abortion

Yes, Abortion Amendments Do Invalidate Pro-Life Laws: Just Look at Missouri

A significant pro-life legal battle is unfolding in Missouri, and it demonstrates exactly what’s at stake when an abortion amendment is approved and added to a state constitution.

At issue is whether states may continue to enforce longstanding health and safety regulations governing abortionists or whether those legal protections will be deemed unconstitutional under adopted state constitutional language.

In 2024, Missouri approved Amendment 3, which enshrined abortion in the state constitution. Following its passage, Planned Parenthood filed a legal challenge to invalidate numerous statutes governing abortion.

The lawsuit went beyond targeting laws related to when a woman can get an abortion. It sought to repeal provisions related to informed consent requirements, chemical abortion protocols, waiting periods and facility safety requirements.

The 221-page complaint also asked the court to issue an injunction to block the laws from being enforced while the case is litigated.

After a ten-day trial in January, the trial judge ruled largely in Planned Parenthood’s favor in June 2026.

The decision invalidated many abortion-related statutes, including Missouri’s 72-hour waiting period, restrictions on chemical abortion and several licensing and operational standards for abortion facilities.

The court preserved a small number of medical safeguards, like in-person visits, to rule out an ectopic pregnancy and confirm the gestational age of the baby.

Missouri recently appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court.

The central issue before the court is not just whether abortion is constitutionally protected, but whether a constitutional “right” to abortion bars the state from maintaining reasonable health and safety standards for abortionists.

Impact on Abortion Policy

This case demonstrates a number of important effects these developments have on abortion policy in a state.

First, the long-term impact of passing unrestricted abortion amendments.

Pro-life advocates repeatedly warned that passing an abortion amendment would result in common-sense laws meant to protect the public being repealed. Abortion activists denied those claims. Pro-life advocates were right, and abortion activists were intentionally denying the truth about the far-reaching impact of enshrining abortion access in the state constitution.

Second, this case also illustrates how quickly the legal landscape can change.

Laws meant to protect the public, enacted over many years by the people’s elected representatives, were invalidated in a single ruling by one court.

Abortion Amendment Back on the Ballot

For the first time nationwide, state voters will be asked to vote on their recently enacted abortion amendment this fall in Missouri.

The initiative to enshrine abortion was passed by a very narrow margin in 2024 — 51% to 48%.

This new ballot measure would allow abortion until 12 weeks’ gestation and would allow exceptions in the cases of rape and incest.

The measure was referred to the ballot by the state legislature and not only repeals the 2024 abortion amendment but would also ban opposite sex transgender surgeries for minors.

Latest public polling on this measure from February 2026 shows support at 47%, opposition at 40% and undecided at 12%.

Missouri law requires all constitutional amendments earn a simple majority (50% plus 1) to become law.

The case isComprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, et al. v. State of Missouri.

The Daily Citizen will continue following this developing story.

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Photo from Shutterstock.

Federal Funding for Planned Parenthood Restarts on Independence Day

On Independence Day, Americans celebrated our nation’s 250th birthday with much pomp and circumstance, especially in Washington D.C., which featured a presidential address and a dazzling display of 850,000 fireworks.

The day also marked an unhappy development – the resumption of federal taxpayer dollars flowing into the coffers of Planned Parenthood, our nation’s largest abortion provider.

It’s tragic a day celebrating the Declaration of Independence, which acknowledges each person’s right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” became the day Planned Parenthood began raking in millions of dollars again.

The abortion giant cruelly denies those fundamental rights to preborn infants.

Last year, Congress successfully defunded Planned Parenthood for the first time in history, depriving the abortion business of roughly $850 million. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), which President Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025, cut taxes on American families, provided billions for border security and national defense, and defunded abortion organizations for a period of one year.

The defund provision (Section 71113) prohibited federal Medicaid dollars from going to any “prohibited entity” that provides abortions and received over $800,000 in Medicaid funding as of 2023.

The OBBBA originally contained a provision to defund Planned Parenthood for a 10-year period. However, this was drastically reduced to one year after Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled the 10-year provision violated the chamber’s rules.

For months, it was unclear whether Section 71113 would take full effect after federal district Judge Indira Talwani, nominated to the court by former President Barack Obama, blocked the provision just days after the bill’s enactment.

