December 17, 2018 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A federal judge in Texas has struck down the whole of the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare,” as unconstitutional.
The ruling, which was issued Friday by Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court in Fort Worth, holds that the federal mandate requiring the purchase of health insurance is unconstitutional, and that as a consequence, the whole of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is legally invalid.
For now, according to the White House, the law will remain “in place” in expectation of appeals of the ruling.
The ruling came as the result of a lawsuit filed earlier this year by Republican governors and state attorneys general, which argued that the ACA’s mandate requiring the purchase of health care coverage had been rendered unconstitutional by the 2017 tax overhaul, which set the tax penalty for those who do not purchase such insurance to zero. The state officials contended that the elimination of the penalty nullified the effects of a 2012 Supreme Court ruling allowing the mandate and penalty.
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December 20, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Planned Parenthood, the taxpayer-funded abortion organization that bills itself as a champion and provider of essential women’s healthcare, discriminates against pregnant women, gives employees lackluster pay, and subjects them to other forms of mistreatment, according to a bombshell report in the New York Times.
On Thursday, the Times published a report detailing multiple complaints against the abortion giant that contrast sharply with its prevailing depiction in the mainstream media. The paper spoke to “more than a dozen current and former employees” with horror stories, and notes that a dozen lawsuits have been filed since 2013 alleging denial of rest periods, lunch breaks, and overtime pay, as well as retaliation for pregnancy and taking advantage of medical leave.
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A federal district court issued an order that permanently prevents the federal government from enforcing the Affordable Care Act’s abortion-pill mandate against six Christian organizations represented by Alliance Defending Freedom. The order also declares that the mandate violates the organizations’ rights protected by the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The previous administration’s mandate forces most employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception through their health plans under threat of heavy penalties. The current administration’s Department of Justice abandoned its defense of the flawed mandate.
“Religious organizations have the freedom to peacefully operate according to their beliefs without the threat of punishment by the government. Tuesday’s order fully affirms that freedom and provides permanent protection from the mandate,” said ADF Senior Counsel Gregory S. Baylor.
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December 4, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – With only four weeks left until Democrats assume control of the House of Representatives, pro-lifers had hoped for congressional Republicans to make one final push to defund Planned Parenthood before losing their majority. But GOP leaders have already thrown cold water on those hopes.
Last week, leaders and representatives of Live Action, Students for Life of America, the March for Life, and the Susan B. Anthony List met with administration officials at the White House to urge President Donald Trump to veto the upcoming budget agreement if it continues to finance the abortion giant...
...Trump has once again floated threats to veto a budget that doesn’t reflect his priorities, but most Republicans are unwilling to draw a line in the sand on Planned Parenthood, Politico reports. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, attempted to rally support for another defunding effort, but his colleagues rejected it over fears of a potential government shutdown. A Cruz spokesperson says the senator will continue fighting to defund Planned Parenthood in the next session...
...Politico quotes unnamed pro-lifers as being unwilling to force a budget confrontation, and instead favor a “longer term vision for incremental progress” that includes state laws, executive actions, and continuing to transform the judiciary. Judicial nominees only require approval from the Senate, whose pro-life majority is expanding next year.
President Trump is expected to continue advancing the pro-life cause through regulations, and enacting standalone pro-life legislation will be all-but impossible in the next two years. But other pro-life leaders expressed disgust with GOP leaders’ failure to do more in Trump’s first two years.
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The Trump administration recently halted another research contract that used taxpayer dollars to purchase aborted baby body parts.
Pro-life advocates have been putting pressure on the Trump administration to stop funding research projects that use aborted baby parts, and it appears the administration is listening. It canceled a Food and Drug Administration contract in September. Then last week, the administration sent word that it would not renew another.
The National Institutes of Health recently told the University of California San Francisco that it will not renew its $2 million-a-year research contract, according to the Catholic News Agency.
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