Oklahoma Governor Signs Three Laws to Effectively Ban Abortion in the State

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R)

On Monday, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) signed three bills into law that together ban virtually all abortions in the state.

One law makes it a homicide to abort any baby with a detectable heartbeat. Another makes it “unprofessional conduct” to abort a baby for any reason other than to save the mother's life. The third bans anyone other than certified OB/GYNs from performing abortions.

All three laws are scheduled to take effect on November 1, but the first two are likely to face legal challenges before that date. While they might not be immediately enforceable, they will add to the list of court cases that have the potential to challenge the legal precedent of Roe v. Wade.

The third law is more likely to take effect since its purpose is to ensure a pregnant mother's safety rather than limit abortion directly.

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Pro-Lifers Arrested at New York Red Rose Rescue

Fr. Fidelis Moscinski
photo from Red Rose Rescue Facebook page

On April 24, a Catholic priest and three other pro-lifers were arrested during a Red Rose Rescue event at a New York abortion clinic.

The incident took place at the All Women's Care abortion facility in Manhasset, New York. Fr. Fidelis Moscinski, CFR, John Hinshaw, Laura Gies, and Matthew Connelly were arrested for "Obstructing Government Administration" after they entered the facility and refused to leave.

The pro-lifers passed out roses and cards to women considering abortions counseling them to reconsider their decisions. The cards read, “You were made to love and to be loved... your goodness is greater than the difficulties of your situation. Circumstances in life change. A new life, however tiny, brings the promise of unrepeatable joy.” The other side of the cards listed phone numbers for local pregnancy help centers.

The arrested pro-lifers have an arraignment set for July 12 in Nassau County Court, Hemstead, New York.

Look below to see Red Rose Rescue's statement from their Facebook page.

Pro-Life Bills to Defund Pro-Abortion Groups Introduced in US Congress

photo credit: John Brighenti / Flickr

Earlier this month, US legislators introduced bills to defund Planned Parenthood and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) introduced the No Taxpayer Funding for the United Nations Population Fund Act on April 13. This bill would withdraw all funding from the UNFPA, which is partnered with China. As a result, the UNFPA is complicit with Chinese population control tactics.

China's infamous one-child policy (much of which continues today as a two-child policy) includes forced abortions and sterilizations. The Chinese government is employing similar tactics in its ongoing genocide of the Uighur Muslims as well.

The Trump administration had withdrawn funds from the UNFPA in 2017 due to the organization's ties to the Chinese government. President Biden included UNFPA funding in his discretionary budget request for the 2022 fiscal year, however. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said $32.5 million would be made available for the UNFPA this year.

Senators John Kennedy (R-LA) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) introduced the Protect Funding for Women's Health Care Act on April 15 to protect taxpayer funding from being given to Planned Parenthood. These funds would be redirected from Planned Parenthood to other eligible women's health care providers.

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Appeals Court Allows Tennessee to Enforce 48 Hour Waiting Period Law While Lawsuit is Deliberated

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III

The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decided last Friday that the state of Tennessee could enforce its 48-hour waiting period law while the lower court's decision is being appealed.

District Judge Bernard A. Friedman decided in 2020 to strike down Tennessee's 1978 law mandating a 48-hour waiting period for abortions. It was in effect until 2000, when the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that the state Constitution included an implied right to abortion. In 2015, the law went back into effect when the state constitution was amended to expressly state that it did not include a right to abortion. It is currently being threatened by a lawsuit from abortion businesses and the ACLU, however.

“We are pleased that the full Sixth Circuit has recognized that Tennessee’s law, requiring a 48-hour waiting period for abortions, is likely constitutional and can be enforced while the appeal proceeds,” said Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III. “The Supreme Court has recognized the authority of State governments to provide women considering abortion the opportunity to receive important information before a life-changing decision is made. Tennesseans, through their elected representatives, voted for this law and this Office will defend it.”

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Docs Reveal Biden Medicare Nominee Received Thousands of Dollars from Planned Parenthood

Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, President Biden's nominee for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), accepted thousands of dollars from Planned Parenthood. This was revealed by the Public Financial Disclosure Report she was required to submit during the confirmation process.

The report reveals that she received an undisclosed amount greater than $5,000 from Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She described the work she did for Planned Parenthood as follows: “Summarized Democrat candidates’ position on women’s health and facilitated discussion on their priorities as a primary care provider (client of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP).”

The American Accountability Foundation summarized this description as “Washington-speak for using her position at her law firm to coordinate strategy with Democratic politicians on Planned Parenthood between the Biden campaign and elected officials in Washington. It is basically a lobbying position without having to be disclosed as a lobbyist.”

