Life Advocacy Briefing

A Good Starting Point

THE BUDGET PROPOSAL RELEASED BY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION for Fiscal Year 2027, on which Congress will deliberate this summer, reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, “contains numerous provisions aimed at denying federal tax dollars to the abortion industry.”

Included in the working document are the long-standing Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funding for abortions except for the killing of babies conceived in sex crimes and the Hyde-Weldon Amendment, which bars funding of “entities,” writes Mr. Freiburger, “that discriminate against pro-life healthcare providers.” Also, the traditional Kemp-Kasten language, which prohibits funding “any organization involved in coercive abortion programs.

“New language states,” reports Mr. Freiburger, “that ‘None of the funds appropriated in this Act, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this Act, shall be expended for any abortion;’ or for ‘health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion’ or transgender drugs or surgeries.”

Furthermore, the Administration budget proposal would “forbid State Dept. grants from going to organizations that perform or promote abortions,” writes Mr. Freiburger, “ban any funding of research involving the use of aborted fetal tissue or cells, require medical students to have to consciously opt in to any abortion training they might take rather than being required by default and having to opt out.” Further provisions include “blocking funding of abortions in federal prison, banning funds from going to elective abortion via the Peace Corps and Federal Health Employee Benefits program, and more.”

Why Is This Big Business Tax Exempt?

U.S. SENATOR MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN) HAS RAISED an interesting question to the Internal Revenue “Service:” Why does Planned Parenthood enjoy tax-exempt status?

If the federal government and its tax collectors are not willing to admit that killing unborn children is not a “healthcare service,” what about Planned Parenthood’s marketing now of Botox and hydration drips? Why should Planned Parenthood be tax-exempt when its competitors in “aesthetic services” are not?

It was just last month when the New York Times reported the addition of these “services” to the agenda of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, with locations in both California and Nevada. Here is the excuse offered by the Mar Monte chief medical operating officer, Dr. Laura Dalton, quoted by Calvin Freiburger in LifeSiteNews: “‘The reality is that our patients now are seeking aesthetic services as part of their whole well-being. So, I think, actually, aesthetics is an alignment with what Planned Parenthood stands for. Planned Parenthood stands for bodily autonomy. Planned Parenthood stands for: You decide what is best for you, and what you need to feel good, and to feel like your body is what you want it to be.’” So, when will Planned Parenthood start marketing jeans and bikinis and diet soft drinks?

“On April 3,” reports Mr. Freiburger, “[Sen.] Blackburn’s office announced she had written about the matter to IRS director of exempt organizations and government entities Robert Malone, arguing that Planned Parenthood’s new sideline may fall outside the scope of ‘charitable’ medical efforts qualifying for tax-exempt status. ‘An expansion “beyond a clinic’s core offerings” requires the stamp of approval from the National Office, meaning this is not the result of a single rogue affiliate but a top-down expansion and messaging effort,’ the [Blackburn] letter argues. ‘These developments not only raise concerns about Planned Parenthood growing beyond its original mission statement but also about the use of its federally supported resources in that expansion. Federal cost-allocation rules require recipients of federal funding to properly separate costs associated with federally supported activities, and federal funds generally may not subsidize unrelated commercial services.’”

Planned Parenthood’s 2024-2025 annual report, notes Mr. Freiburger, which was released in mid-April, “says the abortion affiliates still received $832 million in ‘government health services reimbursements and grants’ that comprised 38% of its total revenue.”                  

And, Mr. Freiburger points out, “Planned Parenthood committed a record 434,450 abortions during the most recent reporting period, thanks in large part to mail distribution of abortion pills.” And we at Life Advocacy add: This despite a nineteenth-century federal law – still in effect and ought-to-be-enforceable – which bars the use of the US mail to ship abortifacients. A law which the Biden Regime explicitly refused to enforce and which the Trump Administration is ignoring as well, even in the wake of the Dobbs decision overturning alleged abortion rights in the United States.

Stateside

• A BILL EXCUSING PHYSICIANS FOR ‘ASSISTING’ in the intentional death of their patients has missed the Arizona legislature’s deadline for consideration, “continu[ing],” notes Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, “a string of defeats for Grand Canyon State euthanasia legalizers dating back to 2003.” Something to celebrate!

• THREE PRO-ABORTION BILLS HAVE PASSED THE ILLINOIS HOUSE and are now pending in the state senate. HB-4834 cleared the House by 68 to 37, needing 60 votes to pass; it would, notes Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, citing Live Action as source, “exempt mifepristone and [its companion drug] misoprostol from the state Prescription Monitoring Program, which collects data on drug interactions and abuse for patient safety.” HB-4839, which passed the House 68 to 31, “would end the requirement of death certificates for preborn babies who die before 20 weeks,” reports Mr. Freiburger. And HB-5408 has passed the House by a 69-36 vote; it would “create an Abortion Access Fund Grant Program,” reports LifeSiteNews, “to ‘award grants from the Abortion Access Fund to support access to abortion care services’ for seekers not already covered by Medicaid.” The switchboard for the Illinois state capitol is 217/782-2000.

