A federal district court judge has enjoined the Obama Administration’s effort to fund embryonic stem cell research. The judge found that such efforts are prohibited by the Dickey-Wicker Amendment. Here is a report from the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/health/policy/24stem.html Here is a report from LifeNews.com, http://www.lifenews.com/bio3145.html , and one from the Bioethics Defense Fund.http://bdfbuzz.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/victory-federal-court-strikes-down-obama-embryonic-stem-cell-funding-guidelines/ Richard M.
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At the 2008 UFL conference at Marquette, Sam Calhoun presented a critique of the 2007 Supreme Court decision in Gonzales v. Carhart. An expanded version of that paper has just recently been published in the Mississippi Law Journal. The article is entitled “”Partial-Birth Abortion’ is Not Abortion: Carhart II’s Fundamental Misapplication of Roe” and it is […]
On the Mirror of Justice blog, Rick Garnett has an interesting post on the Becket Fund’s threat to sue HHS if it succumbs to pressure from the ACLU to push Catholic hospitals to perform abortions. See http://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2010/08/the-becket-fund-stands-up-to-aclu-for-catholic-hospitals.html Richard M.
Wesley Smith has a good post on the continuing controversy over pharmacists and conscientious objection in the state of Washington. See http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2010/08/06/protecting-pharmacist-conscientious-objectors-in-washington/ Washington’s law requiring pharmacists to dispense prescriptions, including Plan B contraceptives (the so-called morning after pill), was challenged in federal court. The Ninth Circuit (in Storman’s Inc v. Selecky) upheld the constitutionality of the law and rejected […]
Apparently, Nebraska’s Attorney General has decided not to appeal an injunction issued against enforcement of a Nebraska law requiring health screenings for women seeking abortions. The AG believes that there is little prospect of successfully defending the law. Nebraska’s other new law banning abortions after 20 weeks based on the view that such a ban […]
Louisiana recently passed The Ultrasound Before Abortion Act, which requires ultrasounds before abortions are performed but doesn’t require that the woman view the ultrasound images. The Bioethics Defense Fund helped draft the law. For more information about the law, see http://bdfbuzz.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/ultrasound-bills-touted-in-wash-post-column/ On August 6, 2010, the law was challenged in federal court. For reaction to the lawsuit, see http://www.lifenews.com/state5330.html UPDATE: The […]
Christopher Tollefsen’s essay with that title was posted on The Public Discourse blog earlier today. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2010/08/1485 Only a small portion of the essay deals with abortion but the essay is well worth reading for its timely reflections on the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Richard M.
On August 4th, Kenya will hold a referendum to approve a new constitution. While Kenya needs a new constitution to address serious political problems, pro-abortion advocacy groups have hijacked the reform process and managed to insert provisions in the draft constitution that will lay the foundation for abortion-on-demand in this pro-life country. It is likely […]
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The nomination of Elena Kagan
President Obama has nominated Elena Kagan to replace John Paul Stevens on the United States Supreme Court. If confirmed, Kagan will not likely change the balance of the Court on the issue of abortion. Justice Stevens was a strong defender of Roe v. Wade and there is little reason to think that Kagan will depart from […]