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Home » News » Pro-Life This Week – July 17, 2026

Pro-Life This Week – July 17, 2026

Week in Review

Idaho Approves Pro-Abortion ‘Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act’ to Appear on Voter Ballots in November

Idaho has become the third state to permit a proposed ballot measure for voters in November that, if voted into law, would legalize abortion, contraception, and IVF. Idahoans United for Women and Families, a pro-abortion group based in Idaho, led the effort to get the so-called “Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act” on the ballot in the upcoming November election cycle. 

The act reads in part:

This act establishes a right to make private reproductive health care decisions, including abortion up to fetal viability and in medical emergencies. . . .

Every person has the right to reproductive freedom and privacy, which is the right to make personal decisions about reproductive health care that directly impact the person’s own body, including but not limited to the right to make decisions about: 

  • Abortion; 
  • Childbirth care; 
  • Contraception; 
  • Fertility treatment; 
  • Miscarriage care; and 
  • Prenatal, pregnancy, and postpartum care. 

The right to reproductive freedom and privacy includes the right of privacy in making personal decisions about reproductive health care in consultation with a health care provider.

Idaho law currently outlaws abortion for most reasons but permits the murder of the preborn child when the mother’s life is in danger and if the woman has reported to law enforcement that she is a victim of rape or incest that resulted in the creation of a child. This initiative seeks to overwrite Idaho’s current law by permitting abortion up through fetal viability (currently considered at or around 22 weeks gestation) but allowing it past viability for the life of the mother. 

The law would establish abortion as a “right” and would also establish a “right” to contraception and IVF. This is a tragedy, as we know that certain methods of contraception act as abortifacients and IVF always takes the lives of innocent human embryos in a laboratory. 

It is an absolute shame that this initiative has been approved for the people of Idaho to vote on. American Life League will be creating educational materials for the people of Idaho about this initiative and why we as Catholic Christians must vote no to this. Please stay tuned for more information soon.

Pro-Life Organizations Defend Abortion Pill Reversal in Court

Over the past three weeks, the pro-life organizations Heartbeat International and RealOptions have been in court fighting to protect a mother’s right to know that she may be able to stop her chemical abortion. California’s attorney general is attempting to sue the organizations for $20 million, claiming they are lying to and harming vulnerable women through their promotion of abortion pill reversal. The Thomas More Society, a law firm that frequently represents pro-lifers in court, has partnered with the organizations in this case.

Rob Bonta, California’s AG, filed the lawsuit in September 2023, but the trial didn’t begin until June 24, 2026. He argues that APR isn’t safe or effective and that the pro-life organizations “falsely” claim that it has saved thousands of lives. Further, the lawsuit says that they use the mothers who undergo APR as “subjects in experiments” to test the treatment. The most outrageous assertion in the lawsuit, however, is that “the vast majority” of abortive mothers primarily feel relief and that only 0.004% “may reconsider their decision while in the midst of a medication abortion.”

The abortion industry works hard to deny and hide any evidence that mothers are harmed by their abortions and frequently regret the decision to kill their babies. But pro-lifers know this truth because we embrace, counsel, and care for these mothers every day. In fact, both Heartbeat International and RealOptions experience this reality directly, as they serve these mothers through their pregnancy centers and clinics.

Heartbeat International also runs the Abortion Pill Reversal Network, which offers help and hope to the thousands of mothers who regret starting their chemical abortions. APR, which consists of the same supplemental progesterone treatment used for decades to prevent miscarriages, has saved more than 8,000 babies from the abortion pill. In court this week, one mother shared how APR saved her son nearly 10 years ago. Two more mothers are scheduled to share similar testimonies in the coming weeks. 

Despite receiving little attention outside of pro-life circles, this case highlights the true good of abortion pill reversal and the abortion industry’s lies. Please join us in praying for the pro-life movement’s ultimate victory in this case and for more mothers to pursue APR because of it.

ALL in the News

Susan Ciancio, editor of Celebrate Life Magazine and director of the Culture of Life Studies Program—ALL’s Pre-K-12 pro-life education program—wrote an article about a Catholic resource to help parents teach their children about God’s plan for sexuality using Church teaching. It was published in Catholic World Report.

Susan Ciancio wrote an article about American Life League’s Culture of Life Studies Program; it can be read on Catholic Mom.com.

Susan also wrote an article about Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of July and how it could have emphasized the preborn human beings who need and deserve respect. It was published by LifeSiteNews and republished by Sign of the Cross Media.

Additionally, Susan wrote about the benefits of CLSP’s booklet entitled The Beauty of the Developing Human Being for middle school children. Her article was published in Catholic365.

Katie Brown Xavios, ALL’s national director, regularly posts updates about American Life League and its important work on social media channels X and LinkedIn. Follow her accounts to stay up to date.

Twice a week, Judie’s commentaries are distributed to an expansive media list. The list contains over 100 media outlets such as Fox News, The Federalist, Breitbart, and The Daily Caller, among others. Judie’s commentaries are each featured on the front page of ALL.org.

Pro-Life Education

Culture of Life Studies Program

The Beauty of the Developing Human Being is a beautiful 47-page booklet that explores the science of the earliest moments of a baby’s life and gives kids in middle school and high school a firm foundation regarding the fact that every human being must be protected from creation until death. It is now on sale for just $5 to download. ORDER HERE

ALL’s Education Materials

Now, while supplies last, you can order a pack of 10 of these awesome T-shirts for just $5! They’re great for large families, for church groups, for VBS, and for any of your pro-life friends! We offer two great designs. Order both so you can mix and match!

Person Inside & Out T-Shirt 10-Pack SHOP NOW

See Dignity T-shirt 10-Pack SHOP NOW

Pro-Life Social Media

VIDEO SHORT: Facts about Ectopic Pregnancy and Abortion

There is a lot of confusion surrounding the subject of ectopic pregnancy and abortion. What is the proper way to treat a tubal pregnancy? Pro-life advocates on social media will tell you that removing the baby to prevent his mother’s death is not an abortion.  

Pro-life organizations and leaders often oversimplify the scenario. Let’s revisit our video short to provide some clarity to the matter:

Babies implanted in their mother’s fallopian tube cannot develop for nine months. Their fates are unfortunate, and treatment is necessary if his mother is to survive. If the treatment for ectopic pregnancy has the unintended, secondary effect of killing the baby, then the treatment is ethical, such as removing the damaged tissue with the baby inside. If the death of the baby is the primary intent of the treatment, then it is unethical. The baby is not the threat to the mother. It is the ruptured oviduct that is the threat. Thus, procedures that directly target the baby for destruction are equivalent to an abortion.   

Critics might refer to this position as splitting hairs, but that’s the difference between saving a mother’s life and being an accomplice to murder.