Religion Today Daily Headlines - May 28, 2013

Religion Today Daily Headlines - May 28, 2013

Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.

In today's edition:

  • Gosnell's Defense Attorney Says U.S. Needs 17-Week Abortion Ban, Yearly Clinic Inspections
  • India: Pastor Beaten During Church Service
  • 'Fetal Pain' Abortion Bans Face Court Scrutiny

 

Gosnell's Defense Attorney Says U.S. Needs 17-Week Abortion Ban, Yearly Clinic Inspections

Jack McMahon, defense attorney for abortionist and convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell, shocked America last Wednesday during his first live cable news interview since the jury's verdict in his client's case, the Christian Post reports. McMahon twice spoke the words "Thank God" and revealed to Fox News host Megyn Kelly that he believes banning abortion after 17 weeks should become law and all abortion clinics must be inspected annually. "I've come out of this case realizing that 24 weeks is a bad determiner," he said. "It should be like 16, 17 weeks. That would be a far better thing, and I think the law should be changed to that. I think there will still be the right to choose, but they've got to choose quicker. I think that's something that should come out of this. I think more regulations should come out of these locations." McMahon also partially blamed lax regulations of abortion clinics for the horrific conditions found in Gosnell's Women's Medical Society in West Philadelphia. "I'm not going to tell you that things didn't get out of hand at that location," he said. "There was no oversight for over 18 years, and no one came and looked at that location."

India: Pastor Beaten During Church Service

A pastor in India's Uttar Pradesh state was recently attacked and beaten during his church service, Voice of the Martyrs reports. Near the end of the service, a group of Hindu men attacked Pastor "Caleb," tied him to a tree and beat him. The attackers, who apparently were directed by Hindu leaders in the village, broke Pastor Caleb's arm during the beating. VOM partners are helping provide medical treatment and urging police to prosecute the attackers. Pastor Caleb's church has been threatened in the past by high caste families. About five families who have faithfully remained with the church had angered villagers by refusing to offer a gift to a Hindu goddess, and a group from the village also became angry when the Christian families refused to help with the wedding of a high caste family's daughter.

'Fetal Pain' Abortion Bans Face Court Scrutiny

As abortion laws in states such as North Dakota, Alabama, Arkansas and Kansas have become more restrictive, critics have taken the new "fetal pain" restrictions to court, Christianity Today reports. In one of the first rulings by a federal appeals court on such bans, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco struck down Arizona's ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The court cited "40 years of Supreme Court precedents that allow a woman to terminate her pregnancy if the fetus is not yet viable," according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Nine other states have similar bans on abortions before 20 weeks of pregnancy -- the point at which a fetus is thought to be able to feel pain. Idaho's fetal pain law was the first to be struck down, but at the district and not appellate level. Arkansas faces an injunction against its newly passed ban on abortions after 12 weeks; meanwhile, North Dakota's only abortion clinic has also filed suit after the state approved a bill to ban some abortions as soon as six weeks into pregnancy.

Publication date: May 28, 2013

Religion Today Daily Headlines - May 28, 2013