National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) Statement on Partial Birth AbortionGalveston-Houston Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, the president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/U.S. Catholic Conference, and Baltimore archbishop, Cardinal William H. Keeler, chairman of the Conference's Pro-life Activities Committee, have issued the following statement, responding to inquiries about the Conference's position on partial birth abortion and whether the Conference supports inclusion of language concerning the health of the mother, which has been broadly interpreted by the courtsOctober 20, 2000 Presidential Candidate QuestionnaireBeginning in 1988, the United States Catholic Conference has submitted to presidential candidates a questionnaire on issues of national significance. The 2000 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire, which was compiled by the USCC Office of Government Liaison, was sent to the presidential campaigns of Pat Buchanan, George Bush, Al Gore, and Ralph Nader. The verbatim, unedited responses of Messrs. Buchanan, Bush and Gore are presented below. Mr. Nader did not respond. The following verbatim responses and comments of the responding candidates are for purposes of voter educationOctober 19, 2000 Fact Sheet on Mifepristone/Misoprostol Abortion: FDA Rejects Safeguards Used in China, France, Sweden and the United KingdomInexplicably, the FDA-proposed protocol did not mandate on-site observation after taking misoprostol, although this protocol is followed in France, China, Sweden, the United Kingdom and is the common practice virtually everywhere the drug combination is used.October 13, 2000
Protocol for Catholic Media Programming and Media OutletsThe Protocol for Catholic Media Programming and Media Outlets, developed by the Committee for Communications, was approved by the bishops, with some amendments, at the June 2000 General Meeting. The approved text of the Protocol was issued August 11, 2000

Regulation by Non-RegulationBy R. Michael Dunnigan and Charles M. WilsonThis article analyzes the Protocol, and offers comments
Light and ShadowsOur Nation 25 Years After Roe v. WadeA Statement of the National Conference of Catholic BishopsNovember 12, 1997 Faithful For Life: A Moral ReflectionHuman lives have stood in jeopardy for various reasons in our country and throughout the world, and our witness over the years has taken many forms and defended many victims. Of particularly grave concern at this time, however, are abortion and euthanasiaSeptember 1995 Resolution on AbortionAbortion on demand remains our nation's legal policy because the 1973 Supreme Court decisions that legalized abortion throughout pregnancy have not been overturned. Because of those decisions many citizens believe that women have a moral right to abort their unborn children. This has led to erosion of respect for the right to life, which is bestowed by the Creator and cannot legitimately be denied by any nation or court. More than one and a half million unborn children in the United States continue to die each year by abortion, and increasing numbers of women suffer abortion's physical, emotional and spiritual painNovember 7, 1989 Pastoral Plan for Pro-life Activities: A ReaffirmationRespect for human life was declining in our society when the Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities was first issued in 1975. In part this reflected a secularizing trend, a rejection of moral imperatives based on belief in God and his plan for creation. It also reflected social trends encouraging individuals to give precedence to their own well-being to the detriment of others. These and other trends had helped bring about laws and judicial decisions which denied or ignored basic human rights and our moral responsibility to protect and promote the common goodNovember 14, 1985 Talking Points: Draft National Institutes of Health Guidelines for Research Involving Human Pluripotent Stem CellsThe National Institutes of Health has issued draft guidelines under which, for the first time in history, our federal government will officially approve and regulate the destruction of innocent human life for research purposes. The guidelines instruct researchers in how to harvest versatile stem cells from living week-old human embryos, a procedure which kills the embryos. They also establish standards for harvesting similar cells from dead unborn children following induced abortions-a practice that has its own increasingly visible moral problemsDecember 2, 1999 Does Human Cloning Produce An Embryo?euphemisms and misleading or inaccurate terms (totipotent cell, clump of embryonic cells, unfertilized oocyte, etc.) have entered the political discussion. They are employed to conceal the fact that researchers want to be allowed to use cloning to produce and destroy human embryos. Biotechnology groups claim to oppose the cloning of human beings or ;persons-but they reserve the right to conduct cloning experiments on human embryos and fetuses, so