Stand Up Idaho hosted a forum this past week, and invited David Ripley to talk with the group about Idaho’s Defense of Life Act … and the threat posed by Planned Parenthood’s ballot initiative.
Here is a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TiwsvzOsP4
| Labrador Letter October 27, 2025 Dear Friends, Last week, my office filed a motion asking a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Idaho’s Defense of Life Act. The plaintiff claims that Idaho’s pro life laws are unconstitutional and prevent doctors from providing necessary emergency medical care. However, the evidence tells a remarkably different story. The physician bringing this challenge, Dr. Stacy Seyb, admitted under oath that he arranged emergency flights to send pregnant patients out of state during emergency situations without first determining what Idaho law actually allowed him to do. He never read the statute itself, nor did he review the Idaho Supreme Court’s 2023 decision clarifying what doctors are allowed to do in such circumstances. He also neither received nor requested training from St. Luke’s Health System regarding what abortion procedures are lawful under Idaho’s statutes. In short, Dr. Seyb failed to understand Idaho law and neglected to educate himself on his professional duties and responsibilities before sending patients out of state. Patients suffered from his lack of understanding, not because of our laws. Idaho’s Defense of Life Act is clear. Physicians can perform abortions when they believe, in their good faith medical judgment, an abortion is necessary to prevent the death of the mother. Doctors don’t need to wait until death is certain. They don’t need to believe death is imminent. And the Idaho Supreme Court further clarified this in their 2023 decision upholding Idaho’s law. For years, Idaho has faced unfair attacks in the media, with irresponsible claims that our pro-life laws force doctors to deny women lifesaving care. These claims have been repeated loudly and often. But the facts now show that Dr. Seyb sent patients out of state, not because Idaho law required it, but because he chose not to educate himself on what the Idaho law allows doctors to do in emergency situations. And even more troubling, rather than training their physicians on when abortions are permitted in Idaho, St. Luke’s left their own doctors in the dark. Idaho’s laws were crafted with compassion, clarity, and support for both mothers and their unborn children. Our laws work in harmony to protect life while allowing physicians to make good faith medical decisions. Physicians have broad clinical judgment under Idaho law. They always have. But that judgment can only be exercised if they take the time to understand what the law permits. As your Attorney General, I will always fight to defend Idaho’s laws protecting mothers and their unborn children. Through our laws, Idaho has chosen life. And I will continue to ensure that our laws are accurately understood and vigorously defended against wrongful attacks. Best regards, Raul Labrador ABOUT THE OFFICE The Attorney General’s Office provides legal representation to the State of Idaho. The Attorney General and his deputies represent state agencies and offices, to better the lives of Idahoans. For more information about the Office, visit our website here. Our mailing address is: P.O. Box 83720 Boise, ID 83720-0010 |
“There is nothing new under the sun,” Solomon wrote in the Book of Ecclesiastes. What is experienced today has been experienced before. What has happened in the past will happen again. That’s good to know. Because in today’s America, the Christian faithful are faced with a terrifying and broad array of dangers and threats. It is good to know that there’s nothing unique about these evils. Every one of them has a precedent. We are menaced not by new false gods, but by the return of demons from long ago.
To those raised in a Christian world, it’s easy to take its moral innovations for granted. Even atheists benefit from living in the world that Christians made. And the surest sign that we are living in an evil modern age is that the forces of modernity are fanatically fighting to restore the moral order that existed prior to Christianity: In other words, the moral order of the Pagans. In the Pagan world, the individual human life was of no importance. Therefore abortion, infanticide, human sacrifice, and more were just a part of life. Under Paganism, there was no notion that humans had equal innate worth, so one tribe enslaved another, or rulers enslaved their subjects, all with impunity.
I’ve been friends with Lucas for some time now. I’ve come to know him as a speaker, pastor, and partner at Turning Point USA Faith. But above all, I know him as a fearless warrior for Christ. Lucas is a man built to stand for the truth in a time of great apostasy. And the era we live in is a time of apostasy that would make the Old Testament prophets shudder.
The revival of those Old Testament times is exactly what this book, Pagan Threat: Confronting America’s Godless Uprising, confronts. Casual Christians like to imagine we have already won a permanent victory over the worshipers of Moloch, Baal, and Jupiter, but those gods are now back with a vengeance bearing new names like “progressivism,” “tolerance,” and “social justice.”
This new Paganism says a lot about “freedom,” but just like the old Pagans, its ultimate agenda is domination and moral anarchy. Christians seduced by its superficial words will find themselves betrayed—or making an alliance with the devil.
