Why pro-life Americans can’t trust the courts any more



Americans love to blame politicians — and often with good reason. But the real power in this country doesn’t rest with the people we elect. It rests with the ones we don’t. Unelected judges now govern America. They don’t interpret laws. They rewrite them.

Activist judges have become the unelected elite now running our country, handing down rulings that override the will of voters, defy elected legislatures, and erase laws they don’t like.

One state is trying to protect life; the other is trying to shield those who end it. And a single judge gets to pick which law counts.

They employ manipulative language to justify their overreach. If you don’t comply, blood is on your hands. Whether it’s the environment, vaccine mandates, border control, or abortion access, the refrain is always the same: Submit to the ruling, or people will die.

The irony couldn’t be more blatant.

In many cases involving abortion policy, it is in fact judges’ rulings that cost lives — lives of the unborn babies impacted by their rogue, dangerous decisions.

Take the recent case in Tennessee, where a federal judge blocked a law that protected minors from being trafficked across state lines for secret abortions. The law didn’t punish women. It didn’t outlaw abortion. It simply required parental involvement, something the majority of Americans support. But for activist judges, parental rights are optional if abortion is the end goal.

In New York, another judge defied federal authority and openly refused to cooperate with Texas law enforcement to hold a doctor accountable for illegally prescribing abortion pills. One state is trying to protect life; the other is trying to shield those who end it. And a single judge gets to pick which law counts.

Meanwhile, a federal judge overturned efforts to defund Planned Parenthood nationwide, even after Congress passed clear budget restrictions. The elected branches — chosen by the people — made a decision. But it didn’t matter. The judge didn’t like it, so the ruling class overruled the people and prioritized its holy grail: abortion.

Judicial activism has turned the courts into abortion war rooms. Judges now see themselves not as interpreters of law but as defenders of an ideology that elevates abortion above the democratic process. Their rulings don’t reflect any laws. They reflect a commitment to abortion at any cost.

It’s not just dangerous. It’s undemocratic.

Thankfully, the Supreme Court is beginning to push back. In a recent ruling, the court clarified that district judges cannot issue nationwide injunctions and block federal policies. It’s a necessary and overdue correction. But it’s only the beginning.

RELATED: Judicial activism strikes again in 14th Amendment decision

Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and gave power back to the people. In many states across the country, Americans responded by electing leaders and passing laws to protect the unborn. But today, activist judges are overriding those efforts, blocking pro-life laws and shielding abortionists from accountability.

We need judges who apply the law, not rewrite it. Until that happens, every unborn child, every woman in danger of being exploited by the abortion industry, and every citizen fighting for life will remain at the mercy of unelected rulers.

The Dobbs decision was only the beginning. Now we must press forward to ensure that the will of the people is honored and the most vulnerable among us are finally protected.

Thug who mercilessly mauled elderly pro-life worker in front of Planned Parenthood gets his sentence



In June, a judge acquitted Patrick Brice of first-degree assault over a brutal assault he carried out against 73-year-old pro-life worker Mark Crosby in front of a Baltimore Planned Parenthood in May 2023.

It was good news for the attacker as he awaited his sentencing, since the acquittal lessened the possibility of jail time.

'It's not equal justice under the law.'

Crosby's attorney Terrell Roberts — retained by the Thomas More Society to assist Crosby amid deliberations — told Blaze News in June that the judge's acquittal was the "most ridiculous decision I've seen in a long while."

All the reasons why were captured on surveillance video outside the abortion facility.

Brice — a decades-younger male who Crosby estimates stands well over six feet tall and weighed about 250 pounds — reportedly was arguing with Crosby's fellow pro-life worker, Dick Schaefer, about abortion that day.

Suddenly Brice is seen on video charging at Schaefer and tackling the 84-year-old backward into a large flower pot.

RELATED: Justice for elderly pro-lifer beaten to a pulp outside Planned Parenthood takes brutal turn

Image source: Baltimore Police

Image source: Baltimore Police

Image source: Baltimore Police

According to WBAL-TV, a witness said Schaefer was out cold "for several minutes."

