Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing a New York-based abortionist for violating Texas law by shipping abortion drugs into the state.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, however, is pushing back, saying a recently passed "shield law" protects abortion providers from prosecution by other states, setting the stage for what some call an abortion "civil war" scenario.

Paxton released a statement saying the out-of-state doctor "caused serious harm" to the Texas woman and explained he was launching the suit because "in Texas, we treasure the health and lives of mothers and babies, and this is why out-of-state doctors may not illegally and dangerously prescribe abortion-inducing drugs to Texas residents."

The lawsuit, filed in the federal District Court for Collin County, posits that New York abortionist Dr. Margaret Carpenter violated Texas law and endangered a 20-year-old Texas woman by illegally shipping drugs into the state without first conducting an in-person examination of the woman to determine the gestational age of her baby.

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Chemical abortions, which now account for more than 60% of all U.S. abortions, are known to present a risk of severe complications and infection in some cases. Despite this, the Biden administration further rolled back restrictions on chemical abortion, permanently allowing the drugs to be prescribed via telemedicine, shipped through mail and obtained at retail pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens.

Some states, however, including Texas, continue to restrict chemical abortion from being distributed through the mail or without a doctor’s consultation.

The 20-year-old Texas woman who obtained the abortion pills from Carpenter ended up being admitted to a local hospital because of a hemorrhage or severe bleeding as a result of the drugs, according to the Paxton lawsuit.

"Carpenter provided abortion-inducing drugs to the pregnant Collin County woman, which caused an adverse event or abortion complication and resulted in a medical abortion," the suit claims. "Carpenter’s knowing and continuing violations of Texas law places women and unborn children in Texas at risk."

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The suit requests civil penalties and a permanent block on Carpenter from sending more abortion drugs to Texas women.

However, New York state has a so-called "shield" law that explicitly protects abortion providers from prosecution for prescribing abortion pills to patients in states where it is illegal. This is the first legal challenge to be launched by a state pitting one set of abortion laws against that of another.

Hochul responded to the Texas lawsuit by saying, "I will do everything in my power to enforce the laws of New York State."

"No doctor should be punished for providing necessary care to their patients," she said, adding, "As Texas attempts to limit women's rights, I'm committed to maintaining New York's status as a safe harbor for all who seek abortion care, and protecting the reproductive freedom of all New Yorkers."

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Experts believe the Texas challenge could eventually be bound for the Supreme Court.

Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy for the pro-life group Students for Life Action, told Fox News Digital that she is hopeful the Texas lawsuit makes its way to the Supreme Court so that it could re-examine the question of national safeguards on abortion pills.

Hamrick said that though the Supreme Court ruled against re-implementing abortion pill restrictions in a case called AHM v. FDA earlier this year, the court made it clear it was not shutting the door on restoring the safeguards through another case.

"The Supreme Court did not say that everything with the pills was great, they could be sold as they were [and] there were no problems with the pills," she explained. "What the Supreme Court said is you need to go back and start again, you've come to us with the wrong victims, they didn't have what the court called ‘standing.’" 

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"So, the three states have already joined in saying we have standing, we are a victim because we are paying higher emergency room bills because of these pills," she went on. "The state has a right to defend its laws. So, the state, on the face of it, has a right to defend itself and its laws and the laws of its citizens and its duly elected representatives. So, yeah, they have standing."

Students for Life Action recently launched its own challenge against abortion pills in the form of what is called a "citizen petition." The petition demands the FDA delay its plans to broaden the use of abortion drugs once again, this time to treat miscarriages, until the agency re-examines how the pills are contaminating the nation’s water supply.

"The Biden-Harris administration during COVID essentially created a de facto right to pollute and that pathological medical waste [from abortion pills] is going into the water supply across America, no one is checking on that," she said. "Abortion and miscarriage are not the same. But if you're going to conflate that and then hand out even more of these drugs without any environmental assessment, without any sense of the health and safety risks, that is reckless and dangerous and that is federal."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been on Capitol Hill this week in an attempt to drum up support for his nomination to be the next leader of the Department of Health and Human Services. 

According to one senator he spoke to, Kennedy is aligning himself with President-elect Donald Trump's stance on abortion and has signaled that he will exercise restraint when it comes to regulating the agricultural industry.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R–Ala., said following his meeting with Kennedy that his view on abortion is "whatever Trump decides" and that Kennedy will "back him 100%." Trump has repeatedly said he wants to let the states decide the matter for themselves and is against a national abortion ban. He has also expressed support for certain limited exceptions to abortion restrictions, such as when the life of the mother is in jeopardy.  

Tuberville also said he spoke to Kennedy about not going "overboard" when it comes to regulating farmers. The senator told reporters that Kennedy is "very on board" with protecting their livelihoods and "understands our farmers are in trouble, and we want to make sure that we have farmers that can make a living." 

