In This Issue:
- PRI in the Media
- Beijing Tightens Church Control
- Mosher Examines Fauci’s Silence
- Global Abortion Pill Pipeline
- China’s Grip on the Church
- Chinese Influence Campaign Exposed
- Deepening Depopulation
- Japan’s Population Hits New Low
- Italy’s Birthrate Hits Post-War Low
- Communist China
- China Arrests Christian Leader
- China’s Ethnic Unity Law
- Pro-Life Around the World
- UK Questions Assisted Suicide
- Pro-Life on the Home Front
- Massachusetts Pushes Abortion Until Birth
- Study Detects Abortion Drug in Drinking Water
- Virginia Amendment Targets Parental Consent
- House Democrats Target Moms.gov
- Good News
- Premature Baby Defies the Odds
PRI in the Media
Beijing Tightens Church Control: Recently, PRI President Steven Mosher appeared on LifeSiteNews to discuss the Vatican’s agreement with China following Pope Leo XIV’s approval of a new bishop under the deal. Mr. Mosher argued the agreement has consistently favored the Chinese Communist Party, accelerating the persecution of China’s underground Church by pressuring bishops and priests to join the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.
Mosher Examines Fauci’s Silence: This week, Mr. Mosher published a piece in the New York Post examining Dr. Anthony Fauci’s testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Mr. Mosher argued that Fauci’s decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment despite receiving a presidential pardon reflects the consequences of his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. He criticized Fauci’s opposition to the China travel ban, support for lockdowns and school closures, and backing of “gain of function” research, arguing that Fauci’s decisions caused unnecessary suffering and death and left America far worse off than it otherwise would have been.
Global Abortion Pill Pipeline: This week, the Center for Family & Human Rights highlighted PRI’s research examining the global abortion pill supply chain. PRI’s report explains how DKT International has become a central player in distributing abortion drugs and surgical abortion equipment worldwide as government funding declines. The research cited also details DKT’s partnerships with organizations such as Ipas and the U.N. Population Fund: networks who continue expanding access to abortion through commercial distribution channels.
China’s Grip on the Church: Recently, Steven Mosher appeared on Salem News Channel to discuss Pope Leo XIV’s approval of a new bishop under the Vatican’s agreement with China. Mr. Mosher argued that the deal has strengthened the Chinese Communist Party’s campaign to “Sinicize” the Catholic Church by pressuring bishops and priests to join the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. He warned that the agreement has done little to protect China’s underground Catholics from continued persecution and government control.
Chinese Influence Campaign Exposed: Recently, Mr. Mosher’s article on the Chinese Communist Party’s influence operations against the United States was featured in the Spanish publication La Abeja. In the piece, Mr. Mosher warns that Beijing is using cyber espionage, data collection, influence, and artificial intelligence to undermine American institutions and public opinion. He argues that the CCP’s ultimate goal is not merely to influence U.S. elections, but to weaken and ultimately defeat American democracy.
Deepening Depopulation
Japan’s Population Hits New Low: Japan’s demographic crisis deepened as its population of Japanese nationals fell below 120 million for the first time in 42 years, dropping by a record 917,000 to 119.7 million. The country recorded just 670,000 births—the lowest on record—compared to 1.59 million deaths. Meanwhile, the foreign resident population reached a record 4.03 million as Japan increasingly relies on immigration to help offset its shrinking population.
Italy’s Birthrate Hits Post-War Low: Italy recorded just 355,000 births in 2025, the lowest annual total since the end of World War II and a 3.9% decline from the previous year. The nation’s fertility rate fell to 1.14 children per woman, while 63% of respondents in a recent study cited “economic, professional or social obstacles” as reasons for not having more children. Immigration was the primary factor keeping Italy’s population stable at 58.94 million.
“The Italian government has taxed the country into low fertility,” says Mr. Mosher. “Workers see almost half their earnings eaten up by taxes, leaving them without the resources they feel they need to raise a family. The desired number of children is two, but Italy is only averaging a little over half that. Ciao, Italia.”
Communist China
China Arrests Christian Leaders: Chinese authorities arrested Pastor Yu Shaolin and church leaders Li Qun and Luo Ping after raiding a Sunday worship service at Century New City Church in Kunming. The three were formally charged with organizing an “illegal assembly” and remain in custody. Pastor Yu, who suffers from serious health problems, is reportedly being held despite his fragile condition. Church members are requesting prayers as they seek legal assistance and trying to continue their weekly worship despite the recent raid.