As you might expect, Crosby — dressed in a blue and white "pro-life" T-shirt — runs over to help his friend.

RELATED: Elderly pro-lifer beaten to a pulp in vicious attack outside Planned Parenthood; another elderly pro-lifer knocked out cold in same attack, witness says

Image source: Baltimore Police

But Brice is standing directly in Crosby's path.

Image source: Baltimore Police

And Brice easily knocks the 73-year-old down to the sidewalk and punches Crosby in the head.

Image source: Baltimore Police

Image source: Baltimore Police

Then Brice rears back his right foot and kicks Crosby in the face before finally walking away.

Image source: Baltimore Police

Image source: Baltimore Police

YouTube age-restricted the Baltimore Police video of the attack on Schaefer and Crosby — which may give some indication of its gut-wrenching nature — so you can only view it there.

Here's a local video report, though.

RELATED: Cops release surveillance images of man believed to be in his 20s who brutally punched, kicked face of elderly pro-lifer outside Planned Parenthood

Local pro-life advocate John Roswell told LifeSiteNews at the time of the attack that Crosby’s “plate bone in his upper right cheek is completely fractured” and that he “is bleeding from some unidentified area behind his eye, and the bone eye orbit is completely shattered and will have to be replaced with metal" as a result of the brutal beatdown.

Crosby told Blaze News that he was blind in his right eye "for nine days" after the attack, that he spent three days at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, that he was "spitting blood," and that a piece of his iris is missing.

He also told Blaze News he still experiences foreign body sensation, which is a "feeling that something's in your eye and you can't get it out. But I can live with that. Babies are being murdered. I give it up for them."

RELATED: Blaze News original: 'Barbaric' attacker destroys elderly pro-lifer's face outside Planned Parenthood. Victim awaits justice.

Image source: American Center for Law and Justice, used by permission (left); Mary Crosby (right)

A few weeks after the attack, police released surveillance images of the culprit, but it wasn't until over a year later — July 1, 2024 — that police finally arrested Brice. He was indicted on charges of first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and assault on an elderly person 65 and over, according to the American Center for Law and Justice. He was released on his own recognizance, Catholic Review said.

The criminal trial for Brice took place in February 2025 in Baltimore Circuit Court. Brice's attorney — assistant public defender Matthew Connell — argued that his client didn't intend to cause serious physical injury, which is needed to support a conviction for first-degree assault, the Baltimore Banner reported.

Connell also called Schaefer and Crosby “old white men” who say “the most vile things” to women and see themselves as “religious martyrs," Catholic Review reported. He also said Brice “didn’t mean to hurt them that bad" and “made a mistake," the Banner reported.

The jury convicted Brice on two counts of second-degree assault and reckless endangerment for his attacks on Schaefer and Crosby, the Banner said, adding that jurors acquitted Brice on one count of first-degree assault against Schaefer.

However, the jury couldn't reach a unanimous verdict on the first-degree assault charge for Brice's brutal attack on Crosby — knocking him to the ground, punching him in his head, and kicking him in his face while he was on his back on the sidewalk.

Crosby was then left waiting for justice.

'Legally absurd'

The opportunity came — and went — during June's retrial of Brice's first-degree assault charge for his attack on Crosby. Circuit Judge Yvette M. Bryant — who presided over February's jury trial — presided again during the bench retrial, and she acquitted Brice of first-degree assault, the Banner said in a separate story.

Her reason? The paper said the judge concluded that it was all about Crosby's intent. Does video of the attack show him rushing over to help his friend? Or does it show 73-year-old Crosby running over to fight Brice — a bigger, taller 20-something who had just knocked Schaefer out cold?

The Banner said Bryant agreed that Brice's attack against Crosby was unjustified — but disagreed with the prosecution's contention that it was unprovoked.

"How can you claim a 73-year-old man provoked a man who just knocked out an 84-year-old man? It's legally absurd," Roberts remarked to Blaze News at the time, adding that "any judge would have to find him guilty based on the video."

