pro-life

Oklahoma Governor Declares June ‘Month for Life’ for Second Year

For the second year in a row, Oklahoma’s governor has declared June to be the “Month for Life,” reaffirming the state’s commitment to valuing human life from conception and recognizing the state’s annual “March for Life,” which also takes place in June.

The proclamation coincides with the three-year anniversary since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

The proclamation emphasizes, “The inherent dignity and value of every human life are fundamental principles that shape our society.”

It continues, “The Month for Life provides an opportunity for Oklahoma to foster a culture of life and build a future where the unborn are respected and protected  from the moment of conception.”

The official order also recognizes the Oklahoma March for Life which is scheduled for June 7 at the Oklahoma state capitol. To RSVP for the state’s march for life or learn more information, click here.

The declaration celebrates the important work of the March for Life in not only galvanizing hundreds of thousands of people to demonstrate peacefully for life-affirming laws, but also their work to advance a culture of life through education, outreach, advocacy and policy.

In a post on X, Oklahoma’s governor wrote “It’s simple: Life begins at conception. We’re committed to supporting moms every step. God has a plan for every life.”


He then linked to a state website with resources to support Oklahoma parents and babies “before, during and after birth.” The webpage includes links to additional information regarding pregnancy, parenting, adoption and financial assistance.

Oklahoma is among 18 states that authorize state funding to assist pregnancy help organizations. For fiscal year 2025, Oklahoma has allocated $18 million to fund pregnancy resources centers.

Oklahoma law protects preborn human life from the moment of conception.

Oklahoma regularly ranks in the top five on the Life List, produced by Americans United for Life, recognizing the work each state does to advance a culture of life.

As previously reported by the Daily Citizen, there is also an effort at the federal level to commemorate the reversal of Roe with a “Life Month Resolution” (H.J. Res. 98).

H.J. Res. 98 calls for the creation of June “Life Month,” citing, among other things, “America’s founding documents explicitly affirm the equality of all people and their inalienable right to life.”

The Declaration of Independence clearly asserts that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights and among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Life is a first right because it’s impossible to have any of the other rights without it.

Focus on the Family celebrates the renewed desire in Oklahoma and in Washington, D.C. to see human life given the respect and dignity it is due.

The Bible is clear. As human beings, we are made in the image of God. Genesis 1:27 states, “So God created humanity in his own image (ESV).”

By virtue of being human, God has uniquely set us apart as moral, spiritual, and intellectual beings. Our value is not determined by age, location, ability or dependency. 

All human life deserves to be protected from the womb to the tomb. 

Image from Getty.

RFK Jr. Announces ‘Complete Review’ of Abortion Pill After ‘Alarming’ New Study Reveals Dangers

The Food and Drug Administration will perform a ‘complete review’ of the abortion medication mifepristone, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Thursday in a Senate health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing.

RFK Jr.’s announcement was in response to a line of questioning by Senator Josh Hawley.

Hawley asked the secretary if he was aware of the recently released study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center investigating the over 865,000 mifepristone chemical abortions between 2017 and 2023.

The study revealed that nearly 11% of women who take the pill experience very serious adverse effects including sepsis, hemorrhaging, infection, and emergency room visits.

The rate is 22 times higher than the FDA’s current label, which suggests the rate of adverse effects is only 0.5%.

Secretary Kennedy confirmed that he had seen the study and acknowledged the data was “alarming” and that, at the very least, the label should be updated to reflect its true danger to women.

He then explained he has instructed the director of the FDA to do a “complete review” of the chemical abortion pill and report back to him with the findings.

Secretary Kennedy confirmed the review is a top priority, but didn’t have a deadline for when the work will be finished.

Senator Hawley also asked whether long-standing safety protocols, which were previously required when dispensing mifepristone (like doctor visits, in-person dispensing and screening for ectopic pregnancies), would be reinstated.

Secretary Kennedy clarified that HHS would make recommendations based on the data, but the ultimate decision would come from the White House.

