Bioethics Public Policy Report: April 14, 2025
STATE By State
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed an executive order directing state agencies to root out policies that exclude religious people from government programs. The order follows the 2023 amendment to Oklahoma’s Religious Freedom Act, which had the same legal effect, and it comes right as the U.S. Supreme Court is about to hear oral arguments in a case involving a religious charter school. For further information, click here.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law the Human Growth and Development Instruction in Public Schools Act, which will require public schools to instruct students on fetal development. By the passage of this law, Idaho has become the third state to implement such pro-life legislation, and 19 other states are considering similar measures. For further information, click here. .
Under Oregon’s “Death with Dignity” Act, assisted suicide prescriptions have risen 8% in the last year following a 30% spike in 2023. Oregon Right to Life noted a “radically low number of reported psychological and psychiatric evaluations” accompanying the prescriptions, and assisted suicide now makes up approximately 1% of total deaths in the state. To read the Oregon Health Authority’s official report, click here. For further information, click here.
In Kansas, Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto was overridden by the legislature to ensure the passage of House Bill 2311, which will protect the religious liberty of foster parents in the state. The bill prohibits requiring “a person to affirm, accept, or support any governmental policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that may conflict with the person's sincerely held moral or religious beliefs” in order to be a foster parent. For further information, click here.
Two pro-abortion bills were passed in the Colorado legislature—one enacting the use of state funds for abortion and the other allowing chemical abortion prescriptions to remain anonymous. The Catholic bishops of Colorado have called upon Gov. Jared Polis specifically to veto the bill that would use state funds for abortion. The Colorado March for Life, which saw thousands in attendance, similarly called on Gov. Polis to veto the bill. To read the bishops’ letter, click here. For further information, click here and here.
A bill titled the “Fertility Treatment and Contraception Protection Act” passed in the Tennessee legislature that, if signed, would create “a statutory right to create and destroy human embryos without limitation of any kind,” per Rep. Gino Bulso. The bill passed by a vote of 54–37 and will go to Gov. Bill Lee to sign. For further information, click here.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the City of San Antonio for appropriating taxpayer funds to provide for out-of-state travel expenses for Texas citizens to obtain abortions in other states. The city had appropriated $100,000 to a “Reproductive Justice Fund” to provide for such expenses, in violation of Texas law. For further information, click here.
Federal Courts
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments for a case regarding the tax-exempt status of Catholic Charities in Wisconsin, signaling support for Catholic Charities. Wisconsin had imposed unemployment taxes on Catholic Charities because its day-to-day services did not involve religious teachings, but Catholic Charities is arguing that its whole motivation for operation was based on religious beliefs. The ruling may have implications for religiously affiliated hospitals that also are included under the unemployment tax. For further information, click here.
The Supreme Court also heard arguments regarding South Carolina’s attempt to block the use of Medicaid funds for Planned Parenthood, which could effectively defund the organization in the state. The Court is specifically considering whether Medicaid patients have constitutional standing to sue the state over the 2018 executive order. For further information, click here.
A federal district court judge struck down a provision in the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act which sought to require pro-life pregnancy centers to use pro-abortion language but left in place the requirement that they refer patients for abortions. For further information, click here.
national
President Trump has directed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct research into “regret” following “gender transitions” and other transgender procedures. The information comes from an internal NIH memo that was leaked to the public by NIH staffers. For further information, click here.
Florida Rep. Greg Steube introduced legislation titled the “Safeguarding Charity Act,” which would ensure that tax-exempt organizations will not be classified as recipients of federal financial aid. The bill, if passed, would make it so that judges cannot interpret tax-exempt status as receiving federal aid so that the organizations are not forced “to choose between their convictions and compliance.” To track the bill, click here. For further information, click here.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a letter to Congress asking them to end taxpayer funding of the abortion industry and “gender transition” services, citing that Planned Parenthood, whose services include abortion and “gender transitions,” receives a third of its funding from the federal government. The letter was sent as Congress reviews the federal budget. To read the letter, click here. For further information, click here.
international
In Mexico, the Yucatán state has become the twenty-second state to decriminalize abortion up to 12 weeks. The state’s constitution still protects life from the moment of fertilization, but the legislature’s bill passed by a vote of 22–13. For further information, click here.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India condemned an attack on Christian pilgrims in the city of Jabalpur, the capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh. The attack comes as tensions in India rise against religious minorities, including Christians. For further information, click here.
Catholics in the United Kingdom are calling on the faithful to oppose a bill seeking to legalize assisted suicide. Cardinal Vincent Nichols of the Archdiocese of Westminster wrote a pastoral letter asking the faithful to contact members of Parliament to voice their opposition to the bill, noting, instead, the need for the nation to “prioritise care for the elderly, the vulnerable, and the weak.” The United Kingdom Catholic Medical Association issued a statement denouncing the bill as “a direct attack on innocent human life.” For further information, click here and here.
A Christian woman was convicted of holding a sign offering to talk to people outside of an abortion clinic in the United Kingdom, in violation of the nation’s controversial “buffer zone” law, imposing a fine of £20,000. The United States State Department issued a warning to the United Kingdom, citing that it was “concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom” and “monitoring” the situation. For further information, click here and here. For the NCBC’s response, click here.
of note
Spanish priest Ricardo Mejía Fernández recently authored a book on the transhumanist movement, taking issue with many of the theses proposed by the transhumanists, but offering a balanced approach to the application of technology in our times. For further information and an interview with Father Fernández, click here.
In Budapest, the Danube Institute held a conference titled “Family Formation and the Future,” discussing the public policy concerns surrounding the breakdown of the family in the West. For further information, click here.
At the University of Notre Dame, a conference was recently held discussing whether Catholics should apply the term “feminism” in emphasizing the Church’s teachings on the dignity of women, considering the term’s contemporary association with pro-abortion politics and the like. For further information, click here.
At the Religion News Association’s 2025 annual conference, disability rights activists voiced concern over the rise in assisted suicide across the United States and Canada, noting the coercive nature of these programs in application. For further information, click here.
The first child born via a donated womb in the United Kingdom has sparked ethical commentary. Dr. Joseph Meaney, past president and senior fellow at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, said that there are issues surrounding such transplants, in general due to the disproportionate risk. Moreover, he pointed out that the transplant would require children to be born via in vitro fertilization. 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.