Crosby added to Blaze News that Bryant stated in court that he could have "gone around Brice to help Dick Schaefer" rather than taking a path directly to his friend to give him aid. "So she's blaming me. ... I'm the bad guy."

A frustrated Crosby also told Blaze News at the time that "now the pro-abort movement will know this, and violence will continue against us."

Brice's sentencing took place Thursday.

What happened at the sentencing?

During the hearing, Roberts read Crosby's victim impact statement, which said, "Due to the brutality of the attack, I respectfully call for the court to impose a lengthy sentence of imprisonment for the defendant in this case."

That didn't happen.

Brice got no jail time. Instead, Judge Bryant ordered him to spend one year on home detention and gave him three years’ probation, the Banner reported in a separate story.

In addition, Brice must complete anger management classes, undergo drug and alcohol screening, virtually attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and remain in therapy, the paper said.

Blaze News spoke with Crosby and his attorney, Roberts, following Brice's sentencing. As you might expect, both were upset about it.

Roberts said that "clearly justice was not done here. The sentence for this kind of criminal act should be jail time without any question." He added that Brice's attack left "permanent" injuries and that "he fled the scene, leaving Mark and Dick lying on the ground." But instead of jail time, Brice was "walking out without any kind of punishment. It's shameless. And it pretty much means it's open season for any pro-life person working" in front of Planned Parenthood.

Crosby told Blaze News that after the judge handed down her sentence and was walking out the courtroom door, he "screamed out" at her, asking, "What about my well-being?"

He added that the Brice's sentence includes a lot of "easy stuff" and that "it's not equal justice under the law." Crosby noted that he's hoping the federal government will look at the case.

But despite his disappointment, Crosby added to Blaze News that he "couldn't ask for a better gift" than "shedding my blood on the bricks in front of Planned Parenthood and suffering pain for Jesus and the babies."

Crosby also said since the attack, "wonderful things have happened — along with the not-so-wonderful things — but there's no greater joy than saving one of God's beautiful babies from being murdered. It's a great feeling when people come up and say thank you for counseling them — and that their babies are alive and well."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Wrist Slap For Man Who Attacked Pro-Lifers Proves The FACE Act Was Always A Lawfare Tool

Until Congress passes the FACE Act Repeal Act, pro-lifers are still vulnerable to further abuse -- both legal and physical.

41 Planned Parenthood Facilities And Counting Set To Close As Trump Defunds Abortion Giant

Planned Parenthood's services outside of abortion have decreased significantly since 2013, while its abortions have dramatically increased.

Americans didn’t elect a Boston judge president



How much longer will Congress and the executive branch keep bowing to rogue judges?

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston ordered the federal government to continue reimbursing Planned Parenthood under Medicaid. She warned that cutting funding could cause women to “suffer adverse health consequences,” face more unintended pregnancies, and go without treatment for sexually transmitted infections.

The federal judiciary was never intended to wield this kind of unchecked power.

Congress had already voted to end the funding. The law is on the books. It went through the full legislative process and was signed by the president. But Judge Talwani believes her opinion overrides all of that. She not only reinterpreted the law, she ordered the appropriation of funds to a private abortion business.

That crosses a major constitutional line.

Judges don’t have the power of the purse. They can’t spend money. They can’t fund private organizations. Only Congress can do that. Yet that core principle of the separation of powers now seems optional. We are left with a system where unelected judges act as legislators, executives, and arbiters — and no one challenges them.

Too many conservatives hesitate to confront this reality. They’ll cheer when Trump ignores Congress on TikTok but wring their hands when he considers defying an unlawful court ruling. But judicial opinions don’t carry binding force simply because a judge wrote them. Presidents and lawmakers swear the same oath to the Constitution as judges do. They don’t swear loyalty to the judiciary.

If a court orders the government to fund Planned Parenthood in direct defiance of a law passed by Congress, and the executive branch complies, then we no longer have a functioning constitutional system. We have a judiciary with a veto power over the other branches.

