November 8, 2020 - "Faithful Citizenship Answers 1-10"

As you read this, Election Day has come and gone.  The call to be informed and faithful citizens remains.  To that end let’s go over the answers to the first ten questions in the Faithful Citizenship Quiz that I put in last week’s bulletin.  We’ll go over the answers to the remaining questions in next week’s column.
 
1. How many unborn children have lost their lives to abortion since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973?  The answer:  C—53 million.  There is currently no federal requirement to report abortions, and state requirements also vary from one state to another.  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Guttmacher Institute (GI) use different methods of data collection.  GI (originally founded as Plant Parenthood’s research arm) obtains its numbers from direct surveys of abortion providers, while CDC surveys state health departments.  GI’s figures, the basis for this estimate of 53 million, are considered more completed.
2. How many successful treatments for “incurable” diseases have been developed using stem cells harvested from human embryos that were destroyed to obtain them? The answer:  A—0.  While at least two companies have started early clinical trials using cells derived from human embryonic stem cells, one trial was discontinued after disappointing early results, and no trial has shown benefits for patients in peer-reviewed medical or scientific literature.
3. How many successful treatments for “incurable” diseases have been developed using stem cells from adult tissue sources, causing no harm to the stem cell donor?  The answer: D—73.
4. How many U.S. children live in a household that is “food insecure,” which means it can’t provide enough food for its members at some point during the year? The answer: D-16.2 million.  According to the USDA, over 16.2 million children lived in food insecure (low food security and very low food security) households in 2010;
5. The official poverty rate in America is:  C. 15.1%. The official poverty rate in America is 15.1%--the highest level in seventeen years.  (United States Census Bureau annual report for 2010.
6. How long has the average jobless worker been unemployed? The answer:  C—ten months. Approximately 24 million people are unemployed or underemployed—a real unemployment rate around 15 percent and the average jobless worker has been unemployed for forty weeks—ten months.
7. According to a 2009 survey by The Polling Company, Inc., what percentage of American adults believed it is important to make sure that health care professional in America are not forced to participate in procedures and practices to which they have moral objections? The answer:  D—87%.  In an April 2009 survey by The Polling Company, Inc., 87% of American adults believed it is important (and 65% saw it as very important) to “make sure that health care professionals are not forced to participate in procedures and practices to which they have moral objections.”
8. How many patients who are hospitalized in the United States       each year are care for in a Catholic hospital?  The answer:  B—1 in 6.  Catholic hospitals care for 1 in 6 patients in the United States each year, and provide the full continuum of health care through more than 2,000 sponsors, systems, facilities, and related organizations, employing 725,000 individuals.
9.    According to a study released in the September 2011 issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, what percentage of practicing ob/gyns perform abortions?  The answer: A—14%.  According to a study released in the September 2011 of Obstetrics & Gynecology:  the journal of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, only 14% of practicing ob/gyns perform abortions.
10. Children raised in intact married families are less likely to:  Be physically and sexually abused,    use drugs or alcohol, or become pregnant/impregnate someone as a teenager.  Social science research continues to affirm the benefits children receive by being raised by their own married father and mother, each of whom brings unique gifts to the shared task of parenting, that is, fathering and mothering. 
 
Until next week,
 
Fr. John