http://www.summit.org/ en michael@summit.org Copyright 2012 2012-05-23T14:58:28+00:00 http://www.worldmag.com/webextra/19522 WASHINGTON—On Monday the Supreme Court unanimously decided that children conceived through in vitro fertilization after their father’s death could not count as his children for the purpose of receiving his Social Security benefits. The court said the Social Security benefits are designed only for those who were dependents during the parent’s lifetime. (Download a PDF of the opinion.) The case involved complex questions of who counts as a child for legal purposes in an age of donor eggs and sperm and artificial insemination (see “Postmortem conception,” March 20). Justice Sonia Sotomayor wondered in the oral arguments in March whether any children of a sperm donor would qualify for his benefits. 2012-05-23T14:58:28+00:00 http://www.christianpost.com/news/dolan-obama-administration-doesnt-understand-our-horror-over-mandate-exemption-75379/ The narrow religious exemption for the Obama administration's birth control mandate is "strangling," and the administration fails to understand the "horror" Catholics feel over the exemption, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning." Dolan said he has spoken directly with President Obama regarding his concerns over the narrowness of the religious exemption, but added that he believes the Obama administration still doesn't get it. 2012-05-23T14:56:14+00:00 http://www.citizenlink.com/2012/05/22/abortion-business-exposed-by-activists-surrenders-license/ A Birmingham, Ala., abortion business surrendered its license to the state’s Department of Public Health and ceased operations on Friday. New Woman All Women (NWAW) Heath Care came under scrutiny in January after life advocates videoed two women being carried out of the back of the building to waiting ambulances. A review of 911 calls revealed both women had overdosed on a drug administered by the clinic. 2012-05-23T14:52:41+00:00 http://www.citizenlink.com/2012/05/22/north-carolina-university-reverses-ruling-on-groups-religious-status/ A Christian student group at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro will be allowed to limit its membership to those who share its beliefs after the college reversed a previous decision. In April 2011, the Make Up Your Own Mind club first sought exemption from the school’s nondiscrimination policy under its provisions for religious groups. University officials denied that request, as well as subsequent requests, ruling the club’s requirement that members agree with its statement of beliefs and its mission did not clearly make it a religious group. 2012-05-23T14:49:08+00:00 http://cnsnews.com/news/article/pelosi-no-provision-protecting-chaplains-being-ordered-act-against-faith-its-fraud (CNSNews.com) – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she stands with the White House in opposing a provision in the House defense authorization bill that would prohibit anyone in the military from ordering a chaplain to act against his or her "conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs" or against the religious beliefs of the denomination to which he or she belongs. Pelosi described the conscience-protection provision as a “fraud." 2012-05-18T15:08:49+00:00 http://www.citizenlink.com/2012/05/17/new-york-senate-passes-bill-closing-child-porn-loophole/ The New York State Senate passed a bill Tuesday making it illegal to view child pornography, in response to a recent court ruling that said simply looking at such content — but not printing or saving it — is legal. The bill makes it a felony to “knowingly access with intent to view any obscene performance which includes sexual conduct by a child less than sixteen years of age.” 2012-05-18T14:59:51+00:00 http://www.citizenlink.com/2012/05/17/kansas-extends-conscience-protection-for-pharmacists/ Pro-life pharmacists in Kansas gained further legal protections this week, after Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill allowing them to refuse to dispense drugs that may cause abortions. The Health Care Rights of Conscience Act prevents anyone from being forced to prescribe, distribute or administer drugs they “reasonably believe” could kill a preborn child. 2012-05-18T14:59:20+00:00 http://www.citizenlink.com/2012/05/17/black-pastors-to-president-please-reconsider-thoughts-about-same-sex-marriage/ A national group of black clergymen is asking President Obama to reconsider his support for same-sex marriage. In a formal letter issued on Tuesday, the Coalition of African-American Pastors (CAAP) wrote, “We cannot and will not remain silent while marriage, the most fundamental institution in our — and any — nation, is undermined by our own President while using Christian language and relating it to civil rights.” 2012-05-18T14:58:08+00:00 http://www.citizenlink.com/2012/05/16/franciscan-university-drops-student-health-coverage/ As faith-based organizations fight a First Amendment battle over federal health care mandates, the economic cost of meeting this year’s national health care law requirements has led Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, to drop student health insurance in the fall. The economic issue is clearly second to the Catholic university’s religious and moral opposition to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services mandate that all businesses provide coverage for contraceptives, sterilization and abortion-causing medications, a university official said. 2012-05-17T14:48:24+00:00 http://cnsnews.com/news/article/romney-says-its-ok-destroy-human-embryos-created-through-vitro-fertilization (CNSNews.com) – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who recently had twin grandsons conceived through in vitro fertilization, has said it is okay for couples to "destroy' human embryos conceived through in vitro fertilization if they do not want to implant those human beings in a womb. On May 4, Romney’s son Tagg announced by Twitter the birth of the twin boys, David Mitt and William Ryder, who were gestated by an unnamed surrogate mother. Tagg’s wife is Jennifer Romney and they have four other children, one of whom was also gestated by the same surrogate mother, according to The New York Times. 2012-05-17T14:48:06+00:00