Maryland

A recent ruling that it is unconstitutional to force pregnancy centers in Baltimore to put up signs declaring they have no licensed medical professional may help other centers facing similar pressures, said a faith-based legal group.

U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis ruled on Jan. 28 that city council violated the pregnancy centers' freedom of speech by requiring “pro-life” pregnancy centers to post such a sign. Alliance Defense Fund Senior Council Casey Mattox anticipates the Baltimore judge’s ruling will be favorable towards the pending case of a Silver Spring pregnancy resource center forced to post signs declaring that it is a limited-service pregnancy center.

Mattox told The Christian Post on Wednesday that the current law in Montgomery is carefully worded to put pregnancy centers at a disadvantage. more >>

Nearly 300 people gathered in prayer Monday to protest the first day of business of Leroy Carhart’s Germantown abortion clinic in Maryland.

The Nebraska abortionist debuted the Germantown Reproductive Health Services center, his first of three new clinics, on Monday. When he did, Carhart was met with by protesters and a prayer vigil.

“We in Germantown don’t have any intention of becoming the late-term abortion capital of Maryland,” protester Peter Sprigg told The Washington Post. Sprigg, who lives nearby, is a policy analyst for the Family Research Council. more >>

Late-term abortionist Le Roy Carhart is set to open a new clinic in Germantown, Md., on Monday.

Nebraska abortionist Carhart announced last month that we was going to expand his operations and next week he will deliver on that promise with a new clinic in the Montgomery County, a nearby suburb to Washington, D.C.

National Abortion Federation CEO Vickie Saporta told the Business Gazette that Carhart chose the largely Democratic state because its abortion laws are more progressive than his home town. more >>

The head of America’s Catholic bishops’ Conference asserted that church leaders had it right when they opposed the president’s health care plan during a speech Monday in Baltimore.

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops President Cardinal Francis George defended church critics who opposed President Barak Obama’s health care bill because of concerns that it would federally fund abortion.

“Our analysis of what the law itself says was correct and our moral judgments are secure,” proclaimed George. more >>

A Christian human rights group celebrated the launch of its first campus chapter on Thursday.

After 15 years of serving as an advocate for the worldwide persecuted Church, International Christian Concern (ICC) established its first ICC campus chapter at the University of Maryland in College Park, Md. The campus group held its first meeting Thursday afternoon.

“We are so excited to celebrate the launch of the first ICC campus chapter at UMCP,” said ICC president Jeff King. “College students around the country have been trying to do this for years and seeing this finally happen is a huge boost to religious freedom.” more >>

LANDOVER, Md. – The evangelical movement is at a “head-snapping” generational change with younger evangelicals “revolting” against the tone of the Christian Right, says a prominent religious scholar.

Across the nation, young evangelicals are naming Rick Warren or Bono as their role model for social engagement, rather than a Christian Right leader, says Michael Gerson, senior research fellow in the Center on Faith & International Affairs at the Institute for Global Engagement.

Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forrest, Calif., is known for mobilizing evangelical churches in the battle against HIV/AID in Africa, while U2 frontman Bono is one of the world’s leading anti-poverty activists. more >>