Thankfully, people like Lucas have realized the danger and are fighting back. They are fighting back with a true vision of Christianity—one that isn’t always polite and isn’t always “nice,” but is always on fire for the Lord and His truth. This book will not always be comfortable to read. It’s not pleasant to realize that our faith and our way of life are in danger. Denial is always more pleasant in the moment. But if you are willing to open its pages with a heart tuned to the Holy Spirit, it will also equip you and embolden you to see clearly, speak truthfully, and stand firmly in the face of darkness. Don’t just read this book—internalize what it has to say. Then, share its message with your Christian friends, before they are seduced by Paganism themselves.
We have a faith and a country to save.
From: Miles, Lucas. Pagan Threat: Confronting America’s Godless Uprising with a Foreword by Charlie Kirk (p. 10). Humanix Books. Kindle Edition.
Dr. James Thorp delivered shocking testimony to the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs regarding the impact of the government’s concerted campaign to persuade pregnant women to get the COVID 19 vaccine. We all want to forget the terrible years of the COVID crisis; but Dr. Thorp begs us to look at what was done to the American people in the name of “science” and “public health”.
We have a clear memory of the great questions which arose early in the pandemic years about the impact on pregnant mothers getting the shot. Early on there was controversy about whether children should get the shot. That led, naturally, to urgent questions about whether pregnant mothers should be vaccinated – especially when we learned that the vaccines used a new technology which modified RNA in human cells. What would happen to vulnerable developing babies?
The FDA and CDC commissioned high-powered studies. We here at Idaho Chooses Life smelled a rat in the soup when the major study – the “Shimabukuro Study”, published in April of 2021 – pronounced that the vaccine was perfectly safe for preborn babies and their mothers. Our suspicion arose from the fact that this “gold standard” study was conducted over just a ten-week time frame; obviously their findings couldn’t possibly contain any data on the long term development of preborn children. And, in fact, the impact on children born after being exposed to the shot while in the womb has yet to be publicly addressed or examined.
What the Shimabukuro Study purported to find was that the vaccine had no impact on miscarriage rates. They claimed that about 12% of mothers miscarried in the ten weeks following a vaccination; that is within the “normal” range of 15%.
Thus, the FDA and virtually every public health agency in America began a very intense public media campaign aimed at pregnant mothers to get vaccinated. It was safe. It was the only responsible thing to do … to protect oneself …to protect that growing baby in the womb.
The Masters of the Universe, it turns out, had determined that driving pregnant mothers into the clinic to get vaccinated was essential to the overall campaign to get Americans to ingest the experimental shot.
But here is the great bombshell: Dr. Thorp reveals that the Shimabukuro Study was a complete sham. He told the US Senate that the authors of this study flat out lied to the American public regarding their findings … and about the devastating impact of COVID vaccinations on preborn children.
Dr. Thorp claims that the actual miscarriage for mothers getting the shot was not 12% … but actually an astounding 82% among women who received the vaccine during the first trimester of their pregnancy! “These figures mirror the effect of chemical abortion drugs such as RU-486,” Dr. Thorp told the Committee.
What does that actually mean?
According to the data we could find, there are approximately 5.36 million pregnancies in the United States each year. In 2020 … the last year for which we could find data … roughly 67% of these pregnancies resulted in live births; 17% were ended by an abortion … and 15% were lost to miscarriage.
So how bad is the carnage?
Assuming that 50% of pregnant women received a vaccination in 2021 and 2022 … that would mean about 2,680,000 mothers received the shot. (This is actually a low-ball estimate, as the CDC claims that 70% of American adults were fully vaccinated).
If one sees a miscarriage rate of 82% among this population … then we can guesstimate that 2,197,600 babies lost their lives because of the vaccination program shoved down the throats of the American people by our governmental/expert class. Each year! During the critical COVID years of 2021-22, that conservatively turns into 4,395,200 babies lost to miscarriage. Of course, we would expect some pregnancies to naturally result in miscarriage; the “normal” total for these two years would have been something like 1,608,000.
Thus, we can guesstimate about 2.8 million “excess” deaths resulting from the government’s campaign to impose vaccination on the American people.
But given the dishonesty and unethical behavior of our media, public health agencies the establishment medical community – do not expect to see these numbers ever widely discussed or even included in the human toll of our long and tragic experience of COVID.
One can only hope that brave souls like Dr. Thorp will provoke some band of smart, hungry lawyers to build a class-action lawsuit around this horrific breach of the public’s trust. We would urge that the named defendants include not just the drug companies … but the entire list of co-conspirators, including governmental agencies like the CDC, the FDA and even state health agencies like the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare.
