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Home » News » Pro-Life This Week February 7, 2025

Pro-Life This Week February 7, 2025

Week in Review

Remembering Virginia McCaskey

It is with a heavy heart that we pay tribute to one of American Life League’s dearest supporters, Virginia McCaskey. 

Mrs. McCaskey was the owner of the Chicago Bears and the daughter of the late NFL legend George Halas. Her incredible legacy is as much about football as it is about the babies. 

In the early years of their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. McCaskey and their young family learned that an abortion facility would be opening right across from their local hospital. “It felt like a personal attack on our values and our neighborhood,” Virginia recalled in a 2020 article. “We knew we needed to do something more than write letters and write a few small checks to different organizations.” This led them to American Life League. 

In the same 2020 interview, Virginia recalled being immediately impressed by Judie Brown’s courage and conviction. She recalls: “[They] were going all out for what they believed in. They were giving more than just lip service to the cause.” 

This was the beginning of a long history of work in the pro-life movement. Through the work and tireless support of the McCaskey family, there is no doubt that millions of lives have been saved. 

“For years, Virginia and her amazing husband Ed were friends of ours and of the babies,” says Judie Brown. “She will be sorely missed, and we pray for the happy repose of her soul and for her family, and we thank God for the many hearts that were changed thanks to her dauntless defense of truth.”

“Virginia McCaskey was an incredible force for good,” says Katie Brown. “This was more than apparent when I interviewed her for a Celebrate Life Magazine article several years ago. As Virginia detailed her extraordinary life, her faith, and her passion for the babies, she did so with a gracious humility that made it clear that, to her, this was simply the way things are. Her tireless support for the babies (and for football) never faded. I feel honored to have known her, even in such a small capacity. Virginia’s unwavering faith and love for life are qualities we don’t often find in this day and age. May we all live as she did, with a deep love for our fellow human beings—born and preborn—and do so fearlessly!”

“Mrs. Virginia McCaskey was one of the kindest, humblest, and truly grace-filled people I have ever known,” says Hugh Brown. “The witness she bore, her love of faith and family, her love of the game of football, her incredible business savvy, and the courage she exemplified in fighting for the least of these are examples that impacted everyone she touched. I am blessed to have known her. May she rest in peace and pray for us from her place in heaven with our Lord.”

Our deepest condolences go to the McCaskey family and to the Chicago Bears. 

All of us at American Life League are praying for the repose of her soul. 

Planned Parenthood Facilities Already Closing and Opening in 2025  

Although 2025 began just a few weeks ago, Planned Parenthood affiliates across the US have announced five facility closures, one temporary facility closure, and the opening of two new facilities all within the 2025 calendar year. STOPP tracks Planned Parenthood’s facility numbers, services, and finances each year to provide the public with information about the abortion giant as part of our efforts to stop Planned Parenthood’s influence and actions in our culture. We have provided some of these facility updates for your information below:

Openings: Last summer, STOPP reported the outrageous story of the city of Richmond, Virginia, selling Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia a piece of property for $10 so it could open a third abortion facility in the state’s capital. Though an opening date has not yet been announced, we can assume that it is a high priority for the abortion organization to complete within the year, as the abortion giant initially announced its plan to open in 2025. Additionally, on the West Coast, a new Planned Parenthood facility opened recently in Oakland, California. This facility is being labeled as the “largest Planned Parenthood health center in the country,” as it offers abortion, contraception, and gender hormone drugs to its patients. 

Temporary Closed: The Planned Parenthood facility in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is claiming it is “temporary closed” due to staffing shortages. Adrienne Mansanares, CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, is hopeful that the facility will remain open, but we will pray that this facility will remain closed for good.

Permanent Closures: Most recently, Planned Parenthood of Illinois cited financial struggles and announced that it is closing four of its abortion facilities in Illinois beginning in March 2025. These facilities include PP Englewood of Chicago, Ottawa Health Center, Decatur Health Center, and Bloomington Health Center. All four of these facilities currently provide in-person and virtual (or abortion pill/telehealth) abortions, as well as contraceptives and “gender-affirming care.” We say “good riddance” to these life and soul stealing places that claim to be “health centers.” 

