9th Circuit Court of Appeals Rules Against Freedom of Conscience

Credit: Becket Law Press Release

Little Sisters of the Poor, an organization made up of nuns who assist the impoverished near the end of their lives with nowhere else to go, lost in a battle against the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for their freedom of conscience in the face of the Affordable Care Act.

In its ruling, the 9th circuit stated, “the statute delegates to HRSA [Health Resources and Services Administration, a component of Health and Human Services] the discretion to determine which types of preventative care are covered, but the statute does not delegate to HRSA or any other agency the discretion to exempt who must meet the obligation.”

The Supreme Court overturned the original lower court ruling against the Little Sisters of the Poor in 2016, and President Trump issued an executive order which provided religious entities with exemptions to covering contraception. Pennsylvania and California responded to the latter by suing the federal government, however.

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Heartbeat Bill Advanced in South Carolina House

South Carolina's Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee passed a bill in a 4-3 vote which would, if passed, ban abortion after a heartbeat is detected. Doctors who commit abortions after a heartbeat can be detected could face criminal charges if this were to become law.

House Bill 3020 requires that abortionists have mothers listen to their childrens' heartbeats and doesn't include exceptions to the rule for cases of incest or rape, per an amendment introduced by Sen. Richard Cash.

“Whether you mean to or not, you are punishing a person wrongfully for something he or she had nothing to do with," he said.

The bill passed in the House earlier this year, but will soon be voted on in the full Senate Medical Affairs Committee before it gets to the Senate floor. If it passes both votes, it will be sent back to the House of Representatives before going to Gov. Henry McMaster, who has already voiced his support.

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Oklahoma Judge Issues Temporary Injunction Against Abortion Pill Reversal Law

An abortion clinic in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with the help of the Center for Reproductive Rights, persuaded Oklahoma County Judge Don Andrews to issue a temporary injunction against SB 614, a law that would require abortionists to tell their patients about abortion pill reversal at least 72 hours before her scheduled abortion. Judge Andrews said that he wanted to hear additional arguments at trial before he would allow the law to take effect.

There are two kinds of pills involved in chemical abortions. In the days after a pregnant woman takes the first kind of pill, taking abortion reversal pills can counteract the effects and save a pregnancy. Oklahoma would join Arizona, Arkansas, South Dakota, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Kentucky in the list of states with abortion pill reversal notification laws.

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Daleiden Defense Shows "20/20" Report Including Undercover Journalism of Fetal Tissue Sales

October 24ths proceedings of the Planned Parenthood vs. Center for Medical Progress ended with the jury watching an episode of ABC's "20/20", in which an undercover producer spoke with a businessman involved with the sale of fetal tissue. David Daleiden, an undercover journalist for the Center for Medical Progress, said that the report was the inspiration for the videos he produced with the CMP. He exposed Planned Parenthood's sale of fetal body parts with a series of videos including undercover footage of discussions with abortionists who even admitted to altering abortion procedures to collect intact fetal body parts.

The "20/20" report, which you can watch above, is extremely similar to the content Daleiden is currently being sued for producing. In an ironic moment, then-President of Planned Parenthood Gloria Feldt was interviewed by Chris Wallace. She told him "It seems totally inappropriate. Where there is wrongdoing, it should be prosecuted and people who are doing that kind of thing should be brought to justice."

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Simone Biles, Once a Foster Child, is Now the Most Decorated Gymnast of All Time

Drawing of Simone Biles
Credit: Denish C / Flickr

Simone Biles broke records and barriers to become the most decorated gymnast ever. She won five out of the six available gold medals at the World Championship in Germany on October 13. When she was only three years old, however, she was put into foster care due to her mother's addiction problems. She bounced between foster homes for years before her grandfather and his wife finally stepped forward. 

“Although I was young when my foster care ordeal began, I remember how it felt to be passed off and overlooked,” she wrote. “Like nobody knew me or wanted to know me. Like my talents didn’t count, and my voice didn’t matter." 

“Finding a family made me feel like I matter. Finding a passion, something I loved and was really good at, made me feel like I mattered.”

With that motivation, Simone went on to be the greatest gymnast of all time. With her platform, she wants others to know the importance of adoption. “[…] My road to success began the day my grandfather and his wife officially adopted my sister and me.”

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13 Oz Baby Born 15 Weeks Premature Survives to Go Home with Family

The Bender Family
Credit: Ebonie Bender

Kallie Bender was born 15 weeks early, but not because her mother went into labor naturally. Skilled doctors noticed during an ultrasound that her mother, Ebonie Bender, had a condition that reduced blood flow and nutrients to the baby. Rather than giving up on the pregnancy and aborting the child, St. Joseph's hospital in Pheonix, Arizona took the steps to deliver Kallie immediately and give her the highest chance possible to survive.

