Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on media coverage of the Supreme Court:

The Supreme Court ends its 2021-2022 term today. It also ends a particularly embarrassing time for the media.

On June 24, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to overturn Roe v. Wade; it also ruled 6-3 to uphold the Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Astonishingly, many media outlets got the story wrong.

The following media outlets incorrectly reported that the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was 6-3:

Washington Post
USA Today
Yahoo
Fox News
New York Post
New York Daily News
Daily Caller
Washington Free Beacon
Forbes
Fortune
The Hill
New York Magazine
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Chicago Sun Times
New York Times  (headline was wrong but online news story was right)

Seasoned journalists should have known from the leaked draft of the decision that it was going to be a 5-4 decision. They also should have known that Supreme Court Justice John Roberts was likely to uphold the Mississippi law, while siding with the minority in the ruling to overturn Roe.

It is no wonder that a large majority of Americans do not trust the media.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on pro-abortion protesters:

Violence is what defines abortion, and it often defines the behavior of those who champion its cause.

Following the release of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, protesters on both sides of the issue took to the streets. In most cases, they were peaceful. When it came to violence, however, the pro-abortion protesters dominated.

We found two incidents where pro-life protesters turned violent. On June 24, a man in Cedar Rapids, Iowa drove his pickup truck into a group of pro-abortion protesters; no one was seriously hurt. On the same day, in Providence, Rhode Island, an off-duty police officer punched a pro-abortion activist in the face.

We tallied 16 instances of violence done by pro-abortion protesters.

June 24, 2022—Pro-abortion radicals attacked Life Choices, a crisis pregnancy center in Longmont, Colorado, causing fire and smoke damage. Additionally, the radicals spray painted “Bans off our bodies” and “If abortions aren’t safe neither are you” on the clinic.

June 24, 2022—Pro-abortion radicals spray painted “Pro Choice,” “Separation [sic] Btwn Church + State,” and “Keep Yu [sic] Laws Off My Body” on Guardian Angel Church in Brooklyn, New York.

June 24, 2022—Pro-abortion radicals defaced a statue and sanctuary dedicated to the unborn victims of abortion at the Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church in Algiers, Louisiana.

June 25, 2022—A pro-abortion mob of about 100 people damaged Mother + Child Education Center, a crisis pregnancy clinic, and several other businesses and vehicles in Portland, Oregon.

June 25, 2022— Pro-abortion radicals affiliated with Jane’s Revenge, a domestic terrorist network which uses violence to promote abortions, spray painted “Your time is up” and “We’re coming for U” on LifeChoice Pregnancy Center in Winter Haven, Florida.

June 25, 2022— Pro-abortion radicals affiliated with Jane’s Revenge broke several windows and spray painted the Tree of Life Pregnancy Center in Paso Robles, California.

June 25, 2022— Pro-abortion radicals broke windows and spray painted “If abortion aint safe you aint safe” on Blue Ridge Pregnancy Center in Lynchburg, Virginia.

June 25, 2022— Pro-abortion radicals caused nearly $30,000 in damages by breaking seven stained glassed windows and stealing money from several collection boxes at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Renton, Washington.

June 25, 2022— Pro-abortion radicals vandalized a memorial cross for aborted babies in South Bend, Indiana.

June 26, 2022— Pro-abortion radicals affiliated with Jane’s Revenge spray painted “If abortions aren’t safe neither are you xoxo Jane” on the sign of All Saints parish in Portland, Oregon.

June 26, 2022—A pro-abortion arsonist burnt down St. Colman Catholic Church in Beaver, West Virginia.

June 26, 2022—Pro-abortion radicals toppled a statue of the Virgin Mary and stole two statues of angels from St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Harlingen, Texas.

June 26, 2022—Pro-abortion radicals attempted to set fire to St. John Neumann Catholic Community Church in Reston, Virginia. Additionally, the radicals vandalized the church’s entrance with graffiti.

June 26, 2022—Pro-abortion radicals defaced Heart to Heart Pregnancy Center in Cortez, Colorado.

June 27, 2022—Pro-abortion graffiti was discovered on the doors of the Church of the Ascension in New York, New York.

June 27, 2022—Pro-abortion radicals vandalized the sign of St. Therese of the Little Flower Catholic Church in South Bend, Indiana.

Most of those who work in the mainstream media are pro-abortion, and enthusiastically so. As such, they have little interest in flagging the violence that marks protesters on their side. We will continue to track these incidents at the Catholic League and will contact the authorities—we already have—about the need to take action.

We can’t help but notice that all the churches targeted were Catholic. That is a backhanded compliment to the moral authority of the Catholic Church.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Rep. Nancy Pelosi receiving Communion at the Vatican:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who rejects the Catholic Church’s teachings on abortion, marriage and sexuality, received Holy Communion on June 29 at a papal Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. The pope was in attendance, but did not give out Communion.

