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Home » News » Pro-Life This Week – July 24, 2026

Pro-Life This Week – July 24, 2026

Week in Review

Catholic Religious Sisters, Ministries, and a New York Bishop Stand against New York’s Assisted Suicide Law

In a move to defend and protect human life and dignity, Bishop John Barres of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, NY, joined religious sisters from several orders in filing a lawsuit against New York’s attorney general Letitia James and the commissioner of health and interim chair of the state’s board for professional medical conduct regarding the recent physician assisted suicide law in the state.

Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York state who also claims to be a Catholic, signed the terrifying S.138/A.136 bill into law in February, allowing those who are diagnosed as terminally ill to kill themselves through drugs prescribed to them by their physician. While one of the stipulations in the law states that religious-oriented home hospice providers are allowed to opt out of murdering patients, the pro-death agenda behind this bill does not make the option to “opt out” very easy, and it “doesn’t apply at all to independent assisted living facilities, including those run by the Benedictine Sisters.”

A July 20 press release by Becket Religious Liberty for All—the attorney firm representing Bishop Barres and the religious sisters—explains that they are asking the court to block the Medical Aid in Dying law before it goes into effect on August 5, 2026. According to the lawsuit, New York plans to heavily fine and impose criminal penalties on religious organizations that do not offer patients the chance to die through the new MAID act. 

The Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, the Missionary Sisters of St. Benedict, and the Little Sisters of the Poor are the four religious communities listed in the lawsuit. These religious sisters have dedicated their lives to authentic compassionate care for the elderly and infirmed by caring for them medically, spiritually, and emotionally. Page two of the lawsuit states the following regarding these generous and selfless sisters, whose communities have aided others for centuries: “New York should celebrate these efforts to help its neediest citizens. Indeed, it ought to pass legislation to support this work. . . . Instead, New York has put the Sisters to a stark choice: either abandon their religious beliefs regarding the sanctity of life or face significant fines and penalties.”

Additionally, Bishop John Barres made a powerful statement following his and his diocese’s involvement in joining the lawsuit: 

We will never submit to New York’s culture of death. Assisted suicide is a grave moral failure that puts the elderly, the disabled, and those suffering from mental and emotional illness at risk of abuse and manipulation. Christ the Divine Physician calls us to accompany the sick and dying with compassion, not abandon them to death. The court should protect that millennia-old mission.

We applaud Bishop Barres, the religious sisters, and healthcare ministries for not only dedicating their lives to the service of others, especially the vulnerable, but for taking such a firm stance against the culture of death suffocating New York. We hope and pray that this lawsuit will compel those who serve justice to see the true injustices being done to the sick, elderly, and those who care for them within the state.

To read more about New York’s MAID act, visit ALL’s initial reporting of it in 2025 here.

Lawmakers Urge Investigation into Late-Term Preborn Abortion Victims

More than four years after pro-life activists received the aborted bodies of five nearly full-term preborn babies, some of whom may have been victims of partial-birth abortion or infanticide, the case remains unresolved. Now, a coalition of more than 50 Republican politicians has written a letter that calls on acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, to fully investigate these murders and get justice for the children dubbed the DC Five.

In March 2022, pro-lifers involved in the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising were given a box that contained the remains of 115 preborn children killed inside the Washington Surgi-Clinic abortion facility in Washington, DC. Five of these babies had been killed in the second and third trimesters. The activists suspected that three of these babies may have been killed using illegal methods, so they contacted the police to take all five older babies and look into their deaths.

DC authorities investigated the pro-life activists but failed to pursue the babies’ case. The DOJ has also been indifferent. In 2024, pro-lifers had to fight to keep the medical examiner’s office from cremating the bodies and destroying evidence of a crime.

Blanche is currently facing a confirmation vote, but we are hopeful that he will pursue justice for these babies if he is confirmed.

However, the letter wasn’t the only recent development connected to the DC Five.

Operation Rescue announced that Cesare Santangelo, the abortionist responsible for these murders, allowed his DC medical license to lapse as of June 30. His Washington Surgi-Clinic facility has been closed since its license lapsed in September 2025. While this is good news, Santangelo remains licensed in Maryland, which, like DC, allows unlimited abortion.

Santangelo has killed thousands of preborn babies and at least one mother. He has also harmed countless other mothers. A Live Action undercover investigation in 2013 captured Santangelo admitting that he and his staff would withhold medical care from a baby born alive during an abortion and allow the child to die, raising further questions about the fates of the DC Five.

Whether Blanche pursues an investigation or not, we hope and pray that Santangelo will cease his murderous work and repent of the blood he has shed. Every preborn baby’s death is egregious, at any age and using any method, and we pray that our nation will pursue justice for every child killed before birth.  

ALL in the News

The Summer 2026 issue of Celebrate Life Magazine is now available! In this issue, you will meet a talented sculptor who creates works of beauty for the glory of God. You will also meet the faces behind a nonprofit dedicated to helping families of people with Down syndrome, learn the dangers of hormonal contraception, witness the beauty of open adoption, discover the peace found in solidarity, and more. You can read all the articles with a free download here! You can also read and share our articles by visiting our website.

The latest edition of the Wednesday STOPP Report is out. Catch up on the latest news on Planned Parenthood here.

Susan also wrote an article about Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of July and how it could have emphasized the preborn human beings who need and deserve respect. It was published by LifeSiteNews and republished by Sign of the Cross Media.

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—wrote an article about how CLSP’s lesson booklets on four specific saints teach students the characteristics of empathy and helping others. It was published on Catholic365.

Katie Brown Xavios, ALL’s national director, regularly posts updates about American Life League and its important work on social media channels X and LinkedIn. Follow her accounts to stay up to date.

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

Unconditional Love and Respect for Everyone: St. John Bosco teaches middle school students about the life of St. John Bosco and how he created a home and school for young boys who had nowhere to go and no one to care for them. Through stories about his lessons and his life, kids will learn to reflect on potential prejudices they have toward certain people based on their appearances, behaviors, or financial status, and they will be challenged to think about how their own choices can have a lasting positive impact when they treat all people with respect. This crucial for forming the next pro-life generation because caring for everyone, regardless of what they have or what they can do, is what God commands of us. And it’s the only way we can build a culture of life. The values that students learn from saints like St. John Bosco will remain with them as they grow. This booklet is now just $2, but only for this weekend! ORDER HERE

ALL’s Education Materials

Planned Parenthood Steals Souls is an incredible resource from ALL that teaches you and your teens about the horrible truth that occurs behind the doors of every Planned Parenthood facility. Not only does this organization kill babies, but it entices young people into lives of sexual sin. Learn the truth. SHOP NOW

Pro-Life Social Media

Aussie Mom Gives Birth to Identical Quadruplets

It’s easy for parents to double the size of their family in less than three years. They only need a second child. In the case of a family in Australia, they immediately doubled their family after already having four.

It was a one in 15 million chance that one human embryo split into two, but those two embryos then split into another two. Amazing!

Nah. They’ve got older sisters to help Mom and Dad.

There’s a lot of practical jokes in this family’s future. 

Cloth diapers are an economical option. 

There will be chaos when there are eight children under 12 years of age. And it will all be worth it!