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April 3, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Like many others, I was extremely disappointed that the Republican-controlled House and Senate approved a budget that handed Planned Parenthood another 500 million dollars—again.

Not only is this money aiding an organization that targets the smallest members of the human family for destruction, but the abortion giant has a history of pouring millions of dollars into defeating Republican candidates. Continuing to fund Planned Parenthood is both spineless and suicidal at the same time. 

Despite this setback, it's important to remember that the pro-life movement has been having near-unprecedented success in limiting abortion.

In 2017, 19 states adopted 63 restrictions on abortion—the highest number of restrictions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood’s research arm, since 2013. 

And that might be just the beginning. As The Hill noted, “that trend could continue in 2018 — state legislatures have proposed 15 bills that would ban abortions after 20 weeks, and 11 bills that would ban abortions if the sole reason is a genetic anomaly like Down syndrome.” And 2018 has already been a fruitful year for pro-life activists. Consider just a few examples:

  • On January 17, President Donald Trump spoke to the March for Life, addressing tens of thousands of pro-life activists gathered in Washington, DC. It was the first time a sitting president addressed the March, and was yet another example of Trump’s transformation from an avowedly pro-choice New York businessman to a politician dedicated to his pro-life allies.
  • Also on January 17, Congress passed the Born-Alive Survivors Act, which would protect babies who were born alive after failed attempts to abort them. The act both prohibited medical practitioners from denying the proper care to these survivors, required abortion workers to immediately bring these children to the hospital for medical attention, and instituted criminal penalties for those who refused to do so.
  • On January 18, President Donald Trump announced extensive conscience protections for medical professionals who have ethical, moral, or religious objections to performing abortions—a high priority for the pro-life movement in a cultural moment where religious liberties are under attack from every side.
  • On February 26, South Dakota passed a law that requires abortionists to inform women that abortion kills a human being. 
  • On February 28, Iowa passed a law that would ban abortion after the baby’s heartbeat began.
  • On March 5, Tennessee passed a law that would defund Planned Parenthood, a move that came after the abortion giant was revealed to be selling baby body parts. 
  • On March 19, the governor of Mississippi signed the Gestational Age Act, which bans abortion after 15 weeks—the governor of Louisiana has voiced support for a similar bill in his own state.
  • Also on March 19, Ohio legislators introduced a bill that would entirely ban abortion in their state.
  • On March 20, Idaho Governor Butch Otter signed legislation that requires abortion workers to inform women that certain abortion procedures can be halted and reversed should they change their mind.
  • On March 22, the Kentucky Senate passed legislation that would ban the dilation and evacuation abortion procedure after 11 weeks gestation—a procedure that accounts for 16% of abortions in the state.
  • Also on March 22, the governor of Idaho signed legislation that requires abortionists to formally report how many abortions their patients have, along with other information.
  • On March 25, the state of Indiana made it a double-homicide to kill a pregnant woman—in addition to legislation that heightened scrutiny on abortion clinics, which are notoriously lax in following the law.

This wave of pro-life legislation is in addition to a steady stream of pro-life judicial appointments to the courts on every level, a scenario that concerns abortion activists so much that Vox warned that these justices will be pivotal in ensuring pro-life laws get upheld. Month by month, Roe v. Wade is being hollowed from the inside out—which is why the abortion rate is now at historic lows. There is much work yet to be done, but be encouraged—the pro-life movement is taking territory slowly but steadily.

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Jonathon Van Maren is a public speaker, writer, and pro-life activist. His commentary has been translated into more than eight languages and published widely online as well as print newspapers such as the Jewish Independent, the National Post, the Hamilton Spectator and others. He has received an award for combating anti-Semitism in print from the Jewish organization B’nai Brith. His commentary has been featured on CTV Primetime, Global News, EWTN, and the CBC as well as dozens of radio stations and news outlets in Canada and the United States.

He speaks on a wide variety of cultural topics across North America at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions. Some of these topics include abortion, pornography, the Sexual Revolution, and euthanasia. Jonathon holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from Simon Fraser University, and is the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

Jonathon’s first book, The Culture War, was released in 2016.