Pelosi’s stunt was done to undercut her bishop, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone: he has told her not to present herself for Communion, citing her lust for abortion rights.

Some will blame the Vatican for what happened; others will blame Pelosi; still others will blame Cordileone. There is only one person to blame—Pelosi.

Archbishop Cordileone invoked canon law to deny Pelosi Communion, so there is no issue there: He is in total compliance with Catholic teachings. But given the autonomy that bishops have, those who oversee other dioceses are not bound by what Cordileone decreed.

Pelosi received Communion from one of the many priests who were distributing it; he obviously did not know anymore about her than he does the man on the moon. And unlike Cordileone, he never reached out to her, seeking to counsel her on this subject. So the two are not comparable.

The priest did what was expected of him—he gave Communion to everyone waiting on line to receive it. For all we know, non-Catholics may have received Communion at the same Mass. That doesn’t excuse those who willfully exploited the sacrament.

So where does this leave us?

Pelosi waiting in line to receive Communion is akin to a murderer waiting in line to pay his respects to his victim at a Catholic wake. The analogy is poignant in more ways than one.

Contact Pelosi’s chief of staff: terri.mccullough@mail.house.gov

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on how celebrities reacted to the overturning of Roe v. Wade:

For most Americans, abortion is a difficult subject. The vast majority did not support what the Roe and Casey decisions allowed, which was abortion through nine months with no restrictions. Now that those rulings have been overturned by the Supreme Court, the states will decide what the terms should be. This should be pretty straightforward, but to celebrities—who are obsessed with sex—this is a serious crisis.

It would be an understatement to say that celebrities have become unhinged: they have been sent into orbit. Many showed how articulate they are by spouting vulgarities while others threatened to get even with Supreme Court Justices.

Among those who dropped the “F” word in denouncing the decision were Kesha, Busy Philipps, Billie Joe Armstrong (he pledged to renounce his citizenship), Pink, Olivia Rodrigo, Janelle Monáe, Sophia Bush, Glennon Doyle and Monica Lewinsky. Others sported their brilliance in a different manner.

Cher accused the Justices who voted to overturn Roe of being “responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of American women.” Ana Navarro-Cárdenas opined, “Maybe [Clarence] Thomas prefers Americans have sex with their pistols and marry their AK-47’s.”
Taylor Swift said she’s “absolutely terrified that this is where we are.” Bette Midler shouted that “it’s none of your god****** business what I do with my body.”

Alyssa Milano predicted that “overturning #RoeVsWade will have deadly consequences.” Barbra Streisand said, “The Court uses religious dogma to overturn the constitutional right to abortion. This Court is the American Taliban.” Valerie Bertinelli complained that “The minority of white Christian nationalists run our country and are not Christian in any sense of the word.” Kim Kardashian commented that “In America, guns have more rights than women.”

Whoopi Goldberg, who has admitted to having six or seven abortions—she’s not sure how many—had this to say about Justice Clarence Thomas: “You better hope that they don’t come for you, Clarence.” She did not identify who the “they” are. Jane’s Revenge? Antifa? Black Lives Matter?

Others took this somber occasion to brag about their abortions. Phoebe Bridges told us what her abortion meant to her. “I don’t think about it as a baby, of course not.” Of course not.

Madonna said on Friday she woke up to the “terrifying news.” She said, “I am scared For my daughters. I’m scared for all women in America, I am just plain scared.” Very scary.

She added that she was planning to attend Pride events in New York City. She did. She appeared at a surprise concert with Dominican rapper Tokischa. Pictures of them emerged showing Madonna humping the rapper and Tokischa dropping to her knees simulating oral sex on the 63-year-old.

There are many reasons why American society is morally debased, but right at the top is the contribution made by the entertainment industry. There is more modesty in a nudist colony than at any of their performances.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an important victory for religious liberty:

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to affirm the religious rights of a football coach who prayed after the game on the field. This was an important victory for religious liberty, as well as for freedom of speech.

For seven years, Bremerton High School football coach Joe Kennedy  prayed after a game on the 50-yard line. No one complained. When school officials learned of this they made an issue of it: they asked him not to lead the players in a prayer. He complied.

When he decided to take a knee and say a silent prayer, some students asked if they could join him, and he said “this is a free country.” He soon learned that he might have been wrong. Administrators at the school, which is outside Seattle, objected again. Finally, he was fired and prayer was banned altogether.

Kennedy sued and twice lost before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. It said that public speech of “an overtly religious nature” is forbidden, arguing that it gives the impression that the government is endorsing religion. His lawyers charged that the Ninth Circuit was now saying that “even private religious speech” by teachers and coaches is prohibited (italic in the original).

