In This Issue:
- Deepening Depopulation
- DINKs Need to Rethink
- Communist China
- Women Defy the CCP
- Science Gone Mad
- Surrogacy Spreads
- Pro-life Around the World
- Protecting Life From Conception
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- The Life List is Up
- Alternatives to Abortion
- Accusations of Error
- A Victory for Life
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- Happy New Year!
Deepening Depopulation
DINKs Need to Rethink: Double Income, No Kids (DINK) couples have been trending on social media. Their lives, which prioritize traveling around the world and keeping up with expensive hobbies, are showcased and shared across social media platforms. The National Review points out that these videos have a clear message: “Marriages are better without children.” But this isn’t true. Social surveys show that among Americans 18-55, those who are married and have children make up the happiest demographic. While it is true that DINKs are likely to be wealthier than couples with children, they are not likely to be happier. It goes back to the classic adage, “Money can’t buy you happiness.”
“Married couples with children consistently report being happier than married couples without children,” says Mr. Mosher. “This proves, once again, that children are blessings, despite the efforts of the radical feminists and population controllers to convince us otherwise.”
Communist China
Women Defy the CCP: The CCP is relentless in its propaganda pushing for its citizens to have children, but women are saying no. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Fed up with government harassment and wary of the sacrifices of child-rearing, many young women are putting themselves ahead of what Beijing and their families want.” No amount of government heckling will convince Chinese women to have the number of children needed to save the country from demographic collapse. Of course, it’s not only the women who feel this way about growing families for the government. Much of the younger generation in China has rejected family life by participating in the “lying flat” and “let it rot” movements.
Science Gone Mad
Surrogacy Spreads: For decades, the practice of surrogacy has complicated the determination of parental rights. Surrogacy requires that contracts or human agreements determine these rights since the birth mother is viewed only as a “carrier.” The practice has grown more popular, but many states lack the regulations to protect parental rights and prevent women from being used as “baby factories.” At its core, surrogacy involves buying a woman’s body for use of the womb to create a child that has also been bought and paid for. It’s human trafficking by another name, but only three states in America have banned the practice completely.
Pro-life Around the World
Protecting Life From Conception: After Christmas, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church met in Moscow where it adopted a document affirming the protection of life from conception. The document, “On the Inviolability of Human Life from the Moment of Conception,” was subsequently sent along to the Council of Bishops for approval. Though originally published in Russian by the press service of the Church, International Family News provided an English translation of the main points. These detail the many facets of the Church’s pro-life stance.
Pro-Life on the Home Front
The Life List is Up: Americans United for Life has released the Life List 2024 State Rankings, which show that Arkansas is the most pro-life state in America once again! This is Arkansas’s fourth year in the top spot, as it has maintained its protections for life and added nine life-protecting laws in 2023. Some states battle each other for the top spot by putting in place more protections for the unborn. But, unfortunately, there are also those competing for the bottom by stripping protections for vulnerable populations affected by abortion and physician-assisted suicide.
Alternatives to Abortion: Kate Cox’s case spread a clear message across the United States: the only answer to a terminal prenatal diagnosis is abortion. But pro-life experts are on a mission to show that this isn’t true. Organizations around the country offer perinatal hospice and palliative care for infants who may not have long to live after birth. Dr. John Bruchalski’s Tepeyac OB/GYN is one such organization, which offers “specialized medical, spiritual and emotional support for families that receive a prenatal diagnosis indicating their baby may die before or soon after birth.” The clinic supports both the mother and child from the time of diagnosis through the baby’s death. Its program is just one of hundreds across the nation that offers mothers an alternative to abortion.
Accusations of Error: According to the Pentagon’s former personnel chief, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s controversial abortion travel policy was put in place to circumvent a Supreme Court “error.” After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the Pentagon’s new policy went into effect only eight months later. The policy funded service members to take leave and travel out of state for abortions. After its implementation, the now-retired Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, Gilbert Cisneros stated, “The Department of Defense’s abortion travel policy was a necessary, though incomplete, step to remedying the Supreme Court’s error.”
“If you wanted more evidence that the current administration has no respect for the rule of law,” says Mr. Mosher, “consider that one of Biden’s senior political appointees describes a ruling of the nation’s highest court as an ‘error.’ These people not only reject the Supreme Court’s rulings on abortion, they institute policies that flout it.”
A Victory for Life: In a victory against the Biden administration, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that emergency room doctors could not be forced to perform abortions. In this recent case, State of Texas v. Becerra, the Biden administration attempted to use the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act to force ER doctors to perform abortions, even if doing so violated their conscience or religious beliefs. ADF attorneys represented the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, alongside the state of Texas. They argued that “Hospitals—especially emergency rooms—are tasked with preserving life…Doctors shouldn’t be forced to break the Hippocratic Oath, and they shouldn’t have to choose between violating their deeply held beliefs or facing stiff financial penalties and being barred from the Medicare program.” The appeals court unanimously agreed.
Good News
Happy New Year!: As we enter into 2024, let’s look back on 2023. Here’s a glimpse of PRI’s accomplishments from last year! We hope, with your help, to do even more this year.
Quote of the Week
“I love reminding them that the first diagnosis is, ‘it’s a baby,’ and no other diagnosis ever negates diagnosis number one. The baby is inherently valuable and worthy of our love.”
~ Dr. Robin Pierucci, source