This didn’t start with Talwani’s ruling, and it won’t end here. Judges now routinely issue sweeping decisions that affect the entire country, despite a recent Supreme Court ruling that supposedly reined in nationwide injunctions. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito warned that lower courts would continue to defy precedent unless checked. They were right.

The time for deference is over. If Trump continues to honor every lawless edict from every federal judge, he only encourages more of the same. He entrenches the notion that judges make law and everyone else must obey.

RELATED: Democrats created this court monster — now it’s eating them

Prasong Maulae via iStock/Getty Images

Imagine Congress passes and Trump signs a reconciliation bill that strips federal courts of jurisdiction over immigration enforcement or Planned Parenthood funding. Under Judge Talwani’s logic, the courts could simply declare the law unconstitutional and order the executive branch to act against it — up to and including spending money Congress never appropriated. That’s not judicial review. That’s a judge acting like a one-woman super-legislature with a gavel and a god complex. Where does it end?

It never ends. Earlier this month, a judge in California ruled that ICE cannot carry out “roving” immigration enforcement in parts of the state’s Central Valley. The ruling lacked any constitutional basis. The judge simply decided too many illegal immigrants were being arrested and declared the enforcement itself a violation of rights — despite no evidence that a single American citizen had been wrongfully detained.

Rather than overturn the decision, the Ninth Circuit grilled government attorneys about whether ICE had an arrest quota. The implication was clear: Immigration enforcement itself is now suspect.

The federal judiciary was never intended to wield this kind of unchecked power. Congress holds the purse strings. The executive enforces the law. Judges interpret the law in individual cases. That’s the constitutional design.

Abraham Lincoln, in his fifth debate with Stephen Douglas in 1858, warned against treating court opinions as absolute. If citizens and lawmakers accept every ruling without question, Lincoln said, they prepare themselves to accept the next decision “without any inquiry.”

That mindset leads to tyranny. Not suddenly, but step by step.

The judiciary was supposed to be the weakest branch. It was designed that way. It has no army. It has no budget. Its legitimacy depends on its restraint. When judges cast that aside, the other branches must respond.

Otherwise, we will find ourselves governed not by the Constitution but by the whims of unelected lawyers with lifetime tenure.

If Trump does not confront the courts, we will be obliged to implement any rule from any judge who shares the same beliefs as Ilhan Omar or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I’d hate to see what the next decision looks like.

In New Planned Parenthood Ruling, Obama Judge Flouts Logic And The Constitution

Upon assuming the bench, all new federal judges take an oath to “faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me … under the Constitution and laws of the United States.” So, why is Massachusetts-based District Court Judge Indira Talwani flouting that pledge? On Monday, the Obama appointee (and Democrat donor) issued […]

Obama-Appointed Judge Blocks Trump’s Efforts To Defund Planned Parenthood

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani blocked the Trump administration's efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, issuing a court order on Monday.

Planned Parenthood's ugly truth finally has consequences



The pro-life movement is celebrating a historic, hard-earned victory: Thanks to unprecedented strategic coordination, focused and unified messaging, and targeted investments from courageous philanthropists, Congress has officially defunded Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers in this year’s federal budget.

This landmark achievement is more than just a policy win — it’s a new beginning and sets a crucial precedent in our decades-long effort to stop forcing American taxpayers to bankroll the abortion industry. It marks important progress for women, children, and every citizen who believes our tax dollars should be used to protect life, not end it.

Planned Parenthood’s priorities are painfully clear: Political power and profit over patients.

For too long, women have been put in harm’s way by Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.

A recent New York Times exposé uncovered horrific conditions inside clinics across the country — moldy equipment, sewage leaks, faulty STI testing, and misplaced IUDs — all while Planned Parenthood raked in nearly $2 million per day in taxpayer funding. When Americans learn the truth about these dangerous conditions, 60% say they support defunding abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

While hiding behind the moniker of "health care," Planned Parenthood has consistently deprioritized real health care.

Over the last decade, cancer screenings, pap smears, breast exams, and prenatal services have all plummeted by more than 50%. Meanwhile, abortions have soared. According to its own annual report, Planned Parenthood performed a record-breaking 402,230 abortions last year — an increase of more than 9,500 from the previous year and a 23% escalation since 2013.