• KENTUCKY HAS ENACTED – with the signature of Gov. Andy Beshear (D) – a bill “requiring Medical providers to halt organ harvesting procedures if any signs of life are observed,” reports Dr. Heidi Klessig for LifeSiteNews. “This legislation was prompted after the 2021 case of T.J. Hoover, a ‘brain-dead’ man who opened his eyes and started looking around on his way to the operating room to donate his organs. … Whistleblowers testified,” she writes, “that after two doctors refused to remove Hoover’s organs, the organ procurement team was instructed to just find another doctor and proceed! Thankfully, a third doctor was not found, and the procedure was called off. Hoover went on to recover and even danced at his sister’s wedding. His sister says that he remembered what happened: ‘He’ll continually say, “Why did they want to kill me?”’” Good question.

• LOUISIANA IS APPEALING the ruling we reported last week by US District Judge David Joseph, who stayed the state’s challenge to the US Food & Drug Administration’s relaxation of the rules governing dispensing of mifepristone, whose sole purpose is to kill a developing unborn child. Under Pres. Joseph Biden (D), the FDA removed a requirement for in-person physician consultation before an abortion drug prescription can be issued, leading to a massive, interstate abortion-drug mailing scheme.

• TENNESSEE LAWMAKERS HAVE PASSED SB-419, reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, “to empower civil actions against those who ship illegal abortion pills into the state. … As amended,” he notes, “SB-419 defines ‘catastrophic loss or injury’ in civil suits to ‘include wrongful death of an unborn child at any state of gestation in utero when mifepristone or misoprostol is sent directly to a patient by a defendant via courier, delivery or mail service in violation of law,’ punishable by $1 million in damages.” The bill awaits the signature of Gov. Bill Lee (R), who, notes Mr. Freiburger, “generally supports pro-life legislation.

A Caution to the G.O.P.

April 10, 2026, commentary by Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins for The Washington Stand

             This week, the nation’s largest abortion mill, Planned Parenthood, released its annual report, and it was a banner year for the abortion giant, setting a record of over 400,000 abortions. During the period covered by the report, Planned Parenthood received more than $2.1 billion in total revenue, with about 40% of that coming from taxpayers.

             The report reflects a time before the “One Big Beautiful Bill” temporarily defunded them for one year. But as we warned when the Senate reduced that defunding from 10 years to one, it would be short-lived. That provision expires in July, unless Congress includes it in reconciliation 2.0, which begins in the Senate this coming week as lawmakers return from the Easter recess.

             However, Congressional leaders have made clear that reconciliation 2.0 is focused on ending the prolonged shutdown of the Dept. of Homeland Security, making sure the entire department is funded, including immigration enforcement. With the GOP’s historically slim 218-214 majority in the House, leadership must keep nearly the entire conference unified. That leaves little room for additional priorities, meaning the bill will likely be narrowly focused and not include the defunding of the abortion giant. So where does that leave the roughly two-thirds of Republican voters who identify as pro-life?

             The faded, brittle confetti of pro-life victories from five years ago offers little consolation amid a growing string of setbacks. What began as a 10-year defunding effort was reduced to one and is now about to expire. And earlier this month, the Trump Administration effectively stepped back from the fight to remove Title X [Ten] funding from abortion chains.

             But there is more. The increase in abortions reported by Planned Parenthood and confirmed by the Guttmacher Institute is being driven largely by chemical, mail-order abortions. These now account for 65% or more of all abortions. In other words, the abortion industry has adapted, shifting to an Amazon-like business model that no longer depends on facility visits but on delivering abortion drugs directly to mailboxes. The result? Despite the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the return of authority to the states, abortion rates in the US have actually increased. Before Roe was overturned, there were approximately 930,000 abortions annually.

             That number has now risen to nearly 1.2 million. How is that possible?

             After Roe fell, 26 states acted to protect the unborn, with about a dozen enacting strong protections. But those laws are being undercut by a Biden-era FDA policy allowing abortion drugs to be prescribed and shipped without in-person medical oversight. At least three Republican-led states are now challenging that policy in federal court.

             As these realities become clearer to pro-life voters, a reckoning is coming. There is, however, a clear path forward for Republicans. One decisive step would be for the Trump Administration to reverse the Biden policy that has effectively nullified state-level protections duly enacted by Republican states. Because until that happens, the promise of Roe’s reversal remains unfulfilled, and the consequence is clear: More trust broken with those who were promised action, more laws undermined, and a nation bearing the weight of more innocent blood.

