Since its inception, Eagle Forum has been committed to defending human life, born and unborn. Being pro-life has always meant opposing anti-life policy practices like expanding abortion and euthanasia, and at the same time defending our national security, our constitutional freedoms and fighting all policies that devalue human life.
As a recent guest on our Engage with Eagle Forum podcast noted, being pro-life means that it’s not enough to just be “pro-birth,” but we must be pro “abundant life,” fighting for life-affirming policies that promote opportunities, hope, and empower communities to assist mothers and fathers in need.
Since the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, the pro-life community has worked tirelessly to fight abortion on many fronts, including telling the truth about the ugliness of abortion: Abortion harms women. Unborn children feel pain. The abortion industry is racist, explicitly targeting black children for elimination. Abortion stops a beating heart.
Throughout the nearly forty-nine-year-long reign of Roe, technology has been instrumental in illustrating the truth about abortion. Developing technology made unborn children’s humanity undeniable, and it has enabled the public to witness the violent and painful realities of the procedure. But, just as technology seemed certain to seal Roe’s demise in 2021, other technological advances threaten to further expand and “normalize” abortion.
The pro-life community is rejoicing that the Supreme Court has an opportunity to overturn Roe v. Wade, by upholding a Mississippi law that bans abortion after fifteen weeks in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case. This law is based on the understanding promoted by current technology that at fifteen gestational weeks, an unborn child can feel pain.
While we will not know exactly how abortion policy will change until the Court announces its decision this summer, Supreme Court experts have indicated that there is great cause for optimism for pro-life Americans. Yet, while pro-life Americans embraced this new hope, the Biden Administration took a giant leap toward expanding the very definition of abortion on demand.
On December 16, 2021, just two weeks after oral arguments in Dobbs, the Biden Administration’s FDA quietly indicated through a mere website change that it would allow abortion-inducing drugs to be distributed via mail, removing the long-standing requirement that the drugs be dispensed by qualified health care providers.
The precedent for this dangerous practice was set in 2020, when several medical groups filed suit, and a Maryland federal district court judge allowed patients to bypass medical professionals and receive abortion drugs by mail during Covid-19 shutdowns. However, the Trump Administration challenged this decision, and the Supreme Court reinstated the requirement that the drugs be dispensed by medical professionals. Now, the Biden FDA has administratively instituted at-home, do-it-yourself abortions. This policy strengthens the abortion industry’s lie that abortion is no big deal. Any woman who has undergone a miscarriage knows that this is a horrifically anti-woman policy, as, even early on, and even if there are no complications, the process of losing a pregnancy is physically, mentally and emotionally excruciating.
Clearly, there is much work to be done to protect women and defend the unborn!
Every year in January, Eagle Forum acknowledges the anniversary of Roe v. Wade by renewing our commitment and our call to each of you to continue the fight for unborn life. We pledge to continue our unwavering effort to bring you the best information available to equip you to fight abortion, defend life, and to promote policies that foster the abundant life Jesus promised.