Life Advocacy Briefing

Hawley Again

WHILE THE SENATE WAS ENGAGED IN ITS ‘VOTE-A-RAMA’ series of budgetary amendments seeking to resolve the most recent government shut-down, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) put on his pro-life thinking cap and offered a budgetary amendment to continue in law the prohibition of federal Medicaid payments to “abortion providers,” a reform which has to be fought over annually.

The amendment failed, requiring 60 votes and garnering just 50. We thank Sen. Hawley for his leadership and publish the voting record near the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.

Exhale in Illinois

IN A MAJOR VICTORY FOR PRO-LIFE ILLINOISANS, the state legislature has let pass a deadline for placing an abortion-hub constitutional amendment proposition on the November ballot, though it was publicly advocated by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who fancies himself a 2028 contender for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

Under the state’s constitution, constitutional amendment proposals can reach the ballot only by legislative action except in a narrow lane restricted to the structure of the legislature itself.

The last thing the people of Illinois need is a ballot battle to seal abortion into the state constitution. The state is already, notes Doug Mainwaring for LifeSiteNews, “the leading national hub providing abortions for women who live in states where abortion is banned,” which includes some of its neighbors. “Last year,” writes Mr. Mainwaring, “nearly one in four patients [sic] who traveled across state lines for an abortion came to Illinois, according to data from the pro-abortion research group, the Guttmacher Institute,” which was founded as the research arm of Planned Parenthood.

The lack of legislative enthusiasm for an amendment proposition may be attributable to a groundswell of opposition demonstrated by an e-mail campaign initiated by Illinois Right to Life. “In a matter of weeks,” notes Mr. Mainwaring, “more than 11,000 e-mails were sent by [IRL] supporters to Gov. J. B Pritzker and members of the Illinois General Assembly, urging them not to introduce the amendment. The outreach came during the critical legislative window in which such a proposal would have needed to advance in order to appear on the 2026 ballot.

“The [Chicago] Tribune’s coverage,” writes Mr. Mainwaring, “characterized the outcome as a ‘rare pro-life victory,’ pointing to the broader political significance of the decision and the role of organized opposition in shaping the debate.”

Putting Idaho Voters to the Test

IT APPEARS VOTERS IN IDAHO WILL FACE a constitutional amendment proposition to overturn the state’s protections for unborn girls and boys.

The ballot question was posted via petition signatures to place the question on the statewide ballot in November. The petition was circulated by a pro-abortion outfit with a euphemistic name, which we will not cite because it is misleading and irrelevant to most of our readers.

The proposition is itself euphemistically called the “‘Reproductive Freedom & Privacy Act,’” according to Ray Hilbrich, reporting for LifeSiteNews. “The new bill,” writes Mr. Hilbrich, “proposes allowing abortion up to fetal viability, typically around 23 weeks of gestational age when a baby is able to survive outside the womb.” But if a baby is killed before that developmental stage, he or she will never reach birth and opportunity; how is that fair?

Sooner Rather than Later

OKLAHOMA’s STATE LEGISLATURE sent to the governor HB-1168, reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, “that would make Oklahoma the fifteenth US state to criminalize abortion pill trafficking.” The bill was quickly signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt (R). The roll call in the House was 77 to 19, and in the Senate, 37 to 10.

In Oklahoma, where abortion is illegal, it is now a felony, reports Mr. Freiburger, “to deliver or possess with intent to deliver an abortion-inducing drug for the purpose of causing an illegal abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, up to a $100,000 fine, or both.”

State Sen. David Bullard (R) said, quoted by LifeSiteNews, “‘HB-1168 is the most important legislation we’ve passed all session. … The abortion pill doesn’t just kill a baby. It doesn’t just decimate a mother through serious physical and mental health problems and never-ending regrets. The abortion pill wipes out generations.’”

And Mr. Freiburger quotes the jubilant remarks of State Rep. Denise Crosswhite Hader (R), who declared, “‘This bill will save lives, not just unborn children but mothers who have at times been coerced or deceived into taking these dangerous abortion-inducing drugs with no medical oversight or care. … I’ve worked for several years to get this bill to this stage, and I’m glad to see it finally on its way to the governor.

“‘I’m thankful for Sen. Bullard’s passion on this matter,’” continued Rep. Hader, “‘and his tenacity to see this through. I’m thankful as well for all my House and Senate colleagues who see the importance of this measure. I pray the governor will swiftly sign this into law.’”

Prayer answered: Amen!

Hiding the Ugly Truth

A NEW LAW IN NEW MEXICO, which takes effect 90 days after the legislature adjourns on May 20, will, reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, “stop requiring abortionists to report abortions to the state.” The new law was signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The state, which, notes Mr. Freiburger, “has been an aggressive supporter of ‘choice’ at the expense of the choices of those who object, … permits abortion through all nine months.”

