Catholic dioceses in Oklahoma joined other Christian leaders on Monday to ask a federal court to let stand a state order halting elective abortions during the pandemic. “Abortion is not an absolute right,” said a friend-of-the-court brief filed April 6 by Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, the Diocese of…Read More
U.S. District Judge Charles Goodwin has blocked Gov. Stitt’s order that abortion is an elective surgery. Judge Goodwin wrote in his decision that the state “has acted in an “unreasonable,” “arbitrary,” and “oppressive” way – and imposed an “undue burden” on abortion access.” It was decided that the benefit of a ban on medication abortions…Read More
Reproductive rights groups are suing Oklahoma officials over Gov. Kevin Stitt’s order prohibiting most abortions during the COVID-19 outbreak. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Dechert LLP on Monday asked a federal judge to immediately block Stitt’s order. Stitt and Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter are named in the lawsuit.…Read More
A Texas order prohibiting most abortions during the novel coronavirus pandemic is temporarily back in effect, after the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put a stay on a federal district court ruling on Tuesday. After the Western District Court of Texas on Monday allowed elective abortions to continue in the state of Texas during…Read More
Kentucky’s attorney general has joined the national controversy over whether abortion clinics can continue to operate at a time when other surgeries and procedures have been canceled or delayed to conserve medical resources to combat the novel coronavirus. “Abortion providers should join the thousands of other medical professionals across the state in ceasing elective procedures,…Read More
The Senate strengthened protections for the unborn Thursday with the passage of Senate Bill 1859. Sen. Paul Scott, R-Duncan, authored the bill to increase accountability of doctors administering abortions in Oklahoma. The bill would prohibit doctors from performing abortions beginning at six weeks if a fetal or embryonic heartbeat or brainwaves are present. Currently, at…Read More
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has dismissed arguments made before the Supreme Court against a state abortion law as “absolutely a lie.” In a Thursday interview, Landry said efforts to conflate the case with a Texas law regulating abortion clinics, struck down by the court in 2016, were clearly false. The Supreme Court heard oral…Read More
West Virginia became the latest state to pass legislation which requires that babies born alive after an attempted abortion be given medical care. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act was signed into law by Gov. Jim Justice (R) on Monday, March 2. The law will go into effect on May 19. “It’s unbelievable that we…Read More
A bill has been introduced in the Mississippi legislature to prohibit abortions being performed because of race, sex, or genetic abnormality, citing anti-discrimination laws and a recent opinion of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. House Bill 1295, the Life Equality Act of 2020, passed through a House committee March 3 and will soon be proposed…Read More
The Supreme Court heard arguments on Louisiana’s Unsafe Abortion Protection Act on Wednesday, as justices questioned lawyers from both sides on the state’s safety regulations for abortion clinics, including a requirement that abortion doctors have admitting privileges at a local hospital. The court met March 4 to hear oral arguments in the case of June…Read More