Americans United for Life released the 2015 LIFE LIST and LIFE LIST ALL STARS after analyzing progress made legislatively or in litigation in 2014. The Life List takes into account the 50 states’ overall advances since Roe v. Wade toward re-building a culture of life, including events of the last year. Coming in at number 1 for the 6th year in a row is Louisiana followed by Mississippi, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.
“In the last 4 years, states have enacted more than 200 pro-life laws protecting women and girls from abortion industry abuses,” said AUL President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest. “Abortion advocates thought that an anti-life blockade in the U.S. Senate would mean an end to pro-life victories. But equipped with tools like Defending Life, legislators and pro-life Americans worked together at the state level nationwide to protect women and girls from an abortion industry that puts profits over people.”
The 2015 LIFE LIST ALL STAR States achieved major pro-life victories by employing the Mother-Child strategy found in the Women’s Protection Project, a special package of legislation designed to address the abuses of a largely unregulated, unrestricted, and unaccountable abortion industry. Pro-life All-stars in 2014 were Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arizona, Texas, and Indiana.
HOW SAFE ARE YOU? How safe women are from abortion industry abuses and substandard care depends on the laws of the states in which they live. The 2015 Women’s Health and Safety Rankings illustrates the level of legal protections found across the country, as outlined in the Women’s Protection Project. Only nine states offer strong legal protections for women; 16 states provide moderate protection, 12 states offer minimal protection and sadly, 13 states are ranked as dangerous for their failure to regulate the abortion industry by holding them accountable for the conditions they create that can endanger women.
AUL’s strategy has attracted a lot of attention in recent years; New York Times Magazine observed that AUL “put more muscle into fighting for restrictions on the state level — chipping away at Roe one legislature at a time.”
A Cornerstone of AUL’s Strategic Success is Defending Life, “the playbook” of more than 50 pieces of model legislation, covering life issues from conception to natural death, developed under the leadership of AUL VP of Legal Affairs Denise Burke.
In advance of the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and timed to meet legislators’ needs as lawmakers reconvene, AUL released and began distributing Defending Life to legislators in Washington, D.C. and across the country, as well as making it available to pro-life advocates now headed to the nation’s Capitol to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court case that took decisions on abortion law and policy away from the American people and vested them in the federal courts.
“Pro-life model legislation has been a game changer,” said Dr. Yoest. “New in Defending Life this year are enhanced protections in AUL’s enforcement model, part of the Women’s Protection Project, which provides families with the legal means to hold dangerous abortion clinics and deadly abortionists accountable. Consistently, AUL has developed innovative and constitutionally sound laws to protect women and their unborn babies. That trend continues today. The abortion industry should be put on notice that they will not be allowed to keep profits high and standards low.”
