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(SRN NEWS) – Abortion took center stage this week in a sometimes testy debate between candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court less than three weeks before the election. The race pits Republican-backed Judge Brad Schimel (SHIM-el) against Democratic-backed Judge Susan Crawford.  A challenge to an 1849 state law that bans nearly all abortions is currently pending before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.   Schimel says the future of abortion should not be decided by a group of judges, but by the voters.  The election, which is attracting a lot of outside money, is set for April 1st. 

A federal judge says she hopes to rule next week on whether to block President Trump’s order banning transgender people from serving in the military.  U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes (RAY-ess) says it is her “strong hope” that she will issue a decision next Tuesday or Wednesday.  In a hearing, the judge frequently sounded hostile toward the president’s order, suggesting to some observers that she had already made up her mind.  Government lawyers argue that Mr. Trump has broad discretion to decide how to assign and deploy servicemembers without judicial interference. 

A Republican lawmaker in Maine is suing the state’s Democratic House speaker over her censure, following a social media post critical of transgenderism.  State Representative Laurel Libby’s post condemned the state’s practice of allowing boys to compete against girls in school sports.  Libby has filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the censure violates her right to free speech.  Because she has been censured, she has been stripped of her right to speak and vote on the House floor — disenfranchising the thousands of residents in her district. 

The United Nations is expressing concern about religious freedom in Kyrgyzstan.  A panel of U.N. experts is back from a trip to the country and warns that “the government of Kyrgyzstan has introduced legislation that restricts freedom of religion or belief in a manner incompatible with its legal obligations.”  The new laws would limit how and where Christians can worship and levy large fines on any church that holds a gathering without first notifying the central government.  Roughly 83 percent of the population in Kyrgyzstan is Muslim with about 15 percent identifying as Christian.