In This Issue:
- Deepening Depopulation
- Motherhood Brings True Happiness
- India’s Fertility Rate Plummets
- U.S. Immigrant Population in Decline
- Israel Study Reveals Fertility Motives
- UN Misdeeds
- Africans Push Back against UNFPA
- Science Gone Mad
- World’s Oldest Frozen Embryo Born
- Canada Considers Euthanasia for Babies
- Pro-Life Around the World
- Abortion Pill Kills Teen in India
- Pope Urges Defense of Truth
- Teen Dies After Abortion Drug
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- Fathers Sue Abortion Providers
- Cut Planned Parenthood Funding Again
- Forced Abortion in Illinois
- Good News
- Sisters Launch Pro-Life Site
Deepening Depopulation
Motherhood Brings True Happiness: A new study from BYU’s Wheatley Institute and the Institute for Family Studies confirms what mothers have always known: marriage and motherhood bring the deepest fulfillment. Surveying 3,000 women between the ages of 25 to 55, researchers found married mothers are nearly twice as likely to describe themselves as “very happy” compared to single, childless women. They also report more meaning, less loneliness, and higher levels of physical touch, which is linked to lower stress levels and overall happiness. Despite cultural claims that independence equals happiness, the evidence shows the opposite: married mothers thrive while single, childless women lag far behind.
India’s Fertility Rate Plummets: India’s fertility rate has fallen to just 1.9 children per woman, fueling fears of long-term demographic decline. Mohan Bhagwat, head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, urged families to have exactly three children, warning that communities with collapsing birth rates risk extinction. Already, schools in states like Goa and Uttarakhand are shutting down from a lack of students. The nation’s fertility decline is accelerating population aging, shrinking the workforce, and swelling the ranks of elderly dependents—threatening pensions, health care, and public finances. Without a turnaround, India’s population crisis will undermine its future stability and growth.
U.S. Immigrant Population in Decline: For the first time in over 50 years, the U.S. immigrant population is shrinking. Census Bureau data analyzed by Pew Research shows that from January to June 2025, the foreign-born population fell from 53.3 million to 51.9 million—a historic decline not seen since the 1960s. Immigrants now make up 15.4% of the U.S. population, down from 15.8%. Pew attributes the drop to recent policy changes, deportations, and reduced survey participation among immigrants.
Israel Study Reveals Fertility Motives: A new study of 1,100 young Jewish Israelis offers a fresh framework for why people want children. Researchers mapped four motivations—life enrichment, authority, preservation, and perpetuity—mirroring broader human values. For example, “life enrichment” reflects growth and happiness, while “preservation” embodies religious duty, social pressure, and future support. The study found that socio-demographic traits like age, gender, and income influence childbearing indirectly through personal values. In Israel, where childbirth remains tightly tied to marriage and pronatalist norms are strong, the findings show how personal goals and cultural pressures intersect to shape fertility choices.
UN Misdeeds
Africans Push Back against UNFPA: At the UN, African delegates clashed with Europeans and Nordics over the UNFPA’s new three-year plan, blasting its push for abortion, gender ideology, and sexual rights for children. Cameroon and Nigeria warned that the agency is abandoning poverty and development for a radical agenda, while Western nations insisted that “sexual and reproductive health and rights” are “essential.” Africans secured a partial victory: the final text distanced itself from terms rejected by the General Assembly and reaffirmed respect for national sovereignty.
Science Gone Mad
World’s Oldest Frozen Embryo Born: A baby has been born from an embryo preserved in an IVF clinic for over 30 years, setting a new world record at 11,148 days in storage. While this miracle life made headlines, millions of embryos remain trapped in freezers worldwide, treated as disposable ‘leftovers’ of the $140 billion IVF industry. Each is a human being deserving protection, yet adoption can save only a fraction. As Pope John Paul II warned, frozen embryos are ‘subjects of essential rights,’ leaving the world with an unresolved moral crisis of staggering proportions. While the Church doesn’t have an official stance on embryo adoption, some theologians argue that embryo adoption is immoral as it is a form of surrogacy, and others arguing for embryo adoption, claiming that saving the embryo from destruction is the morally licit solution.
Canada Considers Euthanasia for Babies: Canada’s euthanasia regime continues to expand in chilling ways. The Quebec College of Physicians (CMQ) has recommended that euthanasia be legalized for newborn babies with “severe deformations,” calling the deliberate ending of life “care.” Wesley J. Smith of the Discovery Institute cautioned that Canada has “jumped so enthusiastically into the euthanasia abyss,” where killing the vulnerable becomes normalized. Already, more than 15,000 Canadians died by euthanasia in 2023—making up nearly 5% of all deaths.
