In This Issue:
- PRI in the Media
- Identified and Ousted
- Deepening Depopulation
- The Married Mom Advantage
- Communist China
- A Year to Remember
- Postcards for Jimmy
- No More Numbers
- Done with Pain
- China’s Big Pivot
- UN Misdeeds
- General Assembly Ignored
- Science Gone Mad
- Pro-Trans Law Passes
- FDA Defends Plan B
- Pro-Life Around the World
- NGO Under Fire
- Germans for Family Support
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- Christian Values Hold
- No Confidential Birth Control
- Good News
- The Good Done
Happy New Year from all of us here at PRI! May God bless the pro-life movement in 2023 and help us bring about a culture of life in the United States and around the world.
PRI in the Media
Identified and Ousted: An attorney was kicked out of Radio City Music Hall while chaperoning her daughter’s Girl Scout troop after facial recognition tech identified her. It was because she is associated with the firm that is currently suing the venue’s owner. This puts New York City one step closer to resembling the CCP’s surveillance state in China.
PRI President Steven Mosher said, “I, for one, do not want to live in a hi[gh]-tech digital dictatorship of the kind that we see in China, where everyone is tracked throughout the day on surveillance cameras, not to mention on their own phones.”
Deepening Depopulation
The Married Mom Advantage: Since the beginning of the pandemic, the anti-marriage and anti-motherhood narratives have spread, claiming that both roads lead to misery. But data from the Institute of Family Studies found that, even during the pandemic, married mothers were both happier and more financially secure than childless women.
Communist China
A Year to Remember: For China, 2022 will be remembered as the year that the population officially peaked and the demographic crisis began. Moving forward, the population will only shrink with each consecutive year, continually changing the societal structure.
Postcards for Jimmy: This past Sunday was the third Christmas that Jimmy Lai spent in prison in Hong Kong, where he is incarcerated on trumped-up charges of violating national security law. Sympathetic to the innocent man, Catholic school children around America mailed Lai dozens of postcards as part of the ongoing “Postcards for Jimmy” campaign.
No More Numbers: China’s National Health Commission announced that it will no longer be reporting daily COVID-19 figures, as a new wave of infection moves through the country. This wave is allegedly due to the end of Xi’s stringent zero-COVID policy.
Done with Pain: The young generation in China is rejecting the traditional attitude of pain acceptance exercised by their parents. The COVID lockdowns were the last straw for this generation, which has been taught to suffer in silence in all areas of life.
China’s Big Pivot: The world was shaken late Monday night when China announced the end of its strict border quarantine. As of January 8th, 2023, China will no longer restrict international travel, both inbound and out. In response, many countries–including the United States–are considering COVID entry restrictions on Chinese travelers.
“I’m very worried about China releasing a new variant of COVID-19 in the world,” says PRI President Steven Mosher. “They’ve done it before, why wouldn’t they do it again? China now has another out-of-control variant raging in the country. China needs to be quarantined now before they spread a new pandemic around the world.”
UN Misdeeds
General Assembly Ignored: This year was one of conflict for the United Nations, as many Western countries attempted to steamroll countries against abortion, sexuality, and gender ideology. While a General Assembly consensus has still not been reached on these issues, UN-specialized agencies continue to promote abortion and views that are contrary to the traditional family.
Science Gone Mad
Pro-Trans Law Passes: Spain’s lower house of Parliament passed a law that allows minors over 16 to change their legally registered gender without medical supervision. Before this, both a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and, in some cases, proof of living as the identified gender for at least two years were required.
FDA Defends Plan B: Last week, the FDA claimed that emergency contraceptives are definitively not abortifacients. However, this cannot be biologically determined as it is dependent on whether ovulation has occurred or not.
Pro-Life Around the World
NGO Under Fire: Catholic activists in Africa and England are protesting MSI Reproductive Choices (previously Marie Stopes International) for aiding in mass illegal abortions in multiple African countries. The British NGO may also be responsible for sending contraceptives to Kenyan schoolgirls without parental consent.
“Marie Stopes International has changed its name to try and hide the racist eugenicist past of its founder Marie Stopes,” says PRI President Steven Mosher. “But it cannot hide its illegal promotion and performance of abortions in multiple African countries. PRI has documented how MSI Reproductive Choices clinics in Kenya have, in years past, violated Kenyan law by performing abortions. It is no surprise that the same organization is now, according to local reports, committing the same abuses in Nigeria and Zambia. The US needs to stop funding this out-of-control organization and respect the pro-life sentiments of the African people.”
Germans for Family Support: A recent study found that around half of Germans are in favor of the government supporting large families to counter the impending shortage of skilled workers. In comparison, only a quarter of the representative respondents were against the idea.
Pro-Life on the Home Front
Christian Values Hold: A Catholic university in Indiana is upholding pro-life values in the post-Roe era. Saint Mary’s College denied campus recognition for a pro-abortion club named “Smicks for Choice,” defending the decision by stating the following:
“When discerning the application for Smicks for Choice, our Catholic identity necessitates we affirm a limit about what can be done in the College’s name and with the College’s resources, therefore the club cannot be officially recognized by the College.”
No Confidential Birth Control: A federal judge in Texas blocked a Title X rule that allowed teenagers to access birth control with parental permission. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that this program “violates the constitutional right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children.”
Good News
The Good Done: Looking back on the past year, 50 pro-life measures were adopted across the United States in 2022 with 12 total bans still in effect as of December 12th. Though fewer measures than in 2021 in total, this year’s legislation made greater strides in actually blocking abortions.
Quote of the Week
“We hope for the day when abortion is unthinkable because society ha successfully reckoned with the challenges of raising children in the modern world and has decided to make the full flourishing of children and their families the highest goal, without anyone being excluded.”
~USCCB Committee Heads, source
