prolife2023

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Utah advances legislation to ban clinics that offer only abortion

February 20, 2023 Catholic News Agency 0
A sonogram picture of a fetus in the second trimester of a woman’s pregnancy / Shutterstock

Washington D.C., Feb 20, 2023 / 15:58 pm (CNA).

Last Friday the Utah House of Representatives passed some of the strongest pro-life legislation advanced since the reversal of Roe v. Wade. If passed by the state’s Senate and signed into law, the measures effectively would shut down abortion clinics that only offer abortion and would also help victims of rape and incest.

The two bills passed the Utah House in strictly party-line votes, 53-14.

Though Utah has pro-life supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature, abortion is currently legal in Utah until 18 weeks of pregnancy. A “trigger law” was passed in 2020 to go into effect with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The law would ban abortion through all stages of pregnancy, but it remains blocked in the courts due to a legal challenge by Planned Parenthood Association of Utah and the Utah chapter of the ACLU.

The first bill, sponsored by Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, a Republican, prohibits abortions outside of hospitals and bans clinics that only offer abortion. 

Further, the bill prohibits the licensing of abortion clinics after May 2, 2023, and makes it a criminal offense for out-of-state actors to prescribe abortion drugs to Utahns.

The Utah House Democratic Caucus decried the bill as “a direct attack on reproductive health care.”

Planned Parenthood Action Council of Utah posted on Twitter that the bill “would shutter all abortion clinics in (Utah) and make this essential health care MUCH more inaccessible and expensive for #Utahns.”

Lisonbee pushed back on the claim that her bill would close abortion clinics, saying that providers like Planned Parenthood can continue offering other health services and abortions in limited exceptions.

Doctors performing abortions in fetal anomaly cases will now be required to inform the mother that perinatal hospice care, which is care for infants with short life expectancies, is available as an alternative to abortion.

“As a state, we deeply value human life at all stages and in all circumstances,” Lisonbee said. “It is the state’s responsibility to protect the most vulnerable, and that includes the unborn.”

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, signaled his support for the bill, saying in a Feb. 16 news conference that he “feels pretty good” about the bill and that the 18-week cutoff gives “plenty of time for a decision to be made.”

The second pro-life bill sponsored by Rep. Kera Birkeland, also a Republican, expands care for rape and incest victims. The bill provides health care for the victim and the child during the resulting pregnancy and for the first year after the child is born. The bill also further expands already existing laws that doctors performing abortions on rape or incest victims verify the crime with authorities.

Both bills limit abortions performed in the rape and incest exceptions to the first 18 weeks of pregnancy.

Having cleared the House, both bills will now advance to the Utah Senate, which is majority Republican.

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Biden tells Congress to codify Roe, pass LGBTQ protections

February 8, 2023 Catholic News Agency 1
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address during a joint meeting of Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 7, 2023, in Washington, D.C. The speech marks Biden’s first address to the new Republican-controlled House. / Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Washington D.C., Feb 8, 2023 / 06:08 am (CNA).

During his 2023 State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Joe Biden called on Congress to codify Roe v. Wade and pass legislation banning discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity. The proposals put him at odds with the U.S. Catholic bishops.

“Here in the people’s House, it’s our duty to protect all the people’s rights and freedoms,” Biden said. “Congress must restore the right that was taken away [when the Supreme Court overturned] Roe v. Wade.” 

Codifying Roe v. Wade would establish federal abortion laws that mirror the standards that were set under the now obsolete Roe v. Wade decision. Such a law would prohibit states from banning abortion and would prevent certain state-level abortion restrictions.

Since the Supreme Court overturned the ruling, 13 states have banned most abortions and another five have imposed more restrictions on abortion. In six other states, proposed bans and restrictions have been held up in the court system. 

“The vice president and I are doing everything to protect access to reproductive health care and safeguard patient [privacy],” the president said. “But already, more than a dozen states are enforcing extreme abortion bans. Make no mistake about it; if Congress passes a national abortion ban, I will veto it.”

Although Biden is the nation’s second Catholic president, he remains at odds with American Catholic bishops and Catholic Church teaching. In July, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities referred to an attempt to codify Roe v. Wade as “the most unjust and extreme abortion on demand bill our nation has ever seen.” 

Bishop Thomas Tobin of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, tweeted his thoughts on the issue before the president’s speech. 

“The ‘state of the union’ is fatally flawed if we are committed to supporting, promoting, and paying for abortion,” Tobin said. “A nation that destroys its own children has no future.”

The National Right to Life Committee criticized Biden after the State of the Union address. NRLC accused Biden of being “the most pro-abortion president in history.” 

“The Biden administration and the Democratic Party have yet to hear of an abortion they wouldn’t support,” NRLC President Carol Tobias said in a statement. “Tragically, women and their unborn babies will be the ones to suffer.”

In addition to the president’s support for abortion, he reiterated his support for laws that would establish federal civil rights protections for people identifying as LGBTQ. The legislation, known as the Equality Act, would ban discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity. 

“Let’s also pass the bipartisan Equality Act to ensure LGBTQ Americans, especially transgender young people, can live with safety and dignity,” Biden said. ‘Our strength is not just the example of our power but the power of our example. Let’s remember the world’s watching.”

This legislation has also received pushback from the USCCB. 

According to the Catholic bishops, it would threaten religious freedom by forcing religiously operated organizations and faith-based charities to “host functions that violate their beliefs” and “violate their religious beliefs.” 

The bishops raised their concerns that the legislation would require faith-based hospitals to provide abortions and gender transition surgery. The USCCB also said the act would force biological females to share locker rooms and compete in sports with biological males who identify as female. 

[…]