The church/school shooting in Minneapolis this week — children were shot at and killed during the school-year-opening Mass — happened at a church with one of the most pro-life names. The Annunciation was when Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel about her call — to carry Jesus Christ in her womb.

The horrific attack happened on the feast of Saint Monica, a mother who begged for the conversion of her son, divine protection for the child she bore in her womb.

Just about 24 hours later, I invited people to join me for an impromptu prayer Zoom, including Jennie Lichter, president of the March for Life, and Dan Darling, director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Our prayers are up here. I read from the Liturgy of the Hours for the feast of the Holy Innocents just after Christmas every year. It includes this, from Psalm 33:

The Lord looks on those who revere him,
on those who hope in his love,
to rescue their souls from death,
to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul is waiting for the Lord.
The Lord is our help and our shield.
In him do our hearts find joy.
We trust in his holy name.

God be with those families and everyone walking with and caring for them.

Living the Life That Leads to a Good Death

The Catholic tradition is rich in prayer for a “happy” death. And so perhaps it is somewhat normal that I was at dinner in Manhattan on Monday night — in a small group that included a Dominican priest — and someone enthusiastically announced: “Today is Charlie Camosy’s book-launch day.” I thought: This is exactly the kind of bubble I do sometimes want to live in in New York City.

That, of course, was only a passing fancy. But I’m happy when good things are noticed, promoted/passed around, and made use of. Charlie, you’ve got buzz. Which is a blessing, because it’s not about sales or branding; it’s about helping people in some of the most intimately difficult challenges we may face — how to deal with life as it nears its end. It may be a parent nearing the end of life, it may be a spouse, it may, unthinkably, be a child. It may be your own preparations.

Charlie previously wrote a book seeking to draw us out of our throwaway society, as Pope Francis put it. His new book is Living and Dying Well: A Catholic Plan for Resisting Physician-Assisted Killing. He’s a moral theologian and ethicist who warned us all too prophetically about the rationing that would happen in hospitals at the top of the Covid shutdowns, endangering those patients who would need lifesaving care the most. He worried about what would happen to the people who were stuck in institutions, far away from family, who couldn’t visit them anyway. But the most important thing to know about this husband and father, who recently began teaching at the Catholic University of America (after time at Fordham, Creighton, and St. Joseph’s Seminary), is that he recently lived through his father’s hospice care — with the chief nurse being his mom — and death. Living and Dying Well is far from merely academic, but all too personal. As it will be for each one of us, if it hasn’t already.

I’ll have more to come with Charlie on this and other matters. For now, here’s a taste of his late beloved dad, Raymond, and here’s a link to his book.

The Great Unknown: Assisted-Suicide Data

I’ve been anticipating being able to share this piece after Alexander Raikan recently mentioned the contents to me while it was a work in progress: “How America abandoned its suicide safeguards: Key protections are being ignored.” Basically, we don’t know how many doctors are killing patients, and relatively no one seems to care. Sasha (as we who treasure him refer to him) writes:

States can’t answer the most basic question: how many physician-assisted suicides have been facilitated by clinicians in America? Across Colorado and California, state authorities have no record of the type of “aid-in-dying drugs” that were prescribed to more than 1,000 patients, according to my analysis of state reports, including the California End of Life Option Act 2024 Data Report. In Oregon, the health authority has records on 376 assisted suicides completed in 2024, but for another 178 cases in which medications were prescribed, authorities don’t know if the patient died by ingesting the drugs, or even died at all.
Assisted-suicide physicians aren’t the only ones to blame. The proverbial smoke detector keeps going off, but state overseers are choosing instead to remove the batteries.

Meanwhile, New Yorkers await what feels inevitable. (Sorry to continue to be parochial.) Assisted suicide has passed, and last I checked it still hasn’t been formally presented to the governor, Kathy Hochul. She’s being urged by the usual pro-life voices to reject more death, but if her enthusiasm for abortion — including in other states (defending doctors prescribing abortion pills to women in the likes of Louisiana and Texas) — we will soon join the ranks of the eleven states that devalue human life in this way, further eroding the legacy of the Hippocratic Oath.

I urge you to pray that by some miracle it won’t be so. We don’t need more death.

What Pro-Life Tools Do You Have Handy?