Kallie spent 150 days in St. Joseph’s Nursery Intensive Care Unit according to Fox 5 in Pheonix. She can now be with the rest of her mother, father, and three brothers.

CBS 5 reported:

"She also recovered from a complex heart procedure, which was performed by a team of skilled surgeons from St. Joseph’s, after she was diagnosed with a heart defect common among micro-preemies."

"Miraculously, Kallie didn’t suffer any brain bleeds or blindness due to her early arrival. Those are conditions that can occur in babies born around Kallie’s size and gestational age."

In cases where pregnancy seems hopeless or endangers the mother, more hospitals should adopt the policy of delivering the child and helping it have the greatest chance of survival possible.

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Daleiden Trial: David Testifies that he "Held Fetal Organs" and Judges Redacts Image of Fetal Heart

David Daleiden
Credit: American Life League / Flickr

The ongoing prosecution of the Center for Medical Progress along with two undercover journalists, David Daleiden and Sandra Merrit, reached its eleventh day on Monday, October 21. The CMP and the undercover journalists have been sued by Planned Parenthood for recording supposedly private conversations which exposed the abortion industry's sale of human body parts.

Monday's session began with the prosecution asking to redact parts of the defense's evidence from the record. Judge William Orrick continued to show his bias by agreeing to some of these requests. The most notable of these, as pointed out by Sr. Counsel Peter Breen, was “a picture of a little fetal heart hooked up to a Langendorff machine.” This is significant because this machine can only be used with fetal hearts harvested from children who were born alive. Daleiden's knowledge of this shows his intent to expose violent activity, which is protected under a California privacy law for which he is accused of violating.

Additionally, there was a tense moment on the courtroom floor when prosecution called Daleiden to the stand to ask him if he “ever procured tissue prior to the time that you released the very first video in July of 2015,” to which he replied, “I -- I held human fetal organs in my hands.” The questioning was designed to show that the company CMP created to discuss fetal tissue procurement with abortion clinics wasn't in good faith, which is, of course, intentional and obvious. The line was purely intended to portray Daleiden in a negative light in front of the jury.

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Thomas More Society Files Civil Complaint Against Illinois' Reproductive Health Act

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker
Photo: Chi Hack Night

On October 21, the Thomas More Society filed a civil complaint against Governor Pritzker's radical abortion policy with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. Illinois’ Reproductive Health Act requires health insurance policies to cover abortions without offering religious exemptions. This violates the federal Weldon Amendment and the Affordable Care Act according to the Thomas More Society. If the federal government agrees, Illinois could lose billions of dollars in federal funding.

The Weldon Amendment ensures that federal appropriations to the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education may not be issued to any government that discriminates against a “health care entity,” including an insurance plan sponsor, on the basis that it does not provide health insurance coverage of abortion.

“We are confident that the Office for Civil Rights will take our complaint seriously,” Thomas More Society attorney Michael McHale said. “Federal law clearly prohibits this brazen attempt to encroach upon our rights conscience. We urge immediate intervention to halt this illegal mandate.”

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$9 Million Awarded to Parents of Alabama Student who Died From Birth Control Complications

Credit: Beatrice Murch / Flickr

Hope Johnson died from complications resulting from a birth control prescription she shouldn't have received and failure on the part of urgent care doctors to use her medical history to diagnose the problem. Hope's gynecologist prescribed hormonal birth control despite her blood test showing that she was at high risk for blood clots. Doctors did not file the test correctly, so she took the prescribed medication.

About a month later, she arrived at urgent care with shortness of breath, chest pain, headache, and a sore throat. She was diagnosed with bronchitis and given antibiotics. She came back the next day with worse symptoms and was given an inhaler. The doctor treating her was not given login credentials and was told to treat patients without using their medical histories. Hope died the following day.

Brett Turnbull, the attorney representing Johnson's family in the medical malpractice lawsuit, said, “Hope’s death is tragic because it was entirely preventable. We don’t know the exact number of patients seen that day, but it was too many. Patient well-being, not profits, should be the primary goal of healthcare.”

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Abortion Legalized in Northern Ireland Without Representation

On October 22, legislation passed by Westminster's government came into effect that legalized both abortion and gay marriage in Northern Ireland. Westminster's legislation required that Northern Ireland's government reconvene by midnight on October 21st, or else it would be subject to Westminster's liberal legislation. That date has come and gone, and a large enough number of legislators refused to reconvene that Westminster's legislation can take effect. Conservative lawmakers attempted to convene and write legislation blocking this action, but they did not have the numbers required to make it official.