What is more, the state subsidizes the practice of killing unborn babies. “In 2024,” reports Mr. Freiburger, the state “spent $400,000 of taxpayer money advertising to ‘cordially and enthusiastically invite’ abortionists in other states to relocate.” That pitch is especially problematic in a state which borders Texas, which has outlawed abortion and driven out its abortionists through civil liability also.

“As a result of the state’s permissive abortion regime,” writes Mr. Freiburger, “‘more than 14,000 women traveled to New Mexico for abortions in 2023, and out-of-state residents accounted for 71% of all abortions that year,’ according to Live Action’s Angeline Tan,” quoted by LifeSiteNews.

“‘Authentic health care does not operate in secrecy,’” commented Abortion-Free New Mexico spokesman Tara Shaver, quoted by Mr. Freiburger. “‘Authentic health care requires standards, inspections and accountability. And health care does not ask lawmakers to look away – especially when taxpayer dollars are involved.’” Well said!

Will the High Court Get This One Right?

May 4, 2026, report by Zachary Mettler for Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen

             The US Supreme Court temporarily restored access to mail-order abortion pills Monday morning, allowing women to continue obtaining mifepristone through telehealth appointments, the mail and pharmacies. The Court administratively stayed a lower court decision overturning the Biden Administration’s efforts to make the abortion drug more widely available following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

             In 2023, the Biden Administration modified mifepristone’s Risk Evaluation & Mitigation Strategies (REMS), a regulation placed on the drug by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to lessen the risks to women who take it. An estimated 11% of women who abort their child with mifepristone suffer life-threatening complications. The FDA removed the in-person dispensing requirement, making mifepristone accessible through telehealth appointments, obtainable by mail nationwide* and available at retail pharmacies. The requirement has been in place for over two decades.

             In 2025, Louisiana brought a lawsuit challenging the 2023 REMS, arguing the FDA’s justifications for removing the in-person dispensing requirement were based on flawed or non-existent data. Additionally, Louisiana documented how the new regulation resulted in numerous illegal abortions in the state. In effect, the 2023 REMS allow women to bypass a pro-life state’s restriction on abortion by ordering mifepristone online and having it delivered through the mail.*

             Louisiana argued the 2023 REMS also made the abortion pill ripe for abuse. Look no further than the case of Rosalie Markezich, a Louisiana woman who was forced by her then-boyfriend to take abortion drugs he ordered online from a doctor in California. Markezich joined Louisiana’s lawsuit against the FDA.

             On May 1, the US Court of Appeals for the 5^th District sided with Louisiana and stayed the 2023 REMS. Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, joined by Judges Leslie Southwick and Kurt Engelhardt, noted that the FDA “conceded it had failed to adequately study whether remotely prescribing mifepristone is safe.” [For whom?] Louisiana made “a strong showing that the 2023 REMS was not ‘reasonable’ or ‘reasonably explained,’” the court said. The 5^th Circuit added, “Every abortion facilitated by FDA’s action cancels Louisiana’s ban on medical abortions and undermines its policy that ‘every unborn child is [a] human being from the moment of conception and is, therefore, a legal person.’”

             Now, the US Supreme Court has put the 5^th Circuit’s decision on hold – for now. The seven-day administrative stay gives the Supreme Court more time to consider the case. [Pray – now!]

             Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which joined Louisiana in challenging the FDA’s regulation, issued a statement following the Court’s decision. “This is NOT a reversal of Friday’s decision. Rather, it’s the run-of-the-mill pause that the Justices typically use to consider the issues raised in an emergency application,” ADF said. “We respect the Court’s desire to have time to consider the issues and will continue our fight to uphold this victory that protects women and babies across the country from FDA’s unlawful and destructive mail-order abortion-drug scheme.”

             The Supreme Court’s administrative stay expires on Monday, May 11. … The case is Danco Laboratories v. Louisiana.

[Note to readers: the notations in the above report which appear in brackets are added by Life Advocacy Briefing’s editor and do not appear in the Daily Citizen report.]

Facing the Painful Reality

May 6, 2026, LifeSiteNews blog by Jonathon VanMaren

             In 2026, abortion activists are still attempting to persuade the public that the baby in the womb is not a baby. In a blog post last month titled “How Can I Tell If My Abortion Worked?”, Planned Parenthood assured women that “early in the pregnancy, the pregnancy tissue looks similar to dryer lint, which, mixed in with blood, is often not very noticeable.”

             As Live Action News pointed out – and as I have covered in this space many times – the experiences of women who actually take the abortion pill are often very different. As one woman wrote online: “I … I think I just saw the fetus. Exactly eight weeks. I took the pills a couple hours ago … And it came out, with the worst cramps I’ve ever felt. It was immediate relief, but, it didn’t go down the drain, and I saw it, the little eye and everything.”

