Life Advocacy Briefing

Lost Opportunity

THE SUPREME COURT LATE THURSDAY GAVE MIFEPRISTONE PUSHERS a nod to continue selling their baby-killing drug while Louisiana’s lawsuit seeking to block its delivery in the pro-life state continues to make its way through the federal court system.

The 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled, reports the Associated Press (AP), “that mail access [to the abortion drug] and telehealth visits should be suspended while the case plays out.” It was that temporary ruling that the Supreme Court rejected Thursday.

“Lower courts [have] concluded that Louisiana is likely to prevail,” reports AP. That would mean eventual blocking of the abortion drug from within the borders of the state.

It is likely that the Louisiana case will eventually come before the Supreme Court for actual hearing and ruling. But for now, the matter will continue to be contested in the 5^th Circuit, and the makers of the baby poison are free to continue their marketing schemes.

Indeed, thanks to the Supreme Court’s order Thursday, the developing but seemingly unwanted babies in Louisiana – and throughout America – will continue to be at risk of death by pill. This despite a long-standing federal law barring use of the mail to deliver such poisonous agents – a law which the Trump Administration is inexplicably refusing to enforce.

Fireworks on Foreign Aid Appropriations

May 15, 2026, Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam) report by Kelly Heilman, JD

             At a recent hearing on State Dept. funding, Democrats were extremely angry at not getting their way on funding for abortion and gender ideology.

             This is “forced birth followed by neglect. That is not pro-life. That is policy-induced suffering, and we are already seeing the consequences,” said Congresswoman Lois Frankel (D-FL), the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee that drafted the 2027 foreign aid bill.

             The foreign aid bill under debate provides $47 billion in funding for US foreign operations. And it safeguards the Mexico City Policy prohibitions on US money supporting abortion overseas. Frankel falsely claimed the policy “means more women and girls will die because they are not able to access the services they need,” and that in response, “We are forcing women and girls into pregnancies they are not ready for and then turning our backs as their babies suffer and die.”

             Frankel’s dissent to the pro-life guardrails was joined by a choir of her female colleagues, including calls for a reinstatement of funding to the controversial UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which has been complicit in forced abortion overseas.

             “This bill prohibits UNFPA because you do not support family planning services; you cut off the efforts,” said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, the purple-haired ranking Democrat for the House Appropriations Committee. Republican drafters reduced family planning funding to $461 million – a 20% reduction. DeLauro said the cut in funding would cause “15-year-olds who, in some instances, are forced to deliver a child.”

             DeLauro defended UNFPA’s maternal health programs, including reproductive health kits that include manual vacuum aspirators used for miscarriages and abortions in refugee tents, and abortion pills. UNFPA’s abortion activities make it ineligible for US multilateral funding under the long-time US policy, even if Congress appropriated funding to the agency.

             Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-NY) proposed an amendment to overturn Pres. Trump’s Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance Rule, restore funding levels for family planning and reinstate funding for the UNFPA. “I know this Administration wants more American exports, but radical, anti-abortion, anti-human rights policies should not make the cut,” said Meng. The amendment failed by a vote of 24-31.

             Meng’s actions at the hearing are consistent with her recent bill introduced last month to legislatively prohibit the expanded Mexico City Policy. The bill would block Pres. Trump’s Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance policy, nullifying the expansive restrictions on abortions, gender ideology and DEI that apply to over $40 billion in assistance.

             Meng’s bill is a direct response to long-standing provisions that Democrat lawmakers oppose and fought against in the Appropriations debate. It currently has 22 co-sponsors, and in the current Congress, little chance of passing. The Senate companion bill is sponsored by abortion-friendly Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). …

             The foreign aid bill includes all long-standing pro-life protections, including Helms, Kemp-Kasten, Tiahrt and Siljander. The bill has now passed the House Appropriations Committee. …

To Outlaw Dismemberment Abortion – at the Federal Level

REP. KAT CAMMACK (R-FL) HAS FILED HR-8603 to outlaw dismemberment abortions. The bill has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee and is an active project of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

Co-sponsoring her proposal are GOP Representatives Gregory Steube (FL), Mike Bost & Mary Miller (IL), Marlin Stutzman (IN), Ron Estes & Tracey Mann (KS), Andy Harris (MD), Michelle Fischbach (MN), Robert Onder (MO), Christopher Smith (NJ), Claudia Tenney (NY), Mike Kelly (PA), Sheri Biggs (SC) and Roger Williams (TX).

We thank them for their belief – expressed in taking this action – that laws against abortion are not limited to the sphere of state legislation.

Amici for Life

MORE THAN 100 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS – including the Senate – filed an amicus (friend-of-the-court) brief urging the US Supreme Court to uphold the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling challenging, writes Raymond Wolfe for LifeSiteNews, “the Biden FDA’s 2023 rule that allows mifepristone to be prescribed and dispensed without an in-person appointment. … The FDA’s policy ‘now facilitates nearly 1,000 illegal abortions in Louisiana per month,’ the 5^th Circuit said.”

