Voices of Hope: Gen Z Leadership in France & Global Pro-Life News
Photo taken at the Lejeune Academy, France
A Look into the Rising Gen Z Pro-Life Movement in France
Curious to know what youth-led pro-life programming looks like in France? In his most recent blog for IYc, Sebastien Ostertag shows that French pro-life advocacy benefits from a group of bright, bold, and determined Gen Z advocates who are building pro-life projects for their peers, equipping them with useful tools and meaningful connections to defend the sanctity of life at all stages.
Photo taken at the Lejeune Academy, France
Sebastien shared that, when it comes to the pro-life issue, the social policy landscape in France is getting grimmer and grimmer, but he is nevertheless hopeful that things will change due to intensified efforts to educate and engage young people on the sanctity of human life.
“Over the past few years, legislative protection of innocent life has been rapidly declining in France. In 2021, the French government extended the legal limit for abortions to 14 weeks, up from the previous limit of 12 weeks. In 2024, French President Emmanuel Macron made France the second country after Yugoslavia to declare abortion as a fundamental right in the constitution….” Despite such disturbing developments, Sebastien is noticing that the response from the GenZ pro-life movement is fierce and effective. Perhaps the future is not so grim after all. You can read the full article here.
An Interview with Pro Vita & Famiglia
Maria Rachele Ruiu, Spokesperson, Pro Vita & Famiglia
We loved hearing about the ethos of the pro-life movement in Italy from Maria Rachele Ruiu, spokesperson of Italy’s Pro Vita & Famiglia. Pro-life work can take many forms and manifest differently depending on the culture it seeks to impact. We found our interview with Ms. Ruiu especially inspiring, as it revealed that the sustainability and success of pro-life advocacy are contingent on the amount of love one has for people.
Genuine pro-life work is antithetical to a spirit of hatred. Pro-life advocacy spreads from a conviction that life is a wonder and precious at all stages. Stating this reality with boldness in a society that would rather ignore it for convenience or out of mere habit is not hatred but a testament of hope…a hope that we would come to see each other and treat each other with more respect, from the baby in the womb to the lonely elder seeking help.
The Truth of Pro-Life Advocacy
We wish more would come to see the beauty of the pro-life world. That, at its core, is not a movement predicated on negatives (what one ought not to do) but on affirming a series of facts that, to some degree, we all deep down hold as true. As a consequence, the negatives stem from recognizing the reality of the positives. For instance, when one thinks of marrying someone they love, they recognize that it is an exclusive union, that they would dedicate themselves to this other person in a way that is different from all other people. At the forefront of their mind is the love they have for the other person and the life they will build together, instead all a list of things they will have to “let go” in the process. Those things one refrains from in a marriage come only as a natural consequence of a commitment one makes out of love. You love the person; you honor the union, and from that stems a certain behavior that is adequate for your commitment.
Similarly with the pro-life issue: we don’t begin by saying "abortion is wrong.” We begin by recognizing the immense value of human life, of the fact that it is actually consistent with science to claim that a unique human life begins at conception and that such a life is valuable, that it matters. To love people, to love your neighbor is to see each of them as a wonder. Perhaps, due to a number of shortcomings, we cannot see all people like that, but the minimum we can do is to oppose the unjust killing of people, no matter how small.
A common misconception among third-wave feminist advocates is that the worth of a human life is somehow subjective. If the mother comes to value it, then it has value, but if not, then it’s nothing more than a clump of cells; but that is profoundly inconsistent with the “human rights project,” which claims an intrinsic value of the human person, which means (it is something that cannot be taken away based on mere opinion).
Can you genuinely affirm that human life matters at all stages and still support abortion? No.
When we speak of human rights, can we genuinely say they are all of equal value? If so, how can you respect the right to free expression of a person whose right not to be killed has been violated? Certainly some rights come after others. Perhaps self-intuitive, but how has the UN, the epicenter of “human rights advocacy", come to dismiss the premise that existence is a prerequisite of all other rights?
It’s time for those UN mechanisms that have become so misled by the narrative that “abortion” can somehow be consistent with “human rights” to recognize their advocacy is based on contradictory philosophical claims. A house built on a shaky foundation cannot stand. Opening the debate would not be a sign of weakness or of “rolling back progress” but rather a stepping stone. Pro-life advocates joining the UN for major conferences is not a sign of the “anti-rights” seeking to “take up air” at meetings, as some progressive journalists would argue, but that there is still hope for an awakening, a recognition at whatever level about that the minimum we can do is to respect the right to life of all.
The Race for the Next U.N. Secretary-General
As the race for the next U.N. Secretary-General enters its decisive stage, C-Fam has raised concerns over the candidacy of pro-abortion candidates who could reinforce the ideological direction established under Secretary-General António Guterres rather than restore the U.N.'s focus on its core mission.
During the last UN Human Rights Council, which took place a few weeks ago, Rocío D’Angelo, CitizenGO’s Global Campaigner, delivered a pre-recorded speech in which she raised concerns about Bachelet’s ideological drive on a panel about Women in Diplomacy. The chair stopped her, alleging that her intervention had nothing to do with Women in Diplomacy, which is completely contradictory, if one mentions that there’s nothing more pertinent than who is going to occupy arguably the most important diplomatic position in the world.
On Colombia’s New President
Daniela García, IYc Co-Director, reflects in her latest Spanish-language blog on the cultural challenges awaiting Colombia's newly elected conservative president, Abelardo de la Espriella. While his victory signals a broader cultural shift across the Americas, she argues that one of the biggest tests of his presidency will be the cultural battle, including debates over gender ideology, the protection of unborn life, and parents' rights in education. Her full analysis explores the battles she believes will shape Colombia's future.
Christian Persecution Report
International Christian Concern (ICC) has released its 2026 Global Persecution Index, Faces of the Persecuted, highlighting the worsening crisis facing Christians around the world. Among the countries where believers face the gravest dangers are Nicaragua, Nigeria, and Syria.
In Nicaragua, the Ortega regime continues its systematic crackdown on the Church through the imprisonment and exile of clergy, the closure of religious institutions, and the confiscation of church property.
In Nigeria, Islamist terrorist groups continue to carry out mass killings, kidnappings, and attacks against Christian communities, forcing thousands to flee their homes.
In The News…🗞
Europeans Call for Elderly Euthanasia [C-Fam]
African Cardinal Confronts EU “Colonialism” [C-Fam]
Exposing the Global Abortion Pill Pipeline [C-Fam]
Amnesty Backtracks on UK “Anti-Rights” Report [C-Fam]
A Catholic teacher based in Arbroath, Scotland, is filing suit after she was fired over her pro-life views, [EWTN]
