A Chronicle Of The Abortion Hearings

By WILLIAM H. MARSHNER

THE WANDERER
March 21, 1974

March 6th, 1974, is Day One. Our constitutional lawyers told us it would never come to this. But here we are at 8:30 in the morning, an hour and a half before the Senators are scheduled to appear, standing in what already amounts to quite a line. At 10 a.m. Birch Bayh will start the hearings which some worldly-wise people said would never start, and which all worldly-wise people say will never come to a pro-life conclusion. Nevertheless, here we are — not because hope springs eternal; it doesn’t — but because the truth will neither die nor let us go.

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Right-To-Life Hearings Begin

W. H. Marshner

THE WANDERER
Our Second Century of Lay Apostolate
(Special to The Wanderer)
MARCH 14, 1974

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. James L. Buckley, testifying in behalf of his own human-life amendment (S.J. Res. 119) on the first day of the Bayh Senate subcommittee hearings, removed all doubt that he intended his amending language to protect unborn life from the moment of conception.

Sen. Buckley cited a Sept., 1970, editorial from California Medicine, in which a pro-abortion doctor admitted “the scientific fact, which everyone really knows, that human life begins at conception.”

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As RTL Hearings Begin… A Look At The Bayh Subcommittee

As RTL Hearings Begin . . . A Look At The Bayh Subcommittee

By WILLIAM H. MARSHNER

THE WANDERER
March 7, 1974

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week Sen. Birch Bayh’s Sub-committee on Constitutional Amendments has begun the long-awaited and hopefully historic hearings on right-to-life amendments. In anticipation, people have been talking a lot about the sub-committee members, trying to figure out where they stand, trying to spot at least one Senator who might take the leadership for unborn life.

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Citizens And Cardinals

CITIZENS AND CARDINALS

By WILLIAM H. MARSHNER

THE WANDERER
February 21, 1974

In the parliamentary floor-fights that used to make life interesting in the Yale Political Union, we had technical terms for several sorts of maneuvers. One of these technical terms was “mickey mouse.” A maneuver was “mickey mouse” if it was both petty and transparent: something like trying to delay all business by staging a debate over the motion to accept the minutes, see? Or something like trying to keep a low Catholic profile in the Senate hearings on the Human Life Amendments by a.) sending in four Roman Catholic Cardinals but claiming b.) that they are there only in their capacity as “concerned citizens.” Once again, Annette, the Bishops’ incomparable advisors have earned a pair of mouse ears.

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Hearings Set On Human Life Amendments

W. H. MARSHNER

THE WANDERER
(Special to The Wanderer)
February 7, 1974

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Birch Bayh (D., Ind.), chairman of the constitutional amendments subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has tentatively scheduled hearings on the Helms and Buckley anti-abortion amendments for Wednesday and Thursday, March 6th and 7th.

Although no public announcement of this scheduling has been made as of this writing, Capitol Hill sources became aware of the dates on Jan. 28th, and word has begun to spread among pro-life organizations.

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Representative Lawrence Hogan… Right To Life Amendment Introduced In Congress

Representative Lawrence Hogan … Right To Life Amendment Introduced In Congress

By WILLIAM H. MARSHNER

THE WANDERER
Our Second Century of Lay Apostolate
February 8, 1973
St. Paul, Minn.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Lawrence J. Hogan (R., Md.) introduced on January 30th a resolution calling for a right-to-life and anti-euthanasia amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Reacting quickly to the recent Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion throughout the Country, Representative Hogan said that he had rushed to formulate and introduce his resolution while public sentiment was high, not waiting to secure co-sponsors. Nevertheless, a crisis of conscience preceded his move, Hogan said.

“My first reaction to the Court’s ruling was one of despair and disappointment,” said the Prince George’s County representative.

I had very serious thoughts at that point of resigning from Congress.
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U.S. Supreme Court Approves Death Penalty For The Unborn

U.S. SUPREME COURT APPROVES DEATH PENALTY FOR THE UNBORN

By W.H. MARSHNER

THE WANDERER
(Special to The Wanderer)
February 1, 1973

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a sweeping 7 to 2 decision, the Supreme Court struck down on January 22nd the abortion laws of Texas, Georgia, and all but four of the other 50 States. On the basis of a “right to privacy” allegedly guaranteed by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, the Court majority ruled that during the first three months of pregnancy, a woman and her doctor have the unconditional right to decide whether she will bear or abort her unborn child.

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The Bishops’ Strange Love

W. H. MARSHNER

Triumph
Vol. VII No. 6
June 1972

As a journalist, I dedicate this report to His Eminence John Cardinal Krol, in gratitude for honest answers to honest questions.

—WM

This is a discussion of the spring meeting of the American bishops in Atlanta. It appears at least a month after other commentators have finished their slight remarks upon the subject, which evidently bored them immensely, and in a magazine which seldom publishes lengthy discussions of bishops’ meetings. These two circumstances seem to make an explanation desirable, if one is to avoid the charge of talking very late about very little. Continue reading “The Bishops’ Strange Love”