March 18, 2022

Citigroup Announces Plan to Pay Travel Expenses for Employees' Abortions

The multinational banking corporation Citigroup announced this week that it will pay its employees' abortion travel expenses. The mega-corporation is one of the first to add travel expenses to employee benefits.

Citigroup will pay expenses such as airfare and lodging if an employee travels out of state to get an abortion. The New York-based bank created the policy in response to state heartbeat laws and bills enacting 15-week abortion bans.

By encouraging abortion, companies dehumanize women in an attempt to keep productivity high. Women miss more work due to pregnancy and maternity leave than they do when they get an abortion. Life-affirming benefits such as birth expenses, baby supplies, or daycare are rarely offered. Women and their children are not valued as people, they are only valued by their effects on a company's bottom line.

Kentucky Senate Passes 15 Week Abortion Ban

On March 16, the Kentucky Senate 31-6 passed a bill protecting babies from abortion after 15 weeks. The legislation advances to the Kentucky House.

The bill states, “no person shall intentionally perform or induce or intentionally attempt to perform an abortion on a pregnant woman when the probable gestational age of the unborn child is 15 weeks or greater.”

This bill is modeled after Mississippi's "Gestational Age Act," which is currently being considered by the US Supreme Court. In that case, Mississippi has asked the high court to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Roe v. Wade decision prohibits states from banning abortion prior to viability. If it is overturned, states will have the freedom to regulate abortion how they choose.

Kentucky Sen. Max Wise, who sponsored the bill, told senators that passing it would ensure Kentucky has a “pro-life law in place that would not be subject to a good-faith legal challenge,” if the Supreme Court upholds Mississippi's law.

March 17, 2022

West Virginia Legislature Passes Discriminatory Abortion Ban

West Virginia legislators voted on March 12 to pass legislation protecting babies with prenatal diagnoses from discriminatory abortions. The "Unborn Child with Down Syndrome Protection and Education Act" now goes to the desk of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice.

The law prohibits abortions decided because an unborn child is diagnosed with a disability or disorder. It includes exceptions for medical emergencies, or if the child has “a life-threatening physical condition that, in reasonable medical judgment, regardless of the provision of life-saving medical treatment, is incompatible with life outside the womb.”

Under this law, abortionists must submit a statement from the mother verifying that her reason for the abortion is not because of a disability the child has.

Finally, the legislation takes several steps that would provide parents with important information should their unborn child be diagnosed with a disability. This includes educational information about the disability, treatment options, and what support services exist. Parents would also be provided contact information for relevant education, support, and disability rights organizations.

Physicians who violate the law could have their medical licenses suspended.

Interestingly, the bill includes "severability" language indicating that if one part of the legislation is struck down by courts, other parts of the law can be enforced alone. This language makes the bill more resistant to lawsuits submitted by pro-abortion activists.

Planned Parenthood Sues Missouri over Medicaid Funding

photo credit: Paul Sableman / Flickr
Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against the state of Missouri on March 10 over a new state budget that withholds Medicaid funds from abortion businesses.

Missouri passed a budget in February that does not appropriate any Medicaid reimbursement funds to abortion businesses. It directs that "no funds shall be expended to any clinic, physician's office, or any other place or facility in which abortions are performed or induced other than a hospital."

Planned Parenthood's lawsuit argues that Missouri cannot disqualify abortion businesses from the program.

“State agencies are beholden to the appropriations laws as enacted by the General Assembly,” said Kelli Jones, a spokesperson for Missouri Gov. Mike Parson. “Other state legislatures have placed similar limitations on their Medicaid programs and ultimately the courts will adjudicate cases and controversies that arise from this kind of legislation.”

March 16, 2022

Indiana Gov. Signs Anti-Coercion Bill

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R)
On March 15, Indiana Gov Eric Holcomb signed a bill that will make it a felony to coerce a woman into having an abortion. Additionally, abortion businesses that don't report known coerced abortions can be held accountable under this law.

The law passed the Indiana House by a vote of 74-17, and it passed the Senate by a vote of 38-10. After it was signed into law, Indiana became the 18th state to have a law protecting women from coerced abortions.

