Washington D.C., Feb 23, 2012 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Mandatory insurance coverage of the “morning-after pill,” a key part of the Obama administration's contraception rule, has only 38 percent of likely voters' support according to a new survey.

A Feb. 20-21 telephone poll by Rasmussen Reports found that half of the country's likely voters opposed mandatory insurance coverage of emergency contraceptive drugs like “ella” and “Plan B,” which can cause an early-stage abortion by preventing embryo implantation.

Thirteen percent of the voting public said they were unsure whether the government should force insurers to provide the drugs without a co-pay, as they must do under Health and Human Services' rule finalized Feb. 10.

The president's morning-after pill requirement is even more unpopular with political independents, than it is with the voting public in general.

Among likely voters who did not identify as either Republicans or Democrats, the poll found only 31 percent support, and 54 percent opposition, to mandated coverage of “free” emergency contraception.

Support was also lower among self-identified Catholics, than in the general population. Only 33 percent of Catholic respondents supported the administration's plan to make insurers cover emergency contraception without any charge to the recipient.

Only 24 percent of Evangelicals, and 31 percent of other Protestants, supported the contraception mandate's morning-after pill provision.

Different attitudes toward abortion were also associated with support or opposition of the emergency contraception mandate. Those who identified as “pro-choice” supported the morning-after rule at a rate of 61 percent, while 79 percent opposition was found among those calling themselves “pro-life.”

Likely voters of both sexes had similar attitudes on the question of emergency contraception, which the Obama administration has sought to present as an important part of women's health care.

Men and women supported the emergency-contraception mandate at rates of 36 percent and 39 percent, respectively, while 51 percent of men and 48 percent of women said they opposed the provision.

While the contraception mandate has been touted by supporters as a benefit to the poor, its strongest support – at a rate of 49 percent – came from respondents making over $100,000 per year, the highest income bracket surveyed.

Those earning less than $20,000 annually, who fell into the survey's lowest income bracket, were actually less likely to support the morning-after pill policy than those in the top income range. They approved of the administration's policy at a rate of 44 percent.

Madrid, Spain, Feb 22, 2012 / 04:03 pm (CNA/Europa Press).- Around 400 civic groups in Spain are joining together to support a pro-life demonstration set for March 24 in downtown Madrid.

Alicia Latorre, director of the Spanish Federation of Pro-life Associations, said many organizations have been working hard for years in Spain to defend human life “in a thousand different ways.”

“Each day there are more and more fronts being opened, and each day we are more convinced that this cause is worth it, as evil is only overcome with the effort and unity of all,” she told Europa Press on Feb. 21. 

The organization “Si a la Vida” (“Yes to Life”) has called for the massive demonstration to take place to commemorate the International Day of the Unborn Child, which is celebrated on March 25, the Solemnity of the Annunciation.

Rallies will be taking place across Spain, Latorre added, “so that everyone will have a place nearby where they can go.”

The main event will take place at the Puerta del Sol in downtown Madrid and will be led by popular Spanish actor and television host Miguel Angel Tobias.

Latorre said pro-life organizations in Spain are committed to continue battling to ensure that “the right to life and the dignity of man in every stage of life is recognized and ensured not only in the law but also in society itself.”

On the new administration in Spain and its announcement that the country’s law on abortion would be reformed, Latorre said she was “pleased” at “any step in the right direction.” However, she pointed out, the “message is going to change depending on which political party is in power.”

“Our laws must completely ensure the right to life, and this is still not the case,” she continued.  For this reason, Spaniards must demand laws that guarantee human life “from its beginning to its natural end, in any circumstances.”

Miguel Angel Tobias said the gathering will be an “non-confessional and non-political event” open to everyone to celebrate life as something “sacred.”  He said numerous celebrities and athletes would be participating in the demonstration, including pop star Nan Daconte, who is seven months pregnant.

“Si a la Vida” organizers say they hope to make the event an annual occurrence to demand respect for human life and the right to life as the first of all human rights.

