The Brew: AZ Supreme Court Upholds 160-Year-Old Strict Abortion Ban; Governor Wants to Turn Grandma Into Miracle-Gro
Plus, we say goodbye to Jessica Hanna, the Catholic pro-life activist who chose to forego cancer treatments rather than abort her child.
Happy Wednesday!
Today’s Brew can be titled “Strange Days.” But first, to LIFE!
Arizona State Supreme Court Upholds 160-Year-Old Abortion Ban
The Arizona Supreme Court yesterday upheld a 160-year-old abortion ban, which holds that anyone aiding an abortion can be incarcerated for two to five years. The only exception is when an abortion is necessary to save the mother’s life. (Oh, CNN. You just had to call mothers “pregnant persons,” didn’t you? Of course you did.)
Enforcement of the 4-2 ruling will be stayed for two weeks. Months before Roe v. Wade was overturned, Arizona passed a law limiting abortion to those performed up to 15 weeks of pregnancy. However, the court ruled that since the 15-week law was predicated on a supposed “federal constitutional right” to abortion which Dobbs confirmed does not exist, the 160-year-old law is now enforceable.
The decision now turns Arizona into an abortion hot spot for 2024, as pro-abortion forces push for ballot measures that would enshrine the right to kill the unborn into state constitutions.
Some battles are fought at the federal level, some at the state level, and some are far more personal.
Jessica Hanna Passes Away
On April 6, Jessica Hanna slipped into the arms of God. She drew worldwide attention for her decision to forego cancer treatment for the sake of her unborn child.
Husband Lamar broke the news of her passing on Jessica’s Instagram page, where the mother of four had been chronicling her journey.
View this post on Instagram
Hanna was 14 weeks pregnant in 2022 when she was diagnosed breast cancer. Doctors wanted her to abort the child to better treat Hanna, but she refused. The child would live. Hanna would later talk to EWTN Pro-Life Weekly about her brave decision to speak up after her diagnosis and decision for life.
“I thought no suffering should ever go to waste,” she said. “I don’t know where God is taking me. Is He going to take me to the path where I need to show people how to die gracefully, with His grace and mercy? Or is He going to show a miracle?
“I decided to use the social media to show people that no matter what you think is going to happen, it’s trust in God that is the most important … That you are going to abandon your own desires and wants and you’re going to leave it at the foot of the cross and let Him take care of it.”
Hanna is survived by her husband and four children — including Thomas Solanus, the child whose life she spared, perhaps at the cost of her own.
Please Support The Stream: Equipping Christians to Think Clearly About the Political, Economic, and Moral Issues of Our Day.
To some we are knitted by God in our mother’s wombs. To others, we are just pieces of organic matter who can be put to use when dead. And not just by adding our names to their voter rolls.
Making Compost Out of Humans? “Why Not?” Says Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs
“Inch by inch, row by row. Gonna make this garden grow.
Gonna take our Grandpa Joe and make this fertile ground.”
Human composting is now legal in Arizona after Gov. Katie Hobbs signed into law the so-called “Grandpa in the Garden Bill.” This allows residents to turn loved ones into soil via “natural organic reduction.” It’s being described as an “eco-friendly” way to deal with human remains rather than burial or cremation. Instead, your loved ones can be used to help grow veggies and flowers.
Arizona is the eighth state to allow the practice (following California, Colorado, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington State). Notice what else all these states have in common? But for Nevada, they are very blue states that reject the notion that humans are unique, divinely created beings.
Seems the only miracle they see when they look at humans is Miracle-Gro.
Jeans are Now Bad for the Planet
Who knew that when Brooke Shields was modeling Calvin Klein jeans she was accelerating the destruction of the planet? That “Forever in Blue Jeans” is the anthem of Earth Haters? Apparently, Levi Strauss is as bad for the environment as Exxon.
The Guangdong University of Technology studied the carbon footprint of a pair of Levi’s jeans, from growing the cotton through disposal. Researchers concluded that a pair of blue jeans worn only once creates 2.5 kg of CO2, the equivalent of driving 6.4 miles in a gas-powered car.
The real culprit is what’s called “fast fashion” — that is jeans worn seven or fewer times. That produces 11 times more CO2 than jeans worn more often.
Wait a sec. Jeans hurt the earth? (Well, the earth hurts jeans. How many pairs did I mess up as a kid diving and sliding in all manner of dirt, grass, and muck?)
Quick quiz: Can you name one thing Americans love that academics don’t declare racist or blame for climate change? Funny how that works.
Along The Stream
Dr. Michael Brown returns with “Denying the Reality of Replacement Theology.”
And in yesterday’s Afternoon Tea, Biden Blows Off Supreme Court, DOJ Blows Off Congress. Seems the White House Has Blown Off Our System of Government.
Al Perrotta is coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism. He’s currently opening your mornings with The Brew and later serving Al’s Afternoon Tea.