Pro-Life Around the World
Abortion Pill Kills Teen in India: On a recent podcast, vascular surgeon Dr. Vivekanand shared the tragic story of an 18-year-old girl who died after taking hormonal pills to delay her period. Just three days on the drugs caused a massive blood clot to form in her pelvis. At 2 a.m., she was rushed to the hospital, not breathing, and could not be saved. Hormonal contraceptives are well known to raise the risk of deadly blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks—yet women are seldom warned. Research projects that 300 to 400 otherwise healthy young women in the U.S. die each year from these drugs.
Pope Urges Defense of Truth: Pope Leo XIV has called on Catholic politicians to reject party directives and courageously defend natural law, reminding them that faith and politics cannot be separated. Addressing French officials on pilgrimage in Rome, he insisted that public service must be lived as a witness to God. The Pope warned that political “values” without Christ are powerless to change the world, and urged lawmakers to protect life, human dignity, and the common good through union with Christ, the only true source of strength.
“For years we have heard (mostly Democrat) politicians say that ‘I am personally pro-life, but I can’t impose my morality on other people,’” says Mr. Mosher. “Pope Leo has now criticized this pretense that one can be one thing in private, and another in public. Politicians need to realize that, after all of their political campaigns are over, the last vote is cast by God.”
Teen Dies After Abortion Drug: A 19-year-old woman from Ontario died just 10 days after taking the abortion pill, after going into septic shock. Despite repeated ER visits for severe pain and bleeding, doctors failed to recognize her life-threatening infection until it was too late. Hospital staff begged to have the woman transferred to the ICU, but doctors refused. She died after going into multiorgan failure and multiple cardiac arrests. Her death is a tragic testimony of the deadly risks of chemical abortion, which carries a black-box warning for sepsis and is far more dangerous than the abortion industry admits.
Pro-Life on the Home Front
Fathers Sue Abortion Providers: Fathers are joining the pro-life fight to defend their children through lawsuits against abortion providers. In Texas, husbands, boyfriends, and exes are suing over abortions that ended the lives of their children without their knowledge or consent. Backed by pro-life attorneys like Jonathan F. Mitchell, these cases are exposing the lawlessness of the mail-order abortion pill industry and strengthening state protections for life. Lawmakers are now considering expanding these legal tools, with penalties starting at $100,000.
Cut Planned Parenthood Funding Again: The One Big Beautiful Bill defunded Planned Parenthood for a year, but pro-life leaders are pushing Congress to go further. Planned Parenthood quickly turned to Democrat-appointed judges in Massachusetts and the First Circuit, who blocked enforcement to protect the abortion giant’s $800 million in taxpayer funds. With the provision set to expire, Planned Parenthood hopes to run out the clock. Pro-life voices insist Congress must act: impeach Judge Talwani for judicial overreach, defend its constitutional “power of the purse,” and make defunding Planned Parenthood permanent.
Forced Abortion in Illinois: Operation Rescue has revealed a horrifying case in Illinois where a woman was drugged, and her child forcibly aborted after she changed her mind at American Women’s Medical Center. Staff held her down, sedated her, and carried out the abortion against her will. This shocking assault comes amid a growing pattern: 16 women injured at Illinois clinics this year alone, with abortionists facing no consequences. While officials expand protections for abortion providers, women and babies are left defenseless. Illinois has become a “safe haven” for abortionists—not for women or their children.
Good News
Sisters Launch Pro-Life Site: The Sisters of Life have launched VisCenter.org, a new website offering resources and hope to women considering abortion, women seeking healing after abortion, and mothers facing difficult prenatal diagnoses. Named after the Latin word for “power,” the site features personal testimonies and emphasizes holistic care—body, mind, and soul. Sister Virginia Joy explained that their mission is to walk with women in crisis, offering prayers, support, and love so that no woman feels abandoned. Founded in 1991, the Sisters continue to live their vow to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life.
Quote of the Week
“There is no division within the personality of a public figure: there is not on one side the politician, and on the other the Christian. Rather, there is the politician who, under the gaze of God and of his conscience, lives out his commitments and his responsibilities in a Christian manner!”
~ Pope Leo XIV
