In This Issue:
- Deepening Depopulation
- Fertility Plummets Across Continent
- Bay Area Population Shrinks
- Fertility Collapse Goes Global
- Australia Faces Birth Crisis
- Communist China
- COVID Cover-Up Unveiled
- China’s Baby Plan Falters
- China Tightens Religious Control
- Science Gone Mad
- Three-Parent IVF
- Pro-Life Around the World
- Ireland’s Deadly Abortion Surge
- Assisted Suicide’s Hidden Agenda
- Australia Pays for Abortions
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- Abortion Travel Funds Blocked
- Abortion Chain Files Lawsuit
- Texas Fights Abortion Pill Flow
- Mississippi Invests in Life
- Good News
- 22-Week Preemie Survives
Deepening Depopulation
Fertility Plummets Across Continent: Europe’s population future is teetering, as fertility rates across the continent hit unprecedented lows, many hovering near just one child per woman. The countries with the lowest fertility rate include Germany at 1.35, its lowest since 1994, with the nation’s statistical office confirming that immigration alone prevented population decline as deaths outnumbered births. Austria posted its lowest rate on record at 1.32 in 2024, while Italy plunged to 1.18, with only six births per 1,000 people as 11 per 1,000 died. Even France, long one of Europe’s most fertile nations, dropped to 1.62—the lowest since World War I. Finland, meanwhile, hit a historic nadir at 1.25, its weakest since 1776. While England, Wales, and Spain saw slight upticks thanks to migrant families and older fathers, most of Europe is sliding toward depopulation.
Bay Area Population Shrinks: The San Francisco Bay Area is facing a demographic shift with serious consequences. Now the third-oldest major metro in the U.S., the region’s median age has jumped rapidly—nearing 41 in 2024—with fewer than 19% of residents under 18 and just 13.5% of San Francisco County’s population made up of children, one of the lowest rates nationally. This graying trend threatens schools, businesses, and the local economy as a shrinking younger population leads to emptier classrooms and less consumer demand. Combined with soaring housing costs and challenges in attracting young families and workers, the Bay Area’s prosperity is at risk. Without bold solutions to make the region more affordable and family-friendly, it risks becoming an aging enclave struggling to sustain its vitality for future generations.
“The aging of San Francisco is not difficult to understand,” says Mr. Mosher. “Homosexuals, who abound in S.F., are functionally sterile, that is to say, they have no children. Who among the ‘normals’ would want to raise children in America’s Sodom and Gomorrah? They’ve long since left for the suburbs.”
Fertility Collapse Goes Global: Global fertility continues to slide, with Latin America and the Caribbean—once known for large families—now seeing steep, unexpected drops. Births in the past decade have fallen sharply across the region: Uruguay down 34%, Argentina 32%, Costa Rica 27%, Mexico 24%, Chile and Cuba 21%, Colombia 13%, and Brazil 10%. Though these nations still maintain slightly higher-than-average birth rates, U.N. projections show they’ll fall below replacement by 2054. Worldwide fertility now averages 2.2, a dramatic fall from 5 in the 1950s and 3.3 in 1990. The United States is already at 1.6, with native-born women averaging 1.56 births and foreign-born 1.88. Demographers warn that as fertility keeps falling, countries will face severe economic strains—fewer workers to support growing retiree populations, shrinking tax bases, and the risk of stagnant or declining economies.
Australia Faces Birth Crisis: Australia is sounding the alarm as its fertility rate has plunged to just 1.51 births per woman in 2024, far below the needed replacement level of 2.1, prompting officials to warn of a looming “human catastrophe.” Newsweek highlights that soaring living costs, particularly for housing, along with job insecurity, are all contributing to a dramatic decline in birth rates. Young adults are delaying or even abandoning plans to form families amid economic pressures, which analysts fear will accelerate demographic aging and heighten pressure on public services. Authorities in Australia and abroad are likely to keep a close watch on birth rate patterns while intensifying discussions on potential policy solutions to tackle the crisis.
Communist China
COVID Cover-Up Unveiled: On July 21, Bioweapons expert Robert Kadlec released a 172-page report published by the Scowcroft Institute, which asserts that COVID-19 most likely originated from a Chinese military-linked lab accident—not a natural spillover. Kadlec’s report highlights China’s early cover-ups and troubling pre-2015 planning around mental‑effects research to advance their military strategies. Kadlec urges further study of the virus’s effects, noting that while avoiding conspiracies, his report bolsters long-standing doubts about official Covid origin claims.
