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Abortion Court cases Health Care Reform Religious views

SCOTUS rules on Hobby Lobby case

I usually leave it to the attorneys to post on legal decisions, but this one seems big, so I want to get it out there. The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialities are exempt from the HHS contraceptive mandate because the terms of the Religious Freedom Restoration […]

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Abortion Contraception Court cases Health Care Reform Human embryos

Does emergency contraception cause abortion?

Recently journalist Linda Greenhouse’s criticized for-profit companies seeking to be exempt from the HHS contraceptive mandate in a guest opinion column in the New York Times called “Doesn’t East, Doesn’t Pray and Doesn’t Love.” In response, Donna Harrison, MD, Executive Director of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, writes “Emergency Contraception Can Cause […]

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Death and dying Eugenics Euthanasia Health Care Reform

good article by Wesley Smith on the bigotry against the disabled

Here is a link to a recent post on Wesley Smith’s blog. Smith links to an article he recently published in the Human Life Review on “the unrepentant bigotry” against people with profound disabilities. http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2012/04/18/that-unrepentant-bigotry/ Here are the closing paragraphs of the article: “Activists and their supporters who struggle against racism and other forms of discriminatory […]

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Abortion Fetal anomolies and disabilities Health Care Reform

Targeting Downs Syndrome by Regulation

Attorney Mark Leach has a great new blog post on new regulations based on the Institute of Medicine’s recommendations and their impact on unborn children with Down’s Syndrome. His fear is that the prenatal diagnosis of genetic diseases will be used to pressure mothers to abort their down syndrome babies. He notes that public comments […]

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Health Care Reform Pregnancy Assistance Centers

Neb Woman Sues for Medicaid Coverage of Unborn

A Nebraska woman who is not eligible for state medical assistance because of her immigration status has sued the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services for denying coverage to her unborn child under SCHIPS. According to local news accounts: “Nebraska state government officials were sued in a similar case last year for cutting off […]

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Death and dying Health Care Reform Philosophy

Healthcare Reform and Utilitarian Ethics

Yuval Levin discusses the two approaches to healthcare reform today in Help the Sick and Reduce the Debt: The Moral Economy of the Health-Care Debate on Public Discourse blog. He describes the Democratic proposal as one focused on expanding availability of health insurance through government programs, which they argue will reduce costs through bringing greater […]

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Abortion Conscience protection Contraception Health Care Reform

Conscience Protection and the American Experiment

Professor Helen Alvare has posted a blog entry, Uphold Conscience Protection: Religious Freedom’s Contribution to the American Experience and Threats to It, over at Public Discourse on the importance of conscience protections in a variety of settings. Many readers of this blog will recognize the professor from her former work as spokeswoman for Prolife Secretariat […]

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Abortion Bioethics Conscience protection Death and dying Euthanasia Health Care Reform Politics

Important series on major issues for 2012 election

Today Public Discourse introduced a ten-part series examining the ten key issues that should shape voters’ decisions in the 2012 election. Ryan T. Anderson explains the structure of the series in “Liberty, Justice, and the Common Good:Political Principles for 2012 and Beyond.” I suspect almost all of the essays will interest UFL members. Here is […]

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Bioethics Euthanasia Health Care Reform Philosophy

Autonomy, Restraint and the Common Good

The views of Joseph Raz, Ronald Dworkin, John Finnis, and Robert George on the value and limits of personal autonomy are examined in a new article by Adam McLeod, The Mystery of Life in the Laboratory of Democracy: Personal Autonomy in State Law. “The article then examines several different areas of state law where one […]

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Abortion Bioethics Contraception Health Care Reform Philosophy Politics Sexual practices

Contraception, health, and desire

Andrew Haines makes basically the same point apropos of Tollefson’s essay as I did the other day. And here’s just one more way of putting it that occurred to me this morning. I think it’s safe to say that we have a natural desire for health (and even a natural inclination to health – I […]