Surrogacy reduces children to products for sale, Vatican foreign minister says January 16, 2026By Junno Arocho Esteves OSV News Filed Under: News, Respect Life, Vatican, World News Surrogacy violates the dignity of both unborn children and pregnant women, reducing them to mere commodities and victims of exploitation, said Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, the Vatican foreign minister.
Senate hearing examines abortion pill after FDA approval of new generic version January 15, 2026By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: News, Respect Life, U.S. Congress, World News A Senate committee held a hearing on the abortion pill Jan. 14 as the Trump administration faces scrutiny from some pro-lifers over the Food and Drug Administration’s recent approval of a new generic form of the drug.
Planned Parenthood’s Title X funding restored after freeze January 14, 2026By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: News, Respect Life, World News The Trump administration “quietly released” Title X family planning funds to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union to drop its lawsuit that sought to restore the funds, Politico reported Jan. 13.
‘Many challenges remain’ in making abortion ‘unthinkable,’ says bishop January 14, 2026By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, World News Bishop Thomas shared his thoughts in a Jan. 13 statement released by the USCCB, ahead of a number of national and local pro-life initiatives held throughout the month.
Catholic writer Kathryn Jean Lopez on the pro-life movement’s ‘frontlines of love’ January 11, 2026By Charles C. Camosy OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Respect Life As the pro-life movement faces tensions with previous political allies, Catholic writer Kathryn Jean Lopez, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute and religion editor at National Review magazine, recently spoke with Charles Camosy for OSV News about the loving, human encounters that can spread what St. John Paul II called “the Gospel of Life,” even in difficult times.
Pope delivers fierce defense of the unborn in address to diplomatic corps January 9, 2026By Paulina Guzik OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, Vatican, World News Pope Leo XIV strongly defended the family, marriage and unborn life during his first-ever New Year’s address to the diplomatic corps Jan. 9, telling the diplomats accredited to the Holy See that abortion “cuts short a growing life and refuses to welcome the gift of life.”
Pro-life groups push back after Trump tells House GOP to be ‘flexible’ on Hyde Amendment January 7, 2026By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Health Care, News, Respect Life, World News After President Donald Trump told House Republicans to be “flexible” on the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits public funding of elective abortions, in negotiations on health care subsidies, a key national pro-life group argued the policy should be “a minimum standard in the Republican Party.”
Wyoming Supreme Court strikes down abortion laws, including abortion pill ban January 7, 2026By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: News, Respect Life, World News The Wyoming Supreme Court on Jan. 6 found that two state laws restricting abortion — including the first state law to specifically ban chemical or medication abortions — violated the state’s constitution and could not be enforced.
Catholic governor signs historic personhood law for the unborn in Puerto Rico December 31, 2025By Marietha Góngora V. OSV News Filed Under: News, Respect Life, World News On Dec. 21, Puerto Rico’s Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón approved Law 183-2025, which amends the Civil Code of Puerto Rico and recognizes the unborn child or “nasciturus” — a Latin legal term referring to “conceived but not born” — as a natural person from conception.
2025 spans life spectrum, from abortion and family programs to immigration and death penalty December 27, 2025By Kimberly Heatherington OSV News Filed Under: Feature, Immigration and Migration, News, Respect Life, World News Life issues are perennially critical to the robust public witness of the Catholic Church, but 2025 nonetheless proved a particularly eventful year across a wide spectrum of related concerns.
HHS proposes new regulatory actions to prohibit gender transition procedures for minors December 19, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Health Care, News, Respect Life, World News The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Dec. 18 announced new regulatory actions that would effectively ban certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender.
Approximately 50 Planned Parenthood clinics closed in 2025, report says December 18, 2025By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: News, Respect Life, World News Approximately 50 Planned Parenthood clinics closed in 2025 as the group lost its ability to bill Medicaid, according to a report by the nation’s largest abortion provider.
