Tag: Roe v. Wade

The $6 Trillion Man? Biden’s Budget Would Make U.S. Taxpayers Pay for Abortions in Far-Left Spending Plan

Steve Warren – May 27, 2021

President Joe Biden will send a clear message on Friday when he releases his proposed 2022 $6 trillion budget to Congress. His message? He wants U.S. taxpayers to fund abortions at a time when Republican-led states are ramping up restrictions on it and when the U.S. Supreme Court plans to hear a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade.

Several media outlets are reporting Biden’s budget would cause the highest sustained level of federal spending since World War II as the president looks to fund his ever-increasing progressive agenda investing in education, infrastructure, and fighting climate change.

Politico reports Biden is also expected to leave out the Hyde Amendment as well as any other pro-life acknowledgments in his spending proposal in a move to try to please progressives and abortion activists.

The Hyde amendment is a decades-old bipartisan policy that has been included in federal spending bills for roughly 40 years to prevent taxpayer funds from paying for abortions. Biden’s exclusion of Hyde would largely be a token confrontation due to the Democrat Party’s narrow majority in Congress, and no clear winning edge in the Senate.

As CBN News reported in 2019, in his many years as a senator, he was for it. But suddenly then-candidate Biden flip-flopped on the issue saying he wanted to get rid of the ban on taxpayer-funded abortions. This surprised many Democrats including some of the then-former vice president’s aides.

“Just as I’ve never attempted to impose my views on anyone else as to when life begins, I have never attempted to impose my view on who should pay for it if people fundamentally disagree with the position we take,” Biden said at the time. “But folks, but folks times have changed. I don’t think these guys are gonna let up.”

He shifted his position, he said, while crafting his healthcare plan, as more and more states pass laws protecting the unborn.

“I can’t justify leaving millions of women without access to the healthcare they need and the ability to exercise their constitutionally protected right,” he said.

https://www1.cbn.com

Arkansas Governor Signs Near-Total Abortion Ban Into Law

Newsmax – March 9, 2021

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday signed into law legislation banning nearly all abortions in the state, a sweeping measure that supporters hope will force the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit its landmark Roe v. Wade decision but opponents vow to block before it takes effect later this year.

The Republican governor had expressed reservations about the bill, which only allows the procedure to save the life of the mother and does not provide exceptions for those impregnated by rape or incest. Arkansas is one of at least 14 states where legislators have proposed outright abortion bans this year.

The bans are being pushed by Republicans who want to force the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide. Conservatives believe the court is more open to striking down the decision following former President Donald Trump’s three appointments to the court.

Hutchinson has signed several major abortion restrictions into law since taking office in 2015, but he had voiced concerns that this bill directly challenges Roe and the lack of rape and incest exceptions.

The legislation won’t take effect until 90 days after the majority-Republican Legislature adjourns this year’s session. That means it can’t be enforced until this summer at the earliest. Abortion rights supporters said they plan to challenge the ban in court before then.

https://www.newsmax.com

South Carolina Abortion Law Suspended a Day After Passage

Newsmax – February 19, 2021

South Carolina’s new law banning most abortions was suspended by a federal judge Friday on its second day in effect.

Judge Mary Geiger Lewis put a 14-day temporary restraining order on the law and will renew it until she can hold a more substantial hearing on March 9 on Planned Parenthood’s request that it not be enforced until the group’s lawsuit against South Carolina is resolved.

Gov. Henry McMaster signed the bill into law Thursday less than an hour after it was sent to him, but the national reproductive health services organization sued even before the governor put ink to paper.

The temporary restraining order was needed in part because more than 75 women are scheduled to have abortions in the state over the next three days, and most of them would be banned under the new law, Planned Parenthood and The Center for Reproductive Rights said in court papers.

The “ South Carolina Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act ” is similar to abortion restriction laws that a dozen states have previously passed. All were stopped from taking effect and currently are tied up in court. Federal law, which takes precedence over state law, currently allows abortion.

Planned Parenthood’s lawyers said South Carolina is “openly flouting this law.”

The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office said in court papers filed Friday morning that Planned Parenthood can’t be sure the law will be rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. With three justices appointed by Republican former President Donald Trump, they said, the court could overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision supporting abortion rights.

https://www.newsmax.com

Roe’s ‘Deadly Legacy’: 62,504,904 Abortions Since 1973, New Report Says

Michael Foust – January 22, 2021

More than 62 million abortions have been performed in the United States since the infamous Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, according to a new report from National Right to Life that mourns the lives lost while celebrating the decline in the abortion rate in recent years.

The “State of Abortion in the United States” report, released Jan. 21, estimates that 62,504,904 abortions have been performed in the U.S. since the Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand throughout the nation via a pair of rulings: Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. They were handed down on Jan. 22, 1973.

The report reached the estimate using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute.

Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said pro-lifers have reason to be optimistic, despite the horrific number. That’s partially because the annual number of abortions has been steadily declining since 1990, when there were 1,608,600 abortions, according to Guttmacher. In 2013, the annual number of abortions fell below 1 million, to 958,700. In 2015, the annual number of abortions fell below 900,000 (to 899,500).

