In This Issue:
- Deepening Depopulation
- A Giant Leap
- Billions for Babies
- Communist China
- A Rebellious Anniversary
- UN Misdeeds
- Redirecting Rights
- Science Gone Mad
- USCCB Responds to NIH
- Aussie Assisted Death
- Pro-life Around the World
- Threatening Treaties
- Abortion & Depression
- Stats Prove a Point
- Committee for Fetal Sentience
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- Google’s Pro-Choice Mistake
- Abortion Appeal in Texas
- Good News
- Abortion Post-Roe
Deepening Depopulation
A Giant Leap: The “thought leaders” who generate ideas for the World Economic Forum and the United Nations have proposed measures to reduce the number of births. The organization “Earth4All,” an influential sustainability think tank originating from the Club of Rome, plans to save the planet through a scenario having a fitting name, “Giant Leap.” These specific, public plans aim to radically transform human existence and governance on the entire planet. The main goal of their project is to reduce the global birth rate from 130 million to 24 million per year by 2100, which is an 81% reduction compared to the current level. This it plans to achieve through “five turnarounds,” which would supposedly eliminate the existing reasons to have children.
Billions for Babies: Taiwan has spent $3 billion in its efforts to boost the birth rate. But Taiwanese reproduction can not be bought or bribed, no matter how high the offer. After traditional monetary benefits yielded no results, authorities tried hosting mixers for couples to meet and even offered free pets as incentives for couples who have a child. As with most developed countries, Taiwan’s birth rate has plummeted. Progressive individuals, including the writers at Vox, claim this is a “success” for young people, especially women, but in reality, it is a society-wide failure. Countries around the world failed to foster a culture that values marriage and family, where youth want and are able to get married and start a family. The modern movement away from these institutions is at the heart of this demographic collapse. As we have detailed before, this will result in devastating economic and social problems..
Communist China
A Rebellious Anniversary: One year ago, crowds of protesters across China held up blank sheets of paper, chanting slogans calling for an end to the zero-COVID policy and for Communist Party leader Xi Jinping to step down. Today, these activists are still determined to keep the flame of the “white paper” revolution alive. Though authorities in China did their best to quash the rebellion, arresting a number of the participants, some managed to escape the country. These escapee activists joined others around the world, where they continued to protest the CCP’s totalitarian rule. Though lockdowns and quarantines have ended, activists still fight for greater freedom of expression, democratic reforms, and even the removal of President Xi Jinping. They may soon have new lockdowns to protest, as another outbreak of respiratory disease is currently spreading.
“There is a new infectious disease on the loose in China, which has already filled up the hospitals in many Chinese cities,” says Mr. Mosher. “It seems to be a kind of pneumonia, but of a kind never before seen. The U.S. ought to consider canceling all flights to and from China until we determine what this new disease is and where it came from, nature or a lab.”
UN Misdeeds
Redirecting Rights: Government and civil society leaders from 40 countries met at UN headquarters last week for the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Convened by the Political Network for Values, most of the speakers expressed alarm that the UN had deviated so far from the original vision of universal human rights. The overarching consensus among panelists was that being pro-life and pro-family is what the founders of the UN would have prioritized, and “anti-rights” rhetoric arises when progressive advocates misinterpret the Declaration. Despite the current state of the fight over human rights, Jose Antonia Kast, Chairman of the Political Network for Values, concluded the Summit by calling for more optimism when defending the original understanding of UDHR, “We have to be positive. We are not in the trenches. We are in an open field proclaiming good ideas and good news.”
Science Gone Mad
USCCB Responds to NIH: The National Institute for Health (NIH) gave the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops the opportunity to comment on upcoming changes to the NIH mission statement. Grateful for the opportunity, the USCCB pointed out two changes that raise concerns. First, that the NIH removed the express goal to “lengthen life.” This may lead to an overemphasis on “quality of life,” contributing to an increase in assisted suicide in the nation. Their second concern, connected to the first, was the deletion of the word “disability.” This latter change was recommended by the Advisory Committee’s Subgroup on Individuals with Disabilities to eliminate the outdated goal “to…reduce…disability.” However, the USCCB voiced its concern that disabled lives will be “discounted on account of perceived, problematic notions of ‘quality of life’” as a result of this change. Their recommendations were to restore “lengthen life” in the mission statement and add “alleviate the impact of disability” as a new goal.
Aussie Assisted Death: Last month, the Australian Capital Territory human rights minister, Tara Cheyne, introduced the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2023 to the Legislative Assembly. The proposed law would require conscientiously objecting doctors to refer inquisitive patients to doctors who support assisted suicide or are at least willing to comply. This corruption of conscientious objection is yet another example of the domino effect that assisted suicide has had in Australia. Since the initial approval of assisted suicide in one state, other states and territories approved the practice in quick succession, disregarding the checks and balances on the practice. This latest law is expected to become territory law and go into effect in 2025.