What Is Going On?

April 15, 2026, LifeSiteNews report by Calvin Freiburger

             Nearly 80 pro-life leaders have signed a new letter urging the Trump Administration to end its resistance to pro-life states and their challenges to the US Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) permissive abortion pill rules.

             Pres. Donald Trump established a consistently pro-life record in his first term 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’s longstanding pro-life language to reflect that preference.

             He also declared he would not reverse former Pres. Joe 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 US Health & Human Services 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.

             Not content to wait indefinitely for that review (which some suspect is being delayed until after this fall’s midterm elections for fear of the political impact), Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Texas have filed lawsuits challenging the abortion pill rules, which the Trump Justice Dept. has argued should be dismissed so as not to interfere with its purported review. Most recently, Louisiana filed an appeal of the matter to the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

             In an April 13 letter to acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche, 78 pro-life organizations, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Americans United for Life, American Assn. of Pro-life Obstetricians & Gynecologists, Eagle Forum, Live Action, Liberty Counsel Action and more, urge him to use his “new position to reverse the DoJ’s harmful stance of siding with the abortion drug industry.”

             “Tragically, to date, this Dept. of Justice has downplayed the harms of mail-order abortion and called for each case to be paused or even dismissed entirely,” they write. “Meanwhile, thousands of abortion drugs are being mailed all over the United States daily, even from overseas, with zero oversight.

             “Pro-life states cannot meaningfully enforce their laws when FDA is siding with mail-order abortionists and DoJ is siding with abortion drug manufacturers,” the letter continues. “Virtually every state has some law on the books that makes the current mail-order abortion regime unlawful, even basic laws like practicing medicine without a license. Yet abortionists protected by so-called ‘shield laws’ ship drugs nationally with impunity, pointing to FDA for cover. Despite firm commitments from HHS Secretary Kennedy and FDA Commissioner Makary to conduct a thorough safety review of abortion drugs, FDA subsequently expanded the availability of the abortion drug mifepristone by approving a new generic version last fall.”

             The letter notes that, contrary to political fears of clear pro-life stances, McLaughlin & Assoc. found that 70% of likely general election voters “approve of requiring a doctor visit to receive a prescription for abortion drugs,” and Republican primary voters “overwhelmingly” disapprove of mail-order abortion pills, according to Cygnal.

             The abortions-by-mail business has become the abortion lobby’s most important tool for perpetuating abortion-on-demand and undermining pro-life laws, thanks to the difficulty of tracking pills shipped in nondescript packaging and pills usually taken in complete privacy.

             The latest data from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute found 1,125,930 clinical abortions in 2025, a slight increase from 2024, which Guttmacher attributed in large part to abortion pills. Planned Parenthood’s 2024-2025 annual report boasts it alone committed 434,450 abortions, a record number for the organization and eight percent more than the previous year.

             The Trump Administration’s promised review has given pro-lifers hope of reversal, but no conclusions or timetable have since been announced, prompting frustration among pro-lifers.  US Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has gone so far as to question if the study is underway at all.

Disturbing Data

April 15, 2026, LifeSiteNews report by Matt Lamb

             More people are reportedly killing themselves with legally obtained drugs under Oregon’s so-called “Death with Dignity Act,” which permits doctor-assisted* suicide within the Pacific state. “The number of prescriptions written for lethal medications increased about 5%, from 609 to 637” between 2024 and 2025, the Oregon Health Authority reported. This month the agency released its annual report for 2025. The health authority also reported deaths have regularly increased since legislators legalized assisted suicide in 1998. (Not everyone who is prescribed the drugs takes them, so prescriptions do not exactly correlate to deaths.) 

             … “What we’ve been seeing over the last several years is a steady overall increase in prescriptions and deaths among Death with Dignity Act participants**,” Tom Jeanne, deputy state health officer, stated in a news release. …

             A state pro-life group criticized the increasing numbers and said the relative lack of psychological evaluations is a matter of significant concern. “Once again, Oregon’s assisted suicide report shows that prescriptions of death-inducing drugs are tragically on the rise,” Oregon Right to Life Executive Director Lois Anderson said. “Last year – instead of being cared for and supported, assured that their lives have inherent value and meaning – 637 vulnerable people were prescribed drugs intended to cause their deaths.”

*Life Advocacy Briefing editor’s note: We prefer the term “abetted” in this context.

**Note the term “participants.” Reality: victims.

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.

             … Oh, the President claims he wants to “solve a problem” by adding a “health” exception to the partial-birth abortion ban. That is spurious, as anyone who has spent ten minutes studying the federal law understands. “Health” exceptions are so broadly construed by the court – not what we write, by the court – as to make any ban utterly meaningless.