Editorials

As the 49th annual March for Life steps off down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. tomorrow and Marches for Life happen around our Diocese, we are learning that pro-life legislators in several states are calling for laws similar to Texas’ Heartbeat Law. “Bills with language similar or identical to the Texas law have been introduced in Alabama, Florida, Missouri, and Ohio so far this year,” according to The Hill.

The 49th annual national March for Life — with a rally on the National Mall and a march to the Supreme Court on Friday, Jan. 21 — will go on as scheduled this year despite the surge in the omicron variant in the nation’s capital. This year’s theme is “Equality Begins in the Womb.” This year’s march is as important as the first march, which was held Jan. 22, 1974, a year to the day after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (ISCCB) reacted quickly to the U.S. Food and Drug Adminis­tration (FDA) announcement that it would permanently lift its requirement that the prescription for the abortion drug mifepristone had to be picked up in person. This now allows clinics, medical offices, and hospitals to prescribe the drug via telemedicine and send it directly to the patient by mail or through a mail-order pharmacy.

New Jersey continued its steady descent into the culture of death earlier this month when state policy expanded access to abortion by allowing non-doctors to perform abortions. The N.J. State Board of Medical Exam­iners unanimously decided, “To eliminate medically unnecessary regulations on abortion and open new avenues for reproductive healthcare services across the state.”

As the celebration of Christmas comes fully into view, now just days from today, the economic news grows more troubling by the day. The concern about just how far the U.S. economy will continue to grow with inflation raging at its highest percentage in nearly five decades seems to be on everyone’s mind as they try to complete their Christmas shopping with their budgets strained more than ever by higher prices on everything.