Tag: abortion

With New Majority, Pennsylvania House Democrats Prioritize Abortion and Stopping Voter ID

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania Democrats in the House of Representatives are seizing their new majority in the state House of Representatives — secured this week with three special-election victories — to advance abortion and lose voting security. 

Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman Sharif Street, who represents part of Philadelphia in the state Senate, issued a statement congratulating Joe McAndrew, Abigail Salisbury and Matt Gergely, all of whom won Allegheny County-based House seats. The chair said he looks forward to the work he believes House leadership wants to do to keep abortion widely available and ensure Pennsylvanians need not submit identification to vote at the polls. 

Read the full story

‘Disgraceful’: Associated Press Directs Journalists Not to Use ‘Crisis Pregnancy Center’ in New Abortion Guidance

Admin

The Associated Press added an entry to its style guide directing journalists to put the term “crisis pregnancy center” in scare-quotes, and to use “anti-abortion center” instead, to convey that “the centers’ general aim is to prevent abortions.” 

The AP added this entry between Nov. 20 and Nov. 27, 2022, according to The Daily Signal’s search of the Wayback Machine. The guide describes the centers as “set up to divert or discourage women from having abortions” and warns writers against “potentially misleading terms” like “pregnancy resource centers or pregnancy counseling centers.”  

Read the full story

Charges Dropped Against Pro-Life Advocate Arrested for Silently Praying Outside Abortion Clinic

Admin

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a pro-life advocate and charity volunteer arrested for allegedly praying outside an abortion clinic, is continuing to seek legal action against United Kingdom authorities after prosecutors dropped charges against her.

Vaughan-Spruce was arrested in December 2022 after officers accused her of silently praying outside an abortion clinic in violation of England’s Public Protection Order zones that prohibit any kind of demonstration or “anti-social behavior” to protect abortion clinics. On Friday, the United Kingdom’s chapter of Alliance Defending Freedom, a public interest legal group, announced in a press release that prosecutors had dropped the charges, but Vaughan-Spruce intends to pursue legal action anyway to get a “clear verdict.”

Read the full story

Republican Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill to Permanently Block U.S. Foreign Aid Going to Fund or Promote Abortions

M.D. Kittle

The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision last year ending federalized protections for abortion under Roe v. Wade hasn’t stopped the Biden administration from promoting abortion abroad. 

A group of Republican senators is reintroducing a bill that would permanently enact and expand existing prohibitions on the use of U.S. foreign assistance to pay for the performance or promotion of abortion services overseas.

Read the full story

State Democrats Consider Repealing More of Minnesota’s Abortion Restrictions

Admin

Democrats just passed the Protect Reproductive Options Act, which critics are calling the most radical abortion law in the nation, if not the world. But they’re not done yet.

Next on the Minnesota DFL’s agenda is HF 91/SF70, which would essentially repeal what remains of Minnesota’s regulations on the abortion industry, including medical protections for infants who survive abortions and a ban on using public funds for the procedure under MinnesotaCare.

Read the full story

Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge Faces Judicial Conduct Complaint

M.D. Kittle

A Wisconsin resident has filed an ethics complaint with the Wisconsin Judicial Commission alleging Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice candidate Janet Protasiewicz violated the state Code of Judicial Conduct 

Randall R. Cook, a citizen and GOP supporter from Barron County, filed the complaint Monday asserting that the Milwaukee County judge has “announced how she will rule on issues that will likely come before the Supreme Court, such as abortion and the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s legislative maps.” 

Read the full story

Ohio Congressman Calls Out FDA for ‘Illegal’ Approval of Mail-Order Abortifacients

Bradley Vasoli

U.S. Representative Bob Latta (R-OH-5) is leading a charge by federal lawmakers against the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) relaxation of safety requirements for abortion drugs so consumers can access them by mail.

The Bowling Green-area lawmaker coauthored a letter with U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) and garnered signatures from 75 other members of Congress to insist that the FDA’s recent actions violate federal law. In particular, the legislators object to the agency’s approval of chemical abortion-inducing substances while no longer requiring in-person dispensing. 

Read the full story

Nationally Watched Wisconsin Supreme Court Race Is a Battle Beyond the Badger State

M.D. Kittle

The national left is all in on Wisconsin’s crucial Supreme Court race, a contest that will not only determine whether conservatives or liberals control the high court, but the fate of Gov. Tony Evers’ liberal agenda and, possibly, the 2024 presidential election. 

Conservative Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly, a former justice on the court, says the race is about the very survival of the constitution and the rule of law. 

Read the full story

Republican Senators Re-Introduce No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act

M.D. Kittle

In a show of pro-life solidarity, 47 Republican U.S. senators are re-introducing a bill that would establish a permanent prohibition on federal funding for abortion, replacing the current restrictions with a single, government-wide standard.

