Novena to Stop FOCA

Our friends in the United States will begin this year by inaugurating a new president, Barak Obama. Based on Mr. Obama's previous record, it seems certain that he will be the most anti-life president the US has ever seen. Before his election, he promised a Planned Parenthood group that the first thing he would do as president is pass the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). He will be inaugurated January 20, 2009. This act will result in the cancellation of all laws regarding abortion- essentially the US law on abortion will become the same as Canada; abortion on demand for the entire 9 months of pregnancy. I received an e-mail today which stated that FOCA will also:

1. Require all hospitals (including Catholic or faith based ones) to perform abortion on request. The US Bishops have vowed to close all Catholic hospitals if this occurs, rather than participate in abortion. Currently, Catholic hospitals make up more than 30% of all hospitals in the US.
   
2. Allow partial birth abortions
   
3. All abortions would be taxpayer funded
   
4. Parental notification laws (which require parents to be informed that their minor daughters are having abortions) would be abolished
   
5. It is expected that the number of abortions in the US will increase by at least 100,000 annually as a result of the passage of FOCA
   
6. The government will control the issue of abortion, which could lead to future amendments forcing women by law to have abortions in certain situations (rape, Down syndrome babies, etc.) and could even regulate how many children women are allowed to have.
   

This bill is horrifying, and could potentially go further than even Canada's loose laws have with abortion. To read the full text of FOCA, go here.

However, we must not lose hope. The e-mail is part of a campaign encouraging people to pray to prevent FOCA, and a novena is going to be said to prevent its passage.

From the email:

The Plan:

To say a novena (9 days of prayer) along with fasting starting on January 11th. For Catholics, the prayer of choice will be the rosary with intentions to stop the FOCA. For non-Catholics I encourage you to pray your strongest prayers with the same intentions, also for nine consecutive days. The hope is that this will branch and blossom as to become a global effort with maximum impact. We have very little time so we all must act fast. Just do three things:

1. Pass this letter to 5 or more people.
2. Do it in three days or less.
3. Start the novena on January 11th and pray for nine consecutive days. (Please also fast for at least two days during the novena.)

Remember that with God all things are possible and the power of prayer is undeniable. If you are against the senseless killing of defenseless children then the time is now to do something about it! Please, if you are a Christian, I pray you will see the light to help stop all this evil! May God bless you all!

I ask you to all take part in this novena. For more information on FOCA, check out these links:
http://www.nrlc.org/foca/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Choice_Act
http://www.fightfoca.com/
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/FOCA/index2z.shtml
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/FOCA/FOCA_FactSheet08.pdf

And please, keep praying!