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May 5, 2022

Students for Life Action’s Two-Year Legislative Session Report Details Pro-Life Wins and Work in 30 state and Counting

With little more than 3 years in direct political engagement, SFLAction inspired or assisted with legislation in multiple states, including most recently Oklahoma.  

As reported in the Washington Post“This is a whole new ballgame,” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life Action, one of the country’s biggest antiabortion groups, said in an interview. “The 50 years of standing at the Supreme Court’s door waiting for something to happen is over.” 

WASHINGTON D.C. (05-05-2022) – Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins released SFLAction’s 2021 & 2022 Legislative Sessions Report noting that in only about 3 years of active policy engagement, SFLAction tracked more than 1,000 abortion-related bills, engaged in 30 states, inspired or helped introduce 15 bills, as well as continues activating and organizing the Pro-Life Generation – Millennials and Gen Z – now 31% of the electorate. “Our sister organization, Students for Life of  America, has trained more than 130,000 Millennials and Gen Z for effective advocacy over its history,” observed Hawkins. “SFLAction has kept the Pro-Life Generation at work since the last election cycle to protect life in law and in service.”

 

sflaction legislative report

 

Students for Life Action prioritizes legislation that limits or bans abortion early in pregnancy when most abortions take place. Click here to read more. 

As Hawkins recently wrote in a letter to Congress, “According to the CDC, more than 9 out of 10 abortions take place by 12 weeks (92.7%), which means that if we are not focusing on limiting early abortions, we are not really addressing the violence of abortion at all. And after 50 years, it’s time for a real conversation in legislatures, communities, churches, and courts on how to protect life in law and in service.”

The report notes:  

“Nationally, the pro-life movement is on the offensive and wields legislative momentum as it relates to abortion. Figures from The Guttmacher Institute reveal that in the 2020 and 2021 legislative sessions combined, well over one thousand pro-life laws were introduced.

The Guttmacher Institute reports that, as of April 15, 536 pro-life bills had been introduced in 2022— an expected decrease from 2021, which was a record year for pro-life legislation. In 2021, in fact, more than one hundred of the 663 pro-life bills introduced were enacted into law — a number that prompted Guttmacher to label 2021 ‘the most damaging antiabortion state legislative session ever.’”

 

sflaction legislative report

 

The Fine Print: Bills and Measures in Motion

SFLAction Inspired and Helped Introduce the Following Bills at the State & Federal Levels: 

1.   AL-HB261-Chemical Abortion Ban

2.   AL-HB377-Chemical Abortion Ban

3.   AZ-HB2810-Life Begins at Conception Law

4.   AZ-HB2811-Chemical Abortion Ban

5.   IA-HF331-Chemical Abortion Ban

6.   MI-HB5445-Heartbeat Law

7.   MS-HB1368- Life Begins at Conception

8.   WY-SF0083-Chemical Abortion Ban

9.   SD-HB1208-Chemical Abortion Ban

10. NH-HB4577-Heartbeat Law

11. OK-SB612- Life Begins at Conception Law

12. OH-HB480- Life Begins at Conception Law

13. WV-SB595-Chemical Abortion Ban

14. Federal Bill-Pregnant Students’ Rights Act-H.R. 7294

15. Federal Bill-Protecting Life on College Campus Act-H.R. 4607 and S. 240

16. MA-HD1451-Chemical Abortion Restriction

17. MT-HB 171-Chemical Abortion Restriction

18. TX-HB2337-Chemical Abortion Restriction

19. OK-SB778-Chemical Abortion Restriction

20. AZ-HB1457-Chemical Abortion Restriction

21. AR-HB1402-Chemical Abortion Restriction

22. KY-HB460-Chemical Abortion Restriction

23. MD-HB1198-Chemical Abortion Restriction

24. SD-HB1318-Chemical Abortion Restriction

25. KY-HB3-Omnibus Pro-Life Bill with Chemical Abortion Restrictions

26. OH-SB304-Chemical Abortion Restriction

27. GA-SB456-Chemical Abortion Restriction

28. SC-HB4568-Chemical Abortion Restriction

29.  MS-HB1511-Chemical Abortion Restriction

 

sflaction legislative report

 

