In today’s News:
Human trafficking shelter for girls wins permit
A Catholic charity that has prepared to open a home for underage victims of human trafficking has reached a resolution with California authorities after it was allegedly pressured to affirm LGBT sexuality, to inject sex hormones into any beneficiaries who identify as transgender, and to agree to drive minors to abortion clinics. The San Diego-based Children of the Immaculate Heart, which has served adult victims of human trafficking since 2013, had aimed to open a house for girls age 12-17 who had been victims of human trafficking. The charity and state government settled outside of court after California requested the process go to mediation. The California Department of Social Services issued the organization a provisional license to operate the refuge as a short-term residential therapeutic program.
Two arrested for chalking pro-life message
Police in Washington, D.C., arrested a man and a woman in front of Planned Parenthood because they were writing “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” with a piece of chalk outside the abortion facility. A metropolitan police department spokeswoman told The Epoch Times that the arrests were for the defacing of property. The man and the woman were released with citations. Recently, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser painted the streets of the city with the slogan “Black Lives Matter,” the pro-life group pointed out in an online petition. After applying and receiving a permit and after being told by the metropolitan police that the mayor has “opened a pandora’s box” by painting public streets, students for life arrived at the D.C. Planned Parenthood on Saturday to six police cars threatening to arrest the team and student leaders if they painted “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter,” even using the temporary paint that the police department specifically requested. When the members of the group asked if they could use sidewalk chalk to chalk their anti-violence message on the streets, the police threatened to arrest them and then did.
Democrats again push abortion in Congress
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced legislation to repeal a longstanding restriction on overseas abortion funding, and plan to vote on a spending bill that would open the door to further pro-abortion spending, including targeting the Little Sisters of the Poor once more. The House is slated to take up a spending bill for several government departments that attacks current restrictions on abortion funding from multiple angles. The bill would allow the District of Columbia to pay for abortions with taxpayer dollars; gut the Trump administration’s protect life rule, which bars abortionists from receiving Title X funds; undo administrative rules protecting the right not to participate in or subsidize abortion; deny teen pregnancy prevention funds to programs that teach abstinence; and cut funding for “sexual risk avoidance” education, which is defined as “voluntarily refraining from non-marital sexual activities.” Further, a manager’s amendment would reverse the Trump administration’s move to protect religious entities such as the Little Sisters of the Poor from being forced to fund contraceptives under Obamacare. The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the administration had the right to issue the exemption, but did not strike down the Obama-era mandate itself.
