An Illinois woman has filed a lawsuit against a Peoria hospital for allegedly pressuring her to abort her wanted baby to avoid liability for having accidentally administered a drug that could have caused severe birth defects.

Reneizha Morris says that in November 2017, during a routine appointment at UnityPoint Health-Methodist’s area hospital, she learned she was pregnant with a healthy 7-week-old baby, ABC reports. But due to a “miscommunication,” she was allegedly injected with Methotrexate, which can cause severe birth defects.

Morris says the doctors held two meetings with her to inform her about the risks. She still wanted to give birth, but the hospital’s risk manager led her to schedule an abortion on November 29, which she refused after seeing an ultrasound of her child. Yet the risk manager allegedly called her family multiple times to keep pressuring her to abort, going so far as to offer her $2,000 for a consultation at a Planned Parenthood location in Chicago.

“Morris’s attorneys have found the hospital’s records suddenly trail off at this point on how and when she supposedly decided to terminate the pregnancy,” her attorneys explain, according to the Peoria Journal Star. “Following the canceled procedure, the hospital’s risk manager had two phone calls with her family, which have been omitted from the medical record. On December 5, the hospital’s risk manager asked Morris to come to the hospital to pick up $2,000 in cash and a letter stating the money was to be used for ‘a consultation’ at a Chicago-area Planned Parenthood clinic.”

Morris ultimately gave in and had her baby aborted on December 17, which her attorneys suggest she wouldn’t have done without the hospital’s repeated pressuring to do so — or if the hospital had informed her that because it had given her the wrong drug without warning her of the risks, it would be the one covering her child’s medical expenses. (Read more from “Hospital Pressured Mom to Abort Her Baby to Cover up Drug Mistake, Lawsuit Claims” HERE)

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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) gave a victory to the pro-life movement Thursday by signing one of the strictest pro-life bills in the nation.

“The essential function of government is to protect the most vulnerable among us,” DeWine said before signing the bill. “Those who do not have a voice. Government’s role should be to protect life from the beginning to the end. To protect those who cannot protect themselves, such as the elderly, the unborn, those who are sick, those who have a disability, those who have a mental illness or an addiction. The signing of this bill today is consistent with that respect for life and the imperative to protect those who cannot protect themselves.”

The Human Rights and Heartbeat Protection Act makes it illegal for women to receive abortions after the first heartbeat is detected. According to The Hill, a fetal heartbeat can occur between eight and ten weeks. The bill was able to pass in the state’s House and Senate. Both have GOP control. . .

ACLU of Ohio also took issue with the governor approving the bill and announced on its website that it would be filing a lawsuit against the measure.

“The ACLU will argue that the banning of abortion at six weeks, or with the detection of a fetal heartbeat, is a direct violation of the Constitution and a complete undermining of Roe v. Wade,” the ACLU wrote. “Similar lawsuits have been filed against so-called “heartbeat bills” in four other states (Iowa, Kentucky, Arkansas, and North Dakota) and the courts have struck all of the abortion bans down as unconstitutional.” (Read more from “Governor Signs Historical Pro-Life Bill” HERE)

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, quoted some questionable claims Tuesday about fetal pain during a hearing on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act that would ban abortion after 20 weeks – the time when science increasingly suggests unborn children feel pain. . .

She went on to quote an organization called the “American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists” (ACOG) referring to them as “the premier, professional organization.”

“A human fetus does not have the capacity to experience pain until after viability,” she quoted from their statement on the matter. “Rigorous scientific studies have found that the connections necessary to transmit signals from peripheral sensory nerve to the brain as well as the brain structures necessary to process those signals do not develop until at least 24 weeks of gestation because it lacks these connections and structures, the fetus does not even have the physiological capacity to perceive pain until at least 24 weeks gestation.” . . .

Micah Pickering, a boy born at 20 weeks of pregnancy, was obviously viable since he did survive birth and was able to advocate for the legislation on Capitol Hill.

Based on Micah’s case and others, the New York Times wrote in 2015, that a “study, of thousands of premature births, found that a tiny minority of babies born at 22 weeks who were medically treated survived with few health problems, although the vast majority died or suffered serious health issues. Leading medical groups had already been discussing whether to lower the consensus on the age of viability, now cited by most medical experts as 24 weeks.” (Read more from “Dem Senator Claims That Unborn Babies Can’t Feel Pain Until 24 Weeks Despite Cases Where Babies Survived Birth at 20 Weeks” HERE)

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A federal appeals court upheld a Kentucky law Thursday requiring doctors to conduct an ultrasound, show patients the images, and have women hear the fetal heartbeat at least 24 hours prior to an abortion.

In a 2-1 ruling, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals backed the “Ultrasound Informed Consent Act” which was passed in 2017 and was immediately challenged by the state’s only abortion clinic.

The majority opinion was written by Trump appointee Judge John Bush who cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey and, more recently, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra.

He argued that the information required by the Kentucky legislation was “truthful, non-misleading, and relevant information about an abortion,” and did not violate a doctor’s free speech rights as the abortion clinic claimed. . .

“Today is a historic day, as Kentucky continues to lead the charge in implementing strong pro-life protections for its citizens,” [Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin] said. “We applaud the decision by the Sixth Circuit, which affirms the commonsense notion that patients should be well equipped with relevant information before making important medical decisions. I am grateful to be governor of a state that values every human life, and we are committed to continue our fight on behalf of the most vulnerable among us.” (Read more from “Federal Appeals Court Upholds Law Requiring an Ultrasound Before an Abortion” HERE)

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