Life Advocacy Briefing

Sen. Graham, RIP

ONE OF THE PRESIDENT’s MOST PRIZED ALLIES, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) passed away suddenly on July 11, apparently of natural causes. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) quickly appointed the senator’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, to fill the vacancy until next January, when a newly elected senator will take office. The late Sen. Graham had been nominated for a fifth six-year term; a special primary will soon be called to replace him on the November ballot. We wish Sen. Nordone well and anticipate she will follow in her brother’s footsteps in many respects, including in his commitment to the right to Life. Near the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing, we publish a major excerpt from a commentary on Sen. Graham published July 13 in Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen.

Ann Widdecombe, RIP

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM IS NOT THE ONLY prominent pro-life political figure to have died this month. A prominent conservative politician in Britain was murdered, in her rural home on or about July 9. Ann Widdecombe served as a Conservative Party Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010, according to Raymond Wolfe, reporting for LifeSiteNews. She was “well-known,” he notes, “for defending the right to Life and the traditional family.

“As Right to Life UK noted,” writes Mr. Wolfe, “she repeatedly opposed pro-abortion policies and supported pro-life measures, including legislation to require parental notification for underage abortions and to lower the abortion limit from 24 weeks to 12. She also stressed,” he writes, “that she ‘would never license an abortion clinic’ if she became health secretary.

“[Ms.] Widdecombe likewise opposed assisted suicide,” notes Mr. Wolfe, “fighting multiple attempts to legalize it during her time in Parliament. More recently, she denounced assisted suicide legislation that failed in the UK this year as ‘riddled with horrors.’ …

“[M.P.] Widdecombe was a member of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), the UK’s oldest pro-life organization, from her time in university. SPUC Executive Director Michael Robinson told LifeSiteNews: ‘In an age when many public figures shifted with the political winds, she stood firm on matters of principle, often at considerable personal cost. … She was an unashamed defender of the dignity of every human life, speaking up for the unborn, the elderly, the disabled and the vulnerable. Her belief that every human life matters – from conception until natural death – never wavered.’”

Mr. Attorney General – End this Nightmare!

WHILE ATTORNEY GENERAL-DESIGNATE TODD BLANCHE SEEKS Senate confirmation, with Judiciary Committee deliberation underway, a group of 14 women “from different backgrounds, ages and regions of the country” have written a letter to him appealing to the Justice Dept. to settle a case seeking enforcement of federal law prohibiting shipping abortion drugs through the US mail.

The case was filed by the mother of an aborted child who was forced to take the baby poison by her then-boyfriend. “According to her account,” write the 14, the child’s father “used her information to obtain abortion drugs by mail from a California abortionist and pressured her to take them even though she did not want to end her pregnancy.”

The letter goes on to quote the aggrieved young woman. “‘If mail-order abortion wasn’t a thing, I’m 100% sure I would have my child. … I do not believe a doctor would have prescribed me the drugs if I told her I did not want them.’”

Note the letter signers, which include pro-life champion Abby Johnson, “Rosalie is likely to win her case. A Fifth Circuit [appellate court] panel previously found that she and the state of Louisiana are ‘strongly likely’ to succeed on their claim that the FDA’s mail-order abortion rule violates the Administrative Procedures Act. However,” they write, “continued litigation will take months and months to resolve, and meanwhile more and more women and babies will be harmed. … Settling this case would send a clear message,” they assert, “that women’s safety matters, that coercion is real, that state laws protecting women and unborn children deserve respect and that the Dept. of Justice will not ignore the real-world consequences of weakened abortion-drug safeguards.” Amen.

Confirmed

THE SENATE LAST WEEK CONFIRMED pro-life judicial nominee Matthew Schwartz as a federal appellate judge assigned to New York City. We have previously published the voting record on moving his nomination forward and today, near the close of our Briefing, we publish the confirmation vote.

As we noted in the June 29 Life Advocacy Briefing, Judge Schwartz was “bitterly opposed by the leftwing Alliance for Justice, claiming he ‘has … expressed extreme bias against access to reproductive care [sic] in his personal writings.’” Good enough for us, thanks.

Dodged a Bullet

A BID BY THE ABORTION LOBBY TO SEAL A ‘RIGHT’ TO AN ABORTION into the Delaware state constitution has failed. The legislature in Dover concluded its session on July 1 without taking action in the House on SB-5, notes Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, though it passed the State Senate in March, 2025, by a 15-6 supermajority vote.

It would have limited potential state regulation of abortion to the killing of babies who have reached “fetal viability.” That loophole, he writes, “ostensibly allows late-term abortion to be banned, enabling proponents to sell the amendment as ‘moderate,’ but in practice, the conditions would most likely empower abortionists to justify virtually any post-‘viability’ abortion.”

Pinning Down the A.G.

