Pro-Life News

Abortion was once again the number-one cause of death globally in 2020, with a record 42.7 million unborn babies killed in the womb, according to data provided by Worldometer. As of December 31, 2020, there were 42.7 million abortions performed in the course of the year, Worldometer revealed, while 8.2 million people died from cancer, 5 million from smoking, and 1.7 million of HIV/AIDS. By comparison, worldwide deaths from the coronavirus in 2020 totaled 1.8 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. Read more......

Some appeals in the lower courts have remained undecided for as many as 2 1/2 years, suggesting that some conservative-dominated lower courts are slow-walking cases in hopes of a dramatic change in abortion rulings from the Supreme Court. Among the restrictions involved in these cases are bans on abortions at early stages of pregnancy, with six states banning abortions after six weeks. That's before many women even realize they are pregnant. Then, too, are bans on the most common method of surgical abortions. There are laws making it more difficult to obtain medical abortions using pills. There are laws making it illegal to terminate a pregnancy because of fetal abnormalities, including Down...

After years of court battles, that went as high as the US Supreme Court, an Indiana law signed by then Governor Mike Pence in 2016 is now in effect. The law requires that women getting an abortion have an ultrasound at least 18 hours before. "When women see that there is a human being living and growing inside of them, they do indeed choose life,” said Melanie Garcia, Right to Life Michiana. The law was challenged by Planned Parenthood, but the organization dropped the suit after it got an ultrasound machine at its Fort Wayne facility which will allow them to keep doing abortions. Read more......

With a stronger GOP presence in both chambers of South Carolina’s General Assembly, pro-life legislators will use the opportunity to implement an agenda they say would make the state among America’s leaders in fetal protection laws. A Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee takes up a bill that if approved would essentially outlaw abortions in South Carolina, making them illegal once an ultrasound detects a heartbeat, which can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The measure, known as the fetal heartbeat bill, coasted through the House last year but never saw a Senate floor vote because GOP leaders said they didn’t have the numbers to block a Democratic filibuster. Read more......

With reproductive rights in the spotlight after the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett last fall, conservative and liberal states are even more divided over abortion. Across the South and the Midwest, Republican legislators have introduced laws that would limit abortions or try to ban them altogether in hope of undermining decades of precedent. At the same time, Democratic-led states are cementing abortion rights and making abortions more accessible. Driving the burst of activity is the rightward shift of the Supreme Court, which has cast uncertainty on the future of Roe v. Wade. Read more......

The US Supreme Court refused to hear a case on protest-free buffer zones for abortion clinics. The case involved an ordinance in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that prohibits protesters from demonstrating within 15 feet of abortion clinics. The plaintiffs were religious, pro-life, sidewalk counselors. They contended that they did not demonstrate under the ordinance and instead "offer[ed] women entering and leaving the clinic information about abortion alternatives, post-abortion resources, prayer, and personal support." They also argued that the ordinance bars their First Amendment-protected speech. In denying the petition for certiorari, Justice Clarence Thomas cited complex...

A team of North Dakota lawmakers has thrown its weight behind a bill that would make getting an abortion in the state legally akin to murdering an unborn child. Anti-abortion advocates are withholding judgment on the new proposal, but Democratic lawmakers reject it, saying the state would end up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars defending an unconstitutional abortion bill. Under House Bill 1313, someone found to have performed an abortion, unless the procedure is done to save the life of the mother, would be guilty of a Class AA felony, punishable by up to life in prison without parole. Read more......

Access to the abortion pill will require in-person pickup, despite the ongoing pandemic. The Supreme Court of the United States issued its first ruling on abortion since the arrival of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the bench. The ruling reinstates a stipulation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that requires pregnant people to pick-up medication to end pregnancy in-person at a hospital or medical office. Medication abortion made up about 40 percent of all abortions in the U.S. in 2017, with the majority offered at high-volume clinics and specialized facilities. Data shows that as abortion rates in the U.S. decrease, the proportion of medication abortion is steadily increasing. Read...

As it appears Missouri has become the first state since the Roe v. Wade decision to virtually eliminate abortions, Baptists are celebrating while preparing for more battles ahead. "at least in practice." However, Planned Parenthood still claims abortion services are offered at one of its St. Louis locations. Operation Rescue alleges that in actuality, "no abortion appointments have been available there for months, and none are available anytime in the foreseeable future." Instead, the group claims PP clients are being shuttled across the Mississippi River to a recently completed facility in Fairview Heights, Ill. Read more......

Republican lawmakers, encouraged by their party's unified control of state government after the November elections, are advancing a number of bills that could, if enacted, dramatically limit access to abortions across Montana. Some of the bills have had similar versions introduced in past legislative sessions only to be met with vetoes from the governor's office. The election of Gov. Greg Gianforte, who took office in early January, has given advocates increased hope of passing new restrictions, given Gianforte's record of opposing abortion in general and funding anti-abortion organizations through his family's philanthropic trust. Read more......

Sen. Lindsey Graham has introduced a bill to ban abortions at 20 weeks four times since he was elected senator of South Carolina and today he submitted it again for the fifth time. The bill, named the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, would offer protections for unborn children at 20 weeks, or about five months, after fertilization. Graham claimed that there is significant scientific evidence that abortion at 20 weeks can cause pain to the fetus. Including Sen. Tim Scott, 43 other Republican senators cosigned the bill. Read more......

Republican legislators put a proposed anti-abortion amendment to the Kansas Constitution on the ballot for the state’s August 2022 primary election, hoping voters ensure that lawmakers can keep imposing restrictions. The Senate approved, 28-11, a measure that overturns a Kansas Supreme Court decision in 2019 that declared access to abortion a “fundamental right” under the state's bill of rights. The House approved the same measure last week with only Republican members' support. Approval by a simple majority of voters would change the Kansas Constitution, and the primary generally draws smaller and more conservative group of voters than a November general election. Read more...  ...