The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, the lawmakers say, attempts to clean up inconsistent and haphazard policies that have regulated federal funding for abortion.

Read the full story

Susan B. Anthony List Applauds 22 Pro-Life Attorneys General, Including Tennessee’s Skrmetti, in Urging the FDA to Reverse New Policy on Abortion Drug

Kaitlin Housler

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America recently thanked a coalition of 22 attorneys general, including Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, for sending a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the agency’s “illegal and dangerous” policy on mifepristone, a chemical abortion drug.

Read the full story

Catholic Universities Continue to Endorse Pro-Abortion Agenda

Admin

Wednesday marked the start of this year’s National March for Life, the first since the right to an abortion was federally overruled in June of last year in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. 

In light of the impending Dobbs decision, Alcindor stated in May of last year that she was worried about “women who are poor, women of color [being] forced to have pregnancies that they cannot afford to terminate, and pregnancies that will then turn into children” if states ban abortion.

Read the full story

New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith at March for Life: ‘Pro-Abortion Culture’ Is a ‘Modern-Day Flat Earth Society’

Susan Berry, PhD

The co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus told thousands of advocates for life on the National Mall in Washington, DC, that the “pro-abortion culture of denial” is a “modern-day flat earth society” that “continues to deny, devalue, and disrespect unborn baby girls and boys and trivialize the harm suffered by women.”

On Friday, Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) spoke at the 50th annual March for Life – the first since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Read the full story

Commentary: New Abortion Numbers Don’t Show Whole Picture, Especially with Do-It-Yourself Abortions on the Rise

Admin

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute each released new reports last November about abortion data for 2020, showing conflicting reports of a decrease in abortions versus a significant increase. While the lack of clarity in the number of abortions is alarming, the spread of do-it-yourself at-home abortions means that neither report is telling the whole story.

Read the full story

Why We March: Historic 50th March for Life, First in Post-Roe Era

Susan Berry, PhD

Thousands of pro-life Americans and advocates from other nations will gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Friday to celebrate the 50th March for Life, the first since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

The March for Life Education and Defense Fund says the theme for the world’s largest annual human rights demonstration is “Next Steps: Marching into a Post-Roe America,” one that calls pro-life advocates to continue their work in defense of the unborn and their mothers on both the state and federal level, including advocacy for “a minimum federal standard to protect innocent life against radical pro-abortion legislation.”

Read the full story

Ahead of the 50th Anniversary of Roe, 61 Percent of Americans Identify as Pro-Choice: Poll

Admin

A new poll found that 61% of Americans self-identify as pro-choice just ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade.

The Knights of Columbus (KC), a Catholic charity organization designed to “bring financial aid and assistance” to those in need, released an annual poll Wednesday concerning Americans’ opinions on abortion alongside Marist College (MC), a private liberal arts college in New York. The 2023 poll found that 61% stated that they identified as pro-choice, a 6% increase from 2022 before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that abortion was not a Constitutional right.

Read the full story

Exclusive: Reps. Harshbarger and Hern Introduce Bill to Stop Mail-Order Chemical Abortion

Kaitlin Housler

Representatives Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01) and Kevin Hern (R-OK-01) introduced a bill Tuesday in the U.S. House of Representatives to invalidate the FDA’s recently-updated Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) of mifepristone, a chemical abortion drug.

Mifepristone is a chemical drug treatment that works together with misoprostol to end a pregnancy through ten weeks gestation, according to the FDA.
Mifepristone is a chemical drug treatment that works together with misoprostol to end a pregnancy through ten weeks gestation, according to the FDA.

Read the full story

State Senator T.J. Shope Says Legislature will ‘Hold the Line’ on Hobbs’s Proposed Budget

Neil Jones

Following the unveiling of Gov. Katie Hobbs’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Executive Budget, State Sen. T.J. Shope (R-Florance) stated it was a budget he, and his GOP colleagues in the state legislature, would not support.

“My colleagues in the Senate GOP will not support this budget and its declaration of war on parents. We will not support taxpayer funded scholarship programs for non-citizens. We will not support a repeal of the Border Strike Force at a time when the scourge of fentanyl plagues our people,” Shope tweeted. “We are united and we will hold the line for the Arizona we love.”

Read the full story

Minnesota State Senator Declines to State When an Unborn Baby Becomes a Person

Admin

The author of a bill that would create a “fundamental right” to abortion through all nine months of pregnancy refused to state when she thinks an unborn baby becomes a human person.

Minnesota Democrats are expediting their Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act through the Minnesota Legislature, emboldened by an election victory that saw them recapture the Senate and take full control of state government.

