Pro-life organization refuses cease-and-desist demand to retract calling abortion ‘killing’
The organization’s attorneys say the demand threatens its right to speak clearly about abortion and defend unborn life.
A national pro-life organization has refused a cease-and-desist demand to delete years of abortion reporting and retract statements describing abortion as killing, saying the language is protected by the First Amendment.
Live Action rejected Amplify Legal’s July 15 demand that it delete its reporting on 13 people who sought or supported abortions and retract statements in those publications, according to an Aug. 17 release from the Thomas More Society, which represents the organization.
Lila Rose, Live Action founder and president, said in the release that the possibility of legal action would not change the organization’s language.
“Abortion is an act of killing,” Rose said. “It deliberately ends the life of a living human child.”
Amplify sent the cease-and-desist letter on behalf of 13 people whose cases appeared in Live Action News coverage. The firm alleged that the organization published false claims about their pregnancies, fetal diagnoses, available treatments, and medical risks.
Amplify also demanded that Live Action remove related articles and social media posts and issue corrections, retractions, and a public apology.
The firm repeated its objections to Live Action’s reporting in comments to FOX News Digital.
“Live Action has repeatedly accused grieving families with wanted pregnancies of ‘wanting to kill’ their babies,” Amplify told the outlet. “These statements are both inaccurate and cruel.”
Live Action’s attorneys said the organization would review specific claims of factual error but would not withdraw its reporting or its position that abortion is killing.
“Live Action will not cease reporting on abortion,” its attorneys wrote in the Aug. 17 release. “It will not desist from expressing the view … that abortion takes the life of a living human being and is accurately described as ‘killing.’”
The attorneys cited a 2023 Texas Supreme Court ruling recognizing comparisons between abortion and murder as protected opinion.
Amplify has not said whether it will sue, telling FOX News Digital that it is weighing its clients’ options.
Rose said in the release that Live Action would continue defending its right to describe abortion in pro-life terms.
“Threats will not stop us from calling abortion what it is or from fighting for the right of every child to live,” she said. “We will keep fighting, and we will win.”
