FEDERAL NEWS

This page last updated 1-26-25

Dated News Articles are generally available for about 2 months.

Senators Introduce Bill to End Abortion, Extend 14th Amendmendment

to Unborn Children

LifeNews.com by Arden Koenecke | 1-23-26 Washington, DC

U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) introduced the Life at Conception Act, legislation to legally recognize the right to life by extending 14th Amendment protections to unborn children.

The Life at Conception Act clarifies in statute that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being at all stages of life. This is defined as the moment of conception, or any other moment at which an individual comes into being. CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY

Pro-Life Group Asks JD Vance

to Stop Mail-Order Abortions

LifeNews.com | Steven Ertelt |1-23-26 | Washington, DC

The pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America urged Vice President JD Vance to act against mail-order abortion drugs following his address at the 53rd annual March for Life on Friday.

The group is citing a significant post-Dobbs increase in abortions driven by chemical abortion pills.

In a statement released January 23, 2026, SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser directly referenced Vance’s remarks asking attendees to compare the pro-life movement’s position a decade ago to the present.

When Vice President Vance said in his speech, ‘I ask you to look where the fight for life stood just one decade ago, and now look where it stands today,’ that comparison reveals a harsh reality,” Dannenfelser said. CLICK HERE to read the rest of the story.

Bishop Conley on Abortion, Conversion, and the Pro-life Generation

at National Prayer Vigil for Life

Catholic Vote by Mary Rose - January 22, 2026

Excerpts from this article are below

Speaking at the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life, Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, reflected on his own conversion, the Church’s understanding of abortion as a foundational moral issue, and expressed hope that a new generation will soon make abortion a thing of the past.

Bishop Conley opened his homily with a story. “I have not always been pro-life,” he told the congregation. “Unlike many of you, I didn’t have the privilege of a Catholic education.”

Recalling his teenage years in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s legalization of abortion in 1973, he said the issue simply felt distant and abstract. “We were taught that the fetus was just a blob of tissue, a mass of cells,” he said. “The science wasn’t very well developed back then, so abortion didn’t really seem like a big deal to me.”

His abstract view of the issue was disrupted, he said, by an experience that left a lasting impression: a high school party where a friend announced his girlfriend’s pregnancy and asked others to help pay for an abortion. CLICK HERE to read the rest of the story.

Trump Administration Ends

Federal Funding for

Aborted Fetal Tissue Research
Catholic Vote - by Mary Rose - January 22, 2026

The federal government will no longer allow taxpayer funds to be spent on research using tissue from the bodies of aborted babies, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced Jan. 22. CatholicVote Director of Government Affairs Tom McClusky celebrated the decision as a victory for the pro-life movement, which has long opposed the practice.

“A few years ago, abortion giant Planned Parenthood and their co-conspirators were caught selling baby body parts scavenged from abortions,” McClusky said. (Tiffin RTL comment: It was actually 10 years ago when David Daleiden, Center for Medical Progress, made public his undercover videos of Planned Parenthood employees discussing this. CLICK HERE for the news story from 2015 or go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usxoc763iGc) “What you might not have known is that the federal government contributed to this atrocity by funding such ‘research.’”

“The Trump administration deserves high praise for recognizing every human being deserves dignity, born and unborn, in life as in death,” McClusky added. CLICK HERE to read the entire article about ending federal funding.

Report: State Dept Finalizing Broad Expansion of Pro-life Mexico City Policy

Published by 1-22-26 for Catholic Vote by Elise Winland

The State Department is finalizing a significant expansion of the Mexico City Policy to further prevent U.S. taxpayer dollars from supporting abortion overseas. The policy shift will reportedly also extend the restrictions to programs tied to gender ideology and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Under the changes, foreign and U.S.-based nongovernmental organizations receiving U.S. taxpayer dollars would have to certify that they do not provide or promote abortion, advocate for gender ideology, or support DEI initiatives deemed unlawful, according to a Jan. 22 FOX News report. The updated policy would apply to all nonmilitary U.S. foreign assistance, totaling more than $30 billion annually. CLICK HERE for the entire story.

House Passes Billto Protect

Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers

LifeNews.com - Teagan Gambert | 1-21-26 | Washington, DC

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to clarify that pregnancy centers can receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant funding from states.

“The House passage of HR 6945—the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act—reaffirms the necessity of the critical, life-saving and life-enhancing services that pregnancy centers provide, and protects the rights of states to support and fund them,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), an original co-sponsor of the bill, which was introduced by Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-MN).

“This legislation represents a critical step towards protecting and defending the vital work of pregnancy centers, which, since their inception, have been unfairly maligned, harassed, and discriminated against by radical, pro-abortion state and federal administrations.

