Victory! Appeals Court reverses to rule that Ohio can defund Planned Parenthood!

Started by Xavier, March 13, 2019, 12:10:08 AM

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Xavier

See how President Trump's judges are making the difference! If we have 5 (let alone 9!) more years of Trump-Pence, it's game over and we win. Not just the legal battle, but the war, because the lower courts especially will be completely reshaped. Of course, the Grace of God, and our prayers, fasting and sacrifice this time of Lent especially will be necessary to change hearts and minds, so let us keep that up and increase them! The Gospel of Christ must triumph in America and Our Lord and Our Lady must reign as King and Queen.

Liberal slate laments: Trump's Lower-Court Judges Are Dismantling Roe v. Wade One Terrible Ruling at a Time

"Progressives spend a lot of time fretting that the Supreme Court will soon overturn Roe v. Wade—for good reason, since four justices are ready to abolish abortion rights immediately, and another seems to be simply waiting for the right opportunity. But the lower courts need not wait for Roe to go to dramatically limit Americans' access to abortion. They can effectively kill Roe by a thousand cuts, manipulating doctrine to let states shutter clinics and force women to carry unwanted pregnancies to term.

That is precisely what the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did on Tuesday, permitting Ohio to defund Planned Parenthood by proclaiming that there is no "Fourteenth Amendment right to perform abortions." The court's threadbare reasoning ignores controlling Supreme Court precedent and disregards the impact of Ohio's crusade against abortion providers on women. But that doesn't matter to the majority, which includes all four President Donald Trump appointees who participated in the case. For these judges, what's important is that Ohio may now strip Planned Parenthood of $1.5 million each year ... The majority neatly illustrates how courts can undermine Roe while pretending to uphold the Constitution.

Tuesday's decision in Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio v. Hodges revolves around a 2016 Ohio law designed to close Planned Parenthood's 27 clinics in the state ... The 2016 law denies state funds to all clinics that "contract with" or become "an affiliate of any entity that performs or promotes nontherapeutic abortions." Because all 27 clinics affiliate with Planned Parenthood, and because that organization "performs or promotes" abortions, Ohio attempted to cut off their funding. Two Planned Parenthood affiliates sued.

A federal district court blocked the law the day it was set to take effect, ruling that it imposed "unconstitutional conditions" on Planned Parenthood's right to free speech and due process. A panel of judges for the 6th Circuit agreed. "Plaintiffs do not claim an entitlement to government funds," Judge Helene White wrote for the court. "What they do claim is a right not to be penalized in the administration of government programs based on protected activity outside the programs." White explained that, under the Supreme Court's unconstitutional conditions jurisprudence, "the government may not require the surrender of constitutional rights," including free speech and reproductive autonomy, "as a condition of participating in an unrelated government program."

But the 6th Circuit is increasingly conservative, and by the time the panel handed down its decision, Trump had placed four new judges on the bench. A majority of the court quickly voted to re-hear the case en banc. And on Tuesday, it reversed the lower court's decision by an 11–6 vote, with all four Trump appointees ruling against Planned Parenthood(!) (There are two other Trump-appointed judges on the court who were not seated in time to rule in the case—including Eric Murphy, the former Ohio solicitor general who helped defend the state's anti-abortion law in the district and circuit courts. Murphy likely would've recused himself had he been seated in time.)

In his majority opinion, Judge Jeffrey Sutton (a George W. Bush appointee) boiled down the case to one simple question: Does the Constitution safeguard the right to perform abortion? Deciding that it does not, Sutton easily disposed of Planned Parenthood's challenge. The Supreme Court has never expressly stated that medical centers "have a constitutional right to offer abortions." Thus, Ohio has not penalized clinics for engaging in "constitutionally protected activities" and, by extension, has not imposed an unconstitutional condition on Planned Parenthood. Case closed.

