Pro-life groups and activists are celebrating a report from the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute showing that states have enacted more pro-life laws in 2021 than in any other year.
The July 1 report from the Guttmacher Institute shows that in the first six months of 2021, 90 pro-life laws were enacted, beating the old record of 89 in all 12 months of 2011.
Guttmacher calls it the "worst legislative year ever for U.S. abortion rights." Pro-life activists, though, are calling it the best year.
"Let's keep up the momentum for the rest of the year!" tweeted Michael J. New, a professor at the Catholic University of America.
Pro-Life friends
— Michael New (@Michael_J_New) July 7, 2021
Good news! In 2021, we have already passed 90 state level pro-life laws.
Better news! This is a new record!
Let's keep up the momentum for the rest of the year! pic.twitter.com/2b2bzJSjMZ
Among the pro-life laws, according to Guttmacher, are:
- Near-total bans on abortion in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
- Six-week abortion bans in Idaho, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas.
- A 20-week abortion ban in Montana.
- Restrictions on medical abortions (the "abortion pill") in Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and West Virginia.
- Laws protecting babies who survive an abortion in Alabama, Kentucky, Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Pro-life group March for Life referenced the Guttmacher data and tweeted, "Pro-life efforts on the state level are saving lives every day!"
Pro-life efforts on the state level are saving lives every day! https://t.co/GuclERio2z
— March for Life (@March_for_Life) July 2, 2021
Lauren Enriquez, a media strategist for Students for Life, said recently in The Courier-Journal, "The record-breaking number of state and local pro-life laws in 2021 is proof that the momentum is on our side. The future is anti-abortion, and the panicking abortion industry knows it."
The report comes as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear a major abortion case this fall involving a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Supreme Court said it would limit the scope of the case to one question: Are all laws restricting pre-viability abortions unconstitutional?
The text of the law says abortions after 15 weeks mostly involve the "use of surgical instruments to crush and tear the unborn child apart." In the medical realm, such an abortion is called a dilation and evacuation abortion.
"The Legislature finds that the intentional commitment of such acts for nontherapeutic or elective reasons is a barbaric practice, dangerous for the maternal patient, and demeaning to the medical profession," the law says.
Related:
Respect Science and Affirm Humanity of Unborn, Miss. Governor Tells CNN
Supreme Court Takes Major Abortion Case in 'Landmark Opportunity' for Pro-Life Cause
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Wlablack
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
