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Washington D.C., Apr 21, 2020 / 08:00 pm (CNA).- When the coronavirus epidemic passes, Americans can’t simply return to their old habits, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio has said.

“We won’t properly absorb the lessons from the coronavirus cris… […]

Washington D.C., Apr 21, 2020 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- The provost of The Catholic University of America is one of four people named on Monday, April 20, to serve on the National Science Board. 

Dr. Aaron Dominguez, who is also a physics professor at the school, was appointed by President Donald Trump to the National Science Board for a six-year term. 

The National Science Board is a committee established in 1950 to advise the White House and Congress on matters related to science and engineering. It is responsible for the policies of the National Science Foundation. Past board members include members of academia as well as executives in the technology fields. 

Dominguez, a particle physicist, explained in a profile published by the university how his Catholic faith impacts his teaching and research. 

“The universe has evolved in a way that is perfect for you and me to exist. Mathematically, physically, we have this perfect situation where atoms can exist, stable matter can exist, which means we can have stars, more complicated elements, you and me,” he said.

“And if you were to change a few things in the physics equations or in the physical constants, that wouldn’t be true. I see the hand of God everywhere, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still try to understand the physics and mathematics behind that. In fact, we should be searching because of this.”

University President John Garvey called the inclusion of Dominguez on the Board “a proud moment for The Catholic University of America,” and said he was “deserving of the nomination” and an internationally recognized expert in his field.

Dominguez “is an accomplished particle physicist and an experienced researcher who leads a team in the construction of the next generation of particle detectors at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland,” said Garvey.

Garvey told CNA that Dominguez is “a man of great faith, who lives out the mission of Catholic University,” and that “we are proud to have him serving as our provost.” 

Dominguez was promoted to university provost in 2019, having previously been the dean of the University’s School of Arts and Sciences. 

In his address to the 2016 Freshman Convocation, Dominguez said that his position at the school was his “dream job,” and that he was thrilled he was able to work in a laboratory and explore the origins of the universe. 

Dominguez has highlighted the importance of faith in academic life, calling Catholic University “a place where I can be truly free. I can unite faith and reason, science and the church, academia and the search for truth in one place.” 

At the time of his arrival at Catholic, he called the university “a place where we can be free to do this together, you and me, without fear; to have these discussions in class, in our studies, in the cafeteria, in symposia, in cafes,” he said.

[…]

CNA Staff, Apr 21, 2020 / 03:01 pm (CNA).- Several priests located at a retirement home in Missouri have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, but those who have been hospitalized are likely to be released soon. 

The Archdiocese of St. Louis annou… […]

CNA Staff, Apr 21, 2020 / 03:01 am (CNA).- Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence reflected Sunday on the potential outcome of the coronavirus pandemic, encouraging Catholics to develop plans for evangelization.

“When our churches re-open for public … […]

Denver Newsroom, Apr 21, 2020 / 12:31 am (CNA).- The Kansas governor’s emergency restrictions on church services wrongly treated religious gatherings more strictly than similar activities, a federal judge said.

The judge granted a temporary injunction to two Baptist churches which challenged the order.

“Churches and religious activities appear to have been singled out among essential functions for stricter treatment,” U.S. District Judge John Broomes said in an April 18 ruling, saying the restrictions are “more severe than restrictions on some comparable non-religious activities.”

Gov. Laura Kelly’s rules “basically eliminated” association for the purpose of public worship, the judge said. The governor did not argue that church gatherings pose unique health risks, he said, and “the exemption for religious activities has been eliminated while it remains for a multitude of activities that appear comparable in terms of health risks.”

The judge said that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their case and will suffer religious freedom violations because the order was not “narrowly tailored” enough to further the “compelling” state interest in countering the spread of the coronavirus.

Chuck Weber, executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, told CNA April 20 that the Catholic bishops have tried to be a partner in the coronavirus response and commended the governor’s previous efforts, but found the restrictions imposed on religious gatherings in the days before Easter to be “troublesome.”

“We are grateful for this challenge and will be following the legal developments,” Weber said.