On Feb. 23, the Catholic Church remembers the life and martyrdom of St. Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle and evangelist St. John. Polycarp is celebrated on the same date by Eastern Orthodox Christians, who also honor him as a Saint. Polycarp is known to later generations primarily through the account of his martyrdom, rather than by a formal biography. However, it can be determined from that account that he was born around the year 69 AD. From the testimony he gave to his persecutors – stating he had served Christ for 86 years – it is clear that he was either raised as a Christian, or became one in his youth. Growing up among the Greek-speaking Christians of the Roman Empire, Polycarp received the teachings and recollections of individuals who had seen and known Jesus during his earthly life. This important connection – between Jesus' first disciples and apostles and their respective students – served to protect the Catholic Church against the influence of heresy during its earliest days, particularly against early attempts to deny Jesus' bodily incarnation and full humanity. Polycarp's most significant teacher, with whom he studied personally, was St. John – whose contributions to the Bible included not only the clearest indication of Jesus' eternal divinity, but also the strongest assertions of the human nature he assumed on behalf of mankind. By contrast, certain tendencies had already emerged among the first Christians – to deny the reality of Jesus' literal suffering, death, and resurrection, regarding them as mere "symbols" of highly abstract ideas. Another Catholic teacher of the second century, St. Irenaeus, wrote that Polycarp "was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ; but he was also, by apostles, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna." In a surviving letter that he wrote to the Philippians, he reminded that Church – which had also received the teaching of St. Paul – not to surrender their faith to the "gnostic" teachers claiming to teach a more intellectually refined gospel. "For every one who shall not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is antichrist," he wrote –  citing St. John himself – "and whosoever shall not confess the testimony of the Cross, is of the devil; and whosoever shall pervert the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts and say that there is neither resurrection nor judgment, that man is the firstborn of Satan." "Let us therefore, without ceasing, hold fast by our hope and by the pledge of our righteousness," Polycarp taught – as he went on to explain that both hope and righteousness depended upon "Jesus Christ, who took up our sins in His own body upon the cross." With eloquence and clarity, he reminded the Philippian Church that Christ, "for our sakes, endured all things – so that we might live in him." However, Polycarp's most eloquent testimony to his faith in Jesus came not through his words, but through his martyrdom, described in another early Christian work. The Church of Smyrna, in present-day Turkey, compiled their recollections of their bishop's death at the hands of public authorities in a letter to another local church. "We have written to you, brethren, as to what relates to the martyrs, and especially to the blessed Polycarp" – who, in the words of the Catholics of Smyrna, "put an end to the persecution – having, as it were, set a seal upon it by his martyrdom." Around the year 155, Polycarp became aware that government authorities were on the lookout for him, seeking to stamp out the Catholic Church's claim of obeying a higher authority than the Emperor. He retreated to a country house and occupied himself with constant prayer, before receiving a vision of his death that prompted him to inform his friends: "I must be burned alive." He changed locations, but was betrayed by a young man who knew his whereabouts and confessed under torture. He was captured on a Saturday evening by two public officials, who urged him to submit to the state demands. "What harm is there," one asked, "in saying, 'Caesar is Lord,' and in sacrificing to him, with the other ceremonies observed on such occasions, so as to make sure of safety?" "I shall not do as you advise me," he answered. Outraged by his response, the officials had him violently thrown from their chariot and taken to an arena for execution. Entering the stadium, the bishop – along with some of his companions, who survived to tell of it – heard a heavenly voice, saying: "Be strong, and show yourself a man, O Polycarp!" Before the crowd, the Roman proconsul demanded again that he worship the emperor. "Hear me declare with boldness, I am a Christian," the bishop said. "And if you wish to learn what the doctrines of Christianity are, appoint me a day, and you shall hear them." "You threaten me with fire," he continued "which burns for an hour, and after a little is extinguished. But you are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly." "But," he challenged the proconsul, "what are you waiting for? Bring forth what you will." Although the crowds clamored for Polycarp to be devoured by beasts, it was decided he should be burned alive, just as he had prophesied. He prayed aloud to God: "May I be accepted this day before you as an acceptable sacrifice -- just as you, the ever-truthful God, have foreordained, revealed beforehand to me, and now have fulfilled." What happened next struck Polycarp's companions with amazement; they recorded the sight in the letter that they circulated after Polycarp's death. "As the flame blazed forth in great fury," they wrote, "we to whom it was given to witness it, beheld a great miracle." The fire did not seem to touch the bishop's body. Rather, as they described, "shaping itself into the form of an arch, it  encompassed – as by a circle – the body of the martyr. And he appeared within not like flesh which is burnt, but as bread that is baked, or as gold and silver glowing in a furnace." "Moreover, we perceived such a sweet odour coming from the flames – as if frankincense or some such precious spices had been burning there." The executioners perceived that Polycarp's death was not going as planned. Losing patience, they ordered him to be stabbed to death. From the resulting wound, "there came forth a dove, and a great quantity of blood, so that the fire was extinguished." The crowd, as the Christian witnesses recalled, were understandably amazed. "All the people marveled," they wrote, "that there should be such a difference between the unbelievers and the elect." Polycarp, they proclaimed, had been among that elect – "having in our own times been an apostolic and prophetic teacher, and bishop of the Catholic Church which is in Smyrna." St. Polycarp has been venerated as a Saint since his death in 155.

15 Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil:16 That thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and keep his commandments and ceremonies and judgments, and thou mayst live, and he may multiply thee, and bless thee in the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.17 But if thy heart be turned away, so that thou wilt not hear, and being deceived with error thou adore strange gods, and serve them:18 I foretell thee this day that thou shalt perish, and shalt remain but a short time in the land, to which thou shalt pass over the Jordan, and shalt go in to possess it.19 I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live:20 And that thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and obey his voice, and adhere to him (for he is thy life, and the length of thy days,) that thou mayst dwell in the land, for which the Lord swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give it them.