Life Advocacy Briefing

Did You Miss Us?

WE MISSED PUBLISHING Life Advocacy Briefing last week because of our editor’s wintry illness. As we look over the news that has been piling up in the meantime, we wish it hadn’t happened! Expect most of our news reports today to be in the form of “quick takes” – shorter than usual, but still to the point. (Be sure to read the letter from Texas State Rep. James Talarico to then-Pres. Biden; we have published it in its entirety. Now that he is the Democratic nominee to the US Senate, it is “must” reading!)

 

Still Essential

A NATIONAL POLL released in late February, reports Tony Perkins for The Washington Stand, “shows 74% of GOP primary voters say a candidate’s position on abortion is important when deciding whom they support. And when it comes to mifepristone, 80% believe the FDA should require in-person visits. … The poll also showed that 32% of Republican voters would be less enthusiastic about voting in November if GOP leaders abandon pro-life policies.”

 

Suing the F.D.A.

TWENTY-ONE STATES HAVE FILED AN AMICUS BRIEF in Louisiana’s lawsuit against the Biden-era relaxation of Food & Drug Administration rules for marketing mifepristone, whose sole use is to starve vulnerable unborn babies. The plaintiff states argue the change removing in-person medical consultation before prescription encroaches on state laws seeking to protect the children. Joining Louisiana are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

 

Unconscionable Mandate

RIGHT TO LIFE OF MICHIGAN and a pregnancy center in Grand Rapids have filed suit challenging a state employment law – amended after the disastrous poisoning of the state’s constitution to sanctify abortion – which bars them from excluding abortion advocates from staff hirings. The plaintiffs are represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

 

California to the Rescue

CALIFORNIA GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D) HAS SIGNED a law, reports Emily Washburn for Daily Citizen, “granting Planned Parenthood $90 million to spend however it likes.”

 

Getting Serious

WEST VIRGINIA’s SENATE ADVANCED A BILL in mid-February to ban shipment of mifepristone into the state via the mail, making it a felony for non-professionals to send abortifacient drugs into West Virginia and, reports S.A. McCarthy for The Washington Stand, “strip[ping] any medical professional who prescribes or mails abortion drugs into [the state] of his medical license. The bill further empowers pregnant women or the family members of pregnant women who are mailed the abortion drug to file a civil lawsuit in West Virginia’s courts” against the offender. Only one Senator – Democrat Joey Garcia – voted against it.

 

Get On It, Mr. Secretary

ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM (A.D.F.) HAS WARNED the federal Dept. of Health & Human Services that 49 medical residency programs which receive HHS funding “may be violating federal conscience protections,” reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, “by compelling participants to undergo abortion training.” The cited programs are “certified by or otherwise affiliated with the Reproductive Health Education in Family Medicine training program. … ‘It is simply impermissible for an HHS-funded family medicine program to structure itself with any limitation on  objections to participation in any aspect of abortion training based on religious beliefs or moral convictions …,’ ADF argues,” as quoted by Mr. Freiburger.

 

Looking for Profit?

NOW THAT PLANNED PARENTHOOD HAS BEEN CUT OFF from the federal funding firehose, the outfit has added “a new wrinkle,” writes Doug Mainwaring for LifeSiteNews, to its “ever-changing post-Dobbs business plan: The behemoth US abortion provider has begun offering Botox treatments as a much-needed additional source of income.” We thought you’d like to know.

 

Texas Trying Another Suit

TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON (R) IS SUING Aid Access, founded by notorious international abortionist Rebecca Gompers, for shipping abortion pills into Texas from California. The lawsuit cites several Texas statutes which Aid Access’s business is “directly” violating.

 

Lost Opportunity

THE INDIANA LEGISLATURE HAS ADJOURNED for the year, stranding in a House committee a Senate-passed bill authorizing wrongful death lawsuits by “the mother or father of a preborn child killed via abortion-inducing drugs,” reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews. SB-236 had been expected to sail through the House after easy passage in the State Senate by a 35-10 margin.

