Action Alert
Pray and Fast for Our Bishops
This Holy Week, American Life League invites all Catholics to join us in a week of intentional prayer and fasting for our Catholic leaders and bishops, who are called to lead us with courage and conviction. Through our prayer and fasting, we ask the Holy Spirit to guide them, especially in the defense of the preborn and the most vulnerable.
We ask that each day of Holy Week, you join us in a different daily sacrifice for our bishops:
- Monday – A live rosary
- Tuesday – Fast from nonessential electronics and apps
- Wednesday – Pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet
- Thursday – Attend Adoration
- Friday – Pray the Stations of the Cross
To receive daily reminders to join our fasts and prayers, please follow American Life League on social media and sign up for our email alerts at all.org/subscribe.
Week in Review
Guttmacher Institute’s Latest Numbers Confirm That Telehealth Pill Abortions Rose in 2025
The Guttmacher Institute, the former research arm of Planned Parenthood, has released its latest report, which provides data that shows a rise in the number of abortions, specifically in states with abortion restrictions.
This report estimates that 1,126,000 preborn lives were killed by abortion throughout the US in 2025. The institute does include surgical and pill abortions occurring at both brick-and-mortar facilities and via telehealth in its numbers. According to Guttmacher’s data, this is the highest recorded number of abortions in the country since 2009.
Guttmacher states that because telehealth allows women to obtain the abortion pill, travel to other states for abortions naturally saw a decrease in 2025. The Guttmacher Institute also noted that while states that do not have a “total ban” on abortion saw a slight (.02%) decrease in abortions committed within the year, states that restrict abortion saw a 35% increase in abortions because of telehealth. Shield laws in eight states (California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington) continue to permit the legal protection of abortionists within these states to conduct telehealth visits and prescribe the abortion pill to women in states that have restrictions on abortion.
While Guttmacher is specifically looking at the telehealth abortion numbers that have increased due to shield laws and telehealth, there are also third-party providers (some of which are based in other countries) that mail abortion pills to anyone in the US, and many do so for free. Sadly, it is no surprise to us that abortions continue to occur in “total ban” states because the laws in these states still permit abortions for exceptions, and shield laws remain in place, all while our federal government continues to allow the abortion pill to be mailed throughout our 50 states and US territories.
This data from the institute is yet another reminder that restrictions and exceptions for abortion simply do not work. We must seriously seek to end all the killing, or we will continue to see a rise in the number of preborn children murdered by abortion.
World Down Syndrome Day Reminds Us of the Value of Every Person
On World Down Syndrome Day, the Holy See reminded Catholics that every human being is valuable and that efforts to kill preborn children who have genetic conditions must end. Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, spoke at an event held by the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation. This French organization funds research into genetic disorders and is named after the Catholic scientist who discovered the chromosomal cause of Down syndrome.
“Persons with Down syndrome are more than a diagnosis, more than a condition, and certainly more than the limits others may imagine,” Archbishop Balestrero said. “All of them, like all of us, possess the same inherent dignity and sacred value, intentionally and lovingly imprinted by the Creator from the very first moment of conception.”
The archbishop also called attention to the dangers that prenatal testing creates for babies with Down syndrome. “Discriminatory and eugenic practices linked to prenatal screening and the selective termination of pregnancies targeting babies diagnosed with Down syndrome,” he said, “must be firmly rejected.”
Around the world, these tests have led to a genocide of preborn babies who test positive for Down syndrome. In countries such as Iceland and Denmark, nearly all babies prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted. Research shows that 67% to 85% of American babies who receive this diagnosis are killed in the womb.
Though our culture promotes the inclusion of born people with Down syndrome, it also advocates for the murder of preborn people who have the same condition. If we want to build a culture that welcomes and celebrates every human being, we must teach the truth that abilities do not equal worth, especially to our children. Our Culture of Life Studies Program offers several resources that promote the value and dignity of every person. Booklets such as All Shapes and Sizes: Learning about the Beauty and Dignity of People with Disabilities and Other Challenges and Dr. Jérôme Lejeune and Trisomy 21 teach these important truths to young children and teens. Through this pro-life education, we can, as Archbishop Balestrero said, “build a culture of life and humanity where every person with Down syndrome is recognized as unique and unrepeatable, and welcomed with equal dignity and respect.”
