Tag: abortion

Here are a few of the new laws taking effect in the US in 2025

At the end of last year, The Epoch Times highlighted the more notable new laws that will take effect in US states in 2025.  The outlet noted several new laws are set to take effect in 2025, impacting various aspects of life in the United States, including digital content creation, kids’ social media use and more.

Most of these laws are not unique to the US and throughout the West people are familiar with the underlying agenda that has given rise to such laws.   Judging by these laws alone, it is hard not to feel that the West is experiencing or being forced into a crisis of moral decline, with some places more in crisis than others.

Abortion

In New York, a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion as a right will become enforceable on 1 January 2025, although its full implications are still unclear as state law already protects abortion through foetal viability and in cases involving a risk to the mother’s health or life.

The amendment to the New York constitution also bars discrimination based on characteristics such as national origin, gender identity and gender expression.  Opponents argue that the amendment could lead to the expansion of other constitutional rights such as transgender surgeries for minors, male participation on female sports teams and voting rights for non-citizens.

Seven other states have passed amendments to expand or protect abortion access, with most either already in effect or facing legal disputes.

REAL ID Enforcement

The REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, established minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards. The Department of Homeland Security has delayed the enforcement of REAL ID multiple times due to the covid-19 pandemic. The enforcement date for REAL ID compliance is 7 May 2025.

From that date, all US adults will be required to present REAL ID-compliant identification to fly domestically and access certain federal facilities.  All REAL ID-compliant cards will have a star symbol on the upper portion of the card, with US passports also being an acceptable form of ID.

Digital Replication and AI

California will enforce two laws protecting the voices and likenesses of actors and performers from digital replication through artificial intelligence, requiring professionally negotiated contracts and banning the commercial use of digital replicas of deceased performers without their estate’s consent.

Similar laws will also be enforced in Illinois, which has banned the distribution of AI-generated audio or visual replicas of a person without their consent and expanded the definition of “child pornography” to include digitally manipulated or created depictions.

Children’s Social Media Use

In Florida, a new law will prohibit children ages 13 and under from joining social media platforms starting on 1 January 2025, and require parental consent for those aged 14 and 15 to create social media accounts, with civil penalties and liabilities imposed on non-compliant platforms.

California has introduced a law requiring parents or guardians of children who perform in monetised online videos to set aside a percentage of the minor’s gross earnings in a trust for their benefit.

Another California law, expanding the Coogan Law, will require employers of child influencers to set aside 15 per cent of their gross earnings in a trust, providing additional protections for child actors and influencers.

Ten Commandments in Louisiana Classrooms

In Louisiana, a law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in all public classrooms is set to take effect on 1 January 2025, despite a federal judge finding the law “facially unconstitutional” and temporarily blocking its enforcement.

Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill is appealing the injunction, arguing that it only applies to the five school boards named in the lawsuit and plans to work with the remaining schools to ensure compliance.

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US to Withhold Aid to Sierra Leone over Abortion

US foreign aid agency called the Millennium Challenge Corporation is threatening to withhold aid from Sierra Leone if the nation fails to legalize abortion. There is no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to politics or business. Now, $480 million in aid is on the line, all in the name of abortion. What gives the US moral grounds to tell other nations how to live?

The US organization believes that the African nation must pass the Safe Motherhood Act to permit abortions up to 14 weeks for any reason. Parliament passed the Safe Abortion Act in 2015, permitting abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. President Julius Maada Bio seems willing to expand these laws despite pushback. The Inter Religious Council of Sierra Leone (IRCSL) composed of Christians and Muslims have been opposing extending abortion laws.

“It is deeply disturbing, but not terribly surprising, that we are hearing reports that the Biden administration is threatening to withhold foreign assistance to Sierra Leone unless legislators there pass the deceptively named ‘Safe Motherhood Act’ legislation that would legalize abortion in Sierra Leone, a country that currently protects unborn life,” Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said in a statement first shared with The Daily Signal. Sierra Leone could certainly use the funding, and this ploy is bending the will of desperate people.

So ahead of Trump, the Biden Administration is demanding that a predominately Muslim (78.5%) country abandon its religious beliefs and cave to their demands. The issue is not abortion but that the US is threatening to withhold aid from a vulnerable nation if it does not comply. We see this happen with countless issues throughout African nations as developed nations believe they can use money to shift their societies as they see fit.

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Planned Parenthood’s stomach-churning emails ‘negotiating’ for fetus donations exposed

Stomach-churning emails show Planned Parenthood negotiating terms regarding the donation of aborted fetuses for medical research.