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Kennedy's nomination has drawn skepticism from both pro-life groups and those in the agriculture sector. Pro-life groups have expressed concern over Kennedy's past statements that extol a liberal position on reproductive rights, while people in the agricultural sector have expressed concern over Kennedy's crusade against processed foods and pesticides. The fears from those in the agriculture sector were bolstered after Trump said he wants to let Kennedy "go wild on health and dramatically shake things up."

However, according to Tuberville, Kennedy understands the need to strike a balance when it comes to regulating the food industry, and he confirmed his views on abortion have evolved to be in line with Trump's. 

"We talked about abortion and the big thing about abortion is he's telling everybody, 'Listen whatever president Trump [supports] I'm going back him 100%,'" Tuberville told reporters following his meeting with Kennedy.

Tuberville highlighted how Trump has expressed support for three main exceptions to abortion restrictions, which include instances when the life of the mother is in jeopardy, or when either rape or incest was the cause of a woman's pregnancy.

"I just asked him, ‘In the past you’ve been pro-abortion,’ and he said, well, it’s basically, he and President Trump have sat down and talked about it, and both of them came to an agreement, ‘Hey, Roe-Wade is gone, it’s gone to the states, let the people vote on it,’" Tuberville said. 

Tuberville added that he also agrees with Trump's stance on abortion, telling reporters that while he is pro-life, he is also "glad the American citizens have a chance to vote in their state," adding that Kennedy feels the same.

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While recounting his conversation with Kennedy to reporters, Tuberville also shared that the two discussed how Kennedy would approach the agriculture industry, considering his fervent belief that the American food system is deeply flawed. Republicans who hail from states where agriculture is a major industry have expressed concern about Kennedy restricting modern farming techniques. Meanwhile, a Michigan soybean and corn farmer called Kennedy's nomination a "danger" to the agriculture industry.

Tuberville echoed the concerns of his fellow GOP lawmakers following his meeting with Kennedy, telling reporters that while his constituents are "very concerned" about food safety, they do not want regulations to be so stringent that it puts farmers out of a job. 

"I can understand that," Tuberville said of his constituents' concerns, "and he's very on board. He understands our farmers are in trouble, and we want to make sure that we have farmers that can make a living, and we don't lose our our family farms."

Fox News Digital reached out to spokespeople for the potential future HHS secretary but did not receive a response by press time. 

President Biden's administration is pressuring the government of Sierra Leone to adopt more permissive abortion policies in exchange for foreign assistance, according to a Monday report. 

The African nation currently bans abortion in most circumstances, but legislation before the country's parliament would decriminalize the practice. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government-run funding allocator, is reportedly threatening to withhold hundreds of millions in foreign assistance funding if the abortion law does not pass, a former senior U.S. government official who has worked in the region told the Daily Signal.

The MCC CEO Alice Albright signed an agreement with Sierra Leon's finance minister, Sheku Bangura, in late September. The agreement would see the country receive $480 million in foreign assistance so long as the country meets the MCC's "rigorous standards for good governance, fighting corruption and respecting democratic rights." The organization evaluates Sierra Leone's compliance with the standards on an ongoing basis.

The organization denied any effort to influence Sierra Leone's abortion policies in a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

"The Millennium Challenge Corporation is unaware of any Sierra Leonean abortion legislation and has never made any requests to the Government of Sierra Leone regarding abortion policies. Any such legislation would be an internal matter for Sierra Leone with no U.S. government developments fund made contingent on its passage," the organization said in a statement.

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The office of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who chairs the MCC's board of directors, did not respond to a request for comment.

Footage circulating on social media shows raucous pro-life protesters demonstrating inside Sierra Leone's parliament as lawmakers debated the legislation Tuesday.

Pro-life activists in the country claim that President Julius Maada Bio fired his attorney general last week because the official refused to push for the abortion law in parliament. Bio appointed Alpha Sesay as the new AG this week. Sesay is a recent former employee of USAID and has advocated for the new abortion law on social media.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., condemned reports of the pressure campaign in a Monday statement.

"It is deeply disturbing, but not terribly surprising, that we are hearing reports that the Biden administration is threatening to withhold foreign assistance to Sierra Leone unless legislators there pass the deceptively named ‘Safe Motherhood Act’ legislation that would legalize abortion in Sierra Leone, a country that currently protects unborn life," he told the Signal.

Smith has previously accused the Biden administration of "hijacking" a Bush-era program delivering AIDS relief to Africa to promote its abortion agenda.

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PEPFAR, the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, was launched in 2003 under President George W. Bush and has invested over $100 billion fighting AIDS across the world while saving 25 million lives and preventing millions of infections, the State Department says. PEPFAR was up for re-authorization in Congress last year.

"President Biden has hijacked PEPFAR, the $6 billion a year foreign aid program designed to mitigate HIV/AIDS in many targeted — mostly African — countries in order to promote abortion on demand," Smith told colleagues in a 2023 statement.