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—wrote an article about the children’s book Orchestra for Oliver, explaining how it beautifully depicts the humanity of a preborn child and how God can help a family through the tragic loss of a child soon after birth. This article was published in Catholic World Report.
Susan wrote an article offering some ideas of pro-life items and activities to include in your children/grandchildren’s Easter baskets. It was published inCatholic365.
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
Dream of the Rood: Written in the early 7th or 8th century, “Dream of the Rood” was one of the first early Christian poems written in English. Recounting Christ’s passion and death from the perspective of the cross, this poem recognizes the power of redemptive suffering and the Christian’s fundamental need for salvation. With early medieval literary devices, “Dream of the Rood” describes Christ’s passion as a battle waged against sin and death. You and your children can use this booklet to discover what medieval imagery, language, and symbolism reveal about the sacredness of all human beings. Now on SALE for just $5! ORDER HERE
ALL’s Education Materials
The Importance of Mothers Prayer Card: Time flies, and in just about six weeks, it will be Mother’s Day. Order these beautiful prayer cards now before the rush! Each card is 3”x 6” and contains a beautiful reflection on motherhood by Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty. It’s a reminder to us all that motherhood is an immense blessing. SHOP NOW
Pro-Life Social Media
Tragedy in Spain: State Helps Mentally Ill Woman Kill Herself
Noelia Castillo, a 25-year-old woman from Barcelona, Spain, was executed on March 26, 2026, after a prolonged legal battle. As a teenager in state care, she suffered a brutal gang rape, leading to multiple suicide attempts. In 2022, she jumped from a fifth-floor balcony; she survived but was left a paraplegic with chronic pain and profound trauma.
From a pro-life perspective, Noelia’s case reveals the tragic failure of a culture that discards the vulnerable rather than heals them. Her story begins with state neglect enabling horrific abuse, followed by a suicide attempt that left her disabled. Yet instead of offering comprehensive support, counseling, pain management, and reasons to hope, Spain’s euthanasia law and courts fast-tracked her death and organ harvesting. Her father and pro-life advocates (including Christian lawyers) fought to protect her life, arguing that her mental state and trauma warranted intervention, not a lethal injection.
Her death is a profound injustice. Every human life possesses inherent dignity, even amid the magnitude of suffering that Castillo underwent. True compassion must result in healing trauma survivors, not eliminating them. Her state-sanctioned murder underscores how “choice” in despair often masks societal abandonment of the weak. Her life deserved protection, expert guidance, and hope—not extermination. One Spanish priest on X sums up the matter with profound insight:
Dan porno para consumir pero luego te dan aborto para matar
— Padre Javier Olivera Ravasi (@PJavierOR) March 25, 2026
Dan comida chatarra para comer pero y luego dietas para adelgazar
Dan pastillas para curar la depresión y luego eutanasia para terminar con la vida
Dan todo. Pero falta algo: JESUCRISTO, Dios hecho Hombre, hijo de María https://t.co/6JUeLcW9rM
X’s translation reads:
They give you porn to consume but then they give you abortion to kill
They give you junk food to eat but then diets to lose weight
They give you pills to cure depression and then euthanasia to end life
They give you everything. But something is missing: JESUS CHRIST, God made Man, son of MaryWhere were the holy men and women in Castillo’s life to provide pastoral care? Noelia herself complained in court about feeling “coerced” by religious symbols being placed in her room, and she insisted on proceeding with the suicide without anyone else present in her final moments.
The absence of compassionate priestly care highlights a deeper evil afoot: Young women deeply wounded by trauma and neglect are vulnerable to state systems that see people as a collection of profitable body parts.