LifeNet

Charlie Gard has died - in the arms of the Lord

The Rev. Patrick Mahoney of Washington DC, who is well known in pro-life activist circles, commented a couple of days ago that Charlie had been baptized.

Inevitable. And the Judge insisted the baby go into hospice rather than home with his parents.

Charlie Gard, 'beautiful little boy' at heart of dispute, dies

This is from the Daily Mail (UK)

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) said last night 'we have tried absolutely everything' to accommodate the parents' but will not risk an 'unplanned and chaotic end to Charlie's life'. 

His mother Connie has hit back and insisted doctors 'denied us our final wish'.

She said: ‘We just want some peace with our son, no hospital, no lawyers, no courts, no media – just quality time with Charlie away from everything to say goodbye to him in the most loving way.

'Most people won’t ever have to go through what we have been through, we’ve had no control over our son’s life and no control over our son’s death.

'I'm shocked that after all we've been through, they won't allow us this extra time.'

On Wednesday Mr Justice Francis sided with his doctors and said Charlie would be taken to the hospice in a secret location where doctors will stop life-support treatment shortly after he arrives because they say extending his life will only cause him more pain. 

"Farewell, Charlie Gard" - Wall St. Journal editorial

As the family made the decision to not pursue further therapy. Full editorial below.

"State to his parents: How dare you look for a second opinion."

Charlie Gard has come to the end of the line. On Monday his parents announced they are giving up their appeal to have him undergo experimental treatment in the U.S. for his genetic disorder. Their decision came after the doctor who’d offered it said too much time had elapsed and too much damage had been done.

People can disagree with the best treatment for Charlie: The British doctors certainly disagreed with the American specialist the family invited. In a statement defending the British actions that delayed the treatment until it was too late, Justice Nicholas Francis admitted no “parent could have done more for their child” than Charlie’s had done—but went on to say that in Britain “children have rights independent of their parents.”

What does that mean for an 11-month-old baby? It meant a guardian was appointed to make the case against the parents, and that a court made the final call. The message from these medical and legal officials arrayed against the parents was this: How dare you look for a second opinion.

In her own statement Monday, Connie Yates, Charlie’s mother, noted that all she and her husband wanted was to “take Charlie from one world renowned hospital to another world renowned hospital in the attempt to save his life and to be treated by the world leader in mitochondrial disease.”

This they could not do, because of a system that elevated a judge’s opinion about what was best for Charlie over loving parents. Few should be surprised, because the brutal reality is that when the state is responsible for nearly all health spending it inevitably takes responsibility for life and death decisions too.

 

News on Charlie Gard

We were in the midst of posting about the NY Times Ross Douthat op ed supporting the parents rights when we got the UPDATE news. Sad news.

UPDATE: Tragic - Charlie Gard's parents end their fight. Hopefully the Court will allow the parents to take Charlie home for his last days.

Unsurprisingly, it's Ross Douthat, a Catholic convert. His book (which was given to me years ago by my friend Melinda) Bad Religion, How We Became a Nation of Heretics  which he published in 2012, is excellent.

An excerpt below the link.

Charlie Gard and the Experts

The hard question is when medical interventions become too extreme and pointless, when illness and death should be allowed to take their course.

The easy question, whose answer makes the case a moral travesty, is who should decide the hard question: doctors and judges, or Charlie’s mother and father.

Much of the confusion around the case reflects a mistaken leap between the two questions. Because the first one is so difficult, some people intuitively assume, the second one must be complicated too. Because one can doubt the wisdom of the parents’ desired course — they have raised over a million dollars to pay for a treatment never attempted with this exact condition, for a child whose brain may have suffered irreversible damage — one must accept the possibility that they should be overruled by Charlie’s doctors and the courts.

This leap is dangerously mistaken for several reasons. The obvious ones first: The rights of parents are essential to a free society’s architecture, and fathers and mothers are far more likely than any other party to have their child’s best interests close to heart. To intervene on behalf of experts against the family is sometimes necessary but always dangerous, fraught with totalitarian temptations to which the modern West is not immune.

There is no sign that such intervention is necessary in this case. Trying one last-ditch treatment at an American hospital may be futile, but it’s hardly outrageous — and indeed it would be no more outrageous if the Gards had raised money to take their dying son on a pilgrimage to Lourdes or to some New Age site. To overrule the parental judgment on how to handle an infant’s looming death should require not merely disagreement but real evidence of cruelty or incapacity — something nobody claims is present with the Gards.

******

that fiscal necessity leads to two temptations. The first, and the most dangerous, is to regard illness as a costly problem to be solved, not just by the limiting of possible treatments, but by the active hastening of death. That way lies assisted suicide and not-exactly-voluntary euthanasia, which are becoming mainstream in some of Britain’s nearest neighbors, and whose long shadow darkens the Charlie Gard debate.

The second institutional temptation is not toward active wickedness but toward sclerosis, groupthink and stagnation. Establish an iron triangle of doctors, insurers and government boards, tell them they must establish predictable standards for what treatments will be covered, and they will inevitably resist many of the experiments through which medical progress advances. In which case it will become more necessary than ever to allow families and individuals the freedom to refuse the consensus, and to pay for more radical options if they can.

