CNA Staff, Nov 22, 2025 / 08:20 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.

4 out of 5 Americans have concerns with embryonic screening, study finds

Four in five voters have some at least some concerns about embryo screening, a recent Ethics and Public Policy Center poll found.

Embryonic screening is the practice of selecting some babies to be born because of their genetic traits — such as appearance, health, or predicted intelligence — while discarding other unborn babies. 

The Ethics and Public Policy Center poll, led by center fellow Patrick Brown, comes in the wake of some Silicon Valley-funded startups saying they will give parents the ability to screen embryos.  

The poll found that very few Americans want Silicon Valley to “hack” reproduction.

“While Americans support measures to help infertile couples have children, they express concerns about broader implications of these technologies,” the report says. 

Across demographic groups, voters voiced support for “commonsense regulations.” 

Women were more likely to have concerns about embryo screening than men, while older voters (ages 46+) were more likely to have concerns than younger voters (ages 18-45).  

South Carolina right-to-life group opposes proposed bill to criminalize women who have abortions

A South Carolina bill would enable prosecution of women who have abortions — a practice that South Carolina Citizens for Life (SCCL) and most pro-life groups oppose. 

The bill, which would designate abortion as equivalent to the homicide of a born person, contains no provisions protecting women who obtain abortions. 

While pro-life groups tend to support prosecution of abortionists who illegally perform the deadly procedure, most groups oppose the prosecution of abortive mothers themselves, whom they also consider to be victims of abortion. 

Holly Gatling, who heads South Carolina Citizens for Life, called the bill “unacceptable.” 

“This provision of the law alone would shut down post-abortion ministries such as Rachel’s Vineyard and jeopardize the livesaving, compassionate work of pregnancy care ministries,” she told CNA.

The Catholic bishops ask that Project Rachel, a counseling resource for post-abortive women, be present in every diocese in the U.S.

Gatling said she opposes the bill “because it criminalizes post-aborted women, jeopardizes the work of pregnancy care centers and post-abortion ministries, and undermines the pro-life legislation previously passed by the General Assembly.” 

“Not only are post-aborted women subject to criminal prosecution, but pastors, counselors, and any ‘person’ also can be compelled to testify in the criminal prosecution of a post-aborted woman,” Gatling said. 

Gatling noted that South Carolina’s current heartbeat law has saved thousands of lives while explicitly protecting women from prosecution. 

“SCCL and many other pro-life and pro-family organizations in South Carolina oppose legislation that reverses this protection for women,” Gatling said. 

U.S. government can’t compel Christian employers to accommodate abortions, judge rules

A federal court has issued a permanent injunction ruling that Christian employers will not be compelled to accommodate abortions.

The Herzog Foundation in a lawsuit had argued that a Biden-era rule requiring employers to accommodate abortions for pregnant employees violated the First Amendment. 

On Tuesday, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri granted the permanent injunction protecting faith-based employers.

Herzog Foundation spokeswoman Elizabeth Roberts lauded the court’s decision in a Nov. 20 statement, saying that the ruling “solidifies that the government cannot overstep its authority by trying to dictate or suppress our beliefs.” 

3 state attorneys general file challenge to mail-in chemical abortion drugs

Attorneys general of Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri filed a challenge to stop mail-order abortion drugs and block the recent approval of generic mifepristone.

The Nov. 20 challenge claims that the FDA “cut corners when it removed safeguards from this dangerous drug.” 

Mifeprisotone’s label says that 1 in 25 women will go to the emergency room after taking the drug, while other studies have found that it poses a risk to the women and girls who take it.  

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said in a statement that Missouri “will not stand by while manufacturers gamble with women’s lives.” 

“Mifepristone is sending women to the hospital with life-threatening complications, and yet drug companies continue pushing new versions of it into the market without basic medical safeguards,” Hanaway said.

Texas sees decrease in minors getting abortions

After Texas implemented a heartbeat law protecting unborn children when their heartbeats are detectable, the state has seen a marked drop in abortions among minors, a recent study found. 