Smith said two groups, Population Services International (PSI) and Village Reach, have received $96.5 million and $10.1 million, respectively, over the last few years from PEPFAR under Biden, and both groups have a track record of pushing abortion.

"PSI proudly proclaims it provides abortion and lobbies to eliminate pro-life laws," Smith said. "PSI provides comprehensive abortion and post-abortion care services in nearly 20 countries throughout the world."

Fox News' Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be on Capitol Hill this week for a series of meetings with senators after being chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to head up the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in his next term. 

Kennedy is expected to spend four days on the Hill before lawmakers leave town for Christmas.

While he's there, Kennedy is expected to be pressed on his beliefs about abortion, which have left some Republicans with questions, as well as the efficacy of vaccines, which bipartisan lawmakers have publicly expressed concern about. 

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"I want to know what his real concerns are and what he would want to do different. But I do not want to lose our vaccine programs," Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., recently told reporters, reflecting on his time as governor overseeing such programs. 

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., shared that while he will meet with Kennedy, he is already a resounding "yes." 

"I've had the privilege to already sit down and answer most of my questions. We will meet, but I was supportive of the president nominating him for it," he said.

"So, I was supporting before that even took place."

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Mullin, a close ally of Trump, noted that he had spent significant time with Kennedy on the campaign trail.

Kennedy is a prominent vaccination skeptic and has expressed his own criticism of many popular shots. This has drawn criticism from some on both sides of the aisle, as vaccinations have been commonly relied on for preventing viruses in childhood and diminishing their spread.

Since getting behind Trump before the end of the campaign, however, Kennedy has moderated his tack on vaccines somewhat. In an interview with NBC News, he pushed back at the suggestion that he is "anti-vaccine." 

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"If vaccines are working for somebody, I’m not going to take them away," he promised. 

"So, I’m going to make sure scientific safety studies and efficacy are out there, and people can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them."

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital that he expects to meet with Kennedy. A staunch pro-life advocate, Lankford has previously said he had many questions about Kennedy's position on abortion.

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A number of other Republicans have previously expressed to Fox News Digital their interest in talking to Kennedy about abortion.

At the same time, Kennedy has managed to appeal to some politicians with his plans to tighten food regulations and "make America healthy again." 

The longtime Democrat-turned-independent could potentially gain support from those on the Democratic side of the aisle, given that there is bipartisan backing for addressing food safety.

It's unclear with whom Kennedy will meet on Capitol Hill, but some Democrats have signaled that their doors are open. 

A representative for Kennedy declined to comment to Fox News Digital on the visits planned this week.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, has filed a lawsuit against a New York doctor who allegedly prescribed abortion drugs to a woman in the Lone Star State, violating Texas law.

Paxton accused Dr. Margaret Carpenter of mailing pills from New York to a 20-year-old woman in Collin County, Texas, where the woman allegedly took the medication when she was nine weeks pregnant, according to the lawsuit. 

When she began experiencing severe bleeding, she asked the baby's father, who had been unaware she was pregnant, to take her to the hospital.

The filing does not state if the woman successfully terminated her pregnancy or if she experienced any long-term medical complications from taking mifepristone and misoprostol.

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Paxton's lawsuit is the first attempt to test legal protections when it comes to states with conflicting abortion laws since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, ending federal protection on the matter.

Texas has enacted an abortion ban with few exceptions, while New York protects access to the procedure and has a shield law that protects providers from out-of-state investigations and prosecutions, which has been viewed as implicit permission for doctors to mail abortion pills into states with restrictions.

Texas has promised to pursue cases like this regardless of the shield laws, though it is unclear what the courts may decide on this issue, which involves extraterritoriality, interstate commerce and other legal questions. New York’s law allows Carpenter to refuse to comply with Texas' court orders.

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It is also unknown whether New York courts would side with protecting Texas' law, which prohibits prescribing abortion-inducing drugs by mail and prohibits treating Texas patients or prescribing medication through telehealth services without a valid Texas medical license.

Texas’ abortion laws prohibit prosecuting a woman for getting an abortion, but do allow for physicians or others who assist a woman in receiving the procedure to be prosecuted.

The lawsuit says Carpenter, the founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, knowingly treated Texas residents despite not being a licensed Texas physician and not being authorized to practice telemedicine in the state. Paxton urged a Collin County court to prohibit Carpenter from violating Texas law and impose civil penalties of at least $100,000 for each violation.

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"In this case, an out-of-state doctor violated the law and caused serious harm to this patient," Paxton said in a statement. "This doctor prescribed abortion-inducing drugs — unauthorized, over telemedicine — causing her patient to end up in the hospital with serious complications. In Texas, we treasure the health and lives of mothers and babies, and this is why out-of-state doctors may not illegally and dangerously prescribe abortion-inducing drugs to Texas residents."

