In This Issue:
- PRI in the Media
- Birth Rates Plummet
- Milei’s Success
- Victory Over Communism
- Deepening Depopulation
- National Emergency
- Exception in Israel
- Youngest in the Nation
- Society Rejects Motherhood
- UN Misdeeds
- Ending UN Population Control
- Science Gone Mad
- Sex-Selective Implantation
- “Golden Eggs”
- Pro-Life Around the World
- Preparing to Protest
- Vatican Addresses Climate
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- Pro-Lifer Suffers Stroke
- An Inspired Speech
- Good News
- Safe Haven in Florida
PRI in the Media
Birth Rates Plummet: As we’ve shared before, birth rates are falling around the world. The United States, Europe, and Asia all have fertility rates below replacement (2.1). Moving forward, countries will see their populations almost cut in half with each generation. PRI President Steven Mosher appeared on New Tang Dynasty to discuss this global issue. As he said in the interview, “The economic consequences are going to be devastating.” China, as one example, is already feeling this economic hurt. This was a major contributor to the CCP’s move from a two-child policy to a three-child policy, and their other miscellaneous, and so far unsuccessful, attempts to boost the birth rate.
Milei’s Success: Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, is already seeing positive results from the changes he has made in the past year. Milei has been unapologetic in his cutting of government funding and promotion of the free market. Milei even attacked socialism on the podium at the World Economic Forum. Dr. Carlos Beltramo, Director of PRI’s Europe office, was present for this presentation, where Milei targeted Klaus Schwab, saying, “Don’t be intimidated by the political caste or the parasites who live off the state. Don’t surrender to a political class that only wants to perpetuate itself in power and preserve its privileges.”
Victory Over Communism: Mr. Mosher joined Bill Gertz on Victory Over Communism to discuss his newest book, The Devil and Communist China. The host of the show, Gertz, is one of the nation’s leading national security journalists. One purpose of his podcast is the fight against Chinese Marxism-Leninism. For this reason, Mr. Mosher’s latest book was the perfect topic for Gertz’s program. The book delves into the history of the CCP, guiding the reader to understand how the country got to where it is today. The CCP leadership would like nothing more than to reimpose a high-technology Maoist tyranny worldwide. But armed with the information in The Devil and Communist China, readers should understand the evil within the communist system and how to reject such a corrupt worldview, protecting our nation and world.
Deepening Depopulation
National Emergency: Last week, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol announced that he would be creating a “Ministry of Fertility” to counter the country’s low fertility rate. South Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world at 0.72, which President Yoon called “a national emergency.” Since the falling fertility rate has only been addressed piecemeal so far, the ministry will serve as a specialized “control tower” that will “establish policies that span education, labor, and welfare.” It will standardize the country’s approach to this issue.
“South Korea has a population crisis, to be sure,” says Mr. Mosher. “Marriage rates are dropping, and the average woman will bear less than one child over her reproductive lifetime. But the response of the Korean government–to set up a huge new government Ministry of Fertility–will only make the problem worse. The only way to raise the birth rate is to follow the Hungarian model: Every couple willing to marry and bear at least two children should be sheltered from taxes. The government doesn’t need to interfere in fertility decisions, it needs to get out of the way.”
Exception in Israel: While fertility rates around the world are falling, one country in the Middle East is bucking the trend. Israel currently has a fertility rate of 3.1, which is solidly above replacement. But why is this? In Israel, none of the obvious theories (religion, social welfare, poverty, or education) correlate with the number of children born in a family. This leads some experts to believe it is the culture that has sustained a high fertility rate. It is a cultural norm within the country that children are cherished and treasured, which most Western countries lack for the majority. Pediatrician Robert C. Hamilton addresses the phenomenon in 2018 with the following:
“This norm of childbearing reflects a consensus among Israel’s communities. Collective beliefs about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness inform each citizen’s personal choices, and inevitably affect the nation’s demography. Nations that don’t recognize children as central to a good life will face serious economic consequences,” he wrote. “Despite the political challenges Israel faces, I’m bullish on its future. It celebrates life… As a Jewish sage once put it, ‘A child without parents is an orphan, but a nation without children is an orphan people.’”
Youngest in the Nation: Utah is known as the youngest state in the nation. But declining fertility rates and an aging population are slowly making the state older. According to a new report, in 1980 less than 8% of Utah residents were over the age of 65. By 2020, this had jumped to almost 12%. It is estimated that by 2060 at least one in five residents will be over 65 years old. Despite this new report, Utah remains the youngest state in the U.S. with a median age of 31.1 years. This is well below Alaska, the second-youngest state, where the median age is 34.6.
Society Rejects Motherhood: A new study projects that one-in-four women today will never be mothers. As we’ve shared previously, many women are postponing marriage and childbearing until it is too late to have a family. One major contributor to this issue is that the self-sacrificial role of motherhood does not fit well in our culture today. Today’s culture values self-care over service. Society discourages young adults from becoming parents because it requires sacrifice, but as Pastor McDaniel points out, “what achievement of value comes without sacrifice. You don’t get a college degree without years of hard work. You don’t win a championship without incredible effort. You don’t own your own business without giving up security. Nothing worthwhile can be had without self-denial.”
UN Misdeeds
Ending UN Population Control: In 1994, the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo introduced broader recommendations to lower fertility rates and slow population growth. This year was the thirtieth anniversary of the Cairo agreement, but there was no celebration of this milestone. Currently, the funding for the programs guided by this agreement is being scrutinized. Leaders of countries are realizing that the goals of the Cairo agreement, involving anti-natalist programs and propaganda, were misguided and harmful. This calls into question the necessity of the UN Commission on Population, which was founded 57 years ago precisely to promote low fertility as the ultimate solution to poverty. Countries are realizing they need pro-life and pro-family policies, not population control. It is only a matter of time before the Commission on Population is dissolved or radically restructured.
