US bishops call for nationwide prayer and action as abortions increase. America's Catholic bishops are preparing a countrywide prayer-and-action campaign beginning August 18, aimed at rallying Catholics to respond to the increasing abortion rate and the growing availability of abortion drugs. Key takeaways: * USCCB leaders are noting the increasing lives ended by abortion due to "easier access to abortion pills" and are calling for "a focused effort of prayer and action to stop the spread of abortion pills," involving seeking "the intercession of St. Joseph, Defender of Life" and sending messages to pharmaceutical businesses involved in the dispensing and sale of abortion drugs. * The Catholic Church teaches that every human life is sacred from conception until natural death, and as such, abortion is always wrong. * Because of increased access to the abortion pill, abortions have been increasing; even the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute notes that its tracking of abortion pill statistics are most likely an undercount. The details: According to OSV News, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, issued joint remarks addressing the alarming increase in abortions in the United States. They noted, "Every abortion involves the death of a child and harm to the mother. Now with easier access to abortion pills, the abortion rate is tragically climbing, along with increased health risks." The outlet reported: A federal policy permitting distribution of mifepristone, sometimes called the abortion pill, by mail that was first issued by the Biden administration has thus far been left in place by the second Trump administration. The Department of Justice, under the current Trump administration, has sought to block state challenges to the policy pending a promised safety review by the Food and Drug Administration. But the status and timeline of the FDA review are unclear. The outlet added: Archbishop Coakley and Bishop Thomas wrote the FDA "has enabled a nationwide mail-order abortion industry by allowing abortion pills to be prescribed in telehealth appointments and sold both at neighborhood pharmacies and online, circumventing state laws that protect life in the womb." "This leaves women vulnerable to suffering an abortion alone at home, without any medical supervision," they said. "It also sets up additional opportunities for exploitation by violent partners or human traffickers." The bishops said that now through the end of October, when the Church in the U.S. marks Respect Life Month, "the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities is inviting Catholics to join a focused effort of prayer and action to stop the spread of abortion pills." They urged Catholics to seek "the intercession of St. Joseph, Defender of Life" as well as to send messages to pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies that are involved. Why it matters: In remarks cited by OSV News, Kat Talalas, assistant director for pro-life communications at the USCCB's Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, said, Live Action is setting up a simple on-line platform allowing users to click and send one message that will go to multiple entities, such as brick-and-mortar pharmacies and online pharmacies, distributors, and pharmaceutical companies. Live Action is also developing educational resources about the abortion pill, which will help explain distinctions between miscarriage care versus ending the life of a child in an abortion. The Catholic Church teaches that every human life is sacred from conception until natural death, and as such, abortion is always wrong. The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute typically tracks abortion statistics on a more comprehensive level than the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and, as Live Action News reported: In June of 2026, Guttmacher updated abortion data for 2025 from the 1,126,000 estimated total previously reported to 1,129,900 estimated abortions. This updated figure reflects 3,096 abortions per day, 21,729 per week, and 94,158 per month and brings the estimated total number of abortions since Roe to 66 million. However, what makes these statistics even more alarming is the fact that they are almost certainly an undercount, Live Action News also pointed out: Guttmacher says its data is likely an undercount, because it does not include data about advance provision of abortion pills (which is not FDA-approved), the number of abortions provided under "exceptions" to pro-life laws, or abortions "not provided by US clinicians" which would include the ordering of the abortion pill through a website. Zoom in: The bishops are lobbying for Catholics to act, and to pray: first, by calling on the faithful to contact pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies involved in the abortion pill pipeline, and to pray for the intercession of St. Joseph, Defender of Life. The bishops' call points to several practical tasks. First, Catholics and pro-lifers should regard the abortion pill industry's influence and hold it accountable. When abortion is delivered through a phone and a mailbox, the pro-life response must also be digitally savvy, persistent, and public by countering such outreach. Pro-lifers should support pregnancy help centers, maternity homes, and parish efforts. Women must be provided practical resources when they are afraid, poor, unsupported, or pressured. Pro-lifers should likewise pressure pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies to stop distributing abortion drugs. The bishops' invitation is important because corporations react to pressure. If they believe abortion sales carry reputational cost, they may think twice about further entrenching their role in the abortion industry. The bishops' message exhorting people to prayer reminds Live Action that no pro-life policy can be sustained without moral renewal. America did not arrive at this abortion crisis by accident, but by a gradual turning away from God. The bottom line: All in all, the bishops' message is a sobering reminder of of what the pro-life cause is really about: a child, a mother, a conscience, a society. Abortion is not simply one issue among many. It is a direct attack on the weakest human beings, and the growing reliance on abortion pills makes that attack easier to hide but no less unconscionable. Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective. Its work is possible because of its donors. Please consider giving to further its work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity. Contact [email protected] for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content. Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email [email protected] with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see its Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!

