In This Issue:
- PRI in the Media
- Mosher Discusses Trump-Xi Summit
- Trump Won’t Budge on Taiwan
- Trump’s China Strategy
- Mao’s Legacy Still Haunts China
- Deepening Depopulation
- Europe’s Large Families Vanish
- Turkey’s Birthrate Keeps Falling
- Tech is Fueling Family Decline
- Communist China
- China’s Marriage Rate Keeps Falling
- UN Misdeeds
- Ireland Sends Millions to UNFPA
- Pro-Life Around the World
- Bangladesh Bans Disclosure of Fetal Sex
- UK Lawmakers Introduce Pro-Life Bills
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- Supreme Court Keeps Abortion Pill Access
- Pennsylvania Fights Taxpayer-Funded Abortions
- Hundreds Urge Planned Parenthood Defunding
- Good News
- Baby Born at 24-Weeks Goes Home
PRI in the Media
Mosher Discusses Trump-Xi Summit: This week, PRI President Steven Mosher appeared on EWTN News to discuss the Trump-Xi summit, U.S.-China tensions, and the persecution of Christians in China. Mr. Mosher argued that President Trump entered the talks from a position of strength, noting China’s continued dependence on the U.S. for advances in AI and robotics. He also highlighted the CCP’s ongoing crackdown on religious freedom, including the imprisonment of pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai and the arrest of priests unwilling to submit to state-controlled churches.
Trump Won’t Budge on Taiwan: Recently, Mr. Mosher appeared on Varney & Co. to discuss Taiwan’s role in ongoing U.S.-China talks. Mr. Mosher argued that President Donald Trump will not concede Taiwan to appease Beijing, noting the island’s critical importance to global trade and technology. He also highlighted Japan’s growing commitment to defending Taiwan, saying the alliance makes a Chinese invasion far less likely. Mr. Mosher added that China enters negotiations from a weakened position as its economy continues to decline relative to the United States.
Trump’s China Strategy: Mr. Mosher joined NTD News with Melina Wisecup to discuss President Trump’s strategy in talks with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. Mr. Mosher argued that China is negotiating from a position of weakness as its economy continues to collapse in on itself. He also noted that President Trump has challenged the CCP’s trade and economic practices for more than two decades, while cautioning that Beijing has a long history of failing to honor trade agreements.
Mao’s Legacy Still Haunts China: Mr. Mosher appeared on The First with Jesse Kelly to discuss the rise of communism in China and the lasting legacy of Chairman Mao. Drawing on his experience as the first American social scientist to conduct field research in Communist China, Mr. Mosher described the devastation of the Cultural Revolution, when Mao manipulated young people through the “Little Red Book” and turned them against their own families. He also warned that China’s worsening economic crisis could lead to another famine and further instability.
Deepening Depopulation
Europe’s Large Families Vanish: The European Large Families Confederation (ELFAC) has warned that Europe’s demographic decline is leading to fewer large families and increasing loneliness and aging. In a statement for the International Day of Families, ELFAC noted that large families are now rare, yet still raise more than one-quarter of Europe’s children. The group urged the European Union to formally recognize the family within its social rights framework and called for stronger support for parents, including tax relief, housing assistance, and benefits for families with five or more children.
“The European Large Families Association has the right idea,” says Mr. Mosher. “Stop trying to create policies so that everyone has the magic number of two children. Rather get behind the 10 percent of couples who are willing to have large families, and make it possible for them to do so by sheltering them from all taxes. They will make up for the half of the population which has no children or just one.”
Turkey’s Birthrate Keeps Falling: Despite years of pressure from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urging families to have at least three children, Turkey’s fertility rate has fallen to a record low of 1.48 children per woman. The government has rolled out new incentives, including extended parental leave for mothers, cash grants, and monthly stipends for larger families, but many parents say soaring inflation and low wages make larger families unaffordable. Demographers warn Turkey is rapidly becoming a “one child” family society as economic pressures and changing lifestyles reshape family life.
Tech is Fueling Family Decline: A new report from the Ethics and Public Policy Center argues that smartphones, social media, pornography, and AI chatbots are contributing to collapsing birth rates, declining marriage, and growing social isolation. The report warns that emerging AI technologies could further erode human relationships and weaken social cohesion. Researchers urged policy makers to take immediate action, including requiring age verification for pornography sites, restricting minors’ access to social media and AI companions, and regulating the pornography industry and new AI technologies.