We appreciate these lawmakers for stepping up in this critical matter and publish their names near the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing. The amicus brief continues to advise the Court in this matter, as Louisiana’s challenge to continued sales of the abortion drug within its borders continues to make its way through the court system.

Mifepristone was first rushed to marketing approval by the federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in the waning days of the Clinton Regime. The drug’s only purpose is to starve a developing human baby so that the little one can then be delivered dead with the companion drug, misoprostol. Only the latter has other, legitimate medical purposes, but it is being used with RU-486 as a two-drug baby poison.

States like Louisiana have been outlawing distribution of the drug within or across their borders, but the abortion cartel is resisting their baby-and-mom protective measures in court.

The 5^th Circuit appellate court, reports Mr. Wolfe, “said that the FDA’s removal of the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone ‘likely lacked a basis in data and scientific literature. … The public interest is not served by perpetuating a medical practice whose safety the agency admits was inadequately studied. Indeed, the public interest demands the opposite,’ the judges wrote.”

The brief was circulated in the Senate by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and in the House by Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ). The leaders of both houses – Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) – were principal co-signers.

Marching for Life in Oregon

THE NEXT SCHEDULED STATE-LEVEL MARCH FOR LIFE is in Salem, Oregon, on May 30. Details can be learned by visiting the website https://marchforlife.org/statemarches.

Is This Not Settled Yet?

May 11, 2026, report by Elizabeth Mitchell for Family Research Council’s The Washington Stand

             President Donald Trump said the question of defunding Planned Parenthood again for another year is a “very thorny issue.” The Daily Signal asked Trump on Monday if he wants Congress to extend the one-year defund of Planned Parenthood that was passed in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and is set to expire July 4, America’s 250^th birthday. Trump said the issue is “under negotiation right now.”

             “Congress is now negotiating,” he replied. “We’ve been very good for the people that want it, for the people that are here, and we’ll see how that goes. … It’s been very thorny,” he added. “To put it mildly, it’s been a very thorny issue.” [Really?]

             Trump did not respond to a follow-up question on whether he would like to extend the defund.

             The pro-life movement has prioritized the prevention of taxpayer funding of abortion clinics. A coalition of pro-life leaders penned a letter urging the Senate to cut abortion funding in the 2026 budget reconciliation package.

             To the disappointment of the pro-life movement, Congress recently moved forward with a second “skinny” reconciliation bill that only included Dept. of Homeland Security funding to end the shutdown of the agency. Members want a larger third package to include various policy priorities, including an extension of the Planned Parenthood defund, additional funding for the Dept. of War and possibly a measure to require voter identification.

             Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has assured some Members of Congress and pro-life leaders that he will try to stop the resumption of Planned Parenthood funding, The Daily Signal reported.

             “He said he’s doing everything he can to make sure that happens,” Pro-life Caucus Co-chair[man] Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) told The Daily Signal. “I have a great deal of respect for Speaker Johnson. I do believe he will do everything he can.”

             Johnson has said he hopes to use reconciliation to defund Planned Parenthood again. “We’ve been very creative in how we’ve used that, and we’re intending to do that again,” he underscored at the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America gala on April 29.

Which Way, America?

May 8, 2026, The Washington Stand commentary by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins

             Abortion is more entrenched in America than even I realized. I thought, like most people, that the number of abortions in the United States would decrease after the Supreme Court overturned the infamous 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that forced abortion-on-demand on every state, regardless of their duly enacted laws. The overturn of Roe in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org. decision restored, after nearly 50 years, the right of states and elected officials to determine laws protecting life. Immediately following Dobbs, about 20 states enacted laws protecting the unborn, including about a dozen that enacted iron-clad protections.

             Then President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris repeatedly argued that after Dobbs, women in states with pro-life protections would, in many cases, be unable to obtain abortions, either because it was illegal or practically inaccessible. The reality is that far from decreasing, the abortion rate in the US has climbed 21% between pre- and post-Dobbs America. Why? Because of policies put in place by the Biden Administration when Roe was overturned that rapidly accelerated a decades-old push to expand abortion.

             In the mid-90s, the French-made abortion pill made its way to the US via the Population Council, but there was no company to manufacture and distribute the drug. So, a company was formed, backed by private funding, coordinated by the deep state and operating with notable secrecy, incorporated in the Cayman Islands, with little public information beyond its name: Danco. And it’s only product? The abortion drug.

             Danco is now trying to keep up with demand under the Biden-era policy that remains in place, which no longer requires in-person consultation or in-person dispensing of the drug. Chemical abortions now make up 63% of the roughly 1.2 million annual abortions in the US. In a move that baffled pro-lifers last year, the Trump FDA approved another company, Evita, to sell a generic version of the abortion drug at a reduced cost.

