Life Advocacy Briefing

Question of the Week

COULD IT BE PLANNED PARENTHOOD that is behind the plethora of ads bombarding constituents of such solid Senators as Missouri’s Josh Hawley with fearmongering about supposed “drastic cuts to Medicaid” in the budget reconciliation bill? (Planned Parenthood in nearby Illinois appears to be the source behind an e-mail campaign whining about such cuts and about potential closure of their baby-killing shops, declaring itself one of the chief beneficiaries of Medicaid spending.)

How Are We Doing?

PRO-LIFE CITIZENS IN INDIANA HAVE MUCH TO CELEBRATE, thanks to their sustained, active commitment to the election of pro-life public officials and to those officials’ determined loyalty to the protection of unborn children as a firm plank in their political agenda.

Having reported 7,702 abortions in 2022 in Indiana, the state’s lawmakers responded to the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade with legislation, just two months after the Supreme Court’s U-turn. The number of reported abortions in the state in 2024 “plunged,” reports Ben Johnson for The Washington Stand, “to 142 – 40 to protect the mother from death, 93 due to lethal fetal anomaly and nine due to rape or incest.” (While celebrating the 98% decrease in abortions and commending the state’s officials for their role in squaring the law with our nation’s long-hallowed commitment to the right to life, we note the state’s job is unfinished when it comes to defending the lives of those who were lost to “exceptions” in the law.)

And How About in Minnesota, of All Places?

PLANNED PARENTHOOD HAS ANNOUNCED IT WILL CLOSE four facilities in Minnesota and four in neighboring Iowa, reports Doug Mainwaring for LifeSiteNews. The announcement came on May 23, “attributing the move,” Mr. Mainwaring notes, “to recently enacted state laws prohibiting many abortions, the Trump Administration’s current freeze on some federal funding and likely future federal budget cuts to the abortion giant.” (Those laws were, unfortunately, not enacted in Minnesota.)

“Of the eight to be closed, only two reportedly offer abortion procedures,” writes Mr. Mainwaring, “including its facility in Ames, where Iowa State University is located.”

Five remaining locations of Planned Parenthood North Central States, in Minnesota, “will still be committing abortions” in the state, according to LifeSiteNews, citing the Associated Press as source for the report. Three of those are in the metro-Minneapolis area. But “no Planned Parenthood location will be offering abortion procedures in Iowa,” reports Mr. Mainwaring.

The closures will involve 66 employee layoffs, with 37 other staff being “relocated … within the organization,” writes the LifeSiteNews reporter, who quotes the CEO of the North Central States PP outfit, Ruth Richardson: “‘We have been fighting to hold together an unsustainable infrastructure as the landscape shifts around us and an onslaught of attacks continues.’”

Mr. Mainwaring lists locations where Planned Parenthood is shutting down shop. In Iowa: Ames, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City and Urbandale. In Minnesota: Alexandria, Apple Valley, Bemidji and Richfield.

The one thing the two neighboring states appear to share is the Planned Parenthood affiliate which operates in both upper-Midwest states. The political climates in the two states stand in stark contrast, with Iowa’s government dominated by the GOP and Minnesota’s by a leftwing version of the Democratic Party. Iowa’s GOP-dominated state legislature and governor “have steadily moved,” writes Mr. Mainwaring, “toward creating a safe haven for the unborn, while Minnesota has doubled down on anti-Life legislation,” and its governor continues to be Tim Walz, the Democratic Party’s leftwing nominee for Vice President in 2024.

While Planned Parenthood “will continue to have a strong presence in the North Star State, with 10 facilities continuing to operate following the closures in the coming year,” comments Mr. Mainwaring, Iowa’s Heartbeat Law last year “reportedly contributed to a nearly 40% drop in abortions, according to a report by the Guttmacher Institute. The law, which generally prohibits abortion after six weeks, went into effect on July 29, following legal challenges. It includes exceptions for rape, incest, allegedly fatal ‘fetal abnormalities’ and supposed threats to the mother’s life.”

