Life Advocacy Briefing

Pressing for Life in South Carolina

SOUTH CAROLINA’s STATE LEGISLATORS ARE CONSIDERING a “flurry of pro-life legislative proposals,” reports Doug Mainwaring for LifeSiteNews, “beyond the state’s current six-week ‘fetal heartbeat’ law. …

“Perhaps the most significant proposal, SB-781 – commonly referred to as the ‘Life Begins at Conception Act’ – would recognize legal protection for preborn children from the moment of conception rather than from the detection of cardiac activity.” It is pending in committee.

Another proposal appears stuck in the South Carolina House Constitutional Laws Subcommittee. HB-3537, titled the Prenatal Equal Protection Act, reports Mr. Mainwaring, “would define embryos at any stage of development as ‘persons,’ ensuring that ‘an unborn child who is a victim of homicide is afforded equal protection under the homicide laws of the state.’”

A third bill, HB-4654, the reporter notes, “would criminalize forcing a woman into having an abortion against her will.”

And HB-4760 “seeks to curb the growing use of abortion-inducing drugs by increasing their regulation and establishing criminal penalties for unlawful distribution.” That last bill “would classify certain abortion drugs, such as mifepristone and misoprostol,” notes Mr. Mainwaring, “as controlled substances under state law and impose penalties on those who distribute them outside the bounds of existing pro-life protections.”

And HB-4637 “would allow private citizens to sue anyone involved in supplying abortion pills – including manufacturers, distributors,” writes Mr. Mainwaring, “for at least $100,000 per violation.”

Seeking Reform in Iowa

IOWA LAWMAKERS ARE TAKING ON the invasion of their state by telemarketing pushers of abortion pills, according to a LifeSiteNews report by Calvin Freiburger.

Senate Study Bill (SSB) 3115 “would require abortion-inducing drugs to only be dispensed in-person,” explains Mr. Freiburger, “and [would] come with written consent after informing the woman about the medical risks of abortion drugs, the emotional trauma than can come with seeing one’s dead baby expelled, recommendations to follow up with a doctor within two weeks of taking the drugs and the process of abortion pill reversal. It also requires physicians to report to the state detailed information,” Mr. Freiburger writes, “on abortion pill complications.”

Iowa already has a Heartbeat Law, notes LifeSiteNews, “so SSB-3115 would apply to abortions within that six-week window.”

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa is fighting the bill, of course. But it has already emerged from subcommittee.

“Remote distribution of abortion pills has become arguably the abortion lobby’s most important tool for preserving abortion-on-demand without Roe v. Wade,” notes Mr. Freiburger. And Iowa’s lawmakers are working to make remote dispensing illegal, protecting the physical and mental health of women who make the tragic mistake of thinking abortion-by-pill is a simple solution to a challenging circumstance.

Among the abortion lobby’s principal objections to the proposal is its requirement that abortion-vulnerable customers be furnished information about abortion pill reversal, which offers a second chance for motherhood to those who are distressed.

Said Family Research Council’s Mary Szoch, in comments to the organization’s The Washington Stand, “‘I am encouraged to see that the Iowa State Senate is advancing legislation requiring in-person dispensing of abortion drugs, reporting of adverse events and information about abortion-pill reversal.’ She said that the bill ‘rightly applies to all drugs intended to kill an innocent unborn child, and, in the event that the FDA does reinstate safety precautions for mifepristone, this law will prevent abortionists from simply turning to another drug to kill innocent unborn babies while maiming their mothers.’ [Mrs.] Szoch added, ‘Let’s pray that more states follow the example of Iowa and help a culture of life grow within their state by protecting both unborn babies and their mothers.’

“The bill would further empower the pregnant mother, the father of the aborted child or the pregnant mother’s immediate family members to sue individuals and entities that violate the in-person dispensing requirement,” notes The Washington Stand.

Abortion Death Toll

Excerpt from Feb. 12, 2026, BreakPoint commentary by Dr. Thaddeus Williams, professor at Biola U.

             The leading cause of death in 2025 was not heart disease or cancer. In fact, it’s something entirely preventable.

             According to the World Health Organization, 73 million humans died at the hands of a greedy abortion industry worldwide. That’s the equivalent of 12 Nazi Holocausts in a single year, more than two victims per second. That’s about 10 million more casualties than cardiovascular disease, cancer, covid-19, wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and indeed every other cause of human death combined in 2025.

             An argument you’ve probably heard before is often used to justify this mass genocide: The preborn are merely a “clump of cells” and therefore don’t have the same right to life. This rhetoric has a long history. In Germany in the 1930s, Hitler and the Third Reich popularized [the slogan] “lives unworthy of life” to justify their mass extermination of Jews, dissenting Christians and anyone else they deemed. This distinction between lives worth living and lives not worth living is always made, of course, by those who place their own lives in the “worth living” category. …

[Life Advocacy Briefing editor’s note: The abortion death toll is one of the most eye-opening facts in the arsenal of pro-life advocates. Most Americans have no idea that more humans die from abortion than die from cancer or heart disease or other feared illnesses. The reality is mind-changing. We urge readers to pass along this news item to others for sobering enlightenment.]