Carpenter also works with AidAccess, an international abortion medication provider, and helped found Hey Jane, a telehealth abortion provider.

A nonprofit fencing organization penned an open letter to USA Fencing Board Members this week, urging the national governing body for the sport to re-evaluate its stance on several issues, including tournament site selection criteria, as it relates to individual states' abortion policies, transgender inclusion and DEI.  

The Fair Fencing Organization (FFO), which describes itself as a nationwide nonprofit organization, raised concerns over several issues in an open letter to USFA board members on Tuesday. In the letter, the group calls on the governing body to make decisions not on "political correctness" but rather in the interest of its members.

"Your personal political stand or preference should not, and cannot take precedence over the will of majority of the members. Specifically, your decision on issues cannot only satisfy your own feeling of moral superiority or be obsessed with political correctness, while ignoring the interest of members."

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The issues raised in the letter are outlined in three parts. 

FFO’s letter alleged that USA Fencing "has a policy of prioritizing the States that support women’s abortion rights" when selecting sites for national tournaments. The group argued that doing so "is a political choice without a common consensus of the members," and called on USA Fencing board members to instead prioritize "safety, accessibility, and financials."

"Nothing else matters more than these three factors. In USFA’s prior site selections, our fencers were harassed by hooligans on the street, heard gunshots outside of their hotels, while some families hid for safety in a restaurant's kitchen. It only takes one crime against our members to cause irreparable harm to the fencing community and USFA."

According to USA Fencing policy, the criteria for site selection include but are not limited to:

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FFO separately called on the board members to consider forming an "all-women task force" to understand the impact that transgender athletes have on female competitors. The letter acknowledges that the proposal was motioned by one of the board members, but added that while they do not oppose transgender athletes, they will consider taking legal action if the issue is not further considered. 

"Politics aside, it is a reasonable request to form a task force to do a deeper dive on this issue in fencing and create a safe space where the voices of all women are heard without ridicule and abuse."

USA Fencing’s current policy states that it will "not discriminate on the basis of gender identity, regardless of sex assigned at birth, or any other form of gender expression for participation in any division." Athletes are able to compete "in a manner consistent with their gender identity/ expression, regardless of the gender associated with the sex they were assigned at birth." 

For some categories, there are guidelines regarding testosterone suppression treatment.

In a recent instance, a student who had previously competed for the Wagner College men’s fencing team before switching to the women’s team this season won gold in the junior women’s foil at the Connecticut Division Junior Olympic Qualifiers earlier this month. 

The final issue raised in the letter is USA Fencing’s stance on DEI positions. The FFO specifically called on the sport’s governing body to not use "members’ funds for a paid position for a DEI role." 

"In principle, USFA should not use members’ funds to create any ideologically or politically motivated positions ever unless it is authorized by the majority of the members."  

In an email to Fox News Digital, USA Fencing said it would be "inappropriate and against protocol to publicly comment" on any motions or proposals before the board meeting, which is scheduled for Saturday. 

"These matters will be thoroughly discussed and deliberated upon during the meeting, ensuring that decisions are made in accordance with the organization’s governance procedures," the email read. 

USA Fencing noted that its board members "are elected by our members and are entrusted to represent their interests and make decisions they believe are in the best interest of the fencing community as a whole." 

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The House is set to vote Wednesday on its must-pass yearly defense bill that would give junior enlisted troops a significant pay bump and work to eliminate DEI programs at the Pentagon.

The 1,800-page bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), details how $895.2 billion allocated toward defense and national security will be spent. It will be voted on more than two months after the start of the fiscal year. 

The $895.2 billion represents a 1% increase over last year’s budget, a smaller number than some defense hawks would have liked. 

A significant portion of the legislation focused on quality-of-life improvements for service members amid record recruitment issues, a focus of much bipartisan discussion over the last year. That includes a 14.5% pay increase for junior enlisted troops and increasing access to child care for service members while also providing job support to military spouses.

The measure authorizes a 4.5% across-the-board pay raise for all service members starting Jan. 1. 

The NDAA typically enjoys wide bipartisan support, but this year’s focus on eliminating "woke" policies could be hard for Democrats to stomach.

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The policy proposal to prohibit Tricare, the military's health care provider, from covering transgender services for the minor dependents of service members has raised concerns, prompting the leading Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, to reconsider his support for the bill.

"Blanketly denying health care to people who clearly need it, just because of a biased notion against transgender people, is wrong," he said in a statement. "This provision injected a level of partisanship not traditionally seen in defense bills."

The goal of that provision is to prevent any "medical interventions that could result in sterilization" of minors.

Other provisions, like a blanket ban on funding for gender transition surgeries for adults, did not make their way into the bill, neither did a ban on requiring masks to prevent the spread of diseases. 

The bill also supports deploying the National Guard to the southern border to help with illegal immigrant apprehensions and drug flow. 