“It was developed as part of China’s bioweapons program, and it was deliberately released upon the world.” says Mr. Mosher, “The first point is now widely accepted, the second is not, primarily because of the implications that follow, namely, that China bears responsibility for millions of deaths and trillions of dollars of economic losses. Hopefully Trump has not forgotten.”
China’s Baby Plan Falters: After years of failed local efforts, China’s central government is stepping in with a national child subsidy—3,600 yuan per year (about $500) for each child under age three. But with the country’s fertility rate hovering near one, experts warn the measure is far too little, too late. China saw six consecutive years of declining births before experiencing a brief and modest uptick last year, following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. Despite this, marriage registrations hit an all-time low in 2024, and births are expected to fall below nine million, half of 2016 levels. Meanwhile, skyrocketing child-rearing costs, food safety scandals, and job insecurity deepen public hesitation to raise families. Over 20,000 kindergartens closed last year in China, leaving hundreds of thousands unemployed. China may finally acknowledge the crisis, but its half-hearted response signals a failure to confront the deeper cultural and economic roots of collapse.
China Tightens Religious Control: China’s United Front Work Department has introduced a sweeping “rule of law on religious work” policy, built on the premise that the legal system must serve the Communist Party and its agenda. United Front chief, Li Ganjie, described the policy as central to China’s sinicization of religion—not to make faiths more culturally Chinese, but to ensure their full submission to the CCP. The measures strengthen Party leadership, entrench its ideology, and give the Party and United Front sweeping authority to oversee and direct religious groups, effectively subordinating spiritual life to state control.
Science Gone Mad
Three-Parent IVF: Eight babies have been born in the U.K. using an IVF technique that mixes the DNA of three people—a donor, the mother, and father—under the guise of preventing mitochondrial diseases. These “three-parent babies,” approved by Britain in 2015, were hailed as a “breakthrough,” despite the heavy moral cost of the countless human embryos that are destroyed in the process. These experiments not only discard early human life but also pave the way toward genetically engineered “designer babies.” Of 22 women treated, only eight children were born, with some already showing troubling signs of “reversal,” where mitochondria began increasing again after birth, raising questions about the procedure’s stability and long-term safety for the eight babies.
Pro-Life Around the World
Ireland’s Deadly Abortion Surge: Ireland recorded 10,852 abortions in 2024 — a record high, marking an 8.2% increase from 2023 and a staggering 62.8% jump since abortion on demand was introduced in 2019. In total, nearly 50,000 abortions have been carried out since legalization. Nearly all 2024 abortions (10,711) were not performed due to risks to the mother’s health or life, nor because of conditions expected to result in the baby’s death, with January seeing the highest monthly figure (1,056) and August the lowest (849). This surge is nothing short of a tragedy, and underscores how quickly abortion has become normalized since the 2018 referendum repealed the Eighth Amendment.
“‘Ireland is a Catholic country. We will never legalize abortion,’ Cardinal Casey emphatically told my mentor, Father Paul Marx, in 1972,” says Mr. Mosher. “Well, in recent years Ireland has not only legalized abortion, but abortion rates in the country are rising rapidly. I think it is safe to say that Ireland, in terms of its popular culture and government policies, is no longer a Catholic country, but rather that practicing Irish Catholics have become a minority in their own country.”
Assisted Suicide’s Hidden Agenda: A recent New York Times column warns that as birthrates collapse and welfare systems strain, many nations are turning to assisted suicide. England and Wales may potentially join over a dozen countries and 11 U.S. states in legalizing assisted suicide. In the Netherlands, 9,958 deaths in 2024—over 5% of all deaths—were state-facilitated, including cases rooted in psychological suffering, such as anxiety, depression, autism, and more. Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program, which dropped its “reasonably foreseeable” death requirement in 2021, now sees even the poor and disabled choosing death amid gaps in care; government projections note it could save $34.7 million to $138.8 million annually by reducing long-term health costs. Belgium has considered expanding euthanasia to those simply “tired of life.” These trends reveal a chilling reality: when life is measured by its cost, the most vulnerable are the first to be discarded.