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, characterized Kennedy’s behavior as “a brief, quiet, personal religious observance” which was protected by the First Amendment: both his free speech rights and free exercise of religion rights were affirmed.

The attempt to squash Kennedy’s right to free speech was invidious. Administrators, teachers and students are permitted to voice the most obscene statements and lyrics—all in the name of free speech—but when a football coach engages in private prayer the alarms go off.

Gorsuch saw right through this bogus reasoning. “The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike.”

No students were required to pray with the coach as a condition of playing. No students were bullied who did not join with him in prayer. Yet this did not stop Americans United for Separation of Church and State from charging as such.

If Kennedy had lost, the next thing school officials would do is prohibit students from blessing themselves before meals or on the playing field. Treating religious speech as second-class speech, worthy of censorship, is flatly un-American.

Tolerance for people of faith is something that militant secularists need to learn—they are an existential threat to freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade:

For a half century, abortion has been legal across the United States. Those days are over: the Supreme Court has overruled the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. What is not over is the issue of abortion—the states will now decide how to address it.

Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the 5-4 majority, held that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences.” [The court also ruled, 6-3, to uphold the Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks.] That is why, he said, “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

The Supreme Court did more than overturn Roe—it negated the 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey. This decision went beyond Roe by making abortion a near absolute right, through term.

Honest abortion-rights legal scholars have long said that while abortion should be legal, it is not the business of the courts to settle such matters. Alito picked up on this admission, saying, “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision….”

Aside from the legal matters, abortion involves a host of biological and moral issues. The DNA that makes us all unique human beings is present at conception, and not a day later. It is a credit to the Catholic Church that it led the discussion on the morality of abortion for all these years.

This ruling makes us proud to be Catholic.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue replies to secular critics of the Supreme Court ruling on school choice:

Their heads are exploding. The secular maniacs who staff the most prominent atheist organizations are beside themselves over the Supreme Court ruling on school choice. In a 6-3 decision, the high court ruled that if there is public funding for private schools in Maine, to deny taxpayer money for religious schools is discriminatory.

American Atheists said this decision will inspire the “dangerous Christian nationalist wing [to] grow only louder.” Americans United for Separation of Church and State accused the Justices of favoritism, saying it is “only when conservative Christians” make claims of discrimination that they act. Similarly, Freedom From Religion Foundation said this decision had the effect of “solidifying Christian favoritism.”

The most extreme charge was made by the American Humanist Association. It said the ruling was “another clear win for the far right-wing reactionary movement utilizing ‘school choice’ as a Trojan horse for school re-segregation.”

Of course, the Maine case had nothing to do with advancing Christianity.

If compulsory education is the law of the land, the same government that compels parents to send their child to school cannot decide to fund private schools in rural areas, where there are no public schools, but not religious ones. It is a matter of equity, pure and simple. Furthermore, the ruling applies equally to those who want to send their children to a non-Christian sectarian school.

What are the secular zealots afraid of? The Secular Coalition for America complains that the Maine ruling will motivate “parents who want to set the specifics of the curriculum to meet their worldview” (and not the worldview of secular activists). The ACLU frets over taxpayers funding “religious instruction and indoctrination.” The Center for Inquiry goes further, saying the taxpayers are on the hook “to pay for children to be indoctrinated with religious viewpoints they reject and may even find abhorrent.”

All of these secular organizations either have no problem with, or actively promote, indoctrinating students, beginning in Pre-K, with the most invidious ideas about sex. Little kids are being asked if they are okay being a boy or a girl. If in doubt they are then groomed to consider switching their sex. This is more than indoctrination—it is child abuse.

We live in sick times when sick members of the ruling class are on a tear, ripping up established moral norms, imposing in their place a radical secular worldview where there is no such thing as nature or nature’s God. They need to be defeated in all walks of life, not just in education.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on media coverage of monkeypox:

The media were quick to attribute priestly sexual abuse to the rigidities of Church teachings on sexuality, the celibacy mandate, etc. Those who are pushing Critical Race Theory in the schools are just as quick to blame white people, in general, for racism. Yet when it comes to understanding the spread of monkeypox, few are questioning why it is that homosexuals are overrepresented among those who have the virus.

The World Health Organization states that “we are currently hearing more reports of cases of monkeypox in communities of men who have sex with men….”

The CDC reports that “early data suggest that gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men make up a high number of [monkeypox] cases.” Those in a higher risk category, it says, had “skin-to-skin contact with someone in a social network experiencing monkeypox activity, this includes men who have sex with men who meet partners through an online website, digital application (‘app’), or social event (e.g., a bar or party).”

The CDC offers a wise observation. “Enclosed spaces, such as back rooms, saunas, or sex clubs, where there is minimal or no clothing and where intimate sexual contact occurs have a higher likelihood of spreading monkeypox.”