“There are lots of factors affecting fertility, nearly all of which are driving birthrates downwards,” says Mr. Mosher. “But the substitution of virtual interaction for flesh and blood encounters certainly plays a big role. A lot of young people have stopped socializing altogether, effectively ruling out the prospect of meeting someone, falling in love, and starting a family.”
Communist China
China’s Marriage Rate Keeps Falling: China recorded fewer than 1.7 million marriage registrations in the first quarter of 2026, down 6.2% from last year and roughly half the level seen in 2017. As birth rates hit record lows and the population declined for a fourth consecutive year in 2025, Chinese officials are pushing pro-marriage and pro-natal policies, including subsidies, “love education,” and even university degrees in marriage. Still many young Chinese cite slowing economic growth, job competition, and work-life balance for delaying marriage and children.
UN Misdeeds
Ireland Sends Millions to UNFPA: The Irish government directed more than €50.4 million (roughly $57.9 million) in taxpayer funding to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) between 2019 and 2024, according to a parliamentary inquiry. The UNFPA has long promoted abortion and “sexual and reproductive health” programs worldwide, especially in developing nations. The report also highlighted that Ireland provided millions more to other pro-abortion organizations, including the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the Clinton Foundation, while offering no funding for life-affirming alternatives.
Pro-Life Around the World
Bangladesh Bans Disclosure of Fetal Sex: Bangladesh’s High Court has ruled that revealing the sex of an unborn child constitutes professional misconduct, aiming to combat the targeted abortion of baby girls. The court cited India’s fetal sex disclosure ban as precedent and ordered the country’s health authorities to create a central digital database within six months to monitor prenatal diagnostic reports. Experts say son preference remains deeply rooted across South Asia, contributing to sex-selective abortions and skewed population sex ratios in both Bangladesh and India.
“Sex-selection abortions almost always target unborn baby girls,” says Mr. Mosher. “That’s why there are an estimated 100 million missing women in the populations of China, India, and several other Asian countries. Banning ultrasound technicians from revealing the sex of the unborn baby will not solve the underlying problem, which is a deep-rooted cultural preference for sons.”
UK Lawmakers Introduce Pro-Life Bills: Two new pro-life bills will be introduced in the UK House of Lords, including measures to improve abortion complication reporting and protect babies born alive after abortions. A 2023 government review found abortion complication rates may be over 2.6 times higher than officially reported—and nearly 12 times higher when incomplete abortions were included. In Victoria, Australia, 33 babies were born alive following late-term abortions, while a UK report found 66 babies were born alive after NHS abortions in a single year, with most surviving for over an hour before dying.
Pro-Life on the Home Front
Supreme Court Keeps Abortion Pill Access: After temporarily preserving abortion pill access last week, the U.S. Supreme Court has now formally blocked a lower court ruling that would have restored in-person restrictions on mifepristone, keeping nationwide telehealth and mail-order distribution in place while the case proceeds. Medication abortions now account for most abortions in the U.S., with roughly one-quarter carried out through telemedicine. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, warning the decision undermines states’ ability to regulate abortion after Dobbs.
Pennsylvania Fights Taxpayer-Funded Abortions: Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday is asking the state Supreme Court to reverse a 4–3 ruling that struck down the state’s ban on Medicaid-funded abortions. The case, first filed in 2019, claims the funding restriction violates Pennsylvania’s Equal Rights Amendment. The decision could force taxpayers to pay for abortions and undo decades of protections limiting public funding for the abortion industry.
Hundreds Urge Planned Parenthood Defunding: More than 300 pregnancy center directors signed a letter urging President Donald Trump and congressional leaders to defund Planned Parenthood before a temporary funding moratorium expires on July 4. The coalition highlighted pregnancy centers as life-affirming alternatives that provide counseling, ultrasounds, parenting support, and material aid to families. The letter also cited recent research showing roughly 11% of women experience adverse effects after taking the abortion pill mifepristone.
Good News
Baby Born at 24-Weeks Goes Home: Baby Arya, born at just 24 weeks gestation and weighing barely over one pound, has finally gone home after spending 236 days in the neonatal intensive care unit. During her eight-month stay, Arya survived severe lung disease, a heart defect, and multiple blood transfusions. Her remarkable recovery highlights both the resilience of premature babies and the lifesaving care modern medicine can provide to the smallest and most vulnerable newborns.
Quote of the Week
“It is only when we know that there is One who did not cast lots blindly, when we know that our existence is not an accident, but is rather born of freedom and love, only then can we, whose existence is not necessary, be thankful for this freedom and know, with gratitude, that it is indeed a gift to be human.”
~ Cardinal Ratzinger