 

Making Progress in Mississippi

ON A VOTE OF 77-39, the Mississippi House has sent to the state senate a bill – HB-1613 – that would, reports Doug Mainwaring for LifeSiteNews, “criminalize the sending of abortion pills via the mail as a felony drug trafficking offense with stiff penalties attached.” Sponsoring Rep. Celeste Hurst (R) explained to the Mississippi Free Press, quoted by Mr. Mainwaring, “‘Right now, it’s [the abortion drug] being mailed out without any doctor oversight and without any age verification whatsoever – they’re not even verifying if the person they’re communicating with via form is a woman.’” In the House floor debate, she charged, “‘You could go on, as a man, and get this drug by just filling out a form.’”

 

Not Even After They’re Born?

34 DEMOCRATS IN THE OREGON HOUSE voted to freeze to death in committee a state-level Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, with 22 Republicans voting to advance it. Said Oregon Right to Life executive director Lois Anderson, quoted in a LifeSiteNews report by Calvin Freiburger, “‘It is tragic that Oregon’s current Democratic lawmakers are so committed to their party’s radical abortion agenda that they will not, at the very minimum, take action to ensure that babies who survive abortion attempts are treated with the same standard of care as any other newborn.’”

 

Radical Consequences

THE OHIO CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT which voters tragically ratified in 2023 has now been used by a state appellate court to overturn “common-sense, broadly supported legislation,” declares Ohio Right to Life, “that simply required abortion facilities to treat babies who died by abortion with the barest amount of humanity rather than tossing away the babies like medical waste.” The 2020 law – now unenforceable – required burial or cremation of the remains of aborted babies. Notes the pro-life advocacy group, “It would not have stopped or burdened women who sought an abortion.” But anything must be stopped, it appears, which offers dignity to humans not yet born.

 

Pro-Life Constitutional Amendment Offered

MISSOURI STATE SEN. MIKE MOON (R) HAS FILED a constitutional amendment proposal seeking to undo the damage from the state’s 2024 voter-approved provision guaranteeing abortion-on-demand. The amendment proposal would, reports LifeSiteNews writer Calvin Freiburger, state “the ‘term “person” under this constitution includes every human being with a unique DNA code regardless of age, including every in utero human child at every stage of biological development from the moment of conception until birth.’” And it would explicitly state, he reports, “‘Nothing in this constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion.’” Another constitutional amendment is also pending voter approval; it would, notes Mr. Freiburger, “ban abortion except for rape and incest in the first trimester or for ‘medical emergencies’ throughout pregnancy, along with banning taxpayer funding for abortion or youth gender ‘transitions.’”

 

Marching for Life – in the States

PRO-LIFE AMERICANS WILL BE MARCHING TODAY, March 16, in Sacramento and in Annapolis. Next up, April 17 in Denver, April 22 in Richmond and April 25 in Anchorage. More information is available at https://marchforlife.org/statemarches.

 

Taking the Lead – for What?

June 24, 2022, letter from State Rep. James Talarico (D-TX) to Pres. Joseph R. Biden; Rep. Talarico was nominated March 23 as Democratic candidate for the US Senate in the November, 2026, election; his letter is dated on the very day that the Supreme Court handed down the Dobbs decision overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade edict.

Dear Mr. President,

             Decades of jurisprudence and majorities of Americans have repeatedly affirmed the constitutional right to an abortion. Yet an anti-choice minority has taken advantage of the undemocratic loopholes in our political system to impose their radical program on our country.

             This minority is threatening our most basic rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Leaders at all levels must use every tool in the toolbox to protect our freedoms. We must take extraordinary steps to counter this extraordinary subversion of the public will.

             On behalf of my constituents, I urge you and your administration to consider taking the following executive actions to protect the right to an abortion:

• Leasing federal property to abortion clinics on federal lands or in federal offices
• Prohibiting states from imposing restrictions on abortion medication through the Food and Drug Administration
• Hiring abortion providers as federal employees to provide immunity from state lawsuits

             The General Services Administration manages more than 800 federally owned or leased buildings in Texas alone. Just repurposing a small fraction of those spaces can provide critical life-saving care to people across my state.

             We must act. Women in states like mine will die if we do not.

             Thank you for your consideration.

             Sincerely, State Representative James Talarico

 

Fawning Admiration of Whom?

March 7, 2026, LifeSiteNews report by Doug Mainwaring

             Texas Democrats have elected [sic] James Talarico to be their senatorial nominee, despite the fact that he has claimed that there are “six” biological sexes, argued in favor of “transgender abortion” and males in girls’ sports, and made blasphemous comments invoking God and the Bible to defend abortion and transgender ideology. He has further claimed that there is no Biblical basis to oppose abortion and homosexuality and believes in fully open borders in order to allow unfettered illegal immigration while offering advice to illegals on how to avoid ICE.

             Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian and current member of the Texas House of Representatives, ran as a “moderate” Christian Democrat in order to defeat US House Rep. Jasmine Crockett, but his record betrays that claim at every turn.

             “Do not let his choirboy persona fool you,” warned Texas House colleague Brian Harrison during a NewsMax video interview. “James Talarico is more liberal than socialist Bernie Sanders, he is weirder than Tim Walz,” said Harrison, and “he is even more radical than the left-wing lunatic he defeated, Jasmine Crockett.”

             “If Beelzebub were a politician, he would talk like this,” noted US House Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX).

             In 2022, Talarico sent a letter to Pres. Joe Biden pleading with him to establish abortion centers in federal lands and offices, presumably including federal courthouses and national parks. [See ‘Taking the Lead – for What?’ above] …

             Many attribute Talarico’s rise to prominence to a long-form video interview with podcaster Joe Rogan published last summer. During the 2.5-hour podcast, Rogan fawned over the 36-year-old Texan. Rogan reportedly invited … Talarico to be a guest on his show after seeing his viral social-media posts explaining his opposition to displaying the Ten Commandments in Texas public schools.

             During his discussion with Rogan, the lawmaker, who is regarded by fellow Democrats as a “devout Christian,” condemned what he calls the “religious right.” “For the last 40-50 years, the religious right has made a concerted effort to make homosexuality and abortion the two biggest issues for Christians,” Talarico noted. Then he made a shocking statement: “This idea that to be a Christian means you have to be anti-gay and anti-abortion, there really is no historical, theological, biblical basis for that opinion.”

             He also astonishingly invoked the Gospel account of the Annunciation – which highlights the preborn humanity of Jesus – to defend abortion and claimed that a woman’s unwillingness to carry a child can legitimize the murder of the baby.

             Back in 2021, Talarico asserted in a Texas State House Public Education Committee hearing that sex is not binary while arguing that gender-confused male students should be able to compete in girls’ sports in the LoneStar state. He stated that “modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six,” Talarico added.

             By the end of their conversation, the enamored Rogan suggested that Talarico would make a great Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party in 2028. “You need to run for President,” Rogan said. “We need someone who is actually a good person.”

             “James Talarico’s woke Billy Graham shtick has the same function as Tim Walz’s trans-affirming Elmer Fudd persona,” wrote conservative commentator Matthew Schmitz on X. “Democrats desperately want a rural/religious-coded white male who can make their most unpopular positions seem American as apple pie.”

 

March for Life Address

Today’s Life Advocacy transcript from the Jan. 23, 2026, March for Life in Washington is of a video message by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD).

             Hello, marchers. I’m very sorry I couldn’t be with you all today, but I wanted to send my greetings, my greetings and my gratitude to all of you for making your way to DC from every corner of the country to stand up for the right to life. You are here today to witness the great truth that every human being – every human being, no matter how small or vulnerable – is infinitely valuable, created in the image of God.

             “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you,” the Lord says in Jeremiah. “Before you were born, I set you apart.”

             Abortion is an evil that’s too often brushed to the side, but you all, you all are ensuring that we don’t brush it aside. And I’m proud to stand with you, and I’m very proud to be able to say to you today that in 2025 for the first time ever, Congress defunded big abortion. With the Working Families Tax Cuts, Congress enacted the first pro-life law in decades, and thanks to that landmark legislation, this year some of the nation’s largest abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, are prohibited from receiving Medicaid funding. The organizations that have turned the killing of babies into a business are cut off.

             Next week we’ll be considering legislation to ensure that pregnant college students have access to the support that they need to carry their baby to term and to care for their child. And I pledge to you that as Majority Leader of the United States Senate, I and my pro-life colleagues will continue to do everything we can in Congress to support moms and protect preborn children. We may not always be successful, but we will never stop trying.

             Thank you all for being at the March today, and God bless you all as you stand up for the great gift of human life.

 

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.

             … The supporters of abortion-on-demand have exercised an amazing capacity for self-deception by detaching themselves from any sympathy whatsoever for the unborn child, and in doing so they separate themselves from the instinct for justice that gave birth to this country.