According to Hawley, the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s study on mifepristone is the largest study ever performed on the abortion drug.

President of Focus on the Family, Jim Daly, called the results of the study “chilling” and lamented the abortion industry’s apparent lack of concern about the babies or the women they harm.

For more than half-a-century, the radical abortion industry has been diminishing and discounting the health risks to unsuspecting women whenever preborn life is taken. All those who claim to be advocates for women should be alarmed and convicted by this new research.
We know the abortion kills the girl or boy on the inside, and now research makes clear it also harms the woman on the outside.

A coalition of organizations in the pro-life community have issued a letter asking Secretary Kennedy to reinstate safety protections for women who are prescribed the abortion pill.

The Daily Citizen will continue to update you on this developing story.

Arkansas Allocates $2 Million to Pregnancy Help Organizations

Arkansas pro-life lawmakers allocated $2 million worth of grants to pregnancy help organizations in their appropriations process this legislative cycle.

The measure, H.B. 1202, was approved by Arkansas’s Joint Budget Committee, signed by the governor, and is now Act 1006.

The law describes a pregnancy help organization as an entity that “seeks to provide a range of services to individuals facing an unintended pregnancy to encourage pregnant women to give birth to their unborn children.”

The measure seeks to fund organizations that promote infant and maternal wellness through counseling, medical care options, social, emotional and/or material support and assistance with nutritional support.

The law also clearly prohibits any grants going to organizations that “perform, prescribe, provide referral for or encourage abortion.”

Arkansas’ Family Council praised the allocation of $2 million in grant money to pregnancy help organizations, reflecting, “We need to work to make abortion irrelevant and unthinkable as well. Supporting pregnancy resource centers is one way we can do that.”

The new grant allocations will be available to pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies and entities that help provide material support to pregnant women.

According to Arkansas Right to Life, the state has over 50 pregnancy resource centers.

In Arkansas, preborn human life is protected from the moment of conception.

Last November, Arkansas beat back an effort to amend its state constitution to include the so-called right to abortion.

For the fifth year in a row, Arkansas was named the “most pro-life state” in the nation by Americans United for Life. States are ranked according to their policies, including “abortion law, legal recognition of preborn children, bioethics, assisted suicide and end-of-life patient care, and healthcare rights of conscience.”

Click here to see some of the significant policies Arkansas is advancing to promote life-affirming policies in the state.

As reported by the Daily Citizen, there are approximately 2,750 pregnancy resource centers nationwide providing nearly $368 million in free services to clients every year.

The Choose Life Coalition tracks available grant money and tax credits for pregnancy help organizations at the state level. According to their website, 19 states now have funding opportunities available.

New Abortion Pill Study Confirms Danger to Mothers

A new study from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) confirms what many have been warning about for years. The abortion pill doesn’t just take the life of innocent preborn babies but also injures and puts mother’s lives in jeopardy.

“The Abortion Pill Harms Women,” the largest ever study of its kind, found that nearly 11% of all women who abort their child with mifepristone suffer from life-threatening conditions, including sepsis, infection or hemorrhaging.

Authored by Jamie Bryan Hall, EPPC’s Director of Data Analysis and EPPC president Ryan T. Anderson, the findings come just as the use of chemical (and often mail order) abortions are skyrocketing.

“This study is the statistical equivalent of a category 5 hurricane hitting the prevailing narrative of the abortion industry,” reflected Ryan T. Anderson.

“It reveals, based on real-world data, the shocking number of women who suffer serious medical consequences because of the abortion pill. The Trump FDA should take immediate action to protect the safety of American women by reinstating the safety regulations that the Obama and Biden Administrations removed.”

The study, conducted between 2017 and 2023, found that women are 22 times more likely to be harmed than previously suggested by the Food and Drug Administration.

In the simplest of terms, this new study confirms that the public has been consistently lied to or deceived about the so-called safety of the abortion pill.

