The Weekly is a rundown of news by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission highlighting the week’s top news stories from the public square and providing commentary on the big issues of our day.

Mississippi Passes—and a Federal Court Blocks—the Most Restrictive Abortion Law in the U.S.  

On Monday, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed into law a bill that bans abortion after 15 weeks’ gestation, making it the earliest protection in the nation for unborn babies. But a day later, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the law from being enforced. 

Earlier this month the state legislature passed the “Gestational Age Act,” which limits legal abortions to 15 weeks’ from the time that has elapsed since the first day of the pregnant woman’s last menstrual period. The law makes exceptions only to preserve the life of the pregnant woman and to prevent a life-endangering physical condition, and in cases of severe fetal abnormality that posses a life-threatening physical condition for the child. Any person (other than the woman undergoing the abortion) who intentionally or knowingly violates the prohibition is guilty of a felony, and a physician who violates this law will also have their medical license suspended or revoked.

Commenting on the law, ERLC president Russell Moore told Baptist Press he is “proud of Mississippi for being proactive in protecting vulnerable children.”

“The abortion industry hides from scrutiny and accountability and preys on women in crisis. I am thankful that Mississippi lawmakers have taken real steps to combat this industry of death and look forward to this bill being signed into law. My prayer is that Mississippi would continue to lead the way for other states in standing up for the unborn, women and communities.”

But before the law could take effect, Mississippi’s sole remaining abortion clinic filed a preliminary injunction claiming the legislation was unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves granted the clinic’s immediate request by issuing a temporary restraining order. “The Supreme Court says every woman has a constitutional right to ‘personal privacy’ regarding her body,” Reeves wrote in his decision. “That right protects her choice ‘to have an abortion before viability.’ States cannot ‘prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision’ to do so.”

Gov. Bryant had anticipated such a challenge and said the state would appeal. “We will go to the (U.S. Court of Appeals for the) 5th Circuit—which is traditionally more conservative on appeal—than some of the others around the nation,” said Bryant. “And if we go all the way to the Supreme Court, we are willing to do that.”

This week on ERLC podcasts: Daniel Darling talks to Jana Magruder, LifeWay Director of Kids’ Ministry, about the surprising results new Lifeway survey of 2,300 Christian kids and parents and offers hope and encouragement for parents. On the Capitol Conversations podcast, Kate Anderson from Alliance Defending Freedom joins Matt Hawkins to discuss the case heard at the Supreme Court this week, NIFLA v. Becerra, and Travis Wussow and Jeff Pickering discuss the bombings in Austin and the USA’s denial to Iranian refugees. On the Countermoves podcast, Andrew Walker interviews Heritage Foundation Scholar Ryan T. Anderson on his new book, When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment. And on the ERLC podcast, Joni Eareckson Tada talks about how her disability has become the platform for her greatest ministry.

Other Issues

American Culture

1 in 3 young adults ride with impaired drivers, according to new study
ABC News

The researchers want to encourage young adults to transfer what they’ve learned about not drinking and driving to not riding with a driver who’s "altered."

Supreme Court agrees to hear immigration law detention case
Associated Press

The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether federal immigration law gives the government the power to indefinitely detain any noncitizen it is considering deporting if the person previously committed certain crimes.

Forcing Pro-Life Pregnancy Care Centers to Advertise for Abortion is Unjust and Unconstitutional
Public Discourse

Can the state compel an organization to proclaim a message that is the very antithesis of its mission? On March 20, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that poses this question. National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra challenges a California law that requires pro-life pregnancy centers to provide information to women about how and where to obtain a free or low-cost abortions.

Bioethics

How Blood-Plasma Companies Target the Poorest Americans
The Atlantic

Medicaid, housing subsidies, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—these are some of the things that make up the backbone of the U.S.’s social safety net. And the federal government, guided by President Trump’s proposed budget for 2019, is seeking to make deep cuts to all three of them. 