July 16, 2026, The Washington Stand commentary by  S.A. McCarthy for Family Research Council

             During his confirmation hearing before the US Senate on Wednesday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faced a range of questions from [Republican Senators] regarding the abortion drug mifepristone. While the AG hopeful defended President Donald Trump’s record on defending unborn life and the recent shift in policy within the Trump Administration, which many have suggested appears to be inaction on the abortion drug in particular, Blanche did commit to addressing the abortion pill crisis as attorney general.

             “First, Pres. Trump is the most pro-life President in history, and the work that this department is doing is something that hasn’t been done in 10 years,” Blanche insisted, in response to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA). He added that the Dept. of Health & Human Services (HHS) and the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) are in the process of conducting studies around the dangers of mifepristone.

             While repeatedly asserting that he will not discuss “litigation strategies,” Blanche did clarify that the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) is waiting for HHS and FDA to complete their mifepristone studies in order to use those studies in federal court. “We have to have studies that we can defend in court. We have to say to a judge that our change was not arbitrary and capricious,” Blanche told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). “So, we are trying to let the FDA do their work so that we can work to protect the lives of the unborn children and, frankly, the states’ laws, like Missouri, which are what’s being violated.”

             Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) pressed Blanche on enforcing the Comstock Act, which bars the mailing of abortion-inducing drugs. Under former President Joe Biden, the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel ruled that mailing mifepristone does not violate the Comstock Act. Cruz asked, “Will you commit to carefully reviewing that opinion to ensure that it … faithfully reflects the actual statutory text that Congress enacted?” Blanche replied, “Yes.” Cruz continued, “Will you commit that the department will carefully evaluate every lawful action available to ensure the faithful enforcement of the Comstock Act and other federal pro-life acts?” Again, Blanche responded, “Yes.” 

             Blanche further stressed that the Trump DOJ is not defending the Biden Administration’s diluting of regulations surrounding the abortion drug. “Suffice it to say, Chairman, we are not, in any way, defending what Biden and his Administration did,” Blanche told Grassley. At issue is the case of Louisiana v. FDA. Louisiana led a coalition of red states with pro-life laws in place in a lawsuit demanding that the FDA reinstate previous safeguards prohibiting the remote prescription and shipping of the abortion drug, in an effort to block abortionists in blue states like California and New York from mailing mifepristone into states where the drug is illegal. Under the Trump administration, the DOJ has requested that the lawsuit be dismissed.

             “My state has a number of laws that protect the unborn … and that includes laws that limit the use of the chemical abortion drug. Now, as you know, Joe Biden gutted all those restrictions … so my state went to court to defend those laws,” Hawley recounted, noting that Missouri joined the lawsuit. …

             [M]ore than a year after the Trump Administration promised an FDA review of mifepristone, pro-life leaders are weary of waiting, while hundreds of thousands of unborn children are killed in the womb, pregnant mothers are coerced into consuming mifepristone pills and red-state laws are violated. …

             Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a member of the Judiciary Committee, … appeared on [Family Research Council’s] Washington Watch, confirming that his office had sent a letter to Blanche asking him to restore prior Trump-era protections surrounding the use of mifepristone. “I think a lot of people feel like this is something that people can take and there really aren’t any downsides to it, and do it without a doctor’s supervision. The previous rule under President Trump was that there had to be an interaction with the physician, rather than just do this online or through the mail,” Cornyn explained. “So actually what we’re asking for is a restoration of the Trump-era rule* …,” he continued, “but we [in the letter] asked Todd Blanche to look at that case and perhaps consider entering a consent decree, restoring the Trump-era rule and overriding the Biden-era modification.”

             Cornyn agreed with Blanche that Trump has a strong pro-life record, adding, “But on this issue, they seem to be somewhat ambivalent. As I said in today’s hearing, if Pres. Trump is the most pro-life President we’ve had, this should be an easy call.” The Senator continued, “All we’re asking for is a restoration of the Trump-era rule and eliminating the Biden-era modification, which I believe is a danger to the health of pregnant women who take this drug … not knowing of the potential for serious side effects.” He added, “There have been instances where third parties have secretly given this drug to a pregnant girlfriend or someone else, unbeknownst to them, and cause[d] serious problems.”

             Cornyn emphasized that pro-life Republicans are now waiting on Blanche. “I told him I expect that response before we vote on his nomination on the floor.”

*Life Advocacy Briefing editor’s note: That may be what Sen. Cornyn seeks, but he is not speaking here for the vast majority of pro-life Americans. What we are seeking is revocation of marketing authority for a drug whose sole purpose is to take life. There is no excuse for a drug which has no other purpose and whose marketing approval was rushed solely for political reasons at the 11^th hour of the Clinton Regime. Atty. General-designate Blanche has no authority in the FDA’s deliberations, but the President does. Meanwhile, only as a temporary fallback, the attorney general does have the authority to enforce the Comstock Act, which has been a federal law since its passage in 1873, barring use of the US mail for shipment of abortifacient substances.

