Posted on 11/01/2004 7:57:46 AM PST by NYer
NEW YORK A member of the U.S. bishops National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People says shes proud of her efforts to promote and expand abortion through political action.
But counselors who work with teens say that her position is incompatible with the protection of children. In abortion, not only are unborn children abused they say teen mothers are, too.
Attorney Pamela Hayes is one of twelve members who were appointed to the National Review board formed by the bishops in 2002. It oversees compliance with sexual abuse and child protection policies.
Ive contributed to a lot of pro-choice candidates, and so what? So what? Hayes told the Register. What are they going to do about it? If they dont like it, then dont put me on the board. If theyve got a problem with that, you tell them theyve got a problem.
She spoke in harsh terms about U.S. bishops who have suggested that Catholics vet the abortion platforms of politicians before voting and expressed enthusiastic support for the promise of fetal stem-cell research to expand life of living.
Hayes was responding to a recent report that said she had donated to Emilys List, the single-issue political-action committee whose sole purpose is to elect pro-abortion politicians. The story also revealed $2,000 in donations to the John Kerry for President campaign and two $250 gifts to pro-abortion Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
Hayes said the story also failed to mention numerous other pro-abortion causes and candidates to which she has contributed.
They havent a clue how much money Ive given to her, Hayes said of Clinton in an interview Oct. 21. Ive given her way more than that, and I mean a lot more. In addition, I was on her finance committee and raised substantial amounts of money for her.
Hayes characterized support for abortion as the key political issue for her. If theyre pro-choice and theyre Democrat, theyre my kind of candidate, said Hayes, who grew up Catholic, attended Catholic schools in Manhattan and belongs to Manhattans St. Aloysius Parish.
Hayes expressed her pro-abortion agenda on the heels of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announcement of five new members who will join her on the board to replace former and outgoing members Charles Keating, Robert Bennett, Anne Burke, William Burleigh and Leon Panetta.
Federal Election Commission records reveal that Bennett and Panetta also donate to pro-abortion candidates, and Panetta voted for abortion funding in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Bill Ryan, deputy director of communications for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said neither he nor other officials at the conference would comment about the pro-abortion views expressed by Hayes.
It would be inappropriate to comment on the views of an individual board member, Ryan told the Register.
The Register contacted the office of Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the bishops conference, and was told he was unreachable in Rome. The Register also left messages for Msgr. William Fay, general secretary of the bishops conference, and Msgr. Francis Maniscalco, director of communication for the conference, and was told both were unavailable for comment.
Abortion and Abuse
Georgette Forney, who had an abortion when she was 16, has counseled hundreds of girls who suffer from post-abortion psychological trauma.
Her own abortion led her down a path of drugs, alcohol and self abuse that she says is common today among girls as young as 12 who are getting impregnated by older men who pay for abortions.
She describes a cycle of sexual abuse perpetuated by the abortion industry, and urged the National Review Board to oppose it.
Young girls who engage in sexual activity are looking for affirmation. Older men who want to have sex with them know how to exploit that, says Forney, 44, of Pittsburgh. Abortion makes this easier for the perpetrators. If the victim gets pregnant, typically she follows the perpetrators lead and lays herself out on the table at an abortion clinic, completely clueless as to whats about to happen to her. At 16, I had no idea they were going to put a vacuum hose in my body and suck a baby out. They just did it.
Molly White, a post-abortion counselor in Belton, Texas, also warned that abortion and abuse are related. She tells of a girl in Texas who, starting when she was 14, was impregnated at least three times by one teacher who convinced her each time to get an abortion.
Theres no question today that the abortion industry helps facilitate the sexual exploitation of very young girls, White said. One would not expect someone on a board thats concerned with sexual exploitation of minors to be championing the abortion industrys rights.
