Commentary: Pro-Life Leaders Must Engage in Battle Against Abortion Ballot Measures Now

Pro-Life Rally

Thanks to the Dobbs decision and pro-life leaders, 24 states have laws protecting unborn children at 12 weeks or sooner. Through ballot measures, abortion activists are trying to reverse that progress so anyone can get an abortion anytime, anywhere. These activists are targeting ten pro-life states which have laws that protect 30,000 babies in the womb annually.

The proposed constitutional amendments go far beyond Roe to establish unlimited abortion, eviscerate parental rights, and remove health and safety requirements for women. Though some of the measures include the word “viability,” the broad exceptions in the law ultimately allow elective abortion in all nine months. Ohio Democrats have introduced legislation that does this following the vote on Issue 1 laying bare the policy agenda they are pursuing but denied during the amendment campaign.

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Oregon GOP State Senators Who Staged Walkout over Abortion Can’t Run for Reelection, High Court Says

Oregon Supreme Court

The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that 10 Republican state senators are ineligible to run for reelection after they participated in a quorum-denying walkout for six weeks last year to stall legislation on abortion, transgender treatments and firearms.

The high court decided in favor of Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade, who had disqualified the senators from running for office again after voters approved a measure in 2022 to amend the state constitution to ban lawmakers with more than 10 unexcused absences from running again. 

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‘Did Not Align with Our Mission’: Catholic University Fires Professor Who Brought in ‘Abortion Doula’

Rachel Carbonneau

Catholic University confirmed to The Daily Signal that it has terminated the contract of the professor who invited a self-declared “abortion doula” to speak to students about coaching women through abortions and “pregnant men” through a “seahorse birth.”

Catholic University President Peter Kilpatrick announced to students on Jan. 30 that the university “terminated our contract with the professor who invited the speaker” after obtaining “clear evidence that the content of the class did not align with our mission and identity.”

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High Court Brushes Up Against Constitutional Abortion Access

PA Supreme Court Justices

A recent state Supreme Court ruling side-stepped the question of constitutional abortion access in Pennsylvania, reviving discussion over a would-be ballot referendum mired in legislative gridlock.

Five justices said Monday the Commonwealth Court erred when it dismissed a 2019 case brought by seven abortion providers challenging Medicaid coverage restrictions first established in 1982 and upheld in 1985.

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‘Seahorse Births’: Abortion Doula Normalizes ‘Pregnant Men’ Giving Birth in Lecture to Catholic University Students

Catholic University of America

A self-declared “abortion doula” spoke this week to Catholic University of America students about her experiences coaching women through delivering or aborting babies, as well as coaching “pregnant men” to deliver in what she called a “seahorse birth,” according to audio of the class lecture obtained by The Daily Signal. 

A Catholic University nursing student described Tuesday’s lecture to The Daily Signal, saying the guest speaker said she also practices Reiki, a controversial Japanese method of spiritual healing and self-improvement.

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New Tennessee Bill Would Outlaw ‘Abortion Trafficking’ of Minors

Jason Zachary

A bill introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly would criminalize abortion trafficking of minors. 

HB 1895 “creates the criminal offense of abortion trafficking of a minor; provides for a civil action against a person committing the offense of abortion trafficking of a minor for the wrongful death of an unborn child that was aborted,” according to its summary. 

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Wisconsin Republicans Introduce Abortion Bill as 2024 Election Draws Near

Robin Vos

Wisconsin Republicans introduced a bill Friday that would ban abortion at 14 weeks, just months ahead of the 2024 presidential primary.

The bill would limit abortions in the state by an additional six weeks since Wisconsin already has a 20-week ban on the books, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. In addition to passing the legislature and getting Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ signature, the bill would also have to appear on the ballot for voters during the state’s primary election in April, which is just months before the presidential election in November.

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Montana Attorney General Shoots Down Proposal to Enshrine Abortion in State Constitution

Austin Knudsen

Attorney General Austin Knudsen of Montana stopped an abortion ballot proposal from going through on Tuesday, claiming it was “legally insufficient,” according to the Montana Free Press.

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana launched the ballot initiative in November 2023, which would prevent “the government from denying or burdening the right to abortion before fetal viability,” according to the Idaho Capital Sun. Knudsen dismissed the proposal, arguing in a memorandum that it was “legally insufficient” and “logrolls multiple distinct political choices into a single initiative,” the Montana Free Press reported.