Eventually, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit overturned Talwani’s decision and allowed Section 71113 to take effect. The provision formally expired on July 4, 2026.

The Hyde amendment generally prohibits federal taxpayer dollars from directly paying for abortions. But before Section 71113’s enactment, Planned Parenthood could receive federal monies, including government grants, contracts and Medicaid reimbursements, for other services.

All money is fungible, so these federal dollars subsidized the abortion business, allowing it to pay salaries, sustain operating expenses and expand into new locations.

In part because of the defunding from the OBBBA, Planned Parenthood closed nearly 50 clinics last year due to financial headwinds.

However, several blue states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington, stepped in to bail out the organization and provided over $202.5 million in supplemental funding to Planned Parenthood.

The Senate passed the OBBBA through the reconciliation process, allowing the bill to proceed with a simple majority vote (51) rather than the usually required 60 votes.

More recently, Congress passed a second bill through the reconciliation process in June 2026, providing $70 billion for increased immigration enforcement.

The legislative body could pass one more reconciliation package before the end of the year, but Republican lawmakers are divided on their priorities.

The conservative House Freedom Caucus recently penned a letter to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson calling for a Reconciliation 3.0 bill that extends the OBBBA’s “prohibition of federal funding for abortion providers to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not being used to subsidize the radical abortion industry.”

However, according to The Hill, many Senate Republicans “are cooler” to the idea with some lawmakers expressing a “general reluctance … to start an abortion fight so close to the midterms.”

In a statement to The Hill, pro-life activist Lila Rose said allowing Section 71113 to expire was a “moral failure” in need of correction.

“President Trump and Congress must act as fast as possible to restore and extend the defunding of Planned Parenthood and every organization that commits abortion,” Rose said.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said, “Defunding Big Abortion is now the default expectation of the pro-life movement. When they return to D.C., Republicans must do all they can through reconciliation to once again block taxpayer dollars from Planned Parenthood and abortion businesses.”

Indeed, an organization that kills over 400,000 preborn children each year does not deserve one red cent of taxpayer money. Congress must extend the defunding of Planned Parenthood, protecting Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars, preborn babies and their mothers from the tragedy of abortion.

At Focus on the Family, we have been working to turn the cultural tide and save mothers and babies from abortion for years. Since beginning the Option Ultrasound Program in 2004, Focus has helped save over half a million lives. Just $60 will help save a life through Option Ultrasound. Will you partner with us to save lives from abortion?

If you are experiencing an unexpected pregnancy and want to learn more about your options, you can visit My Choice Network.

Related articles and resources:

My Choice Network

I’m Pregnant, Now What?

Dealing With Unplanned Pregnancy

Become an Option Ultrasound Life Advocate

New Insights on the Dangers of the Abortion Pill

Overcoming Abortion and Becoming a Force for Life

Congress Must Extend Defund of Planned Parenthood

New Planned Parenthood Annual Report: More Abortions, Fewer Services

Planned Parenthood Drops Suit After Trying to Force Taxpayers to Fund Abortions

House Passes ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act,’ Finally Defunding Planned Parenthood

Photo from Getty Images.

Four Observations Since ‘Roe’ was Overturned Four Years Ago

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, many Americans wondered if it signaled the beginning of the end for abortion or a push for a nationwide ban. 

Instead, the country has grown even more culturally and legally divided than ever before.

As we mark the fourth anniversary of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe, four important observations stand out.  

1. Twenty States Have Acted to Protect Preborn Human Life

Dobbs empowered people and their elected representatives to determine abortion policy in their respective jurisdictions. 

In the last four years, 20 states used that power to enact laws protecting preborn children from abortion. 

Millions of Americans now live in states that provide legal protections for preborn babies which would have been impossible under Roe. Thousands of children are alive today because these laws are in place. 

2. The Abortion Industry Adapted Very Quickly

The last four years revealed just how dramatically the abortion industry is willing to shapeshift to remain profitable.

Abortion pills now account for approximately 63% of all abortions in the United States. Telehealth visits and mail-order abortion drugs have completely transformed how people gain access to abortions. 

Before Dobbs, most of the abortion debate centered on clinics and surgical procedures. 