Abortion also kills a child, said Dolores Grier, president of Black Catholics Against Abortion. Grier, a New Yorker, knows the review board member personally. She said its inappropriate that Hayes or anyone else engaged in pro-abortion activities be chosen to serve on a board for the protection of children. She says the abortion industry is rooted in racism and kills a disproportionately high number of black children who should be protected by the Catholic Church.
Asked Grier: How can you be a Catholic, in accord with Catholic Church teachings which are pro-life and favor abortion rights while serving on a board thats supposed to protect children?
All Over the Map: Surveying New Members
In interviews with the Register, two of the five new members of the bishops National Review Board said they fully back Catholic doctrine in opposition to abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem-cell research, homosexual marriage and cloning. One said hes guided by Church positions on moral issues, and two declined to answer the Registers questions directly.
Bishop Gregory appointed the new members and promoted board member Nicholas Cafardi as chairman. Cafardi, dean of the Duquesne University Law School, said he suspects the new members respect Catholic teachings on abortion and other life issues.
I know them to be good, orthodox Catholics who were carefully chosen, Cafardi told the Register.
Cafardi described himself as an orthodox Catholic and a Bob Casey Democrat, referring to the late governor of Pennsylvania who was snubbed as a speaker at the 1992 Democratic National Convention because of his pro-life views.
I worked for the Church for 13 years of my professional life, as the lawyer for the Pittsburgh Diocese, and I followed it up by coming to work for a Catholic university, Cafardi said. I was one of the first lay canon lawyers in the United States, and the Church is very much my life. Anybody who knows me knows that Im pro-life.
New members of the board are:
Judge Michael Merz, a federal magistrate in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio. Merz calls himself an orthodox, cradle Catholic who has been active in the Church all his life and has been a registered Republican his entire adult life.
This is definitely a call to action! Can someone post email links to the National Review Board, so that we can express our own sentiments on Pamela Hayes ... this woman has got to go!
Utterly speechless!
Gregory will have to fire her after this interview. She can't possibly remain on this board, and it have any credibility.
The world is all screwed-up. Kerry and the Demoncrates impose a litmus test against pro-life Catholic candidates for the Supreme Court and yet the US Conference of Catholic Bishops appoint pro-abortion Democrats to a board designed to advise the Bishops about internal problems within the Church. Is it me?????
I guess we will have to wait and see on this one.
What the hell is going on? But I guess this is nothing new considering the appointments of Bennett and Panetta.
You're assuming Gregory has the rocks to do it.
I listened to two extraordinarily honorable and brave priests give riveting homilies against abortion this Sunday at my parish. RINO's were getting up and leaving necause they were angry.
Gregory doesn't hold a candle to them. He won't move unless he's moved.
Why-am-I-not-surprised bttt.
She is so blatant in her support for pro-abortion candidates! Of course, there are others quoted who are non-committal, so who knows where they stand?
I live in Wilton Gregory's Diocese, he is a very nice man who says the right things. However he tolerates alot of abuse and dissent. I would not expect anything to come out of this.
You're right that this woman will have to step down (or more likely be thrown off). However, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say Skylstad will not be the next head of the USCCB. His diocese is near bankruptcy and the bishops do not need negative press right now.
Contact Gregory through the Diocese of Belleville or here .
The Church hierarchy still requires weeding out. This guy should go too.
"She can't possibly remain on this board, and it have any credibility."
The board never had much credibility in the first place - although they probably have far more credibility than the vast majority of our bishops.
"Wilton Gregory is morally bankrupt. He selected both Panetta and this heretic."
But who selected all these morally bankrupt priests to become bishops?
"But who selected all these morally bankrupt priests to become bishops?"
Right question, and at the heart of the real underlying problem.
Not only am I NOT suprised, but sadly, this should be expected from this group--IMO.
In the first go round, Gov. Keating was fired because he was so strong on the cause, but known pro-abort Klinton hacks were well represented.
This is basically how as a group the USCCB has operated for decades--much like the national DNC, godlessly liberal.
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