Americans United for Life (AUL) is pleased to announce the release of its annual 2026 State Policy Report. Please read the report in full to get a snapshot of the pro-life movements’ work in 2026. The State Policy Report sums up the 2026 legislative sessions with clarity, showing where pro-life momentum is growing while highlighting the challenges our movement faces. Here are some key takeaways:
Building a Culture of Life Beyond Opposing Harmful Policies
Building a culture of life requires far more than just opposing harmful policies. While much of the public debate surrounding life issues remains focused on abortion regulations, the 2026 legislative session demonstrated that advancing a culture of life means promoting policies that provide comprehensive care for women and families, in addition to protecting women and children from the harms of abortion. Across the nation, lawmakers advanced a wide range of measures designed to support mothers, children, families, healthcare providers, and vulnerable individuals, including the elderly, disabled, and terminally ill. States enacted laws that protected women and children from the harms of abortion, strengthened maternal health programs, expanded support for pregnancy centers, protected the conscience rights of healthcare professionals, improved adoption and family-support systems, and enhanced safeguards surrounding abortion and assisted suicide.
Pro-Life States Invest in Women, Children, and Families
One of the clearest trends this year was continued investment in women, children, and families by pro-life states. Pro-life states appropriated funding for pregnancy centers, maternal health initiatives, high-risk pregnancy programs, adoption assistance, breastfeeding support, doulas, and prenatal and postpartum care. Lawmakers also enacted measures supporting midwives, expanding maternal-health services in underserved communities and promoting healthy birth outcomes. These efforts reflect a growing recognition that a truly life-affirming society not only protects preborn babies from being killed in the womb but also provides practical support for women and families facing difficult circumstances.
Strengthening Support for Pregnancy Centers
Pro-life states also continued to strengthen women’s access to life-affirming organizations that provide compassionate assistance to pregnant women. Several pro-life states appropriated direct funding to pregnancy help organizations, expanded charitable tax credits for contributions to pregnancy centers, and enacted laws protecting these organizations from government compulsion and discrimination. These measures recognize the vital role pregnancy centers play in serving women, children, and families in communities across the country.
Protecting Women from the Risks of Chemical Abortion
To prioritize women’s health and safety amidst growing concerns over abortion-pill distribution, numerous states have implemented new legislative frameworks specifically designed to protect women from the risks of unmonitored chemical abortions. These protective measures include strengthening informed-consent requirements, regulating abortion-inducing drugs, increasing reporting obligations to document women’s injuries from chemical abortion, and providing new enforcement tools for violations of state law. Several legislatures also pursued measures aimed at preventing the unlawful trafficking or distribution of abortion drugs across state lines. These efforts demonstrate that policymakers are more aware of the dangers posed by chemical abortion and its unregulated expansion.
Defending Conscience Rights for Healthcare Professionals
Protecting conscience rights remained another important legislative priority. Pro-life states enacted laws ensuring that healthcare professionals and institutions may decline to participate in procedures that violate their religious, moral, or ethical convictions. These protections provide medical professionals with the freedom to serve patients without being compelled to choose between their profession and their deeply held beliefs.
Empowering Parents and Teaching Fetal Development
Additionally, legislators strengthened parental rights and increased public understanding of human development. Several pro-life states enacted laws requiring age-appropriate instruction on prenatal growth and fetal development, while others reinforced parental authority regarding decisions affecting their children. These measures ensure that families remain central participants in the formation, education, and well-being of children.
Addressing Bioethical Challenges and End-of-Life Protections
Pro-life states also addressed emerging bioethical challenges related to assisted reproductive technologies, stem-cell research, and assisted suicide. Lawmakers enacted standards governing fertility clinics and assisted reproductive technology providers, protected against misuse of reproductive materials, and ensured that the bodies of preborn children killed by abortion were respectfully buried or cremated.
Meanwhile, other states strengthened protections for vulnerable individuals through measures designed to prevent suicide coercion and preserve appropriate safeguards at the end of life.
Wyoming: A Microcosm of the Legal Battle for Life
Despite these wins, pro-life lawmakers still face a muddled legal battlefield when defending women and preborn children. Wyoming presents a microcosm of the legal and political battles the pro-life movement faces. In 2023, legislators in the state passed the Wyoming Life Act, which broadly prohibited abortions with some exceptions, and a chemical abortion prohibition. Both laws were challenged and ultimately struck down in State v. Johnson, where the Wyoming Supreme Court’s holding declared them unconstitutional under a 2012 Right to Healthcare amendment originally intended to limit Obamacare. The Court held that abortion is healthcare and that the two life-protecting laws violated an individual’s right “to make his or her own health care decisions.”
In response, Wyoming lawmakers passed a heartbeat bill protecting children in the womb from the moment a heartbeat is detectable. The legislature also considered the Stop the Harm and Empower With Informed Notices (“SHE WINS”) Act, a bill designed to protect a woman’s right to be fully informed and to enable her to consent to or decline an abortion, which is especially important considering the abortion industry’s tendency to prey on the vulnerability of pregnant women. The Heartbeat bill was quickly enjoined by a Wyoming judge and the SHE WINS Act died waiting for a vote on the Senate floor. As a result, Wyoming women have been left without protection in a strongly pro-life state.
Advancing a Comprehensive Vision of Human Dignity
Despite these legal battles, the legislative successes achieved this year demonstrate that the pro-life movement continues to advance a comprehensive vision of human dignity. From protecting preborn children and supporting mothers to defending conscience rights and caring for the elderly and vulnerable, pro-life states across the country enacted meaningful policies that affirm the value of every human person. While significant challenges remain, the 2026 legislative session showed that pro-life lawmakers continue to fight to strengthen protections for life and help individuals and families flourish.
To see where your state stands, visit AUL’s State Spotlight or see AUL’s Life List 2027.
For more detailed information, please read the full report or contact AUL’s pro-life legal experts today!