May justice be done for these innocent victims and their grieving families.
The US House included language in the “Big/Beautiful Bill” to end the scandalous partnership between our federal government and Planned Parenthood. After a big push by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi – the yearly contribution to this nefarious organization has risen to something close to $800 million. And that doesn’t count the added public revenues given to Planned Parenthood by state government matching monies under Medicaid.
For many years, Americans of conscience have pressed Congress to stop public financing of the Abortion Industry. Several times we have come close. But through one ruse or another Planned Parenthood has managed to pull various rabbits out of the proverbial hat.
We have, perhaps, never been closer to ending this abuse of American taxpayers. But it is not done yet.
We have already seen press reports that the Senate GOP is working on a major revamping of the House-passed bill. Smoke signals suggest that the vote on this historic bill will be close, as no Democrats would consider voting for President Trump’s signature legislation. This all means that moderates in the caucus will hold immense power over final passage in the Senate. And that means pro-abortion champions Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins may once again be in a position to protect their friends at Planned Parenthood by demanding the defunding language be stripped from the bill.
It is not only time for pro-Life voters to watch this Senate process very closely – but to be in earnest prayer that we may finally be freed from this horrible bondage.
Guest column from Pro-Life Action Ministries:
Today we are continuing our series on abortion procedures. This week’s update is featuring induction abortions. It is important to note that similar to the update regarding D&E abortions, this one contains graphic and disturbing information. Induction abortions are among the most gruesome and evil abortion procedures, and thus may be difficult for sensitive audiences.
What is an induction abortion?
An induction abortion is a gruesome and heartbreaking procedure used in the second or third trimester to intentionally end the life of a nearly fully developed pre-born baby. This type of abortion takes place over 2–3 days. The abortion sometimes begins with the mother taking Mifepristone (the chemical abortion drug we discussed last week). This drug blocks vital nutrients from getting to the baby, essentially starving him or her. However, at this point in pregnancy, Mifepristone alone is not necessarily enough to kill the baby. So, abortionists will then execute the baby using a long needle and insert it through the mother’s abdomen. The needle injects a poison—either digoxin or potassium chloride—into the baby’s heart or head. This causes a fatal heart attack, ensuring the child is delivered dead. The goal is to stop the baby’s heartbeat before labor is induced, so that no signs of life are present at delivery.
Once the baby has been killed, the abortionist begins preparing the mother’s body to deliver her dead child. This includes inserting small rods into the cervix to slowly force it open. Over the course of hours or even days, these rods expand, and additional drugs like misoprostol or mifepristone are used to trigger strong contractions. The mother then goes through the physical pain and trauma of labor, knowing she will deliver a baby who has been intentionally killed.
In addition to the horrific fate of the baby in this abortion procedure, late-term abortions have a high risk of hemorrhage, lacerations, and uterine perforations, as well as a risk of maternal death. During litigation to keep D&E abortions legal, abortionists stated: “[i]nduction abortions can last from five hours to three days; are extremely expensive; entail more pain, discomfort, and recovery time for the patient than a standard D&E procedure; and are medically contraindicated for some patients.”
The reality is, many babies can survive outside the womb at the level of development when an induction abortion is considered. By 25 weeks, a pre-born baby is fully developed and considered viable. They can fully feel the pain of this abortion procedure.
Sometimes, the injection meant to stop the baby’s heart fails, and the child is born alive. In these heartbreaking cases, no medical care is given—the baby is simply left to die. A 2024 study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology analyzed 13,777 late-term abortions in Canada between 15–29 weeks and found that over 11% resulted in live births. Closer to home, Minnesota’s 2022 annual abortion report revealed that five babies were born alive in 2021 following failed abortion attempts. No life-saving measures were taken and all five babies died. Tragically, instead of addressing this barbaric reality, the abortion industry works to conceal it. Reporting on babies born alive is largely unavailable and in Minnesota, the Democrat-controlled legislature in 2023 repealed the law that once required appropriate life-saving care for these children and stopped tracking these cases. Regardless, these survivors are not statistics. They are human beings with inherent dignity and worth.
Years ago, the Democrat Party was seen as the party which owned “women’s issues”. They were the natural home of the feminist movement, which ostensibly sought to establish “equality” between the genders. Admittedly, the early movement contributed some positive things to society and brought attention to important issues.
An example which comes to mind is the work devoted to supporting girls in sports. Another might be the effort to confront sexism in institutions where a woman was at least as qualified for a teaching position or other job.