Another provision opens the door to allowing airmen and Space Force personnel to grow facial hair; it directs the secretary of the Air Force to brief lawmakers on "the feasibility and advisability" of establishing a pilot program to test out allowing beards. 

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Democrats are also upset the bill did not include a provision expanding access to IVF for service members. Currently, military health care only covers IVF for troops whose infertility is linked to service-related illness or injury.

But the bill did not include an amendment to walk back a provision allowing the Pentagon to reimburse service members who have to travel out of state to get an abortion.

The bill extends a hiring freeze on DEI-related roles and stops all such recruitment until "an investigation of the Pentagon’s DEI programs" can be completed.

It also bans the Defense Department from contracting with advertising companies "that blacklist conservative news sources," according to an internal GOP memo.

The memo said the NDAA also guts funding for the Biden administration’s "Countering Extremist Activity Working Group" dedicated to rooting out extremism in the military’s ranks. The annual defense policy bill also does not authorize "any climate change programs" and prohibits the Pentagon from issuing climate impact-based guidance on weapons systems.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., touted $31 billion in savings in the legislation that would come from cutting "inefficient programs, obsolete weapons, and bloated Pentagon bureaucracy."

The compromise NDAA bill, negotiated between Republican and Democrat leadership, sets policy for the nation's largest government agency, but a separate defense spending bill must be passed to allocate funds for such programs.

Pro-life leaders are sounding off about the "serious and growing threat" of chemical abortion pills after President-elect Trump said he would not restrict access to the pills as president.

Abortion pills, also known as chemical abortion, are now the most common abortion method, accounting for over 60% of all U.S. abortions.

During an interview with NBC’s "Meet the Press" this past weekend, Trump was asked whether he would restrict abortion pill access via executive action.

Trump responded definitively that "the answer is no."

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He added: "I’ll probably stay with exactly what I’ve been saying for the last two years," that abortion is a state, not a federal issue.

Pressed whether he would commit to not restricting abortion pills, the president-elect said: "Well I commit" but noted circumstances may change.

"Do things change? I think they change," he went on, pointing to how President Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden after repeatedly categorically committing otherwise. 

"I don’t like putting myself in a position like that," he said. "So, things do change, but I don’t think it's going to change at all."

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Chemical abortion access was significantly expanded under the Biden administration, which permanently removed a requirement for the pills to be administered through in-person appointments and allowed the drugs to be delivered via mail or obtained at retail pharmacies like CVS or Walgreens.

In a statement sent to Fox News Digital, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said "unregulated, mail-order abortion drugs are a serious and growing threat to women’s health and safety, as well as the lives of countless unborn children, all across this country."

While she criticized the "reckless actions" of the Biden-Harris administration to expand abortion pill access, Dannenfelser said "no one who cares about the health and well-being of women can afford to ignore this issue." 

Referring to the recent high-profile deaths of Amber Thurman, Candi Miller and Alyona Dixon due to abortion pill complications, Dannenfelser said "even the pro-abortion media can’t hide that these drugs are killing women and fueling dangerous new forms of domestic violence."

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Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life Action, indicated she was optimistic about Trump seeing the danger of unrestricted chemical abortion access, telling Fox News Digital: "Many leaders are just now learning about how the pills harm women and the environment."  

"We have a lot to talk about with the Trump-Vance administration," Hawkins said, adding, "President Trump has shown himself to be a reasonable leader who makes decisions based on the best information available."

"We hope to be agents of change, providing new information about how the changes made by the Biden-Harris administration on chemical abortion pill policy expose women to injury, infertility, and death, empowers abusers and allows for drinking water pollution through the flushing of medical waste," she said. "So, we look forward to a frank discussion about what three Democratic Party presidents did to help their friends in Big Abortion Pharma. We can’t wait to give President Trump the new information he needs to act." 

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Meanwhile, Brian Burch, president of the conservative activism group "CatholicVote," told Fox News Digital that Trump’s admission that "things do change," signals "he would be open to addressing the overwhelming body of evidence that shows how harmful these drugs are to women."

"Big Pharma has exploited far too many women for too long, and the abortion industry should not get a pass when it comes to drug protocols and evidence-based regulations," he said. "Given President Trump's pro-life record, together with the personnel he has nominated to key positions, we remain hopeful the new administration will take a serious look at these drugs and act accordingly."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom will convene the state legislature for a special emergency session Monday to propose a "Trump-proof" legal defense fund of up to $25 million for the state's justice department.

Newsom said in a statement the Golden State "is a tent pole of the country … protecting and investing in rights and freedoms for all people" and that officials "will work with the incoming administration and we want President Trump to succeed in serving all Americans." 

"But when there is overreach, when lives are threatened, when rights and freedoms are targeted, we will take action," Newsom said. "And that is exactly what this special session is about – setting this state up for success, regardless of who is in the White House."

