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The On Common Ground section of RH Reality Check provides interested readers with selected posts on the ongoing and often elusive search for common ground on abortion. On Common Ground posts are carefully selected by section moderator Cristina Page to highlight ideas and foster dialogue among individuals and organizations involved in the search for common ground. Feel free to review the full mission statement for On Common Ground.
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Latest Common Ground Posts (All)1A consistent ethic
of life is often referred to as a “seamless garment”
because one life issue can’t be easily separated from another. The ethic of life supported by former President Bush, recipient this week of a pro-life award, can only be described as inconsistent. As a regular columnist for On Common Ground,
I'm glad and grateful for the opportunity to foster reciprocal understanding
and cooperative dialogue. But have we? The rise of the pro-life progressive, with their interest in attainable
and measurable goals, has captivated a growing segment of the
public and shined a spotlight on the contradictions of the
pro-life establishment.
2
The kind of coordination that
New York State has effected with law enforcement and abortion providers should be happening
in every community and every state.
If
he truly merited the term “pro-lifer,” Randall Terry would condemn violence against abortion providers as an act of immense
disrespect for life and pledge to take action against it. While disagreeing with pro-choicers, he would refuse to demonize them.
As pro-lifers, we do not have to compromise our beliefs in order to
support increased access to contraception.
3For many, it’s an easy yes or no answer. Yet , I consistently find myself hesitating to respond. Why is it so difficult to talk about my adoption experience which was
amazing, positive, and the best possible
choice I could have made at the time?
In the healthcare reform effort, using vouchers to pay for abortion was an idea floated this summer, but
not embraced. At the time, a spokesman for the U.S. bishops said it was
"such a crazy idea it just might work." It is time to explore the "crazy idea."
My story is a modern day example of a very successful
adoption and there are many more out there, however it seems that the perception of adoption has
not made the jump into the 21th century entirely.
Submitted by Brady Swenson, RH Reality Check on May 13, 2009 - 9:06pm.
The Prevention First Act seeks to “to reduce unintended pregnancy, reduce abortions, and improve access to women’s health care.” The bill’s provisions aim to improve access to family planning and encourage the development of effective state-level sex education initiatives. Read more...
Submitted by Brady Swenson, RH Reality Check on June 15, 2009 - 2:11pm.
The Pregnant Women Support Act would “provide for programs that reduce the need for abortion, help women bear healthy children, and support new parents.” This bill was
modeled after Democrats for Life‘s "95-10 Initiative," which aims to reduce the U.S.
abortion rate by 95% over the next 10 years. Read more...
Submitted by Brady Swenson, RH Reality Check on June 15, 2009 - 2:33pm.
The Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act would “reduce the need for abortion by reducing the number of unintended pregnancies and supporting women facing unplanned pregnancies.” Among other measures the bill proposes to reduce teen pregnancy through comprehensive sex education, improve access to contraception for low-income women and increase Title X funding. Read more...
Submitted by Brady Swenson, RH Reality Check on June 15, 2009 - 3:11pm.
As a senator, President Obama championed this bill, and he spoke of it often during his 2008 campaign. To encourage responsible male behavior, the bill provides for domestic violence prevention awareness, and it would increase penalties for men who avoid paying child support, ensuring that the money from such payments winds up in the hands of families rather than tied up in red tape. Read more...
Submitted by Brady Swenson, RH Reality Check on June 15, 2009 - 3:26pm.
This bill is created from the belief that “pregnant college students should not have to make a choice between keeping their baby and staying in school.” The legislation, created by Feminists for Life, would establish “a the pilot program to will help interested, eligible institutions of higher education establish pregnancy and parenting student services offices that will operate independent of Federal funding no later than 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.” Read more...
Submitted by Brady Swenson, RH Reality Check on June 15, 2009 - 3:38pm.
The Nurse-Family Partnership aids low-income, first-time parents by providing them with a visiting registered nurse who can continue to help the family until they reach self-sufficiency, thus curbing early developmental problems and decreasing the risk of abuse or domestic violence. Read more...
