Sinta Jimenez, host of The Pro-Life American and Director of Digital Strategy at SBA Pro-Life America, sits down with her colleague Abigail Balmert, Director of Legal Affairs and Policy Counsel at SBA, to discuss the new FDA update on abortion drugs released in October 2026.

Abigail describes a five-page court-ordered status report on the safety of mifepristone. Data collection is expected to wrap up in mid-December, with a final report no later than March 2027. She notes that then-Commissioner Makary said the study was underway in January 2025, and that a deadline told to a judge is more reliable than one given only to the public, though an extension would not be a surprise.

They discuss pressure to restore in-person dispensing after the FDA conceded that earlier data was not sufficient to remove that requirement, the risks of remote dispensing for ectopic pregnancy and gestational age, and reports of women who only filled out an online form. Sinta compares the lack of oversight to the opioid crisis. Abigail says SBA president Marjorie Dannenfelser has urged the administration to restore in-person dispensing immediately through a consent decree in the federal case against Louisiana, and that the Department of Justice also has enforcement pathways independent of the FDA study.

Abigail then explains a Supreme Court filing in which Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas are suing New York, California, and Massachusetts over shield laws, arguing violations of the full faith and credit clause, equal sovereignty among the states, the dormant commerce clause, and the federal common law of public nuisance. A second lawsuit in the Western District of Louisiana names individuals and web-based entities prescribing and shipping abortion drugs. Sinta describes packaging from a Memphis, Tennessee pregnancy center visitor that looked like a greeting card, with little baggies, a mismatched return address, and a local library listed.

Asked what Congress can do, Abigail points to Senator Banks signaling that the FDA is being watched, and to Congress's power over the FDCA. On Marjorie's description of the update as fool's gold, Abigail says a solid study must be rigorous, rooted in science, and not rely on low voluntary adverse-event reporting. She cites researcher Studnicki, who used insurance records to find women who took the drugs and then presented within 30 days with miscarriage-related coding. Abigail closes by saying common ground should be proper regulation of medicine, protecting women from ectopic rupture, wrong gestational age, and abortion drugs used against women who want the baby.

Sinta Jimenez welcomes Haile McAnally to The Pro-Life American Podcast. Haile traveled from Nebraska to Washington, D.C. to share her experience with lawmakers and to speak about the risks women should understand when it comes to abortion drugs.

Haile describes growing up in a Christian household in Nebraska and dating someone she thought she would marry. At 19 she told him she was pregnant. He asked what she was going to do about it and hung up, and she has not talked to him since. She says she was not aware pregnancy centers existed, was not comfortable going to church, and remembers the pink Planned Parenthood signs that made it feel like sisterhood.

At Planned Parenthood she was ushered into a room with a doctor on a screen, not in person, and a nurse beside her with consent forms. No physical review was done. She was told she would take one abortion drug in the clinic and one at home, with some discomfort, cramping, and bleeding. She did not look at the ultrasound. At home, alone, she began heavily bleeding, grew weak, could not reach her phone, and thought that was how her story would end. A friend found her and called 911. She woke up in the hospital and needed a blood transfusion.

She talks about the depression that followed, wanting to stay silent, and later finding compassion, forgiveness, and a voice in church communities rather than the sisterhood the pink signs had promised. She ran for the Nebraska state legislature in 2021. In 2023 she testified for the first time, on a six-week bill brought by state senator Joni Albright, after being escorted through a hostile crowd at the Capitol.

Asked what she wishes she had known, Haile says there is hope, and that women can message her or someone at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America for resources. In Washington she calls on lawmakers to stop mail-order abortion drugs, saying a woman needs to go into a clinic and see a medical professional, and that the first step has to be the safety of women. Sinta notes that Senator Bernie Moreno released a letter asking for the end of mail-order abortion drugs.

Sinta Jimenez, Director of Digital Strategy for SBA Pro-Life America, sits down in Iowa with Austin Stubbs, Iowa campaign manager, on The Pro-Life American Podcast.

Austin talks about what it will take to get Republicans to come out and vote party line in the midterms: making sure voters know this is an essential and consequential election, that it is not one to take off, and that people show up and make their voice heard on November 3rd.

They also cover friction points in mobilizing the base, including frustration over cost of living, affordability, and foreign policy, and the need to stay connected on core values that differ from the other party and the other candidates on the ballot.

Cinta asks whether Iowans know that abortions are up in America and whether they are aware of the abortion drug crisis. Austin says a large percent, probably a majority, still think abortions are on the decline because of Iowa's legislation and policies. He says that is not the case, that the abortion industry pivoted, and that 60% is done via abortion drugs.

