(  )  Oklahoma’s new public schools superintendent is rescinding a mandate from his predecessor that required schools to place Bibles in classrooms and incorporate the scriptures into lesson plans for students.  The directive last year from former Superintendent Ryan Walters prompted a lawsuit from various liberal groups that is pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court.  It was to have applied to students in grades five through 12.  Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt appointed Lindel Fields to the superintendent’s post after Walters stepped down last month to take a job in the private sector.  The lawsuit might now be dismissed.

(  )  Costa Rica’s President Rodrigo Chaves has further restricted access to abortion, limiting it to situations when the mother’s life is in danger.  The country’s previous regulations also allowed abortions if a pregnancy posed a threat to the mother’s health.  No legislative approval was required for the action.  In making the rule change through the Health Ministry, Chaves makes good on a promise he had given religious conservatives at the Evangelical Alliance earlier this month.  The Alliance is celebrating the decision, releasing a statement saying “This is an opportunity to unite around a universal principle: the value of all human life.”

(  )  Uruguay has passed a law decriminalizing euthanasia.  This makes Uruguay the first country in Latin America to allow euthanasia via legislation.  Colombia and Ecuador have decriminalized the practice through Supreme Court decisions.  In Chile, left-wing President Gabriel Boric recently revived a euthanasia bill long stalled in the legislature.  The law in Uruguay permits euthanasia, performed by a healthcare professional, but not assisted suicide, which involves a patient self-administering a lethal dose of prescribed medication.  Pro-life advocates warn that these kinds of laws present a moral “slippery slope”.