Life Advocacy Briefing

Healthcare Savings Accounts – Really?

THE PRESIDENT IS REITERATING HIS DETERMINATION to replace ObamaCare with a give-away program called “Healthcare Savings Accounts,” through which Americans could manage their own healthcare with money disbursed to them by the federal government, a/k/a taxpayers.

Here is our question: As attractive as that “solution” might be to Republicans looking for an alternative to taxpayer-furnished insurance, how can such a taxpayer-funded but individual-managed plan exclude the option for HSA account holders to purchase with those tax dollars 1) surgical abortions, 2) chemical abortions and/or 3) medical procedures and drugs to stymie an adolescent’s sexual development?

Battle On in Virginia

VIRGINIA’s NEW LIBERAL GOVERNOR Abigail Spanberg (D) lost no time in advancing a comprehensive left-wing agenda in the commonwealth’s legislature, and as a result, Virginia voters will face a ballot proposition on Nov. 3, 2026, to incorporate a radical abortion amendment into the Virginia constitution.

The proposed amendment, reports Patrick Delaney for LifeSiteNews, had previously passed the legislature, now gaining approval in a second consecutive session, as required by the state’s charter. Passage so quickly in the 2026 legislative session appears to have been unexpected. Indeed, two Catholic bishops quoted by Mr. Delaney call its abrupt passage “‘shocking to the conscience.’” It remains to be seen how the consciences of Virginia voters will respond, but unquestionably, stopping the proposition will be a heavy lift in a state which has so recently reverted to Democratic Party rule.

The two bishops warned in Mr. Delaney’s report, “‘The extreme abortion amendment … would go far beyond even what Roe v. Wade previously allowed. … It would enshrine virtually unlimited abortion at any stage of pregnancy, with no age restriction.’ The prelates warned the measure ‘would severely jeopardize Virginia’s parental consent law, health and safety standards for women, conscience protections for healthcare providers and restrictions on taxpayer-funded abortions,’” Mr. Delaney reports, adding, “‘Most tragically of all, the extreme abortion amendment provides no protections whatsoever for preborn children,’ the bishops lamented. …

 “‘Parental rights and the health and well-being of minors must be defended,’ Bishops [Michael] Burbridge and [Barry] Knestout stated” in Mr. Delaney’s report. “‘So too must religious liberty. No one should ever be forced to pay for or participate in an abortion. Health and safety should be enhanced, not diminished.’”

We can only hope that these bishops, other faith leaders and many more leading citizens will make this case every day between now and Nov. 3, taking nothing for granted, and that voters decide not to take such a huge risk with the future of Virginia.

Babies Win, For Once, in Colorado

WHEN THE STATE OF COLORADO BANNED the rescue of tiny preborn babies via abortion pill reversal practice, state taxpayers did not expect to be hit with a $6.1 million bill for attorney fees and court costs, but that’s what has developed with settlement of a lawsuit the state lost last August.

The state legislature in 2023 passed a law barring doctors, writes Joshua Arnold for The Washington Stand, “from prescribing a naturally occurring hormone, progesterone, to reverse the effects of the chemical abortion pill, mifepristone.” The state called the rescue drug “‘a deceptive trade practice,’” and the legislation “explicitly,” notes Mr. Arnold, “targeted ‘anti-abortion centers, also known as ‘crisis pregnancy centers,’” which [the law] described as ‘the ground-level presence of a well-coordinated anti-choice movement.’”

Even the Colorado attorney general’s office, writes Mr. Arnold, “seemed reluctant to defend the law from the very beginning. Instead of defending the law, they promised the judge in late April that they would not enforce the law until state agencies produced implementing regulations. ‘We do think it’s very telling that, when presented the opportunity to defend the law that the state had just passed, the state chose to run away,’” said the senior counsel for the Becket Fund, which represented the law’s principal challengers, two nurses employed, notes Mr. Arnold, at “Bella Health & Wellness, a Catholic pro-life clinic in the Denver area.”

Federal District Judge Daniel Domenico issued a preliminary injunction against the law in October of 2023. A second Christian pro-life clinic joined the lawsuit early in 2024, and, reports Mr. Arnold, “the two pro-life clinics triumphed on Aug. 1, 2025, when the judge ruled that Colorado’s ban on abortion pill reversal discriminated against their free exercise of religion and that the state failed to provide a compelling interest in doing so.” That brought a lawsuit by the Becket Fund and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) “to recover legal costs from the state,” notes Mr. Arnold, “as required by federal law. …

“In a parting shot at Colorado’s law, [Becket Fund senior counsel Rebekah] Ricketts argued that the lawsuit itself illustrated how abortion pill reversal can save the lives of unborn babies,” writes Mr. Arnold. “‘At least 18 moms who received abortion pill reversal care at Bella just celebrated Christmas with babies born during this case,’ she said. ‘All Coloradans should celebrate those little miracles and the brave medical team at Bella that helped their moms when no one else would.’”

Taking Abortion Seriously in North Dakota

NORTH DAKOTA’s ATTORNEY GENERAL HAS “ISSUED a cease-and-desist order on Jan. 16 against the Prairie Abortion Fund,” reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, “in hopes of forcing the organization to stop undermining [the state’s] pro-life law by helping distribute abortion pills through the mail.”

