Ahead of President Donald Trump’s Tuesday evening State of the Union address, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser delivered a “State of the Unborn” speech, which signaled hope for the future but concern about Republican priorities.
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered the pro-life movement one of its biggest wins in 2022 by overturning Roe v. Wade, which had previously mandated legal abortion nationwide. In her speech, Dannenfelser highlighted this decision as a major win but warned that more than 1 million abortions are still performed annually.
“The handcuffs are off,” she said. “We are free to protect the human rights of people. We live in a new, fresh moment filled with hope for our children. And yet, there are now more abortions than before Dobbs — at least 1.1 million a year.”
In spite of this achievement, Dannenfelser said the current strategy of leaving this issue to the states clearly does not work.” She cited as a major concern the availability of the abortion drug mifepristone through the mail, which has led to out-of-state abortionists mailing the drugs into states with pro-life laws.
“Twenty pro-life states can’t even enforce their laws because of mail-order abortion drugs,” she said.
Prior to 2023, a woman needed an in-person doctor’s visit to obtain mifepristone and it could only be dispensed in the presence of a doctor. President Joe Biden’s administration removed these safeguards.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced in May 2025 that the administration would review those changes. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began a review in September 2025, but as of February, no action has been taken to further regulate the drug.
“Weekly horror stories of coercion, forced abortion, and harms to women are surfacing,” Dannenfelser said.
“It’s a horror,” she continued. “But HHS and the FDA are unmoved. They could easily, today, reestablish in-person dispensing and get the drug out of the mail. They are deaf to the cries of the House, and the Senate, attorneys general in half of their states, and of women and unborn children.”
The delivery of drugs into pro-life states has prompted lawsuits. In Louisiana, Attorney General Liz Murrill sued the FDA over the policy after residents — including Rosalie Markezich, who is named in the lawsuit — said they were coerced into taking abortion pills by boyfriends or others who obtained them through the mail.
In January, the U.S. Department of Justice asked the federal district court to pause the lawsuit, arguing that the internal FDA study is evaluating the concerns with the removal of safeguards.
“Half a dozen states are in court fighting for justice for women and children who are poisoned and coerced by pimps and abusers and traffickers, boyfriends, exes, buying drugs online,” Dannenfelser said. “This abortion drug atrocity denies the Dobbs victory and other historic victories like the first-ever defunding of the Big Abortion lobby by Congress last year.”
Dannenfelser also expressed concerns about Trump asking Republicans to be “flexible” on the Hyde Amendment — which prohibits federal taxpayer funds for abortion — when negotiating an extension to Affordable Care Act subsidies in January. In addition, in January the White House also said it intends to negotiate pro-life protections into Trump’s recently announced health care plan.
“That’s the bedrock principle that’s been around for 50 years that taxpayers should never be forced to fund the violence of abortion,” Dannenfelser said.
In spite of these setbacks, the pro-life leader said “our movement is strong” and cited public polling that opposes taxpayer-funded abortion and the mail delivery of abortion drugs.
“There is a flourishing of new, courageous, and convincing voices at all levels: our churches, local communities, digital influencers, strong advocates in state and federal government — and this is all very good,” she said.
“We have great days ahead, because our movement is growing in numbers, youth, and diversity,” Dannenfelser said.
“We have everything we need to accomplish victory for women and children: strong and convincing leaders,” she said. “Faith in God’s goodness. Inspiration and lessons from history to guide us. The tools of democracy which give us voice and power. And most of all, the riveting vision of the one child — precious, irreplaceable, so very needed and with rights to protect. Out of love and determination, we will never stop until we save her and each and every one.”
