In This Issue:
- PRI in the Media
- The CCP’s True Nature
- Deepening Depopulation
- America’s Fertility Future
- Science Gone Mad
- Embryos Implant in Organoids
- Billionaire Fathers 100+ Children
- Pro-Life Around the World
- Preborn Personhood Recognized
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- Biden Abortion Policy Overturned
- New York Embraces Death
- Pro-Life Battlegrounds
- Life-Affirming Support Spreads
- Good News
- Miracle Baby Survives
PRI in the Media
The CCP’s True Nature: PRI President Steven Mosher joined One-on-One with Steve Lance to share his rare firsthand experiences inside Mao-era communes during the late 1970s, which dismantled many Western misconceptions about communist China at the time. Drawing on those experiences, Mosher discussed population control policies, foreign influence operations, and the Chinese Communist Party’s global ambitions. He went on to explain that the CCP and its pressure campaigns within the United States have long been underestimated and pose a serious threat.
Deepening Depopulation
America’s Fertility Future: According to new projections from the U.S. Census Bureau, the American fertility rate will decline from the current 1.63 to 1.55 by 2100. This is far below the 2.1 births per woman needed to maintain population levels without immigration. The decline is attributed mainly to financial pressures and cultural changes, prompting the Trump administration to consider incentives such as a $5,000 “baby bonus,” tying state funding to birth and marriage rates, and making childbirth free for privately insured families. Some demographers argue that policy should also focus on preparing for an aging population. At the same time as fertility falls, life expectancy is projected to rise significantly, reaching 86.6 years for men and 89.4 years for women by 2100.
“The Census Bureau’s projection of slowly falling U.S. birthrates is not set in stone,” says Mr. Mosher. “Making Birth Free and increasing the per child tax credit, along with other policies encouraging a cultural resurgence of strong families, can reverse this trend. The remedy is in ourselves; we have but to change our policies and our morals.”
Science Gone Mad
Embryos Implant in Organoids: Researchers have reported new laboratory experiments in which human embryos obtained from IVF clinics were combined with lab-grown uterine “organoids” to simulate the earliest stages of pregnancy. This development was presented in three papers published by the Cell Press from teams in China, Europe, and the United States. Scientists say these models are the most detailed recreations yet of embryo implantation and could help explain why IVF often fails, but the work relies on using living human embryos as research material. Although the experiments were halted before embryos reached two weeks of development to comply with “legal and ethical rules,” the studies treat these little human lives as material to be experimented upon and disposed of.
Billionaire Fathers 100+ Children: Telegram founder and billionaire Pavel Durov, 41, has garnered attention for offering to pay for IVF treatments for unmarried women under 37 who want to conceive using his sperm. According to Durov, he considers sperm donation to be a “civic duty” amid global fertility declines. Durov claims to have fathered more than 100 children through past sperm donations, in addition to six children with previous partners, and has said all of his biological children will one day be entitled to a share of his fortune if they can establish a DNA link. His sperm, previously donated and stored at a Moscow fertility clinic, has been described as “high quality donor material” for its “high genetic compatibility.” While Durov no longer donates actively, he has confirmed that stored samples remain available under limited conditions.
For more information, read our IVF Fact Sheet.
Pro-Life Around the World
Preborn Personhood Recognized: The unborn are now recognized as human persons in Puerto Rico. Gov. Jenniffer González Colón recently signed a package of new laws, including Senate Bill 504. This pro-life measure amends the island’s Civil Code to affirm that a human being in gestation is a natural person from the moment of conception in the mother’s womb. Authored by Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz and supported by senators from multiple parties, the law strengthens legal recognition and protection of unborn human life, reflecting a clear commitment to the dignity of life at every stage of development.
“Puerto Rico’s new bill recognizing the personhood of the unborn from conception is an important step towards protecting life from womb to tomb,” says Mr. Mosher. “Life does not begin with birth, with viability, or with implantation, but it begins at the very moment that sperm and egg fuse to become a unique human being.”