Thanking God for Lindsey Graham

Major excerpt from July 13, 2026, Daily Citizen commentary by Paul Batura

             … What hasn’t received as much attention regarding the Senator was his consistent pro-life advocacy and stellar voting record in support of pre-born life. He regularly received 100% ratings from National Right to Life and most recently an A+ rating on the Susan B. Anthony (SBA) National Pro-Life Scorecard. At the time of the designation, he declared, “America is at her best when she’s standing up for the least among us, and I will continue to fight to protect the lives of the unborn.” And that’s exactly what he did.

             It was this conviction that led SBA Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser to grieve the South Carolinian’s passing with a heartfelt statement on Sunday morning, calling him “A man of vision and tenacity.” She continued: “He gave wise counsel and advocacy in countless difficult moments fighting for the rights of the unborn child. He expended himself to the work he was called to do, stepping up when no one else would. On the fundamental value of the not-yet-born child to live he said to all who would listen: ‘It’s not about geography!’ Indeed, his ability to persuade transcended geographic and political boundaries.

             “All those little voices never heard here in this world are singing to him now. SBA Pro-Life America joins the chorus of thanks.

             “I will deeply miss my friend. There will be no replacements for Lindsey Graham. Just proteges.”

             Over the years, Sen. Graham unapologetically opposed taxpayer funding of abortion and strongly advocated for the Hyde Amendment, federal legislation that prohibits federal dollars from being used to take innocent life.

             Sen. Graham sponsored the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, important legislation that he repeatedly introduced. He has co-sponsored the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would require medical personnel to provide life-saving care for babies born despite attempts to abort the child.

             Following the reversal of Roe and the Dobbs decision, which returned the question of abortion’s legality to the states, Graham pushed back on the idea that pro-lifers should be satisfied with the decision. “The pro-life movement has always been about the wellbeing of the unborn child – not geography,” he posited.  Sen. Graham correctly recognized that every pre-born baby, regardless of which state their mother lives in, is deserving of full protection. “I do not believe completely abandoning the unborn under the guise of states’ rights serves the conservative cause or makes us a better nation.”

             As [a member] of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Graham is being remembered for his fiery defense of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. During the 2018 hearings, which saw Justice Kavanaugh accused of vague and unverified charges of sexual abuse, Sen. Graham called the process “an unethical sham” and roared, “This is the most despicable thing I have seen in my time in politics.” In defending the future Justice Kavanaugh, Graham was also helping secure a future vote to overturn Roe.          

             During his four terms as a Member of the House of Representatives and his four terms in the United States Senate, Graham consistently championed legislation that protected religious liberty and voted for judicial nominees who pledged to support those principles.

             A Southern Baptist, the Senator made one of his final public appearances in the US at a July 4^th celebration … at First Baptist Church of Columbia, SC. “I love coming here,” he said. “This is like the highlight of the year for me to come to this service with my family to remind me what our country is about through Baptists who can sing and dance. And to those who say Baptists cannot sing and dance, come here; you will be proven wrong.”

             We join those grieving the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham and thank the Lord for his unblemished pro-life convictions. [Amen]

Senate Voting Record

Confirmation of Matthew Schwartz as US Appellate Judge for the 2^nd Circuit, based in New York City – Adopted 50-45 – July 14, 2026 (Democrats in italics; “Independents” marked “I”)

Voting “yes” / pro-Life: Britt & Tuberville/AL, Murkowski & Sullivan/AK, Boozman & Cotton/AR, Moody & Scott/FL, Crapo & Risch/ID, Banks & Young/IN, Ernst & Grassley/IA, Marshall & Moran/KS, Paul/KY, Cassidy & Kennedy/LA, Collins/ME, 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, Scott/SC, Rounds & Thune/SD, Blackburn & Hagerty/TN, Cornyn & Cruz/TX, Curtis & Lee/UT, Capito/WV,  Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Lummis/WY.

Voting “no” / anti-Life: Gallego & Kelly/AZ, Schiff/CA, Bennet & Hickenlooper/CO, Blumenthal & Murphy/CT, Blunt-Rochester & Coons/DE, Ossoff & Warner/GA, Hirono & Schatz/HI, Duckworth & Durbin/IL, 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, Reed & Whitehouse/RI, Sanders(I) & Welch/VT, Kaine & Warner/VA, Cantwell & Murray/WA, Baldwin/WI.

Not voting: Padilla/CA, McConnell/KY, Fetterman/PA, Justice/WV.

(At the time of this roll call, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham had not yet been replaced.)

Mr. Hyde Calls for Clarity

We are nearing the close of our 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.

             … This debate has been about an unspeakable horror. And while the details are graphic and grisly, it has been helpful for all of us to recognize the full brutality of what goes on in America’s abortuaries, day in and day out, week after week, year after year. We’re not talking about abstractions here. We’re talking about life and death at their most elemental, and we ought to face the truth of what we oppose – or support – stripped of all euphemisms. And the queen of all euphemisms is “choice,” as though you’re choosing vanilla and chocolate instead of a dead baby or a live baby.