Respect Life

Catholic groups merge events for giant pro-life youth rally before March for Life

November 19, 2024
By Zoey Maraist
OSV News Filed Under: Feature, Knights of Columbus, News, Respect Life, World News

Pro-life organizers are hoping to augment that sense of togetherness with the merger of two pre-march youth events, announced Nov. 14. The Diocese of Arlington, Va., and host of Life is VERY Good since 2009, and the Knights of Columbus and the Sisters of Life, co-hosts of Life Fest since 2022, are joining forces to create one big pro-life rally called Life Fest ahead of the 2025 March for Life Jan. 24.

Experts: Church must better educate Catholics about IVF moral objections, alternatives

November 17, 2024
By Simone Orendain
OSV News Filed Under: Feature, Health Care, News, Respect Life, World News

In vitro fertilization is a topic that received significant national attention during the past election season as candidates made it a policy issue. A costly, but widely accepted option in society for conceiving children through artificial means, IVF also involves significant moral and ethical concerns.

Texas high court rejects execution delay for man convicted of ‘shaken baby’ murder

November 16, 2024
By Kate Scanlon
OSV News Filed Under: News, Respect Life, World News

The Texas Supreme Court Nov. 15 denied a state House committee’s attempt to delay the execution of a man convicted of murder in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, after lawmakers questioned the evidence behind his conviction.

Bishops decry move to add ‘right’ to abortion, same-sex marriage to Virginia constitution

November 15, 2024
By OSV News
OSV News Filed Under: Bishops, News, Respect Life, World News

Virginia’s Catholic bishops decried a move by a Virginia House of Delegates’ committee Nov. 13 to advance proposed constitutional amendments that would add a right to abortion in the state’s constitution and repeal a constitutional provision that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Pursuing common good in economics is part of being pro-life, pope says

November 15, 2024
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, Vatican, World News

Defending the dignity and sacredness of every human life requires working to create economic and social systems that promote the common good of all, Pope Francis said.

Bishops stress standing for dignity of human life following presidential election

November 13, 2024
By Lauretta Brown
OSV News Filed Under: Bishops, Feature, News, Respect Life, U.S. Bishops Meeting - Fall 2024, World News

The Catholic Church “always insists on the dignity of the human person from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death, and we continue to insist on that,” Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services said Nov. 12.

British bishops will pray in front of Blessed Sacrament ahead of assisted suicide vote

November 12, 2024
By Simon Caldwell
OSV News Filed Under: News, Respect Life, World News

The English and Welsh bishops are inviting Catholics to join a holy hour to pray for the defeat of an assisted suicide bill.

Data-driven campaign behind abortion ballot measure that defied national trend, strategist says

November 12, 2024
By Kate Scanlon
OSV News Filed Under: 2024 Election, Feature, News, Respect Life, World News

Voters in seven of 10 states with ballot referendums on abortion voted to codify abortion as a right in their state constitution, but three states defied that trend, marking the first victories on such measures for pro-life activists since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022.

Catholic group calls on Biden in final days to commute death penalty sentences

November 12, 2024
By Kate Scanlon
OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, World News

Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, issued a statement Nov. 6 urging President Joe Biden to take action on the practice during the remainder of his presidency while 40 lives on death row “hang in the balance.”

Thanking God for media technologies

November 10, 2024
By Sister Hosea Rupprecht
OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Respect Life

Together let us rejoice in the God-given talents and the creative gifts of those who promote the dignity of the human person, and who build communion among peoples the world over through their dedication and love.

West Virginia assisted suicide ban leads by narrow margin as vote count continues

November 6, 2024
By Gina Christian
OSV News Filed Under: 2024 Election, News, Respect Life, World News

West Virginians appeared on track to approve a constitutional amendment to ban medically assisted suicide and euthanasia in their state, with the ballot measure leading by just several thousand votes as the counting of votes from Election Day Nov. 5 continued into the following morning.

Voters in 3 states reject abortion ballot measures, defying trend around country

November 6, 2024
By Kate Scanlon
OSV News Filed Under: 2024 Election, Feature, News, Respect Life, World News

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Voters in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota Nov. 5 rejected amendments to their state constitutions that would have codified abortion as a right, while other states, including Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada and Missouri, did vote to codify such a right in their constitutions, on Election Day. Nebraska’s 12-week abortion ban will […]