Bioethics Public Policy Report: June 4, 2024
STATE By State
A controversial “Equal Rights Amendment” which would have expanded abortion access in Minnesota failed to pass in the midst of partisan deadlock. The amendment would have protected “making and effectuating decisions about all matters relating to one’s own pregnancy or decision whether to become or remain pregnant,” as well as “gender identity or gender expression” and “sexual orientation.” For further information, click here.
The State of Tennessee has termed the trafficking of underaged girls for the procurement of abortion a Class C felony where the adult moving the minor across state lines is not the parent or legal guardian of the minor. The law creates civil liability for such individuals and permits the State to prosecute them. For further information, click here.
The Texas supreme court unanimously upheld the State’s law outlawing abortion in almost all cases. The court upheld it even in the face of the “hard cases” where a medical exception might apply. For further information, click here.
Bishops Burbidge and Knestout of Virginia have issued a statement in support of Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin’s veto of two contraceptive bills that would have forced certain organizations to pay for contraception and even abortifacients against their conscience. To read the statement, click here. For further information, click here.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed the “Help Not Harm Bill” into law, banning sex-change surgeries and puberty blockers for minors in the State. The law will also prohibit public schools from concealing a minor’s perception of his or her gender identity. For further information, click here.
The highest court of appeal in New York State upheld a mandate requiring insurance coverage for abortions. The Diocese of Albany will be appealing the case to the Supreme Court of the United States. For further information, click here.
Louisiana passed a law that will label the chemical abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV controlled substances. The bill passed by a wide margin at 29-7. If signed into law, Louisiana will be the first State in the nation to pass such a law. For further information, click here.
A North Carolina woman is going forward with a suit against her doctors who encouraged her to undergo life-changing sex-change surgeries at age 16. The county judge has allowed several of the original counts alleged to proceed to trial. For further information, click here.
Federal Courts
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is suing the Biden administration over new rules that could require them and other Catholic employers to provide workplace accommodations for women seeking abortions. Under new regulations issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, all employers could be required to grant leave explicitly so that their pregnant workers may get an abortion. For further information, click here.
The Alliance Defending Freedom is representing two non-profit pro-life pregnancy centers in suing the New York State Attorney General for “using her power to censor pro-life pregnancy centers” after targeting them for their abortion pill reversal treatments. For further information, click here.
Paulette Harlow, a 75-year-old pro-life activist with serious health issues, has been convicted and sentenced to two years in prison under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. For further information, click here.
Mark Houck has filed a lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims against the Biden administration over his controversial arrest by a 25-man SWAT team at his family home in 2022. It names several law enforcement officers who participated in the arrest. For further information, click here.
NATIONAL
The Biden administration has launched a tool for reporting violations of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). This comes at a time when the Biden administration is fighting a legal battle with the State of Idaho over whether EMTALA extends to abortions in emergency rooms. For further information, click here.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, and Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-OK, and several other legislators have called on the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the environmental impact of the chemical abortion drug mifepristone on the water supply. For further information, click here.
Sens. Katie Britt, R-AL, and Ted Cruz, R-TX, have introduced a bill protecting the in vitro fertilization (IVF) industry, mistakenly calling it “pro-family.” Under the bill, access to Medicaid would be denied by any State banning IVF. For further information, click here.
Conscience/religious liberty
The United States Commission on International Freedom (USCIRF) has appointed five new commissioners, three of whom are Catholic. The USCIRF monitors the status of religious freedom around the world. For further information, click here.
The Washington, D.C. Board of Nursing is requiring nurses to undergo implicit bias training and LGBT studies to meet the requirements for the renewal of their licenses. There is no requirement that the nurses’ continuing education hours be related to their specialty. For further information, click here.
international
President of the Institute for Women’s Health Valerie Huber has launched an international outreach initiative to leaders around the world, helping them to promote women’s health without submitting to pro-abortion policies, upon which policies international aid is often conditioned. For further information, click here.
South Korea is considering granting large monetary bonuses to women who have babies in order to address the country’s plummeting birth rates. As of right now, South Korea’s birth rate is at 0.78 per woman, which is the lowest in the world. For further information, click here.
The Canadian bishops’ conference hosted a symposium on palliative care entitled, “Towards a Narrative of Hope: An International Interfaith Symposium on Palliative Care.” The aim of the symposium is to combat the burgeoning prevalence of the country’s Medical Assistance in Dying program. For further information, click here.
Reps. Thomas Massie, R-KY, and Jim Jordan, R-OH, stand in opposition to the adoption of the World Health Organization Pandemic Agreement, citing that signing the agreement would have serious implications for First Amendment rights in the United States. For further information, click here.
A pro-life man in the United Kingdom has been fined for standing silently in a “buffer zone” outside of an abortion clinic. The officer asked the man, Sebastian Vaughan-Spruce, if he was “praying for lives of unborn children” before asking him to leave and issuing a fine. “Buffer zones” were established recently in the United Kingdom to prevent “harassment” from pro-life activists. For further information, click here.
The German Medical Association passed two resolutions last month. One disallows minors to undergo transgender procedures such as mutilating surgeries and prescriptions of puberty blockers. The other allows those over the age of 18 to “self-identify” as a gender different from their biological sex without any medical diagnosis. For further information, click here.
of note
The USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities has denounced federal funding for abortion and the commodification of children through IVF procedures in a recent letter from the Committee, authored by Bishop Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington. To read the letter, click here. For further information, click here.
In the United Kingdom, Bishop Patrick McKinney has issued a document entitled Precious in My Sight, banning the celebration of “pride month” in Catholic churches and schools. The document explains why Catholics may not celebrate homosexual activity and other “lifestyles which are incompatible with Church teaching.” To read the document, click here. For further information, click here.
Within just a few weeks of installing a new Safe Haven baby box, Little Rock, Arkansas, has seen two babies dropped off. The initiative is from the Safe Haven Baby Boxes organization, which works with fire stations to install the boxes. 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.