Today, abortion policy largely revolves around chemical abortion, telemedicine, interstate mailing of abortion pills and federal regulatory authority.

As a result, the next chapter in the pro-life movement will likely focus on the growing use of chemical abortion pills and the legal and ethical questions regarding their distribution. 

3. The Battle for Life is Now at the Ballot Box

The last four years have shown that abortion remains one of the most contested issues in American politics.

Ten states have approved constitutional amendments enshrining abortion in their state constitutions: California, Michigan, Vermont, Ohio, Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana and New York.

At the same time, pro-life advocates have secured important ballot victories in Florida, Nebraska and South Carolina, where voters rejected or defeated efforts to add abortion “rights” to their state constitutions. 

The pro-life community has experienced victories and setbacks in the post-Roe era, the pro-life community has experienced victories and setbacks, but so have abortion activists. 

Public opinion remains far from settled on this topic — and wins and losses are recorded at the ballot box.

4. A Majority of Americans Continue to Support Limits on Abortion

Though America remains deeply divided on abortion policy, Gallup’s May 2026 survey found that nearly two-thirds of Americans support some kind of legal limit on abortion. Only 33% believe abortion should be legal in all circumstances. 

The data also suggests that the initial bump for pro-abortion policy is waning. In 2022, 52% of Americans considered abortion morally acceptable. The number rose to 54% in 2024 but has fallen to 49% in the 2026 data. 

At the same time, the percentage of Americans who consider abortion to be morally wrong increased from 38% in 2022 to 41% today. 

It’s clear that Americans continue to wrestle with questions of morality when considering abortion and that they remain open to legal protections for preborn babies.

The Work Continues

Four years after Dobbs, one lesson is clear: overturning Roe did not end the pro-life movement’s work — it began a new chapter.

The future of the pro-life movement will be shaped in courtrooms, legislative chambers, town halls and ballot boxes. It will also be shaped by pregnancy resource centers, churches, families, and communities committed to building a culture of life one heart and one mind at a time.

New Poll Shows Nearly Two-Thirds of Americans Reject Unrestricted Abortion

Four years after Roe’s reversal, new Gallup polling suggests that one of the most common narratives being pushed in America may be wrong. 

While legacy media continues to focus on growing support for abortion, Gallup’s latest data demonstrates that two-thirds of Americans continue to reject unrestricted abortion and support some legal restrictions on abortion.

According to Gallup’s 2026 survey, 64% of Americans support legal restrictions on abortion, while only 33% support unrestricted abortion.

The 64% is broken down into three categories, including 15% who say abortion should be legal in most circumstances, 32% who believe it should be legal in only a few circumstances and 17% who think it should be illegal in all circumstances.

The march towards full acceptance of unrestricted abortion hasn’t materialized like abortion advocates hoped it would following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in 2022. 

What’s even more interesting: Support for the strongest pro-life position seems to be growing. The percentage of Americans who believe abortion should be illegal in all circumstances increased from 13% in 2025 to 17% in 2026.

Gallup’s latest polling also shows a more complex view of how Americans identify on the issue of abortion and the kind of policy they support. 

The 2026 survey shows that 53% of Americans identify as pro-choice, while 42% identify as pro-life. 

While that data might appear discouraging to the pro-life community, it is curious that even while 53% of Americans call themselves pro-choice, only 33% of respondents support unrestricted abortion. Meaning 20% of those who identified as pro-choice support restrictingabortion. 

Those numbers represent millions of Americans who consider themselves pro-choice but still think preborn children deserve at least some legal protections.

The data reveal that Americans who occupy the middle ground on abortion are largely politicalIndependents. Among Independents, 54% identify as pro-choice, yet only 49% say abortion is morally acceptable and just 32% believe it should be legal in all circumstances. 

This means many Independents who embrace the pro-choice label do not feel comfortable withunrestricted abortion. As the distinction moves from identity to morality and public policy, abortion support declines. This suggests that many Independent voters hold nuanced views that aren’t fully aligned with the abortion lobby’s push for unrestricted abortion.

Among Independents, 38% identify as pro-life, 40% find abortion to be morally wrong and 63% support either legal restrictions on abortion or making abortion illegal altogether (46% support some restrictions and 17% support making abortion illegal). 