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State lawmakers, who are majority Democratic, are expected to introduce the proposed legislation in the coming weeks. Officials anticipate the legislation will be signed into law before Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.

"It’s not a resistance brand," Newsom told the Los Angeles Times on Sunday. "It’s around pragmatism. It’s about preparedness. We would be fools not to get on top of this before January."

Between 2017 and 2021, California's Department of Justice led 122 lawsuits against Trump administration policies, spending $42 million on litigation. Newsom's office said in one case, the federal government was ordered to reimburse California nearly $60 million in public safety grants.

While California filed over 100 lawsuits against the Trump administration, President-elect Donald Trump lobbed only four major lawsuits against the state. In 2018, Trump's DOJ filed a lawsuit over three California sanctuary state laws that restricted cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. That same year, Trump sued California for its state-level net neutrality law.

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In 2019, Trump also filed a lawsuit against California's vehicle emissions standards, attempting to revoke California's ability to set its own emissions rules. The Trump administration also sued California over its controversial independent contractor law, AB 5, in 2020. 

California, a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants, abortion procedures and transgender transition treatments for children, could be targeted by the Trump administration, especially considering Trump's mass deportation plan of illegal immigrants. 

Meanwhile, Republican state Sen. Brian Jones, who serves as the upper chamber's minority leader, said last month the special session "is clearly just another political stunt" and a "desperate attempt to distract from Democrats’ significant losses across California on Tuesday — in the state Senate, state Assembly, U.S. House, and on key ballot measures, including Prop 5’s defeat and Prop 36’s overwhelming win."

"Californians have made it clear: affordability is their top concern," Jones said. "Yet, even with the massive deficit he created, Gov. Newsom wants to hand his attorney general a blank check to wage endless battles against the federal government — while our own state is on fire, both literally and metaphorically."

The number of abortions in the U.S. only slightly dropped in 2022, the year the Supreme Court overturned Roe. v. Wade, returning the power to make laws on abortion access back to the states.

Abortions declined by just 2% in 2022 compared to 2021, according to new surveillance data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The abortion rate also dipped by 3% and the abortion ratio decreased by 2%.

The total dropped from about 622,000 abortions in 2021 to 609,000 in 2022, the data revealed.

PRO-LIFE GROUPS CAUTIOUS ON RFK JR. NOMINATION AFTER EVOLVING ABORTION VIEWS

This, as Republican-led states have enacted abortion bans with some exceptions such as medical emergencies after the Supreme Court's 2022 ruling.

Most of the abortions were reported before nine weeks of pregnancy and more than 70% were early medication abortions, which was similar to the numbers from before Roe v. Wade was overturned, according to the data.

More than 6% of abortions happened between 14 and 20 weeks of pregnancy while about 1% were done either at or after 21 weeks of pregnancy, the CDC said in its report.

Women in their 20s made up more than half of abortions, the CDC said.

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The report also said that nearly 60% of the women who had abortions had also given birth before, the data revealed.

The CDC data includes numbers from 47 areas of the U.S. that have published data from 2013 until 2022.

Republican Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks has successfully fended off Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan in the race for the state's 1st Congressional District, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. 

Miller-Meeks has served in the U.S. House since 2021, and currently represents the state’s 1st Congressional District, which includes cities such as Davenport and Iowa City in the southeastern portion of the state. 

She flipped her seat from blue to red in 2020 and saw this year’s race move from a "likely" victory for Republicans to a toss-up. She won her 2020 race by a slim margin of just six votes but expanded that advantage in 2022.

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Miller-Meeks fended off a GOP primary challenger earlier in the cycle who accused her of voting "against you and the Republican platform over 40% of the time," while she pitched herself to voters as a "proven conservative."

The Iowa Republican received endorsements from the Trump orbit amid her election cycle, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell and former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"There is no better conservative fighter for Iowa's First Congressional District than Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks. I am proud to endorse and serve beside Mariannette to deliver for the American people and help claw back disastrous policies from the Biden administration," House Speaker Mike Johnson said in his endorsement of Miller-Meeks earlier in the election cycle. 

Miller-Meeks is a doctor and military veteran who served in the U.S. Army for 24 years before retiring as a lieutenant colonel. 

Democratic challenger Bohannon is a law professor at the University of Iowa College of Law, who previously served in the Iowa state House of Representatives from 2021 to 2023. She campaigned on making the Iowa public school system top-rate nationally, instituting "common-sense gun laws," fighting to "put Roe v. Wade back into federal law" and vowing to "work with anyone to secure the border."

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The pair sparred during a debate last month that included exchanges on abortion and the economy, as well as immigration reform. Miller-Meeks, similar to Republicans across the nation, pinned blame for the illegal immigration crisis on the Biden-Harris administration following former President Donald Trump's White House border policies. 

