The culture of death is a little overwhelming right about now.
I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who could be caught doomscrolling this week between live coverage of the Lindsay Clancy trial — the murders of Cora, Dawson, and Callan — and the lawsuit against a surrogate mother for the wrongful birth of the boy she just delivered, in particular.
That’s not getting into the alleged “involuntary euthanasia” of a grandmother in Ontario last month. And dozens of abortion headlines, including people just realizing how radical an abortion law Massachusetts is celebrating.
All that’s if you pulled away from new details about actress Hayden Panettiere’s apparent overdose death.
But in Nelson, British Columbia, there are protesters who are hopeful the killing can stop. After all, you have a choice. They don’t.
They, being bears. You see, a young grizzly bear was killed there. And protesters are upset. That this yearling died without “a choice.”
“Please mind your attractants,” [Katie Graves, bear advocate] said. “Clean your barbecue, mind your garbage. We live in black bear and grizzly country. So if we could do our part, we can peacefully coexist because these bears certainly wanted to.”
Another protester, April Giroux, said she wants more information from the province about how bears go from being reported as problem animals to being killed. . . . Giroux said residents also need to become more comfortable living alongside wildlife.
“We can coexist,” she said.
Graves emphasized: “There are better ways we can do this that is not just taking a life.”
Imagine for a moment it became noncontroversial to say such things about human beings. Maybe we could teach our children whackadoodle things like they are beautiful creations worth waiting for — who are not commodities. That people tend to be happier and healthier when sex is monogamous within marriage.
There was one day during the Covid insanity when I had to get a test at an urgent care — back then, there would be hours-long lines. This was as the fog was clearing a wee bit. I was sitting in a chair in lower Manhattan awaiting that beloved stick up my nostrils, and the assistant doing the duty expressed his relief that I was really there for a Covid test. He told me that people were regularly coming in saying they needed a Covid test but really were worried about sexually transmitted diseases, not asking for the STD tests until they were behind closed doors. The hooking up, he said, had gotten out of control. People were sick of being cooped up and were — the verb rhymes with clanging. He apologized, because he knew he shouldn’t be venting — although I was grateful for the news report.
Now, while that’s obviously a very New York story, it’s a useful illustration. “Love Is a Battlefield” is a quaint way to describe matters of hooking up in America. When porn is ubiquitous and the desire for it so insatiable that it only gets more violent and destructive to the human person, you’ve got to wonder how many young people have any idea that there is an actual life-giving, sacrificial treasure known as love. It’s not an ideology or trendy slogan for rainbows in June or a cheesy Hallmark holiday that makes many feel lonelier on an already cold night in February. It changes everything when it’s real. And it even makes things like abortion and assisted suicide not only undesirable, but implausible. When you are surrounded by love, you are grateful, and you want as much of it as possible. Real love makes life worth living. From a religious perspective, life itself is love.
Anyway. Imagine. Not that there’s no heaven. Imagine we cared. Not about the bears — though I wish them no ill will. But human life — yours, mine, the homeless man who has given up hope — all of us. We’re not developing problems to be eliminated or managing occupants of hospital beds to be emptied for someone who is younger and healthier. MAID — Medical Aid in Dying — in Canada is not a romcom starring Jennifer Lopez, after all.
I have to say, I’m grateful to the little band of British Columbia protesters. The young grizzly did not die in vain. He reminded us that killing innocent life is wrong — particularly for the unborn, who don’t have a choice in how they might complicate our lives.
And I’d certainly be delighted to find out that the bear people are consistent-ethic people. If the baby bear matters, please consider the baby human and Grandma.
Mothers and children can coexist. Even when it’s unplanned.
When the Parents with Custody Say a Baby’s Birth Is Wrong
Mothers and children can coexist is a more complicated topic when surrogacy is involved. So the Alaska single mother, a nurse, who delivered a baby boy in Texas last week is now being sued for wrongful birth because she did not abort the boy. She’s being sued by the California couple who ordered him and then, upon learning that he would have a heart condition, wanted him aborted. The boy’s mother knew it was part of the contract, but she couldn’t go through with it — especially after knowing her brother and his wife were willing to raise the child. The surrogate mother, McKenna West, has been prohibited from seeing the baby — she’s referring to him as Gabriel, and the couple who has custody of him is calling him Rumi. It’s a horrific mess. I ranted last week about a headline in the New York Times suggesting this had come to an end with the delivery. This is ongoing. And as with the Clancy trial, although it may resemble a soap opera or reality TV show, it is all too real-life for the innocent child in the middle of the controversy that’s involving state and federal government, the courts, and of course endless media attention. I’ve seen headlines suggesting that Republicans are next gearing up to ban surrogacy. That ignores that no, they are not, and it’s not just “religious right” types who are worried about the detrimental effects of the commodification of human life when it comes to surrogacy. It’s the left, too. It’s even the United Nations. If you take a few steps back from the longing in the human heart to love and care for children and look at what adults are doing to children — and how women are being exploited — only then can we really begin to protect babies and the mothers who carry and deliver them from these transactions and outright human trafficking.
