While President Donald Trump and his administration are focusing their efforts on deportations, combating domestic terrorism, and grappling with a protracted government shutdown, Christians are urging the president to bolster protections for the most vulnerable of all Americans: the unborn. In a panel discussion at Family Research Council’s Pray Vote Stand Summit on Saturday, FRC President Tony Perkins led pro-life experts in discussing the dangers posed to unborn American children by the increasingly-commonly-used abortion drug mifepristone and the president’s own recent expansion of in vitro fertilization (IVF) techniques.
The Front Lines
First, Dave McCall, CEO of Pregnancy Care Center of San Antonio, Texas, addressed the shifting landscape of the abortion industry following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and return the issue of abortion to the states. “What we saw immediately is there was about a 70% drop-off rate in what we call walk-in clients, clients that come in without an appointment. And so that has reduced our walk-in traffic significantly,” he shared. One of the chief reasons behind this decline in walk-in appointments is the rapid advent of the abortion drug and its accessibility through telehealth, online, and mail-order means. “Isn’t the enemy clever and evil? I could go on and on about that,” McCall quipped. “With so many Planned Parenthoods changing and whatnot, the enemy has just gone deeper underground. And so now it’s even more convenient,” he explained. “A woman can order it online. No doctor’s appointment, no Zoom call, nothing, and receive the first pill on Friday, take the second pill on Saturday, abort at home on Sunday and go back to work.”
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“You talk about spiritual warfare, it’s off the chart,” McCall said. His pregnancy resource center has been operating for over 40 years and McCall has been active there for nearly 20. He shared, “The hardness of heart, the callousness, the seared conscience is like we have never seen ever before, and the warfare is intense.”
“Our donors ask us frequently, ‘Well, if nearly 100% know that [abortion] is illegal in the state of Texas, and they’re definitely pro-choice, they’re contemplating abortion, why are they coming to see you?’” McCall explained. “And overwhelmingly, about 90% that see us that come in now already have appointments in Colorado or New Mexico or whatnot to go have an abortion or they’ve already ordered the abortion pill online, which is also illegal in the state of Texas.” He continued, “So then donors ask, ‘Well, then why are they coming if they know, if they have all those factors?’ And it’s because they are coming — are you ready for this? — to verify how far along they are in their pregnancy.” McCall added, “And even with the callousness like we have never seen before on any given month, anywhere between 68% to 75% who see that sonogram are changing their mind to carry.”
Mail Order Abortion
Perkins observed, “It’s almost like an Amazon model. They’ve closed the brick and mortar, and they’re using the mail to send them out.” He then asked reproductive endocrinology and infertility physician Dr. Lauren Rubel to address the dangers of the abortion drug and what the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can do to mitigate the dangers it poses both to pregnant mothers and to the unborn.
“What the FDA said when [mifepristone] had its initial approval in 2000, is that less than 0.5% of complications exist for this,” Rubel recounted. She then pointed to a “groundbreaking” study published earlier this year which found that nearly 11% of women who use mifepristone experience serious complications. “It could be an infection, it could be hemorrhage, which is one of the most common complications, it could be a cardiac, meaning a heart, a lung, an allergic reaction to this. And so this is incredibly dangerous,” Rubel shared. “And not only is that very concerning, but the fact that they have removed all those protections. At least prior to 2023, women had to go into the doctor at least once to confirm, ‘Yes, how far along is this baby? Is this baby inside the uterus, which is also another reason for complications? And what are some of the risks involved with this?’” she observed. “Now it’s just completely free-form. And I think of most those women who are doing this have no idea what to expect and how awful and life changing it’s going to be to see that baby that they pass in their own at home.”
Travis Weber, vice president for Policy and Government Affairs at FRC, discussed the “two areas” where the federal government can play a role in regulating the abortion drug, in both the FDA and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). “Now, the FDA, as we’ve been discussing, needs to take action to stop the liberal, the permissive practice and policy, as has been discussed, of dispensing the drug mifepristone. And second, the DOJ needs to take enforcement action legally to prevent the mailing of this drug across state lines into states where it’s illegal, pro-life states,” Weber asserted. He added that not only are blue states permitting abortionists within their borders to ship mifepristone into pro-life states, but “we’ve seen some states take action to prevent violators from being extradited to pro-life states. We’ve seen states take action to protect the identity of the doctor or the person facilitating the dispensing of the drug, and some are even doing what’s called asynchronous medicine.”
“All this comes back to the FDA taking action, and we would say not only go back to a previous version of the FDA’s protocol, which governs the drug, but to fully examine the protocol, pull the drug from the market in light of what we have now in terms of evidence and the concerns about it,” Weber recommended. “Second, DOJ [needs to] take action to stop the sending and mailing of this drug across state lines into states that are trying to protect life, but are being inhibited from doing so because the DOJ at the federal level has not yet taken enforcement action. So it falls down on those two areas.”
