Bioethics Public Policy Report: June 23, 2026
State by State
The New York State Department of Health announced proposed regulations for its Medical Aid in Dying law, which is to take effect August 5, inviting public comment on the proposed regulations until August 3. Archbishop Ronald Hicks wrote an article in First Things condemning the law as a further advance of “throwaway culture.” To read Archbishop Hicks’ article, click here. To read the proposed regulations, click here. For further information, click here.
A bill just passed in both the state senate and assembly of New York that, if signed, would change existing language in laws to be more “gender-neutral,” replacing words like “father,” “mother,” and “paternity.” The New York State Catholic Conference issued a memorandum of opposition to the bill, stating that it “might appease a small group of people, but its wholesale effect will be to mock the foundation of the family.” To read the Catholic Conference’s memorandum, click here. To read and track the bills, click here and here.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has issued cease-and-desist letters to companies advertising, facilitating, and enabling the sale of chemical abortion drugs in the state, in violation of state law. For further information, click here.
Federal Courts
The Diocese of Springfield in Illinois and the Pregnancy Care Center of Rockford have filed an appeal with the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals over a state law that, if enforced, could require religious institutions to hire employees who contradict the religious institutions’ pro-life mission and religious beliefs. A lower court dismissed the suit for lack of standing, prompting the appeal. To read the appellate brief, click here. For further information, click here.
The Thomas More Society released guidelines for school districts across the country to comply with federal law in light of two recent U.S. Supreme Court cases, Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025) and Mirabelli v. Bonta (2026), which found school policies enforcing gender ideology in violation of parental rights. For further information, click here.
Disability activists have filed federal lawsuits in New York and Illinois, challenging their recently passed physician-assisted suicide laws. The lawsuits allege violations of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Affordable Care Act. For further information, click here and here.
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed an amicus brief in support of a college football coach who alleges that he was fired for requesting a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine. The coach had filed a lawsuit in August 2022 for wrongful termination, but the case was dismissed last year, leading him to appeal to the Ninth Circuit. For further information, click here.
National
A recent Gallup poll found that the percentage of Americans who find birth control and having children outside of wedlock morally acceptable fell considerably in the past year (by 7% and 9%, respectively). The poll studied the opinions of the morality of several behaviors including the abovementioned. For further information, click here.
The NCBC and colleague agencies submitted public comment to the U.S. Department of State in support of compliance measures with the United States’ foreign aid prohibitions against funding abortion (Mexico City Policy) and harmful gender ideology. To read the Department of State’s proposed information collection, click here. To read the public comment, click here.
International
The Canadian Parliament has introduced a bill that would ban social media for teenagers under the age of 16, with similar provisions to the recent ban in Australia. The bill would provide a workaround for platforms that demonstrate policies in place to protect minors from harm. To read the bill, click here. For further information, click here.
Anti-surrogacy advocates are asking the United Nations to investigate Greece’s and Ireland’s respective surrogacy laws as part of their regular review of whether nations are upholding human rights. The groups are highlighting the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which guarantees the rights of children to know and be raised by their parents. For further information, click here.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Bulgaria’s ban on “religious propaganda” unlawfully restricted religious activity because its definition of “religious propaganda” was overly broad and vague. For further information, click here.
Of Note
During his apostolic journey to Spain, Pope Leo XIV spoke at various places about topics such as abortion, suicide, and human trafficking, with a special emphasis on the value of human life. For further information, click here, here, here, and here.
Pope Leo also sent a message to the Becket Fund, commending it for its advocacy of religious liberty, which was read at the 2026 Canterbury Medal Gala. To read the message, click here. For further information, click here.
The U.S. bishops consecrated the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11 at their plenary assembly in Orlando. For further information, click here.
Following the release of Pope Leo’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have released a statement emphasizing the moral responsibility of human agents for making wartime decisions, as discussed in no. 198 of the encyclical. For further information, click here.
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