The Legal Fight for Life is Intensifying

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday—January 16th—now arrives in a legal landscape more volatile than at any point in the last 50 years.

The fall of Roe shifted the battleground from a single, national framework to a rapidly fracturing state-by-state patchwork. Some states are working to protect unborn children and safeguard conscience rights. Others are moving aggressively in the opposite direction—expanding abortion, weakening oversight, and normalizing the idea that ending a life is an acceptable “solution” to suffering.

That reality has never been clearer than it is this year.

In December, Illinois enacted a sweeping physician-assisted suicide law—Deb’s Law—making it the first Midwestern state to legalize the practice. New York has taken a similar path. Lawmakers passed the Medical Aid in Dying Act, and Governor Kathy Hochul has announced she will sign it. Both states now treat the intentional ending of a patient’s life as “care,” widening the legal and moral gap between those who protect life and those who dismiss its inherent value.

On the abortion front, the push for limitless access is intensifying. California's 2022 “reproductive freedom” amendment continues to shape state policy with virtually no gestational protections. And although California did not legalize the killing of infants after birth, the debate surrounding AB 2223 exposed just how far the rhetoric has drifted.

Pro-life groups have argued that early drafts, vague “perinatal” language, and limits on investigations created dangerous ambiguity and could blunt accountability in some infant-death cases. Even when rewritten, the trajectory is unmistakable: the legal culture is increasingly hostile to safeguards for the most vulnerable.

All of this underscores a truth we cannot ignore—the sanctity of life is being contested on every front. The fall of Roe did not end the battle. It revealed the depth of it.

At the NCLL, our mission remains clear: to ensure that churches, schools, and ministries can stand for life without fear of legal intimidation. As states advance laws that pressure ministries, silence dissent, or expand life-ending measures, we work every day to keep God’s people protected and prepared. We carry the legal burdens so pastors and ministries can stay focused on their calling: defending life, serving families, and offering real hope.

This Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, we invite you to stand with us. The progress since Dobbs is meaningful—but fragile. The cultural and legal headwinds are strong, and the fight for life requires vigilance, courage, and clarity.

Together, by God’s grace, we can uphold the dignity of every human being—from the smallest child in the womb to the elderly person nearing life’s end—and ensure that ministries across America remain free to speak the truth.