[Kathryn Jean Lopez is a senior fellow at the National Review Institute and the religion editor of National Review. She writes the monthly newsletter, The Lifeline. The following column was originally posted on February 25th by National Review Online. Copyright 2026 by National Review. Reprinted with permission.]

Once again, for anyone in the back who couldn’t hear: The Republican Party is not pro-life.

It was notable—maybe even once again instructive—that the president’s only mention of so-called reproductive health-care issues during Tuesday’s State of the Union address was about his promise to make in vitro fertilization more affordable. His administration is not oblivious to people’s moral concerns. (I know this for a fact.) It also is not ignorant of the scientific reality (this, too, I know): IVF is not as successful as it’s made out to be in his seemingly endless hyping of it (the rollout of the policy press conference in the White House was embarrassingly naïve and obnoxious).

It’s not just expensive; it can be a heartbreaker more often than not and lead to the death of human life in the process of creating—or trying to create—new life.

The president, of course, doesn’t have much to show on the pro-life front in his second term. He once needed pro-life groups and voters to get through primaries and be nominated and elected. But many, probably most, have been lobbying the administration to review the safety of the abortion-pill cocktail that is ever-more available—these drugs cause the majority of abortions in the United States now—and to roll back the Biden administration policy to allow mail-order abortion pills. JD Vance could have made an announcement at the March for Life in January. The president could have issued one last night. There clearly is not interest.

It’s up to the states now. Yes, how did that work out for us with slavery?

On Tuesday night, Donald Trump didn’t even try to self-congratulate, as the vice president did at the March for Life, with what little they had to offer.

And it’s hard to continue to give yourself credit for supposedly overturning Roe v. Wade when you were taking the time to attack some of the justices you appointed who were basically your pro-life credibility.

Because tariffs are more important to Donald J. Trump than ending abortion in America.

That’s fine. But let’s all be honest about what we are dealing with here.

Some voted for him because they believed they had to vote for one of the two major party choices. And as a matter of moral prudence, they voted for Trump because Kamala Harris was actually on-site visiting an abortion clinic, promising to do what she could to make abortion as accessible as humanly possible. You think women and girls are pressured and coerced now into abortions? We ain’t seen nothing like a Kamala Harris administration.

And that’s the thing: Some of us believe we are going to have to answer for what happened on our watch, in our lifetimes. We all have a role to play—right in our own homes, backyards, churches, temples, religious congregations, schools . . . and, yes, nationally. It’s not enough to just say “Leave it to the states.” I’m a broken record, but this is the human-rights issue of our lifetime. We need to act like it is. It means constantly challenging ourselves to do more, be more creative, reach the people who don’t have the resources they need to choose life when faced with an unplanned pregnancy.

And we need to not pretend about the Republicans. The Democrats are a disaster, and have been for a long time, and getting worse. But the GOP has abandoned ending abortion in America. And by their inaction and miseducation they are adding to abortions in America.