Abortion sanctuary city? Incorrect use of ‘gendered’ language? Next FOT

St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson and Thomas More
President Tom Brejcha at press conference announcing the lawsuit

Is the City of St. Louis angling to become an abortion sanctuary city? According to a federal law suit filed by the Thomas More Society, it just might be.  

The city recently passed a new ordinance that creates protections for anyone who has “made a decision related to abortion,” even when the abortin is not their own. It forbids any entity, including Christian organizations and individuals whose teachings hold abortion to be a grave sin, from refusing to sell or rent property to individuals or corporate organizations that promote or provide abortions. The ordinance also compels private business to include abortion coverage in their employee health plans. 

 “This ordinance does not exempt individuals with sincere religious, moral or ethical objections to abortion from its requirements in any way,” stated Sarah Pitlyk, special counsel

Sarah Pitlyk
Thomas More Society

for Thomas More Society and Tuesday’s FOT guest, “and even for qualifying religious organizations, the exemption for employment, housing and realty is extremely limited. That is unconstitutional, and directly violates both federal and state law.” She added: “Ordinance 70459 is unlawful and unenforceable, and we fully expect the court to invalidate it.” 

Sarah received her J.D. from Yale Law School after earning a master’s degree in Philosophy from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in Applied Biomedical Ethics from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, where she studied as a Fulbright Scholar. In addition to practicing law, Sarah has taught philosophy and bioethics at the university level. She graduated summa cum laude from Boston College. 

In addition to Sarah we’re going to welcome Adam Steinbaugh, Senior Program Officer and Investigative Reporter for The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). Recently FIRE reported on efforts at the University of Rochester to sanction 55 student groups for either being single-gender organizations or for their improper use of “gendered” language.  

Adam Steinbaugh
FIRE

Adam graduated cum laude from Loyola Law School in 2012. Following law school, Adam practiced entertainment-focused civil litigation in California and authored an eponymous blog, where he covered a wide range of topics involving the First Amendment and the Internet. He later joined Popehat, and his commentary on internet and free speech issues has been featured in The Guardian, ArsTechnica, Channel 4, the CBC, and various other outlets. 

So join Deacon Mike Manno and co-host Pam Briddell as they discuss these and other issues of concern to people of faith Tuesday at 9 a.m. (central) on Iowa Catholic Radio 1150 AM; 88.5 & 94.5 FM; and streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com and heard on our Iowa Catholic Radio app which can be downloaded free from the app store. The program will be re-broadcast at 9 p.m. Pod casts of past programs can be found here.

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