U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, of Brookhaven, announced Thursday she will serve as the chair of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus in the 118^th Congress. The caucus is the central organizing point for senators to protect and defend the right to life from conception.

Hyde-Smith assumes the chairmanship from U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who founded the caucus in 2019 to advance pro-life policies, vet legislation through a pro-life lens, and facilitate collaboration between pro-life organizations and Senators. The caucus also provides important oversight to hold the Biden administration accountable for its radical pro-abortion policies.

“The success of Mississippi’s challenge to Roe v. Wade has changed the landscape of the pro-life movement by returning the power to the people and their elected representatives to protect life, something that requires us to renew and readjust how we work to advance our cause,” Hyde-Smith said. “As chairman of the Pro-Life Caucus, I will lead the fight in the Senate to protect unborn children and their mothers from abortion, and to combat the misinformation and extreme agenda of the abortion industry.”

With the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, the caucus has focused on:

• Blocking Senate Democrats and the Biden administration’s abortion agenda
• Advancing critical protections for unborn children
• Stopping taxpayer funding for abortion and the abortion industry
• Stopping the trafficking of dangerous chemical abortion drugs
• Advancing policies to support pregnant mothers in choosing life

In the recently-concluded 117th Congress, the Pro-Life Caucus successfully:

• Protected the Hyde Amendment and other longstanding pro-life protections to prevent taxpayer funding for abortion and protect conscience rights
• Defeated Senate Democrats’ radical Abortion on Demand Until Birth Act, which would impose late-term abortion on demand and eliminate virtually all limits on abortion
• Led Senate Republicans in support of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Dobbs that returned the issue of abortion to the people and their elected representatives

“It is an honor to continue the great work Sen. Daines began in forming the Senate Pro-Life Caucus,” Hyde-Smith said.