In This Issue:
- Deepening Depopulation
- The Trump Bump
- Communist China
- Birth Tourism Cut Off
- Science Gone Mad
- Unlimited Embryo Freezing
- Pro-Life Around the World
- Repeal Argentina’s Abortion Law
- Pressure on Sierra Leone
- Expose Abortion Harm
- 1-in-20 Deaths
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- Defund Planned Parenthood
- Illegal Abortion Kits
- Good News
- Spain Rejects Surrogacy
Deepening Depopulation
The Trump Bump: The Republican party may be the party of fertility. There is a clear correlation between voting for President Trump in 2024 and higher fertility rates at the county level. Counties that voted more for Trump generally had higher fertility rates, with each 10% increase in Trump’s vote share corresponding to an increase of 0.09 babies per woman. This effect is most notable in counties with extreme voting outcomes: those with less than 25% Trump votes had a median fertility rate of 1.31. In comparison, those with over 75% had a median rate of 1.84. Over the past 12 years, this relationship has strengthened, with the link between Republican voting and higher fertility increasing by 85% from 2012 to 2024.
Communist China
Birth Tourism Cut Off: Michael Wei Yueh Liu, a 59-year-old man from San Bernardino County, was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for running a business that facilitated “birth tourism.” His company, “USA Happy Baby,” helped affluent Chinese tourists conceal their pregnancies to give birth on U.S. soil, thereby granting their children U.S. citizenship. Liu and his wife, Jing Dong, operated the business from January 2012 to March 2015, charging “tens of thousands of dollars” for services that included short-term housing in San Bernardino and maternity care. The women usually returned to China within one or two months after giving birth. Liu was found guilty in September of one count of conspiracy and ten counts of international money laundering. Dong, now separated from Liu, is expected to be sentenced early next year.
Science Gone Mad
Unlimited Embryo Freezing: Two former business partners, Dr. Jeffrey Keenan and Dr. John Gordon, are currently locked in a legal dispute over two tanks of frozen embryos. Keenan, the founder of the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC), has dedicated his efforts to giving excess embryos a chance at life through donation. However, a conflict arose when Gordon’s clinic, after acquiring Keenan’s practice, failed to properly transfer all embryos to the NEDC. This dispute over ownership and responsibility threatens the fate of these embryos, potentially leading to their destruction. The situation underscores two significant concerns: the ongoing overproduction of embryos and their mistreatment. Excess embryos are often mislabeled, discarded, or left frozen indefinitely. The process of creating embryos in petri dishes, followed by their continued mistreatment, exposes the immorality of the practice.
Pro-Life Around the World
Repeal Argentina’s Abortion Law: Argentina may see the repeal of its abortion law in 2025. Martín Menem, president of Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies, publicly declared himself pro-life and suggested a push to repeal the 2020 abortion law. The current law, passed during Alberto Fernández’s presidency, allows elective abortion up to 14 weeks gestation, as well as abortion any time in pregnancy for threats to physical health or mental health and in cases of rape. While Menem acknowledged that modifying the law or introducing a new one to repeal it is possible, he doubted the necessary support from legislators to pass such a measure. However, he was strong in his stance that pro-life actions should not be hindered by outside interests.
“Now that President Milei has taken a chainsaw to the bloated government of Argentina, cutting it down to size, the country appears ready to return to its Catholic, pro-life roots,” says Mr. Mosher. “It is a beautiful thing to watch, especially because the incoming Trump administration will stop the U.S. State Department and USAID from interfering in Argentina’s domestic politics by promoting abortion. Absent this pressure from the U.S., pro-lifers in Argentina should win.”