Around National Review
Wesley J. Smith:
- British Medical Association Requires Doctors to Help Patients Commit Suicide by Self-Starvation
- New England Journal of Medicine Opinion Editor Takes Credit for Ruining Its Reputation
Abigail Anthony:
Me:
Other Things
Charles Camosy: Infanticide Is Back
Carine Hajjar: In Massachusetts, ‘reproductive freedom’ goes only one way
Melania Trump links up with IndyCar for foster kid scholarships — and a stylish new look
Iowa leads nation in federal addiction-recovery programs to prevent foster care placements
Sydney archbishop asks Australia news outlet to investigate its euthanasia coverage
Upcoming
• August 25–31: Be Kind to Humankind Week: Sign up with or keep an eye on Her Plan next week for practical ways to do so.
• September 12: National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children. (This also happens to be the day that the Illinois assisted-suicide law takes effect.)
• September 16: Giving Permission to Grieve: Incorporating Exceptional Bereavement Care After a Reproductive Loss, a webinar hosted by Wisconsin Right to Life and Dr. Cara Buskmiller. Noon to 1 p.m. Central time, details here.
• September 23–November 1: 40 Days for Life fall campaign
• October 1–3, Notre Dame’s DiNicola Center for Ethics and Culture annual conference is newly open for registration: But Where Can She Be Found? Wisdom From Age to Age.
How About a Prayer Campaign?
The U.S. Catholic bishops are encouraging prayer to help with the Wild West of abortion pill access. They are suggesting a prayer asking Saint Joseph, who is known to have been helpful to a Mother and a Child, to work on the life-and-death crisis:
Dearest St. Joseph, at the word of an angel, you lovingly took Mary into your home. As God’s humble servant, you guided the Holy Family on the road to Bethlehem, welcomed Jesus as your own son in the shelter of a manger, and fled far from your homeland for the safety of both Mother and Child.
We praise God that as their faithful protector, you never hesitated to sacrifice for those entrusted to you. May your example inspire us also to welcome, cherish, and safeguard God’s most precious gift of life.
Help us to faithfully commit ourselves to the service and defense of human life — especially where it is vulnerable or threatened. Obtain for us the grace to do the will of God in all things. Amen.
Making an Imprint for Life on Your Life
Earlier this month, the Sisters of Life had their final professions — three sisters took their permanent vows in this religious community that has a mission protecting human life that can help us all with the practicalities of living at a time when abortion is so ridiculously and dangerously accessible. I mention this for two reasons:
- I forgot to link to this in an earlier Lifeline, and I think you may just find something in it a helpful reflection. Even just reading a little about it — and/or watching the video of the Mass — can be a little like a mini-retreat.
- You want to be a subscriber to the Sisters of Life magazine, Imprint. It’s free. You can receive a physical copy in your mailbox. It’s beautifully done in every way — written and designed by the Sisters of Life. (The Knights of Columbus make this financially possible.) I’m holding in my hand the spring 2026 issue, and it’s titled “What Do You Think About?” It begins with a reflection about how God thinks about you — citing Pope Benedict XVI, who may be known for being a German expert on doctrine, but who also had a deep heart for the suffering people of God. If I start quoting from him and the Sisters, we will never end this edition of The Lifeline. So let me leave you with this: Subscribe
Give them an actual physical address, and you’ll be grateful you did three times a year. (You can also check out their archives and podcast and other things while you are on their website.) But the heart of the work they do is praying to God for us and our culture and both saving and nourishing lives — being the kind of human supports that can actually contribute to an end to abortion in America.
Until next time. Send your news, events, ideas, anything else to klopez@nationalreview.com. And God bless you. We can do this — live and love better, together. Even in a midterm election season!