#518 Supreme Court Disappoints/OK pass Medicaid Expansion July 3, 2020
The U.S. Supreme Court Disappoints Again
Last Monday, the Court’s decision on abortion protections was to eschew them in favor of precedent – even if a decision was wrongly decided, we’re stuck with it for the sake of stability. The Court also turned away an appeal on lethal injection protocols for federal executions.
We’ve compiled thoughts from many places in our latest blog post, June 29: Double Day of Death Dealing at the Supreme Court. See also a beautiful picture in this New York Times article, and the Quotation below.
PBS – Not Quite Neutral
The PBS NewsHour ran What Supreme Court decision on Louisiana law means for U.S. abortion rights. The good news: They did offer this helpful statement from Angie Thomas, associate director of Louisiana Right to Life (pictured): “This is all about just protecting women, keeping them safe from substandard care, and substandard care that we know to be true through the violations over the last two decades and more.”
Yet the idea that calling it “abortion rights” means they’re taking sides doesn’t seem to occur to them. They also refer to the law as “restrictive” rather than “protective” (a more neutral term would be regulation).
For a standard of proper journalistic neutrality, they probably need many people to explain to them gently that talk of “abortion rights,” which side had the “victory,” and “restrictions” are all in fact taking sides in the debate. Feedback can be sent to viewermail@newshour.org.
Oklahoma Passes Medicaid Expansion!
Our Peace and Life Referendums website listed Oklahoma’s referendum as one that alleviates poverty, reduces abortion, and discourages euthanasia. The election was last Tuesday, June 30, and it passed narrowly (50.5%). Much of the commentary suggested that people were more attuned to the medical needs of low-income people because of Covid-19.
Editor’s note: CLN is a non-partisan group, but we have two member groups with partisan proclivities. We cover the activities of both.
Online Petition: End Abortion Extremism in the Democratic Party Member group Democrats for Life of America (DFLA) is circulating an online petition to Joe Biden. The petition expresses concern about the pro-abortion stance of the Democratic Party, which excludes pro-life Democrats and harms the party politically. DFLA Executive Director Kristen Day calls for changes to the party platform, including recognition of the diversity of opinion on abortion within the party. Those interested can sign the petition and read an open letter from Kristen to the Democratic Platform Committee.
American Solidarity Party Member group the American Solidarity Party hosted their annual convention this past weekend. Because of Covid-19 concerns, the event was moved online.
The convention kicked off on Friday night. Highlights included talks by Charlie Camosy, author of Resisting a Throwaway Culture, and author and blogger Leah Libresco Sargeant.
CLN Board member Christy Yao reports: “I was honored to have been elected as a delegate from the Northeast region. We continued to meet for the rest of the weekend, finally deciding on five new members for the National Committee, as well as a Statement of Principles.”
One of the highlights of the convention was Yao interviewing CLN board member Lois Kerschen and Professor Jacqueline Abernathy for the Whole Life Women’s Panel.
Katrina Jackson, Louisiana State Senator Abortion: I Wrote Louisiana’s Pro-Life Law. USA Today, June 30, 2020 My desire to author the legislation came from listening to the stories of women hurt by abortion as I sat on the Louisiana Health and Welfare Committee and placing myself in their shoes. As I listened, I learned that the women of Louisiana were suffering because of the negligence of medical professionals and deplorable conditions at our state’s abortion facilities.
Responses/News Tips/Questions to share are all welcome.
Send to weekly@consistent-life.org.
