What a week. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws in the state of Texas regarding state control of abortionists. In doing so, the Court assumed the role of expert medical practitioners. The ridiculousness of the decision can be seen in the dissenting opinion of Justice Clarence Thomas, who said, “By second-guessing medical evidence and making its own assessments of ‘quality of care’ issues . . . the majority reappoints this Court as the country’s ex officio medical board with powers to disapprove medical and operative practices and standards throughout the United States.”
Justice Thomas also pointed out the lack of consistency and the confusion that this decision will cause: “After disregarding significant aspects of the Court’s prior jurisprudence, the majority applies the undue-burden standard in a way that will surely mystify lower courts for years to come. . . . As the Court applies whatever standard it likes to any given case, nothing but empty words separates our constitutional decisions from judicial fiat.”
As if the Monday decision were not bad enough, on Tuesday, the Court refused to hear a case concerning the conscience rights of citizens and left standing an appeals court decision that said it was okay for a state to force pharmacies to dispense drugs that violated their conscience—even when there were nearby pharmacies where the customer could get the drugs. Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his dissent, “If this is a sign of how religious liberty claims will be treated in the years ahead, those who value religious freedom have cause for great concern.”
The fact that the Supreme Court is making up laws and constitutional rights to fit its own agenda is really not news. The Court has been doing this for years. But the Court seems to have become so brazen that it doesn’t even try to hide it anymore. As the slaughter of the innocents continues in our land, we must turn to God in prayer.
In another development this week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to spend $1.1 billion dollars to fight the Zika virus in the U.S. and other countries by focusing on vaccines, mosquito control and noncontroversial prevention, health, and treatment. Unfortunately, the U.S. Senate failed to pass the bill, in part because President Obama threatened to veto it. Insiders tell us that the opposition to the bill by the White House and the Senate was largely due to the fact that the seven Planned Parenthood clinics in Puerto Rico would not have been eligible to receive any money! The bill never mentioned PP, but authorized the money to go to hospitals, community health centers, and state health departments. Planned Parenthood in Puerto Rico is none of these, so it complained, and its lackeys in the government stopped the funding. It’s obvious; we need to make major changes in the operation of our government.