But in Minnesota, even a “born-alive” protection bill was rejected by the legislature, “with every Democrat,” notes Mr. Mainwaring, “voting against the measure.”

And in Missouri …

THE MISSOURI SUPREME COURT LAST TUESDAY OVERTURNED a county judge’s orders from December and February which had effectively suspended abortion restrictions in the state’s laws.

Reports Jason Hancock of the Missouri Independent, the high court “ordered a judge in Kansas City to lift an injunction that had blocked restrictions on abortion, a decision,” he writes, “that upends access to the procedure six months after voters enshrined reproductive rights into the state constitution. The two-page order” from the state’s supreme court “imposes a ‘de facto abortion ban’ in the state, according to the leaders of the state’s two Planned Parenthood affiliates.” And, he adds, “Abortion appointments at the Planned Parenthood clinics [in] Kansas City and Columbia were canceled in the wake of Tuesday’s decision.”

Though a victory for now, the state supreme court’s ruling is only one step in on-going litigation brought on by the abortion lobby’s painfully narrow win at the ballot box last November. But it does remove for now the local judge’s ruling that abortion could “resume while the case made its way to a January 2026 trial,” reports Mr. Hancock.

Last week, the state’s high court “determined [Judge] Zhang applied the wrong standard in rulings, ordering her to vacate her earlier orders and re-evaluate the case using the standards the court laid out,” writes Mr. Hancock.

Though a spokesman for the Missouri ACLU “painted Tuesday’s [high court] ruling as only a temporary setback,” writes Mr. Hancock, “Republicans celebrated the Supreme Court ruling.

“‘Today’s decision from the Missouri Supreme Court is a win for women and children and sends a clear message – abortion providers must comply with state law regarding basic safety and sanitation requirements,’ Attorney General Andrew Bailey [R] said in an e-mailed statement,” quoted by Mr. Hancock.

For their part, the CEOs of two Missouri-based Planned Parenthood affiliates “released a statement decrying the ruling,” writes Mr. Hancock, “as putting Missouri ‘back under a de facto abortion ban and is devastating for Missourians and the providers they trust with their personal healthcare decisions.’”

Notes Mr. Hancock: “A decade ago, more than 5,000 abortions were performed in Missouri, according to the Missouri Dept. of Health & Senior Services. By 2020, when abortions were still legal, that number fell to 167, a drop that abortion providers attributed to the state’s growing list of regulations. Missouri’s trigger law banning all abortions with limited exceptions for medical emergencies went into effect the same day the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

“Last November, Missourians narrowly approved Amendment 3,” he writes, “which states, in part, that ‘the right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, interfered with, delayed, or otherwise restricted unless the government demonstrates that such action is justifiable by a compelling governmental interest achieved by the least restrictive means.’

“Soon after the amendment went into effect,” notes Mr. Hancock, “Planned Parenthood affiliates in Missouri sued to overturn laws restricting access to abortion, leading to the temporary injunction in February and Tuesday’s state Supreme Court order.”

But wait! Mr. Hancock further reports: “Earlier this month, the GOP legislative supermajority placed a new constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot that would reinstate the abortion ban with limited exceptions for medical emergencies, rape and incest.” The battle is rejoined.

The Next Work-Around

IN THEIR FRENZY TO DETER AMERICANS from producing a future generation, the abortion cartel is back to pushing “morning-after” pills, which have an abortifacient effect if a conception has occurred, through convenience-store marketing, reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews.

“UPI reports that Oakland-based company Cadence OTC, which sells a brand of levonorgestrel (better known as Plan B) named ‘Morning After Pill,’ has partnered with health-and-beauty product supplier Lil’ Drug Store Products to get their pill in 11,000 locations across 48 states. They are working on selling convenience stores on their product as both profitable and part of a so-called ‘women’s health’ agenda.”

Priority locations, Mr. Freiburger notes, include, quoting Cadence, “‘a lot of college campuses and military bases … in remote areas and … filled with young people, so these are priorities for contraceptive access. C-stores are in every neighborhood, and they are open long hours.’”

