Trump's "Embryo Adoption" Program Fuels the Forced Birth Agenda

In this edition:

• Religious Freedom for Whom? According to the Supreme Court, not Rastafarians.

• Trump’s “Embryo Adoption” Program Fuels the Forced Birth Agenda

• For the First Time Since 2018, Missourians Can Access In-Clinic Medication Abortion

Starting next week, we’re taking a break from the “Overreach Weekly” in July to give us time to reflect and improve our work. We’ll still be sharing commentary on reproductive health and religious overreach, so stay tuned for upcoming investigations and insights.

The Supreme Court ignored the rights of Rastafarian Damon Landor in a recent decision, reminding us that in the U.S., religious freedom depends on who you are.

Damon Landor had taken a Nazarite vow not to cut his hair, an expression of growth and spiritual devotion for Rastafarians. But in 2020, guards at Louisiana’s Raymond Laborde Correctional Center held Landor down and shaved him. According to Landor’s lawsuit against the state’s Department of Corrections, he presented the guards with a copy of a federal ruling that had protected Rastafarians from Louisiana’s policy of cutting their hair. The guards threw it in the trash.

On June 23, 2026, the Supreme Court decided that Landor had no grounds to sue the individual prison guards or receive retribution for the horrific experience. As director of the Law, Rights and Religion Project, Elizabeth Reiner Platt put it, such a decision “gives state jail and prison employees nationwide a free pass to commit similar violations of incarcerated people’s religious freedom without consequence.”

Why is it that the Christian right can comfortably take their beliefs to the Supreme Court, but Damon Landor can’t defend his religious freedom? In cahoots with its Catholic justices, the Christian right has successfully targeted gender-affirming care and contraception.

In true white Christian nationalist fashion, an incarcerated Black person — whose rights are already suppressed by the U.S.’s carceral system — cannot enjoy the basic rights of bodily autonomy and religious expression, as previously affirmed for his faith by a federal court.

This decision reinforces what we already know: The Christian right continues to skate by with unbridled religious privilege rather than a true, inclusive religious freedom.

The Trump administration allocated millions to a federal program that incentivizes childbirth and defines legal rights for fetuses and embryos. The Embryo Adoption Awareness and Services program was first created in 2002 as an awareness campaign letting prospective parents battling infertility know that the option to claim embryos was just that: an option. The Trump administration has instead incentivized this program, offering grant awards totaling around $2 million, with the intention of “serving the needs” of “children who already exist.” The program prioritizes grants to faith-based clinics that intend to distribute embryos for the sake of preserving the so-called rights of the embryo.

This monetized forced birth project is no surprise from our current misaligned, mismanaged government leadership. Is this where they put the money they ripped away from Black maternal health research and other public health initiatives?

Some good news to keep us grounded in this human rights nightmare: Missouri restored access to in-state abortion pills.

Judge Jerri Zhang threw out abortion pill restrictions that violated the state’s constitutional abortion protection, which passed in 2024. Previously, in order to receive care, abortion providers had to implement “complication” plans, including a 24/7 OB-GYN in case of complications (which are extremely rare with abortion pills).

Abortion seekers can now access pills at clinics — but they must still have an in-person exam before receiving care. This maintains a barrier to access for people in rural areas, those with lower incomes, and those without transportation.

We’ll continue watching Missouri as midterms approach. The state’s anti-abortion movement put an anti-abortion initiative on the ballot with the exact same name as the previous pro-abortion amendment — likely to confuse voters.

• Catholics for Choice marks the Dobbs anniversary and one year of The Overreach Monitor exposing Catholic anti-abortion overreach.

• In historic first, Catholic sisters return Indigenous land: In Wisconsin, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration returned the site of its spirituality center back to its rightful owners, the Lac du Flambeau Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa. They’ve set an example we hope other Catholic leaders will follow.

• JD Vance’s Communion reveals he hasn’t changed as much as he says he has: Anthea Butler pops the bubble around Vance’s air of superiority in his commentary on Catholicism and conversion.

• Why are crisis pregnancy centers saying they can “rule out” ectopic pregnancy? Just to be clear: They probably can’t. And claiming otherwise puts pregnant people at serious risk.