Bioethics Public Policy Report: March 4, 2025
STATE By State
Several states are moving forward with assisted suicide legislation. Those included are Illinois, Maryland, Delaware, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. If any are passed into law, it would be the first assisted suicide legislation to pass since 2021. For further information, click here.
The American Association of Pro-Life OBGYNs sent a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul warning of the dangers of shielding the identities of doctors who prescribe and mail the chemical abortion drug mifepristone. They cited that anonymity would compound the risks that would be mitigated by follow-up care, which is put in jeopardy by the new law. For further information, click here.
Connecticut passed a bill that sends $800,000 in funding to Planned Parenthood primarily for the purposes of stockpiling the chemical abortion drug mifepristone. The funding was granted because of fears of restrictions in the coming years of the Trump administration. For further information, click here.
In Wyoming, a bill passed in the Senate by an overwhelming majority of votes that would require women seeking chemical abortions to obtain a transvaginal ultrasound at least 48 hours prior to taking the abortion pill. For further information, click here.
A Texas judge ruled against a New York doctor for prescribing and mailing the chemical abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol to a Texas woman, ordering the doctor to stop sending medications to Texas and imposing a $100,000 fine. The ruling will test the constitutionality of New York’s “shield laws” for doctors prescribing abortifacients across state lines. For further information, click here.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy seeks to incentivize abortion doctors from states where abortion has been made illegal to come to practice in New Jersey with his new spending plan, which includes $52 million for “women’s health care.” For further information, click here.
In Iowa, a bill passed a subcommittee that, if passed, would require abortion clinics to provide information to patients about abortion pill reversal. It would also require clinics to post clearly visible information in clinics to the same effect. To track the bill, click here. For further information, click here.
Federal Courts
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit for the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates against the state of Delaware. The ADF is arguing that the state is preventing pro-life pregnancy centers from advertising their work and compelling their speech by requiring them to post disclaimers stating that they do not have a licensed medical provider on staff. For further information, click here.
A lawsuit regarding the Biden administration’s rule on implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act will proceed, per a ruling by the Eighth Circuit. While the Trump administration’s Department of Justice represents the federal government in this case, following the change in administration, nevertheless it remains to be seen whether the Trump administration will continue to contest the case. For further information, click here.
The Supreme Court declined to hear a case regarding a now-repealed ordinance in Carbondale, Illinois, that created a “buffer zone” between pro-life activists and abortion facilities. The pro-life organization Coalition Life had been hoping to overturn the case, Hill v. Colorado, which granted constitutional protections to such laws. For further information, click here.
A suit by Republican attorneys general against the Biden administration’s rule against disability discrimination has been amended to clarify that they are targeting the portion of the rule which considers gender dysphoria as a disability. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that the purpose of the lawsuit was to ensure that federal funding would not be pulled from Republican states “just because Texas doesn’t allow men in women’s restrooms.” To read a statement from AG Paxton, click here. For further information, click here.
national
The Trump administration is investigating Virginia school districts over possible violations of President Trump’s recent executive orders by continuing to push transgender policies in schools. For further information, click here.
President Trump signed an executive order expanding access to in vitro fertilization (IVF), sparking backlash from many in the pro-life movement. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a statement in opposition, noting that “[t]he IVF industry treats human beings like products” and such an order would “expand[] destruction of human life” by creating living embryos who may never be born. To read the executive order, click here. To read the USCCB’s statement, click here. For further information, click here and here.
President Trump signed another executive order, “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias,” establishing a task force “to protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the anti-Christian weaponization of government,” which he announced at the National Prayer Breakfast. Attorney General Pam Bondi is to lead the task force in investigating “all executive departments and agencies.” To read the executive order, click here. For further information, click here.
In keeping with President Trump’s executive orders, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. issued guidance defining “sex” as “a person’s immutable biological classification as either male or female.” To read the guidance, click here. For further information, click here.
international
Pro-life activists in Canada are hopeful of political and cultural shifts that may pave the way for an end to the country’s permissive euthanasia laws. They cite specifically public backlash from cases where patients were pressured into the Medical Assistance in Dying program. For further information, click here.
The Mexican state of Campeche has decriminalized abortion up to 12 weeks into pregnancy. In response, Bishop José Francisco González of the Diocese of Campeche has stated that those who voted for the measure were excommunicated, though their identities are unknown due to the anonymity of the voting process in the unicameral legislature. For further information, click here.
of note
A recent study showed a connection between hormonal birth control usage and increased risk of heart problems. To read the study, 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.