FEDERAL NEWS
This page last updated 9-20-26
Dated News Articles are generally available for about 2 months.
Josh Hawley: Right to Life is the “Most Foundational of All Rights”
LifeNews.com | Mark Tapscott
9-17-26 | Washington, DC
More than 50,000 Americans from across the country signed a new “Declaration for Life” within hours of its public release that calls on them and their fellow citizens “to stand for life” and for Congress “to ban the chemical abortion drug mifepristone,” Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told reporters during an impromptu news conference in a Senate office building Wednesday.
“We think this declaration, written by pastors, is calling on spiritual leaders and everyday Christians across America to stand for life and to confront the scourge of chemical abortion. It is so critical on this the 250th anniversary of America,” Hawley said, referring to the four-page declaration he and a committee of pastors and other spiritual leaders from multiple denominations drafted.
The Declaration of Life was officially unveiled Wednesday during the first annual Missouri Prayer Breakfast hosted by the Show-Me State’s senior senator. The document is being circulated nationwide by multiple pro-life groups, including Family Research Council, and millions of Americans are expected to sign the document in the coming days.
"The Declaration of Independence gives us three examples of ‘inalienable rights:’ life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Life is the first of those rights because it is the condition of the others. It is thus the most foundational of rights,” the document proclaims at its outset. CLICK HERE to read the full story.
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EPA TO SCREEN AMERICA'S DRINKING WATER
FOR ABORTION DRUGS,
OTHER POTENTIAL POLUTANTS
Zeale.co | Elise Winland | Sept. 17, 2026
The agency will screen for more than 1,400 emerging contaminants as attention grows around a recent preprint reporting anti-progesterone activity in drinking water samples from three U.S. cities. Students for Life of America welcomed the study, declaring it a “victory for common sense.”
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Sept. 9 that it will screen drinking water samples for more than 1,400 potential contaminants, including the two drugs commonly used in a chemical abortion. The announcement came less than two months after a preprint study reported anti-progesterone activity in water samples from three U.S. cities.
“We have heard loud and clear that Americans are concerned about potential unknown pollutants lurking in their drinking water. The Trump EPA is committed to getting to the bottom of this, so that Americans can feel confident about the safety of their drinking water,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a press release. “EPA’s state-of-the-art study will shed light on this issue and complement the actions we are already taking under the Safe Drinking Water Act.”
EPA scientists will use non-targeted analysis, a method that allows researchers to screen water samples for thousands of potential pollutants rather than testing for only a small group of predetermined chemicals, the agency said in the release. The study will collect samples from several locations in different metropolitan areas.
The EPA’s screening library contains mifepristone and misoprostol — the drugs commonly used together in a chemical abortion — among more than 1,400 chemicals, including certain contraceptives and hormones that can also be used in gender “transition” treatments, according to a chemical list released by the agency.
CLICK HERE to read the entire article.
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Senate Confirms Pro-Life
State Judge for Federal Judgeship
LifeNews.co | Steven Ertelt
9-15-26 | Washington, DC
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Ohio appeals court Judge Matthew R. Byrne, who has a career of pro-life work, to a lifetime seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. The vote was 52-45.
President Donald Trump nominated Byrne on the recommendation of Ohio’s two Republican senators and Vice President JD Vance. Byrne, a Republican, was elected to Ohio’s Twelfth District Court of Appeals in 2020 after a decade as an employment litigator.
Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, told the Senate Judiciary Committee in June that Byrne had decided more than 800 appeals and written majority, concurring and dissenting opinions in nearly 250 cases.
“Judge Byrne has earned a distinguished reputation as a hardworking, thoughtful, and fair judge,” Husted said. “He has remained dedicated to upholding the reputation of the court and the rule of law.”
CLICK HERE to read the full article.
U.S. Sanctions Foreign Group That Helped Violent Abortion Activists
LifeNews.com |Jerry Cox
Sept. 8, 2026 | Washington, DC
Excerpts
Last month, the federal government imposed sanctions on a left-wing terrorist organization accused of aiding violent groups like Jane’s Revenge.
In May of 2022, a draft opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked to the media. After the leak, the domestic terror group Jane’s Revenge fueled violence against dozens of pro-life organizations and claimed credit for attacks like the 2022 firebombing of Wisconsin Family Action.
In response, more than 100 congressmen — including all four congressmen from Arkansas — urged the U.S. Department of Justice to take action against Jane’s Revenge, and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R – AR) wrote a letter urging the DOJ to investigate Jane’s Revenge as a domestic terror group.
