Anti-abortion activists are charging ahead with their ultimate mission to end all abortions nationwide, freshly emboldened by powerful allies in Washington, a continued Supreme Court majority and legislative opportunities in conservative states.
At the March for Life on Friday, the three most powerful men in America are expected to give remarks: President Trump via recorded video, and Vice President JD Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson in person. On Thursday Mr. Trump pardoned 23 activists convicted of obstructing access to abortion clinics.
And buried in an executive order stating that the U.S. government would recognize only two sexes — male and female — was a phrase that caught the attention of activists hoping to give constitutional rights to embryos. People were male or female “at conception,” the order stated.
Such steps amounted to a signal after a presidential campaign during which Mr. Trump pushed anti-abortion leaders to the outskirts of the Republican Party. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago with the Dobbs decision, many Republicans worried that the anti-abortion cause had become a political liability among independent voters.
But now that electoral politicking is over, anti-abortion activists are facing the question of just how far they can go.
Whether the recent signals indicate a more aggressive approach remains to be seen. Few believe that abortion is a top priority for the president in the same way as immigration or trade. How far he will move to limit abortion nationwide — or if he will take any steps at all — is unclear. But he’s also unlikely, allies and activists say, to try to impede conservative states’ efforts to enact new restrictions.
Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, spoke with Mr. Trump on Thursday and expressed hope that the president would restore policies under his first administration, like the requirement that women pick up abortion medication in person. Such a measure would hamper the ability of women in states where the procedure is banned to receive the pills through the mail.
“Leadership from the federal level is important,” Mr. Hawley said. “But in terms of the changes in the law, after Dobbs, the states are in many ways the most important theaters.”
When asked about abortion during the campaign, Mr. Trump said that the federal government “should have nothing to do with this issue.” But in appearances before Christian organizations, Mr. Trump pledged his staunch support, promising to stand with them “side by side.”
Many anti-abortion activists were disappointed when he selected Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has supported abortion rights, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services — a primary agency where they hoped to advance their cause.
In private meetings with senators like Mr. Hawley who oppose abortion rights, Mr. Kennedy pledged to uphold the president’s agenda. But that did little to reassure some activists.
“The answer in Senate meetings and that we get back over and over is that Kennedy’s position will be what the Trump position is,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said. “What we are looking forward to is knowing exactly what that means.”
Abortion rights activists are warning of far more sweeping actions. They believe that the administration will prosecute abortion providers and enforce the Comstock Act, a dormant law from 1873, to criminalize the shipping of any materials used in an abortion — including abortion pills, which account for the majority of abortions in America.
“Let’s go back to 2016, 2017, when people said, ‘Oh, yeah, yeah, he talked about Roe, but he’s not going to do that,’” said Elisabeth Smith, the state policy director for the Center for Reproductive Rights. “We’re in that same place where people understandably cannot accept what is coming because it is too awful to accept, and it is against the will of the people.”
Regardless of any federal actions, anti-abortion activists are proposing a deluge of legislation in states, including ways to weaken abortion protections passed by voters, and to raise penalties on women and abortion providers in states where the procedure is banned. The moves are designed both to restrict access and to generate new fights in the courts, where they believe they have the upper hand.
Conservative lawmakers in states including South Carolina and Oklahoma are trying to advance legislation that would allow women who have abortions to be prosecuted for homicide. In Ohio, where voters codified abortion rights into the State Constitution in 2023, the Republican attorney general is arguing in court that longstanding abortion restrictions — including a 24-hour waiting period before receiving the procedure — are still legal.
Some activists are looking to Texas, long an incubator for new restrictions on abortion and where nearly all abortions are now banned, as a model for next steps.
John Seago, the president of Texas Right to Life, said that stopping the flow of abortion medication into his state was a top priority. Republicans have filed a series of bills targeting access to the pills, including classifying abortion medications as dangerous controlled substances and online abortion medication sales as a deceptive trade practice. Republicans have also introduced legislation allowing citizens to sue internet providers for hosting websites that sell abortion medication — a proposal that relies on the same novel enforcement mechanism included in the state’s abortion ban.
“The federal government can definitely help on a lot of these issues, if they are willing to, but we’re not holding our breath for our friends in D.C. to really lead on this,” Mr. Seago said.
At the March for Life on Friday, at least, the Trump administration will figure prominently. Jennie Bradley Lichter, the incoming president of the March for Life, was deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council during Mr. Trump’s first term. She pointed to the high-level speakers on Friday as an optimistic sign.
“I just look back at the president’s record from the first time around, and I anticipate that we will see some great wins,” she said.
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