But the core of the feminist movement has always been wrapped around the axle of abortion. Many modern feminists have convinced themselves that abortion is necessary to the dignity of women. This evil moral corruption has led feminism and the modern Democrat Party into ever deeper contradictions and even the betrayal of women.
Take, for example, the great cover-up of health issues related to abortion and chemical contraception. The modern Left has effectively quashed any discussion about the risks of abortion, including higher rates of miscarriage and breast cancer. Under pressure from modern “feminists,” the Biden Administration even stopped collecting data about the health complications arising from the use of RU-486.
In recent years, however, the Democrat Party has advanced to outright hostility toward women.
How else can one explain the fact that most national Democrats refuse to articulate a definition of ‘woman’ as a starting point toward any discussion of the social status and condition of American women. (See the Senate Confirmation Hearing on Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Jackson).
And what can be said about the Democrat Party’s demand that men be allowed to compete against women in all sports? More than that – they demand an end to any safe and private space for women and girls, subjecting them to a humiliating invasion of their very personhood. This is a complete betrayal of all the work that went into enacting Title IX decades ago.
What prompts this commentary, however, is the latest, and darkest betrayal of American women by the Democratic Governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers. This “progressive” Democrat seeks to erase motherhood from Wisconsin Law. In his fevered contempt for women, Governor Evers proposes to replace the term “mother” in code with the term “inseminated person”.
It would be easy to laugh this off as some kind of weird foolishness. But that would be a serious mistake. We need to ponder this development because it reveals a contempt for women which is incredibly disturbing.
The ancient feminists – like Gloria Steinem – made a compelling case that society needed to stop “objectifying” women as mere objects. They argued that things like pornography demeaned women and led to men treating them as little more than playthings designed for sexual gratification. A fairly righteous observation.
Now ponder the connotations of Evers’ latest attack on women: Not only would he strip women of the beautiful and wondrous gift of being a co-creator with God of human life itself – he reduces them to the secondary object of some male action (i.e., “insemination”). How bizarrely demeaning and objectifying.
The modern Democrat Party seems to be held captive by some mad delirium oddly focused on destroying women.
It is no great insight to observe that President Trump has summoned a whirlwind of change to the federal government. The foundations of the bureaucratic state are shaking: We must pray that he succeeds in forcing them to give way.
Less attention has been paid to the President’s continued commitment to recovering a culture of Life within America. That commitment was revealed by his restoration of Reagan’s “Mexico City Policy” of prohibiting the use of our tax dollars to finance the killing of preborn children in foreign lands.
We also applaud his pardoning of pro-Life warriors abused by Joe Biden under the auspices of the FACE Act for the crimes of praying around Planned Parenthood abortuaries. But this is only a first step in recovering decency and constitutional principles.
Our bold Vice President recently delivered a stunning speech to European elites regarding their clear disdain for democracy and religious freedom. He castigated princes for their persecution of Christians willing to publicly – or even privately – defend the cause of the vulnerable through draconian laws. And, yet, America itself paved the way for these kinds of laws under Clinton when the FACE Act was enacted. This federal statute creates a wall of silence and protection around abortuaries in order to make the killers of preborn children feel secure and safe in their evil.
President Trump must lead America toward a restoration of justice – and respect for the First Amendment – by pushing Congress to repeal the FACE Act altogether. Legislation has been introduced by Sen. Mike Lee to do just that. But given the immense power of the Abortion Lobby and socialized media, combined with the general dysfunction of Congress – we fear that it will require a major push from President Trump himself to get this bill through Congress.
Another urgent pro-Life agenda item is the defunding of Planned Parenthood. Suggestions have appeared in the past couple of weeks that DOGE and the Trump Administration is looking at the massive amount of money flowing from the federal government to Planned Parenthood. This must become an action item. We cannot hope to recover the culture from the clutches of the Death Industry while they receive some $750 million each year from the Treasury. That money is the rocket fuel for their on-going deception effort, resulting in the on-going slaughter of millions of innocent babies.
We are currently working in the Idaho Legislature to gain passage of a Joint Memorial to Congress & the President, urging approval of a family planning waiver to Idaho’s Medicaid program. This change requires Medicaid recipients get their birth control pills from their primary care physician – and not some parasitic vendor like Planned Parenthood. The Idaho Legislature enacted this program change in 2019. But the federal government under Joe Biden has not even bothered to respond to Idaho’s petition for approval. We need to get this waiver approved so that Idaho Planned Parenthood is cut-off from the Medicaid Program. Perhaps this can become a successful model for other states.