Read the full story

House Democrats Oppose Resolution Condemning Violence Against Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers

Susan Berry, PhD

Nearly all House Democrats opposed a resolution Wednesday condemning the political violence against pro-life pregnancy centers and their supportive allies that occurred in the aftermath of the leak of the U.S. Supreme Court’s draft opinion in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

The House voted, 222-209, to approve the resolution, introduced by Representative Mike Johnson (R-LA) that states since the leak of the draft opinion, “individuals professing anti-life views have targeted, destroyed, or vandalized numerous pro-life facilities, groups, and even churches to further their radical cause.”

Read the full story

DeSantis Wants to ‘Further Advance Protections for Innocent Life’

Admin

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who signed a 15-week abortion ban into law last year, wants more protections for Florida’s unborn babies.

“The upcoming 2023 Florida legislative session starts in March, and we look forward to working with the Florida Legislature to further advance protections for innocent life,” press secretary Bryan Griffin shared with The Daily Signal on Tuesday afternoon.

Read the full story

Legislator Wants Pennsylvania Spousal Notification Requirement for Abortion Repealed

Bradley Vasoli

A lawmaker from Montgomery County is circulating a request to colleagues to back repeal of a requirement that a married woman seeking an abortion in Pennsylvania notify her spouse. 

In a preliminary description of the upcoming bill, state Representative Liz Hanbidge (D-Blue Bell) bemoaned last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide. Hanbidge insisted that Pennsylvania’s founding principles of freedom and individual sovereignty should empower people to kill unborn life without constraint. 

Read the full story

Idaho Supreme Court Finds No ‘Explicit Right’ to Abortion, Upholds Ban

Admin

The Idaho Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a state abortion law that bans the procedure except in cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother, rejecting the claim that the state’s constitution provides a right to abortion.

Idaho’s abortion law went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, but has been challenged in the courts multiple times by pro-abortion advocates.  The court ruled 3-2 to uphold the ban, stating that Idaho’s law that bans abortion under most circumstances does not violate due process or the right to privacy.

Read the full story

Commentary: President Trump, the Pro-Life Movement Doesn’t Need Pro-Abortion Politicians

Admin

President Donald J. Trump started 2023 with a post on Truth Social which drew the ire of many in the pro-life community. Trump wrote, “It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations . . . It was the “abortion issue,” poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters.” Trump went on to say, “Also, the people that pushed so hard, for decades, against abortion, got their wish from the U.S. Supreme Court, & just plain disappeared, not to be seen again.”

Read the full story

Pro-Life Wisconsin PAC Endorses Justice Daniel Kelly in Supreme Court Primary

Bradley Vasoli

The Pro-Life Wisconsin Victory Fund political action committee (PAC) on Thursday came out in favor of Justice Daniel Kelly’s election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. 

Kelly previously served on the court from 2016 to 2020 but failed to get reelected that spring. This year, he will face state Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Dorow (3rd District), Dane County Circuit Court Judge Everett Mitchell (Branch 4), and Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz (Branch 24) in the February 21 primary. The top two vote-getters will compete for the high-court seat in an April 4 general election. 

Read the full story

Pro-Life Leaders Push Back on Trump’s ‘No Exceptions’ Blame for Midterm Losses

Susan Berry, PhD

Former President Donald Trump accepted no blame for Republicans’ failure to achieve the anticipated “red wave” results in the midterm elections, but, instead, pointed a finger at pro-life candidates who insisted on “No Exceptions” to abortion as the reason for the party’s losses.

“It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the MidTerms,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday. “I was 233-20! It was the ‘abortion issue,’ poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters.”

Read the full story

Arizona Center for Policy President Says Court of Appeals Ruling on Abortion Not the End for Arizona’s Territorial-era Ban

Neil Jones

Arizona Center for Policy President Cathi Herrod, Esq., stated that the Friday ruling from the Arizona Court of Appeals “harmonizing” Arizona’s abortion laws to allow physicians to perform abortions up to 15 weeks in pregnancy is not the end for Arizona’s territorial-era ban on the practice.

“The fight to protect unborn life and women from the harms of abortion does not end with an Arizona Court of Appeals ruling. The three-judge panel’s decision today only temporarily blocks Arizona’s abortion law, which was in place in 1973 when Roe was wrongly decided,” said Herrod. “I am confident Arizona’s pre-Roe law limiting abortion to cases where the mother’s life is at risk will be upheld by Arizona’s Supreme Court.”

Read the full story

Washington State Senators File Constitutional Amendment to Double-Down on Abortion Rights

The Center Square

Two Washington state senators have proposed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the rights to obtain an abortion and to use contraception in the state, both of which are already codified in state law. 

The proposed amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 8202, was filed Dec. 21 by Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, and Sen. Patty Kuderer, D-Bellevue, at the request of Gov. Jay Inslee according to a joint statement from the lawmakers.

