Four Years After Dobbs, Lankford Leads Senate Floor Effort to Protect Life as Democrats Block Every Bill

WASHINGTON, DC - US Senator James Lankford (R-OK), chair of the Senate Values Action Team, led his colleagues on the floor this week on the fourth anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision to ask for unanimous consent to pass commonsense pro-life, pro-family legislation, from protecting unborn children with Down syndrome to safeguarding the conscience rights of doctors and nurses who refuse to perform abortions. Senate Democrats objected to every single bill.

Among the bills raised, Lankford called up his own Conscience Protection Act, legislation that ensures no doctor, nurse, or health care provider can be forced to perform an abortion against their religious beliefs or moral convictions and gives them the legal standing to defend those rights if their employer or the government tries to strip them away.

"Today I rise to be able to mark the fourth anniversary of the Dobbs decision, a decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the issue of abortion, and when life begins and who we're going to be as a people on this issue of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, back to the elected representatives from states and to the people," said Lankford on the Senate floor. "Today we're remembering 60 million children who died under the 49-year time period under Roe v. Wade. And the conversation that's still happening all over the country. We the people are still having a dialog about the value of every human person and whether life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness still applies to everyone."

"I'm one of those crazy people that actually believe that children are valuable. All of them. And I know it's much maligned in our culture currently, and it's very vogue to be able to say, 'some children are valuable and some children are disposable, and those children that are disposable, we shouldn't even discuss.' But honestly, I think we should continue the conversation, the dialog that's been going on for 250 years to determine does life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness apply to all of us. Are all people created equal, or are some people more equal than others? Just because a child cannot defend themself, just because a child doesn't weigh very much yet, doesn't mean it's not a child. Science would say that life begins at conception when the cell division happens," Lankford continued on the floor. "Every single cell in the woman's body has the exact same DNA except when she's pregnant. Then there are certain cells in the womb that have different DNA. Do you know why? Because it's a different person. And there's cell division happening in the woman's body because she's alive, and there's cell division happening in that child's body because so are they. And they're uniquely different, God created person. They're not inconvenient. They're a child."

Lankford was joined on the floor by his colleagues in raising the following legislation:

• Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT): Protecting Individuals with Down Syndrome Act
• Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA): Protect Funding for Women's Health Care Act
• Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC): Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance Act
• Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL): Pregnant Students' Rights Act
• Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act
• Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS): SAVE Moms and Babies Act of 2026

You can watch Lankford's full remarks on the Senate floor HERE and download his remarks HERE.

Background

Lankford has spent his entire Senate career fighting for life, earning an "A+" rating from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America along the way. He has pushed to protect babies born alive after botched abortions, ban late-term dismemberment procedures, stop taxpayer dollars from flowing to Planned Parenthood, and ensure doctors and nurses are never forced to participate in abortions against their beliefs. This is the third time he has led a Dobbs anniversary floor effort, and the third time Democrats have blocked every bill he and his colleagues brought forward.

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