In today’s News:
The Center For Medical Progress sues California politicians
David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress filed a lawsuit yesterday against some of California’s most powerful politicians for prosecuting him for exposing Planned Parenthood’s aborted baby body parts harvesting practices. The lawsuit accuses U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, planned parenthood and others of conspiracy to violate first and 14th amendment civil rights. The lawsuit says Harris, the former attorney general, and Becerra used state video-recording laws as a “political weapon” to silence speech with which they disagree. Currently, the California attorney general’s office is pursuing felony charges against Daleiden and fellow undercover investigator Sandra Merritt, claiming they broke the law by filming conversations with abortionists and others without their consent. Daleiden and Merritt are facing possible jail time and fines if convicted. Becerra and Harris both are pro-abortion democrats who have received campaign donations from planned parenthood.
A appeals court rules a church can challenge mandated abortion insurance
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled yesterday that a San Diego–area church properly challenged the state’s abortion-coverage mandate and that a lower district court was wrong to dismiss the church’s claims. The 9th Circuit recognized that Skyline Church suffered an injury when the state issued its August 2014 letters mandating that church healthcare plans cover elective abortions. In those letters, the California Department of Managed Health Care rescinded existing religious accommodations and mandated immediate coverage of all legal abortions, regardless of existing plan language. As a result, the church’s plan was rewritten to include coverage for elective abortion. The church filed suit after the department refused to back down from its application of the law. Skyline Wesleyan Church in La Mesa believes it has a religious obligation to care for its employees, and, because of that belief, it offers them a generous health insurance plan. Skyline also believes that all life is valuable and deserving of protection and that abortion is incompatible with that belief. The church only employs people who share its beliefs.
California’s governor is sued for keeping churches closed indefinitely
A Christian congregation in Chula Vista, California, and its pastor are suing Governor Gavin Newsom and other officials for stay-at-home orders and actions during the coronavirus pandemic. After weeks of mandatory isolation to stop the spread of covid-19, Governor Newsom has begun a four-stage plan to “reopen” California’s economy. Retail and supporting manufacturing are now resuming business; and shopping malls, car washes, pet grooming, dine-in restaurants, and schools will be allowed to reopen within a few weeks. Despite claiming that 70 percent of California businesses are available to reopen, the governor continues to shutter places of worship indefinitely with no timeline for reopening.