Sober Warning

Feb. 25, 2026, LifeSiteNews report by Calvin Freiburger

             Federal inaction on abortion risks depressing Republican enthusiasm ahead of this year’s midterm Congressional elections, according to a new poll commissioned by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. The survey, conducted by Cygnal of 1,000 “likely Republican primary election voters nationwide,” first found the fundamental pro-life character of Republican voters essentially unchanged despite the party’s changes in recent years. Seventy-four percent said a candidate’s position on abortion was important to them, 75% want Republicans in Congress to “aggressively oversee” the US Dept. of Health & Human Services’ (HHS) handling of abortion, and 86% oppose federal taxpayer funding of abortion.

             It also found the vast majority of respondents unaware that abortions have actually increased since the overturn of Roe v. Wade thanks to the expanded use of abortion pills, but highly concerned when informed, leading to concern about the handling of the issue in Pres. Donald Trump’s more populist GOP.

             Trump established a consistently pro-life record in his first term, which ended with a hotly disputed loss to Joe Biden in 2020 but began to turn after the 2022 midterm elections, in which he attempted to blame the abortion issue for GOP underperformance. During his 2024 run, he changed further still, ruling out a federal abortion ban in favor of leaving the issue to the states and changing the Republican Party platform’s longstanding pro-life language to reflect that preference.

             He also declared he would not reverse Biden’s refusal to enforce federal law against mailing abortion pills across state lines, despite the tactic undermining state pro-life laws. Pro-lifers were given hope in May, 2025, that the White House’s position might change when HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (another formerly pro-abortion figure who “moderated” during his own Presidential bid) promised a “complete review” of the medical risks of abortion pills, though no conclusions or timetable have since been announced, leading some senators to question if it’s even happening.

             Such moves were originally billed as helping Republicans appeal to more moderate voters, but the Cygnal poll indicated that it is putting the party’s existing voters at risk. Seventy-one percent of respondents oppose allowing mifepristone to be dispensed by mail, including 77% of self-described Trump Republicans and 76% of self-described “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Republicans. Most politically concerning, 34% said Republicans weakening or abandoning pro-life policies would make them feel less enthusiastic about voting in the midterms and less willing to volunteer for candidates or campaigns. Forty-five percent of evangelicals would also be less willing to volunteer. With Trump’s approval ratings struggling and Republicans projected to lose the House of Representatives and only narrowly retain the Senate, even a modest decline in enthusiasm could be devastating in close Congressional races.

             “The national data show a significant disconnect between base Republican voter expectations and current federal actions, creating real enthusiasm risks for the November midterm general election,” Cygnal pollster John Rogers says. “The national data make clear that self-identified MAHA Republicans (69% of primary voters) do not regard abortion access as part of the Make America Healthy Again promise.”

             The abortion industry has increasingly relied on abortion pills since the fall of Roe v. Wade, despite the risks they pose to women. An April 2025 analysis by the Ethics & Public Policy Center concluded that almost 11% of women suffer sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging or other major conditions after taking mifepristone, according to insurance data. That and similar findings by the Restoration of America Foundation are part of a “growing body of evidence indicating that the health risks associated with mifepristone abortions are severe, widespread and significantly underreported.”

March for Life Address

Today’s Life Advocacy transcript from the Jan. 23, 2026, March for Life in Washington is a speech by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). He was joined on stage by the following Members of the US House, all Republicans: Robert Aderholt (AL), French Hill (AR), Kat Cammack (FL), Andrew Clyde (GA), Dr. Andy Harris (MD), Bill Huizenga & Tim Walberg (MI), Michelle Fischbach (MN), Bob Onder (MO), Dan Meuser (PA), William Timmons (SC), Michael Cloud & Dan Crenshaw (TX), Mike Kennedy (UT), John McGuire (VA) and Glenn Grothman (WI). Also, House Pro-Life Caucus Chairman Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), whose annual March speech we will publish in a future edition.

             Wow – thanks so much. What a great crowd, and right on the verge of a polar vortex. Your commitment is greatly appreciated. I wanna, I wanna congratulate my friend JD [Vance] for the big announcement on the baby that’s due in July – I told him backstage. My wife Kelly [is] with me – Kelly, raise your hand. My wife Kelly – we have four children as well. We, we all celebrate life in word and in deed, and we’re so glad that you are here to prove that.

             This is an important weekend; it always is, because we welcome the opportunity to recommit ourselves to this cause of life and to remember why it is we gather and march in the cold weather. It’s important for us to stand together, and, my friends, it’s especially important this year, because as you know, this is the year we celebrate our nation’s 250^th birthday – the greatest nation in the history of the world. The thing that we celebrate about America – there’s so much, so much for which we are blessed and we’re thankful for – but the thing that we remember especially at this time is the foundational truth of America, the bold statement of faith that set this experiment in self-governance, this independent country, along its way: We celebrate the self-evident truth that, that all people – every single person – is made by God. We are made by our Creator, yes. The founders understood that we are made in the image of our Creator and that He is the One that gives us our inalienable rights – the rights to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our rights do not derive from the government; they derive from God Himself and we need to remind everybody of that.