"Trump-era policies that reduced the amount of illegal immigrants coming across our border, that helped to keep down the amount of illegal drugs, illegal fentanyl, that our customs and border protections agents actually felt like they were doing their job," Miller-Meeks said during the debate.

Bohannan argued that a bipartisan piece of legislation this year that would have addressed the border but argued Republicans "killed it." Republicans have said the immigration bill would have further worsened the crisis, and that the legislation was essentially dead on arrival. 

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"We had a golden opportunity recently to pass the strictest border security bill that we have seen in this country in a very long time, maybe ever. And Rep. Miller-Meeks and her party in the House killed it," Bohannan said last month.

Miller-Meeks previously defeated Bohannan in the 2022 general election, 53% to 47%. The 1st district as a whole went for Trump in the 2020 election, voting for him by about three percentage points over President Biden.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Fox News Digital's Adam Shaw contributed to this report. 

Senate Republicans are preparing to probe Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on his pro-choice stance after the former presidential candidate was selected by President-elect Trump to be his nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Kennedy, a former Democrat, has concerned a number of Senate Republicans over his espoused views on abortion. His former presidential campaign reportedly said he believed it "should be left up to the woman and her doctor." 

Over the summer, Kennedy shared a video on social media, writing in a post, "I support the emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up until a certain point." 

He suggested that this limit should be "when the baby is viable outside the womb." Viability is understood to occur around 24 weeks gestation. 

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Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., a staunch pro-life advocate, told Fox News Digital, "It'll come up in the hearing 100%. There's no question that this will be an issue. I will raise it if no one else does." 

He explained that his office is compiling a list of "all of the things that the first Trump administration did for life through HHS, because they were very active in that area." 

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Lankford pointed to HHS' work when it came to conscience protections for abortion and taking on Planned Parenthood as examples. 

"There's a lot of things that they did during the first Trump administration through HHS. So, we're compiling that list, and that'll definitely be my list of questions," he said. 

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said, "There's several questions I want to talk to him about."

He explained he wanted to see exactly what RFK Jr.'s position is — "How far? What month?"

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HELP committee ranking member Bill Cassidy, R-La., said, "We'll do our due diligence, but I'm sure somebody will ask that. How could they not?" 

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told Fox News Digital abortion was a concern of his when it comes to RFK Jr.

While several Republicans are wary about Trump's pick for HHS, some expressed confidence that he would act in line with the administration. 

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"I would fully expect any of Trump's nominees to be pro-life, as is President Trump," said Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C.

But, he said, "It does need to be addressed."

"I believe what he's going to do is do the right thing," Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said of RFK Jr.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox News Digital "he'll be asked a question, and we'll see how he answers. And we'll take it from there."

Katie Miller, a Trump-Vance transition spokesperson, told Fox News Digital in a statement, "Mr. Kennedy has every intention of supporting President Trump’s agenda to the fullest extent. This is President Trump’s administration that Robert F. Kennedy has been asked to serve in, and he will carry out the policies Americans overwhelmingly voted for in President Trump’s historic victory." 

The concerns aired by Senate Republicans come as some conservative and pro-life groups have already sounded the alarm bell on the HHS pick. 

"I believe the nomination of RFK Jr. to serve as secretary of HHS is an abrupt departure from the pro-life record of our administration and should be deeply concerning to millions of pro-life Americans who have supported the Republican Party and our nominees for decades," former Vice President Mike Pence said in a statement from his organization, Advancing American Freedom, last week.

The president of top pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America, Marjorie Dannenfelser, expressed her own worry, saying in a statement, "There's no question that we need a pro-life HHS secretary, and, of course, we have concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr."

But she signaled confidence in Trump's administration to uphold pro-life values. 

"I believe that no matter who is HHS secretary, baseline policies set by President Trump during his first term will be reestablished," Dannenfelser said. 

The nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has rankled some abortion opponents, who are concerned about his past statements expressing a liberal position on reproductive rights.

Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran for president as an independent before backing Trump, has said in multiple interviews that while he's "personally pro-life," he does not believe it's the government's role to interfere with a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy. As recently as May, he said a woman should be able to have an abortion when she's full term, although he later walked that statement back and announced support for some restrictions on abortion.

Pro-life groups that spoke to Fox News Digital expressed optimism about Trump's election win, noting his previous administration's strong support for their cause. But they are seeking clarification from Kennedy on how he would use the sweeping powers at HHS to shape regulations on abortion pills and control funding to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

"He certainly needs to change his position on abortion just in order to be consistent," said Shawn Carney, co-founder and CEO of 40 Days for Life. "Look, if RFK wants to take away our Fruity Pebbles and our Cool Ranch Doritos — both of which are great American institutions — because they're unhealthy, you can't do that and also deny health care to a baby girl who survives an abortion or support abortion at 40 weeks."

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Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment for this story. His nomination was met with outright opposition from some pro-lifers, including former Vice President Mike Pence.

