Life Advocacy Briefing

Catching Up a Bit

CONGRESS IS LEAVING TOWN for the month of August, and most state legislatures are out of session as well. We have been going through our news backlog and will take advantage of the slight news lull to include some items which may seem a bit dated but are too good to let go. We hope you will find our August editions worthy of your attention; it’s all important – like a firehose these days!

A Promising Scoop on Todd Blanche

Aug. 5, 2026, LifeSiteNews blog by Jonathon VanMaren, quoting extensively from Politico

             In a private call recorded and posted online by the prayer group Intercessors for America last week, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche assured Christian leaders that he is “preparing to take action to roll back abortion access nationwide,” according to Politico. (The recording, which was uploaded to YouTube, has since been deleted.)

             Pro-life leaders have been frustrated at the Trump Administration’s inaction and, in some cases, obstruction of essential policy requests, including the restoration of the Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) in-person requirement for the dispensing of abortion pills, which was repealed by Joe Biden under the pretext of Covid. The abortion rate has gone up since Roe v. Wade was overturned due to abortion pills being shipped from pro-abortion states into pro-life states.

             Blanche, whose nomination to attorney general will be proceeding to the Senate for a full vote, assured Christian leaders that the Justice Dept. is “working hand in hand” with federal health agencies “so that the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state.” Currently, pro-life states cannot enforce their laws due to mail-order abortion pills pouring over their borders, sent by providers who are often protected by “shield laws” that prevent their extradition for law-breaking.

             Blanche referenced the frustrations, noting that the process is “taking longer than we want” and that “we don’t have complete victory yet,” but assured those on the call that “we will have victory, and victory will be soon, and it will be permanent.” According to Politico:*

             In addition to those broad pronouncements, Blanche appeared to suggest specific restrictions were coming to telehealth prescriptions and mail delivery of abortion pills, saying the Administration is “putting practices and policies in place” to stop shipment of the medications to states where they are banned.

             “If states have said, ‘We are going to protect the unborn and we’re going to protect every life from the moment of conception,’ we’re putting practices and policies in place so that other states and other organizations can’t attack that,” Blanche emphasized. “They can’t do things like they’re doing with mailing in mail-order drugs.”

             Blanche stated that this practice must be ended. Trump has promised to keep the abortion pill available, but the position of the Administration is also that abortion laws should be decided on a state-by-state basis. When the Dept. of Justice was asked to explain his comments, they stated that he was referring to “mail-order abortion drugs,” implying that his comments were not about FDA approval of the abortion pill itself.

             Politico noted that the Biden DOJ stated in 2022 that doctors could not face charges for mailing abortion pills under the Comstock Act, and the Trump Administration has not negated this legal position; in 2024, Trump “angered anti-abortion groups by vowing not to use the Comstock Act to restrict access to abortion pills and arguing that ‘the federal government should have nothing to do with this issue.’” Of course, the simplest way to stop mail-order abortion drugs would be to reinstate the FDA requirement for in-person dispensing of abortion drugs, something that pro-life leaders have been asking for consistently. …**

*Because of imprecise punctuation, we cannot determine how much of this is a direct quote from Politico. We are unable to access the publication, as we are not subscribers.

**Some pro-life organizations – such as Life Advocacy – are not content with restoring the in-person requirement; as there is no therapeutic use for mifepristone, its marketing approval should be revoked.

Grasping Truth

ONE OF OUR READERS RECOMMENDED we bring your attention to a pro-life speaker we heard last week at an annual Life/Family banquet in northern Illinois. A physician based in Pensacola, Florida, he is available for speaking appearances.

Critically, Dr. William Lile offers a unique perspective packed with facts and amazing graphic presentations focused on the development of babies in the womb, from the moment of conception. He brings a different approach to the opening of minds toward the miracle of human development and the unthinkability of abortion.

Readers – especially those focused on pro-life educational opportunities – might wish to check him out at www.prolifedoc.org. Quoting from his website: “Abortion isn’t just a debate. It’s a medical reality with undeniable facts. Through clear, science-based teaching and interactive demonstrations, this tour cuts through slogans and politics to reveal what abortion truly is and what real healthcare looks like. Visit the landing page and learn how to bring the tour to your campus, church or community.” Well worth the “visit.”

Lining Up to Endorse Death-by-Drug

MORE THAN 250 MEMBERS OF THE U.S. HOUSE & SENATE – all Democrats – have signed an amicus brief, reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, “urging the US 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals to reject Louisiana’s ongoing bid to restore pre-Biden abortion pill safety restrictions.” [We take issue with use of the term “safety restrictions” when applied to the abortion pill.]

