Biden Administration May Partially Repeal Religious Freedom Protection
The Biden Administration may partially repeal a federal rule protecting the free exercise of religion on college campuses.
Arkansas A.G. to Appeal to Eighth Circuit in Support of SAFE Act
On Friday Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office asked the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to take up the case surrounding the state’s Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act.
The SAFE Act is a 2021 law that protects children in Arkansas from sex-reassignment procedures, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones.
It’s a very good law that passed with strong support from the Arkansas Legislature.
Researchers do not know the long term effects that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones can have on kids. That is why many experts agree that giving puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children is experimental, at best.
That’s also why a major hospital in Sweden announced earlier this year that it would no longer administer puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children.
However, the ACLU and others filed a lawsuit against the SAFE Act. Last July a federal judge in Little Rock blocked the state from enforcing this good law.
Now the Attorney General’s office is preparing to appeal that bad decision before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
A schedule produced by the the Eighth Circuit indicated that the Attorney General and the ACLU will file court briefings in the case throughout a good portion of October, November, and December. At this point, it is unclear when the court might make a decision in the case.
It’s great to see Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office appealing to the Eighth Circuit to let the state enforce the SAFE Act.
Arkansas’ SAFE Act is a good law that protects children. We believe higher courts will recognize that fact and uphold this good law as the case is appealed.
Arkansas A.G. Will Ask Higher Court to Let the State Prohibit Abortions
On Thursday Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office appealed to the Eighth Circuit in a lawsuit over whether or not the state can prohibit abortions.
Act 309 of 2021 generally prohibits abortion in Arkansas except in cases when the mother’s life is in jeopardy. It is a good law that passed with overwhelming support from the state legislature earlier this year, and it was slated to take effect on July 28.
However, the ACLU filed a lawsuit over Act 309, and U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker blocked the law just days before it was set to take effect.
Now the attorney general is going to ask the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to unblock the law.
A schedule produced by the Eighth Circuit indicates that the court will accept briefings in the case from the A.G.’s team and the ACLU throughout late September, October, and a good portion of November.
At this time we do not know when the court might issue a decision in the case.
Last June the A.G.’s team argued that pro-abortion rulings like Planned Parenthood v. Casey need to be reevaluated and overturned — and that the U.S. Supreme Court is liable to do that in its upcoming Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case out of Mississippi.
The A.G. also argued that past pro-abortion decisions like Roe v. Wade “were wrongly decided” and that “there is no doubt that the fetus is a human life — not mere tissue, not ‘potential life,’ and not ‘the product of conception.'”
The attorney general’s decision to appeal this lawsuit will give our federal courts an opportunity to reverse decades of bad case law on abortion.
That means there is potential for some landmark, pro-life victories down the road. Those victories could help stop abortion in Arkansas and elsewhere across the nation.
Photo Credit: American Life League, CC BY-NC 2.0, via Flickr.com. No changes were made to the image.