Brooks-LaSure's nomination is currently on hold for unrelated reasons. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said that he is holding off on the confirmation process in protest of the Biden administration’s refusal to extend a Medicaid waiver Texas relied on to reimburse hospitals for treating uninsured patients.

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Watch the Parents for the Protection of Girls Legislative Training Sessions and Learn How to Protect Parental Notification

If you missed the legislative training sessions that Parents for the Protection of Girls held earlier this month, you can now access recordings of those sessions on the Illinois Right to Life YouTube channel.

These training sessions were designed to teach pro-lifers how to effectively use Zoom to speak with Illinois legislators and fight against the repeal of the Parental Notification of Abortion Act.

Click here to watch the 45-minute training session hosted by Illinois Right to Life Action Legislative Chairman Ralph Rivera on April 7th.

Click here to watch the 20-minute training session hosted by Illinois Right to Life Action Legislative Associate Molly Rumley on April 8th.

New Group Announces Service to Mail Abortion Pills Directly to Women

On April 12, FDA Director Janet Woodcock announced that the FDA would stop enforcing regulations requiring that doctors distribute abortion pills in person rather than through the mail. Supposedly, this rule change would only continue for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are doubts on both sides of the abortion debate on whether the rule will ever come back. As proof of this, a new group called Abortion on Demand (AOD) announced the very next day that it was launching a telemedicine service to ship abortion pills directly to women through the mail.

AOD was founded by Seattle area physician Dr. Jamie Phifer. According to an article in Marie Claire, Phifer “has been building the service for the last year and a half—keeping it under wraps until such a policy change enabled her to legally get it off the ground.”

Phifer's service has women watch a video explaining the abortion process before having an online conversation with an abortionist. If the abortionist is satisfied with the woman's answer to their questions, the woman will receive the pills within five days.

AOD is immediately launching in twenty states and the District of Columbia. Phifer hopes to add more states soon, but she has gone on record saying that she believes abortion pills should be distributed over the counter.

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HHS Proposal Would Remove Trump's "Protect Life" Title X Rule

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra
photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

A proposal published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on April 15 would remove pro-life Title X regulations set by the Trump administration in 2019. The proposal would restore the language set in 2000 by the Clinton administration.

Trump's "Protect Life Rule" barred organizations from receiving Title X funding if they performed abortions, co-located with organizations that performed abortions, or referred patients to organizations the perform abortions.

The new proposal "revise[s] the 2019 rules by readopting the 2000 regulations, with several modifications." While these Clinton-era rules don't directly fund abortions, they effectively subsidize abortion businesses by giving them grant funding that they can spend elsewhere.

After Trump enacted the "Protect Life Rule," Planned Parenthood voluntarily walked away from $60 million per year in taxpayer funding. With the rule gone, the abortion giant would almost certainly receive millions through the Title X program once again.

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Sex Trafficking Victim Pleads Illinois Lawmakers to Keep Parental Notification Law

Dr. Brook Bello
Screenshot from Illinois Family Institute video

Dr. Brook Bello, a survivor of sex trafficking and the founder of More Too Life, recently spoke out against the effort by pro-abortion legislators in Illinois to repeal the Parental Notice of Abortion Act.

More Too Life helps survivors of sexual abuse by providing them with mentoring and education. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award from former President Barack Obama for her work.

At the invitation of Parents for the Protection of Girls, Dr. Bello spoke about her experiences and gave an impassioned speech about why parental notification is so important.

“I was raped at 11 years old. I started being trafficked as a young teen,” Bello said. “Our traffickers made us get abortions. Had my parents been notified, my mother would have known what city I was in. She would have known what street I possibly would have been near. She could have contacted law enforcement.”

She also spoke about how the abortions she was forced to had a permanent effect on her gynecological health. She suffered “miscarriage after miscarriage after miscarriage.” By the time her doctor learned that she had issues related to previous abortions, it was too late to reverse the damage. Untreated scar tissue left her unable to carry a child to term.

“I ask the public, and I ask the Illinois legislature, ‘why would you want a child to keep something secret that’s going to affect the rest of her life?' I beg of you, I plead, Illinois, to not reverse and to please notify parents. I think that every state should notify parents. Why keep something a secret that affects someone for the rest of their life, and is absolutely connected to various issues of human trafficking and rape and violence that that youth is probably afraid to share? Give them a safe place to fall, and notify parents.”

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May 12 Deadline: Register for the 2021 SpeakOut Illinois Conference

This year's event will also be live-streamed at an in-person event in Springfield!