             “No one in the same state as me even knows I was pregnant; the only person I told chastised me for being so dumb and irresponsible. … I think that ****** me up pretty badly, mentally.”

             Another woman, Christina, got the abortion pill at Planned Parenthood and was told it would result in a “heavy period.” It didn’t. “When I turned around, there it was in the sac and everything,” she said. “I broke open the sac and held the helpless little baby in my hand. I cried and felt like I had just murdered someone so innocent. I regretted it 100% after that night.”

             A study examining the reaction of women who took the abortion pill also highlights how deceptive Planned Parenthood’s assurances are. Here are just a few of the testimonies:

             “I felt her come out.” … “I was in so much pain on the bathroom floor.” … “The pills made me vomit, lose control of my bowels, sweat, faint, pass out and go into full labor.” … “They told me it wouldn’t hurt and I wouldn’t feel a thing. THAT WAS SUCH A LIE. I felt everything. I heard everything. I seen everything. I ended up blacking out from the pain and puking all over myself.” … “I knew to expect blood clotting, but nothing could’ve prepared me for seeing her body. It was the color of my own skin and was actually starting to look like a person.” … “We were told we would go back to normal and it won’t affect us, but they were wrong!!! All I feel is emptiness and hatred. I used to be the happiest, most positive girl. All I want is to take it back.”

             Planned Parenthood also ignores a 2025 study indicating that one in 10 women who take the abortion pill suffers an “adverse event;” as a 2024 First Things essay “The Case Against the Abortion Pill” indicates, the medical establishment has studiously ignored the impact of pill abortions for ideological reasons.

             In fact, as I reported last year, abortion pill sellers actually use photos of aborted babies to prove to purchasers that their product works. Abortion pills do not “induce a heavy period.” They kill babies. That is what they are for. If a woman is pregnant with a wanted child, she will find videos …

detailing what her baby looks like at eight weeks. But if she does not want her baby, Planned Parenthood will tell her that her baby, at that stage, is still “very similar to dryer lint.”

             They are lying, and the medical establishment has known for decades that they are lying. But in order to kill babies, we must kill the truth – and that is why pregnancy apps will tell you one thing and Planned Parenthood will tell you something else entirely. …

[Life Advocacy Briefing editor’s note: We are aware that the truth about mifepristone is difficult to read. But we strongly believe that the testimonies of post-abortive mothers are critical to the awakening of America and America’s leaders – from the President on down – to the reality of the abortion cartel, the actual impact of the poison pill known as mifepristone, and the betrayal of the principle on which our nation was founded 250 years ago. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men … .” There is no “happiness” to be secured in the murder of a child by his or her own mother, no matter what “society” may call it.]

Senate Voting Record

Hawley Amendment to Senate Concurrent Resolution 33 – Extending Prohibition on Medicaid funding of abortionists – Failed 50-48 (needing 60) – April 23, 2026 (Democrats in italics; “Independents” marked “I;” new Senator in ALL CAPS)

Voting “yes” / pro-Life: Britt & Tuberville/AL, Sullivan/AK, Boozman & Cotton/AR, Moody & Scott/FL, Crapo & Risch/ID, Banks & Young/IN, Ernst/IA, Marshall & Moran/KS, McConnell & Paul/KY, Cassidy & Kennedy/LA, Hyde-Smith & Wicker/MS, Hawley & Schmitt/MO, Daines & Sheehy/MT, Fischer & Ricketts/NE, Budd & Tillis/NC, Cramer & Hoeven/ND, Husted & Moreno/OH, ARMSTRONG & Lankford/OK, McCormick/PA, Graham & Scott/SC, Rounds/SD, Blackburn & Hagerty/TN, Cornyn & Cruz/TX, Curtis & Lee/UT, Capito & Justice/WV, Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Lummis/WY. And Majority Leader Thune/SD.

Voting “no” / anti-Life: Murkowski/AK, Gallego & Kelly/AZ, Padilla & Schiff/CA, Bennet & Hickenlooper/CO, Blumenthal & Murphy/CT, Blunt-Rochester & Coons/DE, Ossoff & Warnock/GA, Hirono & Schatz/HI, Duckworth & Durbin/IL, Collins & King(I)/ME, Alsobrooks & VanHollen/MD, Markey & Warren/MA, Peters & Slotkin/MI, Klobuchar & Smith/MN, Cortez-Masto & Rosen/NV, Hassan & Shaheen/NH, Booker & Kim/NJ, Heinrich & Lujan/NM, Gillibrand & Schumer/NY, Merkley & Wyden/OR, Fetterman/PA, Reed & Whitehouse/RI, Sanders(I) & Welch/VT, Kaine/VA, Cantwell & Murray/WA, Baldwin/WI.

Not voting: Grassley/IA, Warner/VA.

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. 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.

             … And say, what do we mean by “human dignity” if we subject innocent children to brutal execution, when they’re almost born?