“Global birth rates are falling farther and faster than anyone thought possible,” says Mr. Mosher. “The world is probably already at what is called “replacement rate fertility” and is continuing to fall. Yet the population control movement continues to promote abortion, sterilization, and contraception–along with transgenderism and other bizarre sexual fetishes–around the world, making a bad problem even worse. The U.S. needs to be funding pro-life, rather than pro-death, programs overseas.”
Science Gone Mad
Sex-Selective Implantation: IVF has allowed a new form of discrimination to emerge in the form of sex-selective implantation. Fertile couples are choosing to undergo IVF, not only to pick “genetically superior” embryos but to also choose the sex of the embryos implanted. Couples are showing a preference for girls because they want to avoid “toxic masculinity” which may come with having a boy. According to Slate, “For many, going through all the trouble to ensure a girl feels like a social good.” This is discrimination against male embryos, based on negative male stereotypes. Since it involves IVF, it is also an immoral action. As the article points out, this is a money-making move for the IVF industry as it convinces fertile couples that they should undergo IVF in order to determine the sex of their children, when they are perfectly capable of conceiving naturally.
“Golden Eggs”: Couples who want to have children via IVF often want the best genetic material for their future children. This is why some couples choose to “shop” for this genetic material at Ivy Leagues. Young women at schools like Harvard and Yale are targets for these couples and the fertility businesses that want a stock of good eggs for purchase. While it’s called egg “donation,” in reality it’s egg “sale.” These women can be paid anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 for a single egg donation cycle, with all medical and travel expenses covered. For a young woman, graduating with a potentially hefty amount of debt, it may seem like a good deal, but the process is immoral. As the Catholic Church teaches us, this kind of separation of the marital act is illicit, as is the creation of the child in a petri dish and the separation of a child from its biological mother.
Pro-Life Around the World
Preparing to Protest: UK Parliament lawmakers will be considering amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill, which would decriminalize abortion up to birth. The two amendments, if passed, would also potentially enable sex-selective abortions and put women and unborn children at risk from unsafe medicines and procedures. In response, hundreds of pro-life activists are planning a protest outside of the parliament building. The protest has been mobilized by a coalition of pro-life groups, including Abortion Resistance, ADF UK, CBR UK, Christian Concern, CitizenGO, Good Counsel Network, March for Life, Rachel’s Vineyard, SPUC, Voice for Justice UK, 40 Days for Life, and more. These groups are prepared to oppose sex-selective abortions and late-term abortions.
Vatican Addresses Climate: The Vatican’s Science Academies–to which several climate activists have recently been appointed–this week organized a mega-conference of the equally ignorant. The three-day, joint summit was titled, “From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience.” Fellow activists like Jeffrey Sachs, and even bloviating politicians like California governor Gavin Newsom were invited, but no dissident voices were allowed.
“This is purely a propaganda exercise to assure Globalist Elites that the Vatican is on the side of ‘the science,’” says Mr. Mosher. “Never mind that billions of people around the world will see their standard of living reduced, and their use of energy controlled, if these ‘elites’ have their way. Whatever happened to the ‘preferential option for the poor?’”
Pro-Life on the Home Front
Pro-Lifer Suffers Stroke: A LifeSiteNews reporter called 911 when the jailed pro-lifer he was interviewing over the phone shared that the prison officials were denying her essential medication. Fifty-nine-year-old Heather Idoni was convicted of FACE act infractions as well as “conspiracy to violate civil rights” for peacefully protesting at an abortion clinic in Tennessee in 2021. Heather is a Christian wife, biological mother of five children, and adoptive mother to ten more. Her health has deteriorated in jail, where she was being held until her sentencing on May 21st. She suffered a stroke two weeks ago and was denied necessary medication until reporter Louis Knuffke contacted both Idoni’s lawyer and the emergency dispatch. Idoni’s lawyer shared with Knuffke that “if the doctor declares her condition was due to negligence in medical care, the marshals at the jail would be civilly liable.”
“While violent pro-Hamas demonstrators walk free, peaceful pro-life protesters are being put in solitary confinement, and denied life-saving medications, in the D.C. jail,” says Mr. Mosher. “Such actions, which can only encourage terrorists, seem designed to terrorize ordinary Americans.”
An Inspired Speech: Harrison Butker, kicker of the Kansas City Chiefs, gave an inspiring commencement speech for Benedictine College’s graduation. Pro-life and pro-family Butker received a standing ovation for his speech which promoted traditional values. However, he is under attack on the internet for so-called “dehumanizing” remarks. A petition circulating on change.org is calling for Butker to be fired from the Kansas City Chiefs for speaking out against abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, and gender ideology. This would be a massive violation of both freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Butker stood for his beliefs and traditional values that our society currently, and very obviously, lacks and he should not be punished for it.
Good News
Safe Haven in Florida: Florida lawmakers have approved legislation that further protects women and babies. This latest bill, which passed both the House and the Senate unanimously, expands the existing “safe haven” legislation. It widens the legal window in which a mother can lawfully surrender her newborn from seven to 30 days and allows emergency responders to coordinate with a mother to arrange a convenient drop-off location for the child in case the mother lacks adequate transportation. Nick Silverio, the CEO of A Safe Haven for Newborns, praised this legislation for giving moms more time to decide what is best for them and their babies. All that is left for this bill to go into effect is Governor Ron Desantis’s signature.
Quote of the Week
“I’m on the stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation… She is a primary educator to our children. She is the one who ensures I never let football or my business become a distraction from that of a husband and father. She is the person that knows me best at my core, and it is through our marriage that, Lord willing, we will both attain salvation.”
~ Harrison Butker, Benedictine College Commencement 2024, source