The SpeakOut Illinois Coalition, a group of pro-life and pro-family groups from across the state, is holding the 2021 SpeakOut Illinois Conference soon! This conference will help equip pro-life advocates to fight for our values this year.

Damon and Melanie Owens will be the keynote speakers. As the founders of Joyful Ever After, they have helped couples build strong marriages.

Additionally, former Illinois State Representative Jeanne Ives will receive the Henry Hyde Life Leadership Award.

The conference will be held at 100 Drury Lane in Oakbrook Terrace, IL, but it will also be live-streamed at another in-person event at The Atrium Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception at 524 E. Lawrence Avenue in Springfield, IL.

The conference will go from 8:00 AM to noon on Saturday, May 15, 2021. Breakfast will be served at both venues.

You can register online by visiting speakoutillinois.org, or you can register by mail if you click the link below to download and print the registration form.

Click here to download the SpeakOut Illinois Conference registration form.

Ohio Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction Against Ohio Telemedicine Abortion Ban

Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Judge
Allison Hatheway

On April 19, an Ohio judge from the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the state of Ohio from enforcing its ban against telemedicine distribution of the abortion pill regimen.

Judge Allison Hatheway issued the injunction after initially granting a temporary restraining order on April 13. Hatheway is the same judge who issued a temporary restraining order blocking an Ohio law that requires abortion businesses to treat the bodies of aborted babies with respectful burial or cremation, rather than treating them as medical waste.

Ohio Governor signed the telemedicine abortion ban into law on Jan. 9, and it was set to go into effect on April 12, but now it will have to survive a battle in court.

“We believe that this decision is rooted in politics—not women’s health or safety,” said Mike Gonidakis, President of Ohio Right to Life. “The state of Ohio has a vested interest in ensuring that Planned Parenthood and their abortion allies cannot skirt common sense safeguards to increase their bottom line. The abortion industry is not above the law and the women of Ohio deserve to be safe.”

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Kentucky AG Cameron Files Brief with 21 States Asking US Supreme Court to Allow Tennessee to Enforce Abortion Waiting-Period Law

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron

Last week, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court on behalf of a 21-state coalition. The brief asks the Supreme Court to allow Tennessee to enforce its abortion waiting-period law while it is being reviewed by a lower court.

After a District Court ruling blocked the Tennessee law, the Sixth Circuit US Court of Appeals chose not to stay that verdict while hearing the case. As a result, Tennessee's waiting period law remains unenforceable.

“States have the sovereign authority to enact laws that promote life and protect the health and well-being of pregnant women,” said Attorney General Cameron. “We filed this brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Tennessee’s law to stand and to protect the right of each state to regulate abortion.”

The brief argues that the Sixth Circuit's decision to temporarily block enforcement of the law runs contrary to Supreme Court Precedent set by Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey 30 years ago. In that decision, the Supreme Court upheld a Pennsylvania abortion waiting period law. The attorneys general argue that continuing the block Tennessee's law calls that precedent into question and threatens waiting-period laws in other states.

Attorneys general from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia joined Cameron in the brief.

Click here to read the amicus brief.

Hawaii Gov. Signs Law to Allow Non-Doctors to Commit Abortions

Hawaii Gov. David Ige

On April 12, Hawaii Gov. David Ige signed into law a bill allowing some nurses- not just doctors- to end the lives of unborn children. The law went into effect immediately, and it adds Hawaii to the growing minority of states that allow non-doctors to abort children.

The new law allows Advanced Practice Registered Nurses to commit first-trimester abortions. This includes the ability to administer the abortion pill regimen or carry out aspiration abortions.

There are safety reasons why abortion is a practice limited to physicians in most states. Risks during aspiration abortions (otherwise known as D&C abortions) include organ damage, uterine puncture, hemorrhage, infection, and death. Similarly, the abortion pill can cause hemorrhaging, infection, and death. By only allowing doctors to commit abortions, some of the risks to the pregnant mother can be mitigated. Nurses with less training may be more likely to harm the vulnerable women seeking abortions.

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Federal Government Ends Rules Limiting Experiments Using Body Parts from Aborted Babies

On Friday, the Biden administration ended a Trump regulation that required government-funded research involving fetal tissue to first pass a review by an independent ethics advisory board.

In 2019, the Trump administration HHS announced that it would discontinue research involving fetal tissue from elective abortions, and that it would let expire a fetal tissue research contract with the University of California at San Francisco.

On Friday, however, the HHS (now headed by Secretary Xavier Becerra) announced that it would be ending the requirement that research involving tissue harvested from aborted babies first undergo review by an advisory board.

