Category: Sanctity of Life

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing pro-life sidewalk counselors asked the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday to weigh in on a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, censorship-zone law that muzzles free speech on public sidewalks outside of abortion facilities. Pittsburgh enacted a law that bans speech and advocacy—even prayer—in painted zones outside medical facility entrances. The city then chose to paint such zones outside only two facilities, Pittsburgh’s two abortion clinics, in the entire metropolitan area and enforced the ban against pro-life sidewalk counselors only.

Several abortion-advocacy groups including Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the Lawyering Project, are suing Texas governor Greg Abbott after the state designated surgical abortion as a non-essential procedure that must be suspended until the coronavirus crisis has passed.

This decision was made in conjunction with the governor’s announcement that all health-care facilities in the state should postpone any procedures that are not medically necessary, so that health-care professionals can handle a surge in COVID-19 cases. In Ohio, lawmakers made a similar decision, and abortion-rights activists have vowed to present a legal challenge there, too.

Federal judges on Monday lifted restrictions Texas, Ohio and Alabama imposed on abortion during the coronavirus pandemic in decisions that could have repercussions for several more Republican-led states that have deemed the procedure non-essential during the crisis.

In Texas, District Court Judge Lee Yeakel sided with abortion clinics and granted a temporary restraining order through April 13 while arguments on the underlying legality of the state’s order play out.

Is euthanasia an essential service? That is the question that Canadian health officials are grappling with in the coronavirus epidemic.

At least two clinics in Ontario have stopped providing euthanasia (or medical assistance in dying, as it is called in Canada) to prevention transmission and to free up health-care resources. Others regard it as essential and are relaxing the rules to allow “virtual assessments of eligibility”.

“It’s not a decision that we have taken lightly,” said Andrea Frolic, of Hamilton Health Sciences, which has shuttered its program. “It’s heartbreaking for us, as it is for patients and families seeking this care.”

For the 80th time, House Republicans sought to require doctors to provide medical care for newborns who survive botched abortions, and for the 80th time, House Democrats defeated the measure, days after Senate Democrats blocked a similar effort.

The vote saw three Democrats — Reps. Dan Lipinski, Ben McAdams and Collin Peterson — and cross party lines and vote in favor of the born-alive motion. Rep. Justin Amash, a Republican turned independent, also supported the motion

“First do no harm.” It is the mantra drilled into the brains of young medical students everywhere. They are taught that as future physicians, they will be responsible to care for human life and their primary priority must be to preserve and protect people at all costs. This includes taking action when required, as well as refraining from taking action when necessary. The philosophy is simple and effective: Every action taken by a doctor must be done with the intent of improving the patient’s condition and saving their life.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), along with other pro-choice groups, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton and several other state officials over a temporary ban on elective abortion during the coronavirus pandemic.

The ban was issued as part of an executive order by Abbott aimed at conserving medical equipment and the capacity of the health care system after warnings from health care professionals that patients sick with the coronavirus might overwhelm hospital capacity and deplete supplies, such as personal protective equipment for doctors and nurses.

Dr. Leslyn Lewis, a pro-life nominee in the running for leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, says that if elected leader she will ban coerced and sex-selective abortions, increase funding for pregnancy crisis centres, and end federal funding for international abortions.

The flurry of pro-life intentions was announced in messages sent via Twitter on March 7. Lewis, a Toronto-based lawyer, began her message saying the media’s portrayal of a conservative “hidden agenda” is “the most common attack made by our opponents.”

She then added these types of attacks are maddening, saying, “The most frustrating thing is that it works — especially against people like me who are #ProLife. It’s time to take that weapon away by being absolutely crystal clear on abortion.”

There are few words in American politics so hotly debated as “feminist,” a term that has come to mean all things to all people, used by some as an honorific and by others as a slur.

On the left, it’s a buzzword that signals a liberal stance on abortion or government-funded contraception. Sometimes, it’s a “get out of jail free” card. After several women accused him of sexual assault, producer Harvey Weinstein insisted that he couldn’t have harmed women, because he’s a feminist.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is calling on his state’s top health official to stop abortions in the state due to the coronavirus crisis, just days after Planned Parenthood sued several Texas state officials for a similar policy.

Increased physician-assisted suicide (PAS) in the United States is stripping the vulnerable of their equal rights in the American health care system, even as the country pledges to protect its most at-risk citizens at any cost during the coronavirus pandemic.