The 3 - June 16, 2019

On this week's edition of The 3, with three stories of relevance impacting the Christian community, a major pro-life organization has been removed from a large social media site.  Also, several states have passed new abortion laws that liberalize the practice.  And, an important Texas religious freedom bill is now law.

Pro-life organization removed from Pinterest

The organization Live Action, founded by Lila Rose, has a following of over 3.3 million in social media, and according to the Live Action website, its content has now been removed from the photo-sharing website Pinterest.

The site says that a video from "an undercover investigation conducted by Project Veritas, a watchdog group founded and run by James O’Keefe...features an anonymous whistleblower who is an employee of Pinterest, claiming to have discovered inside communications confirming that a top official at Pinterest intentionally added LiveAction.org to the blocked list of pornography websites in February of 2019."

The site relates that the "whistleblower," identified as Eric Cochran, has been fired.

This past Tuesday, according to Live Action, "Pinterest suddenly and inexplicably permanently suspended Live Action’s account, saying the account 'may have immediate and detrimental effects on a Pinner’s health or on public safety.'"

Rose stated:

What exactly is Pinterest attempting to block? Inspirational messages to pregnant mothers, ultrasound images showing the science of prenatal development, medically accurate information on the abortion procedure, and images saying women deserve better than abortion industry leader Planned Parenthood. Pinterest has targeted Live Action, I believe because our message is so effective at educating millions about the humanity of the preborn child and the injustice of abortion. Pinterest says that their mission is to “help empower people to discover things that they love,” but despite the fact that millions of people love babies and the pro-life cause, they are secretly censoring our life-affirming messages.

There is an online petition available at LiveAction.org.

More states approve extreme abortion bills

For several months after the outrageous actions of the New York state legislature and governor to legalize abortion during all nine months of pregnancy, state after state began to pass stronger pro-life legislation, including a number of "heartbeat" bills, as well as the criminalization of abortion in Alabama.

Now, unfortunately, the pendulum has been swinging in the opposite direction.  The Susan B. Anthony List website reports that the Governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, has signed a bill that not only allows abortion at any time of pregnancy, but repeals previously passed legislation, such as a ban on partial birth abortion.  The website indicates that the law will: eliminate any licensing requirements for abortion clinics and conscience protections for people in the health care field, and establish a "legal framework to abolish Illinois’ parental notification law."

SBA List also reports that Maine's Governor, Janet Mills, has "signed legislation into law that expands taxpayer funding of abortion in MaineCare and forces private insurers to pay for abortions, at an estimated cost to taxpayers of more than $1.3 million through FY 2023. Earlier this week Mills signed legislation to allow physician assistants and other non-doctors to perform abortions."

Also, LifeNews.com reports that Vermont's Republican Governor, Phil Scott, has signed a bill legalizing abortion during the entirety of pregnancy there. Mary Hahn Beerworth, executive director of Vermont Right to Life, stated, "By putting his signature on H. 57, Governor Phil Scott endorses unlimited, unregulated abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy,” adding, “His signature signals his preference for protecting the business of abortion over other life-affirming options in Vermont statute.”  The article says:

State House Bill 57 recognizes abortion as a “fundamental human right” and ensure that the government does not deny, restrict or infringe upon a woman’s “right” to abort her unborn baby. It also removes protections for pregnant victims of violence and medical malpractice.

Important Texas religious freedom bill now law

An important religious freedom bill out of Texas has been signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott.
ChristianHeadlines.com reported that the bill, "will protect businesses from being discriminated against by government entities because of their 'membership in, affiliation with, or contribution, donation, or other support provided to a religious organization.'"

The bill was introduced and passed after San Antonio's City Council twice voted against allowing Chick-fil-A to open in the city's international airport, due to its association with religious organizations and the religious beliefs of its CEO, described erroneously as "anti-LGBTQ." The state Attorney General and the federal Department of Transportation are reportedly looking into the legality of these actions.

In the article, Hiram Sasser, General Counsel for First Liberty, is quoted as saying: "The city's decision to ban Chick-fil-A was blatant, illegal religious discrimination. We want to know just how deep the religious animosity runs within San Antonio's city government..."

The article also stated:

State Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-TX) voiced that the bill was necessary to protect people of faith. "Should any city council be able to refuse me as a vendor in their city simply because I make donations to my church, which holds a biblical view of marriage?" he questioned.