Ohio can defund Planned Parenthood, court rules

Denver Newsroom, Aug 20, 2020 / 01:57 pm (CNA).- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has denied wrongdoing following allegations that Muslim detainees at a Miami facility are regularly forced to choose between spoiled halal meals and eating pork in violation of their religious beliefs.

“By habitually serving Muslim detainees pork and spoiled, expired, and cold halal meals, ICE officers at Krome have violated Muslim detainees’ rights under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” says an August 19 letter to officials at ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The letter was sent by attorneys for Americans for Immigrant Justice, Muslim Advocates, and King & Spalding LLP.

The groups say they have received “alarming reports” of Muslim detainees at the Krome Service Processing Center in Miami, Florida being repeatedly served pork throughout the coronavirus pandemic. For the several dozen Muslims housed at the facility, eating pork is forbidden.

The prepackaged halal meals offered as an alternative are expired and rotten, posing a health risk, the advocacy groups say.

“In recent months, Muslim detainees who have eaten those spoiled halal meals have reported experiencing stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea,” they say in their letter.

An ICE spokesman denied the allegation, telling CNA in an August 20 email, “Any claim that ICE denies reasonable and equitable opportunity for persons to observe their religious dietary practices is false.”

“ICE’s Performance Based National Detention Standards cover all aspects of detention, to include reasonable accommodation of religious dietary practices,” the spokesman said, pointing to the agency’s national detention standards, which include policies on religious diet accommodations.

Those policies state, “All facilities shall provide detainees requesting a religious diet a reasonable and equitable opportunity to observe their religious dietary practice, within the constraints of budget limitations and the security and orderly running of the facility, by offering a common fare menu. While each request for religious diet accommodation is to be determined on a case-by-case basis, ICE anticipates that facilities will grant these requests unless an articulable reason exists to disqualify someone for religious accommodation or the detainee’s practice poses a significant threat to the secure and orderly operation of the facility.”

However, the immigrant advocacy groups say they have received reports that the practice of offering only inedible, cold, and expired halal meals is widespread at the Krome facility.

“Substituting pork for inedible, expired food is offensive and constitutionally impermissible,” their letter charges.

It says the problem of offering expired halal meals has been ongoing since 2017, but has been made worse by the coronavirus pandemic. While detainees could previously choose their meals at a cafeteria, the facility has now moved to all pre-plated meals. About 2-3 times per week, these meals contain pork, which the Muslim detainees cannot eat, the letter says.

It also charges that staff members at the facility have failed to respond to detainees’ complaints about the problem.

“In the face of the Krome staff’s indifference and inaction, Muslim detainees are left with three choices during this pandemic: eat meals that contain pork, eat meals that are spoiled, or eat nothing at all. Consequently, Muslim detainees have been forced to choose between their sincere religious beliefs and their health.”

The letter requests a response within 14 days. The immigrant advocacy groups threatened to pursue further legal action if they do not receive a response.

“As part of ensuring that Muslim detainees are provided with safe to eat, religiously compliant meals, immigration authorities must serve unexpired halal plates to Muslim detainees at Krome and all other ICE facilities,” the letter says.

“Barring the availability of halal meals, ICE must ensure that each meal at each ICE-run facility includes sufficient plates without pork or contaminated by pork so that each Muslim detainee can exercise their constitutional and statutory rights to adhere to a diet consonant with their sincerely held religious beliefs.”

The advocacy groups are also calling for greater personnel training on religious freedom and accommodations.

“ICE and DHS must more effectively monitor their staff to ensure that COVID-19 does not become license for ICE to violate the religious rights of its Muslim detainees,” their letter says.

Montse Alvarado, executive director of religious liberty law firm Becket, said the claims against ICE, if true, are an example of the problems that arise “when people think freedom of worship is the same as freedom of religion.”

“The American promise of freedom of religion is more than that, and religion happens outside of the four walls of a church, synagogue, temple, or mosque all the time– as we have witnessed in this pandemic,” Alvarado told CNA in an email.

“You bring your conscience with you wherever you go; it’s part of who you are no matter what situation you are in. The Constitution protects the right to the free exercise of religion, and the government has an obligation to respect that.”

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Little Rock, Ark., Apr 16, 2020 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- Health authorities have said an emergency ban on elective abortions in Arkansas was necessary to limit the number of women traveling from other states, and possibly bringing the coronavirus with them.

