REGIONAL NEWS
This page last updated 9-7-26
Dated News Articles are generally available for about 2 months.
Illinois Backs Down From Forcing Doctors to Promote Assisted Suicide
LifeNews.com | Thomas More Society
Aug. 24, 2026 | Springfield, Illinois
On September 12, Illinois was set to require Dr. Mary Keen Kirchoff to tell her patients about the so-called “benefits” of ending their own lives, and to sign a death certificate afterward that conceals how they died.
On Friday, the State agreed to stand down—for now.
Thomas More Society filed suit on August 11.
Ten days later, U.S. District Judge Franklin U. Valderrama entered a stipulated order temporarily barring Illinois from enforcing its new “End of Life Options” Act against Dr. Keen Kirchoff, three fellow physicians, the Lutheran Care Center, and the Catholic hospitals under the authority of the Most Reverend Thomas J. Paprocki, Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.
Recall what the State wanted from these doctors and ministries—and what it can no longer demand of them as of Friday. Come September 12, the law would have forced them to:
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Tell patients about the so-called “benefits” of ending their own lives, including patients who never raised the subject
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Refer a patient to someone willing to prescribe lethal drugs
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Record those requests in a way that starts the state’s suicide “qualification” process
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Keep quiet about whatever the state decides is “misinformation” about suicide
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Falsify a death certificate to conceal how a patient died
The penalty for refusal: fines of up to $10,000 per violation, the loss of a medical license, and even potential criminal prosecution.
Dr. Keen Kirchoff has spent over four decades caring for the most vulnerable with what she describes as “loving accompaniment, not abandonment.” Friday’s order means she can keep doing just that.
This order is great news. But its protection reaches only so far. Friday’s order covers the plaintiffs we represent and the Catholic health care ministries in Bishop Paprocki’s diocese. It lasts until the district court rules on our next motion, and that ruling awaits a decision in Schroeder v. Treto, our separate challenge to Illinois’s Health Care Right of Conscience Act now before the Seventh Circuit and raising similar issues. Meanwhile, September 12 still arrives for everyone else. Every other doctor in Illinois—and every other health care ministry—still faces this mandate’s impossible demands. CLICK HERE for the source of this article.
Question 1 in Virginia Would Legalize Unlimited Abortions Up to Birth
LifeNews.com | Steven Ertelt | 8-27-26 | Richmond, VA
Virginia voters will decide in November whether to write a abortions up to birth into the state constitution. Ballot Question 1 would allow unlimited abortions until a baby is born.
Early in-person voting begins Friday, September 18. A simple majority would adopt or reject the amendment and the result would not return to the General Assembly or the governor.
Olivia Gans Turner, director of the Virginia Society for Human Life, said the proposal is not the modest health-care measure described on the ballot.
“The hard truth is that this amendment is not about protecting women’s safe reproductive care, but merely more political action designed to make abortion up to birth permanently legal in Virginia,” she says.
Under current Virginia law, abortion is generally permitted through the second trimester. Restrictions become more significant at about 27 weeks. After that point, abortion is allowed only in specified circumstances, including when the woman’s life or health is at stake – even though abortions kill and injure women.
Question 1 would replace that statutory framework with a constitutional right to kill a baby for any reason at any time. The amend-ment would declare that “every individual has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including the ability to make and carry out decisions relating to one’s own prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, abortion care, miscarriage management, and fertility care.”
Voters will not see that full language in the booth. CLICK HERE to read the full article.
Report: Surrogate Mother’s
Court Battle for Child Could Affect Practice of Surrogacy in Texas
Zeale.co -- McKenna Snow -- August 22, 2026
The woman who traveled from Alaska to Texas to deliver the child has a case that may reach the Texas Supreme Court. Texas family law generally recognizes the woman who gives birth in the state as the legal parent, a law professor told a local outlet.
McKenna West, the surrogate mother who refused to abort the child following the diagnosis that he had a treatable heart condition, is now fighting for custody of him after giving birth in Texas this month. If courts side with West, the outcome could discourage surrogacy use in Texas, The Texas Tribune reported Aug. 19.
Several public officials became involved to ensure the child received life-saving care at birth, as Zeale News reported. He received the first of three planned heart surgeries Aug. 17 and is recovering with his biological parents Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, who have custody of the child, according to reports. The Texas Tribune reported that West had named the child Gabriel, but the couple has since named him Rumi.
According to the outlet, the child’s parents deny that they were forcing West to have an abortion.
West’s attorneys confirmed Aug. 18 that she is still pursuing custody of the child. The couple’s attorney Lee Budner said, according to The Texas Tribune, that West “continues to assert baseless claims for custody of Rumi, in violation of multiple courts orders out of both Alaska and California.”
“We look forward to quickly defeating those claims as Rumi’s parents focus on his health and safety above all else,” he added.