Pressure on Sierra Leone: The Biden administration is pressuring Sierra Leone to pass a pro-abortion bill before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. A former senior U.S. official claimed that the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is threatening to withhold $480 million in aid unless Sierra Leone’s parliament passes the “Safe Motherhood Act,” which would decriminalize abortion up to 14 weeks and allow it up to birth for mental health reasons. The MCC denied making abortion legislation a condition for aid, but pro-life leaders are skeptical. Rep. Chris Smith has decried the Biden administration’s “pro-abortion bullying tactics and raw attempt at ideological colonialism.” The bill is expected to be voted on soon, as the Biden administration hopes to push this through before the inauguration.
“We need to pray that Sierra Leone stays strong and resists this pressure,” says Mr. Mosher. “The cavalry is on the way. In five weeks, the worst President in American history and all his minions will be history.”
Expose Abortion Harm: The British House of Lords has approved a bill that would require an annual report on complications from abortion procedures. Lord Moylan’s Complications from Abortions (Annual Report) Bill passed its Second Reading without opposition and will now proceed to Committee Stage. The Bill proposes that the Department of Health and Social Care publish an annual report on abortion complications, providing more comprehensive data than what is currently available. A government review from November 2023 suggested that abortion complication rates are higher than previously reported, particularly when including incomplete abortions and post-discharge complications. The Bill aims to include data from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), which are not currently part of annual abortion statistics.
“The abortion movement has gone to great lengths to hide the serious complications that can result from surgical and chemical abortions,” says Mr. Mosher. “Let us pray that this bill passes and the true cost in human lives of the abortion pill becomes public.”
1-in-20 Deaths: Last year, euthanasia became the cause of 1-in-20 deaths. Since the legalization of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) in Canada in 2016, euthanasia-related deaths have steadily increased. In 2023, euthanasia accounted for 15,343 deaths, about 4.7% of all deaths in the country. This marks a 15% growth in cases from the previous year, though the rate of increase is slowing. The majority of individuals who chose euthanasia were older adults, with a median age of 77, and most had terminal illnesses, primarily cancer. However, 4% of euthanasia cases involved patients with chronic conditions but not imminent death.
Pro-Life on the Home Front
Defund Planned Parenthood: The Supreme Court has agreed to take on a South Carolina case that could partially defund Planned Parenthood. If successful, Planned Parenthood would be excluded from the state’s Medicaid program. The case stems from a 2018 executive order by Governor Henry McMaster, which directed the Department of Health and Human Services to deem abortion providers like Planned Parenthood “unqualified” for Medicaid funding. As McMaster’s order argued, the abortion giant’s role as a major abortion provider should disqualify it from receiving taxpayer funds.
PRI will be fighting to defund Planned Parenthood in the coming year, as stated in our 2025 goals!
Illegal Abortion Kits: Abortion “prepper” kits are being sold online by companies like Medside24. These kits contain the deadly abortion drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, and are being marketed as a way for individuals to prepare in case abortion becomes criminalized. This website, selling discounted abortion kits that arrive from India in discreet packaging, is operating in violation of U.S. federal and state pharmacy laws. Yet other websites, like Red State Access, continue to promote these kits, encouraging young people to stock up on these dangerous pills.
Good News
Spain Rejects Surrogacy: The Supreme Court of Spain has officially recognized that surrogacy exploits the women who rent their wombs and harms the dignity and rights of the children conceived. On December 9th, the court determined that it is “contrary to public order” to recognize a foreign court ruling (from Bexar County, Texas) that validated a surrogacy contract and recognized the intended parents’ paternity. The decision, based on Spain’s constitutional principles and fundamental rights, emphasized that surrogacy violates the moral well-being of both the pregnant woman and the child, treating them as objects and depriving the child of the right to know their biological origin. The court also highlighted the physical risks to the mother, who may undergo aggressive treatments, and the lack of control over the suitability of the intended parents, which could harm the child’s well-being.
Quote of the Week
“In Advent we await an event which occurs in history and at the same time transcends it. As it does every year, this event will take place on the night of the Lord’s Birth. The shepherds will hasten to the stable in Bethlehem; later the Magi will arrive from the East. Both the one and the other in a certain sense symbolize the entire human family.”
~ Saint John Paul II
