March 24, 2022

Idaho Gov. Signs Texas-Style Heartbeat Law

Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R)
On March 23, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed the Fetal Heartbeat Preborn Child Protection Act. This makes Idaho the first state to enact a law modeled after Texas's Heartbeat Act. Many pro-life states are considering similar laws because Texas's Heartbeat Act has withstood legal challenges.

The law passed the Senate 28-6 and the House 51-14.

Like Texas's Heartbeat Act, Idaho's new law protects the unborn by empowering individuals to file civil lawsuits against those who abort children with detectable heartbeats. A heartbeat becomes detectable at six weeks gestation. The law includes exceptions for rape, incest, and medical emergencies.

Idaho's law differs from the Texas law by limiting the people who can file lawsuits to family members of the aborted child. This includes the child's parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, or uncles. Additionally, only the abortion providers can be targeted in such suits. Texas's law allows those who knowingly fund or provide transportation to an abortion to be targeted by lawsuits.

New California Law Prohibits Co-Pays for Abortions

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law on Tuesday, March 22 that eliminates out-of-pocket costs for abortion.

The law will increase health insurance premiums for both individuals and employers, but it will benefit abortion businesses. The customers of abortion businesses will no longer need to pay anything out of pocket, and it will be easier for abortion businesses to sell their deadly services.

“As states across the country attempt to move us backwards by restricting fundamental reproductive rights, California continues to protect and advance reproductive freedom for all,” Newsom said in a statement. “With this legislation, we’ll help ensure equitable, affordable access to abortion services so that out-of-pocket costs don’t stand in the way of receiving care.”

“Instead of focusing on how to make abortion services more affordable, the legislature should be working on making the cost-of-living more affordable for mothers and caregivers,” California Catholic Conference executive director Kathleen Domingo said March 18 after the California Assembly passed the bill.

California joins Illinois, New York, and Oregon as the only states to ban co-pays for abortion expenses.

March 23, 2022

Washington State to Expand Abortion

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D)
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to sign legislation that would expand abortion in the state by allowing non-physicians to commit abortions.

Pro-abortion advocates in the state of Washington say that the legislation will enable abortion businesses to provide abortion for women coming from states with pro-life laws. 

Gov. Inslee commented on the pro-abortion bill in response to an Idaho bill modeled after the Texas Heartbeat Act: “This bill will increase the number of people who are statutorily allowed to provide this service to the citizens of Idaho. If Idaho will not stand up for your constitutional rights, we will.”

Allowing less-qualified individuals to commit abortions will likely lead to more injuries and complications among women who have abortions in Washington state. Potential abortion complications include hemorrhaging or infection, either of which can lead to death.

March 22, 2022

Illinois Senate Health Committee Hears HB5048

Update: This legislation has been given an extended deadline of April 4 to get out of the Illinois Senate Health Committee.

---Original post below---

At 3:30 on March 22, the Illinois Senate Health Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on HB5048, which poses right to life concerns regarding euthanasia and the withholding of medical care.

HB5048 would require nursing homes to provide certain residents with Practitioner Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms. Nursing homes would be required to have an employee or a physician discuss the form with them.

POLST forms are used to determine what kinds of treatments a patient might approve if they are unable to make decisions for their care. After SB 109 passed last year, POLST forms no longer require the signature of a witness. This means that a nursing home patient won't have the security of a witness to make sure the patient understands what they are signing.

The patients with whom nursing homes would be required to discuss POLST forms fall under two categories:

  • a patient who "is at high risk for a life-threatening clinical event because the person has a serious life-limiting medical condition, which may include advanced frailty"
  • a patient who "has a history of an emergency department transfer or admission or a hospitalization for the treatment of a life-threatening emergency or clinical event due to a serious, chronic, and life-limiting condition, which may include advanced frailty.

This legislation has already passed the Illinois House of Representatives.

New WHO Guidelines Advocate Abortion Without Limits

photo credit: Guilhem Vellut / Flickr
The World Health Organization (WHO), an agency of the United Nations, released new guidelines earlier this month advocating that all countries throughout the world legalize abortion until birth with no restrictions.

“Being able to obtain safe abortion is a crucial part of health care,” said Craig Lissner, acting Director for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research at WHO. “Nearly every death and injury that results from unsafe abortion is entirely preventable. That’s why we recommend women and girls can access abortion and family planning services when they need them.”

The WHO strangely argues that legalizing and deregulating abortion makes it safer.

“It’s vital that an abortion is safe in medical terms,” Dr. Bela Ganatra, Head of WHO’s Prevention of Unsafe Abortion Unit, said. “But that’s not enough on its own. As with any other health services, abortion care needs to respect the decisions and needs of women and girls, ensuring that they are treated with dignity and without stigma or judgment. No one should be exposed to abuse or harms like being reported to the police or put in jail because they have sought or provided abortion care.”

Not only does abortion almost always end in the death of an innocent human being, it also poses risks to the women who have abortions. This is especially true as unsupervised at-home abortions using the abortion pill regimen become more common. Women who have undiagnosed ectopic pregnancies or don't realize that they are attempting the abortion pill past the recommended gestational age are at much higher risk of injury or death.

March 21, 2022

Ohio Introduces Abortion "Trigger Law"

photo credit: Jim Bowen / Flickr
Legislation introduced in the Ohio House would effectively ban abortion in the state if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

The "Human Life Protection Act" states that abortion “shall not be performed, except when necessary to preserve the woman from a serious risk of death or of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, not including any psychological or emotional conditions.” The legislation is written such that it will not take effect unless the Supreme Court issues a decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

The Human Life Protection Act had already been introduced to the Ohio Senate, but Ohio State Rep. Jean Schmidt introduced the bill in the House to help the process along.

“With a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court coming as early as this June, we are doing everything possible to prepare for a post-Roe Ohio,” said Mary Parker, Director of Legislative Affairs at Ohio Right to Life. “This companion bill will help expedite the legislative process to get the bill to Governor Mike DeWine.

Last week, Wyoming became the 13th state to enact a "trigger law" that would ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

21 States File Brief in Support of South Carolina Heartbeat Law

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall
Led by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, 21 state attorneys general filed an amicus brief on March 16 in support of South Carolina's Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act.

The law was enacted on Feb 18, but it was quickly enjoined by a district judge on March 19. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that injunction, and the law is currently not enforced.

South Carolina's law prohibits abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detectable. It also requires abortionists to give mothers the opportunity to view ultrasound images of their children, hear their fetal heartbeats, and receive other information about them.

In their brief to the Fourth Circuit, the attorneys general argued that the court should not have enjoined the law in its entirety. Instead, they argued that the court could have allowed the state to enforce its disclosure and education requirements separately from the abortion ban.

“At least 24 states currently require an abortion provider to offer to display the image from an ultrasound so the pregnant mother can view it. Yet the courts enjoined South Carolina’s ultrasound disclosure law,” Marshall said. “Same for South Carolina’s requirement that abortion providers make the fetal heartbeat audible for the pregnant mother if she would like to hear it—a law that at least 16 other states have also enacted. And same for South Carolina’s requirement that an ultrasound be performed before an abortion is conducted—a requirement shared by at least 12 other states.

“The courts tread on South Carolina’s sovereign ability to decide for itself the purposes of its legislation, completely ignoring the State General Assembly’s clear intent, written in the text of the law, that if any part of the law were held unconstitutional then the remainder would not be invalidated.”

Click here to read more. 

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.”

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