State lawsuits defend abortion access with religious freedom

Critics of religious freedom laws often argue they are used to discriminate against LGBTQ people and only protect a conservative Christian worldview

By ARLEIGH RODGERS Associated Press/Report for America
December 27, 2022

INDIANAPOLIS -- Cara Berg Raunick watched with bafflement as Indiana's Republican legislators took less than two weeks to debate and pass an abortion ban that the governor signed quickly into law.

The women’s health nurse practitioner from Indianapolis was struck by just how frequently faith was cited in the arguments as reason to ban the medical practice. But Berg Raunick, who is Jewish, said those views go against her beliefs.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/state-lawsuits-defend-abortion-access-religious-freedom-95854873

The nightmarish reality of the GOP’s hope for a total abortion ban

Would Republicans really pursue a national abortion ban? Many advocates for abortion rights believe so.

July 4, 2022
By Zeeshan Aleem, MSNBC Opinion Columnist

The Supreme Court’s elimination of the constitutional right to an abortion in America marked the shocking fulfillment of a decadeslong lobbying effort by the American anti-abortion movement and the GOP agenda to radicalize the court to the point where it would overturn what appeared to be settled legal rights. But just hours after the decision came out, top Republicans already had their eye on something else.

Until very recently, the possibility that millions of women around the country would lose their abortion rights seemed remote. Now we’re looking at the nontrivial possibility that Republicans attempt legislation stripping them from the whole country.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/national-abortion-ban-could-be-next-republicans-list-n1296696

USA – The Sound of Silence on Abortion

June 3, 2021
By Linda Greenhouse

Back in 2014, when the Arizona Legislature passed a bill to provide business owners with a religious excuse to discriminate against gay people, the N.F.L. threatened to move Super Bowl XLIX out of the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale. Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed the bill.

In 2015, when the N.C.A.A. led a pushback from its Indianapolis headquarters against a similar bill that the Indiana Legislature passed, Gov. Mike Pence said it was all a “great misunderstanding” and eventually signed a watered-down version that met the demands of the N.C.A.A. and other sports organizations that had protested.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/opinion/abortion-corporate-support.html

Harris And Pence Clash On Abortion Rights, Racial Justice At VP Debate

Oct 8, 2020
Ruth Umoh, Forbes Staff

Senator Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence took the stage on Wednesday night in a wide-ranging vice presidential debate that touched on legal challenges to abortion rights and the killing of Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement.

When asked if she would support her home state of California eliminating restrictions to abortions in the event that Roe v. Wade is overturned, Harris said, “I will always fight for a woman’s right to make a decision over her own body. It should be her decision, not that of Donald Trump or Mike Pence.”

Continued: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ruthumoh/2020/10/08/harris-and-pence-clash-on-abortion-rights-racial-justice-at-vp-debate/#1755ec66804d

USA – Both sides on abortion certain Barrett would restrict, if not overturn, landmark court decision

By Seung Min Kim
Oct. 8, 2020

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett heads into her confirmation hearings next week with a detailed record that has led many liberals and conservatives to believe she would support restricting, if not outright overturning, the landmark decision that guarantees a woman’s right to an abortion.

But as her nomination fight unfurls in an increasingly heated election season, top Republicans — from President Trump to individual senators — appear to be playing down the impact Barrett’s confirmation would have on the fate of abortion rights in the United States.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-court-trump-barrett/2020/10/08/a82f4ace-0973-11eb-a166-dc429b380d10_story.html

Where Does Kamala Harris Stand on Abortion and Reproductive Rights?

Breaking down the VP nominee's policy.

BY ERICA GONZALES
OCT 7 2020

As Election Day inches nearer, eyes aren't just on the presidential nominees, they're on the vice president picks too. And as a history-making vice presidential candidate on the ballot, Kamala Harris is especially in the spotlight—and so are her policies. Here, we look into the Democratic senator's stance on abortion access and reproductive rights, major issues that may be on voters' minds in light of President Donald Trump's latest Supreme Court nominee.

In 2019, as a Democratic nominee for president, Senator Harris shared her plan to protect abortion access, which was modeled after the Voting Rights Act of 1965, according to Politico. In it, she proposed that states that tend to restrict abortion would have to obtain preclearance by the Department of Justice before enforcing laws affecting access to the procedure.

Continued: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a34284404/kamala-harris-stance-on-abortion/

07.10.2020

Brett Kavanaugh

Donald Trump

EACH Woman Act

Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act

Hyde Amendment

Kamala Harris

Mike Pence

Naral Pro-Choice America

Planned Parenthood

Roe v. Wade

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Women’s Health Protection Act

Trump administration wants to expand international rule limiting abortion access

By Caroline Kelly, CNN
Mon September 14, 2020

(CNN)The Trump administration is pushing to expand its ban on funding for foreign nonprofits that perform or promote abortions, a move that critics say could further restrict health care access around the world.

In a move that will please President Donald Trump's base, the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration published the proposed rule on Monday to extend the "Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance" policy, which already encompasses global health grants and cooperative agreements, to apply to contracts. The rule already applies to the State Department, Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense and the US Agency for International Development.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/14/politics/trump-administration-expand-international-abortion-rule/index.html

Pence makes pitch to anti-abortion voters in battleground states

By Caroline Kelly, CNN
Sat September 5, 2020

(CNN) Vice President Mike Pence is making a strong pitch to a potentially crucial base of swing-state anti-abortion voters heading into the last two months of the presidential campaign.

On a visit to North Carolina this week, he attacked Democratic nominee Joe Biden on abortion and reminded people of President Donald Trump's record appointing conservative judges.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/05/politics/mike-pence-abortion-battleground-states/index.html

05.09.2020

Naral Pro-Choice America

Planned Parenthood Votes in North Carolina

Stakes high for Supreme Court as Trump battles for reelection

by John Kruzel
08/23/20

President Trump has a chance to transform the Supreme Court into a conservative supermajority if he wins another four-year term, underscoring the potential stakes of this year's election for future court decisions on everything from the Second Amendment to abortion.

If reelected, Trump would likely get the
opportunity to replace ailing liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, and
possibly fellow liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, 82, which would give
conservatives a commanding 6-3 or 7-2 majority. It would also move the court’s
fulcrum to the right of its current ideological center, Chief Justice John
Roberts, whose stewardship of the court is seen by some conservatives with
increasing skepticism.

Continued: https://thehill.com/regulation/512832-stakes-high-for-supreme-court-as-trump-battles-for-reelection

USA – How Anti-Abortion Advocates Are Co-opting and Twisting Calls for Racial Justice

“It’s like the anti-abortion movement
out-pivoted the reproductive rights movement on race.”

Aug 14, 2020
Becca Andrews

The argument seemed reasonable in theory: “We are pleased that our state values
life no matter an individual’s potential disability, gender, or race.”

In reality, it wasn’t.

Back in March 2016, Mike Fichter, the president and chief executive of Indiana
Right to Life, was talking about the law then-Gov. Mike Pence just signed that
would bar “the knowing provision of sex-, race-, or disability-selective
abortions by abortion providers.” The bill was not nearly as innocuous as
Fichter and his ideological peers in state government made it seem. In fact,
the legislation, colloquially known as a “reasons ban,” operates very much on
racist and ableist assumptions—and has the power to inflict acute harm on
pregnant individuals.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/08/abortion-reasons-ban-race-justice-language/

14.08.2020