Abortion Policy News

The Daily Signal provides comprehensive abortion policy coverage with pro-life reporting and conservative commentary on state abortion laws, Supreme Court decisions, pro-life legislation, abortion clinic regulations, and the cultural battle to defend the unborn and support life-affirming policies.
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  • opinion

    Obama Administration Doubles Down on Forcing Religious Groups to Accept Abortion Drug ‘Accommodation’
    Two weeks ago the Supreme Court asked both sides in the Little Sisters’ case to file supplemental briefs. The Little Sisters’ case challenged Obamacare’s requirement that nonprofit employers must provide employee health insurance coverage that includes potentially life-ending drugs and devices. Now the briefs are in—and while the Little Sisters of the Poor and other…
    Elizabeth Slattery
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  • news

    New Study: ‘Sex-Selection Abortion Is a Global Problem,’ Including in US
    In advance of a Thursday House hearing on a measure that would ban abortions based on gender, a pro-life group published new research, provided exclusively to The Daily Signal, that suggests that prenatal sex discrimination “occurs globally” and is a problem, “including here in the United States.” “As Anna Higgins eloquently demonstrates in this latest…
    Kelsey Bolar
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  • news

    Abortion Funding Slows Senate Support for Human Trafficking Bill
    Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., wants to build broad, bipartisan support for taxpayer funding of a nonprofit foundation with the audacious task of combating and ultimately eliminating the modern slave trade, known as human trafficking. Conservatives, however, argue that Corker’s bill would duplicate current government programs and not sufficiently guard against the use of funds to…
    Ken McIntyre | Kevin Mooney
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  • news

    She Survived an Abortion. Now She’s Telling Lawmakers Her Story.
    Late-term abortion survivor Melissa Ohden sees Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary hearing as an opportunity to let the American public know “what late-term abortion looks like.” “As somebody who has lived to see the effects of abortion, I think it’s incredibly important for the public to pay attention to this hearing, to hear the stories of people…
    Mariana Barillas
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  • news

    She Had an Abortion at 15. How It Changed Her Life.
    Nona Ellington was 15 years old when she found out she was pregnant. A victim of rape, Ellington felt alone, ashamed, and desperate for help. After a free pregnancy test came back positive, showing that Ellington was five weeks pregnant, she went forward and scheduled an abortion. Around October 1983, Ellington, who was still in…
    Kelsey Bolar
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  • opinion

    Rep. Marsha Blackburn: Panel Probing Planned Parenthood Finds ‘Surprising Amount of Agreement’
    Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., says the goal of her House panel looking at Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers is to determine whether the law must be “tightened” because the abortion industry is violating it. “Our hearing [Thursday] was on the ethics of fetal tissue research,” Blackburn, chairwoman of the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, told me…
    Genevieve Wood
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  • opinion

    5 Key Exchanges From Biggest Abortion Supreme Court Case in a Decade
    Wednesday, while a huge crowd of protesters stood in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building, the justices heard oral argument in the first major abortion case in nearly a decade. In Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the Supreme Court is considering whether Texas’ H.B. 2 law—a commonsense reform intended to increase women’s health and…
    Elizabeth Slattery | Hans von Spakovsky
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  • opinion

    Increasing Health and Safety Standards for Abortion Clinics Is Reasonable
    The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this week in a case challenging a Texas law that places commonsense health and safety regulations on abortion clinics and abortion clinic doctors. Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt involves a Texas law, known as H.B. 2, that was passed in response to the conviction of late-term abortionist Kermit…
    Sarah Torre
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  • opinion

    How Gosnell’s Abortion ‘House of Horrors’ Led to This Week’s Supreme Court Case
    The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt this week, a case challenging a Texas law that requires the abortion industry to follow commonsense health and safety regulations. Passage of the Texas bill was spurred by the discovery of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the now infamous late-term abortionist who ran a…
    Sarah Torre
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  • opinion

    First Major Abortion Case in Nearly a Decade Will Go Before Supreme Court
    On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the first major abortion case in nearly a decade. In the case Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the Supreme Court will consider whether Texas’ H.B. 2 law—a commonsense reform intended to increase women’s health and safety—meets the test laid out in prior cases. Texas passed…
    Elizabeth Slattery
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  • opinion