President Trump has an overwhelming list of daunting challenges before him. We must continue to pray the Lord’s wisdom and courage for him and those in the Administration.
Minnesota native Michele Bachmann was our guest speaker at this year’s Christmas Dinner. She delivered a powerful talk, an analysis of the practical impact associated with choosing to accept the gift of Life from our Creator.
Idaho and Minnesota provide the wise observer with a powerful contrast, as the peoples of each state are on very different paths.
Minnesota once was a leader in protecting pro-Life values – despite its historical embrace of more liberal policies. In fact, Minnesota was once ahead of Idaho in providing basic protections for preborn children. They were ahead of us in requiring parental consent for abortions. They were ahead of Idaho in denying taxpayer funds for abortions. They enacted a ban on Partial Birth Abortions before Idaho did.
As you may have heard, Minnesota is on a radically different path these days. These days, it is among the nation’s most radical states in actually promoting abortion and the mutilation of tender children under the guise of “transgender medical treatment”. This hard turn toward the Culture of Death has come at a price.
The people of Minnesota have turned to inept leadership … people like Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison. No objective observer of this past presidential election could deny that Tim Walz is pretty much a dufus. Thank the Lord he got nowhere near the White House.
Contrast Minnesota’s foolish leadership with the high caliber of leaders nurturing Idaho’s future: Governor Brad Little and Attorney General Raul Labrador, to name just two. We are blessed to have such competent, morally sound leaders; our legislature and executive branch are loaded with rich examples of quality leadership that will help Idaho families for many years to come.
I submit to you that each of the states is harvesting the curses and blessings promised by the Lord at the very beginning of the Biblical story of His saving grace: In his last speech before the Israelites, Moses says:
“I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ….” (Dt. 30:19).
Many falsely believe that the abortion issue is some kind of distraction to the “real issues” – guns, taxes, crime. They are mistaken. The question of refusing God’s gift of Life is at the very heart of nearly every problem and challenge we face as a society. He is, after all, our Creator.
It may seem like the contrast between a Walz and Little has nothing whatsoever to do with abortion. But I submit it has everything to do abortion. Immature and corrupt leadership is part of the curse associated with rejecting God’s commands. And that sorry leadership reaches into all aspects of Minnesota’s future.
The fact is, Minnesota is a state in serious decline.
It now ranks 35th among the states in population decline. It ranks 25th in the nation for reading scores among 4th graders in the public school system – where once it could take pride in leading the nation in literacy. Minnesota ranks 33rd in the country for new business start-ups. Net farm income is projected to decline some $2.7 billion in that state over 2023. And Minnesota ranks 40th in growth, as measured by the state’s GDP.
These are all signs that Minnesota is reaping what it has sowed. The embrace of a culture of Death does not just affect the tender preborn. It carries with it an increasingly severe judgment that affects everyone in that society. Judgment is inescapable and certain.
Thank God Idaho is on a radically different path. We are being blessed by that same God … by those same precious promises as we continue to battle to rebuild a Culture of Life in Idaho.
Because of the Defense of Life Act … Idaho stands as a light to the nation.
Updated photo of the state of things in Minnesota:
This Thanksgiving is Particularly Important.
America has been especially blessed by the Lord throughout its history – from a miraculous founding to overcoming the threats of two world wars to protecting our precious grant of freedom. God has used America to provide a beacon of hope to a world mired in paganism, oppression and poverty.
But these past several years have been downright painful as that beacon of light grew pretty dim. It often felt like evil, perversion and chaos were about to swamp the boat as the “progressive agenda” was shoved down our throats at every turn.
Many Americans shared a sense that the country was at a critical crossroad during this last election. Millions of Americans feared what would become of us should Ms. Harris win the presidency and extend the progressive revision of our nation. It seemed unlikely that the American Vision would survive a Harris Presidency. Yet, in our hearts, we knew that she was the kind of leader we deserved. For much of this long Biden reign, it seemed the only rational thing was to reach out to the Lord and plead for His intervening mercy.
Just weeks ago, the Lord answered those prayers. He has granted us a reprieve, a chance to repent and recover those values which have always made America unique among the nations.
We have a hard struggle ahead; so much damage has been done to this nation by Biden & Co. But today we can take a long breath to soberly consider what God has done for us. Hope has been restored. The chance to overcome utter insanity has been given us.
As we gather today to mark God’s bounty, it is imperative that our thanksgiving carry a somber recognition of our great escape from certain calamity.
Thank you, Lord, that we still live in biblical times.