Stories tagged with: sanctity of life

• Crisis pregnancy centers provide essential aid during COVID-19 pandemic

  by Tess Schoonhoven, posted Friday, May 15, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Submitted photo

  LIBERTY, Mo. (BP) -- In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, crisis pregnancy centers are still working to provide care to their patients.

  Carol Graham, founder and CEO of Liberty Women's Clinic in a Kansas City suburb, said all client appointments have been moved to telephone contact because of social-distancing guidelines related to the pandemic. But the clinic is preparing to enter the first phase of reopening, which would involve a combination of phone consults and some in-clinic ultrasound appointments. Read More

• Supreme Court considers abortion mandate again

  by Tom Strode, posted Wednesday, May 06, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  iStock

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- The Trump administration and an order of Roman Catholic nuns urged the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday (May 6) to uphold federal rules that protect the rights of employers with religious or moral objections to the Obama-era, abortion/contraception mandate.

  For the third consecutive day, the justices heard oral arguments by means of a telephone conference because of restrictions brought on by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The religious freedom case was among 10 in which the high court postponed oral arguments from late March and April. Read More

• Courts reject Lee's abortion-related order backed by ERLC

  by Tom Strode, posted Tuesday, April 28, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Photo from uscourts.gov

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- Abortion rights organizations have the upper hand so far in their legal challenge to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee's order postponing elective medical procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  A divided panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld April 24 a federal judge's preliminary injunction blocking abortion procedures from being included in Lee's order. The state has asked the full Sixth Circuit panel to reconsider the decision. Under the governor's order, however, elective procedures will resume May 1. Read More

• Baptist leaders welcome ruling in support of Texas order

  by Tom Strode, posted Thursday, April 09, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  iStock

  NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Southern Baptist leaders have commended a federal appeals court decision in support of a Texas order that includes abortion as a nonessential medical procedure suspended during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

  In an April 7 ruling, a divided panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned a federal judge's opinion that removed all abortions from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's order postponing nonessential procedures through April 21. In rejecting the arguments of abortion-rights advocates, the 2-1 majority said the order "regulates abortions evenhandedly" with all other medical procedures. Read More

• SBC ethicists applaud guide to protect disabled, elderly

  by Tom Strode, posted Thursday, April 02, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  iStock

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- Southern Baptist ethicists Russell Moore and C. Ben Mitchell expressed gratitude at the federal government's warning against unlawful discrimination in care for the disabled and other vulnerable patients during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

  A division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a bulletin March 28 to remind entities covered by civil rights laws of their responsibility to abide by federal bans on discrimination on the basis of disability, age and other categories during the current health crisis. Read More

• Southern Baptist Coburn remembered for faith, integrity

  by Tom Strode, posted Monday, March 30, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Wikimedia Commons

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- Retired U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, a Southern Baptist, is being remembered for his Christian faith, pro-life advocacy, campaign against government waste and friendships with political opponents following his March 28 death.

  Coburn, 72, who died after a prolonged struggle with prostate cancer, served Oklahoma as a Republican member of the Senate from 2005 to 2015. He retired with two years remaining in his second six-year term. He previously had served as a U.S. representative from 1995 to 2001, keeping his promise to step down after three two-year terms. Read More

• Moore: Sanctity of human life takes priority during pandemic

  by Tom Strode, posted Thursday, March 26, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  iStock

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic "is no time to turn our eyes away from the sanctity of human life," Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore said in a column published Thursday (March 26) in The New York Times.

  Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), wrote in response to recent suggestions from government officials and others "about weighing the value of human life against the health of the nation's economy and the strength of the stock market," he said in the column. Read More

• Moore, other pro-lifers oppose abortion promotion during pandemic

  by Tom Strode, posted Wednesday, March 25, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  iStock

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore joined other pro-life leaders Tuesday (March 24) in urging public health officials to act to prevent the promotion of abortion during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

  Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, and more than 50 other representatives of national or state organizations called for the action in a letter to Alex Azar, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Read More

• Court weighs state's pro-life effort to protect women

  by Tom Strode, posted Wednesday, March 04, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Photo by Tom Strode

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court grappled Wednesday (March 4) with whether the state of Louisiana can seek to protect the lives and health of women by requiring hospital admitting privileges for doctors who perform abortions.

  The justices appeared closely divided as they heard oral arguments regarding a state law that is similar to one they struck down four years ago. In the 2016 Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt opinion, the high court ruled 5-3 against a Texas admitting privileges law. Read More

• Pro-lifers praise court's support of Protect Life Rule

  by Tom Strode, posted Friday, February 28, 2020 (4 years ago)

  SAN FRANCISCO (BP) -- Pro-life advocates have praised a decision by a typically liberal federal appeals court to uphold the Trump administration's Protect Life Rule and thereby cut funding for the country's leading abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.

  In a 7-4 decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in favor of a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulation that eliminates Title X federal family planning funds for organizations that perform or promote abortions. Ruling "en banc" or as a full court, the Ninth Circuit -- often regarded as the country's most liberal federal appeals court -- rejected the challenges to the regulation and overturned preliminary injunctions by three federal judges in different states. Read More