Though the fate of the ban is now in the federal courts, one observer said that the state’s abortion clinic appears to be making the state an “abortion destination” attracting women from out-of-state.

“If the Arkansas Department of Health and the governor’s office have found that a ban on elective surgeries is needed to protect public health during this pandemic, then this decision should be respected and followed by surgical providers, including this abortion provider,” Catherine Phillips of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock’s Respect Life Office told CNA April 16.

“What is particularly troubling in this situation is the apparent increase in the number of abortions in the past three weeks as well as the apparent increase in the number of women who are traveling to Little Rock Family Planning Services from out of state, especially Texas and Louisiana, during this national health emergency,” she said.

“It’s very distressing to see 25 cars in the parking lot at Little Rock Family Planning Services and at least one-third of those cars with out-of-state license plates.”

Last week Arkansas ordered Little Rock Family Planning Services to stop performing surgical abortions except those performed to protect the life and health of the mother. The clinic said it had scheduled about 20 women for abortions, the Associated Press reports.

On April 9 Arkansas Health Secretary Dr. Nathaniel Smith encouraged the abortion clinic to stop seeing out-of-state patients, the Associated Press reports. The next day, the Department of Health said any further violations of the order would result in the suspension of the clinic’s license.

“The risk was particularly high because a high proportion of those cases were coming from out of state… bringing that risk of transmission with them from other states with a higher rate of COVID-19 than Arkansas,” Smith said.

Phillips said the Arkansas governor has “repeatedly” emphasized limits on travel to the state as part of a strategy to slow the spread of the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.

“Arkansas seems to have become an ‘abortion destination’ and this has been described as a ‘public health hazard’,” she continued. “It is particularly appalling that while so many are unemployed and so many of us are making sacrifices to protect the health of those who are most vulnerable to this coronavirus, at Little Rock Family Planning Services it is business as more than usual.”

The lawsuit has had initial success and secured a temporary restraining order against state action, but the case is now under the consideration of the federal courts.

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has said in an appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal that a federal judge wrongly ruled that elective abortions are exempt from an Arkansas emergency ban on elective surgeries, the Associated Press reports. Rutledge said the injunction was issued without allowing the state to respond, in effect “declaring abortion a judicial sacred cow — untouchable even in an effort to save lives.”

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker on April 14 granted a temporary restraining order against the state of Arkansas’ order to halt elective abortions. Baker said the limited record supports the allegation that enforcement of the order will inflict serious physical, emotional, and psychological injuries on (the abortion provider’s) patients by forcing them to delay, or altogether forgo, access to abortion care.”

Phillips said the judge’s comments are limited to the clients seeking abortion at the clinic.

“If we look at the larger picture we can talk about the many women who have been seriously wounded- emotionally, psychologically and even physically by abortion,” she said. “Our Project Rachel Ministry works with hundreds of these women (and a few men, too) every year and provides resources and opportunities for healing from the deep wounds of abortion.”

For Phillips, the debate is an opportunity to raise awareness about “the devastation caused by abortion,” and also the need to help women who seek it.

“When a mother faces an unplanned pregnancy, she needs better care than legal access to abortion. She needs real help. The Catholic Church vigorously opposes abortion and is ready to help any mother in need, especially during this pandemic when a mother may be particularly anxious. Especially now when we are physically apart, women are in great need of friendship and compassion. Worried mothers need help with financial and material resources and also with emotional and spiritual support during the pregnancy and for the family after the baby is born.”

She said parishes, pregnancy centers and other community groups can provide this care.

“As the court battles over abortion continue, we pray for a day when abortion will be illegal, but also for a day when it will not even be considered an option,” she said. “Our governor has pledged that Arkansas’’will do all that is necessary to protect life’ and as the Church in Arkansas is committed to do our part to translate these words into effective service.”

Several other states, including Alabama, Alaska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas, have attempted to classify elective abortions as non-essential procedures during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Many states have suspended medical procedures deemed non-emergency or non-essential in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus and to free up medical resources and hospital capacity.

[…]

New Haven, Conn., Jan 31, 2020 / 07:11 pm (CNA).- The Knights of Columbus has announced a major revision to its longtime initiation ceremonies and for the first time will open them to the public, saying the changes are needed to become more appealing t… […]