Helped to Pass the Following Life Saving Bills:  

  1. AR-SB6- Life Begins at Conception Law
  2. OK-SB612- Life Begins at Conception Law
  3. ID-HB366-Heartbeat Law
  4. MT-HB 140-Ultrasound Requirement, Informed Consent
  5. MT-HB 167-Born Alive
  6. MT-HB 171-Chemical Abortion Restriction
  7. MT-HB136-Pain Capable Abortion Ban
  8. TX-SB8-Heartbeat
  9. TX-HB1280-Trigger
  10. OK SB778-Chemical Abortion Restriction
  11. AZ SB1457-Chemical Abortion Restriction
  12. IN HB1577-Chemical Abortion Restriction
  13. AR HB1402-Chemical Abortion Restriction
  14. SD HB 1318-Chemical Abortion Restriction
  15. KY HB3-Omnibus and Chemical Abortion Restriction
  16. FL-HB5-15 weeks (testified)
  17. SC-S1-Heartbeat
  18. IN-HB1190-Free Speech on Campus

SFLAction’s engagement in Oklahoma earned extensive attention recently. In an article entitled, “Oklahoma Legislature Passes Near-Total Ban on Abortion,” CNN author Veronica Stracqualursi gave SFLAction credit for working behind the scenes on the passage of the bill, writing, “Legislators had worked closely on the bill with the national anti-abortion group Students for Life, which celebrated the bill’s final passage on Tuesday.”

 

sflaction legislative report

 

SFLAction TRENDS

“Protection At Conception” is SFLAction’s Goal — And It’s Attainable

SFLAction’s legislative goal is to see the strongest pro-life protections possible enacted at every level of government.

To this end, SFLAction and Students for Life of America (SFLA) have long stood firmly against discriminatory carveouts, especially rape and incest exceptions, made to otherwise strong pro-life legislation. In April 2022, the Los Angeles Times reported: “Support from groups like Students for Life helped give political life to more stringent abortion bans once viewed as politically impossible.” The LA Times continues, quoting legal scholar and author Mary Ziegler, who acknowledged: “Groups like Students for Life were embracing positions that [the mainstream antiabortion movement] wouldn’t have, at least as openly.”

SFLAction also trailblazed the trend of Life at Conception laws, which have now passed in numerous states. SFLAction vocally rejected the popular notion that consensus could only be solidified around protecting children from late-term abortions. With 95 percent of abortion victims being killed in the first trimester, SFLAction rejected attempts to solidify pro-life support around 15-week abortion bans and instead went all-in for early protections. We worked with stalwart legislators who were committed to casting a much wider net of safety for the preborn and their mothers — and this strategy proved correct.

To read this year’s report, click here and follow the work at Students for Life Action by following Kristan HawkinsStudents for Life Action, and Students for Life of America.

Posted this week, you can read more about SFLAction’s work in the Washington PostThe next frontier for the antiabortion movement: A nationwide ban or in the Associated PressLeaked court document galvanizes anti-abortion activists and also in the Daily Wire in Hawkins’ op-ed, titled: The Real Work Begins after Roe v. Wade is Overturned

To be added to the media listemail: [email protected]

For interviews, contact Kristi Hamrick at [email protected] or  [email protected] 

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Students for Life Action (SFLAction), a 501c4, along with its 501c3 sister organization, Students for Life of America (SFLA), make up the nation’s largest pro-life youth organization and a political and policy operation engaging people of all ages. Together they work to end abortion — the human rights issue of our day — and provide political, legal, and community support for women and their children, born and preborn. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, SFLA has more than 1,25groups on middlehigh school, college, university, medical, and law school campuses in all 50 states. SFLA creates strategy, policy, and programming to connect those most targeted for abortion with people ready to help and builds a framework for political engagement on their behalf. SFLA and SFLAction have more conversations with those most targeted by the abortion industry than any other pro-life outreach in the world, reaching more than 2 million people across social media platforms each week and engaging in approximately 100,000 digital conversations per month. Over more than 15 years, President Kristan Hawkins has grown SFLAction/SFLA into an $18 million organization preparing for a post-Roe America.