Read the full story

Pennsylvania Bill Proposal Requires Pain Medication for Unborn Humans Prior to Abortions

Bradley Vasoli

A measure proposed in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives this week would require the administering of pain medication to an unborn child before an abortion is performed. 

State Representative Tim Bonner (R-Grove City) circulated a memorandum asking other representatives to back his upcoming bill which would instruct abortion doctors to dispense pain relief to a fetus if the organism has gestated for longer than 15 weeks. Bonner suggested his bill would not affect the legality of ending a pregnancy and entreated lawmakers on both sides of the abortion issue to join him in sponsoring the legislation.

Read the full story

Archbishop Viganò: Holy See Delivered ‘Unjust and Illegitimate Punishment’ to Pro-Life Priest Father Frank Pavone

Susan Berry, PhD

Outspoken former papal ambassador to the United States Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò condemned the Holy See’s decision to laicize pro-life priest Father Frank Pavone, calling the action “unjust and illegitimate punishment,” and observed hypocrisy in the move while “the Roman Curia is infested with unpresentable characters who are notoriously corrupt and heretical sodomites and fornicators.”

“[A] person’s actions are consistent with who that person is, ”Viganò wrote at LifeSiteNews Thursday, and asserted that principle has been confirmed “in the canonical sanctions recently imposed by the Holy See on Father Frank A. Pavone, a well-known and appreciated pro-life priest, who for decades has been committed to the battle against the horrible crime of abortion.”

Read the full story

Texas Nurse Sues Veteran Affairs over New Federally Funded Abortion Policy

The Center Square

A health care worker has filed suit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs saying the federal agency has not allowed her a religious accommodation to avoid participating in the agency’s new federally funded abortion plan.

First Liberty Institute filed a lawsuit on behalf of Stephanie Carter, a nurse practitioner at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center in Temple, Texas. She’s worked for the VA for 23 years.

Read the full story

Hillary Clinton Compares America to Taliban in Afghanistan After Overturning Roe v. Wade

Susan Berry, PhD

Failed 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Friday America is now comparable to the Taliban in Afghanistan and Sudan after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, returning abortion decisions to the states.

“It’s so shocking to think that in any way we’re related to poor Afghanistan and Sudan,” Clinton said, according to Fox News, regarding abortion rights during the Women’s Voices Summit at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. “But as an advanced economy as we allegedly are, on this measure, we unfortunately are rightly put with them.”

Read the full story

Minnesota’s Limited Restrictions on Abortion Could Lead to Increased Taxes

The Center Square

Minnesota is more friendly to abortion than some of its neighbors, and that might impact Minnesota taxpayers.

Some abortion clinics are moving from states that are banning or limiting abortions to states such as Minnesota with fewer abortion restrictions. For example, Red River Women’s Clinic moved from Fargo, N.D., to Moorhead, Minn., to continue performing abortions, and says on its website that it offers abortion care and family planning services to all of North Dakota, northwestern Minnesota and South Dakota.

Read the full story

GOP Struggled with Voters 18-29 in 2022 Election over Abortion, Gun Rights, Climate Change

Just the News

The Republican Party struggled with young voters ages 18-29 in the 2022 midterm election, largely due to issues such as abortion, gun rights, and climate change, according to an analysis from Look Ahead Strategies. 

CNN found that House Democratic candidates “won voters under 30 by 28 points,” which was a two-point increase over the 2020 election data for that age group.

Read the full story

Outgoing Minnesota Lawmaker Pursues New Legal Avenue in Abortion Fight

Admin

A retiring Minnesota lawmaker and pro-life activist is asking his local city council to consider adopting a pro-life ordinance.

Outgoing state Rep. Tim Miller proposed a “Life City” ordinance before the Prinsburg City Council last week. The ordinance would allow citizens to sue medical providers for helping to carry out an abortion within city limits. The mother or father of the child would not be subject to litigation.

Read the full story

Minnesota AG’s Office Objects to Pro-Life Group’s Attempt to Intervene in Abortion Case

Admin

A Minnesota-based advocacy group called Mothers Offering Maternal Support (MOMS) has taken action to restore common-sense abortion restrictions for young girls and women, against the wishes of Attorney General Keith Ellison.

The group, which has close to 50 members, filed a new motion on Monday, Nov. 14 in its effort to oppose a ruling made by Ramsey County Judge Thomas Gilligan on July 11.

Read the full story

Connecticut Democrats Swept State and Congressional Races but Worry Their Candidates Underperformed in Cities

Susan Berry, PhD

Unofficial results on the Connecticut Secretary of State’s website suggest Democrats beat back Republicans in state races and in the entire congressional delegation, but the state Democrat Party apparently registered concerns that Governor Ned Lamont (D) underperformed in Connecticut’s large cities, areas in which its candidates typically win easily.

Read the full story