The pro-life community, Tobias said, is “moving our nation away from Roe and Doe’s deadly legacy.”

“This drop in numbers can be traced to a number of factors, but among them are the efforts by National Right to Life and its network of state affiliates to enact protective laws that provide legal protection to unborn children and offer hope and help to their mothers,” Tobias wrote in the report. “These legislative efforts are at the very heart of our work, and they are one of the keys to ending abortion in the United States.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

Missouri becomes first ‘abortion-free state’: report

Ryan Foley – January 13, 2021

A pro-life group is reporting that Missouri has become the first “abortion-free state” in the U.S. after its last remaining abortion facility ceased terminating pregnancies.

Operation Rescue released a report outlining “The Status of American Abortion Facilities in 2020” last week. According to the report, “a total of 45 abortion facilities closed or halted abortions nationwide in 2020, leaving one state without an active abortion facility.”

“Reproductive Health Services Planned Parenthood in St. Louis was the last abortion facility in Missouri. It remains open, but Operation Rescue has confirmed that no abortion appointments have been available there for months, and none are available anytime in the foreseeable future. All abortion appointments are now being referred to the Fairview Heights Planned Parenthood facility across the Mississippi River in Illinois.”

Reproductive Health Services Planned Parenthood confirmed with The Christian Post that it no longer performs abortions and refers all patients seeking abortions to its new 18,000-square-foot Fairview Heights facility, which is located 16 miles away.

Planned Parenthood’s new Fairview Heights clinic performs both surgical abortions and medication-induced abortions for women in Southern Illinois and surrounding areas.

According to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, Missouri has an abortion ban that would immediately go into effect should the Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide be overturned. In 2019, the state passed a heartbeat bill, which would ban abortion at the point a fetal heartbeat can be detected, usually around six weeks gestation. Like many similar measures passed in other states, the law was quickly subject to a court challenge.

The pro-life group Americans United for Life ranked Missouri as the eighth-most pro-life state  on its “Life List 2021,” which was compiled based on a “comprehensive analysis of each state’s law and policy protections for human life from conception to natural death.” Nearby Arkansas was ranked the most pro-life state in the U.S., followed by Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Indiana, Kansas and Arizona.

https://www.christianpost.com

New Mexico Committee Passes Bill Allowing Abortions Up to Birth

Micaiah Bilger – January 28, 2019

New Mexico moved closer to adopting a radical new law allowing abortions for basically any reason up to birth on Saturday.

State House Bill 51 passed the House Consumer and Public Affairs committee in a 3-2 vote, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against, according to Newsweek.

Sponsored by state Rep. Joanne Ferrary, the bill would repeal a state statute from the 1960s that prohibits abortions except in cases of rape, incest or threats to the mother’s life. The statute is not in effect because of Roe v. Wade, but if the Supreme Court overturns the case, it would go into effect again.

Ferrary’s bill would change that. Instead of being one of nine states that would make it a crime for an abortionist to kill an unborn baby, New Mexico would become a state that allows abortions without restriction, the Albuquerque Journal reports. Essentially, unborn babies could be aborted for any reason up to birth.

In addition, it would remove conscience protections for medical professionals who believe it is wrong to abort unborn babies.

“The committee’s willingness to pass this careless bill without consideration of amendments to limit abortion up to birth after five months, and other concerns most New Mexicans have is a disgrace,” said New Mexico Alliance for Life Executive Director Elisa Martinez. “Forcing doctors to participate in abortions up to birth is the stated goal of proponents behind this bill and New Mexicans must rise up against this radical bill.”

https://www.lifenews.com

Ark. Lawmakers File Bill to Outlaw Abortion in State, Except to Save Life of Mother

– November 20, 2020

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Two lawmakers in Arkansas have filed a bill that would outlaw abortion in the state, with the exception of the life of the mother.

“A person shall not purposely perform or attempt to perform an abortion except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency,” reads Senate Bill 6, filed on Wednesday by Senator Jason Rapert, R-Conway, and Rep. Mary Bentley, R–Perryville.

Those who violate the law would be subject to a $100K fine, 10 years in prison, or both. The abortive mother would not face any penalty.

The legislation states that the Supreme Court is ripe for an overturn of Roe v. Wade and declares that the court committed a crime against humanity in 1973, much like when it ruled in the 1857 case of Dred Scott v. Sanford that African Americans were property rather than U.S. citizens.

“It is time for the United States Supreme Court to redress and correct the grave injustice and the crime against humanity which is being perpetuated by their decisions in Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey,” the measure reads. “The State of Arkansas urgently pleads with the United States Supreme Court to do the right thing, as they did in one of their greatest cases, Brown v. Board of Education, which overturned a fifty-eight-year-old precedent of the United States …”

Arkansas Family Council has backed the measure, stating that it is time to outlaw abortion rather than just talk about it.