             We celebrate that premise here today and every day, because we understand that is what makes America unique and special – the idea that we are made in the image of God, and we owe our responsibility to Him as well. And we have to exercise that freedom in a responsible manner.

             This moment is truly, truly a historic one for the pro-life movement, and you all know that. For the first time since Roe v. Wade was reversed, we have the White House, the Senate and the House all working together to deliver meaningful and historic pro-life victories. And just consider – as the Vice President was saying just a moment ago – just consider what one year of common-sense pro-life leadership can actually accomplish. With President Trump and Vice President Vance, the Republican team is making and taking a new approach. For the first time, our greatest metric of success is not just the size of the gross domestic product or highs in the stock market. It is the strength of the American family again. That’s what we’ve brought back; that’s what we’ve brought back.

             We measure our success on the number of lives we save and the lives we improve and uplift with common-sense life-affirming policies. It’s you, my friends, who will help us to usher in America’s new golden age, as President Trump says. And as the Vice President said here, Republicans are working hard to deliver on the mandate that you gave us in the last election to make it easier than ever before to raise a family in this great country of ours. And because we know that support for American families doesn’t end at birth, our policies reflect this.

             With the working families tax cuts, for example, we passed the most pro-life and pro-family legislation that has been signed into law in decades, and we did it on July 4^th last year. We worked hard, this group of legislators behind me, and all of our colleagues. We worked hard to expand the child tax credit, to enhance the adoption tax credit, and we launched the first of its kind Trump investment accounts for every newborn in America. Thanks to this bill, we also delivered the largest middle- and working-class tax cuts in the history of this country – yeah, that’s right – worthy of applause. We put more money in your pocket, and you can decide what’s best for your family instead of government bureaucrats.

             We also achieved something that is totally unprecedented, and it was mentioned a little bit earlier, and we should say it again: For years now we know that Medicaid funds have skirted the essential protections under the Hyde Amendment and funneled tax dollars to abortion providers, and we said no more and in the working families tax cut – the Big Beautiful Bill – for the first time ever, we finally defunded big abortion, and it was a long time coming. We stand here today with one united voice to affirm the federal government should not be subsidizing any industry that profits from the elimination of human life.

             And today I’m so proud to stand along so many principled leaders here in Congress – you heard their names. They helped us achieve these victories: Chris Smith, as it was said, for four decades has been leading the pro-life caucus in Congress. And just this week, Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach – Michelle, raise your hand –she introduced, she introduced her bill ensuring federal assistance can be used to support pregnancy resource centers across the country – that’s a big thing. We know how important those centers are to give hundreds of thousands of pregnant women and moms a choice in the care they receive.   

             Another warrior, Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, passed her bill, the Pregnant Students Rights Act, which equips young women finishing their education with the resources they need to choose life. I could go on and on. Yes, I could be up here all day telling you about all the things that are being done, but you need to know in summary that we are fulfilling our promises, and that promise that is central to what we stand for is to protect the sanctity of human life. We contend these warriors, and I’ll tell you what – In the election cycle coming up this year, we’re going to send some more pro-life champions here to Congress.

             I just want to close with this: It was mentioned earlier that we all have a reason that we march; we all have a reason that we believe so strongly in this principle, and my life story is that one, and in two sentences: I was the product of an unplanned teen pregnancy exactly one year before Roe in January of 1972, and a lot of people tried to convince my very young parents that they should just take care of that problem, but I am eternally grateful that they allowed me the chance at life. I think of the millions of children that did not have that same opportunity. And every single child deserves the opportunity to fulfill their God-given potential, and it is up to us to defend that freedom and that right, that essential freedom to be born – the inalienable right to life that is imperiled in our generation. And we’re so grateful that you are willing to march and stand and speak for that issue.

             I’m happy to say that all this is changing because of you and despite the special interests that fund abortion and despite the voices that tell you to look away from the beating heart and despite all those who continue to deny the truth, you are here and we are here, and we stand together for life. We’re so grateful for all that you do. Every single one of you has the power to change hearts and minds and ultimately to save lives, and we can never forget that. And I know that you won’t. I want to thank you all for coming out, braving the cold and the weather that’s on the way. It’s worth it. We’re going to save lives together. God bless you all. May God bless the United States of America.

Wisdom from Mr. Hyde

Join us in reading a 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.

             … I’ve finally figured out why supporters of abortion-on-demand fight this infanticide ban tooth and claw – because for the first time since Roe v. Wade, the focus is on the baby – not the mother, not the woman but the baby – and the harm that abortion inflicts on an unborn child (or in this instance, a four-fifths born child). That child, whom the advocates of abortion-on-demand have done everything in their power to make us ignore, to dehumanize, is as much a bearer of human rights as any member of this House. To deny those rights is more than a betrayal of a powerless individual. It betrays the central promise of America – that there is in this land, justice for all.