“The Indiana legislature is to be applauded for strengthening protections for women who might otherwise be forced by their abusers into abortions they do not wish to have.” said Indiana Right to Life President Mike Fichter, “It is regretful, but not surprising, that abortion supporters opposed this legislation, placing the business of abortion over the safety of women.”

38% of the 1,000 men surveyed in a recent study indicated that they had the most influence on the decision to abort their child. Abortion businesses consistently profit from the coercion and abuse of men who push their partners toward abortion. Laws like this curb abuse and enable women to protect the lives of their unborn children.

Texas-Style Heartbeat Bill Sent to Idaho Gov

On March 14, the Idaho House voted 51-14 to pass the Senate's Texas-style heartbeat bill. The legislation will now be sent to Gov. Brad Little (R). The governor has not yet indicated whether he intends to sign the bill into law.

While the enforcement mechanism of Idaho's bill is similar to Texas's Heartbeat Act, the legislation differs from the Lone Star State's in several ways. The Texas law empowers private citizens to file civil lawsuits against those who perform, aid, or abet abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected (six weeks gestation). The only exception is for abortions performed during maternal medical emergencies.

Idaho's bill limits the people who can sue under the law, and it limits the people who can be targeted by these lawsuits. Those who can sue include the parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, or uncles of the preborn child. Only the abortion providers can be targeted in such suits.

The Idaho bill also includes exceptions for rape, incest, and maternal medical emergency.

The Texas Heartbeat Act has remained in place because it is not enforced by the state. Courts have determined that pro-abortion lawsuits challenging the law must select defendants other than the state or its officials.

Click here to read more.

March 15, 2022

Wyoming Passes Abortion "Trigger Bill"

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon (R)
Update: On March 16, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed this legislation into law. The state of Wyoming is now set to ban abortion if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

-----Original post below-----

On March 10, the Wyoming House of Representatives voted 45-15 to concur with the state Senate's changes to an abortion-banning "trigger bill." The bill now goes to Gov. Mark Gordon.

Wyoming's trigger bill would take effect "five days after the date that the Wyoming attorney general certifies to the secretary of state that the U.S. Supreme Court has overruled Roe v. Wade." When it triggers, the law will ban abortion at all gestational ages with several exceptions.

The exceptions include:
  • rape
  • incest
  • to save the life of the mother
  • if the mother is at serious risk of "substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function"

$1.5 Trillion Spending Bill to Include Hyde Amendment

Pro-abortion legislators in the House of Representatives have seemingly compromised with pro-lifers for the $1.5 trillion spending bill unveiled on March 9. The bill includes the Hyde Amendment, which Democrat lawmakers have recently been trying to overturn.

The Hyde Amendment is a pro-life rider on all spending bills passed since 1976. Its language bars federal tax dollars from directly funding most abortions. Many tax dollars do still end up subsidizing abortion through various programs, but the Hyde Amendment is a significant restriction on federal funding of abortion.

The spending bill still includes $575 million for international "family planning" programs, $286 million for Title X, $32.5 million for the United Nations Population Fund, and $200 million for a "Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund." All of this spending will subsidize or promote abortion.

March for Life President Jeanne Mancini told CNA, “this bill still sends far too many of our tax dollars to abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood.” She did applaud pro-life legislators for making sure pro-life riders made it into the bill, though. She emphasized that language such as the Hyde Amendment "will continue to save lives."

March 14, 2022

Texas Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Against Challenge to Heartbeat Law

The Texas Supreme Court issued a 9-0 ruling on Friday, March 11 that struck down a long-standing lawsuit against the Texas Heartbeat Act. In its ruling, the court found that state licensing officials do not have the power to enforce the Heartbeat Act. Therefore, they are not valid defendants in the pro-abortion lawsuit. This allows the law to stay in place for the foreseeable future.

The US Supreme Court had ruled that most defendants listed by abortion proponents in Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson were invalid. This is because the Heartbeat Act, rather than being enforced directly by state officials, is enforced by citizens through civil lawsuits. If abortion kills an unborn child in Texas past six weeks gestation (the age when a heartbeat becomes detectable), then individuals can file lawsuits against the people who facilitated that abortion. 

