The Dobbs decision removed abortion as a federal issue, leaving it up to individual states to determine the extent to regulate, or even ban abortion. The new playing field creates opportunity and peril for efforts to protect the rights of unborn babies. A two-pronged strategy to gut the pro-life movement has emerged, and it is a formidable strategy.
The first prong
The first prong is to amend state constitutions to allow and protect abortion rights.
The second prong weaponizes the legal system to make life miserable for pregnancy resource centers (PRCs), who provide invaluable, free assistance for women in crisis pregnancies. Pro-life PRCs are big competitors to the abortion-driven Planned Parenthood.
Regarding the first prong, six states put forth amendments to their constitutions since the Dobbs decision. The pro-abortion side won each time. In California, Michigan, Ohio, and Vermont, voters approved measures protecting the right to abortion. Kentucky and Kansas lost measures seeking to curtail abortion.
On the ballot in 12 states this year
Twelve more states have a variety of anti-life amendments on their ballots this year. They include:
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Maryland
- Florida
- Missouri
- Arkansas
- South Dakota
- Nebraska
- Montana
- Colorado
- Arizona
- Nevada
Florida is a poster child in the strategy to gut the pro-life movement. The state has grown increasingly pro-life during the governorship of Ron DeSantis, culminating in the passage of a Heartbeat Bill. Heartbeat legislations typically restrict abortion at the point that heartbeats are detectable, typical six to ten weeks following gestation.
But the proposed ballot measure, if successful, would lock in abortion up to the point of viability, which is around 24 to 25 weeks, essentially gutting the Heartbeat legislation. Ninety-nine percent of all abortions occur prior to viability. You can see how serious the stakes are in Florida and other states considering these type of ballot measures.
Even more, state ballot measures garner huge out-of-state financial support from abortion advocacy groups. Planned Parenthood alone plans to spend $40 million this election cycle promoting pro-abortion candidates and ballot measures. They’re able to outspend their pro-life adversaries by significant amounts.
In Ohio the pro-abortion side outspent the pro-life side $58 million to $36 million thanks to support from the ACLU and the Open Society Policy Center (George Soros).
The second prong
The second prong in Big Abortion’s strategy to gut the pro-life movement utilizes lawfare against PRCs. Pregnancy resource centers support women facing unplanned pregnancies with free counseling, medical referrals, material good, and parenting education.
In Saturday’s Wall Street Journal’s Cross Country Commentary, Sierra Dawn McClain reports on how tangible and magnanimous this support really is. Across the U.S., PRCs provided 500,000 free ultrasounds, 43,000 car seats, and 3.5 million packs of diapers. The WSJ valued these services at $367 million.
Who could possibly oppose such support for women and their unborn and born babies? Pro-abortion AGs. As Ms. McClain puts it:
“Politicians and attorneys general in states run by Democrats have been on a crusade to make life miserable for pregnancy resource centers, and the campaign has picked up since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022. This has included harassing them with legal action and trying to discredit their work.”
Vendetta?
She reports on New Jersey’s Democratic Attorney General, Matt Platkin, and his apparent vendetta against a PRC, First Choice. He’s issued subpoena’s, demanded documents, which includes personal info on employees and donors.
Attorneys for First Choice are mystified, as Platkin “has never cited any complaint or other substantive evidence of wrongdoing to justify his demands.” He said to comply with the subpoena would take a ridiculous amount of time for a small non-profit at the expense of their clients who are in the midst crisis pregnancies.
According to Ms. McLain’s reporting, fourteen attorneys general, in mostly blue states, are pursuing a similar legal theory against PRCs claiming they mislead the public and violate consumer-fraud laws.
That’s pretty rich considering Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics present their services as ‘healthcare.’ Even more, these attorneys general have enlisted Planned Parenthood’s support, asking them to preview and edit their drafts.
We need to respond
The strategy to gut the pro-life movement progresses using these two approaches. The pro-life movement needs to respond in two ways. First to promote the most pro-life candidates as possible. Iowa is in a good place right now with a vocally pro-life governor, attorney general, and legislature. That can change, though. We can’t ever rest on our laurels.
Secondly, we need to continue educating the public on pro-life issues. That’s what we do, and more. Pulse works on both fronts to promote a culture of life in Iowa.