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Senator James Lankford Commentary: The Abortion Industry’s ‘Very Safe’ Lie Is Putting Women at Very Big Risk

James Lankford

It sounds so simple. Take these pills, and your problem will be over—except, it isn’t. People do not forget an event so significant. A few months ago, social media went into a frenzy when Britney Spears shared that she was pressured by her boyfriend 20 years ago to take abortion pills. After two decades she still described the chemical abortion as “one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life.” She is not alone.

The abortion industry has worked overtime to convince women that chemical abortions are “very safe”—even making the claim that they are safer than Tylenol. They attempt to conflate chemical abortions with contraceptive pills to push them on moms as a “safe” way to end a pregnancy. But the drugs used in a chemical abortion are far more dangerous.

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DOJ Attorney Playing Key Role in Jack Smith’s Prosecution of Trump Worked on Case That Put Pro-Life Activist in Jail

Molly Gaston

One of the prosecutors helping special counsel Jack Smith prosecute former President Donald Trump for alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election also worked on a high-profile case against a pro-life activist.

Molly Gaston, a prosecutor who spent years in the District of Columbia U.S. Attorney’s Office and is now playing a key role on Smith’s team, worked on the early stages of the prosecution of pro-life activist Lauren Handy. Handy had been in jail since August when she, along with four co-defendants, were found guilty of violating the Freedom of Access To Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for blocking access to a Washington, D.C., abortion clinic in 2020.

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Trump Earns Praise from Pro-Life Activists as 2024 Election Nears

Trump March for Life

Former President Donald Trump has gained traction with several pro-life groups in his bid for the GOP nomination despite the movement’s heavy criticism of him over the last several months for changing his position on abortion, according to The Washington Post.

Trump has said in the past that he would not support a 15-week federal abortion ban and in September he claimed that he did not “frankly care” whether there was a federal or state ban on abortion, according to Axios. Pro-life groups such as Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America and Students for Life (SFL) had called out Trump for failing to support the pro-life movement but recently stated that while he is not the most ideal candidate, the former president has gotten the job done in the past, according to the Post.

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Commentary: CDC’s Latest Abortion Numbers Is a Sobering Reminder of Monumental Task Ahead

The most recent report on abortion from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is out and, as usual, it’s grim.

The number of abortions rose from 620,327 in 2020 to 625,978 in 2021. The key drivers in this depressing increase are a greater use of dangerous chemical abortion pills and weakened safety protocols governing the use of such pills.

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Commentary: As Planned Parenthood’s Abortion Market Share Goes Up, So Does Its Taxpayer Funding

To borrow from an old saying, nothing can be certain except for death and taxpayer funding for the abortion industry. At the request of pro-life members of Congress, the Government Accountability Office released the latest round of data detailing how much taxpayer funding goes to Planned Parenthood and other international abortion organizations. From 2019 through 2021, Planned Parenthood in the U.S. received $1.7 billion in taxpayer subsidies.

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Pro-Life Experts Warn Leftists Are Using Texas Woman’s Abortion Battle as ‘Highly Public Flashpoint’

Kate Cox asked the Texas Supreme Court to give her permission to abort her unborn baby, a baby that has a condition known as trisomy 18. On Monday, her lawyers said that she will go to another state to end the baby’s life. That same day, the court said Texas law didn’t require her to ask its permission.

Trisomy 18 is a condition where a baby has an extra copy of chromosome 18, making it highly likely that the baby will die in the womb or shortly after birth—though some babies with trisomy 18 do survive, such as former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s daughter. Cox’s lawyers have argued that by not aborting her baby, Cox is jeopardizing her health and future fertility.

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Arizona Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments on Dispute over the State’s Two Restrictive Abortion Laws

The Arizona Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday in a case involving challenges to Arizona’s 1864 law that mostly banned abortion. The Arizona Legislature passed a law in 2022 banning abortions after 15 weeks, anticipating the U.S. Supreme Court reversing Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson. The reversal also revived the older law, which was initially passed when Arizona was still a territory. In October 2022, the Arizona Court of Appeals found that the two laws were in conflict, and placed an injunction on the older law from going into effect as to physicians, effectively allowing abortions to take place up to 15 weeks under the new law.

Since Attorney General Kris Mayes declined to pursue the case after the appeals court ruling, Dr. Eric Hazelrigg, an obstetrician and medical director of Choices Pregnancy Center in Arizona, filed a petition in March asking the state’s high court to review the ruling and the injunction, which it agreed to do. Former Attorney General Mark Brnovich had initially asked a court to reinstate the original pro-life law, which was blocked in 1973 due to Roe, but the trial court’s revival of the law was quickly reversed by the appeals court. 

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Abortion Groups ‘Siphoned’ Billions from Taxpayers over Three Years, Report Shows

Abortion advocacy groups received close to $2 billion in federal taxpayer funding from 2019 to 2021, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released on Tuesday.

