The following stakeholders praised the introduction of the Down Syndrome Discrimination by Abortion Prohibition Act: “Taking the life of an unborn child because the baby has been diagnosed with Down Syndrome is the ultimate manifestation of discrimination,” said Tony Lauinger, State Chairman of Oklahomans For Life. “Targeting for death a human being who is deemed…Read More
A hearing began on Monday in Missouri to determine the fate of the state’s last remaining abortion clinic. “Planned Parenthood’s stubborn refusal to correct its gross deficiencies is the reason Missouri may soon be the first state since Roe v. Wade in 1973 to be free from abortion clinics,” Jeanne Mancini, president of the group…Read More
A group of pro-life leaders is calling on the Trump administration to finalize a rule that would require abortion to be billed separately from other services in taxpayer funded health insurance plans. An Oct. 21 letter to Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services at the Department of Health and Human…Read More
A lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s pro-life legislation will be allowed to continue, but the state is confident that it will prevail after the lower court re-examines whether the plaintiffs have standing to challenge the regulations. The 5th Circuit’s Court of Appeals declined to dismiss the case altogether, but also stated that those suing the state did…Read More
The U.S. Secretary of State listed promoting international religious freedom and fighting abortion as among U.S. foreign policy priorities in a Tuesday speech on diplomacy. In his remarks, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mentioned the second annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom hosted by the U.S. State Department in July, with religious leaders and survivors…Read More
Attorneys for the Little Sisters of the Poor reiterated their call for the U.S. Supreme Court to step in after a second appeals court ruled against the sisters’ exemption from the federal contraception mandate. “The Little Sisters never wanted this fight and have spent 8 years trying to focus on caring for the elderly poor…Read More
One U.S. senator is looking to bring up a vote on protecting churches from attempts to police their beliefs, after a presidential candidate said churches should lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) has introduced a resolution in the Senate expressing support for freedom of conscience (S.J.Res. 58). He…Read More
Today Teresa Schmit and her husband, Mike, have their hands full with their eight children, thanks in part to the Catholic schools in Great Falls, Montana, which have helped to make their family’s life – and their kids’ education – manageable and successful. Back when the Schmits had only three children, their marriage was in…Read More
Criminal justice reform, faith leaders and an Oklahoma County Commissioner are urging the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board and Gov. Kevin Stitt to back clemency for death row inmate Julius D. Jones, whose claims of racial bias have been rejected by appeals courts. “For over 20 years, (Jones) has been on Oklahoma’s death row, though…Read More
Criminal justice reform, faith leaders and an Oklahoma County Commissioner are urging the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board and Gov. Kevin Stitt to back clemency for death row inmate Julius D. Jones, whose claims of racial bias have been rejected by appeals courts. “For over 20 years, (Jones) has been on Oklahoma’s death row, though…Read More
California governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Friday a measure requiring public universities to provide free access to medical abortions for students. The law will take effect in 2023, and applies to the 34 campuses of the University of California and California State University. Sen. Connie Levya (D-Chino), the law’s author, said Oct. 11 that…Read More
Education is “ground zero” in the fight for religious freedom, the U.S. Attorney General told an audience at the Notre Dame Law School on Friday. While speaking on the threats posed to freedom of religion in the U.S. by aggressive secularism, Attorney General William Barr told law students that nowhere is the threat to religious…Read More
A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a block on an Ohio law banning abortions on the grounds of a diagnosis of Down syndrome. Former Governor John Kasich signed the law nearly two years ago, but it has not yet been able to come into effect. The court’s decision comes amid Down Syndrome Awareness Month,…Read More
The Little Sisters of the Poor have filed a petition requesting that the Supreme Court affirm the religious exemption protecting them from having to comply with the Health and Human Services’ contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act. The renewed petition comes after several states, including Pennsylvania and California, sued the Little Sisters of the…Read More
The Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty stems from its view on the sacredness of human life and the value of mercy, said U.S. bishops in a roundtable discussion about capital punishment Oct. 10. The discussion, which was livestreamed by Catholic News Service, took place on the World Day Against the Death Penalty and…Read More
A federal appeals court is considering a Mississippi law ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The law was signed in 2018 but is not currently in effect. The law allows abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy only when the mother’s life or a major bodily function is in danger, or when the unborn…Read More
Ahead of a scheduled reinstatement of the death penalty for federal inmates, the bishops of Indiana are calling on U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration to reverse the decision. “The federal government’s decision in July to end a 16-year moratorium on executing federal inmates is regrettable, unnecessary and morally unjustified,” the bishops said in…Read More
Senators have introduced legislation that would require states to report abortion statistics to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control, including in all cases where babies survive botched abortions. The Ensuring Accurate and Complete Abortion Data Reporting Act of 2019 would make certain Medicaid family planning funds to states conditional upon their gathering and reporting comprehensive…Read More
The Supreme Court will consider an abortion case this term after it announced on Friday that it will hear a challenge to Louisiana’s abortion law. Louisiana’s Unsafe Abortion Protection Act requires abortionists to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, defined as within 30 miles of the abortion clinic; when then-Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) signed…Read More
Senator Mike Braun (R., Ind.) is sponsoring new legislation requiring abortion providers to dispose of the remains of aborted fetuses through either burial or cremation. The senator introduced the Dignity for Aborted Children Act late last week in the wake of news that more than 2,200 fetal remains had been discovered inside the Illinois home…Read More
The U.S. Supreme Court will begin its 2019-2020 term with a thunderclap: a trio of cases that could result in the extension of federal employment protections that now bar discrimination based on “sex” to encompass workers who identify as “gay” or “transgender.” “When Title VII passed in 1964, there is no question that Congress at…Read More
The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Monday that is allocating $33.6 million in Title X funding previously earmarked for Planned Parenthood and other entities that have withdrawn from the program. In total, 50 groups will receive family planning grants which would otherwise have gone to abortion providers. HHS said that the funding…Read More
A federal judge temporarily blocked Georgia’s abortion ban Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones temporarily blocked the implementation of the law, which was scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1. Jones’s actions follow a June lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Reproductive Rights, according to WSB-TV Atlanta. Jones ruled…Read More
A federal judge on Monday overturned two Virginia restrictions on abortion, while upholding several others, saying, “the right to choose to have an abortion is not unfettered.” “In addition to a woman’s personal liberty interest, the state has profound interests in protecting potential life and protecting the health and safety of women,” wrote U.S. District…Read More
A governor-created criminal justice reform task force that faced early criticism over a lack of transparency will start opening meetings to the public this week. The 15-member group is scheduled to hold its first public meeting at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the attorney general’s Tulsa office. “The governor’s very excited about what will be brought…Read More
An Illinois state representative has introduced legislation to prevent government employees from traveling to states which have enacted pro-life legislation. The Illinois state Catholic conference told CNA the bill is “absurd.” The bill, introduced last week by Rep. Daniel Didech (D-Buffalo Grove), would ban any Illinois state agency from requiring or approving travel by any…Read More