America First HOPE Agenda

A Plan to Restore Hope in America’s Promise of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness for all.

America First policies advocate for a woman and child's shared right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Our goal is to support women in challenging situations to reduce the number of abortions. We believe in an agenda based on HOPE: Health, Opportunity, Prosperity, and Empowerment.

HEALTH - for women and babies at all stages of pregnancy and after, including routine and emergent medical care, mental health support, and access to IVF treatments.

OPPORTUNITY - for women to be supported to pursue motherhood or adoption while giving all babies the chance to live and pursue the American Dream with their biological family or an adopted forever family.

PROSPERITY - for women and children to have access to the resources needed to live and thrive, including childcare assistance. Financial concerns should not be the reason a woman decides to end the life of her unborn child.

EMPOWERMENT - for women to know fathers will be held financially responsible, for parents of teenagers to know their parental rights will be protected, and for employers to treat pregnancy equally with regard to work benefits.

REJECT ABORTION EXTREMISM—EXPOSE RADICAL LATE-TERM ABORTIONS

Radical late-term abortions undermine America’s most essential values. Human life is sacred. We oppose state and federal laws that allow fully formed babies that could live outside the womb to be killed in the womb, including in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth months of pregnancy. We also oppose policies that would prevent doctors from providing life-saving medical care to an infant born during a failed abortion procedure and that would provide more government funding for abortions. Putting Americans first means rejecting abortion extremism and upholding our values by protecting the most vulnerable.

Medical advances—new technologies and discoveries have allowed doctors and parents to see babies grow in the womb.

Extremism in state and federal legislation—six states plus D.C. do not have any state-level restrictions on abortion, meaning late-term elective abortion is allowed despite babies being able to survive outside the womb. Multiple clinics, including one in the heart of our nation’s capital, promote abortion tourism and offer third trimester abortions without question. The “Women’s Health Protection Act” in the 118th Congress aims to codify the “right to abortion” at any stage in pregnancy—even in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth months—going far beyond Roe v. Wade and allowing practices indistinguishable from infanticide. Delivery and “safe boxes” for adoption should be encouraged instead.

Comparison of U.S. laws to the world—the U.S. is one of only six countries with laws permitting elective abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Our extreme laws more closely resemble China and North Korea than those of Western Europe.

The primary goal is to care for the two lives involved and provide support for women in difficult situations to reduce the number of abortions.

20-POINT POLICY FRAMEWORK

The America First HOPE Agenda provides solutions for federal and state policymakers seeking to reduce the number of abortions in America by providing support for women in challenging situations and valuing the lives of both women and unborn children.

HEALTH—for women and babies at all stages of pregnancy and after, including routine and emergent medical care, mental health support, and access to IVF treatments.

• Ensure delivery of quality, compassionate medical care for women and babies.
  • Women in life-threatening emergencies should receive all necessary life-saving care.
  • We recognize women and girls who are victims of rape and incest need help and protection in matters involving the law, public safety, and exceptions from abortion restriction policies while being supported with resources to choose life and reclaim dignity.
  •  Babies who are born alive should receive all appropriate life-saving care.
• Enhance healthcare access to improve outcomes and reduce maternal mortality and also ensure states protect IVF availability.
• Ensure in-person ultrasounds are completed before women undergo an abortion for accurate pregnancy dating, including chemical abortion accessed through telemedicine.
• Require abortion clinics, pregnancy resource centers (PRCs), and community health centers (CHCs) to provide mental health programs for women who have completed or are considering an abortion.
• Implement regulations that require abortion clinics to meet the health and medical standards of other healthcare facilities, such as surgical centers.
• Prevent non-doctors from performing abortions.
• Crackdown on violence targeting PRCs to ensure women can access care.
• Institute mandatory three-day waiting periods to allow women to process their options following counseling and ultrasound appointments.

OPPORTUNITY—for women to be supported to pursue motherhood or adoption while giving all babies the chance to live and pursue the American Dream with their biological family or an adopted forever family.

• Support programs that assist women in difficult situations to give birth rather than have an abortion (i.e., Texas
• Alternatives to Abortion).
  • Divert financial resources from Planned Parenthood to fund.
• Invest in resources for women facing unplanned pregnancies, such as counseling and material aid (diapers, formula, car seats, etc.) at PRCs and CHCs.
  • Divert financial resources from Planned Parenthood to fund public-private partnerships.
  • States can also increase grant funding and private sector donation incentives to allow the centers to serve more women in need.
• Address legal and financial barriers to adoption and foster care.
• Ensure faith-based organizations can participate fully in providing social services support.

PROSPERITY—for women and children to have access to the resources needed to live and thrive, including childcare assistance. Financial concerns should not be the reason a woman decides to end the life of her unborn child.

• Allow women and families to start claiming unborn children as dependents on tax filings as soon as the pregnancy is confirmed by a physician.
• Expand access to paid family and medical leave by incentivizing more employers to provide leave and focusing on gaps in coverage. Expand access to affordable childcare by leveraging the existing large new investments, targeting funds, preserving parent choice, and increasing supply.

EMPOWERMENT—for women to know fathers will be held financially responsible, for parents of teenagers to know their parental rights will be protected through mandatory notifications before an abortion, and for employers to treat pregnancy equally with regard to work benefits.

• Ensure the financial responsibility for the care and support of the child includes the father.
• Require parental involvement in a minor’s abortion to promote parental rights, protection of minors, and family decision-making.
• Ensure employers provide equal benefits (such as travel costs) to a woman who decides to keep her baby if they provide abortion benefits.
• Require reciprocity in employee benefits so that companies who cover abortion also have to provide the same level of coverage for pro-family measures, such as infertility treatments and prorated adoption costs.
• Implement a user-friendly, comprehensive database of lifeaffirming care resources.
• Ensure pregnant and parenting college students know their rights, accommodations, and available resources.

The primary goal is to care for the two lives involved and provide support for women in difficult situations
to reduce the number of abortions.