Published online on Nov. 13 by the American Journal of Public Health, the study found that abortions decreased by more than 25% among minors in Texas.

Additionally, among Texans ages 18-24, abortions decreased by about 20%; for Texans aged 25-29, abortions decreased by 17%, the study found. 

The study, which cited concerns about “young people’s reproductive autonomy,” has several authors affiliated with abortion clinics including Planned Parenthood as well as two authors affiliated with a pro-abortion research center, Resound Research for Reproductive Health.

CNA Staff, Nov 22, 2025 / 07:56 am (CNA).

The 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference features prayer, community, evangelization, and service among Catholic teenagers from Nov. 20–22 in Indianapolis.

Note: CNA has concluded this live blog. Please visit our main website for ongoing coverage and other Catholic news.

Vatican City, Nov 22, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Vatican Publishing House published Nov. 20 a new Italian-language book by Pope Leo XIV titled “The Power of the Gospel: The Christian Faith in 10 Words,” a compilation of the pontiff’s speeches and addresses that also includes a previously unpublished text in which he invites readers to dream of a “reconciled, peaceful, and harmonious humanity.”

The Holy Father affirms that faith “unites us beyond our personalities, our cultural and geographical origins, our language, and our histories” and presents the Church as “a plurality that strives for unity and that does not fall into the disorder of confusion.”

In today’s world, “marked by so many wars,” the pope asks Christians “to be witnesses of this harmony, this fraternity, this closeness.”

“We must look our world squarely in the face: We cannot continue to tolerate structural injustices by which those who have the most receive even more, and those who have the least become increasingly impoverished,” the pontiff says.

Similarly, he warns of the risk that hatred and violence will cause “misery to spread among peoples.”

“Peace is not the fruit of oppression or violence; it is not related to hatred or revenge,” he says, noting that the saints have taught that “only goodness disarms perfidy and that nonviolence can annihilate oppression.”

“Precisely the desire for communion, the recognition of ourselves as brothers and sisters, is an antidote against all extremism,” he says.

‘We are not condemned to live in perpetual conflict’

For the pope, this model of fraternity is replicable in other areas. He thus affirms that the Church, “a home for diverse peoples, can become a sign that we are not condemned to live in perpetual conflict” and can “embody the dream of a reconciled, peaceful, and harmonious humanity.”

“It is a dream that has a foundation: Jesus, his prayer to the Father for the unity of his followers. And if Jesus prayed to the Father, all the more reason we should ask him to grant us the gift of a peaceful world,” the pope writes.

In this way, he emphasizes the centrality of Christ and says that faith has nothing to do with “the titanic effort to reach a supernatural God” but rather with the discovery that “the face of God is not far from our hearts.”

Leo XIV recalls that Christ’s entire existence was marked by the “will” to be a bridge.

“The Church is this communion of Christ that continues in history. And it is a community that, in unity, lives diversity,” he explains after using the metaphorical image of a garden that St. Augustine used to illustrate the beauty of a community of believers.

In the text, the pope includes the words of the prior of the monastery of Tibhirine in Algeria, Christian de Chergé, who was kidnapped by Islamic terrorists in March 1996 and executed two months later. He was beatified along with 18 other men and women religious who were martyred.

“Speaking of [the terrorist] who had violently broken into the monastery, he wrote: ‘Do I have the right to ask [God]: Disarm him, if I don’t first ask; disarm me and disarm us, as a community? This is my daily prayer,’” the pope recalls, noting that in that same land of North Africa, some 1,600 years earlier, St. Augustine remarked: “Let us live well and the times will be good. We are the times.”

“We can have an impact on our time ourselves, with our witness, with our prayer to the Holy Spirit that he would make us men and women with a peace that is contagious, welcoming the grace of Christ and spreading in the world the fragrance of his charity and mercy,” the pontiff emphasizes in the new book.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

London, England, Nov 22, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Many women in England and Wales who have abortions in their 20s may end up childless in their 40s, according to key research by a pro-life activist and former employee of Marie Stopes International.