The emails discuss fetal tissue like any other commodity such as sugar or rice, nonchalantly negotiating for fetuses up to 23 weeks old from elective abortions.

A heavily-redacted so-called “Research Plan” submitted to the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Institutional Review Board and approved in 2018 states scientists wanted 2,500 fetuses from up to almost the sixth month of gestation for experimentation. 

“We will collect tissues from fetuses ranging from 4 to 23 weeks gestational age from subjects undergoing elective surgical pregnancy termination at Planned Parenthood in San Diego,” the plan states.

Although selling fetal tissue is illegal, donating it is not illegal. The contract between UCSD and Planned Parenthood appears to allow Planned Parenthood to retain “intellectual property rights relating to the” fetal tissue, although it also does not grant UCSD the independent right to “commercialize” the tissue. 

The fetuses were taken to Perionatal Repository at UCSD to be researched.

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‘It’s the First Amendment, Stupid’: Federal Judge Slams Florida for Threatening TV Stations

Floridians this fall will vote on a constitutional “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion.” So authorities decided to interfere with free speech in an attempt to thwart voters from limiting the government’s right to interfere in reproductive decisions. The state threatened TV stations with criminal penalties for running an ad supporting the abortion initiative (known as Amendment 4).

A federal judge isn’t impressed. “To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid,” wrote U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker in an October 17 opinion.

Walker temporarily enjoined Florida from attempting to censor the ad, granting the temporary restraining order request sought by Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group sponsoring Amendment 4.

“Importantly, this is a temporary restraining order, which is not generally appealable,” noted legal writer Chris Gender, author of the Law Dork newsletter, on BlueSky. “The preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for Oct.. 29, and the state could appeal from that.”

Florida has been pulling out all the stops to try and stop Amendment 4 from passing. The state has been using taxpayer money to run ads in opposition to the amendment while trying to prohibit people from seeing an ad in support of it.

The ad in question is “political speech—speech at the core of the First Amendment,” notes Judge Walker. “And just this year, the United States Supreme Court reaffirmed the bedrock principle that the government cannot do indirectly what it cannot do directly by threatening third parties with legal sanctions to censor speech it disfavors. The government cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring the disfavored speech is ‘false.'”

This is the rub of the state’s argument against Floridians Protecting Freedom’s ad. It features a woman called Caroline who was diagnosed with brain cancer while pregnant with her second child. “The doctors knew that if I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, I would lose my life, and my daughter would lose her mom,” she says. “Florida has now banned abortion, even in cases like mine,” she ads.

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British Man Convicted of Criminal Charges for Praying Silently Near Abortion Clinic

In Britain, it can be a crime to think the wrong thoughts in the wrong place. It sounds absurd—not to mention Orwellian—but a handful of people have been arrested or charged in the country simply for praying silently near abortion clinics. 

This month, a British man was convicted of criminal charges for praying silently near an abortion clinic. The man, Adam Smith-Connor did not attempt to harass, intimidate, or interact in any way with those entering the clinic. Instead, he wordlessly prayed with his head bowed slightly. He wasn’t even on clinic property—he was outside the sightline of the clinic itself, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a religious freedom group.

As a result, Smith-Connor was questioned by police and later charged with violating a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), a broad censorship order enabled by the 2014 Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. Under this law, local authorities can obtain special status for some public places, allowing them to ban a huge range of conduct. In the name of limiting “anti-social behavior,” British towns have obtained PSPOs to ban the homeless from sleeping outside or to ban swearing.

Several cities have used this law to place “buffer zones” around local abortion clinics. The PSPO in Smith-Connor’s case not only banned “intimidating or harassing” those working at or seeking services from the clinic but also barred individuals from engaging in “prayer,” “[sprinkling] holy water on the ground,” and “[crossing] themselves.”

Smith-Connor violated this order in November 2022. He was convicted, and sentenced earlier this month to a “conditional discharge”—similar to probation—and ordered to pay approximately $11,709 in prosecution fees, according to the ADF.

The court’s reasoning betrayed the absurdly censorious nature of the local law. “In its decision, the court reasoned that his prayer amounted to ‘disapproval of abortion’ because at one point his head was seen slightly bowed and his hands were clasped,” according to the ADF.

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Top Japanese medics are “Gunning for Gates”

“Japan Warns Bill Gates His “Days Are Numbered” After Abortion Drugs Found in Vaccines Japan has sent a clear message to Bill Gates – his time is running out.

With the government’s Covid Task Force swiftly uncovering his crimes, the walls are closing in on the globalist kingpin. Japanese scientists are now taking a stand, urging international prosecutors to bring a case of crimes against humanity against Gates.