             Danco and another abortion pill manufacturer, GenBioPro, filed with the Supreme Court last week to stop the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals from halting the Biden policies that offer no oversight of a drug that sends one in every 20 women to the emergency room. The companies claim the state of Louisiana, which is suing the FDA over the lax drug policy, has no legal right to sue. I am sure their position has nothing to do with the potential loss of profits if Louisiana prevails.

             Louisiana has the right to call on the Supreme Court to stop the damage to its pro-life laws and to the health of its people. As recognized in Dobbs, Louisiana has passed laws to protect the unborn. Those laws are being eviscerated by federal policy. Taxpayers are covering the costs of any woman on Medicaid who ends up in the ER after taking the drug, while Danco and its counterparts, GenBioPro and Evita reap billions in profits at the public’s expense. Considering that one in 10 women report “severe adverse effects” from the pill, that’s no small amount of taxpayer dollars.

             These abortion-by-mail manufacturers are not standing alone. The abortion industry and nearly every Democrat on Capitol Hill – 47 Senators and 212 House Members – filed a brief* in support of the abortion drug suppliers and the FDA. The National Organization for Women [NOW] claimed that “Mifepristone is an essential lifeline for people who live in abortion-ban states.”

             A LIFELINE? How Orwellian.

             If the FDA refuses to voluntarily change its dangerous policy, the Supreme Court should give life to the words written in Dobbs and allow elected officials to protect their citizens – both born and unborn.

*Life Advocacy Briefing editor’s note: There are competing amicus briefs in the Louisiana case against the FDA. The signers we have commended – and listed below – are the Members of Congress and Senate who signed in favor of protecting babies, not those who signed the competing brief to which Mr. Perkins refers.

Cassidy/Smith Amicus Brief Signers

SUBSCRIBING TO THE PRO-LIFE AMICUS BRIEF in the Louisiana case against distribution of mifepristone within or across the state’s borders were, from the Senate, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and GOP Senators Katie Britt & Tommy Tuberville (AL), Tom Cotton (AR), Rick Scott (FL), Mike Crapo & James Risch (ID), Jim Banks & Todd Young (IN), Roger Marshall & Jerry Moran (KS), Rand Paul (KY), John Kennedy (LA), Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS), Josh Hawley (MO), Steve Daines & Tim Sheehy (MT), Deb Fischer & Pete Ricketts (NE), Ted Budd (NC), Kevin Cramer & John Hoeven (ND), James Lankford (OK), Lindsey Graham (SC), Marsha Blackburn (TN) and John Cornyn & Ted Cruz (TX).

Also, from the House, joining Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) were GOP Representatives Robert Aderholt, Barry Moore, Gary Palmer, Mike Rogers & Dale Strong (AL); Andy Biggs & Paul Gosar (AZ); Rick Crawford (AR); Vince Fong (CA); Lauren Boebert & Jeff Crank  (CO); Aaron Bean, Kat Cammack, Gus Bilirakis, Scott Franklin & Daniel Webster (FL); Andrew Clyde (GA); Michael Simpson (ID); Mike Bost & Mary Miller (IL); Erin Houchin, Mark Messmer, Marlin Stutzman & Rudy Yakim (IN); Ron Estes (KS); Brett Guthrie (KY); Clay Higgins, Julia Letlow & Steve Scalise (LA); Andy Harris (MD); Lisa McClain & John Moolenaar (MI); Tom Emmer & Michelle Fischbach (MN); Michael Guest (MS); Mark Alford, Eric Burlison, Sam Graves & Robert Onder (MO); Troy Downing (MT).

And GOP Representatives Mike Flood (NE); Nick Langworthy & Claudia Tenney (NY); Virginia Foxx, Pat Harrigan, Mark Harris, Richard Hudson, Addison McDowell, Tim Moore & David Rouzer (NC); Julie Fedorchak (ND); Warren Davidson & Jim Jordan (OH); Josh Brecheen (OK); Cliff Bentz (OR); Mike Kelly & Glenn Thompson (PA); Sheri Biggs, Ralph Norman & Joe Wilson (SC); Dusty Johnson (SD); Diana Harshbarger, Andy Ogles, Matt VanEpps (TN); Jodey Arrington, John Carter, Jake Ellzey, Nathaniel Moran, August Pfluger, Chip Roy, Keith Self, Pete Sessions, Beth VanDuyne, Randy Weber & Roger Williams (TX); Blake Moore (UT); Ben Cline, Morgan Griffith & John McGuire (VA); Riley Moore (WV); Scott Fitzgerald & Glenn Grothman (WI) and Harriet Hageman (WY).

Blunt Truth 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. With regard to his topic of banning partial-birth abortion, please take into account: Though the Clinton veto override succeeded and the ban is on the books, we are unaware of a single prosecution brought by any federal prosecutor to stop this federal crime, yet we are aware, the practice continues.

             … We all hope and pray for “death with dignity.” Tell me, what’s dignified about a death caused by having a scissors stabbed into your neck so your brains can be sucked out?