Bioethics Public Policy Report: February 4, 2025
STATE By State
In Montana, State Senator Carl Glimm introduced a bill to prevent physician assisted suicide in the state. Current Montana law leaves ambiguous whether consent allows for homicide or assisted suicide, but SB 136 would definitively make physician assisted suicide illegal. To read the bill, click here. For further information, click here.
In Virginia, two constitutional amendments passed in the state legislature. One potentially could enshrined a “right” to abortion in the state constitution, which is so expansive as not to require parental consent for minors, and the other could repealed the state constitution’s language regarding marriage as between a man and a woman. These proposed amendments must be voted on again in the next legislative session before being put on the 2026 ballot, being voted on by the voters of Virginia. For further information, click here.
The Idaho House of Representatives has called on the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 decision which invalidated state laws which prohibited same-sex marriage. The Idaho House passed a resolution by a 46-24 vote, asking for the Court to “restore the natural definition of marriage, a union of one man and one woman.” To read the resolution, click here. For further information, click here.
A New York doctor was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury for prescribing chemical abortion pills to a Louisiana girl, which marks the first case of its sort since the Dobbs decision. The case will likely test the validity of New York’s laws shielding its citizens from prosecution in other states for abortion-related offenses. For further information, click here.
In Missouri, abortion may remain limited, despite the passage of Amendment 3, which was intended to invalidate state law prohibiting abortion. This is because of a state law requiring a license to perform abortions in the state. The state court is considering whether the licensing requirement constitutes a compelling state interest. For further information, click here.
In Wyoming, two pro-life bills were just passed by the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee. The first would require women to obtain an ultrasound at least 48 hours prior to being prescribed chemical abortion pills. The second would require the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality to test water for the presence of chemical abortion pills in the public water systems. To read the bills, click here and here. For further information, click here and here.
Federal Courts
A federal judge dismissed with prejudice the case against Eithan Haim, a doctor who leaked documents to Christopher Rufo in 2023 indicating that the largest pediatric hospital in Texas was violating state law in continuing with transgender procedures on children. For further information, click here.
The day before the March for Life in Washington, D.C., President Trump issued pardons for 23 pro-life activists convicted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act by the Biden administration. Likewise, the Department of Justice has dropped charges against former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb). The Trump administration’s Department of Justice has further stated that it intended to end the weaponization of the FACE Act against pro-lifers. For further information, click here, here, and here.
In Texas, a man pleaded guilty to a violation of the FACE Act for defacing pro-life pregnancy resource centers. For further information, click here.
national
President Trump signed three executive orders reversing the Biden administration’s pro-transgender policy. The first requires the federal government to adhere to the truth of biological realities about the human person, specifically stating that the “sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,” which begins “at conception” (emphasis added). The second bars those expressing a false gender identity from military service and reverses other pro-transgender policies.Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life. The third states that the United States “will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another,” citing concerns that doctors are “maiming and sterilizing” children. To read the orders, click here, here, and here.
The Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is also reversing the Biden administration’s pro-abortion policy. HHS took down a website whose purpose under the Biden administration was to facilitate “access to birth control and safe and legal abortion care.” Acting HHS Secretary Dorothy Fink subsequently issued a statement assuring that the Trump administration would enforce the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars from funding abortion. For further information, click here and here. For the reaction of Timothy Broglio, Archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services and the President of the USCCB, click here.
At the Senate hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he vowed to implement President Trump’s agenda in the realm of abortion, which will include “study [of] the safety of mifepristone,” the chemical abortion drug. Pro-life groups are expressing relief at Kennedy’s willingness to work with the pro-life agenda. For further information, click here.
The Department of Defense will no longer reimburse servicemembers traveling out of state for abortions or fertility treatments, per a directive issued from the Pentagon. The memo simply reversed a policy of the Biden administration which was implemented following the Dobbs decision. For further information, click here.
The Trump administration’s State Department reinstated the “Mexico City Policy,” whose purpose is “to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars do not fund organizations or programs that support or participate in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.” To read the memorandum, click here.
In the Senate, the Democrats blocked the “Born-Alive” bill that would have required doctors to provide life-saving care to infants who are born alive following an abortion. Republicans needed to obtain three fifths of the Senate vote to pass the bill, but the vote was along party lines, with a vote of 52-47, meaning that every Democrat voted against the bill. For further information, click here.
Senate Republicans have introduced a parental rights bill which would apply strict scrutiny to state laws which would in any way hinder the rights of parents with respect to the health and education of their children. To read the bill, click here. For further information, click here.
Rep. Andy Ogles has introduced a bill that would institute a federal ban on the use of chemical abortion if passed. While citing his moral commitment “to safeguarding the innocent and voiceless in our society,” he also cited environmental concerns from the human remains being flushed away into waterways. To read the bill, click here. For further information, click here.
international
In Pakistan, four men were sentenced to death for violation of blasphemy laws for making online posts allegedly blasphemous against Islam. There is a marked increase in similar such cases in Pakistan. For further information, click here.
In South Korea, the birth rate is rising for the first time in nine years. The rise seems to have coincided with an increase in marriages in 2023, which were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For further information, click here.
of note
A pro-abortion study found that ulipristal acetate combined with misoprostol was as effective as mifepristone in inducing an abortion. Ulipristal is comparatively easier to obtain than mifepristone, typically marketed as over-the-counter emergency contraception. For further information, click here.
Pope Francis has issued a note on artificial intelligence (AI) titled Antiqua et nova, which addresses “the anthropological and ethical challenges raised by AI.” Similarly, Pope Francis said to the World Economic Forum that AI should “assists the human person in fulfilling his or her vocation, in freedom and responsibility.” To read Antiqua et nova, click here. For further information, click here and here.
Vice President J.D. Vance gave a speech at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., expressing his support for the pro-life cause. Vice President Vance followed a pre-recorded speech from President Trump, who also expressed support for the pro-lifers gathered in D.C. For further information, click here.
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The National Catholic Bioethics Center website is a significant resource for bioethics information. NCBC bioethicists are also on call for consultation twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, at 215-877-2660.
Justin Corman
Justin Corman is a guest editor at the NCBC, and a student at Ave Maria School of Law.