly can't deduce that something morally evil must be physically/psychologically/etc. harmful - or vice versa. But sometimes, the data show that doing the right thing is also good for us in those kinds of ways too - and when that's the case - as for example when we know that there are good NFP methods that enable couples to avoid pregnancy when they have good reason for this - then I think we ought to make that clear.

Stopping HHS

Our previous governor, current head of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebillius, has decided that Obamacare will cover contraceptives free of charge and all health plans will do the same. What can we do to stop this assault on our Faith and our world? I want to know what would be most effective. Time is short.Amy Hogan, MD