Family Issues

Resilient Commitment: Overcoming the Intergenerational Effects of Parental Divorce
Institute for Family Studies Blog

by D. Scott Sibley ( @dscottsibley ) I still remember the phone call like it was yesterday. As I was preparing to leave for the university on a warm September morning in 2015, I received an unexpected call from my mother. In a very emotional conversation, she shared the devastating news that she had decided to divorce my father after almost 40 years of marriage, and there was nothing I could say.

Health Issues

FDA begins push to cut addictive nicotine in cigarettes
Associated Press

Federal health officials took the first step Thursday to slash levels of addictive nicotine in cigarettes, an unprecedented move designed to help smokers quit and prevent future generations from getting hooked.

International Issues

UK bill seeks to protect conscientious objection for medical practitioners
Crux

A bill in the British Parliament would clarify the rights of conscientious objection for medical professionals, protecting them from participating in medical procedures to which their beliefs are opposed. The Conscientious Objection (Medical Activities) Act 2017 would defend healthcare workers in England and Wales from partaking in the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment.

Nigerian woman’s tale is story of anti-Christian persecution in microcosm
Crux

In a sense, the most dramatic element of Rebecca Bitrus’s story is not the unimaginable horrors she suffered at the hands of the radical Islamic group Boko Haram during two years of captivity, including watching her three-year-old son die simply because she refused to become a Muslim, and then later becoming pregnant and giving birth to a child as the result of rape by a Boko Haram fighter.

Christian activists say militias target religious minorities in Syria
Crux

Jihadists allied with Turkey are hunting down religious minorities to kill them in Syria’s northwest, Christian activists warn, as Turkey and its allies have encircled the Kurdish-held town of Afrin and are relentlessly pushing through. 

Marriage Issues

Marriage Has Become a Trophy
The Atlantic

The decline of marriage is upon us. Or, at least, that’s what the zeitgeist would have us believe. In 2010, when Time magazine and the Pew Research Center famously asked Americans whether they thought marriage was becoming obsolete, 39 percent said yes. That was up from 28 percent when Time asked the question in 1978. 

Share of married adults varies widely across U.S. religious groups
Pew Research Center

In the United States, 48% of American adults say they are married. A higher-than-average share of adults are married in certain religious groups.

No Ring, No Baby: How Marriage Trends Impact Fertility
Institute for Family Studies Blog

America’s birth rate is falling far below what is needed to maintain economic growth , and below what women themselves say they want . But while this demographic decline is easy enough to describe, solutions are harder to come by. 

Religious Liberty

Calif. bill threatens Bible-based therapy
Baptist Press

A proposed law in California could outlaw helping people with unwanted same-sex attraction or gender-identity confusion. If passed, the bill, introduced last month by Assemblyman Evan Low, would be the most expansive ban on therapy related to sexual orientation and gender in the country.

Not Religious? Here’s Why Religious Freedom Still Matters.
Institute For Faith, Work & Economics

As I discussed last week, economic, political, and religious freedom are like a three-legged stool supporting a flourishing society. Take one leg away and the stool crumbles. Today, let’s look closer at just how integral the moral/religious freedom “leg” is to the other two “legs”—political and economic freedom. 

Should Pro-Life Clinics Have to Post Information About Abortion?
The Atlantic

Abortion is back in the Supreme Court this week. On Tuesday, the justices will hear a case on crisis pregnancy centers, the facilities established by pro-life organizations around the country to counsel women against abortion. In 2015, California passed the Reproductive FACT Act, requiring licensed clinics that provide certain services—including ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, and advice on birth control.

Sexuality Issues

Delaware Proposal Would Let Kindergarteners ‘Choose’ Their Sex And Race
The Federalist

When I was a young mother and let my kids listen to the Little Teapot song, it never occurred to me that they might question whether they could actually be short, stout kitchen utensils with handles and spouts. Granted, on several occasions they did get all steamed up and shout. But they were kids. They knew who they were. Thankfully, they suffered no identity crises. We were fortunate.