This week's edition of The 3, spotlighting three recent stories impacting the Christian community, features three recent developments concerning the life issue. Not unexpectedly, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to take a case concerning a challenge to the FDA's approval and expansion of regulation of the abortion pill. Also, Illinois officials have consented not to enforce a recent law that would inhibit pregnancy resource centers from telling the truth about abortion. Plus, the Texas Supreme Court has ruled that a woman who wanted to abort her unborn child because the child had a genetic condition cannot take the life of that child.
SCOTUS decides to take up abortion pill case
Over 20 years ago, the Food and Drug Administration decided to allow a regimen of two pills that would terminate the life of an unborn child. There were regulations that were placed on the distribution of the pill, and its availability has expanded over the past decade. During the pandemic, the pills were being sent via mail order. With the growth of chemical abortion, a group of pro-life organizations filed a lawsuit against the FDA challenging its original approval and the expansion of its availability.
SCOTUS Blog detailed the movement of the case through the court system: "A federal judge in Amarillo, Tex., agreed with the challengers and suspended" the "approval and the later changes to the conditions on the use of the drug – such as allowing the drug to be used through the 10th week of pregnancy, rather than the 7th, and allowing health-care providers who are not physicians to prescribe the drug. But although the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld Kacsmaryk’s rollback of the later changes to conditions on the use of the drug, it ruled that the challengers’ efforts to invalidate the FDA’s initial approval of the drug came too late."
The blog goes on to report:
The Biden administration and the drug manufacturer Danco came to the Supreme Court this spring, asking the justices to intervene to maintain the status quo until the dispute is resolved. The justices granted that request, allowing the drug to remain widely available for now.
The Biden administration and Danco came to the Supreme Court in September, asking the justices to weigh in on the propriety of the FDA’s decisions in 2016 and 2021 to make mifepristone more widely available, as well as whether the challengers have a legal right to bring their case at all. The doctors and medical groups asked the justices to take up their challenge to the FDA’s initial approval of mifepristone in 2000 – both its timeliness and the propriety of the decision itself.
Unfortunately, the high court has said it will not consider the FDA's original approval of the drug.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, in an article on its website, quoted from Katie Daniel, the State Policy Director for SBA Pro-Life America, who stated:
...Working hand-in-glove with the abortion lobby, the FDA has misled the American people with its repeated claims that the abortion pill regimen is ‘safe and effective,’ all while they removed basic safeguards like in-person doctor supervision. This not only flies in the face of science and common sense, but the 5th Circuit agreed it most likely broke the law. The people aren’t buying it, either – especially when they learn the FDA doesn’t track serious complications other than death.
Attempt to restrict pregnancy centers' ability to tell the truth about abortion nullified in Illinois
The Illinois Legislature passed a law that would limit the ability of pro-life pregnancy resource centers to share information about a woman's unborn child. It was challenged in court by National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, or NIFLA, and after a court placed a hold on the enforcement, an agreement by the state Attorney General not to enforce the law was reached.
The Washington Times reported:
State Attorney General Kwame Raoul has agreed to a permanent injunction against the law, which aimed to bar the pro-life clinics from using any “deceptive business practice” to counsel clients and defined the sharing of certain information about the risks of abortion as “consumer fraud,” the lawyers said.
The agreement bars the state from prosecuting the clinics and grants attorney fees to the organizations that sued to block the measure.
President of NIFLA, Thomas Glessner, who was on The Meeting House last Friday, is quoted in the article, which said that Glessner...
...hailed the agreement and said the Illinois law “was an absolute weaponization of government that unfairly and unconstitutionally targeted pregnancy centers simply because they refused to refer for or perform abortions.”Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society, which led the legal challenge, in an e-mail press release from NIFLA, is quoted as saying: "...SB 1909 exempts abortion facilities and their speech, while exclusively regulating pro-life organizations and their speech, in flagrant violation of the First Amendment. This law is just one of a number of illegal new laws enacted across the country that restrict pro-life speech—we hope this permanent injunction, with full attorney’s fees, serves as a warning to other states that would seek to follow Illinois and try to silence pro-life viewpoints. We are honored to represent NIFLA and other life-affirming organizations to protect them from unjust laws like SB 1909 that seek to put a halt to their good work.”
Texas high court rules that woman cannot take the life of unborn child with genetic disorder
The third story this week not only includes a positive court decision for the cause of life by the Texas Supreme Court, but deals with a woman who was convinced that because her unborn child was diagnosed with a genetic disorder, that she should take the child's life. The Christian Post reported last Monday:
The Texas Supreme Court halted a lower court ruling finding that a woman by the name of Kate Cox met the medical exception in the state's abortion law. She now plans to travel out of state to get an abortion.The article notes, "Cox, who was 20 weeks pregnant when the case was filed, was unable to get an abortion in Texas due to the state's ban on abortions except in cases where the mother's life is in danger."
The state supreme court issued its order Friday, with the court declaring that the case would remain pending. With the help of the Center for Reproductive Rights, Cox filed a lawsuit last week against the state after her unborn child was diagnosed with trisomy 18, claiming that continuing the pregnancy could risk her health and future fertility.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, trisomy 18 is a genetic condition in which an individual has an extra copy of chromosome 18. Children diagnosed with trisomy 18 may have a low birth weight and delays in their physical growth, as well as a short life expectancy.
Babies who are born with the condition and survive are typically provided with comfort care. However, there are several types of treatment available depending on the severity of the diagnosis, including orthopedic care and heart surgery.
Unfortunately, the mother's actions, if she followed through on having an abortion out-of-state, hastened the death of this precious child. The clinic's website states:
The survival rate varies for babies born with Edwards syndrome (trisomy 18):
- Between 60% and 75% survive to their first week.
- Between 20% and 40% survive to their first month.
Children born with Edwards syndrome (trisomy 18) will need specialized care to address their unique symptoms immediately after they are born. The survival rate is low, especially if your child has delayed organ development or a congenital heart condition. Out of the 10% who survive past their first birthday, children go on to live fulfilling lives with significant support from their family and caretakers, as most never learn to walk or talk.
- No more than 10% survive past their first year.
The Christian Post article also noted:
Pro-life advocate Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director and the founder of And Then There Were None, an organization that helps abortion facility workers leave their jobs, called the Texas case "heartbreaking."
In a statement provided to CP, Johnson stated that, as a mother, she could empathize with Cox's situation. Instead of abortion in adverse prenatal diagnosis cases, however, Johnson advocated for mothers to have time with their children before they pass away naturally.
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