Noting that the drug has been administered to several women in pro-life states without their knowledge or consent, Perkins added, “This is also a gift to human traffickers, to use this drug.” He continued, “I just want to underscore … I want you to see the spiritual battle that is raging here. Roe is overturned, but yet abortion has gone up. And we’re not just, you know, talking about this, we’re advocating.” Perkins explained, “Last week, I was on Capitol Hill briefing Republican senators on the life issue. We’re working with the administration. But I’m going to tell you right now … it’s a stronghold, it is a spiritual stronghold. So we have to be praying as well as working and voting.”
A Move to Action
Perkins also asked about the future of pro-life work, particularly that of pregnancy resource centers, given the shifting landscape on the abortion issue. “The world’s changing, obviously,” he observed. “The enemy of life, working through organizations like Planned Parenthood and others, [is] finding ways to continue to attack life. And as I mentioned, they’ve moved from that brick and mortar to more of that Amazon model.” The FRC leader asked, “What’s the future look like for the care pregnancy centers?”
“The future is that the vast majority, just like our churches, have got to stand. They’ve got to make a decision to stand and to be courageous,” McCall answered. “Charlie Kirk said churches are either courageous, cowardly, or complicit,” he said, quoting the slain founder of Turning Point USA. “Pregnancy resource centers are typically either warring where they’re fighting everything under the sun … and there’s very few of those. Or they are welfare centers where they’re just giveaways, giveaways, giveaways, which is over 85% in the country, where it’s just about giveaways,” McCall observed. “And there’s very few that are wisdom centers that are truly standing for life and making no apology, that their mission is to save lives from abortion and to get away from all of the giveaways.”
“I am encouraged that there seems to be a trend where more and more are open and wanting to hear … of what’s happening throughout the country, of so many that have gotten off mission and made it all about just all the stuff and giveaways and giveaways, and much of that has come from the Left,” McCall shared. “And so we’ve got to show more care, and more care in every area under the sun. And then before you know it, they’re broke and don’t have any money to truly save babies from abortion,” he warned. “There is a growing trend of people waking up. I’m part of the DOGE movement, so to speak,” he said, referring to the waste-and-fraud-slashing Department of Government Efficiency, “helping centers get on track to unapologetically say we are about life and we’re going to help these ladies in every way we can. But first and foremost, we are focused on that baby and saving that child from abortion.”
IVF and Alternatives
The panelists then pivoted to the topic of IVF, in light of the recent White House move to expand funding for IVF and other responses to infertility. “I am a reproductive endocrinologist, which is just a fancy way of saying that I help couples and women who are dealing with fertility issues,” Rubel shared. “But for much of my career, I did do in vitro fertilization, which is combining eggs and sperm outside of the body to create embryos. And I absolutely believed that what I was doing was the best way forward to help those couples, that IVF is pro-life, because it helps create life, right? That’s how I started.” She continued, “I’ll tell you, quite frankly, after a period of doing this, I was the head of a division in a large hospital system, and I was starting to feel more and more and more the weight of my actions and what I was doing.”
Rubel explained that many couples who pursue IVF do not have “a true diagnosis” relating to the underlying cause of their infertility. “I said, you know, we just have to kind of move forward and this should be the fix. But it truly is a Band-Aid. And I could sense that I wasn’t healing anyone. I wasn’t addressing those root causes,” she said. “I was intimately involved and really felt like I was playing God. I felt and realized that, in fact, what in vitro fertilization does is it creates embryos, which are humans in their earliest stages of development. And, unfortunately, I was making decisions of life and death for those embryos,” she continued. “In fact, on average, about seven to 11 embryos are created per IVF cycle.”
“When we look at data from Europe or from the U.K., they have about 20 years of data showing that there are about 300,000 embryos that have become live born babies. But, guys, this is 5% of embryos that are created based on that same data,” Rubel explained. “What that means is that 95% of those human beings in their earliest stages of development are — either they die through the process, they’re destroyed, or they’re frozen indefinitely,” the physician recounted. “In fact, we know there are millions of embryos that are just suspended in a cryotank somewhere without potentially the possibility of ever being transferred or given that chance for life, a true life.”
“So because of this and because of my realization, morally and ethically, I realized I couldn’t do what I was doing, that my soul was truly at stake,” Rubel shared. She continued that although “IVF is actually not the best answer, because it’s not as effective as we think, it’s less than a 50% chance of live birth per treatment cycle,” there is a better solution to infertility issues. “Children are always a gift no matter how they come and how they’re conceived. But restorative reproductive medicine is an ethical, affordable and effective alternative to IVF,” Rubel said. “What this means is this is essentially a process whereby we look at the root causes of why people are dealing with infertility or losses.”
