Category: Law

Arkansas gov. signs law to protect the religious conscience of healthcare providers

The Christian Post

Emily Wood

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed legislation Friday to provide conscience protections for the religious objections of healthcare providers, payers and institutions.

Sponsored by Sen. Kim Hammer and Rep. Brandt Smith, both Republicans, “The Medical Ethics and Diversity Act,” S.B. 289, will protect medical professionals from providing services that go against their moral, religious or ethical beliefs, such as performing abortions or sex-change surgeries.

Hutchinson said in a statement that he “weighed this bill very carefully” before signing. 

The governor originally opposed the legislation in the 2017 legislative session until it was changed to ensure the ability to exercise the right of conscience is limited to “conscience-based objections to a particular health care service.” . . . continue reading

Judge in Argentine province declares abortion law unconstitutional

Catholic News Service

Giselle Vargas

San Luis, Argentina, Mar 24, 2021 / 07:19 pm MT (CNA).- A provincial judge in Argentina on Thursday declared the law legalizing elective abortion in the country unconstitutional. The ruling applies to the province, and must be ratified by higher courts.

Judge María Eugenia Bona issued the sentence March 18 in response to a suit filed by former senator Liliana Negre.

Negre had filed for an injunction against San Luis Province to end “the state of uncertainty” caused by the contradiction between articles contained in the abortion law and the Civil and Commercial Code. . . continue reading

Tasmania third state to approve euthanasia

The Canberra Times

Australian Associated Press

Tasmania will become the third Australian jurisdiction to legalise voluntary assisted dying after the legislation passed the state’s upper house.

Legislative Council members supported the End of Life Choices (Voluntary Assisted Dying) Bill late on Tuesday night, approving amendments from the lower house.

The lower house had backed the bill in a 16-6 vote in early March, with Premier Peter Gutwein among a handful of Liberals to support it.

The upper house, where the legislation was introduced by Independent Mike Gaffney, had already passed the bill unanimously late last year. . . continue reading

A Source of Hope Yet a Test of Faith; Can Health Practitioners Conscientiously Object to the COVID-19 Vaccines?

Lexology

Barry Wilson, William Harris

The rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations is presenting many difficulties and issues including for health practitioners who have a conscientious objection to the vaccination or administering it on the basis of personal beliefs.

Religious views

One issue that is not unique to COVID-19 vaccinations is their usage of cell lines from aborted foetuses. Australia is deploying the Pfizer and AstraZenca vaccines with the latter developed with the assistance of foetal cell lines. Notably, these cell lines are not the ‘original’ cell lines from the aborted foetuses but are genetically modified cells and the foetal cells used in developing the vaccine are reportedly not present in the final product. . . continue reading

Spain legalises euthanasia and assisted suicide despite conservative opposition

Euronews

Spain became on Thursday the fifth country in Europe to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia for long-suffering patients of incurable diseases and people with unbearable permanent conditions.

The Spanish parliament’s lower house voted 202-140 with two abstentions on the final passage of the euthanasia bill.

MPs from Spain’s left-wing governing coalition and other parties supported it, while conservative and far-right lawmakers voted against the legislation, vowing to overturn it in the future. . . continue reading