WASHINGTON – On Friday, June 23rd, National Right to Life’s 52nd convention begins at the Hyatt Regency Pittsburgh International Airport Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During the 2-day convention, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from dozens of speakers in a variety of workshops and general sessions. The convention opens with a prayer breakfast and closes with a banquet.

WHAT:

52nd Annual National Right to Life Convention

WHERE:

Hyatt Regency Pittsburgh International Airport Hotel
1111 Airport Blvd.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15231

WHEN:

Friday, June 23 – Saturday, June 24, 2023

WHO:

Featured speakers include:

Seth Dillon, The Babylon Bee CEO
Erik Rosales, EWTN News Nightly Capitol Hill Correspondent
Benjamin Watson, Former NFL tight end, pro-life speaker and author
National Right to Life President Carol Tobias
Olivia Gans Turner, co-founder of Women Exploited by Abortion and former director of American Victims of Abortion (A.V.A.)
Alex Schadenberg, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition President
Writer, author, and bioethics expert Wesley J. Smith, J.D., Discovery Institute & Humanize Podcast Host
Tom Glessner J.D., National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) Founder and President
Lauren Eden, Abortion Survivors Network
Amy Ford, Embrace Grace President

Reporters who intend to cover the convention MUST have credentials* to attend the convention. To register for credentials, please visit http://www.nrlc.org/communications/pressreg/ or contact Andrew Bair in the NRLC Communications Department at (202) 626-8825 or email mediarelations@nrlc.org.

*Reporters can check in and pick up their credentials in room Allegheny A at the hotel where the NRLC press room for the convention will be located.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.

WASHINGTON – Today, pro-life Governor Henry McMaster signed South Carolina’s Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act.

“We thank and praise pro-life Governor McMaster for signing the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “South Carolina’s new law will save hundreds of lives each month. We also praise our South Carolina affiliate, South Carolina Citizens for Life, for their hard work and diligence in seeing this bill pass and become law.”

On Tuesday, by a vote of 27-19, the South Carolina Senate approved the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act (S474). Tuesday’s vote was the final legislative action needed to protect unborn children in South Carolina when the fetal heartbeat can be detected. On May 16, the South Carolina House passed the law by a vote of 82-33.

“We applaud Governor Henry McMaster, a long-time pro-life supporter for signing into law the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act,” said Lisa Van Riper, president of South Carolina Citizens for Life. “This act not only protects unborn children with a detectable heartbeat from abortion on demand, but also signals that the child in the womb is a welcome member of our society.”

Representative John McCravy (R-Greenwood), Chairman of the House Family Caucus, said it is anticipated that the abortion industry will file an immediate legal challenge to the new law.

According to the South Carolina State Department of Health and Environmental Control, there are approximately 1,000 abortions per month—largely due to out-of-state abortion traffic. Enactment of the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act is expected to reduce the number of abortions occurring in South Carolina to 200-250 per month.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.

WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, by a vote of 27-19 the South Carolina Senate approved the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act (S474). The bill now goes to Governor Henry McMaster for his signature.

Tuesday’s vote was the final legislative action needed to protect unborn children in South Carolina when the fetal heartbeat can be detected. On May 16, the South Carolina House passed the law by a vote of 82-33.

“South Carolina’s law will protect hundreds of lives each month,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Our South Carolina affiliate, South Carolina Citizens for Life, was at the forefront in seeing this bill pass the legislature. We congratulate them on their diligence, hard work, and a job well done.”

Representative John McCravy (R-Greenwood), Chairman of the House Family Caucus, said the bill could be signed as early as Wednesday or Thursday. He said it is anticipated that the abortion industry will file an immediate legal challenge.

According to the South Carolina State Department of Health and Environmental Control, there are approximately 1,000 abortions per month—largely due to out-of-state abortion traffic. Enactment of the Fetal Heartbeat Act would reduce the number of abortions occurring in South Carolina to 200-250 per month.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.

WASHINGTON – On Friday, June 23^rd, National Right to Life’s 52^nd convention begins at the Hyatt Regency Pittsburgh International Airport Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During the 2-day convention, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from dozens of speakers in a variety of workshops and general sessions. The convention opens with a prayer breakfast and closes with a banquet.

WHAT:     

52^nd Annual National Right to Life Convention

WHERE:

Hyatt Regency Pittsburgh International Airport Hotel

1111 Airport Blvd.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15231

WHEN:

Friday, June 23 – Saturday, June 24, 2023

WHO:

Featured speakers include:

Seth Dillon, The Babylon Bee CEO

Erik Rosales, EWTN News Nightly Capitol Hill Correspondent

Benjamin Watson, Former NFL tight end, pro-life speaker and author

National Right to Life President Carol Tobias

Olivia Gans Turner, co-founder of Women Exploited by Abortion and former director of American Victims of Abortion (A.V.A.)

Alex Schadenberg, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition President

Writer, author, and bioethics expert Wesley J. Smith, J.D., Discovery Institute & Humanize Podcast Host

Tom Glessner J.D., National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) Founder and President

Lauren Eden, Abortion Survivors Network

Amy Ford, Embrace Grace President

Reporters who intend to cover the convention MUST have credentials* to attend the convention. To register for credentials, please visit http://www.nrlc.org/communications/pressreg/ or contact Andrew Bair in the NRLC Communications Department at (202) 626-8825 or email mediarelations@nrlc.org.

*Reporters can check in and pick up their credentials in room Allegheny A at the hotel where the NRLC press room for the convention will be located.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, in an expedited hearing, will listen to arguments in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the drug mifepristone.

