In This Issue:
- PRI in the Media
- Coming Soon to America
- Deepening Depopulation
- Natalist Nirvana
- Communist China
- Kindergartens Close
- A Red Tour
- UN Misdeeds
- Delegates Push Back
- Science Gone Mad
- Twist in the Case
- Pro-Life Around the World
- Protecting Life Globally
- Pills by Post
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- Kamala Harps on Abortion
- Results Are In
- Good News
- Four Victories for Life
PRI in the Media
Coming Soon to America: In his most recent article for the New York Post, PRI President Steven Mosher reviewed Mao’s America: A Survivor’s Warning by Xi Van Fleet. Within its pages, Xi, now an anti-communist advocate, recounts all the troubling signs indicating that America’s present is rapidly coming to resemble China’s Maoist past. Xi was in school when Mao’s Cultural Revolution began. She saw teachers publicly humiliated in “struggle sessions” and propaganda posters taped up on every wall. After years of living in a Communist hell, Xi was able to escape to the United States. There she embraced the American Dream. Until she started seeing the signs that Communist ideology had followed her across the sea.
Deepening Depopulation
Natalist Nirvana: A small island off the southern tip of Japan is the nation’s “natalist nirvana.” Overall, Japan’s population has been falling for 15 years and has a below-replacement total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.33. Just last year, the nation recorded 730,000 births, a record low, and 1.58 million deaths, a record high. Yet this island, Tokunoshima, has a fertility rate of 2.25. This is most likely due to the culture of the island being focused on family life and community support. Unlike the stress-driven, material-focused lifestyle common in urban Japan, Tokunoshima’s residents prioritize family over career, with a culture that celebrates children and nurtures multigenerational bonds. Local policies, such as public housing near schools, subsidies for childcare, and financial incentives for large families, further promote child-rearing. This combination of a family-friendly culture and family-friendly policies may save the island from the demographic disaster that the rest of the nation is facing.
Communist China
Kindergartens Close: China’s kindergartens are closing. As China heads into a demographic winter, both birth rates and overall population figures are shrinking. This has led to a decline in the number of kindergartens, which fell by over 5% in 2023, and a drop in kindergarten enrollment for the third consecutive year, down by 11.55% or 5.35 million children. The number of primary schools also decreased by 3.8%, reflecting the nation’s reduced educational demand. China’s population decreased by more than 2 million in 2023, marking the second year of decline, with only 9 million births recorded—the lowest since 1949. The country’s fertility rate plummeted to a record low of 1.09 in 2022, though it may be even lower depending on the accuracy of China’s data. Despite government efforts to promote marriage and family, marriage registrations have also fallen sharply, contributing to the demographic crisis.
A Red Tour: The Yibin Catholic Diocese in China recently organized a “Red Tour” to “express gratitude” to the Communist Party of China, taking its priests, nuns, and leaders of grassroots patriotic associations on a trip to several historical Communist sites. The delegation visited locations such as the Nanchang Uprising Memorial Hall and the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Hall, where they participated in activities like wreath-laying and viewing patriotic educational documentaries. The diocese’s press release emphasized that the tour deepened participants’ recognition of the Chinese nation, its culture, the Communist Party, and socialism with Chinese characteristics. The announcement of this tour happened to coincide with the Vatican’s controversial decision to renew the Sino-Vatican agreement.
UN Misdeeds
Delegates Push Back: Several UN delegations expressed strong disappointment with Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, the UN rapporteur on the right to health, after she called for the decriminalization of drugs, prostitution, abortion, and intentional HIV exposure as part of a “human rights approach to harm reduction.” A delegate from Cameroon directly confronted Mofokeng’s position, arguing that it downplayed the dangers of “drug and substance abuse and other crimes such as HIV exposure, abortion, same-sex relations, and sex work.” The Cameroonian representative emphasized that such legal changes could undermine efforts to combat these issues, particularly in poorer communities, and warned that normalizing drug use could have serious negative consequences for public health, economies, and social stability.