...Here's the icing on the cake: Ohio isn't just penalizing Planned Parenthood for performing abortions. It is also punishing the organization for promoting abortion rights by defunding clinics that associate with the group ...There is very little chance the Supreme Court will take this case—but a strong possibility that other courts will adopt Sutton's reasoning to uphold other attacks on abortion rights. Conservative judges do not need Brett Kavanaugh's permission to disregard or disrespect Roe v. Wade. They already have the tools to topple it on their own." https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/03/trump-judges-supreme-court-roe-wade-hodges-ohio.html

Thank you Lord for this victory! Keep praying and fasting, dear friends, for the pro-life cause. Even greater victories than this are surely in store soon.
Bible verses on walking blamelessly with God, after being forgiven from our former sins. Some verses here: https://dailyverses.net/blameless

"[2] He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice:[3] He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in his tongue: Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: nor taken up a reproach against his neighbours.(Psalm 14)

"[2] For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man."(James 3)

"[14] And do ye all things without murmurings and hesitations; [15] That you may be blameless, and sincere children of God, without reproof, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world." (Phil 2:14-15)

Xavier

Lifenews summarizes the decision and the victory without the liberal bias of slate: "In a major pro-life victory today, a federal court has upheld an Ohio law that defunds Planned Parenthood, which runs approximately one-third of the abortion centers in the Buckeye State.

After the Planned Parenthood abortion company was caught in multiple states selling aborted babies and their body parts, several states took steps to de-fund it and Ohio became the 10th state at the time to take steps to end or cut Planned Parenthood funding. Then Ohio Governor John Kasich signed the pro-life bill into law. Planned Parenthood runs three abortion centers in the state and every Planned Parenthood clinic refers women for abortions ...

"Ohio Right to Life is absolutely thrilled that Planned Parenthood will not get any more of our state tax dollars. Thanks to this very encouraging decision, Ohioans of conscience won't have to worry about whether their tax dollars are going towards abortions. "Ohio Right to Life worked tirelessly to enact this law and we are grateful that the federal appellate court agrees with our strategy. We're thankful for the leadership of former Representative Margy Conditt, who sponsored this bill in the Ohio House," he added

Responding to the decision, Catherine Glenn Foster, President and CEO of Americans United for Life, told LifeNews: "As the full Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has made clear today, Planned Parenthood, America's biggest abortionist, has no constitutional 'right' to offer women abortions, nor to receive public taxpayers dollars for doing so. AUL applauds the court's strong denunciation of Planned Parenthood's 'Big Lie' that it represents the best interests of women when it advocates for the kind of unlimited abortion on demand that New York recently adopted, and we look forward to a similar conclusion by the federal courts affirming this Administration's decision to keep Title X funds out of the hands of abortionists like Planned Parenthood." Pollsters found 64 percent of Ohioans believed that Congress should end taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood, which received more than $528 million in taxpayer funding in 2014. Even more Ohioans (68 percent) said taxpayers should not subsidize a group liked Planned Parenthood, and the government should redirect funding to the thousands of health clinics across the country that provide comprehensive health care to women and their families.

The expose videos catching Planned Parenthood officials selling the body parts of aborted babies have shocked the nation. Here is a list of all 14:In the first video: Dr. Deborah Nucatola of Planned Parenthood commented on baby-crushing: "We've been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I'm not gonna crush that part, I'm gonna basically crush below, I'm gonna crush above, and I'm gonna see if I can get it all intact."

In the second video: Planned Parenthood's Dr. Mary Gatter joked, "I want a Lamborghini" as she negotiated the best price for baby parts ...

https://www.lifenews.com/2019/03/12/federal-court-upholds-ohio-law-defunding-planned-parenthood-abortion-biz/
Bible verses on walking blamelessly with God, after being forgiven from our former sins. Some verses here: https://dailyverses.net/blameless

"[2] He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice:[3] He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in his tongue: Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: nor taken up a reproach against his neighbours.(Psalm 14)

"[2] For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man."(James 3)

"[14] And do ye all things without murmurings and hesitations; [15] That you may be blameless, and sincere children of God, without reproof, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world." (Phil 2:14-15)