The plaintiffs are two churches and their pastors from different parts of Kansas: First Baptist Church in Dodge City in western Kansas, joined by Calvary Baptist Church in Junction City in northeast Kansas. Both churches are practicing social distancing measures at services, but say they believe engaging in “corporate” prayer is a call from God, the Associated Press reports.

The lawsuit from the two churches said the governor could have used less restrictive measures and that the presence of numerous exceptions for “essential” businesses, but not churches, meant her policies unfairly targeted churches.

Gov. Kelly, however, defended the restrictions and characterized the judge’s decision as “preliminary.”

“This is not about religion. This is about a public health crisis,” she said, adding that six deaths and 80 cases of coronavirus originated at religious gatherings. As of Monday, there have been more than 100 coronavirus deaths and almost 2,000 confirmed cases in the state.

“We all want to resume our normal lives as soon as possible, but for now the data and science tell us there’s still a serious threat from COVID-19 – and when we gather in large groups, the virus spreads,” the governor continued. “My executive order is about saving Kansans’ lives and slowing the spread of the virus to keep our neighbors, our families and our loved ones safe. During public health emergencies, we must take proactive measures to save lives.”

Weber said Kansas’ Catholic bishops have “tried to reach out and be a partner in navigating these admittedly complex situations.”

“The Kansas Catholic Bishops certainly recognize that Governor Laura Kelly has a duty and responsibility to protect the public health of citizens and make use of executive orders to accomplish that goal,” he said, noting that the bishops’ early comments on these orders commended her actions.

“In times like this it can become easy to forget that separation of church and state is a two-way street–a ‘street’ that should be shared by the government and faith communities,” he added.

The governor’s initial executive orders banned gatherings of more than 10 people, with religious gatherings among the exemptions as long as appropriate social distancing was practiced.

Then, in an April 7 executive order, the governor stressed the need for enhanced measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus. For the first time the governor listed “churches or other religious facilities” as venues where mass gatherings were banned, alongside auditoriums, theaters, stadiums, and other venues. The order had specific restrictions on religious activities, barring more than 10 congregants in “the same building or confined or enclosed space.” It allowed those who conduct or perform a religious service to exceed the 10-person limit so long as appropriate safety protocols are followed.

In an April 8 statement, the bishops noted their own suspension of public Catholic worship and large public gatherings at Catholic Church facilities predated state and local orders in Kansas. However, they said the order was “troubling” because “it specifically singles out restrictions on churches and religious activities while granting numerous exemptions to other public gatherings that present the same risk to public health.”

“We question the constitutionality of this order,” they said.

Broomes, the federal judge, said the numerous exceptions for businesses were “arbitrary.” He said the order included a “long list” of exempt activities and facilities: most governmental operations; airports; childcare locations; hotels; food pantries; shopping malls; and other retail establishments with large numbers of people but “not within arm’s length of one another for more than 10 minutes”; restaurants, bars and grocery stores, provided social distancing is maintained; office spaces; and manufacturing, distribution and production facilities.

The temporary injunction, which applies only to the two churches, will last until May 2. A Thursday hearing will weigh whether the injunction should be lengthened or broadened.

The Baptist churches’ lawsuit has the backing of the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom.

“Singling out churches for special punishment while allowing others to have greater freedom is both illogical and unconstitutional,” Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Ryan Tucker said April 18.

He added that the judge’s decision said the churches are to follow their own social distancing practices, “which these churches are obviously happy to do, since they proposed those rules themselves for everyone’s health and safety.”

Tucker voiced hope that the governor will “act quickly to remedy the unconstitutional provision of her mass gathering ban and avoid the need for continued litigation.”

Republican legislators had sought to remove Kelly’s order on church gatherings, but the governor contested their efforts before the state Supreme Court, which declined to rule on the merits of the case.

Kansas House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., a Republican, told the Associated Press that people need to stay home but “the state cannot and should not set up a double standard.”

State Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, appeared sympathetic to the argument that churches faced more severe restrictions.

“I think a very persuasive case can be made that a number of clusters in Kansas are related to places of worship,” Carmichael said, according to KWCH News. “The problem, of course, is though, if you treat other types of gatherings differently or less stringently than a church, then you have a problem.”

Weber reflected on the situation in the state. The Diocese of Salina in northwest Kansas had not yet reported any COVID-19 case, but metro Kansas City and other populated areas have suffered hundreds of cases.