“Last fall, Louisiana sued the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA),” notes Mr. Freiburger, “over its Biden-era removal of the requirement that abortion drugs be dispensed in-person, which drastically expanded their usage [and] encroached on state law … .”

We publish the list of brief signatories near the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing, noting here Mr. Freiburger’s identification of the ringleaders of the amicus campaign: “Senators Patty Murray (WA), Chuck Schumer (NY) and Ron Wyden,” for the Senate, and, for the House, “Representatives Hakeem Jeffries (NY), Katherine Clark (MA), Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ), Diana DeGette (CO), Jamie Raskin (MD) and Ayanna Pressley (MA).”

The brief calls the Clinton-era FDA requirement of an in-person doctor examination of the customer before prescribing mifepristone “‘an unnecessary burden on all Americans,’” reports Mr. Freiburger. And the brief calls “‘the in-person dispensing requirement … [an] onerous nationwide restriction on all Americans.’” Well, it is a restriction on the profiteers who are pushing this deadly drug; it is supposed to be.

A Quick Follow-Up

THE MASSACHUSETTS SENATE HAS PASSED to Gov. Maura Healey (D) a bill we reported on last week, H-5595. The proposal, LifeSiteNews has reported, quoting the president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, “‘permits one physician to subjectively decide that any unborn infant can be killed in or outside of a hospital, even babies capable of surviving outside the womb and feeling pain within it. … The bill ensures increased abortion industry profits and taxpayer-funded late-term procedures.’” We ask our readers to pray; those living in the Bay State should contact the governor.

‘A Rose by Any Other Name …’

June 2, 2026, BreakPoint commentary by John Stonestreet, Timothy D. Padgett & Roberto Rivera

             Back in April, a reckless assisted* suicide bill looked like it was going to pass and be made British law. Instead, it was shut down by the House of Lords. Then, in May, the Irish Parliament rejected an expanded abortion bill by a vote of 85-30.

             On this side of the Atlantic, things are headed in the opposite direction. Like all such “mercy” killing laws, Canada’s MAiD was promised as an option only for those facing imminent death and who could consent. Things are long past that and will likely go even further. Recently, a Quebec physician suggested that the nation’s already draconian MAiD program be expanded to include babies.

             In response, Brandan Tran of Canada’s Campaign Life Coalition said: “Canadian law currently permits the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment for critically ill newborns. This medical practitioner’s proposal goes even further. He calls for the calculated killing of an infant. These are patients, babies, who cannot speak, cannot consent and cannot ask for help. If we cannot draw the line here, I am not sure where medical professionals imagine the line to be.”

             Physician-assisted suicide is always sold to the public as a “compassionate” measure, necessary to spare those with no reasonable chance of recovery from unbearable pain and suffering during the last days of their lives. In every context in which it has been made legal, however, assisted suicide has never remained limited to the rare instances for which it was sold.

             There are reasons this slope has proven so slippery everywhere it has been made legal. Once it’s decided that certain lives are not worth living, the list of people eligible for assisted suicide inevitably grows. It becomes easier to re-evaluate lives based on some criteria other than intrinsic value, such as convenience or financial costs. It’s a small step indeed from “eligible to die” to “expected to die.” That’s why, wherever physician-assisted suicide has been legalized, it happens by a series of bait-and-switch claims to the public. “Terminal” illness is often expanded to include “chronic” illnesses and permanent disabilities. In Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada, even mental illness and depression are considered sufficient justification for suicide.

             Given this trajectory, it’s only a matter of time before the requirement of an actual illness is dispensed with. For example, the original promise was that only those certifiably in their right minds could be euthanized. But that was always a lie. Anyone who goes into an American emergency department claiming they want to die would be diagnosed with “suicidal ideation,” admitted and put on a psych hold. To not do so, in fact, would be medical malpractice. Suicidal ideation is rightly regarded as a symptom of an underlying mental disorder. People with untreated mental illnesses are not allowed to make life-and-death decisions. Or at least they weren’t.

             In Oregon, for example, since physician-assisted suicide was legalized, over 96% of people given lethal drugs did not undergo a psychiatric evaluation. This is why, as a “What Would You Say” video on the topic so clearly explained, there’s nothing compassionate about physician-assisted suicide. In fact, it is the exact opposite of compassion, the abdication of a civilized society’s responsibility to offer care to those who need it most when they need it most. …

*Life Advocacy prefers to use, consistently, the term “physician (or doctor)-abetted suicide,” since “assisting” in the death of another person is a criminal act, regardless of such an act’s posture in law.