Trump announces proposal to expand IVF insurance coverage. President Donald Trump announced a proposal this week that would expand insurance coverage for fertility treatments like IVF, as he said his Trump Rx program has already saved Americans millions in dollars for IVF drugs. Key takeaways: * President Donald Trump announced a proposal that would allow employers to offer a supplemental insurance option that would provide coverage for IVF treatments. * Trump also boasted that his Trump Rx program has resulted in millions in savings for IVF drugs. * Though it is often championed for bringing life into the world, IVF unfortunately results in the widespread destruction of human embryos - each a unique human life. The details: Under the proposed rule, employers would be able to offer a supplemental insurance option that would cover fertility treatments and IVF procedures, much like supplemental vision or dental insurance. The proposal was announced as a joint effort of the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury. "I'm pleased to announce that the Department of Labor is issuing a new rule to formally create a fertility benefit option for employers that can be offered to all employees outside of their normal health insurance plans. It's a big deal, they were not properly taken care of. Katie Britt knows that better than anybody," Trump said during a press conference at the Oval Office on Monday, referring to Senator Katie Britt of Alabama. "I shouldn't admit this, but the first time I really heard about the fertility was Katie. She said, 'Sir, we have to do something.' And I'm a quick study. So I learned everything there is to learn in about three, four minutes, and I became the father of fertility," Trump quipped. During the press conference, Trump also touted his Trump Rx.gov program, which offers discounted IVF drugs. .@POTUS: Since Liveaction launched TrumpRx.gov just a few months ago, over 19,000 Americans have used discounts on fertility medicines and saved over $15M just in a matter of weeks. "Since we launched the website just a few months ago, over 19,000 Americans have used those fertility medicines and discounts and saved more than $15 million just in a short period of time," he said, noting that projected savings will rise to $4.6 billion over "a fairly small number of years." The backstory: Trump's public support for IVF dates back to the 2024 campaign trail, where he promised that the Republican Party would be "the party for IVF." Shortly after taking office in February 2025, he issued an executive order expanding IVF, promising to lower the costs and reduce barriers to the practice. That was followed in October 2025 by an announcement that he would create a plan to make IVF more affordable as an employer insurance benefit. The proposal unveiled this week appears to follow up on that promise. Why it matters: Though it is often championed for bringing life into the world, IVF is unfortunately not pro-life. It results in the widespread destruction of embryos - each unique, individual human beings - and by its very nature, it turns children into a commodity. According to research published in Reproductive Biomedicine Online, over 2.5 million IVF cycles are performed every year, but of those, only 500,000 babies are born annually - roughly 20 percent. The remaining embryos either fail to implant, are discarded, or are frozen indefinitely. Instead of promoting expanded access to a procedure that ends so many human lives, the Trump administration could instead be funding efforts to advance Restorative Reproductive Medicine (RRM), which attempts to get to the root cause of fertility problems. While IVF has long been the mainstream and accepted way to combat infertility, it's been seen by many doctors as a band-aid approach to infertility rather than a healing approach. RRM, as the National Catholic Bioethics Center explained, "aims to treat the root causes of dysfunctions that make it difficult or impossible for couples to conceive and bring to birth children." In an article published by The Heritage Foundation, Waters explained that RRM-based treatments have a higher success rate than IVF. According to Waters: "RRM succeeds even after IVF has failed, at a fraction of the cost, especially across multiple pregnancies. One study published in 2024 found that 40% of couples previously diagnosed with infertility conceived naturally after undergoing RRM-based treatments compared with a 24% success rate with IVF. Another 2018 study found that 32.1% of women who had an average of two failed IVF cycles conceived naturally following targeted medical interventions with RRM." The bottom line: Though the desire for children is good and understandable, it is not ethical to create children via IVF. Care must be taken to ensure the advancement of measures that protect all human life - even the very smallest among Liveaction. Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective. Its work is possible because of its donors. Please consider giving to further its work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity. Contact [email protected] for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content. Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email [email protected] with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see its Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!