A path forward for the pro-life movement: The need for a 'Lincoln moment'

We are at a pivotal moment for the future of the pro-life movement in the United States.

The events of the next few years will determine whether we as a country will recognize the dignity and humanity of the unborn child — so fearfully, wonderfully and intentionally made — or whether abortion will continue to spread and increase throughout all 50 states, turning our great nation into what pro-life trailblazer Mildred Jefferson feared: “Just another exclusive reservation where only the perfect, the privileged and the planned have the right to live.”

These years will determine whether the Declaration of Independence — recognizing the God-given and inalienable right to life — will guide the future of this country, or whether our founding document will become a dead letter. 

There is no in‑between. As Abraham Lincoln, drawing on Scripture, reminded us, a house divided against itself cannot stand. On human rights questions like these — questions of who counts as a person, and who deserves the protection of the law — America will end up either all one way or all the other. Either we will stop the spread of abortion and place it on the path to extinction, or the other side will push it forward until it is legal in all 50 states.

The other side is fully committed to doing just that. They are powerful, organized, and united. They have a plan, and they are already well on their way to accomplishing it.

Even before Dobbs was decided, they laid the groundwork for abortion drugs by mail — changing federal regulations to allow activists in blue states to send abortion drugs to anyone who fills out an online form, regardless of state pro-life protections. As a result, the number of abortions since Dobbs has gone up, not down. Let me repeat that: There are more abortions in the U.S. today than there were under Roe v. Wade. More than 1.1 million abortions occur every year.

This is not limited to deep-blue states. The flow of these drugs means pro-life states’ laws have been nullified — not by the courts, but by federal inaction. Not symbolically or theoretically, but practically. According to the best estimates, more than 90,000 abortions now occur each year in states that protect the unborn throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Five of those states — Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and North Dakota — have more abortions today than they did when Roe was still the law of the land.

The door Dobbs opened legally is being slammed shut in practice. And if the other side takes national power, that door will be shut and locked for a generation. Their plan is not secret. The bill has been written, promised, sponsored, and voted for by almost every elected Democrat in Congress. They have pledged to eliminate the filibuster to pass it. Their aim is to finish what they have already begun: making abortion available at any time, for any reason, in all 50 states. This is an American tragedy for women and children — planned, in process, and accelerating toward us.

A states-only strategy cannot defeat this threat. It cannot match the unity and focus of the other side. It forfeits the moral power of the pro-life cause, abandoning women in need and countless children to die painful, late-term deaths in states like New York, California, Colorado, and Illinois. No human rights issue in American history has ever been solved this way. The difference here is that this strategy has failed in record time.

If we cannot match the fervor and intensity of the other side — if we cannot meet them and beat them in a national debate about the dignity of the human person — then we will lose. If the Republican Party fully abandons national pro-life commitments, the movement as we know it is finished.

What stands in the way today is the strength and resolve of pro-life champions in the House and Senate. The hopes of the movement, and the fate of millions of lives, rest in large part on the shoulders of those leaders. Their success or failure over the next few years — their campaigns, their legislation, and their efforts to shape the future of the GOP in 2028 and beyond — is the difference between a nation that goes all one way, or all the other.

When Lincoln gave his House Divided speech in 1858, the outlook was bleak. The nation seemed headed toward becoming all slaves rather than all free. Yet the elections that followed fulfilled his prophetic words. The next decade would see slavery abolished and Congress, through the 14th Amendment, granted the power and duty to ensure the equal protection of the laws.

We face a similarly monumental task today. Our situation is dire, but the tools of democracy remain the same, and our opportunities are still great. Which way we go will depend on what we do over the next two years — on preserving and increasing our champions in Congress, supporting leaders who understand what time it is, and choosing a presidential nominee who, like Lincoln, will champion a national vision worthy of our founding principles.

These are the fights SBA Pro-Life America, with our 1-million-strong grassroots network nationwide, is committed to in the years ahead. Time is short, but our task can still be accomplished. Across this election cycle and the 2028 presidential election cycle, we plan to spend at least $160 million in the effort to do so.

The pro-life movement did not survive nearly 50 years of Roe only to abandon the field after it fell. Majorities of the country reject the radicalism of the abortion agenda and support protections for women and children.

We fight not against abstract evils or for vague principles but for real women and real babies. With the faith and determination of men and women across America, God’s grace, and courageous leadership, we can succeed. We must.