This webinar will develop essential American Constitutional law principles and their relationship to the most significant bioethical issues of the day. Without this knowledge, meaningful participation in ongoing debates related to bioethics is seriously compromised. Topics will include the judicial lens by which legislation and regulations are examined for their constitutionality, including the tests applied to determine the validity of a claim of fundamental liberty. The meaning and application of the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Constitution will be presented and applied to topics such as: end of life health care, advance medical directives, capital punishment, contraception, marriage, and abortion – with special attention to the recent Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. If time permits, we will also examine government health care mandates and sexual orientation and gender identity laws and their relationship to constitutional and statutory rights to free exercise of religion and freedom of speech.

https://faithscience.org/catholic-bioethics/