“In looking at the tremendous gains for life in 2011, we can predict the trends on the horizon in 2012,” said AUL’s Dr. Charmaine Yoest. “As we continue our efforts in this pivotal year, AUL will build on last year’s gains and lay the legal foundation for the day after Roe is overturned.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. (03-01-12) –Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest released AUL’s newly developed “A Year in the Life” report analyzing the great gains made in 2011 at the state, federal and judicial levels and featuring predictions for trends in 2012. “AUL released this analysis and its predictions to demonstrate that Roe is currently being overturned state-by state, case by case,” said Dr. Yoest. “And with AUL’s recently released package of model legislation, legislators can continue the momentum.”
“2011 was a watershed year in the defense of life,” Dr. Yoest noted. “State legislatures enacted an historic number of laws reining in the abortion industry and limiting – with an eye toward eliminating – American taxpayers’ funding of abortion and abortion providers, most notably Planned Parenthood.”
Predictions vary by section in the report, but one thing is clear – In 2012, AUL anticipates that efforts to investigate and defund abortion providers at both the state and federal levels will escalate despite abortion supporters increasing use of the courts in an attempt to derail the will of the American people and their elected representatives.
In 2011, the vast majority of states continued to pursue life-affirming laws and policies as evidenced by a number of promising and continuing trends. Forty-seven states considered more than 460 measures related to abortion; the overwhelming majority of these measures were life affirming. As a result, more than 70 life-affirming, abortion-related measures were enacted in 2011.
Yoest noted that AUL legislative involvement was significant. During the 2011 state legislative session at least 86 bills were introduced in 32 states that were based on AUL’s model language or upon which AUL’s legal experts consulted. Ultimately, 28 of those measures became law in 2011. AUL’s experts testified 21 times, supporting 20 pro-life bills and opposing legislation in Hawaii that would have compromised healthcare freedom of conscience. AUL also distributed more than 1,600 copies of our model legislation (with accompanying policy guides) to individuals in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and overseas nations.
Click here to read further about the advances documented in
A Year in the Life: 2011
Evaluating State, Judicial, and Federal Accomplishments, Preparing for New Achievements in 2012
AUL’s premier legal team note these facts in the context of the analysis:
- A top priority for the states was to eliminate or, alternatively, limit taxpayer funding of abortion and abortion-related services. Nearly two-thirds of the states considered such measures with 19 states enacting one or more funding bans or limitations.
- Between 2006 and 2010, abortion advocates, usually so reliant on the courts to advance their agenda, launched relatively few legal challenges to life-affirming state laws.
- Importantly, in July 2011, AUL released its groundbreaking report, The Case for Investigating Planned Parenthood: AUL looks behind the closed doors of the nation’s largest abortion provider which substantiated, synthesized, and supported the growing case against Planned Parenthood. Later, in response, the House Energy and Commerce Committee began an unprecedented investigation of Planned Parenthood’s institutional practices and policies and its handling of federal funding.