Do you carry Narcan? I have everything else in my purse, and now it includes a Narcan kit. What is Narcan?

Erin DeLullo started a podcast/Substack called The Poisoning, interviewing people about opioids in America. She asks every guest if they carry the stuff on their person.

She wrote around launch time:

Naloxone (brand name: Narcan) is a life-saving medication that can rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. It’s safe, non-addictive, and easy to use, available as a nasal spray or injectable.
The CDC calls it an “essential tool” for reversing overdoses and preventing deaths. . . .
If states want to reduce overdose deaths, they need to put naloxone in the hands of the people most likely to need it. That includes not just police or recovery workers, but everyday Americans. Parents. Waitresses. Students.

I bring it up, for, perhaps an unlikely reason. First, I don’t play the if-you-are-pro-life-you-must-pay-equal-attention-to-every-issue-under-the-sun game. Who can? That said, as a pro-lifer, you’re likely going to care about people overdosing on opioids and other potentially deadly drugs. If you’re a person of faith, even more so. But I thought about Narcan in the context of abortion and being prepared to step in to help prevent death. Offering/helping a pregnant woman with options isn’t the patriarchy robbing her of basic health care. It’s helping her protect her child and her motherhood.

Along the lines of being prepared, this week I caught up with Autumn Christensen, executive director of Her PLAN, an outgrowth educational initiative of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life. Know that they have an app, and if you do apps — don’t most of us have to? — get this one. It is a clearinghouse of resources for women who need pregnancy-care help.

I always worry that if a woman in a desperate pregnancy situation thinks to — and has the courage to — show up in the back of a church or knock on the door of a rectory for help, would anyone know what to do?

Never mind how to approach her with Christian love.

Do you have anything for her? Do you know what the nearest pregnancy center is? Get the app. Familiarize yourself with resources. And keep an eye out here for how Her PLAN is working to professionalize pregnancy care with robust accompaniment and follow-through. There are some exciting developments in the works to help keep women and their children from getting overlooked and lost. The needs can be great and take tremendous time, and that’s what the pro-life movement is about, being, as Abby Johnson puts it with the very name of one of her initiatives: Pro-Love (Ministries).

Around National Review

Do You Know About . . .

The Jewish alternative to Planned Parenthood’s abortion business, In Shifra’s Arms? I am reminded I was first introduced to them over a decade ago, by Mona Charen. I interviewed their founder, Erica Pelman, in 2014 for NRO here.

Help Wanted

Sidewalk Advocates for Life is hiring — including a chief operating officer.

Upcoming

At Heritage (D.C., with livestream): Black Family Blueprint: A Call to Action as the Moynihan Report Turns 60; September 17.

Some New York dates:

Other Things

Hope for Kids in Foster Care: This is probably considered a feel-good story: a nonverbal teenage boy adopted after 5,429 days waiting. It should be a challenge.

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption can be a helpful resource for those wanting to foster or adopt or help others do so. It recently had a webinar on Adoption & Foster Care Benefits at Work. The organization also has a tool kit for employers who want to make their office “adoption friendly.” And much more for couples considering foster care and adoption. They are one of many resources out there.

The Life You Save May Be Your Own

Thank you for reading. I hope this was a healthy mix of sober reality, encouragement, practical suggestions, and inspiring challenges. That’s the general goal here. Pro-life and pro-choice, abortion, assisted suicide, foster care — these aren’t mere political issues or controversies or burdens. This newsletter does not want to be your bad news for the week. Protecting life is a solemn duty. It’s a natural one, given there’s nothing we have that is more precious. Abortion and the culture of death that we tolerate — or worse — is the human-rights issue of our lives. And the good news is we can do something. And that something is not merely voting for the “right” candidate — which has become increasingly insufficient, as the Republican Party decided to drop ending abortion in America from its platform.

Do something more for life today. Make a new or renewed commitment. Financial, sure. And God bless you, especially, if that’s a sacrifice. But what more? Is there a volunteer role you have been putting off investigating?

How are we going to live our lives, treat life, and love others enough to accompany them in celebrating and welcoming and living life? These are big questions. Fundamental ones. And the ones that truly matter. Much more than our social-media commentary on Marco Rubio’s latest job — or whatever.