In This Issue:
- Deepening Depopulation
- An Act of Faith
- Less Swiss Babies
- Communist China
- Unhelpful Advice
- Science Gone Mad
- An Immoral IVF Act
- Pro-Life Around the World
- Pressure to Abort
- French Back Abortion
- Extreme Buffer Zone
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- Bogus Research
- Bias Creates a False Story
- Family and Life Targeted
- Pushback on Proposed Rule
- Good News
- The Gift of Life
Deepening Depopulation
An Act of Faith: The news is getting out that the world is heading towards a “demographic train wreck.” One only has to look to China or Japan to see that demographic issues quickly lead to economic issues. Many of the countries experiencing low fertility rates are experimenting with different approaches to try to motivate couples to have children. However, there’s one approach governments aren’t trying: An appeal to faith. Governments discount the importance of faith, but around the world, religious groups (Catholics, Orthodox Jews, Mormons, etc.) are the ones embracing large families. As The Washington Times points out, “In an anti-natalist culture, procreation is an act of faith.”
Less Swiss Babies: Switzerland has joined the ranks of developed nations struggling with a falling fertility rate. It has been a slow descent for the country, starting in the 1970s. As of 2022, the nation’s fertility rate had hit a low of 1.4 children per woman. Experts attribute the decline to an increased number of women in the workforce, the spread of contraception, and the rising cost of living. Another major contributor is the societal shift away from family life. Parenthood is seen as a burden, not a blessing, as is the case with many other countries struggling with reproduction. Switzerland is currently engaged in research on the effectiveness of educating couples on the consequences of delayed childbearing, in hopes of discovering a way to motivate couples to have children.
Communist China
Unhelpful Advice: A Chinese national political advisor has suggested yet another approach to try and improve the birth rate in the country. Xiong Shuilong, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, called for the birth limit to be completely scrapped. Currently, China has in place a three-child policy. However, the increase from a two-child to a three-child policy in 2021 did not make a significant difference in the Chinese birth rate. While the CCP’s control over reproduction is immoral and should end, the end of the policy would most likely do little to save the fertility rate. Xiong also suggested that birth support policies for single parents be made equal to those for couples. Considering how little difference the current incentives across the country have been, the likelihood of this making a difference is also low.
Science Gone Mad
An Immoral IVF Act: Liberal leaders are taking advantage of the heat around IVF access to try and push through dangerous legislation. Several members of the U.S. Senate are pushing their Access to Family Building Act as the “solution” to IVF access. The act would not only protect IVF but also establish a right for any adult to access any assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to create a child. As the Daily Signal points out, “This would allow, for instance, a child abuser to use reproductive technologies to have a child.” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, spearheading this act, is hoping for a unanimous consent vote which would allow the bill to bypass the normal review process. If passed, this bill will boost the immoral commodification of children and contribute to the further devaluing of life itself.
Pro-Life Around the World
Pressure to Abort: The communist leadership in Cuba is determined to force one of their political prisoners to abort her baby. Lisdany Rodriguez, 25 years old, was arrested for peacefully protesting in 2021 and sentenced to eight years in prison. During a conjugal visit with her husband of eight years, Lisdany conceived after years of trying prior to the arrest. Though the government will not force her to have an abortion, they are denying her necessary prenatal care. On top of denying Lisdany medical visits, the prison often refuses her requests for food. According to Cuba’s “Regulation of the Penitentiary System,” prison authorities have “the obligation to allow her to go through the entire gestation process and to attend to her medical needs and even to allow her, if she wishes, to be with the child during its first year of life.” However, it is clear that the law matters little to communist officials.
“Why should this baby receive a death sentence?” says Mr. Mosher. “Because this is what atheistic communist regimes do. They kill. In China or North Korea, the baby would already be dead, but the Cuban regime is not quite that barbaric.”
“Carl Oglesby once said that the Left has never developed any alternative to terror,” Mr. Mosher further commented. “We were treated to a taste of that terror during the BLM riots of 2020 and the Covid lockdowns in 2021. The Left will only be more ruthless next time.”
French Back Abortion: France’s Senate has voted overwhelmingly to enshrine women’s right to abortion in the constitution. However, the wording was revised last month to specifically protect “guaranteed freedom” for abortion, rather than call it a “right.” This wordplay does not disguise France’s leaders’ mission to push the abortion agenda, led by their belief that it should be considered a “right.” However, there is no intrinsic right to be able to kill your unborn children and there will never be. Pro-abortion governments and groups cannot invent a right, as hard as they may try. France has allowed abortion since 1974, but increased pressure to increase abortion access ever since the U.S. Dobbs decision. The results of this vote are a direct result of that pressure.
