There is a proposal on the ballot in Mississippi that would say human life begins at conception. If the measure passes, every fertilized human egg in Mississippi would be defined as a person, and that could make abortion, for any reason, murder.

Clinics in India pay poor women a lot of money to be surrogate mothers, but "the contracts are usually written to protect the wealthy people who are commissioning the baby," says ethicist Arthur Caplan.

Watch excerpts from 2008 and 2012 GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul’s June 3, 2011 speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Washington.

Watch excerpts from potential GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Jr.’s June 3, 2011 speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Washington.

Doctors and patients make health care decisions, says Dr. Bruce Silva of the Sierra Vista Regional Health Center, "but then it has to be okay'd by someone else who puts their belief systems and their ethics on me and on my patients."

The Republican Party made significant gains with Catholic voters as well as white Protestants. Did the Democrats give up on religious outreach?

The Republican victories this week were also a victory for the Christian right, says University of West Georgia history professor Daniel K. Williams.

"I would say to the evangelicals who have joined this movement be careful, you will be used," says Rev. Richard Cizik of the New Evangelical Partnership. "I want a society and a government and its policies to reflect values I find in Scripture, but that’s not what you hear from Tea Party leadership."

Join our discussion of the most anticipated religion and ethics news stories in the year to come.

Watch a panel of reporters discuss the most significant religion and ethics news of 2009.