On top of all of this, a recent Judicial Watch report shows that the US government has been buying "fresh" body parts harvested from aborted babies so it can create "humanized" mice for experiments. According to the report, these body parts have come from unborn babies of up to 24 weeks gestation. Preemies have survived birth with medical assistance after only 21 weeks.

“We condemn this sickening decision by the Biden administration,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Tiny human babies are aborted by abortionists and then exploited to be farmed for their organs and tissue for use in experiments.”

Tobias continued, “The Biden administration and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra have dismantled the process of making researchers meet any ethical standards when it comes to harvesting the body parts of aborted children for research.”

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House Democrats Announce Bill to Add Four Justices to the Supreme Court

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jarrod Nadler (D-NY)
photo credit: Brookings Institution / Flickr

On Thursday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrod Nadler (D-NY) introduced a bill that would expand the number of Supreme Court seats from nine to thirteen. If the Judiciary Act of 2021 is passed into law, it would give president Biden the power to immediately appoint four additional justices to the Supreme Court and skew it in favor of the Democratic party.

Nadler said that his bill would “restore balance to the nation’s highest court after four years of norm-breaking actions by Republicans led to its current composition.”

Democratic legislators have argued that it was unfair for Senate Republicans to block the nomination of an Obama-appointed Supreme Court Justice after Justice Antonin Scalia died months before the 2016 election. When Trump took office, he filled that seat with Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Democrats also took issue with the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the court in 2020.

“Republicans stole the Court’s majority, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation completing their crime spree,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA).

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is suggesting that she does not support bringing the issue of court-packing before the floor of the House at the moment, however.

“I don't know if [court packing is] a good idea or a bad idea,” she said. “I think it's an idea that should be considered and I think the president's taking the right approach to have a commission to study such a thing.”

President Biden refused to say whether he supported court-packing during his 2020 presidential campaign. His commission studying court reform includes former NARAL legal director Caroline Fredrickson.

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Pro-Life Representatives Vote for Discharge Petition to Call Abortion Survivor Protection to a Vote

On Wednesday, three pro-life representatives filed a discharge petition to call the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to a floor vote. Very quickly, a total of 202 representatives lined up to sign the petition that afternoon. That number is a new record for first-day signatures on a discharge petition.

If a total of 218 representatives sign the petition, then H.R. 619 will be brought before the full House of Representatives for a vote. This would bypass the normal requirement that the bill is approved by the committee to which it was assigned.

H.R. 619 is important because it would provide an enforcement mechanism to punish abortionists if they refuse to provide care for a baby that survived an attempted abortion. Furthermore, it would require that every child who survives an attempted abortion be transported to a hospital to receive the same care that any other baby would receive.

The CDC estimates that at least 143 babies died after being born alive during attempted abortions between the years 2003 and 2014. This number is likely lower than reality; since some of the most pro-abortion states do not provide abortion data to the federal government. If H.R. 619 becomes law, then many of these deaths could be mitigated.

“There is no such thing as a ‘post-birth abortion.’ This bill isn’t about interfering with a so-called right to abortion. It is about stopping infanticide,” said National Right to Life President Carol Tobias. “Appallingly, pro-abortion extremists in the House and Senate are willing to let die babies who are born alive following an abortion.”

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California Judge Blocks Release of Pro-Life Undercover Videos

David Daleiden
photo credit: American Life League / Flickr

Hundreds of hours of undercover footage from National Abortion Federation meetings recorded by pro-life undercover journalists with the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) were permanently blocked last Wednesday by a California judge.

District Court Judge William Orrick issued a preliminary injunction against the videos in 2015 after Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation sued the CMP for alleged violation of California privacy law, and now that injunction is permanent.

Early in the case's legal proceedings, the CMP filed to disqualify Orrick as the judge for the case, due to his close ties to the abortion industry. The motion failed, however, and Orrick refused to recuse himself.

Judge Orrick wrote that the videos "disclosed no criminal activity," but David Daleiden (who led the CMP investigation) responded last Thursday by arguing the opposite:

"What is on the footage of public conversations at abortion industry trade shows that Planned Parenthood leadership is so desperate to cover up? Our expert Dr. Forrest Smith, the country’s longest-practicing abortion provider, says it shows the quid pro quo sale of fetal body parts, abuse of patients, and infanticide–but Judge Orrick insists he sees nothing wrong with it, yet won’t let the public decide for themselves.

This decision hides the most incriminating and damning footage under the fig leaf of trade show exhibit agreements which explicitly permitted exhibitor recording. This transparent attempt to skew the law and suppress free speech to protect the worst wrongdoing must stop, and the truth must be revealed."