A report issued by Catholic independent public health consultant Kevin Duffy titled “Abortion and Childlessness” shows that many women who have abortions in their 20s may be faced with the real risk of remaining childless at 45. However, Duffy states that this risk is rarely, if ever, highlighted by abortion providers to those considering abortion.

Duffy’s projections in the report suggest that, by 2045, as many as 1 in 4 women may reach the age of 45 having not given birth to any children, with abortion given as a major factor in about half of these cases.

While Duffy does not suggest abortion causes infertility, his data shows that if an abortion leaves a woman childless at 30, she may find herself in a situation where timing pressures and a natural decline in fertility become major factors, leading to a 50/50 chance she will still be childless at 45.

One troubling statistic from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that in 2022, women aged up to 25 had a total of 190,970 conceptions, of which 90,753 — 48% — ended in abortion. These figures highlight how Gen Z (people born between 1997 and 2012) approaches procreation and family planning, with abortion playing a significant role in this approach.

The report pinpoints concerns over declining fertility rates. Duffy states: “In 2022, it is very likely that more than 5,000 childless women aged 29, presenting for an abortion, were not warned of the 50% chance that they would remain childless at 45.”

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed in August 2025 that the total fertility rate (TFR) in 2023 in England and Wales was 1.41, which was described as “the lowest value on record for the third year in a row.” Duffy highlights the fact that, since 1973, the TFR total has remained below the replacement level of 2.1 and has dipped dramatically since 2012. He shows that abortion plays a role in about half of all childlessness.

“Abortion is a significant factor in the falling birth rate,” Duffy told CNA. “Women are still having broadly the same number of children. The average hasn’t really changed [since the 1970s]. It’s still around about 2.3, even though the fertility rate has been plummeting. And that plummeting is because childlessness has been increasing.”

During his research, Duffy found that, of women up to the age of 30 who had remained childless, about half have had abortions. Regarding this risk, he said: “They need to be told. Abortion providers should be letting them know that there is a risk. That abortion may be ending the only chance you have of becoming a mother.”

Noting that a continued plummeting fertility rate will have grave consequences for society, Duffy — who previously helped Marie Stopes International promote abortion in Africa and Asia — believes action is necessary.

“From workforce shortages to an unsustainable age structure, the consequences will be far-reaching. If we are to address this issue responsibly, we must confront all contributing factors — including the role of abortion — with honesty and urgency.”

Focusing on abortion, Duffy — who is now firmly pro-life — said “a risk this high demands to be fully investigated and women need to be told.”

Duffy’s report comes at a critical time for the pro-life movement in the U.K. 

A highly controversial abortion up to birth amendment was inserted into the U.K. government’s Crime and Policing Bill earlier this year. If this amendment becomes law, it would mean women would be legally allowed to perform their own abortions for any reason at any point of pregnancy. This would raise the alarming risk of women performing their own late term- abortions in their homes.

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a Catholic pro-life activist who has been repeatedly arrested for praying silently near an abortion facility in Birmingham, England, underlined the Catholic teaching that life begins at conception. 

Vaughan-Spruce told CNA: “When discussing ‘childlessness,’ we frequently overlook a crucial fact: Many women counted as childless have conceived a child but have then had an abortion. The truth is that life begins at conception, meaning motherhood and fatherhood begin then as well. No act, not even abortion, can erase that reality.”

“Doctors are careful to emphasize the permanence of sterilization but rarely acknowledge the lifelong impact of abortion. Each conception brings into existence an irreplaceable human being whose loss leaves a real absence in both family and society.”

Commenting on Duffy’s findings, Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern’s Christian Legal Centre, said: “Abortion providers fail to give women the full picture of what the choice to abort will mean for them in the long term. How many women would make different decisions if they knew of the 50/50 chance that they would never have children?”

Duffy called on the Church to support pregnant women so that “they don’t feel so much pressure” to have an abortion. Duffy said: “What can we do, as a Church, to give that moral, emotional, and spiritual support to young parents? How can we support our young people to become parents and to have more children?”