Among them, world-renowned experts like Dr. Fukushima are raising the alarm, revealing shocking discoveries that some vaccines contain abortion drugs designed for depopulation. They warn that there is overwhelming evidence suggesting Gates isn’t finished yet – he has plans to inflict even more harm in the near future. It’s time for the world to unite and bring him to justice!”

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Most of today’s vaccines are developed with ABORTED FETAL CELL LINES – Here’s the full list

The abortion industry, the organ harvesting industry and the vaccine industry work together. Their operations go hand-in-hand. The current supply of vaccines for children and adults is based on a history of brutality toward the unborn. In order to develop vaccines, human fetuses must be strategically picked apart, their organs harvested, the cell lines reproduced for vaccine manufacture.

There are six main types of cell lines used to develop biologics (vaccines). Four of these cell lines involve the sacrificial use of aborted fetal cells. The list of vaccines that exploit fetal cell lines in the manufacturing process is exhaustive.

These aborted fetal cell lines include the WI-38 diploid human cell line, which is composed of fibroblasts taken from the lung tissue of a 3-month-gestation female fetus. Vaccines also utilize the HEK-293 cell line, which is isolated from the kidney of a human embryo. Third, vaccines contain the MRC-5 diploid cell line, which consists of fibroblasts isolated from the lung tissue of a white male, 14-week-old embryo. Finally, vaccines are derived from the RA 27/3 cell lines, which have been taken from attenuated fetal kidney cells since 1964.

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Planned Parenthood to Offer Free Vasectomies, Abortions During DNC

A Planned Parenthood clinic will be offering people free vasectomies and abortions during the Democratic National Convention (DNC), which is set to be held next week in Chicago.

Planned Parenthood Great Rivers (PPGR), the Chicago Abortion Fund, and The Wieners Circle will be “providing FREE vasectomies & medication abortion” at Planned Parenthood Great Rivers’ mobile health clinic, PPGR announced in a post on X.

According to the New York Times, the mobile health clinic will be set up “blocks away” from the DNC.

PPGR, which is part of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, is described as being “the leading provider, educator, and protector of sexual and reproductive health care in the St. Louis region, Missouri Ozarks, and beyond,” according to the website for Planned Parenthood Great Rivers.

“Here we come, Chicago! Our mobile health clinic will be in the West Loop with @ChiAbortionFund & @TheWienerCircle Aug 19-20, providing FREE vasectomies & medication abortion. EC will also be available for free without an appointment.”

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UK Government Set to Ban Silent Prayer Outside Abortion Clinics

As the crackdown on free speech accelerates, the UK government is set to ban people silently praying in their heads outside abortion clinics.

MPs voted for legislation last year that would ban silent prayer within ‘buffer zones’ 150 metres around the location of a clinic or hospital providing abortion services.

However, this has not come come into force and guidance was subsequently published allowing silent prayer within ‘safe access zones’ where activists would be able to hand out leaflets and engage in conversations with women considering abortions.

The guidance stated that, “Silent prayer, being the engagement of the mind and thought in prayer towards God, is protected as an absolute right under the Human Rights Act 1998 and should not, on its own, be considered to be an offence under any circumstances.”

The issue shot to public attention in March 2023 when campaigner Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested by police for silently praying in front of a British Pregnancy Advisory Services clinic that was subject to a ‘buffer zone’ order.

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Banning Abortion Completely Backfired, Data Shows

If the goal of striking down Roe v. Wade was to decrease the number of abortions, the move has backfired spectacularly.

Why? Because the number of American women getting abortions has actually increased since the right to abortion was overturned by the US Supreme Court in June 2022, according to new research.

Specifically, according to the WeCount study published this month by the Society of Family Planning, the number of abortions nationwide has risen significantly from 86,830 at the time of the reversal to just shy of 100,000 in March 2024.

The increase, the organization says, is largely due to doctors in more abortion-friendly states providing abortion pills to patients in more restrictive states via telehealth care.

“Telehealth abortion is making a critical difference for people seeking abortion care in this increasingly restrictive environment,” WeCount cochair and University of California, San Francisco reproductive science professor Ushma Upadhyay said in a statement about the report. “Telehealth also eases the surges and cuts down on wait times at abortion clinics providing in-person abortion care, which continues to be a critical route to abortion access, accounting for 80 percent of all abortions.”

The report, which analyzed data from April 2022 to March 2024, found that abortions crested over 100,000 in January this year — the first time ever since WeCount started measuring abortion volume and data in 2022 when the US Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to abortion in the Dobbs v Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization case.

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