Now, Planned Parenthood and big abortion providers are aggressively pushing mail-order chemical abortion pills, shipped directly to women with no physical exam, no doctor oversight, and often no warning about life-threatening side effects.

These pills are deceptively marketed as “safer than Tylenol,” yet the real-world consequences tell a tragic story.

RELATED: The abortion pill’s body count — and the progressive cover-up behind it

Shuran Huang for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Amber, a 28-year-old from Georgia, took the abortion pills and initially experienced expected cramping. But days later, her pain intensified, and bleeding became severe. Living four hours from the clinic and unable to access immediate care, Amber began vomiting blood and passed out at home. She was rushed to the hospital but tragically died during an emergency procedure.

Amber’s story isn’t isolated.

Holly, an 18-year-old from California, died after taking the same abortion-pill regimen. She experienced excruciating cramps and heavy bleeding, was sent home from the hospital with painkillers, and returned days later in septic shock from an undiagnosed infection. Her father later said she “suffered in silence” and was tragically unprepared for the ordeal she endured.

Toni, a Pennsylvania high school senior, took the abortion pill at home, initially feeling only minor effects. But more than a month later, she was suddenly gripped by intense pain and began passing large blood clots. Alone and terrified, she described lying in agony, completely unprepared for the trauma and heartbreak that followed.

These women — and countless others like them — are not statistics. They represent the profound, too-often-hidden human cost of the abortion-pill regimen that Planned Parenthood recklessly champions.

New analysis of actual insurance claims data reveals that 1-in-10 women experiences serious complications after taking chemical abortion drugs, yet Planned Parenthood continues mailing them out, unaccompanied by proper care, with callous disregard for the lives left in their wake.

And the danger doesn’t stop at abortion.

Planned Parenthood is now a leading national player in the controversial and lucrative business of cross-sex hormones. The organization openly boasts that it’s become the nation’s “leading provider of gender transition hormones for young adults.” Undercover footage from Live Action’s investigation revealed Planned Parenthood staff offering puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors — sometimes after just a 30-minute virtual consult, on the same day as the initial inquiry, often without parental consent.

Americans are not on board. In fact, 64% of voters oppose giving taxpayer dollars to organizations that provide puberty blockers and gender transition treatments to minors, including 51% who strongly oppose it.

Planned Parenthood’s priorities are painfully clear: Political power and profit over patients. While its clinics provide botched and substandard care, the organization received $498 million in donations in 2022 — nearly all of which funded partisan advocacy, lawsuits, promotion of abortion and sex-change hormones to minors, and aggressive lobbying against commonsense safeguards like the Hyde Amendment, which protects taxpayers from funding abortion.

But Americans are waking up. Most now reject the lie that Planned Parenthood is essential to women’s health.

In reality, nearly 9,000 community health centers outnumber Planned Parenthood locations 15 to one, providing comprehensive care without abortion, gender ideology, or political agendas. These centers offer prenatal care, diapers, parenting classes, quality health care, and genuine support that helps mothers and babies thrive.

Americans want to fund these centers instead with 70% of voters supporting public funding for local health and pregnancy support centers — not abortion chains.

This year’s federal defunding of Planned Parenthood is a critical step forward. It’s not the finish line — but it’s real progress. It proves that truth, persistence, and unified action across the pro-life movement can still move the needle in Washington.

Now, we must build on this momentum. Let’s ensure every tax dollar stays permanently out of the hands of abortion providers — and instead supports compassionate, life-affirming care for women and families.

Let’s keep going. Lives depend on it.

Missouri AG Sues Planned Parenthood For Falsely Advertising Dangerous Abortion Drug As ‘Safe’

Planned Parenthood Federation of America is on the hook for “endangering the lives of women and girls across the country” by claiming the dangerous and deadly abortion drug regimen used to execute a majority of U.S. abortions is “safer” than over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol, according to a new lawsuit. According to Missouri Attorney General […]