In This Issue:
- PRI in the Media
- China Appoints New Bishops
- Immigration Won’t Solve Fertility Decline
- Deepening Depopulation
- Deaths Overtake Births in UK
- Fertility Decline Crosses Education Levels
- Communist China
- China’s Birthrate Threatens Beijing
- UN Misdeeds
- UNFPA Funding Abortion Services
- Science Gone Mad
- IVF Clinics Accused of Wrongful Deaths
- Pro-Life Around the World
- Swiss Clinic Expands Assisted Suicide
- Priest Offered Euthanasia Twice
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- Supreme Court Restores Abortion Pill Access
- Bill Bans Dismemberment Abortions
- New Mexico Ends Abortion Reporting
- Good News
- Trump Plans National Rededication
PRI in the Media
China Appoints New Bishops: This week, PRI President Steven Mosher was featured in a LifeSiteNews report examining Communist China’s appointment of two new bishops during the Vatican’s interregnum period following Pope Francis’ death. The article highlighted Mr. Mosher’s warning that Bishop Shen Bin, a CCP-backed figure elevated in Shanghai, is “a faithful and trusted servant of the Chinese Communist Party.” The controversial Sino-Vatican deal continues to face criticism for expanding Beijing’s influence over the Catholic Church in China amid ongoing persecution of underground Catholics.
Immigration Won’t Solve Fertility Decline: Recently, Family Life International republished a piece by PRI team member Chiara McKenna arguing that immigration is not a long-term solution to falling fertility rates. Mrs. McKenna explained that fertility is declining worldwide and that immigrant birth rates typically fall to national averages within one or two generations. She warned that mass immigration may temporarily mask demographic decline but cannot reverse it, emphasizing instead the need to rebuild a culture that supports marriage, family formation, and childbearing.
Deepening Depopulation
Deaths Overtake Births in UK: Britain has reached a demographic “turning point,” according to new Office for National Statistics projections showing deaths will outnumber births beginning in 2026 and continuing for the foreseeable future. Between 2024 and 2034, Britain is expected to record 6.39 million births and 6.85 million deaths, with all population growth driven solely by migration. The UK population is projected to peak at 72.5 million in the 2050s before entering long-term decline, as falling fertility and lower migration reshape the nation’s demographic future.
“For the first time since the Black Death in the Middle Ages, Great Britain will see more deaths than births this year,” says Mr. Mosher. “Absent immigration, which brings with it its own problems, the population of Brits would be declining in the years to come. The former Prime Minister of Great Britain, who was a follower of Paul Ehrlich, thinks this is a good thing. It is not.”
Fertility Decline Crosses Education Levels: New research from the University of Notre Dame shows America’s fertility decline is occurring across all education levels—not just among working-class or career-focused women. The U.S. general fertility rate fell 23% from 69.5 births per 1,000 women in 2007 to 53.1 in 2025. Among women ages 30–35, childlessness and “never married” rates rose sharply for both college-educated and non-college-educated women.
Communist China
China’s Birthrate Threatens Beijing: China’s population is shrinking fast, with just 7.92 million births recorded in 2025, the lowest since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. Deaths reached 11.31 million, producing a population loss of 3.39 million for the fourth consecutive year of decline. China’s fertility rate now hovers near 1.0. Demographers project the country could lose nearly 60 million people over the next decade, threatening Beijing’s long-term economic and military ambitions.
“I could have written this piece myself,” says Mr. Mosher. “Since I have been saying the same thing for many years now. The latest numbers show that China’s women are averaging less than one child, and falling.”
UN Misdeeds
UNFPA Funding Abortion Services: At a recent House hearing on U.N. reform, Rep. Madeleine Dean claimed that “neither UNFPA nor any other UN agency provides abortions.” However, a new analysis from the Center for Family & Human Rights details UNFPA’s documented partnerships with abortion groups like Ipas, including abortion-related services in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. Although abortion is illegal in Bangladesh, a legal loophole allows first-trimester abortions under the term “menstrual regulation,” and UNFPA reported that its supported midwives performed 2,122 such procedures in 2021.
