WASHINGTON — National pro-life organizations are remembering the late Sen. Lindsey Graham as one of the movement's most steadfast advocates, praising his decades-long legislative efforts to protect unborn children and pledging to continue the work he championed.
Following news of Graham's death, leaders from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, National Right to Life, and other pro-life groups reflected on the South Carolina Republican's legacy, highlighting his willingness to pursue federal protections for unborn children even when such efforts faced political opposition.
Graham's sister, Darline Graham Nordone, has been named to hold his Senate seat temporarily to fulfill the remainder of his term.
Among those paying tribute was Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which worked closely with Graham on federal abortion legislation.
"Lindsey Graham was an unwavering pro-life champion and a friend," SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. "A man of vision and tenacity, he gave wise counsel and advocacy in countless difficult moments fighting for the rights of the unborn child."
"Sen. Graham never retreated from the fight for the unborn," Kelsey Pritchard, communications director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told Veronica Dudo in an interview with "EWTN News Nightly." "He always would run into battle, even when no one else would."
Pritchard pointed to Graham's role in efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, his advocacy on abortion pill regulations, and his repeated calls for national protections for unborn children.
Legacy of federal pro-life advocacy
Following the Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, Graham became one of the leading congressional voices arguing that the federal government still had a responsibility to protect unborn children, introducing legislation to establish nationwide abortion limits.
Pritchard said one of the movement's top priorities remains ending the policy permitting abortion drugs to be prescribed through telehealth and mailed without an in-person physician visit.
She noted that Graham was instrumental in organizing a letter signed by 51 senators urging the administration to rescind the policy.
"Lindsey Graham was so influential on that front," Pritchard said. "We'll be continuing that work in the days ahead."
In a statement issued following Graham's death, National Right to Life also honored Graham's decades of advocacy, calling him "one of the most influential and steadfast champions of unborn children ever to serve in the United States Congress."
"The pro-life movement has lost one of its greatest champions," National Right to Life President Carol Tobias said. "Throughout his career, Lindsey Graham never wavered in his conviction that every innocent human life has inherent dignity and deserves the protection of the law."
Graham's office noted his role in passing a law enacted in 2004 that recognizes an unborn child as a separate victim in certain federal crimes. It also pointed to his years of introducing legislation to protect pain-capable unborn children from abortion and his advocacy for federal protections following the 2022 Dobbs decision.
South Carolina Citizens for Life Executive Director Holly Gatling called Graham "a great defender" of the right to life, saying "the unborn, their mothers, and the medically vulnerable members of our human family had a great defender in Sen. Graham."
Carrying forward Graham's legacy
For Pritchard, Graham's lasting legacy extends beyond legislation.
"We hope that they remember that he was such a cheerful warrior, someone with a great sense of humor and someone who never backed down," she told "EWTN News Nightly." "He said we should never apologize for standing up for the unborn."
"There will be no replacements for Lindsey Graham, that's for sure," she added. "But we hope and pray there will be many people who follow his example and continue the fight for babies and moms."