Out in the counties, Austin describes shock when Iowans hear about mail-order abortion drugs, coercion, abortion drugs slipped into food or water, and human remains found in the water filtration system. He says another astonished reaction comes when people hear that 10 states plus DC have no limits on abortion, and that the United States is one of six or seven countries in the world, including communist China, to allow this.

This week we go straight to the heartland. SBA Pro-Life America's Iowa campaign manager Austin Stubbs sits down on-site with Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family Leader, for a conversation about how Iowa's faith-driven pro-life movement wins political victories.

Bob shares the personal story behind his commitment to life — his son Lucas, born with severe disabilities and given days to live, who "delivered the greatest sermon without ever saying a word" over 28 years. From there, the two dig into why abortions have climbed past 1.1 million a year even after Roe v. Wade was overturned, and how mail-order abortion drugs that "don't know a zip code" are defying state protections like Iowa's heartbeat law. Bob lays out the common-sense safeguards every leader should support: doctor-prescribed only, full disclosure of complications, reversal offered alongside abortion drugs, and respect for state laws.

They also cover the 2026 midterms — including SBA's endorsement of Zach Lahn for governor and the stark contrast with Rob Sand, who says life begins at "first breath" — plus Ashley Hinson, Zach Nunn, and why turnout is everything in a tough year. Bob explains The Family Leader's Church-State Partnership, why Iowa's caucus role matters for picking a true pro-life president in 2028, the case for national minimum protections, defunding Planned Parenthood, and how the church can come alongside women facing crisis pregnancies and those healing after abortion.

Chapters

• 00:00 – Intro: On-Site in Iowa with Austin Stubbs and Bob Vander Plaats
• 00:50 – How Bob Became Pro-Life: Darla, Sioux City, and Lucas
• 02:38 – Life as The Family Leader's Cornerstone
• 03:31 – Why Abortions Rose After Roe: Mail-Order Abortion Drugs
• 05:41 – Fighting Abortion Drugs with Common-Sense Safeguards
• 08:24 – Zach Lahn vs. Rob Sand: A Stark Contrast for Governor
• 09:43 – 2026 Races, Headwinds, and Turnout
• 11:46 – The Church-State Partnership
• 13:46 – Looking to 2028: Iowa's Caucus and Federal Limits
• 17:00 – Abortion Drugs Crossing State Lines
• 18:31 – One State Away from Minnesota: Abortion on Demand
• 19:40 – Defunding Planned Parenthood
• 20:58 – Hope for the Grassroots: Take the Win
• 22:05 – Supporting Women and Post-Abortion Healing
• 23:27 – Closing: Iowa Sets the Tone for 2026 and 2028
• 25:10 – Wrap-Up and Outro

If you enjoyed this episode, leave a review, subscribe, and share it with a friend.

Learn more at sbaprolife.org.

The Hyde Amendment turns 50 this month. On paper it's a small line in the HHS funding bill that has to be renewed every year. In practice, Charlotte Lozier Institute estimates it has saved 2,678,274 lives since 1976.

Sinta Jimenez, SBA Pro-Life America's Director of Digital Strategy, sits down in Washington with Jamie Dangers, our Director of Federal Affairs, to walk through what Hyde actually does — and what it doesn't. They take on the biggest myth about the amendment (that it stops all federal funding of abortion), explain how the Democrats deliberately wrote Obamacare to bypass Hyde, and revisit the 2009 fight when pro-life Democrats nearly sank the law before settling for an "accounting gimmick" that was never honored.

Jamie also breaks down the GAO report confirming that more than 1,700 Obamacare plans in 18 states plus DC subsidize abortion coverage, the Biden administration's attempt to narrow Hyde to cover only the lethal act itself, and the status of the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act — the bill that would apply Hyde across the entire federal government and make it permanent.

With the midterms weeks away and Hakeem Jeffries promising to restore the expired Obamacare subsidies, the two close on what's really at stake: a Democrat Party that no longer supports Hyde at all, and a push for abortion up to birth, paid for by you.

In this episode:

• 00:30 — Why Hyde matters: 2.68 million lives saved
• 02:37 — Myth: "Hyde means no federal funding of abortion"
• 06:42 — How Obamacare bypassed Hyde: the 2009 fight
• 10:04 — The subsidy fight and the GAO report
• 13:25 — The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act
• 14:46 — How the Biden administration tried to narrow Hyde
• 17:56 — Where Hyde came from: Roe, Henry Hyde, and 1980
• 19:27 — Abortion isn't health care: Hyde as a compromise
• 22:00 — The human cost: a vote against the future
• 25:08 — Expired Obamacare tax credits and the 60-vote math
• 27:13 — What's at stake in the midterms

Check your candidates on the SBA Pro-Life America congressional scorecard at sbaprolife.org, and make sure you're registered to vote.