Planned Parenthood call to 911: "She's starting to bleed out."

In Chicago. Safe and legal. Courtesy of the Prolife Action League.

 

New York State Suffrage Centennial - July 22, 2017 - Rochester, NY

Feminists Choosing Life want you to join them in Rochester, NY this Saturday! Here's their message for you:

CALLING ALL PRO-WOMAN/PRO-LIFE MARCHERS!!!!!!

On July 22, the Susan B. Anthony House and Museum in Rochester is hosting a Suffrage City Parade with the theme, "Because of Women Life Her". FCP Action invites you to walk with us as a representative of pro-life feminism. We hope you will also consider inviting your many contacts to join us as well.

FCL will be walking behind a banner (with Susan B. Anthony's image) reading: "Celebrating 100 Years of Pro-Life Feminism", so please, no other signs, banners or images. Be sure to communicate this request to all you invite. Staging begins at 9 a.m. at the Riverside Convention site at the corner of Court Street and Exchange Boulevard and the parade begins at 10:30 a.m. The parade route is .75 miles long and ends at SBA Neighborhood Square.

Please RSVP to me or Caroline to confirm whether you will be joining us so FCL can give the SBA House an accurate count of participants. Updates will be sent as they become available. For carpooling information and other questions, please text or call us!

Thank you for your support, we are looking forward to marching alongside you at the Suffrage Centennial Parade!

For more information and to RSVP call Kelly 585.747.5507 or Caroline 585.305.9547.

[email protected]

Note from the HVCL: If you cannot attend, but know someone in the Rochester area, contact them. We want this special event to be well attended!

Women's Equality Day Reformed - Friday, August 11, 2017, White Plains, NY

We know you cannot wait until Friday, August 11th! The 2017 WEDR annual commemoration and award ceremony will take place again at 12 Noon-1 p.m. at the Westchester County Board of Legislators Offices, Michaelian Building, 148 Martine Avenue at Court Street, White Plains, NY. This will mark the 97th Anniversary of Women's Voting Rights and our 16th year in White Plains celebrating the occasion and recalling the words of our many pro-life feminist foremothers in defense of women's voting rights and the vital issue of protection of the child in the womb.  

Our 2017 Honoree is Maryl Turchi, Executive Director of Life Options in Yonkers, NY. We will recognize the fabulous work Meryl has done to assist women in crisis pregnancies by promoting pro-life assistance through organized and dedicated personal outreach. Many of you know Meryl and if you don't, you will truly enjoy meeting this outstanding professional in the pro-life field.

The Keynote Speaker is Stasia Zoladz Vogel, Esq., Member of Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court and President of the Buffalo Regional Right to Life Committee. There are so many battles that the pro-life community faces, from grassroots to legal challenges before the Supreme Court. Stasia will speak about her personal involvement with the pro-life cause and answer questions, too.

Remember to bring photo ID for the County building security check. Opt for long-term, 3 hour parking at the metered garage across the street. Call Judy 914.329.5165 or Brigid 914.271.4598 with questions. 

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Dublin: "Rally for Life draws huge crowd"

This was on July 1st, as a possible referendum is to be held on Amendment 8, which upholds the right to life of the pre-born.

Here are some links and a video -

Rally For Life Draws Huge Crowd

The loudest cheers of the day were for Karen Gaffney, a leading international advocate for people with Down Syndrome who urged the crowd to protect the 8th as it protects the right to life of “people like me”, and warned that in other countries, aggressive screening programmes aim to ensure that people with Down Syndrome are aborted. “We want to belong, don’t screen us out,” she said.

Vicky Wall from Every Life Counts moved many to tears as she spoke movingly about her daughter Líadán who was diagnosed with a life-limiting condition, Trisomy 18. “Liádán’s life was protected by the 8th amendment, she was given the respect as our daughter. Even though she had a life-limiting condition, she was loved and valued as much as her brother and sister. All she knew was love.”

"The real Citizens Assembly"

“This is the real Citizens Assembly, this is the real voice of the Irish people, and we are here to tell Mr Varadkar that he will lose referendum he is so eagerly pushing, because we, the people, have arisen to Save the 8th, and we, the people, demand a better answer than abortion for our mothers and babies,” she said to prolonged applause.

****

The Life Institute spokeswoman said that people had been horrified by the extreme recommendations recently issued by the assembly set up by the government, which included abortion ‘without restriction’ and abortion on socio-economic grounds.

 

Tomorrow: Annual Rockland County 4th of July Vigil for Life

This is always a fine service; continuing a 20 year tradition. A Morning of Prayer for America.

Marian Shrine      174 Filors Lane, Stony Point, NY

10am. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

11:15am Rosary

12 noon Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

 

 

 

Directions to Marian Shrine

Palisades Pkwy. northbound to exit 14. Make a right, go to stop sign. Shrine is on the right approximately 3/4 mile.

Or;

Rte 9W northbound and make a left onto Filors Lane. The shrine is approximately a mile on the left.

For more information: 845-429-2077, 735 6970

Sponsored by the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants www.helpersny.org/Rockland County Catholic Coalition: [email protected]