Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

September 2018 – The U.S.Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of California pregnancy resource centers affected by California’s FACT (Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care and Transparency) Act. Since FACT passed in 2015, any pro-life center that failed to inform its clients of the state’s free or low-cost abortions was subject to fines of $500-1000. On June 26, the court ruled in NIFLA v. Becerra that the California FACT Act was a violation of free speech.

Penny Nance, CEO and president of Concerned Women for America, said the case “centered on an inappropriate mandate of the state compelling pro-life clinics to promote abortion in violation of their consciences.”

On another front, Louisiana passed HB 449, The Adoption Option Act, authored by Rep. Rick Edmonds (R). It ensures Louisiana’s Department of Health website contains proactive information for birth parents about the benefits of adoption, and it guarantees that materials distributed to women in abortion facilities will also contain information on adoption.

“My bill is designed to reach couples facing the trauma and violence of abortion with empowering information on the simple first steps to consider the heroic option of adoption,” Edmonds said.

Passage of the legislation followed a red carpet premier at the Governor’s Mansion of the short film I Lived on Parker Avenue (See AFA Journal, March 2018.), that documents the journey of LSU law student David Scotton to meet his birth parents.

foxnews.com, 6/26/18; concernedwomen.org, 6/26/18