Judge Temporarily Exempts Women With Complicated Pregnancies From Texas Abortion Ban

Kanishka Singh for Reuters reports that in Texas, women with complicated pregnancies are exempted from a state abortion ban under a temporary injunction issued on Friday, with Judge Jessica Mangrum citing a lack of clarity on the ban’s medical exemptions. Mangrum ruled that doctors cannot be prosecuted for application of “good faith judgment” for provision of abortions for physical medical conditions. The Texas Attorney General’s Office has filed a notice of an accelerated appeal directly to the Texas Supreme Court. PRRI research finds that 57% of Texans believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases.

‘I Look Over My Shoulder a Little More:’ LGBTQ+ People on Surviving Hostile Laws in the South

Catherine Dorrough for The Guardian reports that nearly half of the 492 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced around the U.S. are taking hold in southern states. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality and a Buncombe county commissioner, stated that: “The southern states very specifically have been used as sort of laboratories on the introduction and advancement of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.” Yet, research fromPRRI shows that a majority of southerners (61%) oppose allowing religiously based service refusals to serve gay and lesbian people. According to the Williams Institute, one-third of American LGBTQ+ adults live in the south, where their support networks are growing.

Robert P. Jones on BBC Radio: Why Pastors Remain in Lockstep with Trump

PRRI President and Founder Robert P. Jones recently discussed former President Trump’s ongoing legal trouble on Sunday on BBC 4 with William Crawley. Jones stated, “So far, we have seen only very modest effects of multiple indictments of Trump among white evangelical Protestants that make up the core of Trump’s base, and we see this remarkable steadiness in his support numbers.” Jones continued, “Part of Trump’s promise to preserve white Christian dominance is tapping into something very old in white evangelical theology that has blended white Christianity and white supremacy,” said Jones. To learn more, pre-order Jones’ forthcoming book The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future here.

The Death Industry Is Changing, Maybe for Good

Madison Hall at Insider writes that Americans are increasingly choosing to move away from the traditional burial process due to a decline in religious observance combined with financial considerations. PRRI research helps to explain this shift: in 2022, only 43% of Americans reported attending religious services at least a few times a year, down from 56% in 2013. While cremations cost 40% less than funerals with burials, each cremation can release more than 500 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Sara Williams, the president of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, told Insider that some funeral homes are beginning to offer newer-age alternatives such as “aquamation,” where a body is dissolved in a vessel, or human composting.

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Read PRRI’s full spotlight “Surveys Suggest that Public Opinion on Race Is at Odds with Anti-Critical Race Theory Laws” here.