RELIGION HEADLINES

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(SRN NEWS) – Pennsylvania has the biggest Jewish population of any swing state, and any shift could have enormous implications in a state decided by narrow margins the past two presidential elections. Now polls are indicating that many Jews, who have always voted Democrat, are planning to cast their ballots for Donald Trump next month. His friendliness toward Israel during his first term is the primary reason. And many Jews say rising acts of anti-Semitism in the U.S. and anti-Israel protests sweeping across cities and college campuses have made them feel unsafe.

Religious freedom advocates and human rights activists are making renewed calls for an end to blasphemy laws around the globe. Some 79 countries continue to enforce blasphemy statutes. And in places such as Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, violation of these measures can result in a sentence of death. The vast majority of nations that punish blasphemy are mostly-Muslim and the targets of those laws are inevitably Christians. Critics say the laws are often used to settle petty scores between neighbors.

A new report finds that women living in states with abortion bans obtained the procedure in the second half of 2023 at about the same rate as before the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade. The report by the Society of Family Planning finds that women in states with bans traveled out of state or had prescription abortion pills mailed to them. The report also found women increasingly used telehealth, as medical providers in pro-abortion states used online appointments to prescribe abortion pills and boost their business.

Abortion measures are on the ballot in 10 states after heated debates over terminology and impact — and that’s just in English. In many places where English isn’t the primary language among communities of voters, the federal Voting Rights Act requires that all election information be made available in each community’s native language. But that’s not always easy. There is no single word for abortion in many Native American tongues. And New York’s referendum doesn’t even use the word “abortion,” making it all the more challenging to convey intent.

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