This Just In ...

Great news!  The U.S. House will vote tomorrow on legislation that would end the current legal policy of allowing abortion, for any reason, until the moment of birth in our nation’s capitol.

The bill, H.R. 3803, is known as the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.  In the bill, Congress adopts findings that by 20 weeks after fertilization, if not earlier, the unborn child has the capacity to experience great pain and prohibits abortion after that point except when an acute physical condition endangers the life of the mother.  Seven states have enacted similar measures and no court actions have prevented those laws from going into effect.

The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) , our parent organization, was the lead organization promoting H.R. 3803.  According to NRLC Legislative Director, Douglas Johnson, “This roll call will be a landmark - the House has never before voted on the question of whether to endorse legal abortion for any reason until birth. Under the Constitution, members of Congress and the President are ultimately accountable for the current abortion-until-birth policy.  Any lawmaker who votes against this bill is voting to ratify the extreme policy currently in effect in the nation’s capital, where abortion is perfectly legal for any reason until the moment of birth.  If we can achieve a big majority on this groundbreaking initial vote, it will lay the groundwork to achieve legal protection for pain-capable babies in the not-distant future.”

H.R. 3803 currently has 223 House co-sponsors.  218 constitutes a House majority when all members vote.  We are happy to inform you that among the co-sponsors of H.R. 3803 are Wisconsin House Members Paul Ryan, Jim Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble.  Many thanks to these champions of life.

A U.S. District judge in Nebraska dismissed a lawsuit brought by seven states in opposition to the Obama administration mandate which denies freedom of religion by requiring religious institutions to cover treatments which violate conscience.   Judge Warren Urbom, in throwing out the suit, stated that the plaintiffs “face no direct and immediate harm” from the mandate which will not go into effect for most until August 1, 2013.  Urbom swallowed arguments raised by the Department of Justice that the suit was premature because plaintiffs faced no immediate threat, and that states lack the legal grounds to sue because they don’t enjoy First Amendment protections.

On another front, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor/HHS included two provisions to protect conscience rights in the 2013 appropriations bill:  (1) the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act (HR 361), and (2) the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (HR 1179).

Governor Romney also included in a major Ohio speech the following comments on the HHS mandate:  “Religious liberty, our first freedom, of those enumerated in the Bill of Rights…Our president and his administration, said they are going to usurp your religious freedom by demanding that you provide products to your employees — if you’re the Catholic Church — that violate your own conscience….That attack on religious freedom I think is a dangerous and unfortunate precedent.  And I know we’re not all Catholic in this room — many others of you are.  But I feel that we’re all Catholic today….”

by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com

A federal court issued an order Friday that halts enforcement of the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate against a Colorado family-owned business while an Alliance Defending Freedom lawsuit challenging the mandate continues in court.

The mandate has generated massive opposition from pro-life groups because it forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception under threat of heavy penalties.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys obtained the first-ever order against the mandate on behalf of Hercules Industries and the Catholic family that owns it. The administration opposed the order, arguing, contrary to the U.S. Constitution, that people of faith forfeit their religious liberty once they engage in business.

The decision only applies to the company, and the court emphasized the ruling did not apply nationwide.

Since Hercules Industries would be required to begin offering the new coverage when its self-insured plan renews on November 1, Alliance Defending Freedom has requested a preliminary injunction that could prevent the government from enforcing the mandate against the company by August 1, the date when the company would need to begin the process of making changes to its plan.

As is the case with many religious groups or employers, the mandate could subject the Newlands to millions of dollars in fines per year if they don’t abide by its requirements.

“Every American, including family business owners, should be free to live and do business according to their faith. For the time being, Hercules Industries will be able to do just that,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman after the decision.

Bowman added, “The cost of freedom for this family could be millions of dollars per year in fines that will cripple their business if the Obama administration ultimately has its way. This lawsuit seeks to ensure that Washington bureaucrats cannot force families to abandon their faith just to earn a living. Americans don’t want politicians and bureaucrats deciding what faith is, who the faithful are, and where and how that faith may be lived out.”

The pro-abortion ACLU has criticized the ruling, saying, “This is not religious freedom, this is discrimination. Real religious liberty gives everyone the right to make their own decisions about their own health, including whether and when to use birth control. It doesn’t give anyone the right to impose their beliefs on others.”

But the The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, also a pro-life legal group involved in the case, says the decision could spell the eventual overturning of the mandate itself.

“Judge Kane’s ruling today in favor of a religious for-profit plaintiff challenging the coercive HHS mandate got the law right. Religious liberty rights don’t stop at the store-front door,” said Hannah Smith, Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “This decision portends the demise of the current Administration’s attempts to drive religious activity from the public square and confine it within the four walls of a church.”

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty led the charge filing the first lawsuits against the HHS mandate representing five clients: Belmont Abbey College, Colorado Christian University, Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), Ave Maria University, and Wheaton College. There are currently over 20 lawsuits pending around the country against the HHS mandate.

In his order, Senior Judge John L. Kane of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado said that the government’s arguments “are countered, and indeed outweighed, by the public interest in the free exercise of religion. As the Tenth Circuit has noted, ‘there is a strong public interest in the free exercise of religion even where that interest may conflict with [another statutory scheme]….’ Accordingly, the public interest favors entry of an injunction in this case.”

Bowman said Judge Kane explained that the government’s “harm pales in comparison to the possible infringement upon Plaintiffs’ constitutional and statutory rights.”

According to the brief Alliance Defending Freedom filed along with the motion requesting the injunction, “the mandate disregards religious conscience rights that are enshrined in federal statutory and constitutional law.” It also violates the First Amendment “due to its massive inapplicability and its discrimination among religions,” the brief explains.

Federal judges have dismissed two other lawsuits filed against the mandate.

Read the complete story here:
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/07/27/obama-hhs-abortion-mandate-halted-by-federal-court/

• Key Points
  
  >> By 20 weeks after fertilization, all the physical structures necessary to experience pain have developed.

Find out who the Wisconsin Right to Life Political Action Committee (PAC)-endorsed candidates are in the races set for the Tuesday August 14 Primary Election.

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You'll find the PAC-endorsed candidates running for the U.S. Senate seat from Wisconsin being vacated by the retiring Sen. Herb Kohl.  You'll also see the right-to-life candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives (by Congressional District) as well as those candidates endorsed in state races for Wisconsin State Senate and the Wisconsin State Assembly.

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