There Is an Ethical Answer

May 27, 2026, commentary by Paul Batura for Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen

             Dr. John David Gordon was a reproductive endocrinologist without a home. With a medical degree from Duke and his residency at Stanford, the Boston native, who was raised Jewish and converted to Christianity in 2000, is a skilled physician committed to helping infertile couples have children. His credentials and skills are unassailable and unbeatable. But there was a problem – and it was a moral and ethical one of major proportions.

             Serving in a leadership role at a fertility clinic just outside of Washington, DC, for over 20 years, Dr. Gordon began having significant misgivings about how his facility was doing business.

             Like almost every fertility clinic these days across the reproductive medicine industry, the establishment was employing nearly every available technology to help maximize success. This included creating as many embryos as possible with each patient, a strategy that allows physicians to be choosy when it comes to selecting which ones to transfer to the mother. At fertility clinics across the world, embryos are literally graded and evaluated, and those statistically most likely to implant and grow are the winners. Those that don’t make the cut are either frozen or discarded.

             While nobody knows for sure, it’s estimated that more than 30 million are created around the world each year because of IVF technology. A typical IVF cycle in a traditional clinic will result in up to 15 embryos. Most clinics recommend transferring only three or four.

             Although his motives were redeeming, Dr. Gordon began feeling the ethical burden of being part of this industry that had grown increasingly reckless and mercenary. “It’s too morally problematic,” Gordon concluded. “I don’t know where you draw the line.” After consulting with his wife Allison, who also shared his deep Christian convictions and unease over the direction of reproductive medicine, Dr. Gordon decided to leave the Washington, DC, clinic and open one that would operate within Biblical moral and ethical boundaries.

             Setting up shop in eastern Tennessee, “Rejoice Fertility was created with a clear vision: to deliver an unparalleled patient experience where couples could openly discuss their moral, ethical, spiritual and religious concerns about reproductive medicine.” Specifically, Rejoice Fertility is a no-discard IVF clinic. Patients are encouraged to create only the embryos they will transfer or use for a future IVF.  Any embryos created are either used for fresh transfer or preserved for future frozen embryo transfer. … In the instances where couples may be unable to transfer frozen embryos, Rejoice Infertility strongly advocates for the couple agreeing to make the baby available for adoption. “Snowflake” embryo adoption has been a wonderful program that seeks to find forever homes for these babies locked in a perpetual frozen state.

             In a world swirling with countless moral and ethical conundrums, we applaud Dr. Gordon for his efforts to care for his patients and prayerfully address and wage a fight that far too many medical professionals have long ago abandoned.

Signers of Legal Brief Favoring Mail-Order Abortion

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Democratic Senators Mark Kelly & Ruben Gallego/AZ, Alex Padilla & Adam Schiff/CA, Michael Bennet & John Hickenlooper/CO, Richard Blumenthal & Christopher Murphy/CT, Lisa Blunt Rochester & Christopher Coons/DE, Jon Ossoff & Raphael Warnock/GA, Mazie Hirono & Brian Schatz/HI, Tammy Duckworth & Richard Durbin/IL, Angus King/ME, Angela Alsobrooks & Chris Van Hollen/MD, Edward Markey & Elizabeth Warren/MA, Gary Peters & Elissa Slotkin/MI, Amy Klobuchar & Tina Smith/MN, Catherine Cortez Masto & Jacky Rosen/NV, Margaret Hassan & Jeanne Shaheen/NH, Cory Booker & Andy Kim/NJ, Martin Heinrich & Ben Ray Lujan/NM, Kirsten Gillibrand/NY, Jeffrey Merkley & Ron Wyden/OR, John Fetterman/PA, Jack Reed & Sheldon Whitehouse/RI, Bernard Sanders & Peter Welch/VT, Tim Kaine & Mark Warner/VA, Maria Cantwell & Patty Murray/WA, Tammy Baldwin/WI.

House Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries (D-NY) and Democratic Representatives Shomari Figures & Terri Sewell/AL; Yassamin Ansari, Adelita Grijalva & Greg Stanton/AZ; Pete Aguilar, Nanette Barragan, Ami Bera, Julia Brownley, Salud Carbajal, Judy Chu, Gilbert Cisneros, Luis Correa, Jim Costa, Mark DeSaulnier, Laura Friedman, John Garamendi, Robert Garcia, Jimmy Gomez, Adam Gray, Josh Harder, Jared Huffman, Sara Jacobs, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Ro Khanna, Mike Levin, Sam Liccardo, Ted Lieu, Zoe Lofgren, Doris Matsui, Dave Min, Kevin Mullin, Jimmy Panetta, Nancy Pelosi, Scott Peters, Luz Rivas, Raul Ruiz, Linda Sanchez, Brad Sherman, Lateefah Simon, Mark Takano, Mike Thompson, Norma Torres, Derek Tran, Juan Vargas, Maxine Waters & George Whitesides/CA; Jason Crow, Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse & Brittany Pettersen/CO; Joe Courtney, Rosa DeLauro, Jahana Hayes, Jim Himes & John Larson/CT; Sarah McBride/DE; Kathy Castor, Lois Frankel, Maxwell Frost, Jared Moskowitz, Darren Soto, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz & Frederica Wilson/FL; Sanford Bishop, Hank Johnson, Lucy McBath & Nikema Williams/GA; Ed Case & Jill Tokuda/HI; Nikki Budzinski, Sean Casten, Danny Davis, Bill Foster, Chuy Garcia, Jonathan Jackson, Robin Kelly, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Mike Quigley, Delia Ramirez, Jan Schakowsky, Brad Schneider, Eric Sorensen & Lauren Underwood/IL; Andre Carson & Frank Mrvan/IN; Sharice Davids/KS; Morgan McGarvey/KY; Troy Carter & Cleo Fields/LA;

Also, Democratic Representatives Jared Golden & Chellie Pingree/ME; April Delaney, Sarah Elfreth, Steny Hoyer, Glenn Ivey, Kweisi Mfume, Johnny Olszewski & Jamie Raskin/MD; Jake Auchincloss, Katherine Clark, Yvette Clarke, William Keating, Stephen Lynch, James McGovern, Seth Moulton, Richard Neal, Ayanna Pressley & Lori Trahan/MA; Debbie Dingell, Kristen Rivet, Hillary Scholten, Haley Stevens, Shri Thanedar & Rashida Tlaib/MI; Angie Craig, Betty McCollum, Kelly Morrison & Ilhan Omar/MN; Bennie Thompson/MS; Wesley Bell & Emanuel Cleaver/MO; Steven Horsford, Susie Lee & Dina Titus/NV; Maggie Goodlander & Chris Pappas/NH; Herb Conaway, Adriano Espaillat, Dan Goldman, Josh Gottheimer, Analilia Mejia, Rob Menendez, Donald Norcross, Frank Pallone, Nellie Pou & Bonnie Watson-Coleman/NJ; Teresa Leger-Fernandez, Melanie Stansbury & Gabe Vasquez/NM; Laura Gillen, Timothy Kennedy, George Latimer, John Mannion, LaMonica McIver, Gregory Meeks, Grace Meng, Joseph Morelle, Jerrold Nadler, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Josh Riley, Patrick Ryan, Thomas Suozzi, Paul Tonko, Ritchie Torres & Nydia Velazquez/NY; Alma Adams, Donald Davis, Valerie Foushee & Deborah Roth/NC; Joyce Beatty, Shontel Brown, Marcy Kaptur, Greg Landsman & Emilia Sykes/OH; Suzanne Bonamici, Janelle Bynum, Maxine Dexter, Val Hoyle & Andrea Salinas/OR; Brendan Boyle, Madeleine Dean, Chris Deluzio, Dwight Evans, Chrissy Houlahan, Summer Lee & Mary Gay Scanlon/PA; Gabe Amo & Seth Magaziner/RI; James Clyburn/SC; Steve Cohen/TN; Greg Casar, Joaquin Castro, Jasmine Crockett, Lloyd Doggett, Veronica Escobar, Lizzie Fletcher, Sylvia Garcia, Al Green, Julie Johnson, Christian Menefee & Marc Veasey/TX; Becca Balint/VT; Donald Beyer, Jennifer McClellan, Bobby Scott, Suhas Subramanyam, Eugene Vindman & James Walkinshaw/VA; Suzan DelBene, Pramila Jayapal, Rick Larsen, Marie Perez, Emily Randall, Kim Schrier, Adam Smith & Marilyn Strickland/WA; Gwen Moore & Mark Pocan/WI.

Mr. Hyde Makes an Appeal

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.

             … Let the innocence of the unborn have the last word in this debate. Let their innocence appeal to what President Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature.”