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales in a Nov. 14 statement confirmed its opposition to decriminalize abortion, describing it as “an assault on the value of human life” and calling for laws that “protect life, preserve human dignity, and promote the common good.”

The Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles (OLA), the managing agents of St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri, Nigeria, where 315 students and staff were abducted early Friday night, have issued a heartfelt appeal requesting prayers and spiritual solidarity.

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Despite early hopes in the heart of the Amazon, the summit concludes without commitments on fossil fuels, leaving vulnerable nations disheartened and the multilateral process under strain.

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A catch-up immunization campaign is underway in Gaza to reach over 40,000 children under three who have missed routine vaccines due to two years of conflict.

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Vatican City, Nov 22, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

St. Cecilia, widely known as the patron saint of music and musicians, is buried in the Basilica of St. Cecilia in the Roman neighborhood of Trastevere where a famous Baroque sculpture of her still puzzles scholars.

According to popular belief, Cecilia was a Roman noblewoman who lived in the third century. Despite being forced by her family to marry, she remained a virgin, as she had vowed to do as a young girl.

Her pagan husband, Valerian, converted to Christianity after their marriage, and Valerian’s brother, Tiburtius, was also baptized a Christian. Both men were martyred. St. Cecilia, too, would later be tortured and martyred. It is said she took three days to die after the executioner hit her three times on the neck with a sword.

After her martyrdom, St. Cecilia was buried in the Catacomb of St. Callixtus. The underground burial place of early Christians was created around the turn of the first century A.D. by Callixtus, a deacon who later became pope.

Located under the Appian Way, an ancient Roman road connecting the city to southeast Italy, the Catacomb of St. Callixtus once held the bodies of more than 50 martyrs, including St. Cecilia, and popes from the second to the fourth centuries.

After the end of Christian persecution, the relics of the Christians buried in the city’s many catacombs were moved to churches for veneration. St. Cecilia’s remains were transferred in the early 800s to a church built on the ruins of her former home.

It is said that hundreds of years later, during a restoration of the church in 1599, her tomb was opened, revealing her body to be, miraculously, incorrupt. Artist Stefano Maderno was commissioned to create a marble sculpture of the saint.

Sources disagree about whether the Baroque artwork, still on display today at Cecilia’s tomb in the Basilica of St. Cecilia in Trastevere, is a depiction of how the saint’s body was found in 1599 or an invention of Maderno. Either way, the sculpture — which depicts Cecilia lying on her right side, her hands tied, her face turned toward the ground, and the wound of her martyrdom visible upon her neck — is considered a masterpiece.

There are several widely-told legends about St. Cecilia and her husband. One of the oft-repeated beliefs, dating to the fifth century, is that she sang to God “in her heart” as musicians played at her wedding feast.

This story about the saint comes from a Latin antiphon, but there is a competing interpretation, however.

“Cantantibus organis, Caecilia virgo in corde suo soli Domino decantabat dicens: fiat Domine cor meum et corpus meum immaculatum ut non confundar,” the Latin antiphon says. In English it means: “While the instruments played, the virgin Cecilia sang in her heart to the Lord alone, saying, ‘Let my heart and my body be made pure, that I may not be confounded.’”

Another version of the antiphon gives a slightly different opening word, “candentibus,” instead of “cantantibus,” which would change the translation from musical instruments playing to “glowing” instruments of torture.

Scholars continue to disagree about which Latin version is the correct one and which may be a copy error. What is without dispute, however, is St. Cecilia’s selfless example of faithfulness to God, even to the point of the sacrifice of her own life.

St. Cecilia’s feast day in the Church is celebrated Nov. 22.

This story was first published on Nov. 22, 2024, and has been updated.

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Gunmen stormed and kidnapped more than 300 students at a Catholic school in Nigeria. The United States and local Church have condemned the act, voiced deep concern, and Washington is considering sanctions.

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