“No one—and I mean no one—wants a return to ‘normal’ any more than the four Catholic Bishops of Kansas,” he said. “This has been brutal on faithful Catholics, but also on our Catholic priests who have experienced a separation from the flocks they love and seek to serve.”

The bishops have reiterated that public Masses may not take place in Kansas. Funeral Masses, baptisms, wedding Masses are allowed only with no more than 10 people present, and only with appropriate precautions.

These measures will remain in place as long as the bishops deem them necessary, relying upon “the best advice of medical professionals,” Weber said.

 

[…]

Denver Newsroom, Apr 20, 2020 / 06:05 pm (CNA).- Chris Arnade is the author and photographer of “Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America.”

His book is a look at how many Americans – in rural and urban communities across the country- live. Chris got to know people who often lack a voice in American public life, and his work aims to give them a voice, and a face.  He talked with CNA about his book, his faith, and “Back Row America.”

Below is an excerpt, edited and condensed, from CNA’s interview with Arnade. The entire conversation can be heard here.

Chris, what is “Back Row America?”

“Back Row America” describes, in my simple framework, American communities that don’t necessarily define themselves by their resumes or their education.

It’s the part of America that has traditionally gone from high school to, to a job, a lifelong job that gave them the stability to build a family and then attend church regularly and stay in their community. That isn’t a red state or blue state thing. That’s true all across the country.

It’s African-American communities in northern cities, it’s working class rural communities in places like Iowa and Nebraska.

It’s in contrast to what I think is the much more powerful group of people, which I would call, using the classroom analogy, “the front row.”

The elites, if you will, who have spent their career or chasing building a resume, going to all the right institutions and ultimately ending up probably in a few handful of neighborhoods across the United States.

They generally have very large influences in academics, the media and politics and the business world. And I think so much of how we think about America is defined by the front row, when in fact the bulk of Americans would probably find themselves to be more familiar with the back row.

 

How did you get to know “Back Row America?”

While working on Wall Street in finance, I spent time walking in neighborhoods across New York City. Those walks became a way to meet people I might otherwise never meet. Eventually, I quit my job and spent three and a half or four years in one neighborhood in particular, the poorest neighborhood in New York called Hunts Point in the Bronx.

It was a wonderful neighborhood, I was immediately drawn in by the strong sense of community. At an artistic level as a photographer and it was just simply a great place to photograph because it faces the south, it has good light.

And then it just drew me in.

I spent time with a group of, to use a derogatory term because there’s no other terms, of homeless addicts, who lived in cars or lived in abandoned buildings, under bridges and spent their time making their money by either being a prostitute or stealing things or begging. And many used that money to buy heroin.

And they became the community that taught me for three and a half years.

And then from there I went in my car across the United States, I’ve put roughly about 400 000 miles over four years, just driving all the, around the United States, visiting places that people would tell me not to go to.

Visiting as much of the United States as I could, the parts that I call “back row America” that are not in the news in any other way other than negative. Towns that have lost their industry, inner cities that have never had industry, all sorts of places.

What I try to do in my book is both show what is common in this condition, but that there are variations, so to speak, on the theme and how people reflect their frustration and attempt to find dignity in different ways.

What were the things that you had found in Hunts Point and wanted to look for in other places?

One theme of my book is that the most salient and the biggest division in America right now is the educational divide. We all talk about class divide. We all talk about the racial divide. But I think the education divide is as important, if not stronger currently.

And that division is not just about how we vote, but it’s about how we view the world, and how we think about what is valuable in this world, and how we think about what gives us meaning. So, at a very deep level, what’s our philosophy? And what is our worldview?

And then that, if you are in the back, and that the front row controls things now. They generally are the “in” group. They define stuff. And it’s the back row who is the one who is suffering from the decisions made by the front row, who have a very narrow worldview that they can’t seem to think beyond.

If they do think beyond it, it usually means they either want to study the back row as sort of a scientific specimen or they want to pity them and save them without questioning their worldview.

And people know when they’re being laughed at. The front row isn’t directly laughing at people. But there is this sense of, again, when they view the back row, it’s often viewed as people who are wounded, to be pitied and helped, as opposed to people to be listened to as equals.