Abortion advocates who filed a lawsuit challenging the Heartbeat Act named a variety of organizations and state officials as defendants. The US Supreme Court found most of these defendants to be invalid, as the law is enforced through civil lawsuits, not Texas officials. The US Supreme Court did allow lawsuits to continue against several defendants, however. These included the Texas Board of Nursing, the Texas Medical Board, the executive director of the Texas Board of Pharmacy, and the executive commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. This brought the case back to Texas courts, where it would be decided whether these officials had the authority to enforce the Heartbeat Act.

With the Texas Supreme Court's ruling that Texas officials have no authority to enforce the Heartbeat Act directly or indirectly, Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson is essentially dead.

According to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the law has saved the lives of approximately 17,000 children since it went into effect on Sept 1, 2021.

March 11, 2022

Texas Superintendent Accused of Attacking Mistress Who Refused Abortion

A Texas superintendent has been placed on paid administrative leave and is under investigation. This follows accusations that he assaulted his pregnant mistress in her home after she refused to get an abortion.

Hafedh Azaiez, the superintendent for Round Rock Independent School District, has had a protective order filed against him. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has ordered that a redacted version of the alleged victim's application for the protective order be released. That document can be found here.

"Mr. Azaiez then started to threaten me verbally on phone calls and on text messages," the woman wrote in her application. "He asked me to have an abortion so that he would not lose his career and family. I was very upset at this, and I said no to an abortion and told him that I had made up my mind to have the child."

The woman wrote that Azaiez continued to threaten her through phone calls and text messages, which culminated in the alleged attack on July 6, 2021.

"He became so angry he grabbed my arms with force, shaking me and shoving me until he threw me to the floor," she wrote. "I developed bruises and since this attack and I have had some bleeding and spotting in my pregnancy and have been advised by my physician that I am threatened to miscarry the pregnancy."

The document also included a chain of text messages. It shows that the woman wrote to Azaiez, "No I will not get an abortion I will pay the consequences as you threatened me. This baby has a heartbeat. I will not kill it."

Azaiez responded to this, "For the last time I am telling you please get an abortion you don't know what you are getting yourself into. I will make you pay this you will not make me lose everything … Don't make me go after you and make you pay the consequences for you and this baby."

Women facing unplanned pregnancies often feel threatened or coerced into abortion. Click here to read a collection of statistics on the coercion and violence that such women face.

Becerra Visits New Hampshire Planned Parenthood After Awarding $500k Grant

Last week, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra visited Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) after awarding them $500,000 in taxpayer dollars.

The $500,000 Title X Dire Need grant was awarded by the Biden administration after the New Hampshire Executive Council voted to strip abortion businesses of public funding.

Becerra said in an press release that the grant is only a part of Biden's strategy to enable abortion businesses. “The Biden-Harris Administration understands that our nation’s family planning clinics, such as Planned Parenthood, play a critical role in achieving the objectives the President laid out on Tuesday.”

Becerra was referencing a separate statement released by President Biden to mark International Women's Day.

The HHS press release noted that the $500,000 received by PPNNE is only a portion of the $298 million fund the Biden administration has set aside for the Title X program.

March 10, 2022

Biden Promotes Abortion on International Women's Day

photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr
Joe Biden marked International Women's Day by again touting his support for abortion.

At the beginning of his March 8 statement, Biden made comments that could easily be construed as pro-life if one did not read the entire release.

“Every person deserves the chance to live up to their full God-given potential, without regard for gender or other factors,” Biden said. “Ensuring that every woman and girl has that chance isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s also a strategic imperative that advances the prosperity, stability, and security of our nation and the world.”

The president then listed actions his administration has taken with the intent to improve the status of women. Among them was that his administration "launched a whole-of-government effort to protect reproductive rights."

Biden's support for abortion directly contradicts his earlier statement. Everyone does deserve a chance to live up to their potential, not just those who are born. The girls and boys whose lives are ended by abortion are not given this chance. It is imperative that human rights be extended to all humans.