Science Gone Mad
IVF Clinics Accused of Wrongful Deaths: A new lawsuit filed in Utah accuses several IVF clinics of wrongful death for discarding embryos during the IVF process. The plaintiffs argue that clinics routinely fertilize more embryos than will be implanted, resulting in the destruction of “live human beings” for convenience and financial gain. One anonymous plaintiff said she was never informed what happened to her embryos after fertilization, raising concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding IVF practices and the commodification of human life.
Pro-Life Around the World
Swiss Clinic Expands Assisted Suicide: A new investigation has revealed that a Swiss assisted suicide clinic, Pegasos, accepts around 65 British patients each year without requiring any physical illness diagnosis. Founded in 2019, the clinic reportedly approves applicants based solely on mental capacity evaluations, with roughly five Britons accepted every month. Assisted suicide remains illegal in the UK, where assisting another person’s death carries a maximum 14-year prison sentence.
Priest Offered Euthanasia Twice: A 79-year-old Canadian priest recovering from a hip fracture says he was offered euthanasia twice by medical professionals despite being openly opposed to the practice. Father Larry Holland of Vancouver said he was “very shocked” when doctors raised assisted suicide as an option, even though he was not terminally ill. Father Lynn condemned the incident as coercive and deeply insensitive, warning that Canada’s expanding euthanasia regime increasingly pressures vulnerable patients to consider ending their lives.
Pro-Life on the Home Front
Supreme Court Restores Abortion Pill Access: Justice Samuel Alito temporarily blocked a Fifth Circuit ruling that would have reinstated in-person requirements for obtaining the abortion drug mifepristone, restoring nationwide mail and telemedicine access while litigation continues. The Supreme Court ordered responses from the parties by May 11 as it considers whether unrestricted access to the abortion pill should remain in place. The case follows ongoing legal challenges over the safety of mifepristone and the FDA’s decision to permanently allow mail distribution after the COVID-era policy changes.
“This is a medical safety issue rather than a legal one,” says Mr. Mosher. “I want to see the FDA speedily carry out its promised study of mifepristone. Any objective study will confirm what past reviews have already shown, namely, that this deadly drug sends one in ten women who take it to the emergency room. It can’t be taken off the market fast enough.”
Bill Bans Dismemberment Abortions: Republican lawmakers have introduced the Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act of 2026, legislation that would prohibit dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortion procedures nationwide. The procedure accounts for roughly 80% of second-trimester abortions and involves tearing unborn babies apart limb by limb at stages when they are capable of feeling pain. Pro-life advocates estimate that this “barbaric” practice kills 60,000 to 70,000 unborn babies each year. The legislation would impose fines and up to two years in prison for abortionists who perform the procedure.
“Everyone should be calling their congressman and asking them to vote for this law,” says Mr. Mosher. “Over half of second-trimester abortions are done using this inhuman method.”
New Mexico Ends Abortion Reporting: New Mexico has eliminated its abortion reporting requirements after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 30 into law, ending the state’s only system for tracking abortion data. The move comes as New Mexico positions itself as an “abortion tourism” destination, with more than 14,000 women traveling to the state for abortions in 2023. Abortion numbers in the state surged 368% between 2019 and 2023, rising from fewer than 5,000 to more than 20,000 annually, while abortion facilities continue operating with minimal oversight and regulation.
Good News
Trump Plans National Rededication: At the 74th annual National Prayer Breakfast, President Donald Trump announced a May 17 event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., titled “Rededicate 250,” which will rededicate the United States as “one nation under God” ahead of America’s 250th anniversary. Trump also highlighted new federal guidance protecting religious speech in public schools and pointed to growing Christian engagement among young Americans, including rising Bible sales and increased church attendance among Millennials and Gen Z Christians.
“As we celebrate 250 years of freedom we should not forget that for the first 200 years of our existence respect for Life reigned,” says Mr. Mosher. “Abortion was not only illegal, but the very idea of ending an unborn life was repugnant to Americans. Rededicating our country as ‘One Nation Under God’ must also mean returning to an understanding of the Sacredness of Human Life, born and unborn.”
Quote of the Week
“Once there is a living body, even one as small as an embryo, there must be a soul which explains and directs all its growth and development and its action throughout the cycle of life.”
~ Bishop Kevin Doran