Your book talks about some values that exist more clearly in the back row, a sense of place, a sense of obligation to the family, and people, and connectedness. Even a different sense of what matters in life; what it’s for.

Yeah. I mean, I always use the example of the young woman I met in a McDonald’s in East L.A. And, if you read the book, you’ll know that I spent a lot of time in McDonald’s.

Because a lot of people who don’t have a lot of money spend a lot of time in McDonald’s because it has free wifi, and inexpensive food, and cheap.

So, I would see this young woman at McDonald’ss. I would be there each night to type up my notes and she was there because… I had seen her all over the country, variations of her, she was there to use the free wifi because she didn’t have wifi at home. She or her family was too poor.

So, she would come in every night with her Game Boy and her computer, and charge both of them, and play on the internet, or do homework, or mostly just play her Game Boy, or her Switch, or whatever she had.

And so, eventually she got curious about me and asked and said, “You’re from New York City.” I told her I was from New York City.

She said she would love to go there. And I said, “Well, you’re college age.”

She said, “Well, I’m going to college here at East L.A. Community College. And I need to stay here because I’m my mother’s translator.”

Her mother was a Mexican-American immigrant. And, like a lot of immigrants, the oldest child is the one who speaks both languages and is necessary to fill out forms, navigate the country.

So, she was making a decision that I think we as a broader culture should applaud. She was staying there for her family.

But I think we look at people’s decisions in what I would call a “resume arms race.” Everybody has to be building a resume. And, in that process, which is a very narrow way of thinking about success, it’s all about getting credentialed so you can make more money.

It’s a very, very material definition of success.

For people who don’t value that, who don’t want the value of that very narrow framework, you have to give up the non-material forms of meaning like place, family, and faith, because those are considered to be in opposition to this arms race of building the best resume. And so, I think it’s particularly an elitist view.

Being materialistic is very much an elitist view of the world because one of the things we’re all gifted at birth is these values and these meanings that don’t require a resume to have, like family, like place, and like faith. You don’t need a resume into the church. You don’t need a resume to find beauty in your local community or to be a member of your family.

Chris, could you talk about faith in the back row?

I came into this project an atheist. I certainly wasn’t a nasty atheist. I was very always respectful of other people’s faiths and views. But, in the back of my mind, I would have laughed at somebody who was religious, or at least thought maybe they should learn a little. And then, certainly by the end of the project, I wouldn’t call myself religious, but I do go to church.

In the project I spent a lot of time in McDonald’s because that’s where the people I was learning from spent time. And likewise with churches, I spent a lot of time in churches because that’s where the people I spent time with went.

I went to every denomination. I tried to try to go to the denominations that were most reflective of the community I was in. I tried to go to the churches that I guess, I think, theologically would probably be considered in the back row.

Places that had improvised spaces. So, there was one that was a former… I think it was a former Kentucky Fried Chicken, had been turned into a church. Another was an old gas station that had been turned into a church. Another was an old furniture store in a strip mall. Another was someone’s house.

I came away personally moved by the experience… this was a very important part of people’s lives. It was just wrong of me at many levels to dismiss it as nothing more than just a silly way of living, but also, at a personal level, I came away realizing that there was a lot there that I didn’t appreciate.

 

What is important when churches minister to back row America?

I mean, I think from a purely pragmatic standpoint, I think the most important thing about the church is that they get people they’re preaching to.

You go into a nonprofit in these communities or you go into these secular institutions, and they’re not made up of people from the community. They’re often outsiders who are well-intentioned. There’s nothing wrong with that, being an outsider who’s well-intentioned, but with a few exceptions, most of them haven’t gone through a rough life, haven’t experienced a lot.

You go in the churches, and it’s their people. It’s their community. They get them, at not just at an intellectual level but a lived reality level.

Also, that faith is a way to live that gives people guidance. Answers that give people a structure.

The first level of academica getting religion is pragmatic. They’ll simply view it as something that’s useful. I think the second level, which is much deeper and much more real, is to see it as something that isn’t just useful but also so powerful and true. My own intellectual journey was getting beyond the first level of, “Oh, it’s just a useful thing,” a scientific solution, like, “Oh, these poor people have religion. That’s good for them because it’s useful,” and moving on to the next, which is to see a religious worldview as equally valid to how I think about things.

