Austin, Texas, Jul 16, 2018 / 12:45 pm
A federal court of appeals sided with the Texas Catholic bishops in a July 15 ruling blocking a request from abortion groups to access the bishops' private communications regarding abortion.
"Hitting churches with subpoenas to win the culture wars was a bad idea from the start," said Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, which represents the Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops.
"We are glad that the Fifth Circuit recognized the deep problems with allowing lawyers to use the power of the court system to probe the private religious discussions of religious groups," he continued. "That is especially so here, where the plaintiffs oppose the Texas Catholic bishops' right to participate equally in public discourse."
Whole Woman's Health, a chain of Texas abortion facilities, filed suit against the State of Texas two years ago over a law that requires aborted fetal remains to be either buried or cremated. Previously, the remains were treated as medical waste and thrown into a landfill.