Following Friday’s March for Life, anti-abortion advocacy group Students for Life held its National Pro-Life Summit on Saturday. Speakers included right-wing figures like Jack Posobiec, the author with a long history of promoting antisemitic and white supremacist content, former “Hercules” actor Kevin Sorbo, collegiate swimmer turned anti-trans activist Riley Gaines, and representatives from the Heritage Foundation and the Alliance Defending Freedom. Joining former Virginia Delegate Nick Freitas (R-Culpepper) for opening remarks was two top officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill and Assistant Secretary for Health and Head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Adm. Brian Christine.
“It’s a welcome relief to be among friends this morning who understand our shared obligation as leaders to serve as models of civilization and stand up for dignity, humanity, and the sanctity of life,” said O’Neill to the crowd of over 1,000 college students. “The Trump administration is committed to promoting health and protecting life, and we’ve made many important advances in our first year. Affirming human dignity means recognizing that children, including unborn children, are not experimental subjects, and that their future should not be shaped by pressure, ideology, or short-sighted medical decisions. We’ve made it clear this month that HHS and NIH [Nation Institutes of Health] will no longer support any research involving human fetal tissue from elective abortions.”
O’Neill’s announcement is a return to policies introduced during President Donald Trump’s first term. According to a report from the Guttmacher Institute, “because it is not as developed as adult tissue and is able to adapt to new environments, fetal tissue is critical to the study of a wide variety of diseases and medical conditions, according to the American Society for Cell Biology. Researchers use fetal tissue — and cell cultures derived from such tissue, which can be maintained in a laboratory environment for decades — to study fundamental biological processes and fetal development. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, fetal tissue continues to be an important resource for researchers studying degenerative eye disease, human development disorders such as Down syndrome, and early brain development (relevant to understanding the causes of autism and schizophrenia).”
In 2018, Donald Trump’s administration banned the acquisition of human fetal tissue for research conducted by scientists employed by the NIH, and in 2019 the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would no longer allow government scientists working for the NIH to conduct studies that use fetal tissue. Joe Biden’s administration overturned those restrictions in 2021. According to the Guttmacher Institute, five states have outright bans on the use of human fetal tissue in research.
“But there’s more,” said O’Neill. “This morning, I am happy to announce that NIH has suspended submissions of new human embryonic cell lines, and we’re seeking public comment on emerging biotechnologies that can replace or reduce research on human embryonic stem cells, such as induced pluripotent stem cells. Science has never settled, and we must continually recommit to the pursuit of truth. Last spring, the Ethics and Public Policy Center published a study based on a review of over 850,000 insurance claims for prescribed mifepristone abortions from 2017 to 2023. They found that following a mifepristone abortion, one in 10 women experienced severe adverse events like sepsis, infection, or hemorrhaging. Their findings suggest a rate of adverse events 22 times more frequent than previously thought. That is why Commissioner [Martin] Makary has committed to post-market surveillance of mifepristone. Abortion shocks the conscience, and forcing people to pay for abortion adds to the events. HHS will continue to enforce the Hyde Amendment and protect American taxpayers from paying for elective abortions.”
The study cited by O’Neill was released directly by the conservative think tank and not published in a medical journal where it would have been vetted by outside experts in the peer review process. According to reporting from Politico, “Brittni Frederiksen, the associate director for Women’s Health Policy at the nonpartisan health care think tank KFF, is among those skeptical of the groups’ findings. She highlighted, for instance, that the report lists ectopic pregnancies — when an embryo implants outside the uterus — as an ‘adverse event’ from the pills when the pills do not cause ectopic pregnancies. Rather, according to the FDA, ectopic pregnancies are a contraindication, meaning patients are told not to take the pills in that instance because they will not work. Also, a large percentage of the harms listed in the EPPC report are patients who needed a follow-up surgical abortion because the pills did not end their pregnancies — which she and other experts argue is a known potential outcome disclosed on the medication’s label and not an ‘adverse event.’”
In addition to abortion, O’Neill weighed in on transgender issues. “Men are men. Women are women. Children are innocent and worth protecting,” he said. “All people at all ages deserve to be healthy, happy, prosperous. It takes organized efforts to deny these fundamental truths. Sadly, we’ve seen such efforts succeed from time to time. The denial of fundamental truths can destroy a nation from within. At the root of the evils we face, murder in the womb, the blurring of the line between the sexes, and radical social agendas is hatred for nature as it was designed, hatred for life, the way it was meant to be lived. This ideology does not just deny biology, it declares war against it.”
O’Neill also touted Trump’s reinstatement and expansion of the Mexico City Policy, the Reagan-era policy preventing federal funding for foreign non-governmental organizations that perform, promote, or counsel on abortion. The policy has been rescinded by Democratic presidents and reinstated by Republican presidents since 1984. “Yesterday the administration also announced the expansion of the Mexico City Policy to block foreign assistance from funding foreign organizations that provide gender ideology, discriminatory equity ideology, DEI, and abortion as a method of family planning,” he said.
Following O’Neill, Christine, who on Friday addressed a room full of March for Life donors at a $500 a plate breakfast event, took the stage. “God is good all the time and everywhere,” he said. “If you believe that in your heart, then proclaim it on your lips with me … This is an extraordinary gathering of young Americans who understand that the most fundamental question facing any society is this: Do we recognize the inherent dignity of every human life? I stand here before you, not just as the Assistant Secretary for Health, but as a physician. A physician who has spent my entire career in the service of others. I am a person of faith. I am Catholic. Blessed be God forever and blessed be the Queen of all Heaven and Earth. I know completely that every single life is sacred from conception to natural death.”
Christine celebrated the Dobbs decision. “The overturning of Roe v. Wade was a sign of victory, a vindication of decades of prayer and advocacy, but as we all know the work is far from over,” he said. “Our fight continues. The forces that profit from abortion, they’re not going to surrender. And that’s why I want to leave you with this — do not give up, do not grow weary, do not lose that passion that burns in your heart. The direction of our nation is being decided right now. The leaders that we choose, the policies we support, the voices we elevate, the votes that we cast this November, all of it will determine whether we can continue building a culture of life or whether we’ll see a regression to the failed policies of the past.”
After Christine’s remarks, Freitas emphasized the consequences of elections. “If you’ve ever wondered, ‘Hey, does any of our work in elections mean anything?’ Well, the last guy to have that position was a dude in a dress,” he said. “And now you have this guy.”