“Our hope is that the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will see a drug that does not cure a disease or alleviate the symptoms of a disease,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Our hope is that they will see the drug for what it is—one that was developed to take the life of an unborn child and one that always has the potential to harm the mother.”

On April 21, the U.S. Supreme Court released a decision that stayed lower court rulings and returned the issue to the 5th Circuit.

Justice Alito dissented from the Court’s decision, writing about the original ruling of the three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit: “It would simply restore the circumstances that existed (and that the Government defended) from 2000 to 2016 under three Presidential administrations.”

The circumstances that existed from 2000 to 2016 were a series of protections meant to reduce the many dangers of chemical abortions.

In the lawsuit, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the plaintiffs argued that the FDA unlawfully fast-tracked the approval of mifepristone through a process intended for the treatment of life-threatening illnesses.

On April 13, a different three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit removed the 2016, 2021, and 2023 changes the FDA had made to the original safeguards it had applied to mifepristone. That three-judge panel left in place the original requirement that it be used only up to 7 weeks of pregnancy, the requirement of three physician visits, removed the ability for the drug to be mailed or dispensed by pharmacies, prevented non-physicians from prescribing the drug and reinstated the reporting requirements for non-fatal adverse events.

The 5th Circuit action followed a decision by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in the Northern District of Texas who issued a national injunction on the use of mifepristone in chemical abortions.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, the research organization affiliated with the abortion industry, approximately 54% of all abortions are done using chemical abortion methods like mifepristone and misoprostol.

Mifepristone is used in combination with misoprostol, a prostaglandin, to cause an abortion. Mifepristone blocks progesterone, leading to the death of the unborn baby, while the second drug, misoprostol, causes powerful, painful uterine contractions to expel the dead or dying baby.

The FDA recently weakened the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) requirements for the drug to allow it to be dispensed and even mailed by pharmacies.

“When hundreds of thousands of women take these pills, even a couple of percentage points of women hemorrhaging, dealing with infections, or ectopic pregnancy, represents thousands of women desperately seeking treatment, which may or may not be nearby,” said Randall K. O’Bannon, Ph.D., director of Education and Research for National Right to Life.

One of the common myths about the drug is that it is “safer than Tylenol” (or a similar argument is that it is safer than Advil/ibuprofen). Dr. O’Bannon recently addressed this:

What you have here is a not-so-clever statistical sleight of hand, where advocates try to get you to compare the number of deaths from a relatively lightly used product with one that is used billions of times by people every year.

We are told that about 150 Americans die from Tylenol use every year, usually by overdose or simply taking too much over an extended period of time. At the same time, the FDA tells us that there have been 28 deaths that we know of among American mifepristone patients since the drug was approved in 2000.

So, 28 deaths from mifepristone in twenty years against 150 deaths from Tylenol in just a single year’s time? Sounds like mifepristone is safer.

But wait. That’s 150 Tylenol deaths against a backdrop of 25 billion doses of Tylenol in a year. We’re told that there have been only 5.6 million total chemical abortions with mifepristone in the U.S. since that 2000 approval, less than a thousandth of the sales of Tylenol in a single year.

Note what this does to your risk factor.

Using the minimal figures provided by the FDA, your risk of dying from taking mifepristone is about 1 in 200,000. Not large, but not negligible. And remember that your risk of a complication putting you in the emergency room is closer to one in 10.

But your risk of death from Tylenol is actually something like one chance in 166.7 million, even including those who overdose and fail to follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

This means that your risk of dying from mifepristone is about 833 times your risk of dying from Tylenol.

Additional myths are addressed in a white paper National Right to Life released on April 5. Addressing Many of the Myths the Media is Repeating about the FDA’s Approval and Management of Mifeprex (Mifepristone) can be accessed here.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.

WASHINGTON – Tuesday evening, the North Carolina legislature voted to override pro-abortion Governor Roy Cooper’s veto of SB20, the Care for Women, Children, and Families Act.

The Senate voted 30-20 to override the veto and the House followed with their vote to override the veto with a vote of 72-48.

“Our hope is that this law, which allows for unlimited abortions for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, will save precious lives,” stated Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life (NRL). “We know that 90% of all abortions take place before 12 weeks of pregnancy and we will continue working for the day when all innocent human life is protected.”

“North Carolina has taken steps to protect some babies and North Carolina Right to Life is thankful whenever a child is saved,” said Bill Pincus, M.D., president of North Carolina Right to Life. “The fact remains that 99% of abortions are performed on healthy women, carrying healthy babies and the vast majority of abortions occur before 12 weeks. In every case of an abortion, a baby dies. If abortion is healthcare as they claim, exactly what disease are we treating?”

According to North Carolina Right to Life, National Right to Life’s North Carolina affiliate, the Care for Women, Children and Families Act:

protects babies from chemical and surgical abortion after 12 weeks except allowing abortions for rape and incest up to 20 weeks. It also allows abortion for “life limiting anomalies” up to 24 weeks. The 46-page document defines chemical and surgical abortion, as well as giving a thorough list of complications from such medical interference.

The Bill maintains the 72-hour waiting period, expands informed consent standards for women, ensuring that attestations are signed and understood, and it gives women the right to sue under the laws of the State if she feels she has been coerced or misled prior to obtaining an abortion.

For those seeking chemical abortion, they must be examined in person by a physician to check gestational age and risk of ectopic pregnancy. It specifies that chemical abortions are limited to 70 days (10 weeks) or less, gestational age as per the current FDA recommendations.

The bill also contains conscience protections for those whose conscience will not allow them to participate in the killing of unborn children.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and eutha