Northern Ireland has been a conservative island of sorts in the United Kingdom, and the forced legislation is a major blow to the religious culture and freedoms of those who live there. The law replaces existing pro-life legislation protecting women and children from the dangers of abortion with one of the most extensive abortion laws in existence. Abortion is legalized through 28 weeks of pregnancy. Partial-birth abortion has no consequences. Children who survive abortion can be killed without a second thought. It is far more dangerous to be a preborn child in Northern Ireland today than it was Monday.

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Canada Alzheimer’s Society Endorses Euthanasia by Advance Directive

The Alzheimer's Society Canada said in a press release this month that it endorsed legislation that would allow for people to require doctors to kill them once they reach a certain level of incompetence. As long as they had signed the correct papers, one could order medical professionals to euthanize their future self even if that future self did not want to be killed.

From the Alzheimer's Society Canada's press release:

"People living with dementia are individuals — first and foremost. They have the same rights as everyone else, including the right to participate in decisions about their life and care. We respect the right of all persons with dementia to advocate for their individual best interests, including advocating for MAID [medical assistance in dying, e.g., lethal injection] through advance requests."

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Healthy Twins Survive Chemical Abortion After Planned Parenthood Failed to Disclose Second Child In Utero

A woman in Tennessee was recently able to give birth to healthy twins despite taking an abortion pill earlier this year due to her clinic's inability to correctly read an ultrasound. Furthermore, the clinic misinformed her about what they clearly did see to make her more likely to consider having an abortion that it would profit from. 

At seven weeks gestation, she had an ultrasound test during which the clinic failed to notice that she was carrying twins. When she asked if they could hear a heartbeat, she was told, “No, it’s too early to call it a heartbeat; it is just cardiac activity.” The phrase 'cardiac activity' was obviously used to dodge around the fact that there were beating hearts in each of her preborn children.

She likely wasn't given enough Mifeprex to kill either child according to Brent Boles, the physician who shared this story on social media earlier this month. After the mother was told there was nothing more Planned Parenthood would do, she contacted the Abortion Pill Reversal hotline and told her story to Brent Boles, who determined she didn't even require the Reversal treatment due to the low dosage she received. "I am pro-life and I know that a higher dose of Mifeprex is required to work successfully to abort a multiple gestation, because a twin pregnancy produces higher levels of progesterone."

While Planned Parenthood's incompetence saved the lives of two children, in this case, this story shows that clinics are not equipped with the qualifications to serve women with medical tasks as simple as ultrasounds, let alone the health of women and children. Click here to read more.

Colorado Woman Arrested for Selling Preborn Child Remains Over Mail

Emily Suzanne Cain was arrested this month for attempting to mail the remains of several children in glass jars via the US Postal Service to a buyer in the United Kingdom. Customs agents X-Rayed the package, which was labeled “school teaching aids and T-shirts” after noticing that a required signature was missing.

Upon accessing Cain's Facebook message history, officials found messages saying she purchased the specimens from a faculty member from the Department of Medical Education at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. The institution confirmed that the bodies came from the school, but also said that its "...policy dictates the fetuses are to be cremated and not sold." The stillborn bodies were donated to the University in the 1920s and 1930s.

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Child Born with Three Legs, Two Penises, and No Anus Saved by Series of Medical Procedures.

In 2018, a Russian mother discovered that her unborn child several severe deformities, including an extra leg, urinary tract, and penis, but refused to abort. It is assumed that the extra body parts formed as a result of the boy's unborn twin, who died earlier in the pregnancy. After birth in July 2018, it was discovered that the baby boy had two full urinary systems and no anus as well.

Doctors performed an emergency procedure following the boy's birth to allow him to pass waste. In the following months, he underwent several more surgeries to remove the excess body parts. His extra leg and penis have been removed and the boy only has one more procedure planned before he is expected to be able to live a completely normal life. The amazing story of this baby boy shows us that even children born with extremely abnormal conditions can recover, survive and thrive if they are given a chance. Click here to read more.

Northern Ireland to be Forced to Adhere to Westminster Discriminatory Abortion Law

Baby with mild cleft lip before corrective surgery
Credit: Justin Walther / Flickr

A Westminster law legalizing discriminatory abortions against children with disabilities will be forcefully passed in Northern Ireland on October 22 unless the Northern Irish government reconvenes before then. Pro-life advocates in the UK are concerned that the legislation will cause children with even simple innocuous conditions like cleft lip or palate to face abortion. It is similarly legal to abort a child due to a cleft lip in the United States.

The government of Northern Ireland is not expected to reconvene before the October 22 deadline. The people of Northern Ireland were not represented in the legislation of this law, and disabled children will die as a result of what many would consider tyranny. Click here to read more.