—

I think to a large degree that the Catholic Church has done a pretty good job of understanding the people it serves.

I often went to Catholic churches as well, because I consider myself Catholic, and when traveling, I would like to go to different churches, and I think one of the things that did frustrate me is I can walk into a church and within half a minute tell you how wealthy the neighborhood around me is. You can just see by the amount of donations given. I mean, the donation differences are just staggering. You get some churches that collect $7,000 a week and others that collect $35 a week.

I think some outreach between [rich and poor Catholics] would be helpful. I think… and certainly, the people in the wealthier congregations and parishes having a little more understanding of their privilege and how the experience of being a Catholic might be different if you’re in El Paso, for instance.

 

Do you have expectations for how things might change for the back row as a result of where we are right now, in terms of the pandemic and the resulting economic collapse? I’ve hoped it will lead to a greater sense of solidarity among people.

I’m probably about as cynical as I’ve ever been about it right now. I hate to try to throw water on your fire, but I mean, I’m looking at how the pandemic’s playing out, and it’s becoming a disease of the poor. All the solutions we proposed, as much as I agree with them, are pretty comfortable for the wealthy and pretty uncomfortable for the poor.

Sheltering in place, I think the word “place” covers a lot of ground there that we tend not to think about, but I certainly hope at a philosophical level that we come out of this, that people who can shelter in a nice place maybe understand that that’s a privilege and that it’s much easier for them to do that — come out of this with a greater awareness of how hard this is for a lot of people.

What can people do?

I mean, that’s the problem is, with a pandemic, there’s not much we can do right now other than recognize privilege and hopes going forward that we take that into account when we think about judging other people for not doing what we’re doing, or scolding them for taking walks outside, or wanting to go to church in some capacity when the pandemic eases going to some sort of limited service.

I think we need to get back to being social again, probably before the credentialed experts tell us is a good time. I respect people enough to believe that they can make their own choices and see what’s right.

I think, in the longer term though, one of my biggest frustrations with my book, and I think a lot of readers’ frustrations is I don’t offer solutions, because I’m not sure I know them.

I don’t know how you get people en masse to start saying, okay we need to value things differently. I think, one person at a time. If somebody in a comfortable suburb recognizes that their parish or their congregation is well off and others aren’t, I mean that’s the first step. Make a personal decision about how you think you can best address that.

I think it’s important to treat people, everybody you meet, with respect, and again not pity them. I think many people look at those who are in the back row as people who need to be saved or changed, and maybe the best thing to do is just listen to them and give them the dignity of actually treating them like an equal.

That means sometimes not liking them. You don’t have to like everybody. When people ask “What can I do with the homeless person?” And I say like, “Have a conversation with them. Treat them like a normal person. If you don’t like them, you don’t like them.”

 

Chris, if you don’t mind my asking, having gone through this experience, what do you pray for and what do you encourage other people to pray for?

What I pray for changes. I still hear from a lot of people who I wrote about in the book, who have my phone number and text me all the time. I pray for them, and for my family.

I guess, my greatest hope from this whole thing is that the reader comes away with an understanding that, in very rare instances, almost everybody who reads this book is going to have more privilege than the people in the book. And so, a little perspective. When it comes down to it, it’s the old phrase, “Before you judge somebody, walk a mile in their shoes.” I pray that message gets into people, that they can see that they themselves probably have a lot better than they realize.

And before you judge somebody, again, know what they’ve gone through.

This was an edited excerpt from a longer conversation between Chris Arnade and CNA. The entire conversation can be heard here.

 

[…]

Washington D.C., Apr 20, 2020 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- Many U.S. Catholics have limited or no access to the sacraments during the coronavirus pandemic, bringing to many parishes a reality faced in other parts of the country on a regular basis.

Kevin Day, di… […]

Washington D.C., Apr 20, 2020 / 03:10 pm (CNA).- Catholics around the world marked Divine Mercy Sunday at home, as public liturgies remain cancelled in many dioceses due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But one parish in Washington, D.C., found a way to bring the Lord to people even amidst the citywide stay-at-home order. 