“Many people have been saying for almost fifty years that abortion should be illegal. The time has come for us to make it so,” remarked President Jerry Cox in a statement. “S.B. 6 will give the U.S. Supreme Court the opportunity to overturn Roe v. Wade. Family Council fully supports the passage of this good law. This is an opportunity for Arkansas to be a real leader in the effort to end abortion in America.”

He said that the organization has a network of approximately 10K individuals and churches throughout Arkansas, and Cox believes many of those will “want to do their part to secure [the bill’s] passage.”

https://christiannews.net

Mass. Lawmakers Approve Abortion Legislation Attached as Amendment to Budget Bill

– November 19, 2020

BOSTON — Lawmakers in Massachusetts have passed an amendment attached to a budget bill, essentially allowing abortion up to birth for “fatal fetal anomalies” and lowering the age of parental consent from under 18 to under 16. It is not clear whether or not Republican Gov. Charlie Baker plans to sign the measure into law.

Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Claire Cronin, D-Easton, had presented Amendment 759 as an attachment to House Bill 5150, the budget for fiscal year 2021.

According to text on the legislature website, the amendment allows abortion after 24 weeks when “in the best medical judgment of the physician, an abortion is warranted because of a lethal fetal anomaly that is incompatible with sustained life outside the uterus.”

It permits nurse practitioners, physicians assistants and midwives to perform abortions and states that abortive mothers under 16 must obtain consent from one parent (or can go to the courts if that is not possible), and “in deciding whether to grant such consent, a patient’s parent shall consider only the patient’s best interests.”

The amendment passed in the House of Representatives last Thursday by a vote of 108-49, followed by a 33-7 vote in the Senate on Wednesday.

All four Republicans in the Senate voted against the amendment: Bruce Tarr of Glouchester, Ryan Fattman of Sutton, Patrick O’Connor of Weymouth and Dean Tran of Fitchburg. Three Democrats did as well: Michael Rush of Boston, Walter Timilty of Miltona and John Velis of Westfield.

Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate characterize the amendment as being necessary in light of a potential overturn of Roe v. Wade.

https://christiannews.net

Massachusetts lawmakers seek to legalize abortion up to birth by adding it to state budget

Ryan Foley – November 11, 2020

As companion bills aimed at allowing abortion up until the moment of birth continue to be stalled, Massachusetts lawmakers are now working to insert an amendment into the state budget that would accomplish the same goal.

State Representative Claire Cronin, the co-chair of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, filed Amendment 759, which would be added to the annual budget bill. The leadership of both houses of the Massachusetts General Court have spoken out in favor of the amendment, which is similar to the ROE Act that failed.

“Following last week’s joint statement with Senate President Spika, in which we have expressed concern over the threat to women’s reproductive rights on the national level, it is urgent that the House take up an immediate measure to remove barriers to women’s reproductive health options and protect the concepts enshrined in Roe v. Wade,” state House Speaker Robert DeLeo said in a statement Monday.

DeLeo’s statement came just a week after he argued that the state budget was “not an appropriate place for major policy reform.”

Bill S.1209, “An Act to Remove Obstacles and Expand Abortion Access” (ROE Act), was introduced on Jan. 22, 2019, on the 46th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide.

If passed, the bill would allow abortionists to perform abortions when “the patient is beyond 24 weeks from the commencement of pregnancy and the abortion is necessary to protect the patient’s life or physical or mental health, or in cases of lethal fetal abnormalities, or where the fetus is incompatible with sustained life outside the uterus.”

A companion bill, H.3220, “An Act Removing Obstacles and Expanding Access to Women’s Reproductive Health,” was introduced on the same day. Both bills were referred to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, which has a deadline of Thursday to make a recommendation on the legislation. The deadline has already been extended twice since the bills were introduced at the beginning of the 191st General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

As Massachusetts Citizens for Life explained, the legislation has become known as the ROE Act to reflect its promise to “remove obstacles and expand access to abortion.”

https://www.christianpost.com

SCOTUS Blocks Restrictions on Federal Abortion Pill Delivery

Tauren Dyson – October 8, 2020

A Supreme Court ruling will temporarily prevent the enforcement of FDA restrictions that require women to pick up an abortion pill from the doctor during the coronavirus pandemic and will instead allow the medication to be mailed, according to NPR.

The decision lets women continue to get an abortion pill by mail after the high court pushed the case back down to a Maryland federal court for further review.

Three months ago, a federal judge in Maryland decided healthcare providers can have mifepristone mailed to patients. The drug was approved by the FDA in combination with misoprostol to terminate an early pregnancy.

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists challenged the FDA regulation since the agency has eased similar restrictions for medications such as opioids.

“It is a relief that for the next few weeks the Trump administration cannot force abortion patients to needlessly risk contracting a life-threatening disease as a condition of obtaining care,” said Julia Kaye, lead counsel for ACOG. “When President Trump is trying to rush through a third Supreme Court justice with the express goal of overturning Roe v. Wade, the court’s delayed ruling in this case gives little comfort that the right to abortion is secure.”

The Supreme Court asked for the Maryland federal judge to reevaluate the rule within 40 days, keeping the high court from acting any more on the issue until after the election.

https://www.newsmax.com