The Dobbs decision that ended Roe v. Wade did not end the abortion battle; it simply moved the frontline.

In Michigan there is a troubling push on the part of the Democrat leadership (specifically Governor and Attorney General) to force pro-life organizations to hire pro-abortion employees.

1. Michigan’s Dangerous Assault on Pro-Life Freedom

Right to Life of Michigan and Pregnancy Resource Center (two pro-life organizations) have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new state law that forces them to recruit and hire individuals who oppose their core mission.

In 2023, the Michigan Democrat-controlled legislature passed Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), which redefined “sex” discrimination to include “the termination of a pregnancy.”

The law went into effect February 13, 2024.

As a result, pro-life organizations can no longer screen their workers based on their abortion views. Even more disturbing, the law would require pro-life organizations provide abortion coverage in their employee insurance plans (if pregnancy is covered).

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the legal firm representing the organizations, stated:

“Michigan’s law thus requires them to recruit and hire those with pro-abortion views, restricts these groups from explaining their pro-life requirements to applicants, and requires these groups to offer abortion coverage in their insurance plans because they generally offer insurance to their employees.”

This is a massive constitutional case!

Pro-life organizations are businesses; they are missional agents whose entire existence is predicated on the protection of human life. This move threatens their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, freedom of association, and the free exercise of religion .

Brayn Niehart, Senior Counsel at ADF explained the absurdity of the situation:

“It makes no sense to force pro-life organizations to hire employees who disagree with that view.”

Imagine the state forcing the Illinois Family Institute to hire Richard Dawkins (the famous atheist) to work for them? Or consider it in reverse: Would the state force Planned Parenthood to hire a pro-life counselor to work as their phone counselor?

This is a coercive measure that is not “neutral” and is not about “equality.”

The ADF lawsuit argues:

“The First Amendment protects Right to Life’s and PRC’s First Amendment freedoms to join with others to further a common cause and to refrain from participating in activities that contradict their beliefs. Michigan’s law infringes on these bedrock freedoms.”

This case could have far-reaching implications for all religious and non-profit organizations.

2. Are Pro-Life Organizations Winning?

The pro-life movement has celebrated the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022. It has been perceived by many that the pro-life side is winning the abortion battle. In terms of procedural abortions, there have been some significant gains.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, there were 753 brick-and-mortar abortion clinics in the United States at the end of 2025—54 fewer than in 2020, including a net loss of 12 clinics since March 2024. Clinic numbers have declined even in some states where abortion remains legal.

This would appear to be a win for the pro-life side at first glance, but there is more to the story.

Medication abortions (through abortion pills) have replaced many surgical abortions.

Guttmacher reports that in 2023 there were approximately 642,700 medication abortions in the United States, accounting for 63% of all abortions in the formal health care system. That is up from 53% in 2020. In the first half of 2025, more than a quarter of all abortions were provided via telehealth.

Even more concerning, Guttmacher notes that overall abortions within the formal health care system increased 10% nationally between 2020 and 2023. And these figures do not include self-managed abortions or pills mailed into states with bans.

In other words: surgical abortions are declining in many regions, but the sales of abortion pills are surging.

The abortion industry is simply adapting.

There is a new abortion infrastructure: Telemedicine, online providers, and interstate travel. Illinois alone has become an oasis for abortion travelers, with tens of thousands crossing state lines annually. Illinois has maintained its liberal abortion laws even as a dozen states around it have modified theirs.

The abortion industry has shifted from clinics to mailboxes.

This is not to say the pro-life movement has not been effective, but it does mean their approach and strategy needs to modify. Closing clinics will not be sufficient if the nature of abortion simply shifts to chemical options.

3. The Real Battle: Hearts and Minds

It is all important: Legislation, court cases and public policy. But ultimately, as long as people still want to kill babies, they will sadly find a way.

We need to find ways to reach the human heart and convince the skeptics of the value and sanctity of unborn life. Yes, we need laws that protect the unborn, but we need to work toward the day when women no longer feel a need to kill their own babies. When people don’t believe a fetus is human, or when a woman believes she has no other viable options, laws alone are not enough.

We must continue to ask deeper questions:

• Why do women feel abortion is their only realistic choice?
• Why do men walk away from responsibility and fatherhood?
• Why does our culture separate sexuality from commitment?
• Why has parenthood become perceived as a burden rather than a blessing?

We need to move beyond protest to compassionate solutions that work. Pregnancy resource centers are doing vital work—providing ultrasounds, medical care, diapers, formula, counseling, and practical support. Churches must expand that work.

Of women who are on the fence about having an abortion, 7.4% chose not to after seeing an ultrasound of their baby (according to the National Institutes of Health).

If a woman knows she knows she will not face pregnancy alone, fear diminishes. When men have accountability from other men to care for their own babies, abandonment decreases.

The Bible calls us to “speak the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15). We need to use the scientific research that affirms what Scripture declared long ago: life begins at conception. A distinct human organism with unique DNA exists from the moment of conception.

We need to lovingly address the moral and theological issues as well. The pro-life position flows from the reality that every human is made in the image of God and has inherent value.

We need to be pro-woman, pro-child and pro-family. We must champion adoption, strengthen marriages, support single mothers, and develop faith communities where children are seen as a blessing (as we are told in Psalm 127).

We need to educate women on the physical risks and moral implications of abortion pills. Just because you don’t have the same physical trauma as a surgical abortion that doesn’t mean it is more ethical or moral to take a life through that means. We also need to increase our efforts in evangelism and discipleship. Only the Holy Spirit can change a heart, so we need more than just an information lecture.

We need to keep the Gospel front and center in the pro-life cause.

As Tele-health is using technology to reach women, we need to do the same. Podcasts, films, documentaries, social media, apps and other tech can be used for good as well as evil.

Ultimately, abortion will decline permanently only when fewer women desire it.

Information can be global and we can and should use the mass media, but ultimately transformation happens one conversation and one act of compassion at a time.

Conclusion: Courage and Clarity

Michigan’s attempt to force pro-life organizations to hire pro-abortion employees reveals that the abortion battle hasn’t gone away. In fact, the war against the pro-life movement from the radical social Left is perhaps stronger now than it ever has been.

This is not a time for the pro-life movement to relax. We must defend constitutional freedoms. We must expose coercive policies. We must innovate and strategize. But above all, we must seek cultural and spiritual renewal.

The pro-life cause is not merely about winning arguments. It is about defending the vulnerable, strengthening families, and honoring the Creator who forms life in the womb.

If hearts change, laws will follow.

When truth is spoken boldly, compassion offered generously, and families strengthened faithfully, the culture of death can be replaced with a culture of life.