Pushing against such a marketing scheme presents a significant challenge to those who value life, as the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), during the Biden Regime, “amended Plan B’s label to ‘clarify’ that it was not an abortifacient,” notes Mr. Freiburger. “But,” he notes, “such drugs do in fact have abortifacient potential, and whether they prevent conception or implantation depends on when they are taken relative to a woman’s cycle.

“‘If Plan B is taken five to two days before egg release is due to happen, the interference with the LH signal prevents a woman from releasing an egg, no fertilization happens and no embryo is formed,’ Dr. Donna Harrison of the American Assn. of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists explains, citing numerous studies,” Mr. Freiburger writes. “However, if the pill is taken during the ‘two-day window in which embryos can form but positive pregnancy tests don’t occur,’ studies indicate it ‘has a likely embryocidal effect in stopping pregnancy.’” That is a pill with abortifacient properties, regardless of any politically motivated pronouncements from the FDA.

Planned Parenthood Fighting Funding War in Unexpected Places

May 27, 2025, report by Ben Johnson for The Washington Stand, Family Research Council

             … Planned Parenthood has launched multiple, high-visibility media attacks against Democratic governors who pledged to do the abortion industry’s bidding at every step of their careers. Their crime? Having the temerity to modestly reduce the amount of money they compel state taxpayers to furnish to Planned Parenthood.

             California Governor and 2028 presidential-hopeful-in-waiting Gavin Newsom (D), facing a massive $12 billion budget deficit, asked to move $1.6 billion generated by the state’s Prop. 56 measure – intended to pay Medicaid doctors – into the state’s general fund. Planned Parenthood, which helped pass the measure and has benefited from those dollars, has said the move will cost it $500 million. Planned Parenthood spared its long-time ally no scorn. “Planned Parenthood affiliates of California are outraged by the devastating cuts proposed in Gov. Newsom’s May Revise to critical family planning and abortion investments,” said a May 14 Planned Parenthood press release … . “Abortion investments”? “With this May budget revision, Gov. Newsom is effectively defunding Planned Parenthood in the state of California,” whined Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California CEO and president Jodi Hicks – a politically explosive charge for the radical pro-abortion movement. …

             The same problem played further up the Left Coast, as Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson (D) signed a budget cutting funding for abortionists. After the 2022 Dobbs decision, the Democrat-controlled legislature in Olympia’s 2023-25 budget allocated $15 million to create the Abortion Access Project, which subsidized abortion for anyone who wanted one, statewide. In the next biennial budget, Ferguson allowed “only” $6.5 million – a 55% reduction. Planned Parenthood admitted that without the support of compulsory taxation, it could kill fewer children. “With less dollars, we’re going to be able to provide abortion care for less patients,” Jennifer M. Allen, CEO of Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates in the state … told local media. “To our knowledge, it is the only cut to abortion funding in state history. Our state has never before gone backwards on access to abortion.” … Washington’s Planned Parenthood statement also contained a none-too-veiled political threat: “This disappointing vote was approved by legislators in both chambers, many of whom were endorsed by Planned Parenthood political organizations in Washington and have previously made campaign promises to voters to fight to protect and expand abortion access,” said the group. …

             This welcome in-fighting proves no amount of abject subservience is enough to win Planned Parenthood’s favor. It perpetually demands more of its public servants. Newsom has already caved somewhat, saying through Communications Director Izzy Gardon, “At a time when Donald Trump and Mike Johnson are working to gut access to basic reproductive care, Gov. Newsom is not going to sign a budget that would shut down health clinics across California.” It also reveals obliquely the extraordinary pressure Pres. Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans have placed on the abortion industry in just three months. By defunding abortionists in the pending reconciliation bill, to investigating the safety of the abortion pill, to reinstating the strengthened Mexico City Policy, the GOP has slowly constricted the abortion industry’s access to your hard-earned money, which constitutes the death dealers’ lifeblood. “As we contend with Congressional Republicans’ proposed budget that would exclude Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid program nationwide, sustaining state reproductive healthcare investments that support Planned Parenthood is more urgent and critical than ever,” admitted the California affiliate’s press release. …

             For now, the pro-abortionists’ in-fighting is a glorious sound of chaos in the Enemy’s ranks.

