2025 proved to be a year when Pennsylvania held firm for the cause of life. Despite daunting challenges posed by the abortion industry and its pro-abortion political apologists, pro-life activism remained strong in the Keystone State throughout the year.

 

It began in January with the March for Life in Washington, D.C. Citizens throughout Pennsylvania boarded buses, cars, and trains to travel to the nation’s capital to show their firm commitment to defending the sanctity of life. Pennsylvania has long been known as a state that sends thousands of marchers to Washington for the annual pro-life event, and 2025 proved to be no exception.

           

Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, the Keystone State affiliate of National Right to Life, reached a major milestone in its youth outreach. In 2025, we set a single-month record for the number of teens reached through our successful partnership with the website TeenBreaks.com. Since 2005, we have served more than 800,000 teens, providing them with lifesaving, life-changing information by driving them to the website through Google ad buys. The fact that the program continues after two decades demonstrates the foresight and relevance of TeenBreaks, year in and year out.

           

The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation staged its biggest pro-life event of the year in the fall, thanks to the Celebrate Life Banquet in Hershey. Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany astounded the crowd of nearly 800 people with her inspiring talk, which blended anecdotes from her time as White House Press Secretary with facts and figures about abortion’s negative impact on the nation.

           

During 2025, a Pennsylvania organization designed to provide comprehensive counseling and support to women reached a major milestone. Real Alternatives has now served some 505,000 women in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Indiana in its 30-year history. In addition, a Texas program Real Alternatives helped run for seven years, which was then spun off, has helped 410,000 women since its founding in 2005.

 

The success is a testament to how a program based on care and compassion can aid women at a vulnerable time in their lives. In Indiana, for instance, 77 percent of women in fiscal year 23-24 who were pressured by others to abort chose childbirth after receiving program services. 77 percent! It is an incredible statistic and reflects the positive outcomes which have become a hallmark of the program.

           

Sadly, in Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro canceled Real Alternatives’ Commonwealth contract as a result of blatantly pro-abortion politics. The short-sightedness of that decision is obvious, given the program’s continued unabashed success in Indiana.

 

In addition to saving lives, Real Alternatives saves taxpayer money. In the Hoosier state, $415.5 million in tax dollars was saved because 14,280 program participants received prenatal care.[i]  

           

On the other end of the spectrum, pro-abortion forces are ramping up their legislative activity in Pennsylvania. Pro-abortion politicians have introduced a flurry of bills designed to wipe out basic legal protections for pregnant women and their babies.

 

These bills would do everything from eliminating the 24-hour waiting period for abortions to getting rid of the requirement that pregnant women be told about the risks of abortion and alternatives to abortion prior to an abortion taking place. 

 

In an unprecedented move, pro-abortion Democrats reported no less than seven abortion bills out of the PA House Judiciary Committee recently. As a result, the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation put out a legislative alert, urging advocates for life to contact their state representatives and urge a No vote on these dangerous bills: House Bills 670, 1640, 1641, 1643, 1966, 1957, and 2005.[ii]

 

The radical bills were poised for a House floor vote right before the November election. However, Democrats came up short, failing to secure enough commitments from lawmakers to get the bills passed.

 

But while pro-life activists may be breathing a sigh of relief now, the bills could still come up for a floor vote at any time. Therefore, it is critically important that advocates continue their lobbying campaign against these horrific measures, which would turn back the clock on pro-life progress in Pennsylvania.

 

In other news, the PA Commonwealth Court heard oral arguments in a case which could establish widespread taxpayer funding of abortion in the Commonwealth. In fact, attorneys for the abortion industry and its allies want to go even further and establish a so-called “right to abortion” under the PA Constitution. Ultimately, the case is expected to be decided by the PA Supreme Court, which sadly has a recent history of pro-abortion extremism.

 

Despite major resistance from pro-abortion advocates, Pennsylvania continued to be a beacon of light in the Northeast as far as the pro-life movement was concerned. Amidst incredible struggles, advocates for life remain strong in their dedication to the most vulnerable members of society—a trend which no doubt will continue into 2026. 

 

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[i] To find out more about the Real Alternatives success story, visit their website at www.realalternatives.org . 

[ii] To send a message of your own, please go to https://www.votervoice.net/PPLF/Campaigns/130814/Respond .

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