Bioethics Public Policy Report: September 3, 2025
STATE By State
In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued a cease-and-desist letter to abortion activists over advertising, sale, and shipment of abortion-inducing drugs into the state. The letter follows an incident where a man procured such abortion drugs in order to secretly cause his girlfriend to have an abortion against her will. Attorney General Paxton indicated that the state would take legal action if the groups failed to comply with Texas state law. For further information, click here.
The “Woman and Child Protection Act” in Texas has passed through committee to be debated on the House floor, which would close a loophole in the current state law regarding the abortion pill. The bill, if signed into law, would allow private persons to take action against abortion pill distributors prior to the death of an unborn child. To track the bill, click here. For further information, click here.
In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law two bills that will require public colleges and universities to offer contraception and chemical abortion drugs if they have an on-campus pharmacy and will expand the state’s abortion shield law, respectively. For further information, click here.
An Illinois man was charged with homicide of an unborn child for using the chemical abortion drug mifepristone to cause his girlfriend to have an abortion. For further information, click here.
2 children were killed, and 17 other people were injured, in a mass shooting committed by a transgender individual at Assumption Catholic Church in Minneapolis last week. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident as a potential hate crime targeting Catholics, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., indicated that he would determine what drugs the shooter was taking at the time to see if they played a role in the shooting. The Minnesota Catholic Conference of Bishops had sent a letter to Gov. Tim Walz in April of 2023 asking for state funding for safety, citing increasing threats to nonpublic schools. To read Pope Leo’s and Archbishop Hebda’s statements on the attacks, click here and here. To read the Minnesota Catholic Conference’s letter, click here. For further information, click here and here.
In Washington, D.C., a pro-life group filed a formal complaint with the Department of Public Health against a late-term abortion doctor, alleging professional misconduct and medical malpractice. For further information, click here.
Federal Courts
First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, with the help of the Alliance Defending Freedom, filed their opening brief with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the Court to allow it to challenge an investigation by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin. Attorney General Platkin had demanded the names, phone numbers, addresses, and place of employment of several donors of the pregnancy center and up to 10 years of its internal confidential documents. For further information, click here.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has halted the sale of a federally protected religious site for Native Americans until lower court judges have examined the petitions filed by a coalition of Native Americans, the Knights of Columbus, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The Knights of Columbus and the USCCB argued that, were the sale to go through, it could lead to arbitrary government interference and a weakening of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. For further information, click here and here.
A federal district court in California ruled in favor of a Christian non-profit children’s ministry, Child Evangelism Fellowship, against the Oakland Unified School District, granting a preliminary injunction that will allow equal access to school facilities for their after-school clubs as litigation proceeds. The court cited that the denial of access constituted a violation of the group’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, specifically freedom of speech. For further information, click here.
A federal district court in New York ruled in favor of a pro-life group, finding that Westchester County violated their free speech rights by restricting their sidewalk counseling ministry. The law had prohibited “interference” with abortion access “by deceptive means or otherwise,” and was repealed by Westchester County earlier this year as litigation was ongoing. For further information, click here.
A federal district court in Texas issued a preliminary injunction against 11 school districts from displaying the Ten Commandments in schools in accordance with a recently passed law that requires a display of the Ten Commandments. The court found that the law likely violates the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment. Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a statement directing the school districts unaffected by the injunction to display the Ten Commandments as litigation continues. For further information, click here and here.
A federal district court in Minnesota found that Christian colleges that require signing a statement of faith cannot be excluded from a state program that allows high school students to take courses for college credit. The court found that the law prohibiting such colleges from participation in the program is a violation of religious liberty. For further information, click here.
national
The USCCB and the Catholic Health Association (CHA) wrote a letter in support of the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (S.2287), which is currently being reviewed by the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. The bill, if passed, would establish training in palliative care, and it reaffirms the Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act of 1997. To track the bill, click here. To read the letter of the USCCB and CHA, click here.
The Trump administration is looking to pro-life groups to establish an “infertility training center,” which would function as a pro-life alternative to in vitro fertilization. Despite President Trump’s support of in vitro fertilization, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is considering grant applicants for such an infertility training center. For further information, click here.
The Trump administration’s HHS has put 46 states and territories on notice that they must remove all references to gender ideology from their federally-funded Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) educational materials within 60 days. The HHS press release stated, “This action reflects the Trump Administration’s ongoing commitment to protecting children from attempts to indoctrinate them with delusional ideology.” For further information, click here.
international
Some Canadian doctors are pushing for euthanasia for babies born with severe illnesses, as the nation’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program continues to expand. The Quebec College of Physicians said that “medical assistance in dying may be an appropriate treatment for babies suffering from extreme pain that cannot be relieved and who have severe malformations or serious polysymptomatic syndromes that destroy any prospect of survival.” For further information, click here.
In the Dominican Republic, the new penal code upholds the country’s total ban on abortion, in line with the country’s constitution that says that “the right to life is inviolable from conception until death.” Implementation of the new code is set for August 2026. For further information, click here.
In Pakistan, Bishop Indrias Rehmat has renewed a call for justice concerning the violence against churches and Christian homes and gravestones which occurred two years ago. While over 380 were arrested in connection with the incident, there have been no convictions. For further information, click here.
In Norway, Catholic bishops have issued a letter calling on the faithful to be mindful of the Church’s teachings on human life ahead of the parliamentary elections on September 8. The bishops said that they were “troubled by the apparent growth of support for euthanasia in our country and among our politicians.” For further information, click here.
A joint statement by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem indicated that the Christians in Gaza City will remain, despite evacuation orders by the Israeli government. The statement further indicated that “many are weakened and malnourished due to the hardships of the last months,” and that evacuation at this point “would be nothing less than a death sentence.” To read the statement, click here.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released a report on Afghanistan, detailing the Taliban’s law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and citing concerns about religious freedom in the country. Chair of USCRIF Vicky Hartzler said that religious freedom has been “completely eradicated” in Afghanistan in the four years since the Taliban took over, following the U.S. withdrawal. For access to USCRIF’s 2025 recommendations worldwide, click here. For further information, click here and here.
Seven Christians were arrested in Uttar Pradesh, India, on allegations by vigilantes that they were attempting to convert gullible people to Christianity. The state’s anti-conversion law has seen over 400 cases since the law took effect in 2021. For further information, click here.
of note
Catholic News Agency has put together several interactive maps showing where each state stands on life issues. To see the map, click here.
Pope Leo received the exiled Bishop Carlos Enrique Herrera Gutiérrez, president of the Nicaraguan bishops’ conference, who had been expelled by the country in November of 2024. The current dictatorship in Nicaragua has been responsible for almost 1,000 attacks against the Church. For further information, click here.
Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota put out a video on his official social media warning against falling for videos produced by artificial intelligence purporting to be him. Pope Leo has been calling for ethical guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence since the beginning of his pontificate. For further information, click here.
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The National Catholic Bioethics Center website is a significant resource for bioethics information. NCBC bioethicists are also on call for consultation twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, at 215-877-2660.
Justin Corman
Justin Corman is a guest editor at the NCBC, and a student at Ave Maria School of Law.