However, while a Planned Parenthood facility closure is always good news and an answer to our prayers, the reality in this case is that this affiliate is making up for the loss of its buildings to kill babies by marketing its digital “PPDirect” app to do the same thing. This app allows individuals to order abortion pills, birth control, and hormone drugs from Planned Parenthood, who then mails the drugs to the requester for a fee. In May 2024, STOPP reported on this app and on Planned Parenthood’s disturbing efforts to profit from more abortions via the Internet. 

The final Planned Parenthood facility to close in 2025 was the Mission Bay Mimi Brien Center in San Diego, California. Though the announcement was made in the fall of 2024 for an early 2025 close, the facility is already listed as permanently closed with no website to its name. We are very happy to see that this abortion facility has been closed and know that with all the continued efforts and prayers from our STOPP supporters, we are another step closer to ending Planned Parenthood’s influence and dangerous impact on all people who encounter them.

Successful Meeting with Connecticut Right to Life

This week, ALL hosted the president of Connecticut Right to Life in our headquarters. Bill O’Brien, who also runs the pro-life group Unborn Babies Count, is a longtime partner of ALL’s Associate Partners for Life Program. 

The Associate Partners for Life Program exists to serve grassroots pro-life groups with their various needs, ranging from resources to speakers for pro-life events.

Over the next few months, ALL will be working closely with Bill and his organization to help reinvigorate the Associate Partners for Life Program. ALL is committed to reviewing what today’s pro-life groups find are their most pressing needs and evaluate how ALL can best bridge that gap. 

If you are interested in learning more about the Associate Partners for Life or are a group interested in joining, contact Katie Brown at kbrown@all.org.

ALL in the News

Susan Ciancio, editor of Celebrate Life Magazine and director of the Culture of Life Studies Program—ALL’s pre-K-12 pro-life education program—penned an op-ed about teaching embryology facts to kids. It was featured in LifeNews. She also wrote about Bishop Joseph Strickland’s recent podcast about the importance of the family.

Last week, Katie Brown was quoted in a Bloomberg Law article on the Born Alive bill introduced to save babies born during abortions. Brown called the law the “bare minimum.” Read her comments in the article linked here.


Twice a week, Judie’s commentaries are distributed to an expansive media list. The list contains over 100 media outlets such as Fox News, The Federalist, Breitbart, and The Daily Caller, among others. Judie’s commentaries are each featured on the front page of ALL.org. 

Pro-Life Education

Culture of Life Studies Program

Living the Golden Rule: In this lesson, first and second grade students will learn about Jesus’ teachings from the Sermon on the Mount, specifically the Golden Rule, where Jesus instructs us to “do to others as you would have them do to you.” Teaching kids to treat others as they would like to be treated is one of the earliest foundations of building a culture of life—where all people are respected and cherished. On SALE for just $3! ORDER HERE

The Golden Rule and Love for Those Who Hurt Us: In this lesson, fifth and sixth grade students will learn the importance of doing to others as they would have others do to them. Through discussion, examples from Jesus’ time, and real-life scenarios, students will develop both compassion and empathy in their dealings with family, friends, and those they may not like. On SALE for just $3! ORDER HERE

ALL’s Education Materials

You Can’t Be Catholic and Pro-Abortion Sticker: This 12″ x 4″ bumper sticker is perfect for cars, for computers, for your fridge, or for anywhere else you want to teach the truth. Abortion flies in the face of our Catholic faith, and you cannot be Catholic and support the murder of defenseless children. SHOP NOW

Pro-Life Social Media

Country Recognizes Personhood . . . of a Giant Rock

A sensible person can make the logical argument that a developing human preborn child is a person. He is a separate and distinct human being. But for crazed feminists with appetites for hedonism, that tiny person is a threat, so they treat them as discardable tissue.

At least mountains get protection.  

Not only has New Zealand renamed Mount Egmont, its second highest mountain, Taranaki Maunga, it granted it the status of person. This dormant volcano can now join the ranks of rivers and grasslands that have also been recognized as persons.

What about New Zealand’s preborn babies? Are they people too? Nope. 

New Zealand’s abortion laws align with many of the laws of America’s states. Pro-abortion arguments around the fetus’ lack of self-awareness are undercut by the fact that mountains lack a brain. You would think that if a rock can be a person, a human fetus can absolutely be one, but that would deprive the feminist privilege of sleeping with whomever they want as often as they want. 

It’s doubtful that New Zealanders will respect the mountain’s choice to one day identify as an erupting volcano and abort the towns surrounding it.