Msgr. Charles Pope, pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Catholic Church on Capitol Hill, has been organizing a daily Rosary walk during the quarantine, together with six religious sisters of the Servants of the Lord the Virgin of Matará (Servidoras) who live nearby, and the three seminarians who live at the parish.  

For Divine Mercy Sunday, they switched up their routine: instead of departing at their usual 12:30 p.m., they met up in the church, prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet and, at 3 p.m., the hour of mercy, they turned their daily walk into a procession with Msgr. Pope carrying the Eucharist in a monstrance. 

There was a “lot of beautiful response” to seeing the Eucharistic procession, Pope told CNA on Monday, April 20. He said people came out of their homes to adore the Eucharist, made the sign of the cross, and some even pulled over in their cars for a brief moment of prayer.

“For whatever reason we hit a good time when there were a lot of Catholics out in Lincoln Park,” he said with a laugh.

After the procession returned to the parish, Pope displayed the Eucharist on a table outside of the building, and the group prayed for “an end to the plague.” 

As the Servidoras wear full habits with veils and Pope wears a cassock, he said they form “a pretty visible group” as they walk through the neighborhood. Despite their visibility, Pope said he has had zero negative interactions with the police, and very minimal negative interaction with passers-by. 

“They’re used to us,” he explained. Washington regulations limit gatherings to fewer than 10 people, the size of the Rosary group. 

Pope told CNA that he has been careful to follow whatever norms and laws are in place regarding social distancing, even though the sisters are technically exempt, as they all live in the same household. 

“We don’t want people to misunderstand,” he said. “We do follow the six feet rule.” 

The Rosary walk was the brainchild of the Servidoras, shortly after the suspension of public liturgies. 

“We just thought we still needed to be out in the neighborhood,” said Pope. 

The suspension of public liturgies and the inability to minister in person to his parish has been “utterly emotionally crushing” for Pope, but he told CNA that he has made adjustments to continue serving those in need.

The quarantine “has opened up these other opportunities, like walking in the neighborhood more,” he said, and he has been hosting Bible studies and meetings on Zoom. His parish has been offering unannounced, informal Eucharistic adoration each day, and, he noted, the Archdiocese of Washington has not issued any decree regarding the availability of confession so penitents can still receive the sacrament. 

Pope told CNA that he thinks that some of these changes may continue on even after the quarantine has lifted.

“I’m hoping a lot of the stuff that we’ve done, we can continue doing,” he said. 

“Maybe this is one of the ways the Lord kind of gave us a kick in the pants. ‘I need you to be out in the neighborhood more, I need you to be online more, I want you to find more creative ways to reach people.'”

Still, Pope said that being unable to distribute communion to the faithful has been one of the biggest challenges of the quarantine. 

“The prohibition of giving communion out at all is problematic,” he said, wondering why he would be prohibited from celebrating Mass with just nine other people. He told CNA that he was willing to wear gloves, a mask, or shift liturgical practices to ensure that people can safely receive the sacraments. 

“I would [take whatever precautions were necessary],” he said. “Because I care about God’s people. It may feel a little humiliating, but I’m willing to humiliate myself to give them Holy Communion. I want to feed them, I want them to have communion.”

[…]

CNA Staff, Apr 20, 2020 / 01:19 pm (CNA).- Eight states that have enacted temporary bans on abortion during the coronavirus pandemic are contending with legal challenges, and judges have prevented many of the temporary bans from coming into effect.

Judges have so far intervened to allow abortions in some form in Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Texas, Iowa, Louisiana, and Tennessee, after the leaders of those states attempted to classify elective abortions as non-essential procedures.

In Iowa, abortion advocates had filed a lawsuit against the state’s order, but reached an agreement with the state outside of court before the lawsuit could progress.

In Alaska, a move by state officials to “delay” abortions until June has not been legally challenged; and in Mississippi, the state’s order banning all “elective” medical procedures also has not been challenged. Louisiana’s order to stop elective abortions is facing a lawsuit but has not been blocked.

Many states have suspended medical procedures deemed non-emergency or non-essential in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus among healthcare professionals, and to free up medical resources and hospital capacity.

