Kentucky has just become another state to ban abortions once a heartbeat is detected, which is often around six weeks of pregnancy.

The “fetal heartbeat bill” was signed by Republican Governor Matt Bevin last Thursday.

“I am deeply grateful to be governor of a state that so overwhelmingly values the sanctity of human life,” he said in a press release. “Kentucky is leading the charge in this vitally important fight for the heart and soul of our great nation.”

Three other pro-life bills were also signed the same day. Senate Bill 50, also called the Chemical Abortion Reporting Act, states that doctors must inform patients of reversal medication abortions.

House Bill 5, the Human Rights of the Unborn Child and Anti-Discrimination Act, forbids abortions based off of sex, race or perceived disability.

And, House Bill 148 looks to the future should Roe v. Wade be overturned and bans all abortions in the state.

Bevin had attempted the heartbeat bill earlier this year, but was blocked by Judge David J. Hale, who ruled the law potentially unconstitutional, the New York Times reports.

With only one abortion clinic in the state, the Kentucky ACLU has also attempted to protect its existence. In 2017, Bevin signed another law requiring a written agreement with a hospital to transfer any patient with a medical emergency. ACLU feared the clinic would have to close should the bill…

A women’s shelter in Alaska has been granted temporary protection after the shelter denied housing to a transgender man.

According to the Christian Post, the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska issued a preliminary injunction last week for the Downtown Soup Kitchen Hope Center of Anchorage that will keep the city of Anchorage from enforcing anti-discrimination laws against the faith-based shelter.

District Court Judge Sharon Gleason said in the decision that while preventing “discrimination against protected classes is clearly an important public interest,” the city law does not apply to the homeless shelter.

“Therefore, enjoining the enforcement of those provisions against Hope Center’s homeless shelter will not significantly curtail the public interest,” she said.

She added that “the public interest would be adversely affected if (Anchorage Municipal Code) we’re enforced against Hope Center.”

Katie Anderson, senior counsel with the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, said she was pleased with the decision.

“All Americans should be free to live out their faith and serve their neighbors—especially homeless women who have suffered sexual abuse—without being targeted or harassed by the government,” Anderson said Friday.

“No woman—particularly not an abuse…

The governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, has signed a bill that mandates the teaching of LGBTQ history in all public schools.

The law, officially titled “House Bill 246” was introduced by Rep. Anna Moeller in a bid to make the history curriculum more inclusive. The bill states that, “In public schools only, the teaching of history shall include a study of the roles and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this State.”

The new legislative measure also includes a section which grants the state education department the power to enforce new rules and guidelines that will “ensure the religious neutrality of the textbook block grant program.”

The textbook block grant is a program that provides “annual funding for the direct purchase of selected secular textbooks that have been preapproved and designated by the State Board of Education.”

In a statement of commitment to the LGBTQ community, Pritzker declared that “the LGBTQ community won’t just have a seat at the table, they will be equal partners in the fight to make equality a lived reality for all.”

He also vowed to “fight back against Donald Trump” with regards to LGBTQ rights, accusing the GOP of having a “bigoted agenda” on the issue.

State Sen. Heather Steans, who also sponsored the bill, insisted that the…