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Home » News » Pro-Life This Week – August 15, 2025

Pro-Life This Week – August 15, 2025

Week in Review

Little Sisters of the Poor Under Attack Again Following Obama-Era Ruling

The Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic order of religious sisters who care for and serve the elderly across the world, are once again being challenged by New Jersey and Pennsylvania courts to provide contraceptives in their employee’s healthcare plans. Under the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act back in 2011, the courts tried to force the Catholic nuns to provide contraceptives as part of their employees’ health insurance or face millions of dollars in fines for refusal. This order from the Obama-appointed judges resulted in a nine-year legal battle (2011-2020) between the Little Sisters and the courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The case eventually went to the US Supreme Court, who ruled in favor of the sisters in a 7-2 decision in 2020, acknowledging that this mandate clearly violated religious liberty.

Now, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty will legally represent the Little Sisters of the Poor against the federal court in Philadelphia, which sided with New Jersey and Pennsylvania this week, rehashing a legal battle that appeared to be resolved five years ago. The press release states that the Little Sisters will appeal this ruling in the next few weeks. Mark Rienzi, the president of Becket and the lead attorney representing the Little Sisters, responded to the outrageous ruling out of Philadelphia this week:

The district court blessed an out-of-control effort by Pennsylvania and New Jersey to attack the Little Sisters and religious liberty. It’s bad enough that the district court issued a nationwide ruling invalidating federal religious conscience rules. But even worse is that the district court simply ducked the glaring constitutional issues in this case, after waiting five years and not even holding a hearing. It is absurd to think the Little Sisters might need yet another trip to the Supreme Court to end what has now been more than a dozen years of litigation over the same issue. We will fight as far as we need to fight to protect the Little Sisters’ right to care for the elderly in peace. 

In paragraph 2370, the Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly states that contraception and any acts that “render procreation impossible” are intrinsic evils. The Little Sisters of the Poor have fought this difficult legal battle before to defend Catholic teaching and be able to protect the vulnerable in the elderly population they serve. Mother Loraine Marie Maguire of the Little Sisters stated the following: “As Little Sisters of the Poor, we dedicate our lives to caring for the elderly poor until God calls them home. We will continue to fight for the right to carry out our mission without violating our faith, and we pray Pennsylvania and New Jersey will end this needless harassment.” 

ALL will continue to monitor this story and provide updates when available. Please join us in praying for the Little Sisters.

Costco Stops the Sale of Abortion Pills at In-Store Pharmacies 

On Thursday, wholesale store Costco announced that its pharmacies will no longer dispense the abortion pill regimen. 

In a statement reported by Reuters, Costco explained, “Our position at this time not to sell mifepristone, which has not changed, is based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients, who we understand generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers.”

Katie Brown Xavios, American Life League’s national director, applauded the decision and wrote the following post on social media, “Nearly a year ago, I took a call from a concerned pro-lifer and Costco shopper who was shocked to find that the wholesale store was dispensing abortion pills. She asked me to share the news with American Life League supporters in the hopes our community could make something happen. Looks like it did! Win for pro-lifers, moms, babies, and fans of Costco everywhere!”

ALL has also raised the alarm that many stores, including many wholesale stores, sell the morning-after pill. ALL has asked supporters to kindly and respectfully encourage these stores to discontinue the sale of all abortifacients—abortion pills and morning-after pills alike. 

ALL in the News

In a recent exposé on Planned Parenthood and its increase in virtual health centers, Live Action News cited the research from STOPP’s latest Planned Parenthood facilities report.  

Susan Ciancio, editor of Celebrate Life Magazine and director of the Culture of Life Studies Program, penned an op-ed entitled “Six Virtues of Motherhood Inspired by Our Blessed Mother.” It was published by Catholic World Report. She also wrote an op-ed on Catholic author Patrick O’Hearn, which was published by LifeSiteNews. And she  wrote an article about our Blessed Mother and how her example helps us follow the 10 Commandments. It was published on Catholic 365. 

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

Honoring the Blessed Mother: In this downloadable lesson, students learn the story of the Annunciation and Mary’s “yes” to God to become the mother of our Savior. As Christians, we understand that Mary played one of the most important roles in the history of our salvation as the mother of our Savior, which is why we choose to honor her in a very special way with feast days throughout the year and especially during the month of May. As a pro-life people, we also turn to Our Lady for her help as we work to build a culture of life. Through Mary’s example, we learn how to love, affirm, and respect every human being as a gift during every stage of life. ORDER HERE

ALL’s Education Materials

Abortion: Why Should I Care? This eye-opening brochure succinctly explains how abortion directly impacts young people, and it presents a passionate case for youth to take a stand for life. It’s a fantastic way to learn about and to spread the truth that abortion takes the life of a precious human being. SHOP NOW

Pro-Life Social Media

Congressional Lies: Nevada Lawmaker Exaggerates Planned Parenthood’s Customer Numbers

Planned Parenthood’s lamentations have gone into overdrive. Because Medicaid reimbursements are at risk of drying up, the abortion business has to rely on its legislative allies to promote the falsehood that hundreds of thousands of customers will lose their healthcare access.

One such Congresscritter, Susie Lee of Nevada’s Third District, posted the following lie:

If there’s one state where Medicaid customers won’t take a hit, it’s Nevada.  There are only two Planned Parenthoods in the entire state. Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, the largest affiliate in the US, took control of its Nevada facilities earlier this year. It only saw 163,000 customers in fiscal year 2023-2024. You won’t find a single Planned Parenthood affiliate boasting 300,000 customers. 

Planned Parenthood’s comrades love repeating the claim that killing preborn children is only 3% of its services. It’s a meaningless statistic meant to portray Planned Parenthood as a health provider. Percent of services isn’t what matters. Percent of income IS. If abortion were just a small percentage of what it does, then good business practices would dictate that dropping a little-used service would benefit the customers who seek all other services. But Planned Parenthood closes doors because cutting a 3-percent service would be cutting over half of its facility income.

The day a Democrat congressman visits a pregnancy health center will be a cold day when hell freezes over.