The Democratic-led Arizona House of Representatives have voted to repeal a Civil War-era total ban on abortion which could soon go into effect unless the Republican-led Senate votes to keep it on the books, Reuters reports. The ban was passed by the 1st Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1864, before Arizona became a state in 1912.
The Vatican has condemned the European Parliament’s decision to include the “right to abortion” in the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in a 4-2 decision on Monday that the 1864 ban on abortion altogether will take effect in two weeks, instead of keeping a 2022 law that bans abortion after 15 weeks.
The Missouri Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft for a proposed ballot initiative that sought to enshrine abortion into its state constitution in 2024.
Idaho has passed a first-of-its-kind “abortion trafficking” law that criminalizes adults who help an underage girl to get an abortion without the consent of her parent or legal guardian, the Christian Post (CP) reports.
The status of the abortion pill was thrown into doubt after a federal judge temporarily blocked the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, only to have the order countered by another federal judge.
Amid a raging public debate in the US over whether the unborn have personhood rights, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts last week upheld the first-degree homicide convictions of a man found guilty of killing not only his pregnant girlfriend but also her full-term unborn baby, the Christian Post (CP) reports.
Democratic governors in 20 states are launching a network intended to strengthen abortion access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision nixing a woman’s constitutional right to end a pregnancy and instead shifting regulatory powers over the procedure to state governments.
A Catholic priest and pro-life activist in the UK was recently criminally charged with “intimidating service-users” after he stood inside an abortion clinic buffer zone (while the clinic was closed) holding a sign which said “praying for free speech,” Christian Today reports.
U.S. President Joe Biden faces condemnation from leading Republicans “protecting the unborn” after he urged Congress to end “extreme abortion bans.”
An organization called The Church at Planned Parenthood has agreed to pay a settlement of $960,00 in legal fees and damages for conducting what it described as “worship services at the gates of Hell” at a local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Washington state, the Christian Post (CP) reports.
A UK pro-life activist who was arrested for allegedly praying silently within an abortion clinic buffer zone has been left in a state of “significant uncertainty” after Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service dropped its charge against her but said the indictment may yet be reinstated, Christian Today (CT) reports.
In a move that UK pro-life advocates have described as an “assault on civil liberties,” the House of Lords this week passed a Public Order amendment to criminalize actions, including prayer, conducted outside abortion clinics that might deter women from terminating their pregnancies, Christian Today reports.
Satanists on Wednesday joined Democrats in their fight to extend abortion rights across the United States by opening a health clinic providing “free religious medication abortion.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) on Tuesday signed into law a piece of state legislation that would enshrine unrestricted access to abortion at any stage of pregnancy and for any reason, regardless of what future judges or politicians might wish to rule on the issue, the Associated Press reports.
President Joe Biden informed Congress on Monday that he will end the COVID public health emergency just as his administration weighs a new health emergency for abortion access.
A manufacturer of abortion pills has filed suit against West Virginia, arguing the state’s restrictions on access to the medication conflicts with congressional authority given to the Food and Drugs Administration to determine which medications are safe for the public, the Hill reports. Following the reversal of Roe v Wade in June last year, West Virginia instituted a ban on abortion at all stages, with exceptions for medical emergencies, rape and incest.
Thirteen clergy from six faith traditions filed a lawsuit against the State of Missouri on Jan. 19, claiming that the state’s ban on abortion constitutes an imposition of a Christian belief and thus violates the separation of church and state. The clergy also stressed that the abortion ban violates their religious beliefs.
Although the US Supreme Court revoked a federal right to abortion last year, thousands of people nevertheless flocked to Washington DC, Friday to participate in the 50th annual March For Life rally, Christian Headlines (CH) reports. This major annual event is organized by the March for Life Education and Defense Fund.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to require medical care for babies who survived failed abortion attempts, with 210 Democrats opposing the measure.