What should such persons do? “Masturbate together at a distance of at least 6 feet, without touching each other and without touching any rash or sores.” These sages also suggest “having sex with your clothes on” and “Remember to wash your hands, fetish gear, sex toys and any fabrics (bedding, towels, clothing) after having sex.”

“As the United States confronts its largest-ever monkeypox outbreak,” noted the Washington Post on June 12, “with nearly 50 probable cases, public health authorities navigate a delicate but familiar balancing act. In the 17 U.S. cases in which the sexual behavior of the patient is known, all but one involve men who have sex with men, mirroring trends in Europe.”

In a research paper published by the government in the United Kingdom, it found that of those who reported having monkeypox “151 of the 152 men interviewed identified as gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM), or reported same sex contact, and the remaining individual declined to disclose this information.”

With “Pride” festivities about to be launched over the last weekend in June, it is incumbent on government officials to warn the homosexuals  of the necessity of practicing restraint. Keeping their clothes on, as the CDC recommends, is a good place to start.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a Supreme Court victory for school choice:

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that it is unconstitutional for Maine to provide public funds for private schools but not religious schools. It is an important victory for religious liberty and school choice.

Maine has many rural areas where there is no public school. It was decided in 1873 that the state would pay for students in those areas to go to any school they wanted, including private and religious ones. In 1980, the state’s attorney general ruled that religious schools would no longer be an option, citing separation of church and state concerns.

The Supreme Court ruled that if the state is going to provide public funding for private schools, it cannot deny funds to religious schools. That amounts to religious discrimination.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion, said that Maine’s decision to exclude religious schools “effectively penalizes the free exercise of religion.”

In oral arguments last December, Roberts made plain his thinking.

He astutely noted that if the issue is the promotion of “sectarian” thinking, then “if one religion taught the same way as a public school but a different religion taught differently, the first would be able to participate in the program but the other would not.” He added, “So it is the beliefs of the two religions that determines whether or not the schools are going to get the funds.”

What Roberts said would surely apply to situations where Christian  schools that entertain secular views (e.g., on creation and marriage) would be eligible for public funding but orthodox ones would not. What else would this be but discrimination based on religion?

It is no secret that African Americans and Hispanics are the two minority groups that have been pushing the hardest for school choice. They want a way out from being confined—condemned would not be too strong a word—to the local public school. While the Maine decision may not have direct application to them, it will surely inspire school-choice activists and lawmakers to craft new school-choice initiatives that will.

The big losers are the teachers’ unions, the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Their efforts to deny equal opportunity to blacks and Latinos took a big step backwards.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s abortion policies:

It would be hard to beat the enthusiasm for abortion shown by former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but the current governor, Kathy Hochul, has at least matched his zealotry. Both identify as Catholic.

Hochul has previously invited women from states with restrictive abortion laws to come to New York to abort their child. She is very inclusive, save for the rights of the unborn.

Last month, in a demonstration of how much she cares about the safety of abortionists, she directed the Division of Criminal Justice Services to coordinate $10 million in funding for “safety and security capital grants for abortion providers and reproductive health centers to further secure their facilities and ensure the safety of patients and staff.”

No abortion clinics have been firebombed in New York State but a crisis pregnancy center in Buffalo has. So who gets the money to protect staff? The abortion clinics.

What makes this so nauseating is the rash of violence against pro-life facilities nationwide, as well as plans to conduct a “Night of Rage” against them following the release of the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade. Yet Hochul refuses to afford them the kind of protection she offers abortion clinics, none of which has been threatened or torched.

On June 13, Hochul signed legislation to protect abortion rights ahead of the expected high court decision on Roe. She also took the opportunity to declare war on crisis pregnancy centers. The bill she is promoting authorizes an investigation of these entities.

It is essentially a form of harassment. According to Jim Harden, who operates the Buffalo pro-life center that was targeted, the bill will require crisis pregnancy centers to turn over information on donors and confidential patient records. Indeed, all internal memos, files and policies must be made available to government authorities. This is phase one. The second phase will be a host of regulatory measures designed to crush them.

What Hochul is doing proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that pro-abortion activists never believed in “choice” for women. Real choice means being allowed to have access to those who offer advice and services on both sides of the abortion issue. She wants to kill the pro-life message.

It is only fitting that Hochul has now branded pro-life people “Neanderthals.” Like Hillary Clinton before her, who called her critics “the deplorables,” Hochul is showing her contempt for anyone who disagrees with her pro-abortion policies.

It’s important that New Yorkers find out more about who Kathy Hochul really is. She is the face of darkness and death.

Contact Hochul’s communications director: Julie.Wood@exec.ny.gov