Pro-life progress mixed in 2025 because of these federal, state actions

Despite an ostensibly pro-life administration in the White House, 2025 marked the greatest number of abortions in a decade, with more than one million unborn children estimated to have died.

Nearly 99,000 abortions occurred every month in the first half of 2025, according to the Society of Family Planning. While nearly 70 Planned Parenthoods closed nationwide, telehealth prescriptions and mail-delivery of chemical abortion pills increased.

In 2025, abortion policy in the United States remained deeply divided, with federal actions under the Trump administration largely restricting access and funding, while state-level changes were mixed – some advancing protections for life, others expanding abortion availability.  

Here is a breakdown of key federal and state developments: 

Federal pro-life actions 

• In July, Congress passed President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which paused Medicaid support for Planned Parenthood, stopping taxpayer dollars from funding the abortion giant for one year. 
• Just a few weeks prior, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld South Carolina’s right to defund Planned Parenthood within its state – allowing other states to do the same. 
• The Department of Health and Human Services also cut funds supporting Planned Parenthood from its Title X directive.
• Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy in his first week in office, forbidding federal funds to foreign organizations promoting abortion, according to Catholic News Agency. 
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services abolished Biden-era regulations forcing doctors to perform abortions if a pregnant woman manifested life-threatening complications, Catholic News Agency reports.  
• The Department of War ended funds covering travel for out of state abortions, according to Catholic News Agency. 

Federal pro-abortion actions 

• In October, the Food and Drug Administration legalized a generic version of mifepristone, the chemical abortion pill, despite evidence released in April of mifepristone’s serious harm-risk to women. 

State pro-life actions 

• At least 10 states enacted bills to further fund pro-life pregnancy care centers, according to Catholic News Agency.  
• North Dakota passed a near total abortion ban – only permitting abortion within the first six weeks of a pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or for the duration of a pregnancy if the mother’s life is at risk, Catholic News Agency reports. 
• Texas passed a law allowing individuals to sue companies that manufacture or distribute chemical abortion pills. Texas also joined Florida in a lawsuit against the FDA. 
• Florida sued Planned Parenthood for lying to women about mifepristone’s safety. 
• Missouri issued an order against Planned Parenthood to stop chemical abortions. 
• Louisiana sued the FDA to reinstate safety protocols for prescribing mifepristone, including a required in-person doctor’s visit. 
• Nebraska ended state funds for Planned Parenthood. 
• Numerous states, including Maine, Montana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming, have proposed bills requiring safety measures for appropriately discarding human remains from chemical abortions, which many lawmakers fear could pollute water systems. 

State pro-abortion actions 

• Some states, including California, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont expanded their shield laws to protect abortionists who prescribe mifepristone for residents of states where it is illegal, according to Catholic News Agency.  
• Nearly a dozen states increased funding for Planned Parenthood including California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York and Washington, Catholic News Agency reports.  
• Colorado and Washington passed laws requiring emergency room staff to conduct abortions when considered “necessary,” according to Catholic News Agency.  
• Maryland launched the Public Health Abortion Grant Program, which covers abortion costs through Affordable Care Act funds.  
• Connecticut passed a bill allowing minors to undergo abortion procedures without parental consent. 

Nine states and the District of Columbia have no abortion restrictions regarding gestation, and 13 states have a total abortion ban, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Seven states ban abortion at or before 18 weeks of gestation, and 21 states ban abortion at some point after 18 weeks, Guttmacher reports, which estimates two-thirds of abortions are chemical. 

Chemical abortions 

Earlier this year, the Ethics and Public Policy Center released two studies reporting both the dangers and ineffectiveness of mifepristone, and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy promised to conduct a review of the pill in May.  

Recently, pro-life advocates have claimed the FDA is “slow-walking” the review, according to an inside-report from Bloomberg. 

Meanwhile, Biden-era policies, which removed the requirement of an in-person doctor’s appointment for mifepristone prescription and administration, remain in place, despite the numerous cases of coercion, manipulation and violence women report from boyfriends who have the pills delivered via mail-order. 

More than 70% of Americans doubt the safety of mifepristone, according to recent polling.