The Supreme Court ruled today that the Christian-run Hobby Lobby doesn’t have to obey the HHS mandate that is a part of Obamacare that requires businesses to pay for abortion causing drugs in their employee health care plans.

The Obama administration was attempting to make Hobby Lobby and thousands of pro-life businesses and organizations comply with the HHS mandate that compels religious companies to pay for birth control and abortion-causing drugs for their employees. However, the U.S. Supreme Court today issued a favorable ruling in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., a landmark case addressing the Constitutionally guaranteed rights of business owners to operate their family companies without violating their deeply held religious convictions.

Writing for the 5-4 majority, Justice Samuel Alito handed down the decision for the high court, saying, “The Supreme Court holds government can’t require closely held corporations with religious owners to provide contraception coverage.”

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In a unanimous ruling today, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Massachusetts law that limited pro-lifers from talking to people entering abortion facilities.

Signed in 2007, the law required a 35-foot “buffer zone” around abortion sellers. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed suit a year later on behalf of a group pro-lifers. The group, many of whom are grandparents, simply want to provide information on abortion alternatives, and offer support to those who want it.

“Americans have the freedom to talk to whomever they please on public sidewalks,” said attorney Mark Rienzi. “The Supreme Court has affirmed a critical freedom that has been an essential part of American life since the nation’s founding.”
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A federal judge on Monday stuck down an ordinance that required pregnancy centers in Austin, Texas to post signage with pre-written information. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel said the ordinance was “void for vagueness,” and that the city may not enforce it.
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Few Americans are aware that a “Gosnell Prerogative Act” has been introduced in Congress.  This bill would permit the grisliest abortion providers—like the now-convicted murderer, Kermit Gosnell—to set the standard of care for abortion.

Unsurprisingly, this bill is not actually called the “Gosnell Prerogative Act”—instead, S.1696 is deceptively titled the “Women’s Health Protection Act.”  However, it is difficult to imagine a bill less protective of women and their unborn children.
S. 1696 attempts to override U.S. Supreme Court precedent and other legal standards and would logically permit abortionists to set the standard of care for their patients with no oversight from the state and no effective remedies for the abortion industry’s abuses.  This bill could reasonably be interpreted to invalidate virtually any type of state restriction or regulation on abortion, and would also prohibit the future enactment of any of these laws.

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U.S. District Judge Callie Granade ruled in Mobile that the Obama administration may compel the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) to comply with a provision furnishing female employees with contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs, because the network does not directly supply the services.
     According to the network's attorney, Lori Windham of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, “This decision is out of step with the overwhelming majority of decisions in similar cases nationwide.”
More than 300 plaintiffs have filed 100 lawsuits against the controversial HHS mandate. Judges have granted injunctions in 40 of the 46 cases led by non-profits to date, a victory rate of more than 80 percent.

“The fact that the court has dismissed the serious issues of conscience and religious freedom that EWTN has raised is very troubling,” Michael P. Warsaw, CEO of the EWTN Global Catholic Network, said Wednesday morning.
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After a lengthy legal battle between her parents and the state of Massachusetts, Justina Pelletier is finally heading home.
Thanks to the help of a pro-life legal group fighting on their behalf, Judge Johnson signed an order releasing Justina Pelletier to her parents, Lou and Linda Pelletier.

The decision came on the heels of a video from Justina pleading with the judge to release her.
“All I really want to be with is with my family and my friends,” Justina said in the video. “You can do it. You’re the one that’s judging this. Please let me go home Judge Johnson and Gov. Patrick,” Justina continued. “Please, right now. Please let me go home right now. I need to be home with my family and just please do it.”
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Last week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry publicly condemned Sudan’s conviction and imprisonment of Meriam Ibrahim, a Christian woman sentenced to torture and death for her Christian faith.

Secretary Kerry’s statement comes after more than 380,000 people have signed our petition demanding that Sudan release Meriam and urging the Obama Administration’s action in her case.

SIGN THE PETITION! Save Meriam Ibrahim, Don’t Hang her to Death for Her Faith

While we are grateful for Secretary Kerry’s strong words condemning Sudan for its barbaric violation of the human rights of both Meriam and her children, it remains a travesty that Secretary Kerry and the Obama Administration still refuse to admit that Meriam’s children, 20-month old Martin and newborn baby girl Maya, are U.S. citizens.

Their father, Meriam’s husband, is a U.S. citizen, and thus under U.S law, Martin and Maya U.S. are citizens as well.

We continue to urge the State Department to take action to protect these innocent young American suffering unjustly in a Sudanese prison.
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There have been hundreds of news stories in the last week about Melinda Gates’ claim that the Gates Foundation will not fund abortions. Predictably, mainstream media news outlets picked up and ran uncritical pieces essentially toeing the party line.


LifeNews has already reported on the claim and the response from Father Shenan J. Boquet, president of Human Life International, who called the statement “outright deception.” We also profiled the Gates Foundation’s previous funding of the abortion industry.

However, LiveAction has a more detailed snapshot of the funding:
According to the Gates Foundation grant database, the Foundation gave Planned Parenthood of America, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and Planned Parenthood of Western Washington about $71 million from before 2009 through 2013. Additionally, the Gates Foundation gave $46.1 million to Marie Stopes International in 2012 alone.
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