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CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
SERVING SAN FRANCISCO, MARIN & SAN MATEO COUNTIES
www.catholic-sf.org
OCTOBER 5, 2012
$1.00 | VOL. 14 NO. 30
Bishops urge voters to end death penalty’s ‘failed system’ GEORGE RAINE CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO
The idea that the death penalty in California should be repealed in favor of sentencing our most heinous killers to life in prison without the possibility of parole may be gaining traction this year, presented more as an economic argument than as an emotional one: The state is hemorrhaging money on a badly broken death penalty system. That is the narrative the proponents SEE DEATH PENALTY, PAGE 15
(PHOTO BY DENNIS CALLAHAN/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
Several hundred people walked from City Hall to Union Square San Francisco Sept. 15 to raise awareness of the genocide of baby girls in India, where 10 million girls have been killed through sex-selection abortion and infanticide in the last 20 years.
Outrage over India’s 50 million ‘missing girls’ A Bay Area filmmaker is one of the leaders of an international movement to raise awareness of the killing of millions of unwanted unborn or infant girls in India. “Nearly 50 million girls are missing in India – 10 million killed by their parents via sex-selection abortion or infanticide in the past 20 years. (And) only because they’re girls and they’re considered a burden,” said Nyna Pais Caputi, a documentary filmmaker and mother of two small boys who started the walk and mobilized women and men around the globe to hold similar walks beginning in 2010. This year several hundred people gathered Sept. 15 at City Hall in San Francisco and walked to Union Square, holding signs that said, “If you kill your daughter where or how
will you find brides for your sons?” and “Endangered species – India’s girls”. Walks were also held in Minneapolis and Seattle, and in Canadian and Indian cities. In addition to Caputi, activists raising awareness of the genocide of girl babies include The 50 Million Missing Campaign (50millionmissing.wordpress.com) and the Virginiabased Population Research Institute. If the baby is not aborted, often parents or in-laws will kill a baby girl after her birth, Caputi documents in her film, “Petals in the Dust: India’s Missing Girls,” scheduled for release next year. In a trailer for the film, found at petalsinthedust.com, Caputi interviews an Indian woman who describes how her husband took her newborn daughter to a friend’s house, and fed her rice husks, choking her to death. The 2011 India census reveals the
GEORGE RAINE CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO
ratio of women to men is the lowest since India’s independence in 1947 with 914 girls to 1,000 boys. One district in western India has a ratio of 591 women to 1,000 men, Caputi said. In India, doctors are prohibited from notifying parents of the unborn baby’s gender and the government has gone so far as to require the registration of ultrasound machines. Nevertheless, Caputi said many doctors circumvent the law by giving clues of plus or minus, or pink or blue, Caputi said. “We found that even amongst the Christian community it was being done – women went in for abortions when they had already two or three girls,” Maryanne Ekka, coordinator for Global Walk for India’s Missing Girls in Jamshedpur, wrote in an email. Ekka is involved with Catholic Mahila Sangh of Jamshedpur
Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill backed by California Catholic bishops that was designed to reduce the likelihood that undocumented residents will be deported following their arrest. Advocates for the legislation said families are being torn apart sometimes for very minor offenses. The bill, known as the Trust Act, by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, was endorsed by the California Catholic Conference, which is the voice of the state’s bishops. It would have directed law enforcement officers to comply with a federal request that undocumented people be detained following arrest to accommodate deportation action only if the arrested person had been convicted or was charged with a serious or violent crime. The governor announced on Sept. 30 that he was vetoing the bill. He said he
SEE MISSING GIRLS, PAGE 15
SEE BROWN, PAGE 15
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Brown vetoes deportations bill
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