Pro-Life on the Home Front
Biden Abortion Policy Overturned: The Trump administration has reinstated strong pro-life protections at the Department of Veterans Affairs by barring the VA from providing abortion services or abortion counseling to veterans and their dependents. The change follows a Justice Department memo sent on Dec. 18th that overturned a Biden-era policy allowing limited abortions in cases of rape, incest, or broadly defined health concerns, concluding that such services are not permitted under federal law. An internal VA directive now requires immediate compliance, while making clear that doctors may still provide lifesaving care for pregnant women, including treatment for ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages.
“The abortion-loving Biden administration illegally used tax dollars to pay for abortions through the VA,” says Mr. Mosher. “That policy, which was justified using the typical ‘health of the mother, rape and incest’ excuses, is now history. The VA can go back to doing what it was intended to do, namely, improve health and save lives, not take them.”
New York Embraces Death: New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced that she will sign the Medical Aid in Dying Act, legalizing medical aid in dying for mentally competent adults with a terminal illness and a prognosis of six months or less to live. In an op-ed, Hochul said the decision reflects her belief that government should respect personal autonomy, and the bill specifies that requesting or using such medication is not to be legally classified as suicide. With this move, New York would join 12 other states and Washington, D.C., that allow the practice. The law permits individual doctors and religiously affiliated health facilities to opt out, but still requires them to promptly transfer patients to a provider willing to participate.
Pro-Life Battlegrounds: As the year draws to a close, tensions remain high in the ongoing effort to end abortion in the United States. Although the Trump administration has reversed many policies enacted under former President Joe Biden, it has not yet restored the COVID-era requirement for in-person doctor visits before abortion drugs are prescribed. Pro-life advocates continue to urge lawmakers to better protect women and unborn children from the dangers of abortion pills, as well as to protect the general public from the slippery slope of expanding assisted suicide legislation. At the same time, Planned Parenthood has launched legal efforts to restore its federal Medicaid funding after the One Big Beautiful Bill temporarily cut off those funds for one year.
Life-Affirming Support Spreads: As pro-life policy spreads, Christian support groups are finding new ways to support expectant parents, including those who are facing unplanned or difficult pregnancies. Embrace Grace is one such group that offers compassionate, life-affirming alternatives. A nationwide ministry, Embrace Grace operates in more than 1,100 churches, supporting single and pregnant women by connecting them with church-based communities that provide emotional, spiritual, and practical help. Since its founding, it has served more than 5,400 expectant parents. Through initiatives like its “Love Boxes,” which offer encouragement and resources, the organization emphasizes that mothers are not alone and are supported in choosing life. For families facing life-limiting prenatal diagnoses, Embrace Grace partners with groups such as Abel Speaks, which provides counseling, medical referrals, and memorial support, having helped nearly 700 families since 2018. Together, these ministries highlight the growing role of pro-life organizations in walking alongside families with hope, dignity, and care during challenging pregnancies.
Good News
Miracle Baby Survives: A California woman and her baby are being celebrated after an extraordinarily rare and life-threatening pregnancy ended in a healthy birth. Forty-one-year-old Suze Lopez discovered she was pregnant only after seeking medical care for what she believed was an ovarian cyst, later learning that her baby had not developed in her uterus. Instead, her son reached near full term in her abdomen—an occurrence with less than a one-in-a-million chance. Beating the odds, Lopez delivered an 8-pound baby boy, Ryu, through a complex surgery that nearly cost her life but was ultimately successful. Both mother and child recovered well, and the family credits prayer and faith for the outcome, with Lopez calling her son a miracle and “the best gift ever.”
Quote of the Week
“Let us therefore ask our Father in Heaven, through the intercession of Mary and Saint Joseph, to bless our families and all families throughout the world, so that by following the model of his Son made man, they may be for all an efficacious sign of his presence and his endless charity.”
~ Pope Leo XIV, source
