Weathering the Storm - Legislative Days 6-12 Georgia Right to Life (GRTL) has had a consistent full-time presence at the Capitol for decades. This team of activists works to lobby for pro-life legislation and helps influence its passage and works against against pro-death legislation that would send Georgia backward in our pursuit to create a culture of life. In 2016, GRTL's lobbyists are Joshua Edmonds, Director of Education & Legislation, and Johnny Crist, Mayor of Lilburn and our...
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (Setzler)
HB 837, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), authored by Representative Ed Setzler, is the House's legislation that would require courts to use a two-part test when handling religious liberty cases. The first part is determining whether the state has a compelling interest in interfering with the religious expression in question. The second part is determining whether the court is limiting that religious expression in the least restrictive means possible. This legislation is imperative...
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (McKoon)
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (SB 129) is modeled after the 1993 federal RFRA law that was supported by then-Senator Ted Kennedy and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. RFRA protects individuals and business owners from the government forcing them to violate their closely held religious beliefs without a compelling interest in doing so. The federal RFRA was instrumental in the US Supreme Court ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby and thus preventing the federal government from forcing...
First Amendment Defense Act
SB 284, the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), authored by Senator Greg Kirk, ensures that private citizens, Christian schools and adoption agencies, pastors, and churches cannot be discriminated against based on the exercise of their belief in the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman and the exclusivity of sexual behavior within that marriage. Georgia Right to Life supports SB 284. To read SB 284 in its entirely, click here.
Rationing: The New Healthcare App
In July, the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the world’s leading oncology association, announced the development of a new mobile app for cancer patients. This app is not intended to ease people through the treatment process, but to create a standardized way of limiting patients’ access to innovative treatments based on costs rather than benefits to the patient. Being sick is costly. However, being alive is also costly—even funerals are costly—but when did it become acceptable...
Rationing Healthcare
The New York Times begins to soften us for health care rationing. "Eventually, we may well have to decide against paying for expensive treatments with only modest benefits. But given how difficult that would be for this country, it makes sense to start with the easier situations — the ones in which “no” really is the best answer for patients. " Ever heard of a QALY? Quality Adjusted Life Years is a mechanism for rationing health care. Obamacare provides a "panel" to decide on the treatments...
