Americans United for Life today released its annual report about the most pro-life and pro-abortion states when it comes to passing pro-life legislation that protects women and unborn children. In a change since the 2015 report, Oklahoma overtook Louisiana and was named most pro-life and Washington state kept its top ranking as the most pro-abortion.
Americans United for Life released the 2016 results after analyzing progress made legislatively or in litigation in 2015. The Life List takes into account the 50 states’ overall advances since Roe v. Wade toward re-building a culture of life, including events of the last year.
After Oklahoma and it’s first place ranking, the most pro-life states are Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi. Each of thsoe states have either held the top ranking previously or been in the top five for passing the most pro-life legislation. After Washington, the most pro-abortion states include Vermont, New Jersey, California, Oregon, Nevada, New York, Hawaii, Connecticut, and Wyoming.
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“The momentum for creating a culture that respects life in the law increases each year, empowered with tools such as Americans United for Life’s model legislation constitutionally sound and deliberately crafted to protect women and their unborn infants from a predatory abortion industry,” Americans United for Life President Charmaine Yoest told LifeNews. “This is a historic time for life. More life-affirming and protective state laws have been enacted since 2010 than in any similar period since Roe v. Wade, and AUL has been involved in nearly one-third abortion-related measures enacted over the last six years.”
Three states were honored by AUL as all-stars for making significant pro-life progress — including Arkansas for enacting seven new life-affirming, abortion-related laws, Oklahoma for enacting legislation found in both the Infants’ Protection Project, and Women’s Protection Project, and Texas for enacting portions of AUL’s Parental Involvement Enhancement Act, as well as its continued defense of House Bill 2, which requires abortion clinics to meet the same high-quality health and safety standards as other facilities performing outpatient surgeries and requiring abortion providers to maintain hospital admitting privileges.
“Already, AUL’s newly released Infants’ Protection Project is getting a lot of attention from legislators, in particular the Unborn Infants Dignity Act which ensures that mothers are given the opportunity to ensure that their deceased infants receive respectful treatment, and that the bodies of aborted infants are not exploited,” noted Dr. Yoest. “Further, in light of the Supreme Court’s decision to review Texas’s health and safety requirements for abortion providers, state leaders are also considering stronger protections for women from the chaos of under-regulated abortion clinics.”
Here is the full ranking list:
AUL’s 2016 State Rankings
36.Maine
47.California