(  )  Pope Leo has held his first meeting with ambassadors to the Vatican and reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s definition of marriage as a “stable union between a man and a woman”.  He also reiterated its ancient opposition to abortion in all its forms.  Critics of the late Pope Francis accused him of moving the church away from those two positions and many are looking to Pope Leo to restore doctrinal order.  He will also have to grapple with the ever-widening Catholic priest sex abuse scandal, which some surviors accuse Leo of being a part of.

(  )  A federal judge has ruled that Iowa can continue to restrict instruction on sexual orientation and so-called “gender identity” in schools up through the sixth grade.  However, the state will not be able to restrict those topics in nonmandatory programs.  U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher (LOCKER) offered a split decision, siding in part with the state and in part with an LGBT advocacy organization.  Republican majorities in the Iowa House and Senate passed the law in 2023, intending to reinforce age-appropriate education in kindergarten through 12th grades.

(  )  A judge has decided that a legal challenge against a Louisiana law that recategorized two widely used abortion drugs as controlled dangerous substances can move forward.  Judge Jewel Welch denied the Louisiana Attorney General’s request to dismiss a suit filed last year by opponents of the legislation, who argue that the reclassification of the pills is unconstitutional.  Louisiana became the first state to reclassify the pills.  The law marks an effort to get control over abortion drugs, which are now used to carry out roughly two-thirds of all abortions.

(  )  A Florida appeals court has ruled that a state law that allows minors to get an abortion without their parents’ consent is unconstitutional.  A three-judge panel of the Fifth District Court of Appeal found that the state’s judicial waiver law violates parents’ Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process.  The judges also cited the state’s parental rights laws, a recent ruling by the Florida Supreme Court and the landmark 2022 U.S. Supreme Court repeal of Roe versus Wade.  The case involved a 17-year-old girl who is seeking an abortion without the consent of her father.