A lawsuit filed in a Texas federal district court is aiming to limit Americans’ access to mifepristone, commonly referred to as the abortion pill. Anti-abortion advocates say the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should rescind its approval of the medication until it can be adequately tested. “The FDA has one job, which is just to protect Americans from dangerous drugs,” said Denise Harle, senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom, one of the conservative-leaning groups that brought the lawsuit. “We’re asking the court to remove that chemical drug regimen until and unless the FDA actually goes through the proper…

As lawmakers negotiated annual government spending bills this summer and fall, federal funding for abortions emerged as a contentious issue. Democrats pushed for the removal of an annual appropriations rider known as the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortions, while Republicans said they were committed to keeping it on the books. First enacted by Congress in 1976, the Hyde Amendment, named for former Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), means there is no coverage for abortions for Medicaid recipients and those who get health care through other federal programs like the Indian Health Service, Medicare and the Children’s Health Insurance…

The Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision on January 22, 1973, making abortion legal in the United States. Today, the Federal Government uses abortion as a factor in deciding which countries or organizations receive U.S. foreign assistance. Federal policies on funding or supporting abortion or family planning programs abroad drive legislation and debate. Decisions over how U.S. funds should be used abroad have been perpetually contentious, and administrations have rescinded and re-instituted them. A September 12, 2018, Congressional Research Service report, Abortion and Family Planning-Related Provisions in U.S. Foreign Assistance Law and Policy, says:         The Executive Branch has…

In August 3, the Senate, by a 53-to-46 margin, failed to obtain the 60 votes needed to proceed on S. 1881, to prohibit Federal funding of Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive, maternal, and child health services, including abortions. The organization operates about 700 clinics that treat 2.7 million patients a year. The organization says that abortions account for approximately 3 percent of its services. Planned Parenthood has been a focus of the abortion debate for some time but recently came under new scrutiny after the release of secretly taped and edited videos showing a…