Wyoming Senate Passes Bill Banning Abortion Pills

The Wyoming Senate has passed a bill aiming to ban abortion pills in the state.

The language of Senate File 83 states that no person “shall manufacture, distribute, prescribe, dispense, sell, transfer or use any chemical abortion drug in the state for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion.” Violating the law could carry a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $9,000 fine.

Wyoming senators passed the bill by a vote of 20-9.

Recent reports, including from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, estimate that the abortion pill regimen accounts for the majority of abortions in the US.

“I believe that abortion is the taking of human life,” said Senator Tim Salazar, the bill’s sponsor. “I believe that there is life in that womb at the moment of conception.”

March 9, 2022

Idaho Senate Approves Texas-Style Heartbeat Law

On March 3, the Idaho Senate voted 28-6 in favor of a bill that would ban abortion after six weeks. The bill uses an enforcement mechanism very similar to Texas's Heartbeat Act, which has so far survived court challenges and remains enforceable.

Just like Texas's law, Idaho Senate Bill 1309 prohibits abortionists from aborting children with detectable heartbeats. This generally happens around the sixth week of pregnancy.

Texas's law allows any private citizen to file civil lawsuits against those who commit, finance, or enable the abortion of protected children. Because the enforcement occurs through civil lawsuits, Texas's law has been able to survive legal challenges.

Idaho's bill has some differences from the Texas law, however. If it is passed into law, only the abortion patient, her direct family members, or the aborted child's father would have the ability to file lawsuits. Additionally, only the abortion provider could be sued, rather than any individual who enabled the abortion.

Next, the bill will go to the Idaho House.

Montana Judge Voids Law Barring Non-Physicians from Committing Abortions

A Montana law prohibiting non-physicians from performing abortions has been permanently voided by District Court Judge Mike Menahan.

The 2005 law was challenged in 2018, after which Judge Menahan issued a temporary injunction barring the law's enforcement. That injunction went on to be upheld by the Montana Supreme Court. Now, it has been permanently voided by Menahan.

“The State has failed to demonstrate a compelling interest in limiting abortion providers to licensed physicians and physician assistants,” Menahan wrote in his ruling. “State has not clearly and convincingly demonstrated a medically acknowledged, bona fide health risk which justifies interfering with a patient’s fundamental right to choose her own health care provider.”

"Once again abortionists sued to lower the standard of care for Montana women in order to further their financial interests in performing as many abortions as possible," said Emilee Cantrell, spokesperson for Attorney General Austin Knudsen. "We are reviewing the order to determine our next steps."

Knudsen has called on Montana's Supreme Court to overturn a 1999 ruling that abortion was a guaranteed right implied by the state constitution's right to privacy. That precedent is currently being used to challenge three other pro-life laws, all of which currently have injunctions prohibiting their enforcement.

One would ban abortions after 20 weeks, the second would require abortion businesses to give women the opportunity to view an ultrasound of their children, and the third would require abortion businesses to see women during an in-person visit before prescribing abortion pills for them.

March 8, 2022

Illinois Bill Would Require Public Universities to Provide Abortifacient Contraceptives

A bill currently going through the Illinois legislature would require public universities to provide emergency contraception pills in at least one vending machine on campus. These pills are known to act as potential abortifacients for very early stages of pregnancy.

Rep. Barbara Hernandez (D-83) introduced HB4247 late last year. On March 3, the bill passed the House, and it has been referred to the Senate.

Emergency contraceptives (such as Plan B, Ella, or the morning after pill) work by either preventing ovulation, preventing fertilization, or by preventing embryos from implanting in the mother's womb. If the pill prevents an embryo from implanting, then it aborts the child.

This legislation encourages sexual activity among public college students, funds abortion through the use of taxpayer dollars, and continues to enable the myth that women should end the lives of their unborn children if they want to pursue a career.