“As I write in my forthcoming book, The Underground Church, the persecution of Christians in China is intensifying,” says Mr. Mosher. “More and more believers are winding up in jail for daring to practice their faith in the face of a hostile Communist state that seeks to control all religious activity. Pray.”
China’s Ethnic Unity Law: China’s new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress took effect July 1, requiring religious groups, religious schools, and places of worship to promote loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party through the “Sinicization of religion.” The law also prioritizes Mandarin over minority languages and allows Beijing to pursue individuals abroad accused of undermining “ethnic unity.”
“This report from Radio Free Asia, which I helped to establish back in the Nineties, understates the forced ‘sinicization’ that is happening in China’s minority regions,” says Mr. Mosher. “Minority languages and cultures are being discouraged in the name of national unity. The implication is that the Han Chinese are superior, and that everyone else—from Tibetans and Uyghurs to Mongols and Manchus—are inferior. The world’s last experiment in race-based ideology ended in a devastating world war. This one may as well. But the first to suffer will, as in Nazi Germany, be despised minorities.”
Pro-Life Around the World
UK Questions Assisted Suicide: UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Parliament should not debate assisted suicide while palliative and social care remain underfunded, calling for those issues to be addressed first. His comments come ahead of a September 11 vote on a revived assisted suicide bill. An MRP poll of more than 10,000 people found just 7% of the public considered legalizing assisted suicide a legislative priority, while majorities in every constituency favored improving end-of-life care first.
Pro-Life on the Home Front
Massachusetts Pushes Abortion Until Birth: The Massachusetts House voted 119–33 to pass legislation allowing physicians to authorize abortions at any stage of pregnancy based solely on their “professional judgment.” The bill would remove the state’s remaining legal standards for abortions after 24 weeks, eliminate the requirement that late-term abortions be performed only in hospitals with obstetrical care, and prevent medical review boards from overruling a physician’s decision to abort the baby. The measure now heads to the state Senate.
Study Detects Abortion Drug in Drinking Water: A new peer-reviewed study found “significant levels of mifepristone” in eight of nine water samples collected from municipal tap water and areas surrounding water treatment facilities. Researchers warned that the abortion drug’s endocrine-disrupting compounds could pose risks to aquatic life and potentially affect human fertility, pregnancy, and fetal development. The findings add to growing need for federal testing of abortion-drug contamination in the nation’s water supply.
“PRI has been warning about the build-up of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the water for decades,” says Mr. Mosher. “The dangers have accelerated as the use of the Abortion Pill becomes ever more common. How tragic that those who abort their own children are contributing to the inability of loving couples to conceive their own children.”
Virginia Amendment Targets Parental Consent: A lawsuit is challenging Virginia’s proposed “Reproductive Freedom” constitutional amendment, warning that its sweeping abortion protections would eliminate parental consent requirements, undermine statutory rape laws for consenting minors, and strike down other longstanding protections for unborn children. The amendment’s broad language would allow minors to obtain abortion, birth control, sterilization, and transgender “sex change” without parental consent or knowledge.
House Democrats Target Moms.gov: Eighty-one House Democrats, led by Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, criticized the Trump administration’s new Moms.gov website for promoting pregnancy resource centers and family support services without directing women to abortion providers. In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, the lawmakers objected to the site’s inclusion of pro-life organizations such as Heartbeat International and demanded the administration add abortion referrals to pregnant moms.
“We at PRI celebrated the establishment of moms.gov, a resource to help mothers ensure that their pregnancies result in a healthy baby,” says Mr. Mosher. “In fact, we thought everyone would celebrate. But now it turns out that the Democrats are upset that moms.gov doesn’t help mothers ensure that their pregnancies end with a dead baby. Words fail me.”
Good News
Premature Baby Defies the Odds: A baby girl born at just 25 weeks’ gestation weighing 1 pound, 12 ounces has gone home after spending 99 days in the neonatal intensive care unit. Born with two holes in her heart, a severe brain bleed, underdeveloped lungs, and fluid on her brain, baby Samantha underwent multiple surgeries before making a remarkable recovery. Today, she is walking, learning, and thriving despite doctors’ grim early prognosis.
Quote of the Week
“One of the biggest factors determining birth rates is the strength of religious belief. Christians who believe that children are a blessing from the Lord tend, not surprisingly, to have more little blessings.”
~ PRI President Steven Mosher