North Dakota’s efforts to outlaw abortion have been bouncing back and forth through state courts, but the state’s supreme court in September, 2024, affirmed the state’s “trigger law,” notes Mr. Freiburger, which was “meant to make most abortions illegal in the event of Roe v. Wade’s downfall,” which did occur with the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling in June of 2022.

That state law is now in effect, but, writes Mr. Freiburger, “abortion seekers have been able to get around the law by ordering abortion pills online and receiving them by mail, to be taken in complete privacy. Among the facilitators is the North Dakota-based Prairie Abortion Fund [PAF], a nonprofit that helps ‘offset the cost of an abortion fee, cover travel and lodging expenses required for appointments and assist with other associated costs … .’ It refers visitors to several other organizations for assistance obtaining abortion pills.

“The cease-and-desist order from [Attorney Gen. Drew] Wrigley’s office says,” reports LifeSiteNews, “that in August it ‘received information suggesting that Prairie Abortion Fund is engaged in promoting and facilitating the unlawful sale of products through its website’ and that ‘concerns were raised that the abortion pills sold on websites promoted and linked by Respondent were counterfeit, untested, unapproved, misbranded or sold without a required prescription and for unsupervised use in violation of law.’

“Websites accessed through PAF’s recommendations did not require ‘any information outside of a name, email, phone number, billing and shipping address, to complete the purchase,’ the order says. ‘A purchaser is not asked to answer any health questions, provide a prescription, verify identity or disclose their age. There was no age or identity verification during the entire purchasing process for either website.’”

And besides that, the marketing of abortion pills is solely for the purpose of killing an unborn child, an act which in North Dakota is illegal!

Welcome Persistence

Excerpts from Jan. 20, 2026, report by Zachary Mettler for Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen

             Conservative lawmakers recently unveiled a budget bill containing numerous pro-life policies with a full defund of Big Abortion organizations – including Planned Parenthood.

             The Republican Study Committee’s budget blueprint was unveiled on Jan. 8 by RSC Chairman August Pfluger (R-TX) and Budget & Spending Task Force Chair[man] Beth VanDuyne (R-TX). Titled “Restoring America’s Golden Age,” it contains … numerous pro-life policies. It “ensures Planned Parenthood no longer benefits from taxpayer dollars” and “completely eliminates Title X Family Planning funding to save the lives of countless innocent children.” …

             “At its core, the RSC Budget is a fundamental rejection of the excessive government spending and regulatory overreach that characterized the Biden Administration’s approach to government,” the RSC budget reads.

             The RSC is a Congressional caucus of conservative Members in the US House of Representatives. It was formed in 1973 by Paul Weyrich and others to help advance conservative priorities and check the House’s Republican leadership, which they saw as too moderate. Currently, 188 Congressmen are members of the RSC.

             … The [RSC-proposed] budget supports multiple pro-life bills and priorities, including:

• Warren Davidson’s (R-OH) bill, the Aid Accountability Act, which would eliminate funding for any federal employee or non-governmental organization violating the Helms Amendment, which prohibits the use of any US foreign aid to perform or encourage abortion;

• Chip Roy’s (R-TX) bill, the No Taxpayer Funding for the UN Population Fund, which would prohibit any federal agency from giving taxpayer dollars to the UN Population Fund – which has supported China’s population-control programs, including forced abortions and sterilizations;

• Eric Burlison’s (R-MO) bill, the Life at Conception Act, which would recognize unborn children as “persons” under the 14^th Amendment of the Constitution;

• Mark Harris’s (R-NC) bill, the Tele-abortion Prevention Act, which would make it a federal offense for doctors to send abortion pills through the mail;

• Mike Kelly’s (R-PA) bill, the Heartbeat Protection Act, which would prohibit abortions when a baby’s heartbeat is detected;

• Ann Wagner’s (R-MO) bill, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would ensure medical protections for babies who survive an attempted abortion.

             The budget blueprint provides a roadmap for a second reconciliation bill in the 119^th Congress. … The reconciliation process, a budget maneuver provided for under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, allows a budget bill to be passed with only a majority vote (51 votes) in the Senate, rather than the usually required three-fifths majority [there].

             The [President’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act] contained a provision defunding Big Abortion organizations – including Planned Parenthood – of all taxpayer dollars, costing the nation’s largest abortion mill roughly $850 million. However, the provision lasts only for one year.

             “With so much of Pres. Trump’s America-First agenda still to enact,” the RSC added, “failing to seize this opportunity would be political malpractice.” …

             Not every provision of the RSC’s proposal will be retained as the budget process moves forward. Nevertheless, it’s greatly encouraging that the RSC budget contains so many strong pro-life provisions.

[Life Advocacy Briefing readers may wish to contact their home-district Representatives at 202/225-3121 and their home-state Senators at 202/224-3121 to urge their support for the RSC Budget Plan.]