The GAO report was first requested in early 2022 by 142 congressional members led by Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn and New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, who underscored their concerns that taxpayer dollars are being used to fund abortion services. The report revealed that Planned Parenthood received approximately $1.78 billion in taxpayer funding from 2019 to 2021 and is receiving increased federal support under the current Biden administration.

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YoungkinWatch: Governor Denies Campaigning on Abortion Was Mistake, Acknowledges Americans ‘Living Paycheck to Paycheck’

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin

Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) denied that Virginia Republicans suffered from his political action committee’s heavy campaigning to restrict abortion during the November elections during a Monday interview. However, the governor also acknowledged the majority of Americans are “living paycheck to paycheck” in remarks that follow a leadership challenge against his allies in the House of Delegates, which was reportedly orchestrated due to frustrations over Republicans’ failure to campaign on the economy.

Responding to criticisms that Virginia Republicans may have suffered due to Youngkin’s Spirit of Virginia PAC spending heavily in favor of restricting abortion during the 2023 elections, the governor told Bloomberg that campaigning on abortion “was not a mistake.” He seemed to argue the issue gave Republicans something to run on, telling the outlet, “I firmly believe that one of the challenges that we have had as Republicans is we haven’t been clear on what we’re going to do.”

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Alabama’s Tuberville Ends Nine-Month Hold on Most Military Promotions

Alabama Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Tuesday ended his nearly 10-month hold on most military promotions over the Department of Defense’s abortion policies.

Tuberville made his stand in response to Pentagon policy using taxpayers’ money to give service members time off and pay to travel to other states for abortions. The policy from the Biden administration was enacted after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

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Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs Signs Petition Seeking Referendum to Enshrine Abortion Access in State Constitution

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs (D) signed a petition on Tuesday that calls for a public referendum to allow Arizonans to vote on whether to enshrine abortion access into the state’s constitution.

In remarks made before the media ahead of signing the petition, Hobbs claimed the abortion referendum is “about women’s ability to wholly participate and thrive in our society and our economy.”

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Nevada Judge Dismisses ‘Misleading’ Bid to Make Abortion a Constitutional Right

A Nevada judge ruled against a “misleading” petition to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution Wednesday, claiming that it violates the “single subject rule.”

In October, the Coalition for Parents and Children (CPC) PAC filed a lawsuit against a petition by Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom (NRF) to put an amendment on the ballot that protects access to abortion and birth control, and prenatal and postpartum care, according to The Hill. Carson City District Court Judge James Russell said that he was dismissing the petition because it did not focus on just abortion and, therefore, violated the “single subject rule,” according to the ruling.

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Missouri Supreme Court Deals Blow to Republicans in Abortion Ballot Case

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled against Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s request to change the language of a proposed abortion amendment’s language Monday, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

An appeals court had ruled earlier this month that Ashcroft’s summaries of the amendment were “argumentative” and “politically partisan” because of his use of terms like “unborn child,” which the court considered “problematic.” Ashcroft appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court but the justices declined to hear his appeal, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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YoungkinWatch: Democrats Release Plan to Put Abortion in Virginia Constitution, Ban Guns after Governor Promises Bipartisan Agenda

Gov. Glenn Youngkin

Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly announced joint legislative plans on Monday to enshrine abortion access into the state’s constitution, raise the minimum wage, automatically restore voting rights for felons, and ban AR-15 rifles. The plans were released after Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) said he would pursue bipartisan legislation in the Democrat-controlled General Assembly.

Virginia Democrats in both chambers of the legislature say they submitted four bills on Monday, the first day of prefiling for the 2024 General Assembly Session, which seek to make good on the party’s campaign partisan campaign promises.

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Christian, Pro-Life Groups Push to Reauthorize Biden’s ‘Reimagined’ AIDS Program Promoting Abortion

Several Christian organizations have supported full authorization of an AIDS relief program even though the money has gone to organizations that advocate more abortions abroad. 

In several public statements, President Joe Biden’s White House has called for promoting abortion abroad, frequently in references to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, better known as PEPFAR. 

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Oklahoma Supreme Court Keeps Block on Three State Laws Restricting Abortion

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against three of the state’s pro-life laws Tuesday, arguing that they would inhibit a woman’s right under the state constitution to get an abortion to protect her health, according to court documents.

The three laws in question require doctors to be board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology, to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and requiring doctors to perform an ultrasound 72 hours before administering any drugs used to initiate an abortion, according to the Associated Press. Several pro-abortion groups including Planned Parenthood (PP) and the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) sued the state, arguing the laws were unconstitutional and the state Supreme Court agreed to place a temporary halt while the lawsuit runs its course, according to the ruling.