Interestingly, these views closely mirror those of Americans overall. 

The findings suggest that many Independents who embrace the pro-choice label still support meaningful legal protections for preborn human life. 

For some time, Americans have been told that support for abortion is steadily increasing and that legal protections for preborn children are no longer favored by a majority of the public.

Gallup’s latest data tells a different story.

Public opinion remains unsettled, and Americans’ hearts and minds remain open to policies that recognize the humanity and dignity of preborn babies. While many Americans continue to identify as pro-choice, nearly two-thirds support at least some legal restrictions on abortion and reject unrestricted abortion.

For the pro-life movement, this data is a reminder that the debate is far from settled. The work of persuading our fellow Americans on the life issue and building a culture that protects every human life remains as important as ever.

14 AGs Press EPA on Abortion Pill Water Contamination

Earlier this month, a coalition of 14 attorneys general wrote a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asking it to add the abortion pill, mifepristone and its generics, to a list of water contaminants that need further investigation of potential harmful health effects on pregnant women. 

For many pro-life Americans, the request raises an obvious question: Why hasn’t this been studied before?

Mifepristone is the first medication in a two-drug regimen used to induce a chemical abortion. It works by blocking progesterone, the hormone needed for a baby to grow in the womb. Without progesterone, the baby starves to death. The second medication, misoprostol, causes the uterus to expel the dead baby.

Guttmacher Institute reports that chemical abortions account for 63% of abortions in the United States each year. At the same time, abortion pills are increasingly prescribed through telehealth visits and delivered by mail, resulting in more women self-managing abortions at home and flushing chemically tainted medical waste and human fetal tissue into America’s waterways. 

The attorneys general contend that the increase in abortion pill use and at-home chemical abortions raises important questions under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

In their letter, they argue that “conventional wastewater treatment is not designed to remove” abortion-drug contaminants from the water supply. They maintain that this creates a potentially serious public health concern because regulators do not know the extent to which abortion-drug residues may be present in drinking water or what effects long-term exposure could have on women and developing children.

The attorneys general further contend that “if mifepristone reaches sufficient concentration, pregnant women who unintentionally ingest the drug through the public water supply could be at greater risk of health complications.”

To address those concerns they are asking the EPA to add mifepristone and its generic equivalents to the agency’s Contaminant Candidate List, a screening tool used to identify substances that may warrant additional study and monitoring.

Placement on the list would not mean the EPA has determined the drug poses a risk to public health. Rather, it would signal that the agency believes the substance merits further investigation to determine whether regulation or additional monitoring is appropriate.

According to the attorneys general, further study is needed to better understand any unintended effects these drugs may have on public health, including potential impacts on fertility and reproductive development.

The EPA routinely evaluates chemicals and pharmaceutical compounds that find their way into the nation’s waterways. The attorneys general argue that mifepristone deserves similar scrutiny.

Supporters of the request contend that the rapid growth of at-home chemical abortions raises legitimate questions about whether abortion drugs and their metabolites are entering water systems in meaningful quantities and, if so, what effects they may have on human health and the environment.

Critics counter that there is currently no evidence showing mifepristone in drinking water poses a public health threat. They’re wrong.

Supporters also respond that any absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of no problem. If mifepristone has not been routinely monitored as a drinking water contaminant, regulators would have limited data about its existence in water supplies or any potential long-term effects. That uncertainty, they argue, is precisely why further study is warranted.

The letter was authored by Missouri Attorney General (AG) Catherine Hanaway and is joined by: Alabama AG Steve Marshall, Alaska AG Cori Mills, Arkansas AG Tim Griffin, Florida AG James Uthmeier, Idaho AG Raul Labrador, Indiana AG Todd Rokita, Kansas AG Kris Kobach, Kentucky AG Russell Coleman, Louisiana AG Liz Murrill, Nebraska AG Mike Hilgers, Oklahoma AG Gentner Drummond, South Carolina AG Alan Wilson and Texas AG Ken Paxton.

The campaign is led by Students for Life Action. 

Americans deserve to understand the full consequences of drugs designed to end human life. Asking questions, gathering facts and following the evidence wherever it leads should be an effort embraced by all people of goodwill.