By J.M. Glover:
‘The incomparable gift of being born’
Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, gave his personal testimony at the 2025 March for Life in Washington, D.C. His words bear repeating from a man who was conceived by a teenage boy and girl. “I was born in January 1972 … I was the product of an unplanned teen pregnancy, and I am so eternally grateful that my mom and dad ignored all the people who told them just to take care of that problem, and they chose to embrace life and to have me—the first of their four children.” Here we may pause and consider the dilemma a teenage couple was in. Should they follow the advice of society (and maybe even family members) or do they make the right and moral decision and allow their unborn baby to live? This is a dilemma that thousands of couples or young women face every year. It takes courage and faith to put one’s trust in God and one another and defy the odds. The story continues: “It’s a simple fact: if they (his teenage parents) had not done that, I would not be here. And I often wonder who else we have missed, and what those individuals might have contributed to our society and to our world, but they were just not given the opportunity. I often wonder when we as a nation will face that reality and turn our hearts back to the self-evident truth that we boldly proclaim in our nation’s birth certificate in 1776—that all people are created equal and that all people are endowed by our Creator with the right to life.” Finally, he expressed the thought that all children be given the “incomparable gift of being born.” There is much to ponder in Mike Johnson’s testimony and to bring to the attention of those who may be contemplating aborting their unborn child. . .
Dismantling the ideological edifice of ‘sickly wokeism’
Since he came on to the world stage as Argentina’s president in December 2023, Javier Milei has been consistently condemning abortion, gender ideology, and the LGBT agenda. In January 2024, he appeared at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos Switzerland where he condemned “the bloody abortion agenda.” Milei doubled down on his rhetoric when he gave an address to the same WEF in January 2025. He slammed the “bloody, murderous abortion agenda” being pushed by a “fanatical environmentalism” where humans are seen as a “cancer that must be eradicated, and economic development is considered little more than a crime against nature.” He also accused the globalists at the WEF of promoting the LGBT agenda, and the transgender ideology. He stated that “in its most extreme forms, gender ideology is outright child abuse.” Milei deplored the mutilation of children through “transgender surgeries,” and called many universities “indoctrination centers” to foster the woke industry. He said it was a “moral duty to dismantle the ideological edifice of sickly wokeism.” He accused the World Economic Forum and similar forums of being “promoters of the sinister agenda of wokeism” and the “barbarity” of transgender surgery. In early 2024, the Milei administration began to dismantle and “eliminate incorrect forms of the language” in the Argentine government and military that were not in accordance with regulations set by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) which deemed that “inclusive language supported by the UN is a “grammatical disfiguration and therefore unfit for use.”
Repeal of the FACE Act begins
On Jan. 21, U.S. Republican Congressman Chip Roy (Texas) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to repeal the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act, 1994 which “prohibits threats of force, obstruction and property damage intended to interfere with reproductive health care services.” In his address to the House, Roy pointed out that the Act has been “weaponized” against pro-lifers who peacefully protest abortion according to their beliefs. “The FACE Act was one of the primary weapons of abuse—being used to politically target, arrest and jail pro-life Americans for speaking out and standing up for life.” The Department of Justice data show that “97 per cent of FACE Act prosecutions from 1994-2024 were against pro-life Americans.” With a Republican trifecta (House, Senate, and White House), Roy said in press release, “Congress should move quickly to repeal this law and ensure that no future president can weaponize it against pro-lifers ever again. No more excuses, let’s get it done.” The bill is cosponsored by 25 House Republicans. It is supported by a number of pro-life organizations including the Thomas More Society, Catholic Vote, Students for Life Action, Live Action, and the Susan B. Anthony List. As Catholic Vote pointed out, “in the hands of the Biden-Harris Administration, pro-life, peaceful protesters have gone to prison even as pregnancy care centers were burned and college pro-lifers were faced with and endured violence … the hypocrisy couldn’t be clearer.” Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has been working tirelessly in the Senate to have the FACE Act repealed and will continue his efforts. He reintroduced a bill on Jan. 23 to repeal the FACE Act. In a statement to the Daily Signal, he said that “Joe Biden’s unjust weaponization of the FACE Act against pro-life activists and people of faith belongs in the dustbin of history.” One of Donald Trump’s actions in his first week was to release and pardon 21 pro-life advocates who were serving long prison sentences in American facilities under the FACE Act.
Baby booms and baby busts
Richard Easterlin, an economist, died recently at age 98. He received his PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1953 and taught there for many years before moving to the University of Southern California. Easterlin is not a household name. He is best known for the Easterlin paradox—the controversial argument that rising income does not necessarily lead to greater happiness. However, his most important work was tackling the question: “Why do societies boom and bust in matters of birth?” His insights shaped the way society looked at the postwar baby boom from the mid-forties to the mid-sixties. In the 1930s, Canada and the U.S. were experiencing the Great Depression. Economists and social scientists were convinced that the prewar decline in fertility was permanent and irreversible. But in 1945, soldiers returning from war walked into an economy flush with high-paying industrial jobs, union strength, and upward mobility. “Young men with steady paychecks became young husbands and fathers.” It was the upward industrial changes that provided them with good jobs and they were able to support a family. By the late 1960s, economic growth slowed, inflation set in, and jobs for young men began drying up. The fertility rate plummeted and families became smaller. Again, the critics were insisting that a decline in fertility was permanent and irreversible. But Esterlin would say that fertility could bounce back—with the right economic environment. He also looked at immigration and responded that “if you flood the labour market with cheap competition,” wages would stagnate and job opportunities for native born young men would decline.” He reasoned that in order to improve the prospects of younger Americans to raise fertility, the number of new immigrant workers would need to be strictly limited. To sum up, he insisted that happiness was rooted in jobs, health, and family. He shone a light on a truth that policymakers often overlook: “The wealth of a nation is measured not by its GDP, but by the lives its people are able to build.” We recommend reading the Jan. 3 Breitbart article “Richard Easterlin, the economist who proved that jobs make babies, dies at 98” for more information about this underappreciated economist.
