News

I don’t have to tell you that 2020 has been an up-and-down year for many reasons, including challenges to Americans United for Life’s fight for the human right to life. This summer brought the Supreme Court’s disappointing decision in June Medical Services v. Russo, but we found a silver lining in the decision that suggested that brighter days were ahead. We’re happy to confirm that in the nearly half a year since June Medical, the Pro-Life Movement has been notching victories.

Widespread neglect in the American nursing home system has been well documented, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is absolutely disgraceful. Simply put, policymakers have made some very bad choices that put residents at assisted living facilities, who were already at the greatest risk of succumbing to the novel virus, at substantially increased risk of contraction and death. The date bears that horrible reality out. Tens of thousands of excess deaths, directly attributable to subpar given to senior Americans in the facilities that exist purely to give adequate and humane care. This recent report from the Associated Press was particularly sobering:

This week, AUL welcomed Dr. James Studnicki, Sc.D., MPH, MBA, who serves as Vice President and Director of Data Analytics for Charlotte Lozier Institute. Dr. Studnicki was most recently the Irwin Belk Endowed Chair in Health Services Research and Professor of Public Health Sciences at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte College of Health and Human Services. Prior to that, he served on the faculty of Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and as Chairman of the Department of Health Policy and Management and Director of the Center for Health Outcomes Research at the University of South Florida Health Sciences Center. Dr. Studnicki’s research has focused on the use of large scale databases, and associated information technology, in analyzing outcomes at the patient, hospital and community levels.

Today’s fifth installment of Americans United for Life’s reflection on the failed twenty-year experiment in legal chemical abortion continues our close scrutiny of the abortion industry’s marketing slogan, “RU-486 is an abortion pill that ends a pregnancy easily and safely.” We’ve seen that it’s not really “a pill”, but an involved process of drug dosages and medical oversight with an uncertain outcome. We’ve also seen that contrary to assurances, it fails to “end a pregnancy” a predictable percentage of the time, and surgical abortion and additional heartache and expense lie ahead for women who undergo it. Today, we’ll focus in on one word in that slogan, a word that slips by so … well, easily … that you’d almost miss it.

Although your abortionist may not tell you this, it’s important to bear in mind this built-in failure rate when considering chemical abortion, and to understand that in a predictable number of cases, it doesn’t avoid surgical abortion; in fact, it only exacerbates the known complications of abortion.

Before we huddle over our defensive strategy going forward, let’s take stock of the strong gains the pro-life movement has made over the last four years. Topping the white board has to be the presence of three new constitutionalist Supreme Court Justices nominated by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate, resulting in a 6-3 pro-life majority. Backing them up will be an increasingly conservative judiciary, with 218 total appointments and counting. President Trump will be the first president in the modern era to fill every available court of appeals seat, a key goal for success in the courts because the federal district courts take their orders from the appeals courts.

Both Georgia Senate races will continue to a January 5th runoff to determine who controls the Senate. If Republicans win one or both Senate seats, they will maintain control of the upper chamber. If Democrats win both, the Senate will be 50-50, making VP-elect Kamala Harris the tiebreaker. If you were hoping for an end to campaign contribution text messages, we’ve got a couple more weeks and two big races coming our way.

On Election Night 2020, Louisiana voters of all party affiliations turned out big time to vote for life. The Bayou State was considering an amendment to their state constitution that would make it clear that it does not guarantee any “right” to abortion. It passed by an overwhelming margin, garnering 62% of the vote statewide – higher than either candidate for President.

The abortion industry would certainly like for you to think it’s an “abortion pill,” since that suggests a “magic pill” one-step process that’s easy and quick. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s not a “pill”, but a difficult and sometimes risky medicalized process that involves two drugs, multiple consultations with medical providers (if they’re doing it as recommended) and inherent risks and potential complications.

The states are energized to pass life-affirming laws in 2021. Of the eleven gubernatorial races, Republicans held seven and picked up Montana, bringing their total to 27 states. Montana Governor-elect Greg Gianforte recently signed onto AUL’s amicus brief in support of the FDA’s safety laws regulating the chemical abortion pill.