    What John Oliver Got Wrong About Abortion Laws
    On Sunday, late night comedian John Oliver spent 16 minutes of his HBO show cracking jokes about abortion in a crass attempt to satirize reasonable state laws requiring abortion clinics to follow minimum health and safety standards. The brunt of Oliver’s mocking attack was aimed at a 2013 Texas law that is currently being reviewed…
    Sarah Torre
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  • news

    A 10th State Defunded Planned Parenthood. Why There’s So Much Momentum Now.
    Adding to the momentum to defund abortion giant Planned Parenthood, Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed a bill Sunday that strips $1.3 million in taxpayer money from the organization. Ten states—Wisconsin and Ohio being the most recent—have taken action over the past several months to cut taxpayer dollars from Planned Parenthood. “Not one more penny should go to…
    Leah Jessen
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  • news

    House Panel Issues 3 Subpoenas in Probe of Planned Parenthood
    A select investigative panel of the U.S. House of Representatives has issued subpoenas to a research company, a university, and an abortion provider, saying the organizations failed to cooperate fully with a probe of Planned Parenthood’s practices and procedures related to the distribution of aborted body parts.   “We have been working diligently to acquire information that…
    Leah Jessen
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  • news

    How Scalia’s Death Will Impact Cases on Immigration, Abortion, Religious Liberty
    Look beyond the contentious political rhetoric over confirming his replacement, and it’s clear that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death during a presidential election cycle will likely change the outcomes of major cases coming before the high court this term. The Supreme Court will review six big cases this term—on immigration, abortion, voting rights, unions,…
    Josh Siegel
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  • news

    Since the Release of Undercover Videos, 8 States Have Defunded Planned Parenthood. Ohio Makes It 9.
    Ohio Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign a bill defunding Planned Parenthood, making Ohio the ninth state to do so since undercover videos exposed the abortion provider’s apparent role in harvesting the body parts of aborted babies. The bill, H.B. 294, ensures that state and certain federal funds are not used to perform or promote…
    Leah Jessen
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  • news

    Indicted Planned Parenthood Videomaker, Releasing New Sting, Wants to ‘Send a Strong Message’
    The pro-life activist behind a series of undercover videos exposing the practices of Planned Parenthood emerged Thursday from court appearances in Texas vowing to continue his fight for unborn children despite being charged with breaking the law through his tactics. “We’re out here to send a strong message that Houston’s children and their body parts…
    Kristiana Mork
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  • news

    Why Is This Sting Celebrated by ‘60 Minutes’ but Not Those Planned Parenthood Videos?
    Investigative tactics featured on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” bear an eerie resemblance to the undercover sting operation of a pro-life activist indicted last week for his role in secretly recorded videos in which Planned Parenthood officials talk about harvesting aborted babies for tissue and organs. A report called “Anonymous Inc.,” which aired Sunday night, focused…
    Leah Jessen
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  • news

    After Facing Questions on Abortion, 2 Obama Judicial Nominees Fail to Advance
    The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding up two of President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees for federal judgeships in Pennsylvania. Robert Colville and John Younge, both nominated for lifetime judicial positions, did not receive a vote at Thursday’s committee meeting. Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the move was meant to give senators more time to review “their records…
    Philip Wegmann
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  • news

    Ohio Senate Approves Bill Defunding Planned Parenthood
    In a 22-8 vote Wednesday afternoon, the Ohio Senate passed legislation defunding Planned Parenthood and other providers of abortions that are not medically necessary. The bill from the Ohio House, amended by the Senate in the morning, cuts an estimated $1.3 million from Planned Parenthood and directs the funds to approved health care providers that don’t perform…
    Kristiana Mork
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  • opinion

    Should Courts Be Able to Make Legislative Judgments on Abortion?
    Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, in a case very similar to another one pending before the Supreme Court, issued an opinion blocking the enforcement of a commonsense abortion regulation in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin law, which was passed in 2013, requires abortion providers to have “admitting privileges” at hospitals within 30…
    Tiffany Bates | Andrew Kloster
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