More Evidence that the Fight is Joined

May 23, 2025, LifeSiteNews commentary by Jonathon VanMaren

             America’s largest abortion business may be finally getting defunded – and celebrities are reacting like someone is going after their baby.

             On May 22, the House reconciliation bill – which stops the forced taxpayer funding of abortion through Medicaid – passed and headed to the Senate. The House bill would stop the flow of taxpayer dollars to abortion giants like Planned Parenthood … . Pro-life legislators have been trying to defund Planned Parenthood for years, and this time House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has publicly pledged to defund ‘Big Abortion,’ may finally have succeeded. The Trump Administration has also withheld Title X funding from Planned Parenthood affiliates effective April 1 and is supporting South Carolina in a Supreme Court case to exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid programs.

             Planned Parenthood is getting very nervous and has called their most faithful allies to the barricades to defend feticide and, of course, “transgender care,” which has become a lucrative sideline for the abortion giant over the past several years. Over 250 celebrities signed a full-page Planned Parenthood ad in the New York Times, which reads: “I’m for Planned Parenthood. Because I’m for freedom. And Americans are losing more and more of our freedom to decide how we live our own lives. Because I’m for health care. And 1 in 4 people in the US have been to a Planned Parenthood health center for care: birth control, cancer screenings, wellness exams, STI testing and treatment, abortion, gender-affirming care and more. Because I’m for you and me – not the government – deciding what care we need and where we can get it.”

             Celebrity signers included musicians Olivia Rodrigo, Harry Styles, Pedro Pascal, Addison Rae, Megan Thee Stallion, Meghan Trainor, Phoebe Bridgers, Clairo, Gracie Abrams, Sara Bareilles, Sheryl Crow and Cyndi Lauper. Actors included Scarlett Johansson, Laverne Cox, Cara Delevingne, Zoey Deutch, Melissa McCarthy, Natasha Lyonne, Christina Ricci, Alfre Woodard, Alexandra Shipp and Julianne Nicholson. Feminist leader Gloria Steinem, comedian Nikki Glaser and a laundry list of other liberal elites are also featured.

             “Trans people need healthcare providers they can trust, just like everyone else. Planned Parenthood health centers are a lifeline for so many across this country who rely on them for inclusive care,” trans activist and actor Laverne Cox said in a statement published by Rolling Stone. “I’m for Planned Parenthood because they provide a space for queer people to feel safe, supported and affirmed in who they truly are.”

             Indeed, there is more than one way to destroy a child – and Planned Parenthood offers most of them, supplying puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, including to minors. As Planned Parenthood’s own website states, “Most of our health centers provide hormone therapy and other gender-affirming services for transgender and nonbinary patients.”

             As SBA Pro-Life America noted on X: “Planned Parenthood’s desperation is showing – teaming up with celebrities for a last-ditch ad push as their non-abortion services drop over 50%, yet abortions rise 23%.” The celebrities, of course, don’t particularly care about the non-abortion services. They back Planned Parenthood because it is an organization that represents their values.

             It is difficult to see who the target audience of this ad is. GOP legislators won’t be convinced by arguments about the necessity of “gender-affirming care” that they also largely oppose. Democrats don’t need to be convinced to back Planned Parenthood. The average reader of the New York Times is already on board, as well. …

Wisdom from the Great Communicator

EXCERPT #7 from Abortion & the Conscience of the Nation, 1983 treatise by then-President Ronald Reagan, published in Human Life Review, then as a hardcover book from Thomas Nelson Publishers

             Over the first two years of my administration, I have closely followed and assisted efforts in Congress to reverse the tide of abortion – efforts of congressmen, senators and citizens responding to an urgent moral crisis. Regrettably, I have also seen the massive efforts of those who, under the banner of “freedom of choice,” have so far blocked every effort to reverse nationwide abortion-on-demand.