Texas

In Texas, a three-judge panel for the Fifth Circuit Court ruled April 7 that Texas has the authority to halt elective abortions as non-essential medical procedures during a public health emergency. Governor Greg Abbott had on March 22 issued a statewide order halting abortions, and abortion clinics in the state immediately sued.

Abortion clinics in states like Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico, which have not introduced any kinds of ban on abortion, have seen increases in patients traveling from Texas to obtain abortions.

On April 14, a federal appeals court ruled that so-called medication abortions can continue in Texas despite the order. Most surgical abortions are still prohibited in Texas, except for emergencies or pregnancies “nearing the state’s 22-week cutoff,” NPR reports.

Tennessee

On April 17, a federal judge ruled that despite Tennessee’s temporary ban on nonessential medical procedures, the state must allow abortions to continue.

Governor Bill Lee had issued an emergency order April 8 banning abortions for three weeks, with the goal of freeing up protective medical equipment for doctors caring for COVID-19 patients and limiting interactions between patients and abortionists.

The reason the judge gave for allowing abortions, according to the AP, is that the defendants did not show that an appreciative amount of protective medical equipment would be saved by halting abortions in the state.

Alabama

On April 12, a federal judge ruled that the state of Alabama cannot move to limit abortion procedures through measures intended to focus medical resources on fighting coronavirus. Governor Kay Ivey had issued a statewide order March 19 which stopped all medical procedures except for emergencies or those needed to “avoid serious harm from an underlying condition or disease, or necessary as part of a patient’s ongoing and active treatment.”

Granting a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson wrote that “efforts to combat COVID-19 do not outweigh the lasting harm imposed by the denial of an individual’s right to terminate her pregnancy, by an undue burden or increase in risk on patients imposed by a delayed procedure, or by the cloud of unwarranted prosecution against providers.”

Oklahoma

Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma issued an executive order halting non-essential surgeries and minor medical procedures in the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stitt clarified March 27 that the order prohibited elective abortions, except in cases where the mother’s life or health was deemed to be at risk, among the non-essential surgeries that were to be halted. The order also stopped “routine dermatological, ophthalmological, and dental procedures, as well as most scheduled healthcare procedures such as orthopedic surgeries.”

On April 1, Stitt extended the order’s prohibitions until April 30. On March 30, abortion providers in the state challenged the halt to elective abortions in court. On April 7, Judge Charles Goodwin of Oklahoma’s Western District Court put a temporary stay on Stitt’s order, allowing some abortions, including medication abortions, to continue.

The court’s restraining order is in effect until April 20, after which the court can let it expire or address the situation again.

Ohio

On April 6, a court ruled that Ohio cannot stop abortion clinics from operating due to COVID-19.

Ohio had ordered a halt on surgical abortions as “non-essential” medical procedures during the pandemic, before a district court put a temporary restraining order on that policy March 30.

Arkansas

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker on April 14 granted a temporary restraining order against the state of Arkansas’ order to halt elective abortions.

Iowa

Governor Kim Reynolds issued an order March 30 classifying abortion as an elective procedure and banning them during the pandemic, but the state later acknowledged that the order only suspends “nonessential” surgical abortions that can be delayed without undue risk to the health of the patient, the Des Moines Register reports.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa had filed a lawsuit against the state’s order but voluntarily withdrew its motion for an emergency injunction after the state responded to the lawsuit.

Louisiana

The Louisiana Department of Health on March 21 ordered all medical and surgical procedures be postponed until further notice, with exceptions for emergencies.

Abortion clinics in the state have sued to block the measure.

Mississippi

Governor Tate Reeves issued an executive order April 10 banning all “elective” medical procedures, including abortions, with the order expiring April 27.

Alaska

Governor Mike Dunleavy on March 19 added surgical abortions to a list of procedures that should be delayed until June 15.

The state’s list, updated April 7, includes several other types of surgeries including cancer, cardiac, and children’s procedures, including circumcisions, that could be postponed, Alaska Public Media reported.

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CNA Staff, Apr 20, 2020 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- The Michigan Catholic Conference has condemned Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recent claim that abortion is “life sustaining” and should remain available throughout the state, even as other medical … […]