Enviro Risk

Jan. 21, 2026, report by Mark Tapscott for The Washington Stand

             Congressional pressure is growing on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to investigate potential health threats posed by the growing presence in municipal wastewater systems of chemically tainted fetal tissue resulting from home use of the abortion drug mifepristone. Senior agency officials are in talks with Congressional Republicans who have been pushing for such a probe for several years, The Washington Stand is told by knowledgeable Capitol Hill sources who requested anonymity to avoid throwing a wrench in the negotiations. A significant obstacle to progress on the issue appears to be a lack of interest within the EPA career workforce in doing such a review.

             Those talks are the first sign in months that the EPA may be preparing to undertake a study or review that pro-life advocates believe is badly needed. In October 2025, the New York Times reported that senior agency officials asked EPA scientists about detecting mifepristone in water. The scientists replied that EPA did not then have such detection capabilities. “It is not clear what became of the EPA scientists’ review, though there is no sign that any methods are under development for detecting mifepristone in wastewater,” the Times reported. An EPA spokesman could not be reached for comment.

             The pressure on EPA is growing because a majority of the nation’s one million abortions every year are carried out by women using the drug in their homes. Mifepristone was approved by the FDA in 2000, based in part on a recommendation from the Population Council that claimed the environmental impact would be minimal. But then came the Dobbs … Supreme Court decision in 2022 that nullified the 1972 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Under Dobbs, each of the nation’s 50 states must decide how its law will deal with abortion. Roughly half of the states significantly tightened their laws, while the others kept abortion widely available. The result was a spiraling in abortions through mifepristone use, with a result that 60% or more of all abortions involve the drug. “This increase has not only led to further harm for women, who are often directed to flush their babies’ remains and then are traumatized by ‘seeing their fully formed babies in a glob of blood floating in the toilet,’ but has also increased the level of abortion pill contaminants and the amount of fetal remains entering our water systems,” according to a 2025 special report by Liberty Counsel Action [LCA]. …

             “What we do know … is a cause for concern: Mifepristone acts as an endocrine disruptor by blocking progesterone, a vital fertility hormone. Relatedly, infertility rates are on the rise and now affect one in six individuals. While there is a clear correlation between the increase in chemical abortions and an increased rate of infertility, further study is sorely needed to establish whether there is causation,” the LCA report claimed. …

             “Federal regulators are rightfully eager to study the health effects of many chemicals in our water and septic systems, but they haven’t examined the environmental and public health risks of chemical abortion drugs like mifepristone in those same systems,” [Oklahoma Sen. James] Lankford said in a statement. “Scientific research on the health effects of water sources where there are trace amounts of a chemical that is designed to end the life of a child in the womb should not be controversial.” …

             “We recognize that the greatest tragedy of every abortion is the murder of the innocent,” [said Oklahoma Rep. Josh Brecheen]. “But we are also concerned that activist bureaucrats overlooked real public health risks posed by mifepristone in their crusade to expand abortion access.”

The Fundamental, Big Beautiful Truth

An excerpt from a Jan. 21, 2026, e-mail message from Christian citizen William Campbell

             … Imago Dei [is] a Latin theological term meaning “Image of God.” It refers to the concept that human beings are uniquely created to resemble God in ways that set them apart from the rest of creation. Because all humans bear God’s image, every life has intrinsic value. They possess divine-like traits, such as soul, self-awareness, intelligence and the capacity for moral reflection.

             Human life is not a cosmic accident or an inconvenience or a mistake; responsibility can’t be ignored; every child is created by God, with purpose and for a purpose. …

             Life begins at conception. Often before a mother knows she is expecting, a tiny heart is already beating in her womb. Brain waves develop. Little fingers form. Ears begin to hear. A precious life takes shape. … If the unborn could actually speak, they would likely say, “God was once here. Where did God place the most precious person in the world? In a womb; the safest place for Jesus was His mother’s womb.”

A Worthy Quote from an Unexpected Source

Excerpted from a Jan. 20, 2026, LifeSiteNews commentary by Jonathon VanMaren

             The late atheist writer Christopher Hitchens once defended his own pro-life views by claiming that respect for human life is instinctual. “You see a woman kicked in the stomach,” he said. “Your instinct is properly one of revulsion. You learn that the woman is pregnant. Who will reply that this discovery does not multiply their revulsion? And who will say that this is only because it makes it worse for the woman? I don’t think this is just an instinctive or an emotional reaction. … We are stuck with a basic reverence for life.”

Wisdom from Mr. Hyde

We resume our paragraph-by-paragraph reprinting of the Sept. 19, 1996, speech by Rep. Henry J. Hyde to the House of Representatives, in which he called for the House to override Pres. Clinton’s veto of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, HR-1833. Rep. Hyde has long been seen as one of America’s all-time leading orators and a model communicator in the cause of Life.

             … Mr. Speaker, in his classic novel Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky has his murderous protagonist Raskolnikov say, “Man can get used to anything, the beast!” That we’re even debating this issue – that we have to argue about the legality of an abortionist plunging a pair of scissors into the back of the tiny neck of a little child whose trunk, arms and legs have already been delivered, and then suctioning out his brains – only confirms Dostoyevsky’s harsh truth.