Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, signed a bill into law Wednesday that strips the state government of the power to protect unborn children up to the moment of birth. “It is extremely disappointing to see Rhode Island lawmakers cave to pressure from the abortion lobby to pass this radical bill,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List.

As the battle over unborn life heats up across the nation, states are taking clear sides through legislation. Governors in Illinois, Maine, and Vermont signed bills into law last week that erase all legal protections for unborn babies in their states. Pro-life advocates call those measures extreme.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law Wednesday stripping all protections from unborn children, allowing for abortions up to the moment of birth. The law, effective immediately, also allows partial-birth abortions, removes protection for pro-life doctors and insurers who object to the practice, and loosens requirements for abortion providers, among other provisions.

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, signed a bill Monday that limits any opportunity for the state to safeguard unborn babies. The law, passed by the Democratic-majority legislature, prohibits any state or local government entity from taking action to protect unborn babies from abortion.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will no longer fund research using tissue from aborted babies, following a trajectory begun in September 2018. HHS announced last week it had discontinued a funding contract with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), for HIV research involving mice with humanized immune systems using aborted fetal tissue.

A St. Louis judge is considering whether to allow the last abortion facility in Missouri to remain open after a one-hour hearing on the matter Wednesday.

Pro-life lawmakers in the North Carolina House of Representatives failed to muster enough votes to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivor’s Protection Act on Wednesday. The measure would have created civil and criminal penalties for abortionists who fail to offer the same care to babies born alive after botched abortions as they would to other patients. Cooper, a Democrat, vetoed the bill on April 18, calling it “an unnecessary interference between doctors and their patients.”