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Right-to-Life Sues over Michigan Abortion Rights Amendment

Right-to-Life and other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit on federal constitutional grounds challenging the enactment of Proposal 3, an abortion rights amendment voters enshrined into the Michigan Constitution.

The American Freedom Law Center and Great Lakes Justice Center sued in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan on behalf of 16 plaintiffs challenging the abortion rights law voters passed Nov. 8, 2022.

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Ohio Voters Pass Statewide Issues 1 and 2

Ohio voters passed both statewide issues on the ballot Tuesday, according to unofficial election results published by the Ohio Secretary of State’s office.

With the passage of Statewide Issue 1, a constitutional amendment, Ohio will now allow for late-term abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, nullifying the state’s current law, which permits abortions up until 22 weeks of pregnancy for any reason.

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Abortion Looms Large in Virginia’s General Election

The issue of abortion has loomed large in this year’s General Assembly general election, as Virginia is the only state in the South not to impose additional restrictions on abortion after the release of the Dobbs decision.

As Virginia has a chance of a Republican trifecta after Nov. 7, Democrats this election season have captured national attention as they fight to preserve abortion freedoms in the state. 

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Appeals Court Rules State Abortion Ballot Language Using ‘Right to Life,’ ‘Unborn Child’ Is ‘Argumentative’

The Missouri Western District Court of Appeals upheld a decision on Tuesday that declared Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft used “argumentative” and “partisan” language in a ballot description of a proposed abortion amendment, court documents showed.

A Missouri judge determined in September that Ashcroft’s use of phrases such as “right to life,” “unborn child” and “dangerous, unregulated, and unrestricted abortions” were “problematic,” and rewrote the secretary’s summary to include approved language. The Court of Appeals agreed that Ashcroft tried to “mislead” voters with “insufficient and unfair” language, but said the rewritten ballot summaries must specifically mention abortion to accurately describe the proposed amendment, according to court documents.

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GOP Senator Presses Defense Secretary on Missing Evidence Behind Abortion Claims

A GOP senator questioned the Department of Defense (DOD)’s missing justification for its controversial abortion travel policy after the Pentagon said it still needed to assess the impact of abortion restrictions on the military, in a letter exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Republicans have opposed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s measures to counteract state abortion restrictions implemented since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Supreme Court decision in June of 2022, including by paying travel expenses for women seeking abortions. The Pentagon argued abortion restrictions would harm military readiness and lethality, but Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi hammered Austin again for failing to provide data backing up that claim in a letter dated Oct. 27.

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Florida Democratic Leader Files Pro-Abortion Legislation

Florida’s Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book has filed three pro-abortion bills for the 2024 legislative season.

Senate Bill 256 focuses on crisis pregnancy centers – clinics that provide a variety of reproductive services for free to the community, including prenatal care and anti-abortion counseling. The clinics are not required to be licensed or inspected and Book, D-Plantation, wants regulation.

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Tennessee AG Skrmetti Sues Biden Administration Over Withheld Federal Funds During Abortion Battle

After the Biden Administration bypassed the state of Tennessee completely and decided to give the state’s Title X funding directly to Planned Parenthood in September, Tennessee’s attorney general is taking action. 

“We are suing to stop the federal government from playing politics with the health of Tennessee women,” Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter. “Our lawsuit is necessary to ensure that Tennessee can continue its 50-year track record of successfully providing these public health services to its neediest populations.”

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Florida Attorney General Asks State Supreme Court to Intervene in Proposed Abortion Amendment

Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody of Florida asked the state Supreme Court Monday to review language for a proposed abortion amendment that would enshrine the practice up to viability, according to The National Desk.

The amendment was submitted by Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF) and has amassed 0ver 400,000 of the 891,523 signatures needed by Feb. 1 to get the amendment on the November 2024 ballot, according to The National Desk. Moody has been vocal in her opposition to the amendment and told the court Monday that she felt FPF’s proposed language did not “satisfy the legal requirements” for a spot on the ballot.

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Appeals Court Reverses Previous Ruling That Halted Idaho’s Abortion Ban

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a lower court decision to block Idaho’s abortion ban Thursday, according to court documents.

U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Idaho B. Lynn Winmill, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, ruled in August that the law could stop doctors from referring patients to abortion clinics in other states in an emergency due to fear of prosecution. A panel of judges appointed by former President Donald Trump, however, determined that the state’s case to uphold the ban was likely to succeed and that for the time being “public interest is best served by preserving the force and effect of a duly enacted Idaho law,” according to court documents.