20 state attorneys and several activist groups filed friend-of-the-court briefs in March asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to take up the CMP case. They argued that the lower court decision will harm the First Amendment and future investigative journalism.

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Arkansas Attorney General Petitions Supreme Court to Review Decision Blocking Law to Protect Babies with Down Syndrome

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge on Tuesday petitioned the Supreme Court to review a decision blocking the enforcement of a law banning discriminatory abortions against babies with Down syndrome.

The decision was made on Jan. 5th by a three-judge panel from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. That decision upheld the District Court decision to block a 2019 Arkansas law that prohibits doctors from aborting babies when the decision is based “solely upon a diagnosis of Down syndrome or any other reason to believe the child has Down syndrome.”

“The Constitution does not require Arkansas to permit discrimination-by-abortion against Americans with Down syndrome,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “Through my personal friendships, I know that while individuals with Down syndrome may have an extra chromosome, they also have extra love and joy they share unconditionally, and I will not stand by while God’s gifts are exterminated as has been done in other countries.”

Rutledge noted that two members of the 8th Circuit panel made their decision purely on precedent; asking the Supreme Court to reconsider the precedent which led them to block the Arkansas law.

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Biden FDA Suspends Regulations Requiring Women to Receive Abortion Pills In-Person

photo credit: Volodymyr Hryshchenko / Unsplash

In an April 12th letter, FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock announced that the FDA would suspend its enforcement of Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) regulations limiting the distribution of the abortion pill mifepristone for the duration of the pandemic.

Pro-abortion organizations have been advocating for this change for nearly a year, now. They argue that REMS regulations endanger women by requiring them to visit abortion clinics in person; potentially exposing them to COVID-19. Instead, they argue that women should be able to receive abortion pills through the mail after consulting a doctor over the phone or in a video call.

REMS safety precautions were put in place for a reason, however.

If a pregnant mother receives abortion pills without ever visiting a doctor, they will not be able to diagnose pregnancy conditions or determine the gestational age of the baby. If a mother attempts to take the abortion pill regimen while she has an ectopic pregnancy, or if the baby has developed past the point that the abortion pill regimen is effective, then the abortion pill regimen could cause substantial harm to the mother.

National Right to Life President Carol Tobias responded to the announcement:

“These changes place women at greater risk because they may not be able to distinguish the signs of an incomplete abortion, a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, or a deadly infection from the ordinary pain and bleeding of completed chemical abortion. None of these changes make this process safer for the woman. What these changes do is make the process easier and cheaper for the abortion industry.”

In the announcement, Woodcock wrote that the “small number of adverse events reported to FDA during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) provided no indication that any program deviation or noncompliance with the Mifepristone REMS contributed to the reported adverse events.” She failed to realize, however, that REMS changes made under the Obama administration in 2016 no longer require the manufacturer of the abortion pill, Danco Laboratories or its generic GenBioPro to report non-fatal adverse effects.

While these changes are being advertised as temporary reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic, many pro-life advocates fear that they will soon become permanent.

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Sixth Circuit Reverses Injunction Against Ohio Non-Discrimination Law

photo credit: Bill Oxford / Unsplash

On Tuesday, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals voted 9-7 to lift a preliminary injunction against Ohio's Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Abortion Act.

The law prohibits a doctor from aborting a child if the doctor knows that the child's diagnosis with Down syndrome is her reason for seeking the abortion.

The bill was signed into law in 2017 by then-Governor John Kasich, but it has faced a long legal battle against Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses.

In a statement, Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis said, 

“This court ruling brings us one step closer to ensuring that vulnerable babies with special needs are not marked for death because of who they are. Every life is worth living and every precious and unique human being is worthy of complete protection under law.”

Judge Alice M. Batchelder wrote in her majority opinion that the restrictions created by the Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Abortion Act "do not create a substantial obstacle to a woman’s ability to choose or obtain an abortion" and reasonably further Ohio's interests, which she listed in her opinion:

“Ohio asserts that H.B. 214 furthers three valid and legitimate interests by protecting: (1) the Down syndrome community from the practice of Down-syndrome-selective abortions and the stigma associated with it; (2) pregnant women and their families from coercion by doctors who advocate the abortion of Down-syndrome-afflicted fetuses; and (3) the integrity and ethics of the medical profession by preventing doctors from becoming witting participants in Down-syndrome-selective abortions. These are legitimate interests.”

By ruling in favor of this law, the sixth circuit is validating Ohio's right to protect unborn children with Down syndrome from unjust discrimination and death. 

Click here to read more.