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Charlotte Lozier Institute

Phone: 202-223-8073
Fax: 571-312-0544

2776 S. Arlington Mill Dr.
#803
Arlington, VA 22206

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Charlotte Lozier Institute

Phone: 202-223-8073
Fax: 571-312-0544

2776 S. Arlington Mill Dr.
#803
Arlington, VA 22206

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Did You Know ?

Did You Know ?

In the fourth week, the embryonic heart starts beating. The neural tube, which becomes the brain and spinal cord, forms. At this point, a woman has likely only been aware of her pregnancy for one week.

Did You Know ?

In the seventh week after conception, networks of neurons produce brain waves that have been recorded as early as 6 ½ weeks after conception. The embryo spontaneously moves his arms, hands, and legs, and may even hiccup. The embryo’s heart now has all four chambers.

Did You Know ?

By the seventeenth and eighteenth week after gestation, the fetus shows a clear response to pain in multiple studies, and at least one brain pathway is mature enough to create a perception of pain. The fetus also practices breathing, crying, and breastfeeding in the womb. The fetal heart has beat over 20 million times and circulates about 55 quarts of blood per day.

Did You Know ?

In the eighth month of pregnancy the fetal brain is ready to learn! At 32 weeks after conception, neurons are creating 40,000 new connections, called synapses, every second! With repeated exposures, the fetus can learn flavors, nursery rhymes, songs, and even words that she will recognize after birth!

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Home / About / Our Leadership/ Richard Doerflinger, M.A.
Scholar

Richard Doerflinger, M.A.

Associate Scholar

Richard M. Doerflinger is a Fellow with the University of Notre Dame’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture and an Adjunct Fellow in Bioethics and Public Policy at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. He was formerly Associate Director of the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, where he worked for 36 years. Among his duties was the preparation of policy statements and congressional testimony on abortion, euthanasia, conscience rights in health care, embryo research, and other medical-moral issues for the bishops’ conference. He also serves on the Advisory Board to The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity, and is a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Mr. Doerflinger has testified before Congress, the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, the National Institutes of Health, the President’s Council on Bioethics, and several state legislatures on the way public policy treats human life at its most vulnerable stages.  His writings on medical ethics and public policy include contributions to The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, The Hastings Center Report, Duquesne Law Review, Cell Proliferation, the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, the Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine (Our Sunday Visitor Press 1997), the National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, Human Life Review, The Public Discourse, and the American Journal of Bioethics. His monthly column “A More Human Society” is syndicated by Catholic News Service and published in many Catholic newspapers. He holds a BA degree and an MA in Divinity from the University of Chicago and conducted doctoral studies in Theology at that institution and the Catholic University of America.

In January 2009, Mr. Doerflinger became one of the first recipients of the Gerard Health Foundation’s “Life Prize,” honoring efforts to awaken the conscience of America to the sanctity of human life. In April 2011, he became the first recipient of the “Evangelium Vitae Medal,” awarded annually by the University of Notre Dame’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture “to honor individuals whose outstanding efforts have served to proclaim the Gospel of Life by steadfastly affirming and defending the sanctity of human life from its earliest stages.”

 

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Research Authored

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On Point Series

Lethal Non-Compliance with Washington’s “Death with Dignity Act”

Beginning with Oregon in 1997, ten states and the District of Columbia have legalized physician-assisted suicide (PAS) for patients said to have a terminal illness.

Richard Doerflinger, M.A.
December 20, 2022
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Fetal Development

The Effort to Reinterpret EMTALA to Mandate Abortions

The Administration policy is unsupported by the language and history of EMTALA itself, and explicitly forbidden by other equally authoritative federal laws.

Richard Doerflinger, M.A.
November 8, 2022
Research

Politifact and Fiction on Abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey has led abortion supporters to propose sweeping legislation, and to mislead Americans about pro-life legislation. One example is a claim, repeated by many news outlets, that state laws against abortion forbid effective treatment of women undergoing miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies. That claim has been rebutted again and again, but continues to appear in online news outlets.

Richard Doerflinger, M.A.
September 19, 2022
Research

Lies, Damn Lies, and the Women’s Health Protection Act

The “Women’s Health Protection Act” (WHPA) has been circulating in Congress since 2013. That is the year Planned Parenthood announced it was moving away from the slogan “pro-choice.”

Richard Doerflinger, M.A.
October 6, 2021
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On Point Series

Assisted Suicide’s Slippery Slope in Action: Washington State May Drop “Safeguards” Against Abuse

Opponents of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) have long warned that there is a “slippery slope” from initially limited acceptance of the practice to a broader “right” to take the lives of the sick and elderly. PAS supporters have generally dismissed this claim as alarmist. In my home state of Washington, however, supporters are now embracing the claim, and urging lawmakers to ski down the slope.

Richard Doerflinger, M.A.
January 25, 2021
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Life & the Law

The “Equality Act”: Threatening Life and Equality

Former vice-president Joseph Biden has made it clear that on becoming President, he hopes to advance his party’s stand on so-called “social issues” such as abortion and the LGBTQ agenda. His ability to do so will depend on whether he will be working with a Congress that shares his goals.

Richard Doerflinger, M.A.
January 14, 2021
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Abortion

Federal Bioethics Commissions and Bias Against the Unborn

In August, the Trump administration’s new Human Fetal Tissue Research Ethics Advisory Board reviewed requests made to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for federally funded fetal tissue research. The Board recommended denying most of these requests.

Richard Doerflinger, M.A.
October 5, 2020
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On Point Series

Physician-Assisted Suicide: The Path to Active Euthanasia

The founding intentions of the PAS movement, the grim practical realities of suicide by oral overdose, the legal principles at stake, and the state of public opinion all argue that the move from PAS to euthanasia, once the former is more widely accepted, would be not only a “slippery slope” but a virtual free fall.

Richard Doerflinger, M.A.
November 2, 2018
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End of Life

Food for Thought: The Push to Starve Helpless Seniors

On March 11, The Washington Post reported on efforts to expand the “right to die” in Oregon and elsewhere.   The state has passed legislation to study changing its law on “advance directives,” by which people can decide on future care in

Richard Doerflinger, M.A.
March 29, 2018
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Special Reports

Open Letter to the Hawaii Legislature On Assisted Suicide

To view this Special Report as a PDF, see: Open Letter to the Hawaii Legislature on Assisted Suicide   March 4, 2018     Dear Hawaii Legislators:   Friends in Hawaii have asked me to comment on the pending bill HB 2739, titled

Richard Doerflinger, M.A.
March 9, 2018