Grandmas in Chains: Harris Legacy of Pursuing Pro-Life Activists Set Stage for Wider Legal Fight

Heather Idoni

Defending the abortion industry helped define Vice President Kamala Harris as California attorney general, especially a controversial 2016 raid on pro-life activist David Daleiden to seize and suppress undercover videos of Planned Parenthood officials who thought they were talking to “laboratory wholesalers” in Daleiden’s sting.

Some of those videos, released years later at a congressional proceeding, show Planned Parenthood tried to preserve fetal tissue to sell for research and avoid prosecution by detaching extremities.

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Commentary: Do-It-Yourself Abortion Pills Are So Dangerous

The Biden administration continues removing safety measures for the distribution of do-it-yourself abortion pills, turning local pharmacies into abortion clinics. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration is being sued for approving these dangerous drugs in the first place.

After the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization struck down Roe v. Wade, many states have passed protective pro-life laws. But unless state and federal policymakers take action, mail-order abortion pills will continue freely flowing across state lines. These drugs undermine pro-life progress and kill unborn children and hurt women and girls in the process.

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Catholic Counselor Asks SCOTUS to Reverse Decision Allowing States to Limit Speech Outside Abortion Clinics

A Catholic sidewalk counselor petitioned the Supreme Court Friday to reverse a prior ruling that permits states to enforce laws targeting pro-life counseling outside abortion clinics.

In response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2020, Westchester County, New York passed a law creating a 100-foot “buffer zone” outside abortion clinics where it is illegal to approach another person to engage in “oral protest, education, or counseling” without consent. The law is similar to one the Supreme Court upheld in its 2000 Hill v. Colorado decision, which sidewalk counselor Debra Vitagliano, backed by Becket Law, now asks the justices to overrule.

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Christian Group Sues over Minneapolis Ordinance Prohibiting Protests Outside Abortion Clinics

A Christian pro-life group filed a lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis Wednesday over an ordinance that prohibits any protests or demonstrations outside of abortion clinics, according to the lawsuit.

Pro-Life Action Ministries (PLAM), an “interdenominational” organization, has been doing sidewalk ministry and sit-ins at abortion clinics for decades, but an ordinance adopted by the city in November 2022 banned “disrupting access to reproductive healthcare facilities” from the driveway or “sidewalk or bikeway, that provides vehicular access from a street to a reproductive healthcare facility.” As a result, PLAM could not hold any sort of protest or sidewalk counseling around or nearby the clinic, prompting the group to file a lawsuit Wednesday.

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Experts Raise Concern Google’s Pledge to Protect Abortion Data

Google plans to purge users’ abortion-related data, including location entries showing visits to abortion clinics, as states pass new abortion restrictions following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

The company will automatically delete entries from users’ location history for certain health-related locations including abortion clinics and fertility centers, it announced July 1. Several experts have raised concerns about the pledge, given Google’s history of secretive health data collection.

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Gov. Lamont Vows to Keep Abortion Legal in Connecticut If Roe v. Wade Goes

Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Connecticut) gathered at the Lyceum Center in Hartford with abortion advocates on Tuesday to promise abortion rights will continue in the state regardless of any forthcoming decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The right to choose is under attack in numerous states across America,” Lamont declared, flanked by representatives of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England and the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund. “We won’t let that happen in Connecticut.”

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Abortion Clinic Dodges Ohio Law, Suggests Mothers Hide They’re Aborting Unborn Baby Because of Down Syndrome

An abortion clinic is dodging Ohio law by suggesting that pregnant mothers hide that they want to abort their unborn baby because of a Down Syndrome diagnosis.

Preterm Cleveland’s website offers a pop up message telling patients that “it is legal in Ohio to get an abortion for any reason,” but warning that “under a new Ohio law, we cannot provide an abortion if we know that the reason is in whole or in part because of a fetal Down syndrome diagnosis.”

“Preterm is open and seeing patients,” the pop up message reads. “Please call us with any questions or concerns.” 

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More Than 20 States Sue Trump Administration Over Title X Abortion Funding ‘Gag’

by Grace Carr   Twenty states will file a lawsuit Tuesday against the Trump administration over its latest move to force abortion clinics to separate abortion from other health care services in order to qualify for Title X funding. The states will file their suit in a U.S. District Court in Eugene, Oregon, Tuesday. The multi-state suit comes after Democratic California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration over its Title X rule in a U.S. District Court in San Francisco, The Washington Post reported Monday. Title X is a federal grant program that provides individuals with “comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services,” according to HHS. The 21 states are seeking an injunction to prevent the Trump administration’s Feb. 22 rule barring Title X funds from supporting programs and organizations that provide abortions or abortion referrals. The rule states that “none of the funds appropriated for Title X may be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.” The rule also “requir[es] the physical and financial separation of Title X projects and facilities from programs and facilities where abortion is a method of family planning,” according to the text. The…

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