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Rep. Ogles Introduces Bill to End Chemical Abortions

Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) introduced The Ending Chemical Abortion Act on Thursday, seeking to end chemical abortions using the abortion pill.

“Chemical abortions not only end a human life but pose a serious risk to the lives of the mothers. The FDA has failed to protect women and unborn children for over 20 years. In 2021, it went even further and eliminated the in-person dispensing requirement. This decision has led to an overwhelming increase in chemical abortion-related ER visits, health complications, and even deaths,” Ogles reportedly said while flanked by pro-life students and legislators at a press conference near the U.S. Capitol. “It’s a tragedy that the Biden Administration and the FDA would put their radical pro-choice agenda ahead of the health and safety of women and girls across the country.”

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Wisconsin Pro-Life Groups Call on Liberal DAs to Enforce Abortion Law and Stop Planned Parenthood

Pro-life groups are calling on liberal district attorneys in the Badger State’s two largest cities to enforce abortion statute as Planned Parenthood resumes performing abortions in Wisconsin.

Members of Wisconsin Right to Life, Wisconsin Family Action, and Pro-Life Wisconsin held a press conference last week at the state Capitol demanding Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne and his liberal counterpart, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm follow statute 940.04, which prohibits most abortions in the state.

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Federal Government Bypasses Tennessee State Government, Will Give Millions in Title X Funding Directly to Planned Parenthood

In a move that drew criticism from Tennessee’s governor, the federal government plans to bypass the state’s health department and directly fund Planned Parenthood.

After the Human Life Protection Act took effect in August of 2022, ending the practice of abortion in Tennessee, Tennessee was denied Title X funding from the federal government.  

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Aaron Gulbransen: ‘I Know What Donald Trump Is Doing on the Issue of Abortion’

Aaron Gulbransen, executive director for the Faith and Freedom Coalition Tennessee and long time pro life activist shared his insights with listeners on Tuesday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on the strategy behind the messaging Donald Trump is using to effectively define and box-in the radical Left on the issue of abortion.

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GOP Presidential Candidates Prepare for Critical Second Debate Without Trump

If Wednesday’s second GOP presidential primary debate proves to be anything like the first, we’re in for a night of political punches and maybe a rhetorical gang fight or two as the candidates look to score points in another Trump-less bout.

With former President Donald Trump skipping the debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA, top tier candidates like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley will try to tell those watching why they’re a better option than the race’s far and away frontrunner — and the rest of the crowded field of Republican candidates.

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Michigan Democrat Is Threatening to Derail Her Party’s Abortion Agenda

Democratic state Rep. Karen Whitsett of Michigan said that she will not be voting in favor of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s abortion bill package, which would significantly ease abortion restrictions, according to The Detroit News.

Whitmer announced her support of several bills on Aug. 29 aimed at lowering restrictions on abortion, such as eliminating the mandatory 24-hour waiting period for women to make an informed decision before having the procedure and allowing for Medicaid funding of abortion. Whitsett explained Wednesday that she could not support taxpayer funding for abortions, and that women should have time to make a choice and understand the decision they are making, according to The Detroit News.

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Abortion-Related Bill Filed as Florida Supreme Court Ponders Six-Week Ban Law

A bill seeking to prevent Florida women from being prosecuted for seeking abortions out of state was filed last week as the state Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of the state’s six-week abortion ban. 

In a news release, Florida Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, D-Davie, said she had filed legislation to prevent pregnant women and girls from being criminally charged and imprisoned for obtaining an abortion, stating that the new bill — Senate Bill 34 — was in response to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ claim that only abortion providers would be prosecuted.

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Abortions Resume in Wisconsin

It remains to be seen just how quickly the return of abortion in Wisconsin will end up before a judge after Planned Parenthood on Monday started offering abortion services at its clinics in Milwaukee and Madison.

“Thank you so much for your enthusiasm that PPWI has restarted abortion services! We are as thrilled as you are! We haven’t been able to respond to all our DMs, comment on every thread about abortion, or talk to you individually about how you can help (but we’re trying),” Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin said on social media Monday.

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Kinder, Gentler Iowa Cattle Call of GOP Presidential Hopefuls Sees Ramaswamy, DeSantis, Haley Generate Most Buzz

The latest cattle call of GOP presidential contestants — sans former President Donald Trump — mainly maintained Iowa nice, a departure from last month’s first fiery primary debate and a similar Christian conservative event in July hosted by conservative talk show host lightning rod Tucker Carlson.

The 10 presidential candidates who appeared at Saturday’s Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Annual Fall Banquet and Presidential Town Hall took relatively few direct shots at their rivals.

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