Submitted by Brady Swenson, RH Reality Check on June 15, 2009 - 3:42pm.
WIC is short for “The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children,” and provides supplemental food and counseling for low-income mothers and their children. Read more...
Kristen Day is the Executive Director of Democrats For Life of America.
Previously, Kristen worked for the Democratic Co-Chair of the Bi-partisan House
Pro-life Caucus, Kristen set up a whip operation to alert pro-life democrats
when important pro-life votes were going to come on the Floor or in Committee.
Kristen's articles have been published in the Harvard Crimson, the National
Review and other Publications. More about Kristen Day...
Serrin M. Foster has led Feminists for Life of America since
1994. Under her leadership, FFL successfully advocated benefits for poor and
pregnant women through the State Child Health Insurance Program, worked in
coalition with other women's organizations to defeat the mandatory "family
cap" and other punitive child exclusion provisions in welfare reform, and
helped to prevent poverty and coerced abortions due to threats to withhold
child support through passage of the Enhanced Child Support Act. More about Serrin Foster...
Reverend Debra W. Haffner is the director of the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing. She is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister. Rev. Haffner was the chief executive officer of SIECUS, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, from 1988 through May 2000. More about Debra Haffner...
Taylor Hirth is currently a student at UMKC in Kansas City Missouri pursuing degrees in both Political Science and Communications with plans to graduate in 2010 and continue on to law school. She is an intern at Planned Parenthood in the political advocacy and outreach department. More about Taylor Hirth...
Chris Korzen is Executive Director of Catholics United, a
non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting the message of
justice and the common good found at the heart of the Catholic Social
Tradition. Chris served as co-founder and director of the Catholic Voting
Project in 2004 and 2005, after working as a Web developer and as an organizer
with the Service Employees International
Union. More about Chris Korzen...
Rachel Laser is the Culture Program Director at Third Way, a progressive Washington, DC-based
think tank. At Third Way,
Laser has directed two "Common Ground" initiatives - one on abortion and the
other about bridging the cultural divide between Progressives and Evangelical
Christians. Previously Laser served as Senior Counsel in the health and reproductive
rights group at the National Women's Law, where she focused on abortion, family
planning and judicial nominations and directed their Pharmacy Refusal Project.
More about Rachel Laser...
Corinna Lohser oversees Birth Parent outreach and advocacy
for Spence-Chapin Services to Families and
Children, an adoption agency with a 100-year history in New
York City and additional sites in Long Island and New Jersey. She has her Master's in Public
Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a
concentration in health policy and management. More about Corinna Losher...
Jane Roberts is cofounder of 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund which, since 2002, when the Bush Administration refused to release $34 million, has been asking 34 million Americans to contribute at least one dollar to UNFPA. In 2003 she was one of the Women of the Year for MS Magazine and in 2005, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize with the 1000 Peace Women Project under the auspices of UNESCO in Bern, Switzerland. More about Jane Roberts...
Stephen F. Schneck, Ph.D., is Director of the Life Cycle Institute at the Catholic University of America. Previously, he was chair of the Department of Politics at the university for nine years. An activist on issues of faith and public policy, Professor Schneck is also an advisor and board member for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. More about Stephen Schneck...
Raymond A. Schroth, a Jesuit priest and professor of humanities at Saint Peter's College, comes from a Trenton family of journalists, teachers and lawyers. He has taught or served as dean at five Jesuit colleges and universities, plus New York University graduate school and Brooklyn College. More about Raymond Schroth...
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, appears on MSNBC to discuss President Obama's call in his speech at Notre Dame in May of last year for common ground in the debate over reproductive rights.
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Sarah Brown is the CEO of the 
David P. Gushee is the Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University.
Beyond his work at Mercer, he is the president of 
Steven Waldman is the Editor-in-Chief, President and Co-Founder of 