“For example, that 30% unexplained infertility diagnosis goes down to 1% when you use REM or restorative methods to figure it out, which is unbelievable. And not only that, like I said, it’s incredibly effective,” the physician stressed. “If we think of a 37% chance of live birth per IVF cycle for everyone in the U.S., according to recent data with restorative reproductive medicine, there are studies showing a 30% to 66% chance of live birth over a period of two years using techniques that help and restore your own health, your wellness, and decrease risk to moms and babies, too.”
“A lot of us may say, ‘Well, isn’t this just good medicine? Shouldn’t we always be looking at root causes? Shouldn’t we always be trying to figure out and achieve wellness?’ And we would hope that would be the case,” Rubel said. “But, unfortunately, as many women in this room may know, the current model is a Band-Aid model in some ways, even for irregular periods or painful periods, the answer is always just birth control pills, contraception, and then there’s a very fast push for IVF.”
“I think that there’s a knowledge gap right here and there’s an opportunity. Facts about Fertility is providing that for a lot of medical students and residents,” Rubel observed, noting that the president did include restorative reproductive medicine in his fertility funding initiative. “In fact, 6% of OB-GYNs and family medicine physicians know about basic restorative reproductive medicine techniques. So that’s a very low number that needs to be improved. I think that there’s a time issue with the current model of care, and I think that we are how we’re trained. And I think that, right now, the answer is very protocol driven.”
However, Perkins observed that IVF and infertility treatment “remains a political issue.” He explained, “Because of what we’re dealing with, with mifepristone, even the IVF that has become a political issue. It’s political. But the role that Family Research Council plays, which is unique among the policy organizations, is that we not only see the policy side, but we see the spiritual side and the underlying issues.”
The Politics of Standing
Weber agreed, saying, “In Washington, D.C., you realize there are a lot of forces at play, right? And, you know, in my mind, you think about the vested interest that money always provides. And massive industries with a lot of money involved that have an interest in certain things continuing as they are.” He continued, “We want to say every public policy … should have its basis in the word of God. That’s our starting point.” Even if it means “profit is wiped out,” Weber urged Christians to respond, “I’m not going to compromise on the word. We have to remember that.”
“I know everyone probably agrees with me on that, but I think the pressure is going to increase around that. The pressure for the Christian to remain faithful is going to increase,” Weber anticipated. “I believe that what we need to do is go back to the word and make sure that it’s the word through the Holy Spirit’s leading … allowing us to give voice … not [to] our own view. It’s what God would say. It’s really us saying, ‘Lord, what is your view of this conversation that’s happening in Washington?’ And so that’s a spiritual perspective that we pray for those in power to line up with.”
“But what happens when they don’t?” Weber asked. “We have to pray for them, and we have to help them see to the best of our ability and ask the Lord for strategies and wisdom that their eyes would be open because we don’t want to come against them and just say, ‘You’re wrong,’ and not offer a solution. We don’t want to just criticize and walk away,” he continued. “We want to say, ‘Here’s how your solution is not actually for the country’s best interests, for the flourishing of the people in the country, and here’s how this other solution is.’ And we know that that other solution is going to be one that’s anchored in a biblical and a Christian worldview,” he added. “And so I think we see this coming out in certain areas where we need to continue to help educate, to bring awareness … and educational material and awareness to those in government, political leaders so that they are equipped to take a stance if they have to make the decision.”
Continuing Weber’s emphasis on the spiritual component involved in addressing the issue, Rubel said, “I think courage is key. … Resting on our foundation of the Lord, on our faith, as well as having the courage to speak up and to again go into these newer areas.” She continued, “I get so many people have no ideas. I did not about IVF and about other effective alternatives. So it’s telling people who are dealing with this, because one in six couples are dealing with infertility, for example. So each one of us knows someone who is suffering.” She added, “But doing that with our Christian faith at the foremost, by helping support them, by walking with them in that suffering, by loving them and praying for them, but also by exposing them to alternatives that are faith-based.”
The panel concluded with prayer, led by Weber. “We ask for your light and spirit to fall on the medical profession. May their eyes be open to the areas that [Rubel] discussed and others, Lord. May their eyes be open to what is good for the real human beings around them, Lord, real lives and families lives,” he prayed. “Lord, we ask for those engaged, perhaps at times long-suffering, engaged Lord, in the work of the care pregnancy centers. … We ask for their hearts to be refreshed with your Holy Spirit, their eyes to be renewed with clarity. … So, Lord, let us be emissaries of you in this area. Let us be life-givers, life-promoters, life-proclaimers into all these areas, Lord, for the blessing of our land and those around us in the months and years ahead.”
