February 5, 2024
Gridlock in Washington D.C. closes off a lot of legislative options when one party does not control both House and Senate. But when it comes to getting things done, more options are on the table than just bills, as the weaponized use of the Biden Administration’s Department of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Food and Drug Administration shows on abortion policy.
That deadly track record makes statements from Nikki Haley on abortion all the stranger when you consider that she wants to be leader of the free world. During a debate in November, when asked about abortion, Haley said: “Let’s bring people together and decide what we can agree on. But don’t make the American people think that you’re going to push something on them when we don’t even have the votes in the Senate.”
In numerous interviews, she’s been quite vocal about how there is little she can do to protect preborn life.
This mindset undermines the grassroots who plan to vote pro-life first, and who must ask themselves what a Haley Administration would do for them. Not to mention that it signals to Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry that business as usual can continue. Waiting for unlikely political consensus before attempting to protect life in law and in service seems to be a plan to do next to nothing.
But Students for Life Action (SFLAction) has led the way in detailing what a life-affirming administration COULD do. Even without a federal law on a gestational limit, there is A LOT than can be accomplished by a pro-life President willing to undue the Biden Administration’s abortion activism.
Abortion foes react to the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, in Washington, D.C. Among abortion opponents, promises to do more to help pregnant individuals have become a common refrain since the decision. “Let’s work to fill that gap,” said Heather Gardner, executive director of Central Texas Coalition for Life. (Photo by Neetish Basnet/Cronkite News)
In a recent article in Politico, Kristan Hawkins, President of SFLAction, laid out some options.
“The conversations we’re having with the presidential candidates and their campaigns have been very clear: We expect them to act swiftly,” said Hawkins. “Due to not having 60 votes in the Senate and not having a firm pro-life majority in the House, I think administrative action is where we’re going to see the most action after 2024 if President Trump or another pro-life president is elected.”
What does good administrative action look like? Hawkins continues in the article:
“In emerging plans that involve everything from the EPA to the Federal Trade Commission to the Postal Service, nearly 100 anti-abortion and conservative groups are mapping out ways the next president can use the sprawling federal bureaucracy to curb abortion access.
Some of the policies they advocate are ones Trump implemented in his first term and President Joe Biden rescinded — rules that would have a far greater impact in a post-Roe landscape. Other items on the wish list are new, ranging from efforts to undo state and federal programs promoting access to abortion to a de facto national ban. But all have one thing in common: They don’t require congressional approval.”
By strategically utilizing the administrative state and government regulations, pro-lifers can turn the tables on pro-abortion extremists occupying the government. Here are a few examples.
Chemical Abortion, the FDA, and the EPA
On average, more than half of direct, elective abortions are committed with Chemical Abortion Pills, and they’ve only become easier to purchase.
The Biden Administration’s abuse of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the COVID crisis established a dangerous practice of distributing No Test, Online Distribution of Chemical Abortion Pills, putting women at risk of harm, infertility, and even death, while also leaving them vulnerable to potential abusers. Despite Chemical Abortion Pills now being used for more than 50% of all abortions in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not conducted a single environmental study regarding the potential negative impacts of mifepristone, the first drug in the two-pill regimen.
However, this authority is being challenged in court. According to the New York Times: “Alliance Defending Freedom, the group that is representing those challenging the F.D.A.’s authority, said in a statement that the court would help settle whether the F.D.A. has harmed the health of women and undermined the rule of law by illegally removing every meaningful safeguard from the chemical abortion drug regimen.”
Students for Life Action and SFLA led the way in the pro-life movement for organized opposition to deadly Chemical Abortion Pills … from legislative pushes including the Protecting Life on College Campuses Act, to FDA citizen petitions, to campus education, to pharmacy protests, to name only a few of the actions taken.
Visit THIS IS CHEMICAL ABORTION to learn more.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), like many government agencies, can be weaponized by partisan actors. Sometimes the winning tactic requires using your opponents’ tools against them.
Ironically, the EPA warns not to flush drugs, chemicals, and even goldfish down the toilet. Hospitals dispose of placentas as medical waste, and brick-and-mortar abortion vendors are supposed to follow state laws when disposing of human remains.
The toxins in Chemical Abortion Pills can be dangerous. They could be infiltrating the water supply when women flush the remains of their preborn babies down the toilet. The National Institute of Health confirms they are “endocrine disruptors” that interfere with a body’s hormones and are linked with developmental, reproductive, brain, and immune system functions, resulting in tainted food supply and harming livestock.
Aside from introducing legislation at the State and Federal level, SFLAction has also pushed Citizen Petitions calling for:
- Adding Red Bag Medical Waste requirements to reduce the pollution from Chemical Abortion Pills.
- Restoring high health and safety standards, referred to as Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REM), to protect women’s lives.
- Completing studies and ensuring protections for endangered species; and now,
- Requiring Protections for Water, especially recreational water, in compliance with the Clean Water Act.
READ: SFLAction & SFLA launch a Campus, State, & Federal Campaign asking, “What’s In the Water?”
Government Appointments
The weaponized use of the Department of Justice, Health and Human Services, and the Food and Drug Administration has been ground zero for abortion activism, but the Biden Administration did not stop there. From the United States Postal Service to the The Department of Veterans Affairs, government leadership was tasked with expanding abortion policy.
Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), supported by SFLAction, stood up against this government overreach, and used stays of military promotion to try and reform the issue. Alas, he was unsuccessful, largely due to a lack of support from his own party – but he demonstrated that with the right application of political process and sheer will, change could be made.
It also reinforces the level of control cabinet positions and government agencies have to create policy. It also shows that they can also undo it when the roles are reversed, and that a culture of life begins with the right appointments in the next administration.
The Presidency
Most obviously, the office of the President of the United States has the most demonstrable power to affect changes on defending life. Aside from merely choosing the right appointments for government agencies, or instructing agencies to affirm life, the President can also use his office to steer a policy agenda and prioritize a political vision for the nation.
In the context of defending life, this could be outlining a plan to provide more support for struggling families, lower the costs and burdens for adoption or foster care, or encouraging more tax credits for young families to have more children.
The Presidency also offers two unique positions of power:
The “Bully Pulpit”: the simple truth is that when the President speaks, the media and the nation listen. This captive audience can be informed and educated on the merits of any issue. And a strong pro-life President could make the case not just for the preborn, but also for the mothers who may feel scared or exploited too. He can also steer the conversation towards the need to reign in out-of-control corporate interests influencing the life discussion.
Executive Orders: With the stroke of a pen, the President can create procedures for the government or enable his cabinet staff to move forward on a political agenda.
For example, when in office, President Trump reinstated what is known as “The Mexico City Policy” via executive order. According to CBS: “The policy was originally announced by President Reagan in 1984 and required nongovernmental organizations to agree as a condition of receiving any federal funding that they “would neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations.””
While President Joe Biden issued an executive order in July 2022 stating: “President Biden has made clear that the only way to secure a woman’s right to choose is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe as federal law. Until then, he has committed to doing everything in his power to defend reproductive rights and protect access to safe and legal abortion.”
Addressing the human rights issue of our day begins with the will to help mothers and their children – born and preborn. The defeatist attitude isn’t welcome anymore. We don’t need 60 votes – we need to decide to act.