Mary Thoms More Society Comments on "Deceptive" Planned Parenthood Clinic

The Thomas More Society issued a press release earlier this month regarding the secretly-built Planned Parenthood mega-clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois. “The deceptive move is reminiscent of the abortion giant’s covert Oct. 2, 2007 opening of what was then the nation’s largest abortion clinic in Aurora, Illinois.” it said. The abortion business used a shell company to hide the true purpose of the facility during its construction. Planned Parenthood knew that the people of southern Illinois would not receive the facility well, so it relied on deception to prevent protests and complete construction by a deadline. Illinois residents may not even be the primary target group for the facility.

“Planned Parenthood is obviously taking advantage of Illinois’ newly earned status as the Midwest’s ‘abortion tourism destination state,’ targeting women and children from across the Missouri state line, where laws are in place to protect women and girls from the most radical and dangerous abortion practices,” Thomas said in the release. "This purveyor of death has pulled off a sneak attack on the unsuspecting residents of both states in order to profit by preying on pregnant women in Illinois and Missouri.”

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Young Belgium Woman Applies for Euthanasia for Mental Illness

Credit: Joe Flintham / Flickr

A 23-year-old Belgian woman named Kelly recently applied for assisted suicide via lethal injection. Kelly reportedly suffered from anxiety, self-harm, an eating disorder and has even attempted suicide on her own in the past. While she was in a hospital undergoing treatment, Kelly learned from a psychologist that she could be euthanized if two psychologists confirm that her mental suffering is "unbearable and untreatable."

"We can't allow society to abandon these people," Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition told OneNewsNow. "This is what euthanasia is about. It's about an abandonment. We're abandoning them to their pain rather than helping them find hope in living."

83 people have been killed in Belgium via assisted suicide for mental illness. Click here or here to read more.

Entire Democrat Roster of Candidates Continue to Herald Abortion

Senator Corey Booker
Credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

In CNN's Democrat Presidential debate on Tuesday, the full lineup of 12 candidates voiced their support for abortion as a right. From supreme court appointments to federal subsidies, every way that women could be given more access to abortion was seemingly on the table.  Particularly troubling was the concept of codifying Roe vs. Wade, ending the shaky legal ground that abortion has stood on since the Supreme Court essentially legalized it without going through the proper legislative process.

New Jersey Senator Corey Booker said this on the subject,

"And so the way as president of the United States I’m going to deal with this is, first of all, elevating it like we have with other national crises to a White House-level position. And I will create the Office of Reproductive Freedom and Reproductive Rights in the White House and make sure that we begin to fight back on a systematic attempt that’s gone on for decades to undermine Roe v. Wade."

"I will fight to codify it, and I will also make sure that we fight as this country to repeal the Hyde amendment, so that we are leading the Planet Earth in defending the global assault we see on women right now."

Kamala Harris said that she would break the rules of the executive branch by calling on the Justice Department to do the work of federal courts:

"My plan is as — as follows. For any state that passes a law that violates the Constitution, and in particular Roe v. Wade, our Department of Justice will review that law to determine if it is compliant with Roe v. Wade and the Constitution, and if it is not, that law will not go into effect. That’s called pre-clearance."

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California Governor Vetoes Student ID Bill Because Schools Might Refer Students to Pro-Life Pregnancy Clinics

California Governor Gavin Newsom
Credit: XPRIZE Foundation / Flickr

A California bill requiring schools to include contact information for local "reproductive health care" facilities was vetoed on October 12 for a surprising reason. Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed AB 624 because it was not pro-choice enough.

“There are many agencies across this state that refuse to give women information about all of their reproductive health care options, and I am not persuaded that schools have the appropriate expertise to decide which of these organizations they should direct their students to,” he wrote.

He is stating that it would be so wrong for a school to refer students to a pro-life clinic that he would rather not have them refer anyone at all. While pro-life advocates welcome the veto, the governor's reasoning is worrisome. Click here to read more.

Pro-Lifers File Suit Against Jackson, Mississippi for Ordinance Restricting Protest

Sidewalk Counselors Outside Abortion Clinic
Credit: Jim Arnone / Flickr

Sidewalk Advocates for Life has decided to take legal action in response to a Jackson, Mississippi ordinance scheduled to go into effect October 31. The ordinance prohibits demonstrations within 15 feet of a healthcare facility and establishes "quiet zones" within 100 feet of these locations. Violators could face up to $1,000 in fines or 90 days in prison.

In their lawsuit, Sidewalk Advocates noted that pro-lifers often have to shout to be heard over blaring music the Jackson clinic plays to cover up protests. Brett Kittredge, director of marketing and communications with Mississippi Center for Public Policy, said this in an interview with the Catholic News Agency:

“And so we feel...that this is a free speech issue above all else. It's not about whether you support one issue or the other, whether you take one side or another on abortion, it's a matter of should people have the right to assemble, have the right to speak freely and convince others of their speech, and we believe that's central to a free society.”

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