STATE By State

• In Texas, a legislator has filed a bill to classify the chemical abortion pill drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, as Schedule IV substances. The bill mirrors a Louisiana state law which recently went into effect. To track the bill, click here. For further information, click here. 

• A Wyoming state court judge ruled pro-life laws as violating provisions of the state constitution guaranteeing the right to make healthcare decisions. One law banned abortion in all cases, with exceptions for danger to the mother’s life, rape, and incest, and the other outlawed abortions induced by medication. For further information, click here. 

• As litigation pends, a Montana state court judge ruled to bar enforcement of an abortion clinic licensure law that could have shut down several abortion clinics in the state. The ruling was on the grounds that it violated the equal protection rights of the patients of the clinics. For further information, click here.

• In Virginia, the House Privileges and Elections Committee suddenly moved along controversial amendments to the state constitution, which would ensure a “right to abortion,” repeal the traditional definition of marriage, and restore voting rights for formerly incarcerated felons. Bishop Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington issued a statement in opposition to the first two, while voicing approval for the restoration of voting rights. For further information, click here and here. 

• The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion group, released a report stating that abortion fell by 40% in Iowa after the state’s six-week ban went into effect. One researcher noted the “devastating impact that six-week bans have on abortion access” in a statement. For further information, click here. 

• Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio signed into law the Protect All Students Act, which restricts bathroom access on the basis of biological sex. The law will take effect February 24, 2025, and it will apply to public and private schools. For further information, click here. 

• A Missouri state court judge upheld a statewide ban on transgender procedures for minors. The decision comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to hear arguments for a similar ban in Tennessee. For further information, click here and here. 

 Federal Courts

• In Illinois, a pro-life sidewalk counseling group is asking the Supreme Court to overturn Hill v. Colorado, which upheld “buffer zone” laws outside of abortion clinics. The group, Coalition Life, argues that the Illinois law unconstitutionally chills protected speech under the First Amendment. At time of writing, it is unclear whether the Supreme Court will hear the case. For further information, click here. 

• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a brief with the Supreme Court asking the Court to uphold Texas’s age verification law for pornographic websites. Paxton said in a press release that “[pornography] companies do not have a right to expose children to pornography.” For further information, click here. 

national

• The Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed new regulations prohibiting “discrimination” on the basis of “gender identity” or “sexual orientation” in order to participate in government programs. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued a statement in opposition to the proposed regulations because of the ambiguity of “discrimination” in this context as potentially requiring “gender-affirming care.” For further information, click here and here. 

• ·The House of Representatives Pro-Life Caucus sent a letter to the United States Government Accountability Office asking for an investigation into how much in federal funds has been granted to abortion providers for the past three years. 112 members of Congress signed the letter in a bicameral effort. For further information, click here. 

• House Republicans Matt Rosendale from Montana and Josh Brecheen from Oklahoma sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees asking them to decline to expand access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the defense authorization bill. In addition to noting the massive costs of such an expansion, the representatives said,  “While we have great sympathy for couples who are having difficulty starting a family, IVF is ineffective, leads to the destruction of innocent human life, and does nothing to treat the root cause of a couple’s infertility.” For further information, click here and here. 

international

• Aid to the Church in Need published their Persecuted and Forgotten? report, which found that, of the 160 countries surveyed, 60% saw an increase in persecution against Christians from the last report. For further information, click here.  

• After passage of the assisted suicide bill in Parliament, bishops of the United Kingdom expressed their disappointment and concern. Not does the bill contravene the dignity of the human person, but it also poses dangers to those working in healthcare who have conscientious objections to assisted suicide. For further information, click here. ‘of note

of note

• At the Vatican’s Pontifical Lateran University, the “World Changers Ethical & Innovation Summit” was held last week. Various speakers from around the world came to discuss ethical matters from stem cell research to environmental concerns. 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 is a guest editor at the NCBC, and a student at Ave Maria School of Law.