“Currently, there are more than 2,700 pregnancy centers operating throughout the United States—each and every one of them offering unparalleled compassion, respect, and care for both mothers and their precious children,” continued Smith, who, earlier this Congress, introduced the Let Pregnancy Centers Serve Act of 2025 (HR 2226), which would prohibit federal, state and local governments from discriminating against pregnancy centers because of their life-affirming mission. CLICK HERE for the entire story.

Congressional Bill Would

Stop Trafficking Teens Out of State

for Secret Abortions

LifeNews.com | Congressman Dave Taylor

January 1, 2026 | Washington, DC

Excerpts of the article are below,

with a link to the full article at the end.

Congressman Dave Taylor (OH-02) today applauded the introduction of a Senate companion bill to his Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act by Senator Ashley Moody (R-FL). This bill will protect children and uphold parental rights by prohibiting the transportation of minors across state lines for the purpose of receiving an abortion without following the parental notification laws in the minor’s resident state.

“No one should be sneaking children across state lines to receive secret abortions behind the backs of that child’s parents,” said Congressman Taylor.

“This bill will hold all parties accountable and ensure children are not taken advantage of. As states like California and Illinois promote abortions for all and keep parents in the dark about their child’s health, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act will put parents back in the equation and protect the lives of both the child and the unborn.” CLICK HERE for the full article.

175 Members of Congress

Tell FDA to End Biden’s Mail-Order Abortion Drug Policy

Anna Callahan | Nov. 21, 2025 |Washington, DC

Following last month’s letter from 51 U.S. senators to the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services calling to reinstate commonsense safeguards on abortion drugs, 175 U.S. representatives led by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) and pharmacist Rep. Diana Harshbarger (TN-01) sent a letter demanding answers from Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and Commissioner Marty Makary.

The FDA’s recent approval of a new generic version of the drug comes even as Joe Biden’s COVID-era mail-order abortion policy remains inexplicably in effect, putting women and unborn children at risk and undermining state pro-life laws.

As the letter states:

These drugs are sent across state lines with no physician oversight, and without appropriate screening to ensure that bad actors are not secretly poisoning women without their knowledge or forcing women to take abortion drugs against their will – a clear indication that radical pro-abortion activists care more about protecting abortion access than about upholding women’s health and safety.

CLICK HERE to read the full article.

Court Overrules Leftist Judge,

Allows Planned Parenthood Defunding to Continue

Source: LifeNews.com | National | Steven Ertelt Dec 9, 2025 | 12:09PM | Washington, DC

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday overruled a preliminary injunction from liberal U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, allowing a federal provision to defund the Planned Parenthood abortion business through Medicaid to take effect and continue during ongoing litigation.

The decision, which lifts a temporary block on the funding ban, marks a significant victory for pro-life advocates who have long pushed to redirect taxpayer dollars away from the abortion company.

The American Center for Law and Justice, which filed amicus briefs supporting the government’s position, hailed the ruling as a “crucial” step in “defending the sanctity of life and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are not used to fund organizations that perform abortions.”

Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee in Massachusetts, issued a preliminary injunction against a pro-life provision in Congress’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The measure bars Medicaid reimbursements to tax-exempt organizations that kill babies in abortions and received more than $800,000 in such funds during fiscal year 2023.

Pro-life advocates had championed the law as a critical step to redirect taxpayer dollars away from abortion companies, ending federal taxpayer support to large entities like Planned Parenthood.

The ruling applied to a coalition of 22 states led by California, Connecticut and New York, plus the nation’s capital.

Talwani found that the states are “likely to prove that the law imposes an unconstitutional, retroactive condition on state participation in the Medicaid program,” which provides health coverage to low-income Americans. She described the provision as “impermissibly ambiguous,” noting that allowing it to take effect would “increase the percentage of patients unable to receive birth control and preventive screenings, thereby prompting an increase in states’ healthcare costs.”

Now defunding can continue nationwide thanks to the appellate court.

Tiffin RTL Notes: The "Monday" referenced in the lead sentence above apparently refers to Monday, December 8, as this article was published online on Tuesday, Dec. 9. The full text of the article appears above as taken from this CLICK HERE link

If you wish to read a previous article published on December 4, 2025 by "The Washington Stand," about about District Judge Indira Talwani's earlier ruling, you can CLICK HERE

These two articles illustrate just how quickly legal issues can change.

Interview with Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, chair of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops'

Committee on Pro-Life Activities

In a recent interview with "Our Sunday Visitor" publication, Bishop Thomas discussed the committee's priorities. He specifically pointed out the importance of offering “healing and the tender mercy of God” to those hurt by abortion.

CLICK HERE to read the whole interview.