Extreme Buffer Zone: Scotland could become the next country to put a buffer zone law in place. Buffer zones are designed to keep pro-life individuals a certain distance away from abortion clinics to prevent any kind of interference. This week, the Scottish parliament started hearing evidence for the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill. This evidence consisted of testimonies from abortion activists and women who have had abortions. The bill is the most extreme of its kind. It would make silent prayer within the buffer zone illegal. If a residential building falls within the buffer zone, it would be illegal for the residents to place pro-life signs in the window. Any offense that falls under the buffer zone legislation could incur a fine of up to £10,000.
Pro-Life on the Home Front
Bogus Research: The Ruth Institute invited Dr. Michael J. New to discuss the bogus claims circulated that 64,565 babies have been conceived by rape in states with pro-life laws. Media platforms have taken off with this “research,” but it doesn’t hold up. Dr. New opened by sharing, “This is the worst piece of advocacy research I have seen in all my years as a social scientist.” The data these claims are based on are essentially guessed estimates. The researchers pulled inflated rape statistics from the CDC. Then assumed that 12.5% of rapes result in conceptions when the true average is 5%. The inflation of both these figures, and assumptions made along the way, made a sensational headline for pro-abortion advocates. It comes as no surprise that the authors of this study are all pro-abortion. Their work makes it clear that they were willing to skew the data to push the abortion agenda in the United States.
“Once trustworthy academic journals are now publishing propaganda pieces,” says Mr. Mosher. “We saw this during Covid with the publication of a number of clearly erroneous studies about the supposedly natural origin of Covid. We are seeing it again with grotesquely exaggerated reports about the supposedly negative consequences of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Babies are being saved every day.”
Bias Creates False Story: Bias in the media has completely covered up the truth of the Alabama IVF case. Based on headlines, you may think that IVF was banned in the state. This is the opposite of the truth. As Secular Pro-Life points out, “The Alabama Supreme Court ruled in favor of infertile couples who conceived through IVF. That bears repeating: the IVF parents won.” The parents of the lost embryos in the case sued the Center of Reproductive Medicine for wrongful death because there was a lack of proper security for the “cryogenic nursery.” IVF will not stop in the state, though other fertility clinics threatened to voluntarily close down due to “fear-of-accountability.” This case dealt with unborn life and, because of that, became prey to bias pushed by the pro-abortion movement.
“The reporting on the Alabama IVF case is not just another example of fake news, it is the polar opposite of the truth,” says Mr. Mosher. “The Alabama Supreme Court did not outlaw IVF, as the corporate media claimed. It merely said that embryos created by IVF should be protected in the same way that unborn children should be protected. There is no lie too outlandish for the promoters of abortion.”
Family and Life Targeted: The Biden administration has plans to go after opponents of abortion and the LGBT/trans agenda. Mid-February, the State Department published an “Equity Action” report aimed at combating “regressive anti-rights movements.” This includes pro-life and pro-family organizations. Organizations that have already been labeled “anti-rights” include Family Watch International, ADF International, the Heritage Foundation, and the Center for Family and Human Rights. The Equity Action plan allows the Biden administration to “investigate, intimidate, and silence” these organizations deemed “anti-rights.”
Pushback on Proposed Rule: President Biden has backed a pro-abortion rule that, if passed, would hurt pregnancy resource centers while assisting pro-abortion groups. The proposed rule (88 FR 67697) “would prohibit pregnancy centers and alternative-to-abortion programs from receiving millions of dollars a year in TANF funding while directing that same funding to Planned Parenthoods and other abortion centers.” Conservative groups, led by Advancing American Freedom, sent a letter to House Republicans requesting that they “defund the rulemaking process for the Biden administration’s proposed rule.” The letter was signed by the following: Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, the Family Research Council, Students for Life of America, Heritage Action, American Accountability Foundation Action, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and CatholicVote.
“Depriving pregnancy resource centers of funds is just another example of the Biden Administration’s war on life,” the conservative leaders of these groups wrote. “The needless targeting of pro-life centers will only hurt women and children, when they are at their most vulnerable.”
Good News
The Gift of Life: In recent news, a newlywed tragedy has turned into a beautiful story of hope. Mariana and Nathaniel Kuhlman met at Steubenville in October of 2021, and almost exactly two years later were married in 2023. The Kuhlmans enjoyed only three days of marriage before being separated by Nathaniel’s untimely death. However, God did not leave Mariana alone. Despite very low chances of being pregnant after only a few days together, Mariana took a pregnancy test a month later on Thanksgiving. It was positive. The blessing of this new baby brought new life, and a piece of Nathaniel, back to the Kuhlman family.
Mariana Kuhlman shared on her Instagram, “Clearly, God had a plan bigger than anything we could have ever imagined. He answered our prayers, and prayers of those around the world, just in a different way than we had expected, but still the GIFT OF LIFE; the miracle we are so overjoyed to finally share with you all.”
Quote of the Week
“The success of the family throughout history is due to the complementarity of the sexes, as well as the love and mutual respect that unites parents and children.”
~ PRI President Steven Mosher,
The Devil and Communist China (now available to request)
