Bioethics Public Policy Report: September 23
STATE By State
The Missouri state supreme court issued a decision keeping the pro-abortion amendment on the ballot for the upcoming election. Pro-life advocates, represented by the Thomas More Society, had asserted that the ballot provision violated state law as it was written by both misleading the public and failing to enumerate the laws which the amendment would repeal. For further information, click here.
A North Dakota state court judge struck down the statewide abortion ban claiming that the state law violates a state constitutional “right” to abortion before fetal viability. The judge also ruled that the ban was overly vague and, therefore, unenforceable. The state attorney general plans to appeal the case. For further information, click here.
In Nebraska, two competing amendments—one pro-life, the other pro-abortion—will appear on the same ballot in November. The state supreme court ruled that neither ballot provision is in violation of state law, so both may be voted on in November. For further information, click here.
California has taken away custody of a 14-year-old girl from her mother, a widow, because the mother did not approve of her daughter’s gender transition. She had been accused of “emotional abuse” and her daughter was placed in foster care against her wishes. For further information, click here.
In Connecticut, the state health department has proposed regulations that would remove current “born alive” provisions that would require abortion facilities to provide care for children born alive after a failed abortion. For further information, click here.
In California, the City of Huntington Beach passed an ordinance called the Parents’ Right to Know ordinance. The ordinance will prevent educators from keeping information about children in schools secret from their parents, which comes into conflict with a recently passed state law that bans alerting parents as to the “gender identity” of their children. For further information, click here.
Illinois Right to Life is encouraging voters to oppose the “Assisted Reproductive Health Referendum Act,” which could force coverage for in vitro fertilization on “any health insurance plan in Illinois that provides coverage for pregnancy benefits, without limitation on the number of treatments.” For further information, click here.
In New York, the highest court in the state upheld a law that would require coverage for “medically necessary” abortions. The Diocese of Albany plans to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of the United States on religious liberty grounds. For further information, click here.
Governor Carney of Delaware vetoed a bill that would have legalized physician-assisted suicide in the state. Governor Carney said that he “still [doesn’t] believe a firm consensus has been reached” on the question of physician assisted suicide and was “simply not comfortable letting this piece of legislation become law.” For further information, click here.
Federal Courts
The U.S. Department of Justice has sentenced a man from Florida to a year and one day “for conspiring to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate employees of pro-life pregnancy centers.” The charges were brought on the basis of interference with the pregnancy centers’ free exercise of religious freedom. For further information, click here.
national
The House of Representatives passed a bill that would require the Biden administration to obtain approval from the Senate before signing the World Health Organization pandemic agreement. To read about the agreement, click here. To see the bill that was passed, click here.
The Senate Republicans used the filibuster to block the passage of an IVF bill that would vastly expand public and private insurance coverage of IVF and several other fertility treatments. While many Republicans themselves “strongly support continued nationwide access to IVF,” some, like Senator Ted Cruz, were concerned that the bill “deliberately overturns the conscience protections of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.” For further information, click here.
international
Bishop John Sherrington, Lead Bishop for Life Issues for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, condemned the United Kingdom’s enactment of “buffer zones” outside of abortion clinics as discriminatory against people of faith. Under the law, various actions, including even thought and prayer, are criminalized within 150 meters of an abortion clinic. For further information, click here.
of note
A recent study linked the use of pornography to poor mental health among Millennials and Generation-Z. The study found that those who did not use pornography were significantly less likely to feel lonely or depressed than those who used pornography daily or weekly. For further information, click here.
March for Life has announced their next president, Jennie Bradley Lichter. For further information, click here.
A recent study revealed that women who use the chemical abortion drug mifepristone are more likely to require an emergency visit to the hospital within 30 days of use of the drug. For further information, click here.
A bipartisan coalition of attorneys general across several states have called for legislation to create warnings on social media platforms, citing concerns about psychological harm from the use of such platforms. For further information, click here.
The Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, issued guidelines on treatment of students with “gender identities” at variance with biological sex, as well as for students who experience same-sex attraction. The guidelines insist on the following of the Church’s moral teaching on these matters while also encouraging compassion for the students. To read the guidelines, click here. 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.