Australia Pays for Abortions: Australia’s new parental payments include a “baby bonus” for women to end pregnancies after 20 weeks—described as either a “Stillbirth Parenting Payment” of $4,255 or a “Paid Parental Leave Payment” of $20,147, effectively rewarding the termination of healthy late-term fetuses. Late-term abortion is a horrific, barbaric act. Pro-life lawyer Dr. Joanna Howe explained that killing a baby after 20 weeks up to birth involves injecting the heart with potassium chloride or digoxin, then inducing labor to deliver the now stillborn child. This deliberate and willful act ends the life of a healthy baby late in pregnancy. Staggeringly, in South Australia, 80% of such abortions target healthy babies. This troubling move for Australia is pushing it closer to dystopia, sparking grave concerns about society’s respect for motherhood, family, and the unborn.
“In an effort to raise the birth rate, Australia offers a generous baby bonus of almost $5,000 or a Paid Parental Leave payment of $20,000,” says Mr. Mosher. “But the Socialists now in charge of Australia, have turned these into incentives for mothers to kill their babies. This perverse incentive will surely turn some women into ‘serial killers,’ as they conceive babies only to abort them at 20 weeks in return for the $5,000 killing fee.”
Pro-Life on the Home Front
Abortion Travel Funds Blocked: The Trump Justice Department has overturned a Biden-era stance that claimed the Hyde Amendment did not bar federal funding for transporting women to obtain abortions—a maneuver designed to preserve abortion access after Roe v. Wade’s reversal. In a newly issued memo, the Office of Legal Counsel called the 2022 interpretation “unduly narrow,” emphasizing that Hyde’s 1993 revision—prohibiting funds “expended for any abortion”—applies not only to the procedure itself but also to ancillary services like travel. This decision builds on the Trump administration’s broader pro-life agenda, including the recently enacted “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which temporarily blocks Medicaid funding for abortion providers. These measures signal a renewed federal commitment to enforcing longstanding funding restrictions on abortion and reversing Biden-era efforts to weaken them.
Abortion Chain Files Lawsuit: Maine’s largest abortion provider is suing the federal government after being swept up in the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” a pro-life measure that blocks Medicaid funds from going to abortion providers. Planned Parenthood quickly filed a lawsuit over the provision, and now Maine Family Planning has followed suit. Although the bill was crafted in part to defund Planned Parenthood, its broad reach also impacts Maine Family Planning, which performs abortions at 18 clinics statewide. The group claims the law deprives Mainers of access to their “trusted health care provider.” But Americans don’t need to rely on abortion businesses for care—and at least 57% oppose their tax dollars funding organizations that end the lives of preborn children under the guise of health care.
Texas Fights Abortion Pill Flow: A New York county clerk has once again declined to certify a civil judgment from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton against a New York-based doctor accused of mailing abortion pills into Texas. For months, Paxton has sought to enforce a $113,000 fine against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, who practices just north of New York City, alleging she violated Texas law by prescribing the abortion drug mifepristone via telemedicine. But Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck rejected the filing, citing New York’s “shield” law, which blocks cooperation with out-of-state efforts to hold abortion providers accountable. Paxton warned the move undermines state sovereignty and sets a dangerous precedent. As abortion-friendly states defy pro-life laws under the banner of “protection,” the case highlights the growing conflict over whether states can safeguard their residents—or preborn lives—across state lines.
Mississippi Invests in Life: Mississippi has launched the MAMA program (Mississippi Access to Maternal Assistance), a statewide pro-life initiative connecting mothers and families with resources through public, private, and faith-based partners. Created under SB 2781, MAMA ensures that no funds go to abortion providers and instead supports organizations like Catholic Charities and Embrace Grace. The mobile portal has already served over 23,000 women, offering help with housing, healthcare, baby supplies, job training, and more. It also promotes Mississippi’s Safe Haven law, guiding parents in crisis to baby box locations. By investing in real support for women and children, Mississippi is proving that a truly pro-life culture doesn’t end at birth—it begins with love in action.
Good News
22-Week Preemie Survives: A baby girl born at just 22 weeks has beaten the odds, leaving the hospital after 166 days of intensive care. Grecia, delivered on January 30 at UMC Children’s Hospital in Las Vegas, weighing barely over one pound, faced staggering survival odds. Yet, through months of neonatal intensive care, she hit crucial developmental milestones without major complications and was discharged on July 15. Doctors credit advancements in neonatal care for making survival at the edge of viability possible, calling Grecia’s progress “remarkable.” Her story highlights both the fragility and resilience of the tiniest lives—and the growing capability of modern medicine.
Quote of the Week
“Reclaim the belief that the mother’s womb is the primal sanctuary, where a helpless, innocent, fragile, tiny baby is safe, secure, nurtured and protected.”
~Pope Leo XIV