Four members of Jane’s Revenge were eventually brought to justice. Now the United States government is issuing sanctions against a foreign terrorist group it says supported Jane’s Revenge, Antifa, and other violent organizations. CLICK HERE for the full story.
Australia’s Most Premature Baby Ever
is Born at 21 Weeks 3 Days
LifeNews.com | Right to Life UK
Aug 24, 2026 | Sydney, Australia
excerpts
A tiny premature baby who was born weighing only 351 grams [well less than one pound] at just over 21 weeks gestation has become Australia’s smallest premature baby to survive.
Makerita Tanuvasa, who is affectionately known by her middle name, Miracle, measured only 30.5 cm when she was born at only 21 weeks and 3 days gestation. This is so premature that resuscitation is not usually an option.
Miracle was the most premature baby ever to survive in Australia. Having such a tiny and premature baby survive left her doctors with a sense of awe and surprise.
She remained in the NICU of the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital for 14 weeks. CLICK HERE to read the full article.
We Won’t Forget
the 5 Full-Term Babies
Killed in Abortions
LifeNews.com | Marjorie Dannenfelser Aug. 12, 2026 | Washington, DC
Back in 2022, the remains of five tiny babies were recovered from a home in Washington, DC by local police.
They were boys and girls. They were image bearers. They were people with God-given rights. And at the end of their short lives, they were victims of brutal partial-birth abortions.
To this day, justice has not been served. But we will not quit fighting to change that. Recently, more than 50 members of Congress urged the Department of Justice to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the deaths of these five babies.
As lawmakers renew their call for a full investigation and justice to be served, we cannot allow these innocent lives to be forgotten.
For too long, questions surrounding these five babies have remained unsolved. Every day that passes without answers is another day justice is delayed.
At Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, we believe these children are more than headlines or talking points. They were unique human beings, each with inherent dignity and worth that was taken from them. Their lives mattered. Their stories mattered. And they deserve justice.
History will remember whether we remained silent, or whether we stood for those who could not speak for themselves.
LifeNews Note: Marjorie Dannenfelser is the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. CLICK HERE FOR SOURCE LINK
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States With Unlimited Abortions Kill So Many Babies
They’re Below Replacement Rate
LifeNews.com | Chuck Donovan
8/13/26 | Washington, DC
Babies, already a rare commodity in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, are becoming an endangered species. This week, Democratic Governor Maura Healey, surrounded by a cheering audience of almost exclusively female supporters, signed into law a bill making the Bay State the 10th in America to allow abortion for virtually any reason up to birth.
Healey and much of the mass media described the bill as a measure to allow women to stay in-state for abortions when a baby has a grave medical condition and may not survive outside the womb. In truth, the bill wiped out an existing law that allowed late-term abortion for reasons of mental health and fetal anomaly and now makes the baby’s demise subject to the unquestioned judgment of the abortionist and the parent(s). It is no law at all.
The numbers show a fairly uniform correlation between these permissive legal regimes and collapsing birth rates. It’s only logical. Massachusetts’s total fertility rate (TFR) in 2024 was 1.38, more than 33% below replacement-level fertility, with only four states experiencing lower fertility. Of the 10 states with “open seasons” on the unborn, seven are below the current national TFR of 1.62 children per woman. The 10 states have fertility rates between 1.27 (Vermont) and 1.80 (Alaska). None is at replacement level, and all have declined further over the last six years. Overall, the situation offers a bleak picture. It is not that demographers, politicians, and economists are the primary story, philosophizing in their studies about gross national product and “golden eras” going unrealized, it is the personal stories of families not formed and babies never born. Surveys say that the typical woman would like to bear 2.4 children in her lifetime. That is clearly not happening. CLICK HERE for more information.
Massachusetts late-term Abortion Bill Shows 'Leave it to the States' Rule Doesn't Work, Pro-life Group Says
Zeal.co | by Elizabeth Ervin | August 10, 2026
A leading pro-life organization says a Massachusetts bill that would allow abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy demonstrates why the protection of unborn children cannot be left exclusively to individual states.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America criticized H.5595 in a July 31 press release after the legislation reached the desk of Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, earlier that day.
The Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act, H.5595, would allow abortions after 24 weeks solely on a physician’s professional judgment and permit the procedures to be performed outside hospitals, according to a summary from the Massachusetts Legislature. SBLA Pro-Life America said the proposed bill would not set a later gestational limit. CLICK HERE to read the rest of the story.