In releasing the study, the EPPC is wisely calling for the FDA to reinstate “patient safety protocols” that were first promised when mifepristone was first released. Additional requests include:

  • Prescribing mifepristone and misoprostol for the termination of pregnancy should require at least three in-person office visits by the patient — as originally required by the FDA.
  • Mifepristone should be prescribed only by physicians — as originally required by the FDA — who have read and understood the prescribing information.
  • Mifepristone should be administered only in a clinic, medical office, or hospital, by or under the supervision of a physician, able to assess the gestational age of an embryo and to diagnose ectopic pregnancies — all of which was originally required by the FDA.
  • Physicians must be able to provide surgical intervention in cases of incomplete abortion or severe bleeding, or have made plans to provide such care through others, and be able to assure patient access to medical facilities equipped to provide blood transfusions and resuscitation, if necessary.
  • Healthcare providers should be required once again to report to the FDA (and manufacturers of mifepristone) all serious adverse events resulting from the use of mifepristone.
  • Mifepristone should only be prescribed to a woman who is confirmed by a physician to be in the first seven weeks of pregnancy — as originally required by the FDA.

Abortion pill sycophants often dismiss warnings about the deadly pill as being hyperbole, but in releasing the new study, the EPPC even provides tragic testimonies from women who have suffered from its use.

Sadly, there are many no longer alive to talk.

Public policy impacts real people in real time and nowhere is this truer than when it comes to the reckless and tragic distribution of the abortion pill.

The FDA is long overdue to study and re-investigate the abortion pill’s so-called safety. This landmark new study will hopefully trigger and expedite that process.

U.S. Supreme Court Divided on Defunding Planned Parenthood

On Wednesday, the United States Supreme Court appeared divided during oral argument over South Carolina’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood.

Ultimately, it comes down to if the people of South Carolina can determine they don’t want to fund activities that result in the killing of a human life.

Legally, the Court is asked to consider the statutory intent behind the Medicaid Act to determine, whether South Carolina can exclude Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid program.

Based on oral argument, it’s not clear where a majority of the Court stands at present.

Background

The case, Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, originated in 2018 when the South Carolina governor issued an executive order prohibiting abortion clinics from participating in the state’s Medicaid program.

Planned Parenthood immediately sued the state, and the case has been making its way through the court system.

In December 2024, with federal circuit courts split on how to interpret the underlying federal law, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.

Oral Argument

During oral argument on Wednesday, the justices spent a majority of the time discussing whether Congress intended to confer a statutory “right” to choose “any qualified provider,” under the Medicaid Act. This would include a mechanism for individuals to sue the state when their choice of doctor is rejected.

As expected, Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson argued the language in the Medicaid Act confers a right to individuals; therefore, the state cannot exclude Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid program.

Counsel for South Carolina responded to their comments, contending that if Congress wanted to use clear rights language it could have. Unfortunately, Congress didn’t when it drafted the law.

The remaining six conservative justices all raised questions related to rights creating language, but didn’t seem to be advancing a united judicial theory.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch expressed concern in providing clarity to the lower courts regarding rights creating language.

Justice Clarence Thomas asked questions relating to the fact that the statute is not clear when it comes to rights-creating language.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett seemed to think past court precedent was enough guidance for the lower courts.

Pro-Life Allies

Alliance Defending Freedom partnered with South Carolina to defend the state’s position and held a rally with pro-life allies on the Supreme Court steps before and after oral argument.

South Carolina received an impressive amount of support in the form of friend-of-the-court briefs from the federal government, 18 states, Members of Congress, doctors in South Carolina and pro-life organizations.

Impact

The Supreme Court’s decision in this case could be far reaching. A ruling in favor of South Carolina could empower other states to exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid, potentially cutting a major funding stream to the abortion provider.

The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling in the case by June of this year.

The Daily Citizen will keep you updated on this developing story.

Image from Getty.