August 17, 2026
“With razor-thin margins in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, we need pro-life champions in office, and Rep. Ralph Norman has a track record of defending Life,” said Students for Life’s Kristan Hawkins. “Sitting U.S. Sen. Darlene Graham’s contribution to a state leader who blocked SFLAction’s pro-life legislation and the support she’s received from a consistent roadblock to protecting Life — Sen. Lisa Murkowski — shows that the company she keeps doesn’t put the interests of preborn babies and their mothers first.”
MEDIA ADVISORY: SFLAction’s Mobile Billboard Truck will be outside the Tuesday Debate Location, along with SFLAction Norman supporters, beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET, before the 7 p.m. ET event at the Newberry Opera House in Newberry, South Carolina. Viewing information available here. SFLAction will also be door-knocking for Norman the weekend of Aug. 22-23.
Contact [email protected] for interviews or more information.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (08-17-2026) — Students for Life Action (SFLAction) President Kristan Hawkins announced SFLAction’s endorsement of U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman for U.S. Senate, calling Norman a consistent pro-life leader who has worked to protect mothers and their preborn children. Hawkins noted that the SFLAction team also reached out to sitting U.S. Sen. Darlene Graham, appointed after the tragic death of her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, receiving no response to requests to explain her views and actions on abortion.
“Ralph Norman represents a reliable, pro-life fighter in this race, and Students for Life Action is proud to endorse him for U.S. Senate,” said Hawkins. “There is a sharp contrast between a candidate who has been silent on abortion over the years and who even financially supported a state senatorwho blocked SFLAction legislation in the Palmetto State, and a legislator who has made his pro-life convictions clear.”
MEDIA ADVISORY: For interviews in South Carolina, contact [email protected].
Norman took SFLAction’s Pro-Life Candidate Pledge, committing to protecting Life from conception, stopping taxpayer-funded abortion, fighting chemical abortion pill trafficking, and supporting mothers and their children after birth, if elected to the U.S. Senate.
Norman has supported SFLAction’s “Pregnant Students Rights Act,” which has passed twice in the House in recent years. He has also supported measures addressing protections for pregnant and parenting students, opposing federal funding related to abortion facilities, and blocking taxpayer-funded abortions. In previous sessions, he supported legislation to address deadly chemical abortion pills.
When South Carolina fought to keep Planned Parenthood from receiving state healthcare tax dollars, Norman got involved.
Along with the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Tim Scott, Norman filed an amicus brief in Medina v. Planned Parenthood to defend South Carolina’s ability to ensure that taxpayer dollars do not subsidize abortion vendors. At the time, he observed, “Private parties like Planned Parenthood have no right to undermine congressional intent by forcing states to say that Planned Parenthood is a qualified Medicaid provider.”
“At this critical moment, South Carolina needs a Senator who will lead on Life—not someone who discovers the pro-life movement during election season,” Hawkins continued.
“Ralph Norman has already demonstrated that leadership. He understands that protecting Life requires the courage to fight the conventional wisdom of campaign consultants and deep state operatives who push the Life issue to the end of the line, until they need votes.”
SFLAction has a significant grassroots presence in South Carolina, including students and young pro-life activists across the state who have worked to advance protections for mothers and preborn children.
“We know Ralph Norman, and we know where he stands,” said Hawkins. “The Pro-Life Generation needs fighters in the U.S. Senate, and Ralph Norman is exactly that kind of leader. We enthusiastically endorse Ralph Norman and urge pro-life South Carolinians to support him in the August 25 runoff.”
More on the scant record of Sen. Darlene Graham:
In addition to accepting a$10,000 donation from U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a consistent opponent of pro-life protections and policies, Graham “donated to a female Republican legislator after she blocked a total abortion ban in South Carolina,” notes The Daily Beast.
The legislator in question was State Senator Katrina Shealy, one of the three so-called “Sister Senators”who blocked SFLAction’s “Human Life Protection Act” in the state and worked to weakenthe state’s Heartbeatlaw.
Our on-going reporting illustrates SFLAction’s role in Shealy’s replacement:
As noted in the Wall Street Journal, SFLAction played a prominent role in supporting the primaries that resulted in replacing the three “Sister Senators,” GOP legislators who received SFLAction’s Spine Awards after blocking the 2023 “Human Life Protection Act,” with the message to get a backbone and vote for protections for the preborn.
Writing in Townhall before the 2024 general election, in an opinion piece titled Getting Rid of Foxes in the Pro-Life Henhouse, Hawkins noted:
“While abortion is always federal as national regulations, mandates, and taxpayer dollars support it, the states are clearly also at play. What’s new now in this Post-Roe era is a necessary fight at the state level to address foxes in the pro-life henhouse: weak-on-life Republicans who gleefully campaigned and fundraised off a perceived commitment to defending life but who refused to act when the time came … Case in point: the effort in South Carolina to hold accountable those who undercut the Human Life Protection Act, which would have protected life when biology teaches us it begins, at conception.
The historic legislation was filibustered and blocked by a handful of Republicans — dubbed the “Sister Senators”by an exuberant New York Times — who sided with the pro-abortion Democrats.
So, SFLAction got to work and did something about it. In the June 2024 South Carolina Republican Primary Election, SFLAction deployed staff, students, and resources to the state, resulting in over 37,000 pieces of mail, almost 130,000 personal text messages, more than 51,000 phone calls, and thousands of doors knocked. SFLAction was the only pro-life organization to engage in the fight.
And just like that, the ranks of the “Sister Senators” were decimated — State Sens. Katrina Shealy, Penry Gustafson, and Sandy Senn were all defeated by SFLAction-supported pro-life candidates.
For more information, or to set up an interview, contact: [email protected].
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The Pro-Life Generation (PLG) is an umbrella organization encompassing the most-cutting edge engagement opportunities for a Vote Pro-Life First Community. PLG includes Students for Life Action (SFLAction), a 501c4, along with its 501c3 sister organization, Students for Life of America (SFLA), that together make up the nation’s largest, pro-life youth organization, managing a grassroots political and policy operation engaging Americans of all ages but with a special emphasis on the largest segment of voters — the Youth Vote. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, PLG/SFLA/SFLAction serves more than 1,400 groups on middle, high school, college, medical, and law school campuses in all 50 states. Our team has more conversations with this generation targeted by the abortion lobby than any other pro-life operation in the world, each week reaching more than 4 million across social media platforms and averaging 1.3 million video views. In addition to SFLA/SFLAction, PLG leads multiple initiatives to lead and serve the future of the pro-life movement including the Campaign for Abortion Free Cities, Standing With You, and the Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement . Over more than 17 years, PLG CEO Kristan Hawkins has grown the operation into a nearly $20M organization, now preparing for an abortion-free America.