March 7, 2022

DeSantis to Sign 15 week Abortion Ban

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R)
photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr
On March 3, Florida's Senate passed a bill that would prohibit abortion after 15 weeks gestation. The bill had already passed the Florida House, and Gov. Ron DeSantis signaled his intent to sign it into law "in short order."

Florida's legislation includes two very stringent exceptions.

The first exception can occur when “the termination of the pregnancy is necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life or avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman other than a psychological condition.”

The second exception can occur if two doctors certify that the child has a "fatal fetal abnormality" that would "in reasonable medical judgment, regardless of the provision of life-saving medical treatment, is incompatible with life outside the womb and will result in death upon birth or imminently thereafter."

Republican lawmakers rejected an amendment to the bill that would have created exceptions for incest, rape, and human trafficking. Sen. Kelli Stargel, the bill's sponsor, argued that it would be wrong to include such an exception. She argued that a child should not “be killed because of the circumstances in which it was conceived.”

President Biden responded the following day in a tweet, writing, “My administration will not stand for the continued erosion of women’s constitutional rights.”

Click here to read more.

Ohio Judge Blocks Abortion Survivors Protection Law

Hamilton County Court
Common Pleas Judge Alison Hatheway (D)
A county judge in Ohio has blocked a new law that would have provided protection for newborns who survive attempted abortions.

Hamilton County Court Common Pleas Judge Alison Hatheway issued a Temporary Restraining Order against Senate Bill 157 on March 2. This was the desired response from the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, which sued the state late last month.

After being signed into law, Senate Bill 157 was set to become effective on March 23. The law requires physicians to provide medical care for infants who survive abortion. Additionally, abortion businesses would be required to have physicians on staff with admitting privileges at local hospitals. To separate taxpayer dollars from abortion, doctors who work for publicly funded hospitals or universities would not be allowed to contract with abortion businesses to fulfill this requirement.

In her ruling, Judge Hatheway wrote that the pro-abortion organizations will "likely" succeed in their claim that the law “violates [their] due process rights to continue to operate its business and its staff’s due process rights to pursue their professions.” 

March 4, 2022

Supreme Court Rules AG Cameron Can Defend Pro-Life Law

Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron
The Supreme Court ruled in an 8-1 decision that Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron can defend a pro-life law after another state official refused to do so.

When pro-abortion Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear refused to defend a law prohibiting dismemberment abortions after 11 weeks gestation, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron stepped forward to defend the law. A lower court argued, however, that he had entered the process too late. Daniel fought a legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court for the right to defend this law, and this week he succeeded at the highest court.

“We applaud the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court for recognizing the right of a state officer to defend a state law when a pro-abortion governor refuses to do so,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life.

“Changing political winds do not give state officials the right to ignore a law passed by the duly-elected members of the state legislature and signed into law by a predecessor in the governor’s office,” Tobias continued. “It is outrageous that a lower court would act to prevent the attorney general of a state from defending a duly passed law.”

South Dakota Passes Law Requiring Women to See a Doctor Before Taking Abortion Pills

By a remarkable margin of 32-2, the South Dakota Senate voted on March 2 to pass a bill requiring women to have in-person examinations before chemical abortions (abortions using the abortion pill regimen). The bill already passed the House and is set to be sent to pro-life Gov. Kristi Noem's desk.

Noem, who introduced the legislation, is expected to sign it into law. After the bill passed, Noem tweeted,

"My legislation to ban telemedicine abortions passed the Senate and is on its way to my desk! With this bill, we will protect both unborn babies and their mothers from this dangerous procedure."

Many pro-life states are taking action to protect women from potential complications from self-managed abortion procedures involving abortion pills. If doctors do not verify the gestational age of the child or check for rare pregnancy conditions such as ectopic pregnancy, women can face deadly complications. Women who take abortion pills later in pregnancy or have ectopic pregnancies can suffer from severe hemorrhaging. If they do so while alone at home, which is becoming more common as abortion businesses prescribe pills via telemedicine, the risk to a woman's life is much higher.

Mail distribution of abortion pills was prohibited under FDA regulations until 2020. The FDA argued that suspending the regulations would mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Under the Biden administration, the FDA announced that the rule would be dropped completely.

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