After the amendment fight, the public debate moved to final passage.

But final passage votes do not tell the whole story.

Some earlier votes mattered far more.

All votes are equal.

But some votes are more meaningful than others.

When we evaluate how legislators vote as a bill advances, some votes are more meaningful than others.

Voting against an amendment that would have prohibited abortion pills from being distributed in pharmacies is a far more meaningful vote than being one of 8 against 32 in the final bill passage vote.

Should Representatives Schwanke and Stapp get a pass for voting against final passage even though Schwanke voted to advance the bill on May 2, 2025?

Should Stapp get a pass even though he voted to kill pro-life Amendment #5 on May 11, 2026?

In summary, for those of us who want HB 195 defeated because it is an abortion pill expansion bill, the votes that matter most are these.

Blocking Allard’s pro-life amendment:

• Representative Stapp.
• Representative Moore.
• Representative Bynum.

Representative Allard offered the same amendment on the House Floor again on May 15.

Bynum took the kill shot when he moved to table the amendment.

Voting with the abortion lobby to block Allard’s pro-life amendment were:

• Representative Bynum.
• Representative Prax.
• Representative Ruffridge.
• Representative Saddler.
• Representative Stutes.

Giving the Democrats votes 15 and 16 needed to overcome the three-fourths threshold to advance to the easier 11-vote final passage were:

• Senator Cronk.
• Senator Kaufman.

Sadly, Republicans and conservatives — and even many pro-lifers — are quick to point out that Chuck Kopp, Louise Stutes, Jesse Bjorkman, and Cathy Giessel regularly caucus and vote with Democrats.

But just as many are equally quick to defend Republicans who block pro-life efforts or even advance the abortion lobby’s agenda.

We should expect more from our “pro-life” Republican representatives and senators.

And we should hold them accountable when they fail to live up to their “extremely, extremely pro-life” claims.