Science Gone Mad
Twist in the Case: In September, the first death by “Sarco pod” was reported. This illegal procedure was allegedly the first assisted suicide by nitrogen gas in the airtight chamber, resulting in the death of a 64-year-old American woman. However, investigators found that the woman’s neck was marred with strangulation marks. Chief prosecutor of the case, Peter Sticher, has raised the suspicion of “intentional homicide.” The most obvious suspect is currently Dr. Florian Willet, President of The Last Resort, as he was the only other person present at the woman’s death.
Pro-Life Around the World
Protecting Life Globally: Before the release of the election results, the Center for Family and Human Rights released a report on what Donald Trump could do for the life and family movements internationally if he were elected president. Donald Trump will most likely have the United States rejoin the Geneva Consensus Declaration. On behalf of the U.S., Trump will “pledge to defend the family as foundational to society, reaffirm that there is no international right to abortion, and protect national sovereignty and the human rights of its people.” This will also reduce global maternal mortality rates. In his first term, Trump expanded the Mexico City Policy, now known as Protecting Life in Global Health, making it likely that he will once again cut international abortion funding.
Pills by Post: Last week, Right to Life UK released a press release calling for an end to the “pills by post” at-home abortion scheme after a UK abortion provider running an at-home scheme provided pills used by a man to poison a woman’s unborn baby. The man in question, Stuart Worby, ordered the pills from The Gynae Centre, then used them to spike a woman’s drink, ending the life of her unborn child at 15 weeks gestation. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Prior to the legalization of the “pills by post” at-home abortion scheme, MPs warned that it would enable situations such as these.
For more information on the dangers of the abortion pill, read our fact sheet here.
Pro-Life on the Home Front
Kamala Harps on Abortion: Even in her concession speech, Kamala Harris couldn’t let go of abortion. Twelve hours after Donald Trump’s victory speech, Harris gave her concession speech at Howard University in Washington D.C. Harris claimed that she would not give up what she considers a fight for democracy and a future “where Americans can pursue their dreams, ambitions, and aspirations,” including a woman’s “right” to abort her child. “I will continue to fight for a future where the women of America will have the freedom to make their own decisions about ‘their body’ and not have their government telling them what to do,” Harris stated. This final statement is unsurprising given that Harris made abortion the central issue of her campaign (a strategy that ultimately failed).
“That Kamala will continue to push for abortion up to and beyond birth is the least surprising news to come out post-election,” says Mr. Mosher. “As a childless Maoist, she is committed to a radical population control agenda that involves the relentless promotion of the culture of death. My guess, however, is that she will quickly become irrelevant.”
Results Are In: Abortion amendments were on the ballot in ten states this election. Five largely pro-abortion states—Colorado, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, and New York—and five largely pro-life states—Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota—voted in the weeks leading up to Election Day on ballot measures that would enshrine a so-called “right” to abortion in each state’s constitution. Now the results are in. Three states rejected their abortion amendments: Florida, South Dakota, and Nebraska. While seven states passed their abortion amendments: Nevada, Arizona, Montana, Missouri, Colorado, New York, and Maryland. In almost all ten states, the pro-abortion movement far outspent the pro-lifers.
“Pro-lifers should be counting their blessings today, as we were able to turn back the pro-abortion juggernaut in three states,” says Mr. Mosher. “Big Abortion was confident that, if they poured enough money into deceitful ad campaigns, they would sweep the field. But pro-lifers stood strong and, against the odds, were able to prevail in some places. For the abortionists, funding campaigns to allow abortion up to birth is a business expense. For pro-lifers, it’s a matter of Life and death. And we choose Life.”
Good News
Four Victories for Life: This election, the pro-life movement saw four victories for life in the states. Citizens in Florida, South Dakota, and Nebraska all rejected the pro-abortion amendments on their ballots. Babies in Florida are safe at their first heartbeat, babies in South Dakota are safe at conception, and babies in Nebraska are safe after 12 weeks gestation. None of these states added a so-called “right” to abortion to their constitution. West Virginia also had a victory, as citizens voted for a state constitutional amendment to prevent the legalization of assisted suicide. Amendment 1, which passed 50.44% to 49.56%, prohibits doctors, health care providers or others from participating in assisted suicide, euthanasia, or “mercy killing.”
Quote of the Week
“For the abortionists, funding campaigns to allow abortion up to birth is a business expense. For pro-lifers, it’s a matter of Life and death. And we choose Life.”
~ PRI President Steven Mosher