Pro-life Around the World
Threatening Treaties: Pro-life experts are raising the alarm about two major international treaties, which could be used to force the U.S. and many other nations to recognize abortion on demand as late as 40 weeks. The first is the “pandemic treaty,” which is currently being drafted by the World Health Organization. Though only a draft, there are clear indications that the planners intend to use the treaty to advance the idea that abortion access is a “necessary” service during pandemics. The second problematic treaty is the EU-ACP Agreement (also known as the Samoa Agreement), which is a 20-year treaty between seventy-nine African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries, and the European Union. Existing language in the Samoa Agreement already requires the implementation of “sexual and reproductive health and rights” (SRHR) in African countries and requires ACP governments to provide access to “comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information and education [CSRHE].”
Abortion & Depression: According to a recently released scholarly review, one in three women who have an abortion will develop depression as a result. The meta-analysis, published in BMC Psychiatry in October, reviewed 15 studies involving 18,207 post-abortive women globally. This study found that the worldwide prevalence of post-abortion depression is ~34.5%, though up to 85% of women feel depressed following an abortion in some nations. Previous studies have estimated post-abortion depression rates to be as high as 82.1% in high-income nations and 74% in less affluent countries.
Stats Prove a Point: A common argument for legalizing abortion is that since women will get abortions either way, if it is illegal then more women will die from unsafe abortion. This “logic” ignores the loss of unborn life and the immorality of the situation, in favor of focusing on “saving” women. However, evidence from Africa shows that legalizing abortion is not correlated to decreased abortion mortality. In Rwanda and Ethiopia, legalizing abortion appears to have worsened morbidity and mortality from abortion, while in Mozambique, abortion mortality was close to being eliminated prior to legalization.
Committee for Fetal Sentience: This week, one of three pro-life bills from earlier in the month received its first reading in the House of Lords. If passed, the Fetal Sentience Committee Bill will create a committee that operates as a source of evidence-based, scientific expertise on the sentience of unborn babies in light of developments in scientific and medical knowledge. The Committee would then also advise the Government on the formulation of relevant policy and legislation. The addition of this committee would ideally protect the unborn, based on all that we have learned about life in the womb in the past several decades. For example, research shows that babies are capable of feeling pain as early as 12 weeks, but this is not reflected in British law which allows abortion until 24 weeks.
Pro-Life on the Home Front
Google’s Pro-Choice Mistake: Google Maps removed directions to a Washington, D.C., pro-life pregnancy center, pointing searchers in the direction of Planned Parenthood instead. Users who attempted to search for Capitol Hill Crisis Pregnancy Center earlier this week via Google Maps found that the app did not offer directions to the location. A Google representative did confirm that the listing was incorrectly removed and has since been reinstated. The Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center clinic director shared that she’d like to believe this was an accident. But with the discrimination, and violence, against pregnancy centers in the past year, this may not be the case.
Abortion Appeal in Texas: A group of abortion advocates has urged Texas’ highest court to ensure that doctors cannot be prosecuted if they perform abortions deemed “necessary” for the mother’s life or health. A lawyer representing the Center for Reproductive Rights has claimed that the current abortion ban which allows abortion to save the mother’s life is too vague and has left doctors “terrified” to perform abortions. This appeal is the abortion lobby’s attempt to widen the parameters through which abortions can be performed. Rarely is an abortion medically necessary, if ever, to save the life of the mother, especially with advanced technology that can support infants if premature delivery is required to shorten the pregnancy. However, two physicians are attesting to the vagueness of the law and twenty patients have alleged they suffered pregnancy complications requiring abortions, or face a risk of such complications in the future. It remains to be seen if Justice will prevail, allowing Texas’ ban to stay in place and continue to save babies for years to come. For more information on abortion and the question of mothers’ health, Catholic Answers provides insight.
Good News
Abortion Post-Roe: A newly released study found that births rose in the U.S. following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the United States. Every state that banned abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in June 2022 saw an increase in the number of babies born. Births to Black and Hispanic Americans rose in particular, as did births to women in states such as Texas and Mississippi, where it was more difficult to travel to a nearby state that permitted abortions. An estimated 32,000 babies were saved in the year post-Roe.
“As state pro-life laws come into force following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the number of babies born is on the increase,” says Mr. Mosher. “This is exactly the result that we had hoped for. Now if we can stop the trafficking of abortion pills across state borders, the abortion rate will drop even further.”
Quote of the Week
“We have to keep God in mind every moment, praying before, during, and after our work, always offering it for God’s glory. These are God’s children.”
~ Pro-Life Advocate Chris Slattery, source
Rest in Peace
