Elyssa DeDios / Unsplash
Three years after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned Roe v. Wade, Republican lawmakers and pro-life leaders are reflecting not only on the lives protected under state laws but also on the mounting challenges posed by a determined abortion industry.
Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune emphasized urgency in overcoming those obstacles in a statement delivered June 24.
Welcoming the anniversary as a milestone for life, he cautioned that the battle is far from over.
“There are babies alive today who would not be here without Dobbs,” he said. “But today is also a reminder of how much work there is still to be done.”
The senator noted that despite progress, several states have pushed aggressively pro-abortion laws, and more than a million abortions occurred in the US in 2024.
He said, “We still have a lot of work to do to reach a day when every American, born and unborn, enjoys the full protection of the law.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson joined Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., the same day on the House Floor to honor the anniversary and to celebrate the many lives saved over the past three years.
“Three years ago today, the Supreme Court corrected an egregious and tragic error and affirmed an undeniable truth that was originally affirmed in our nation’s birth certificate, the Declaration of Independence,” he said. “That truth is that every single person is made in the image of God and thus bestowed with inestimable dignity and value.”
He added that the Dobbs decision “reversed 50 years of inhumane social engineering and has saved hundreds of thousands of innocent lives in the process.”
In a statement released ahead of the anniversary, Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America urged Americans to recognize both the progress made and the urgent work still required.
Since the Dobbs ruling, 23 states have enacted laws protecting unborn children in the first trimester — laws that, according to SBA President Marjorie Dannenfelser, have already saved countless lives.
“We celebrate the babies and toddlers who are alive today thanks to President Donald Trump and pro-life leaders in the states,” Dannenfelser stated. “We are a better nation with these little ones among us.”
She added that these children are living witnesses to a cultural shift toward life — a shift reinforced by real women’s stories.
One of those stories features Neesha Lewis, a Georgia mother and medical professional, who said she initially sought an abortion but was told her state’s heartbeat law prohibited it. Through a church connection, she found support at a pregnancy center and ultimately chose open adoption.
Another abortion-minded woman in Florida decided not to go through with the procedure when she was 22 weeks into her pregnancy. When she went to Planned Parenthood to get the abortion, the state’s 15-week abortion limit had just gone into effect. Jacob, now a thriving boy, was spared that day and was later adopted.
But amid these testimonies, Dannenfelser also sounded an alarm. A new estimate from the Charlotte Lozier Institute places annual abortions at over 1.1 million, with mail-order abortion drugs playing a major role in that increase.
“The tragic reality of abortions increasing since the Dobbs decision must serve as a wakeup call to the nation,” she said. “We are at the beginning of our fight to save unborn children and nowhere near the end.”
She warned that the abortion industry is actively working to undermine state protections.
“Fueled by our taxpayer dollars, Big Abortion led by Planned Parenthood is undermining states’ ability to protect babies in the womb with mail-order abortions that almost always end the life of the unborn child and often send girls and women to the ER,” she said.
She called on lawmakers in Washington to take action to end federal funding of abortion businesses and to respond to growing concerns over the safety of abortion drugs.
>> Alarming study exposes complications from abortion pill 22 times higher than FDA claims <<
Alongside Dannenfelser’s call, pro-life leaders are celebrating concrete wins and highlighting tools for continued advocacy. CatholicVote reported that the Abortion Pill Rescue Network has saved more than 7,000 unborn lives since Dobbs, with demand rising over 20% in recent months.
Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo, who chairs the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Pro‑Life Activities, also recently cautioned that Dobbs “marked the beginning of a critical new phase,” not the conclusion of the struggle to defend unborn life.
As CatholicVote previously reported, he urged Catholics “to engage their elected officials on all issues that threaten the gift of human life,” while warning that “several states have enacted extreme pro‑abortion policies, overriding existing pro‑life safeguards.”
>> New Chicago clinic advertises abortions through ‘all trimesters’ up to 34 weeks <<