long as none is allowed to survive to live birth. Fortunately, one can cut through the political evasions by looking at the professional literature-including writings by those who support cloning of embryos for research purposesMarch 31, 1998 Would A Ban on Human Cloning Block Stem Cell Research?The claim that human embryo cloning is needed to advance promising medical research in cancer, degenerative diseases, etc. is simply falseApril 20, 1998 Bishops' President Welcomes Declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the FaithBishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement welcoming the presentation of Dominus Iesus: On the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American CatholicsAt their semi-annual meeting in November 1998, the Catholic Bishops of the United States issued a pastoral statement exhorting Catholics and all Americans to make the cause of human life a priority, particularly life threatened by abortion and euthanasia. Our Hearts Were Burning Within UsA Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith Formation in the United StatesNovember 17, 1999 Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and DirectionsReflections of the U.S. Catholic BishopsAlso Includes The Summary Report of the Task Force on Catholic Social Teaching and Catholic Education U.S. Catholic ConferenceJune 19, 1998 Message from the Bishops of the Church in AmericaAt the meeting of the Inter-American Bishops' meeting held in La Habana, Cuba from February 14-17, 1999, the participants issued a statement at the end of the meeting. It was agreed that the statement be shared with the episcopal conferences in America as an effort to inform the bishops of the discussions in the meeting. A decision was reached to change the name of the annual gathering to The Meeting of the Bishops of the Church in America to conform to the desire of the Holy Father that North, Central and South America be considered as one ecclesial entity to facilitate communion and solidarity among the dioceses in the American continent.February 17, 1999 Walk in the Light: A Pastoral Response to Child Sexual AbuseA Statement by the Bishops' Committees on Women in Society and in the Church and Marriage and Family Follow the Way of LoveA Pastoral Message of the U.S. Catholic Bishops to Families On the Occasion of the United Nations 1994 International Year of the Family When I Call for Help: A Pastoral Response to Domestic Violence Against WomenBishops' Committee on Marriage and Family Life Bishops' Committee on Women in Society and in the Church Affirmed by the NCCB/USCC General Membership National Conference of Catholic Bishops Critical Decisions: Genetic Testing and its ImplicationsThis statement is the second in a series designed to show how religion and science can offer complementary insights on complex topics like the emerging biotechnologies. It is offered to people of science and of faith, indeed, to all those concerned with the moral implications of humanity’s new knowledge and power. March 1996 The Promise and Peril of Genetic ScreeningThis statement is the third in a series designed to show how science and religion can offer complementary insights on complex topics like the emerging biotechnologies. It is offered to people of science and of faith, indeed, to all those concerned with the moral implications of humanity’s new knowledge and powerMarch 1996 Statement on EuthanasiaCurrent efforts to legalize euthanasia place our society at a critical juncture. These efforts have received growing public attention, due to new publications giving advice on methods of suicide and some highly publicized instances in which family members or physicians killed terminally ill persons or helped them kill themselvesSeptember 12, 1991 Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American CatholicsIn this statement we attempt to fulfill our role as teachers and pastors in proclaiming the Gospel of Life. We are confident that the proclamation of the truth in love is an indispensable way for us to exercise our pastoral responsibility1998 Scientific Experts Agree: Embryonic Stem Cells Are Unnecessary for Medical ProgressQuotes from researchers regarding the use of embryonic stem cellsApril 27, 2000 What is an Embryo?Some proponents of destructive embryo research try to deny moral status to all early human embryos. They have coined the term pre-embryo to describe human embryos in the first two weeks of development, seeking to justify destructive experimentation during this early stage. However, the term and concept of pre-embryo has never been accepted by Congress, the National Institutes of Health's Human Embryo Research Panel, or the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, and is rejected by contemporary textbooks on embryologyFebruary 26, 1998 Human Cloning Debate Raises Pro-Life IssuesThe use of cloning to produce Dolly the sheep has prompted a public debate about cloning humans. This issue has quickly become linked with the issues of abortion and embryo researchFebruary 9, 1998