"The Trump-Pence administration was unapologetically pro-life for our four years in office. There are hundreds of decisions made at HHS every day that either lead our nation toward a respect for life or away from it, and HHS under our administration always stood for life," Pence said in a lengthy statement on the website for his Advancing American Freedom nonprofit Friday.

He called Kennedy's nomination a "departure from the pro-life record of our administration," citing Kennedy's past pro-choice statements.  

"If confirmed, RFK, Jr. would be the most pro-abortion Republican appointed secretary of HHS in modern history," Pence wrote.

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The Department of Health and Human Services has a "major impact on abortion access," said healthcare attorney Harry Nelson, founder and managing partner at Nelson Hardiman, LLP. 

The Food and Drug Administration, a sub-agency of HHS, has direct power over the availability of the abortion pill, Mifepristone. Known by the brand name Mifeprex, the pill is taken with misoprostol in a two-drug regimen that first deprives an unborn baby of hormones it needs to stay alive and then causes cramps and contractions to expel the dead fetus from its mother's womb.

The Biden administration has taken several actions to deregulate and increase access to Mifepristone by making it available via telemedicine nationally. Pro-life groups have fought in court to have that deregulation overturned.

"Their efforts earlier this year failed at the Supreme Court but having leadership atop FDA who are sympathetic would be a major impact and make this the biggest abortion issue in the country," said Nelson.

HHS also oversees grant funding via Title X and other programs for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. Pro-life activists have urged the incoming Trump administration to defund these providers. Additionally, HHS is responsible for enforcing federal law that requires emergency care to stabilize patients, including women with health risks from pregnancy. The Biden administration has sought to use the law, called EMTALA, to require states to permit doctors to administer emergency abortions when the life of the mother is at risk.

"It will be interesting to see RFK’s impact and also how the Trump team around him change things," Nelson said. "I don’t think this is an issue RFK is going to be personally passionate about. The Pro-life hardliners are going to be gunning for Mifepristone, and that will be the primary battle to watch."

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Kennedy has said that his position on the issue has evolved since learning about the rates of elective late-term abortions.

During an interview with comedians Shane Gillis and Matt McCusker in May, Kennedy acknowledged, "My position on abortion was that it should always be a woman's choice right up to the very end." 

"In the ninth month, you're basically killing a child, right? My presumption was that [...] no woman is going to deliberately carry a child for nine months, then two days before it's born, abort it. Who would do that?" 

However, he claimed to have changed his view after examining data regarding late-term abortions and finding out they are more frequent than he once believed.

"But then I learned I was wrong, that there are actually a huge amount, comparatively, of elective abortions at that time," he said during the interview. "And my belief at that time is that at that time you have a wholly formed, viable child and the state has some interest in protecting that baby."

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Some pro-lifers are giving Kennedy the benefit of the doubt because they trust Trump's judgment. In his first term, Trump kept his campaign promise to nominate pro-life judges to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 after nearly a half-century of anti-abortion activism. 

"There's no question that we need a pro-life HHS secretary, and of course, we have concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. I believe that no matter who is HHS secretary, baseline policies set by President Trump during his first term will be re-established," Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life President Marjorie Dannenfelser said. 

Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, said Kennedy is not "easily labeled." 

"He has publicly admitted his comments on unlimited abortion were mistaken. He has also said abortion is a tragedy, and that we must help as many women as possible that want to keep their children," Burch told Fox News Digital. 

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Kennedy teamed up with CatholicVote days before Election Day in a TV ad urging Catholics to support Trump that aired in swing state Pennsylvania. Burch told Semafor that the collaboration came months after Kennedy talked about his abortion views with his group and after they agreed "we need to be spending an equal amount of money on helping women choose to keep their child as we are on helping them to get abortions." 

In comments to Fox News Digital, Burch praised Kennedy's advocacy against "Big Pharma, Big Food and Big Government," saying these are issues the pro-life movement can readily work on with the Trump administration if Kennedy is confirmed by the Senate. 

"There is no denying that RFK is not your traditional pro-life advocate. For this reason, we will vigorously oppose any HHS effort to expand or promote abortion or abortion funding. But we are also confident that the reforms he is proposing will lead to a rethinking of the entire food, medical, and drug industry that enables our tragic abortion-minded culture," Burch said.

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life Action, told Fox News Digital that Kennedy "was the only presidential candidate who admitted he was wrong about abortion in America and changed his mind." 

"Whoever ends up at HHS, we are going to want to talk with them about how HHS has been weaponized with prejudice against pro-life Americans, including pro-life hospitals, and for more abortion," Hawkins said. 

Still, others remain skeptical. 

"I don't think anybody has confidence that RFK would undo some of the Biden abortion policies. He hasn't shown that he has publicly supported abortion through 40 weeks," said Carney. "I think many would say this is his only flaw." 

Fox News Digital's Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.