WASHINGTON — National Right to Life and a broad coalition of national and state pro-life organizations today urged Senate Republican leadership to immediately launch the 2026 budget reconciliation process to prevent federal taxpayer dollars from funding the abortion industry after July 4, 2026.

“Congress made history in 2025 by passing the One Big Beautiful Bill with a provision that stopped taxpayer dollars from subsidizing abortion providers for one year,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Allowing that policy to expire would betray the American people who consistently oppose their money being used to prop up the abortion industry.”

In a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Republican leadership, lawmakers are urged to include a provision in the upcoming reconciliation package to extend the prohibition on funding for the maximum ten years permitted under budget rules.

The letter highlights concerns about the activities of major abortion businesses, noting that many promote abortion as a core service and lobby for unlimited abortion. Planned Parenthood alone receives nearly $800 million annually in taxpayer funding, primarily through federal health programs.

“For decades, Congress has recognized that abortion should not be publicly funded,” Tobias said. “That bipartisan work is the foundation for the provision in the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill. We urge lawmakers to finish what they started.”

The coalition called on Senate Republican leaders to move without delay, warning that failure to act will allow hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to once again supplement abortion businesses nationwide.

“As our nation approaches its 250th anniversary, we affirm that life is an unalienable right. This truth is a cornerstone of our Republic and must guide our public policy,” Tobias added. “Congress must protect taxpayers and unborn children—or allow federal funding of Big Abortion to resume. We urge lawmakers to choose life.”

The coalition letter can be found here.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide, and euthanasia.

WASHINGTON — A federal court ruled against the enforcement of an Oregon law that forced pro-life organizations to provide insurance coverage for abortion. Oregon Right to Life, the Oregon affiliate of National Right to Life, challenged the law in court and the judge determined that the law violates the constitutional rights of Oregon Right to Life.

“This is a tremendous victory not only for Oregon Right to Life, but also for the fundamental freedoms protected by the First Amendment,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “No organization should be forced by the government to pay for or promote abortion. This ruling rightly recognizes that Americans do not surrender their constitutional rights when they operate a nonprofit organization.”

The ruling represents a significant legal win for Oregon Right to Life, affirming that the government cannot compel organizations to facilitate or subsidize practices that contradict their core beliefs.

In a press release, Oregon Right to Life’s lead counsel and general counsel for National Right to Life, James Bopp, Jr. stated, “The First Amendment provides the plain guarantee that a state simply may not play favorites when it comes to religious organizations. It may not favor secular entities over entities with religious views and it may not favor one religious view over another.”

The challenged law, part of Oregon’s 2017 Reproductive Health Equity Act, required insurance providers to cover abortion and contraception without cost-sharing. While the law included a narrow religious exemption, Oregon Right to Life was denied that protection—prompting the lawsuit.

After initially being dismissed, the case was revived by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, leading to this week’s decision in favor of the pro-life organization.

Oregon Right to Life called the mandate “absurd” and emphasized that forcing a pro-life organization to fund abortion coverage was a clear violation of its constitutional rights.

“It was always absurd for Oregon to attempt to force Oregon Right to Life, as a pro-life organization, to fund abortion – the very practice we are dedicated to opposing,” Oregon Right to Life Executive Director Lois Anderson said. 

While the full scope of the ruling is still being finalized, it currently prevents the law from being applied to Oregon Right to Life and may have broader implications for similar mandates across the country.

“We commend Oregon Right to Life for its leadership in defending both the right to life and the freedoms of speech and conscience,” stated Tobias. “This case represents an important step in ensuring that pro-life Americans are not forced to choose between their beliefs and government mandates.”

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide, and euthanasia.

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, April 7, 2026, Idaho’s federal district court struck down a subpoena served on pro-life advocacy organization Right to Life of Idaho, Inc. (“RTLI”), in Matsumoto v. Labrador. The court found that the First Amendment shields political advocacy organizations like RTLI from being forced to release their communications to legislators when doing so could chill the organization’s speech.

The plaintiffs, pro-abortion entities seeking to overturn an Idaho law prohibiting the trafficking of minors for abortion, had targeted their ideological opponent, pro-life RTLI, with a subpoena issued in September 2025, attempting to dig through RTLI’s communications and records. The subpoena demanded that RTLI, which was not even a party to the case, provide years’ worth of its communications with legislators concerning Idaho House Bills 242 and 98.

RTLI argued that, as an organization whose chief purpose and strategy relies on its ability to communicate freely with legislators, a ruling that would require it to release such communications any time related litigation was filed would certainly inflict direct harm on its ability to engage in such speech and association. Legislators would be less inclined to communicate with RTLI if those communications could be demanded on a whim any time pro-abortion groups filed a lawsuit.

The court agreed, finding that RTLI’s First Amendment rights were at stake. The court also found that the plaintiffs had not established a need for the documents sufficient to overcome the First Amendment’s protections. Indeed, binding Ninth Circuit precedent plainly requires a party seeking such discovery to obtain it, if possible, from sources that do not implicate the First Amendment—yet the plaintiffs had not even attempted the simple step of lodging a request under Idaho’s robust public records law before dragging RTLI into court. Accordingly, the court declined to enforce the subpoena.

James Bopp, Jr., of The Bopp Law Firm, PC, and counsel for RTLI, said, “The First Amendment does not magically cease to exist in civil litigation discovery. The court correctly recognized that a party cannot overcome its protections of speech and association by simply filing a lawsuit—particularly when that party has not even tried to take simple, reasonable steps to obtain the discovery in a manner that does not implicate the First Amendment at all. The court correctly stopped the plaintiffs’ attempt to force RTLI, their ideological opponent, to hand over its private communications.”

The court’s order is available here.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide, and euthanasia.