The couple is from California and West, from Alaska, executed the surrogacy agreement in Alaska. Rachel Rebouché, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law who specializes in reproductive law, told the outlet that Texas family law generally recognizes the woman who gives birth in the state as the legal mother, and that West hopes this law will help her secure parental rights. CLICK HERE to read the full story.
Every City in This Arkansas County Has Passed a Pro-Life Resolution
(Lee County, Arkansas)
LifeNews.com | Erin Hogan | 8/18/26 | Little Rock, AR
Back in 2021, I received a call from someone in eastern Arkansas who felt called to do something impactful in her community.
Ronni Schwantz, someone who had been pro-life her entire life, was on the other end of the phone asking questions on how to pass a pro-life resolution in Lee County, Arkansas. She was ready to put her pro-life stance into action. The time was right because the legislature had just passed a law affirming the right of municipalities to adopt resolutions declaring themselves to be pro-life. In response to that law, Family Council put together a comprehensive toolkit to help guide individuals and communities in understanding how to pass pro-life resolutions. Ronni took the toolkit and initiated a push to affirm Lee County and all its cities and towns as pro-life. CLICK HERE to read the entire story.
Pediatricians Condemn Massachusetts Law Expanding Abortion Until Birth
LifeNews.com | American College of Pediatricians 8/12/26 | Boston, MA
On Monday, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed into law the “Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act,” removing previous statutory restrictions on abortions after 24 weeks and allowing abortions later in pregnancy based on the “professional judgment of the physician.” The Massachusetts law amends Section 12N of Chapter 112 of the General Laws and removes the previously specified circumstances limiting when abortions may be performed at 24 weeks or later.
The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) condemns this expansion of abortion in Massachusetts. Members of the ACPeds Board of Directors and Pro-Life Council released the following statements in response.
Dr. Richard Sandler: “ACPeds condemns Massachusetts’ newly enacted expansion of abortion law, which removes critical protections for viable preborn children and further entrenches abortion into state law. The new law contains no gestational-age limit on abortion after 24 weeks, meaning even a viable preborn child late in pregnancy may be aborted. Women deserve better. Children deserve protection. And medicine must never lose sight of its obligation to both patients.” CLICK HERE for an additional physician statement and access to ACPeds’ Position Statements on Abortion and Fetal Pain as well as access to ACPeds' research.
Idaho’s Proposition 1 Would Legalize Abortions Up to Birth
LifeNews.com | Dave Andrusko | 8-11-26 | Boise ID
Proponents of Idaho’s Proposition 1—The Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act—assure skeptics that the proposal would be a simple rollback to the laws that existed under Roe v. Wade. But just as Roe and Doe did, Proposition 1 plays dangerous games with fetal viability.
As a result, despite “assurances,” the initiative is so radical it leaves Roe and Doe in the dust. CLICK HERE to read the details of this dangerous pro-abortion legislation
Doctors File Lawsuit to Stop Illinois’ New Assisted Suicide Law
LifeNews.com | Thomas More Legal Society
Aug. 11, 2026 | Springfield, Illinois
For more than 40 years, Dr. Mary Keen Kirchoff has dedicated her career to caring for the most vulnerable—the disabled, the elderly. She became a doctor to heal, not to help her patients die.
Starting on September 12, the State of Illinois will order her to push suicide on her patients.
Illinois’s new assisted suicide law makes three demands of every doctor in the state:
• Tell patients about the “benefits” of ending their own lives—even patients who never asked.
• Refer them to someone willing to help them die.
• Falsify a death certificate to hide what really happened.
Refuse, and it could mean a $10,000 fine, loss of your medical license, and criminal prosecution.
“The State’s demand that physicians begin helping patients accomplish assisted suicide violates everything I know as a health care professional, as well as my deeply held Catholic convictions on the dignity of every human life,” says Dr. Keen. CLICK HERE for the full story
Massachusetts Passes Radical Bill for Abortions Up to Birth
LifeNews.com | Steven Ertelt | July 31, 2026 | Boston, MA
The Massachusetts Senate on Friday approved a radical bill that allows abortions up until birth even on healthy unborn babies. The legislature sent the measure to Gov. Maura Healey, an abortion advocate who is expected to sign it into law.
The Senate passed the measure this afternoon after Democrats fast tracked the measure to bypass the full committee process so the full body could pass the bill before the legislature adjourns today.
The legislation, House Bill 5595, passed the overwhelmingly Democrat House on July 22 by a vote of 119-33. Under current state law, abortions are allowed up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, although weak exceptions essentially allow it up to birth.
Abortions after that point are permitted only when the mother’s life or health is threatened (which could mean anything), or if the baby is unlikely to survive outside the womb. The new bill shifts the criteria for late-term abortions from that list of specific medical conditions to a more flexible standard based solely on the abortionist approving the abortion.
It would allow abortions to be carried out on babies at any gestational age after 24 weeks for any reason. CLICK HERE to read the entire story.