Pro-life wins and losses of 2019; what’s on the agenda in 2020?

By Samuel Smith, Deputy Managing Editor Monday, January 20, 2020

Pro-Life protesters demonstrating in Martin Place, Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 20, 2019. The protesters oppose the NSW abortion bill which will decriminalize abortion. The rally organizers say it will allow abortion for any reason until birth and won’t prevent sex selection terminations. | James Gourley/Getty Images

Pro-life activists had much to celebrate in 2019 and are looking forward to what's ahead in 2020 as there could be huge developments on the abortion issue this year.

“We had progress on so many fronts in 2019 — culturally, in statehouses, and in the courts,” Catherine Glenn Foster, president of Americans United for Life, told The Christian Post in an interview.

"Congress was tough, it's always tough. But they did what they could have to defund and they're doing everything that they can to fight back against infanticide, against the abandonment of born-alive children.”

Catherine Glenn Foster, president of Americans United for Life | Americans United for Life

Foster, president of the nation’s first and largest pro-life legal organization, spoke with CP to reflect on the gains the pro-life movement has seen over the last year.

In 2019, the issue was once again the topic of much national media attention with several states passing bans on late-term abortion and speculation about whether the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to overturn or revise its historic 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade and later rulings providing the national right to abortion.

“When it comes to culture, we have seen a lot of shift and a lot of momentum building for life,” Foster said. “Younger generations are really into authenticity and transparency and fairness. They love human rights. When we get the advancing technology in medical science, we get ultrasounds. We can see the child in the womb and see it is not just a blob. We see children being born and surviving at younger and younger ages.”

The following pages highlight some of the pro-life movement's achievements and setbacks from 2019 as well as AUL's agenda goals for 2020.