Overreach Weekly: Here’s What Todd Blanche Told Faith Leaders About Abortion

In this edition:

• Inside Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Meeting with Faith Leaders

• Archbishop’s Wall Street Journal Op-Ed Spreads Dangerous Abortion Pill Disinformation

• From the States: The People Love Abortion

After a July hiatus from the Overreach Weekly, we’re returning with your favorite news roundup on religion and reproductive rights.

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In a now-deleted recording of a White House Faith Office webinar with faith leaders, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche discussed plans to limit abortion and protect Christians from alleged discrimination. Blanche made headlines for his claim that the Department of Justice would seek “permanent solutions so that the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state.” But that statement isn’t the most striking thing about the call: It’s the way Blanche shamelessly married anti-abortion efforts with white Christian nationalism.

Just before targeting telehealth abortion pills, Blanche discussed the importance of “bringing back regularity to the Department of Justice and the federal government when it comes to protecting religious liberty.” Blanche referenced a peaceful protest conducted at Cities Church during ICE’s onslaught on immigrant communities in Minnesota. According to Blanche, disrupting worship is “not protesting — it’s against the law.” In the same breath, Blanche defended anti-abortion agitators convicted under the FACE Act for blockading a clinic. In 2025, Trump pardoned 23 of them, many of whom have since been released from federal prison.

Let’s be clear: According to Trump’s pick for Attorney General, peacefully protesting in a church should be illegal, but physically barricading pregnant people trying to access medical care is an expression of religious freedom.

Near the end of his remarks, Blanche suggested that he has been divinely appointed to the role of Attorney General with the words, “God has a plan. Amen.” The Christian nationalist bent of this meeting has become so commonplace that it isn’t making headlines.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, one of the most extremist bishops in the country (which is a high bar), co-authored a disturbing op-ed advocating for so-called abortion pill “reversal.” The problem? There is no such thing. And pretending otherwise is dangerous.

In 2019, researchers halted a study at the University of California, Davis, over urgent safety concerns for the research participants. That’s right: We can’t even understand the efficacy of this dangerous method because participants experienced severe side effects, including vaginal bleeding. Yet, the Wall Street Journal handed this method’s miter-clad advocate a megaphone.

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Archbishop Cordileone’s op-ed opens with a story about a woman who apparently fell for an abortion pill “reversal” advertisement from Heartbeat International, which is an anti-abortion Crisis Pregnancy Center network. Evidentiary hearings recently concluded in the California Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Heartbeat International and RealOptions Obria for their alleged use of “fraudulent and misleading claims” about undoing the effects of an in-progress abortion.

The op-ed describes Heartbeat International as “a Christian nonprofit that refers women to licensed doctors for treatment.” In reality, Reproductive Health and Freedom Watch’s 2026 analysis found that 92% of Crisis Pregnancy Center websites do not identify a verifiable medical doctor.

Kansas voters rejected a convoluted back-door attempt to advance abortion bans in the state. The ballot initiative would have changed the way that Kansas Supreme Court justices are appointed, paving the way for anti-abortion actors to build an anti-choice judiciary. With around 62% of voters rejecting the ballot initiative, Kansas once again proved the popularity of reproductive rights in the state. In 2022, the people of Kansas rejected an anti-abortion ballot initiative that would have removed the constitutional right to access abortion care.

The people of Missouri, a state with a deeply rooted Catholic community, rejected a ballot initiative that sought to raise the threshold for passing constitutional amendments. This is a direct backlash to Missouri’s 2024 codification of abortion rights by popular vote through the pro-choice Amendment 3. Still, the fight is on: Missouri has to defeat a new, intentionally confusing, anti-abortion Amendment 3 in November. The Archdiocese of St. Louis is hard at work feeding confusion over these dueling amendments of the same name, claiming that voting “yes” will support “women’s health.” I didn’t know that banning healthcare would be healthy for women! Go figure!

In other great news, Massachusetts seems all but certain to pass a bill that will legalize abortion at any point in pregnancy. With this law, the highly Catholic state will make huge strides in abortion access for people across the country who need care after 24 weeks. To learn more, check out this video from Catholics for Choice’s Director of Organizing and Engagement, and follow our partners at Reproductive Equity Now.

• The Kids Really Are All Right—But Opponents of Marriage Equality Won’t Admit It: Keep your eyes peeled for the extremely concerning Greater Than campaign.

• Mifepristone and the Midterms: New polling data from KFF shows that 4 in 10 people are “unsure” about the safety of abortion pills. Keep spreading the news! Abortion pills are safe and effective.

• Adolescent Suicidality After State-Level Total Abortion Bans: A new study in JAMA suggests that high school girls in states with abortion bans were more likely to think about ending their lives. The mental health of male students did not follow the same trend. Yeesh.