| 1. Pope tests negative for coronavirus, Italy report says. By Reuters, March 3, 2020, 1:37 AM Pope Francis, who canceled a Lent retreat for the first time in his papacy because he is suffering from a cold, has tested negative for coronavirus, the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported on Tuesday. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-health/pope-tests-negative-for-coronavirus-italy-report-says-idUSKBN20Q0K0
___________________________________________________________ 2. Mr. Trump’s Court to Hear Abortion Case. By The New York Times, March 3, 2020, Pg. A26, Editorial The case, June Medical Services v. Russo, which will be heard by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, centers on a Louisiana law that’s expected to force the closing of all but one of the state’s abortion clinics. The law requires that abortion providers jump through the medically unnecessary — and, for some, impossible — hoop of securing admitting privileges at a hospital near their clinic. … If the justices agree with Louisiana’s claim, they could imperil the future of reproductive rights litigation. It’d be a sly way of rolling back women’s rights by limiting their access to the legal system. Combined with the proliferation of TRAP laws and other anti-abortion measures, millions more American women would be left with a constitutional right that they’re not able to exercise — which is to say, no real right at all. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/opinion/trumps-high-court-hears-its-first-abortion-case.html?
___________________________________________________________ 3. Abortion case out of Louisiana a first test for Trump’s Supreme Court justices. By Robert Barnes, The Washington Post, March 3, 2020, 7:00 AM The Supreme Court’s next big abortion challenge comes from here in Louisiana. … It’s hard to overstate what a decision about this law — requiring difficult-to-obtain hospital admitting privileges for doctors who perform abortions in clinics — will reveal about this Supreme Court and its jurisprudence on what remains one of the nation’s most politically divisive topics. It will be the first time the two justices selected by President Trump, Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh, confront the merits of an abortion case. It marks a key moment for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who has never voted against an abortion restriction, in his new and pivotal role at the court’s center. https://cruxnow.com/church-in-uk-and-ireland/2020/03/catholic-leaders-call-for-uk-government-to-end-2-child-limit-for-public-benefits/
___________________________________________________________ 4. Vatican Researchers to Help Investigate Clerical Abuse: Researchers to hear testimony from abuse victims at the request of the Mexican church. By David Luhnow and Juan Montes, The Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2020, 10:14 PM The Vatican’s two senior sex crimes researchers will be dispatched to Mexico in late March to help investigate clerical abuse following the latest revelations in a long-running crisis involving a Mexican order known as the Legion of Christ. https://www.wsj.com/articles/vatican-researchers-to-help-investigate-clerical-abuse-11583205274?
___________________________________________________________ 5. Colombia Upholds Abortion Laws as Legalization Battle Shifts to Argentina: Both countries have become the focus of activists working to loosen Latin America’s strict laws against the procedure. By Kejal Vyas, The Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2020, 9:39 PM Colombia’s top court Monday opted not to expand abortion rights but campaigners for the procedure now look to Argentina, where the new leftist president said he will propose a legalization bill to Congress by next week. Both countries have become the focus of abortion legalization activists working to loosen Latin America’s strict laws against the procedure. But the effort in Colombia has for the moment been put on ice after magistrates of the Constitutional Court here voted 6-3 against a motion brought by the justice handling the case, Alejandro Linares, that sought to lift all restrictions on abortion through 16 weeks of pregnancy. https://www.wsj.com/articles/colombia-upholds-abortion-laws-as-legalization-battle-shifts-to-argentina-11583203155?
___________________________________________________________ 6. Supreme Court Will Hear First Major Abortion Case Since Two Trump Appointees Joined: Case will test new conservative makeup’s approach to precedent. By Jess Bravin, The Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2020, 6:48 PM The Supreme Court hears its first major abortion case Wednesday since two Trump nominees joined the bench, potentially signalling whether—and how much——reproductive rights may change under a bolstered conservative majority. … Most prominently, the case involves the Supreme Court’s approach to precedent, since it largely is a replay of an issue the court decided in 2016, when by a 5-3 vote it struck down a Texas law requiring that abortion providers obtain admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-will-hear-first-major-abortion-case-since-two-trump-appointees-joined-11583192925?
___________________________________________________________ 7. W.Va. governor signs ‘born alive’ abortion bill. By Anthony Izaguirre, The Washington Post, March 2, 2020, 2:41 PM West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Monday signed a proposal to penalize physicians who don’t provide medical care to a child born after an abortion, a largely symbolic measure due to existing laws that protect newborns. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/wva-governor-signs-born-alive-abortion-bill/2020/03/02/ca42778e-5cbd-11ea-ac50-18701e14e06d_story.html
___________________________________________________________ TCA Media Monitoring provides a snapshot from national newspapers and major Catholic press outlets of coverage regarding significant Catholic Church news and current issues with which the Catholic Church is traditionally or prominently engaged. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Catholic Association. | 
