U.S. lawmakers introduce bill to protect medical residents from coercive abortion training

 

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life- and abortion-related news.

U.S. legislators introduce bill to protect medical residents from coercive abortion training

U.S. legislators have introduced a bill to protect the conscience rights of medical students and residents who often feel pressured or even coerced into participating in abortions during their training.

U.S. Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, Senator James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, and others introduced the Conscience Protections for Medical Residents Act, designed to “ensure medical students and residents are never pressured or coerced into abortion training that violates their moral or religious beliefs,” according to a press release.

The bill would establish federal protections for students, making abortion training an “opt-in” rather than “opt-out” system as “residents often fear that opting out could affect evaluations, recommendations, or future career opportunities,” according to the press release.

“The first rule of medicine is to do no harm, yet for many aspiring doctors, coerced abortion training not only contradicts that oath but also violates their moral and religious beliefs,” Cornyn said in a statement.

“By allowing medical residents to opt-in rather than opt-out of abortion training, this legislation would protect health care professionals’ convictions and give them the freedom to practice medicine without fear of retaliation.”

Investigative videos find late term abortions performed in Canada without serious medical reason

After a pregnant pro-life woman went undercover in abortion clinics across Canada, she discovered that late-term abortionists are easily accessible, even in cases where the woman isn’t having medical issues, according to recently released videos.

Alissa Golob, co-founder of RightNow, went undercover when she was five months pregnant in 2023, obtaining videos in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and elsewhere that have been released to the public over the past two weeks.

The videos show abortionists saying that women don’t need to prove that they are having serious medical issues in order to have a late-term abortion.

“Canadians are often told that late-term abortions never happen in Canada and if they do, they are for extreme medical reasons, such as the life of the mother,” Golob said in a Nov. 19 statement.

“Yet, as you will see in these videos, I was told numerous times that attaining a late-term abortion in Canada is relatively easy, it is legal, and that I did not need a reason, medical or otherwise, regarding myself or my pregnancy,” Golob continued.

RightNow is calling on the Canadian government in a petition to protect unborn children by restricting late-term abortions after five months of pregnancy.

North Dakota reinstates law protecting unborn babies

North Dakota’s Supreme Court reinstated a state law protecting unborn children in nearly all cases.

In 2023, North Dakota made it a felony for abortionists to take the lives of unborn children except in cases of rape or incest and medical emergencies. After a lower court ruled that the law was unconstitutional, the law was put on pause.

On Nov. 21, the state’s supreme court reversed the lower court’s ruling. A 3-2 majority of justices voted to uphold the lower court’s ruling, but the state’s constitution requires a minimum of four justices to declare a state law unconstitutional.

U.S. senator calls on government to prevent taxpayer-funded abortions in 2026 funding

U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) this week urged his Republican colleagues on the Senate Appropriations Committee to ensure that the funding for the fiscal year 2026 does not fund abortions.

In a Nov. 24 letter, Cornyn asked the senators “to hold the line against any Democratic efforts to subvert the Hyde amendment,” an amendment that prevents federal taxpayer dollars from directly funding abortions.

Cornyn noted that the recent One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) defunded organizations that fund abortion, which he said “showed that even in the wake of the historic Dobbs decision, our fight is not over.”

“Democrats shut down the government for 43 days in an unsuccessful attempt to undue the work Republicans accomplished in OBBBA, including the progress we made to stop forced taxpayer funding of abortion,” Cornyn said. “Now is not the time to give an inch on our pro-life values.”