WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, urged the faithful to mark Respect Life Month with prayer, deeper reflection and action.
Respect Life Month is observed every October by the U.S. Catholic Church. This year’s theme is Mary, Mother of Life.
“Our Blessed Mother is our model for upholding the sanctity of all human life in every stage and circumstance. We entrust all our efforts to protect mothers and babies to her motherly care, which we greatly need at this time,” Bishop Thomas said in a Sept. 29 statement.
“Today, with easier access to abortion pills, the abortion rate is tragically climbing, along with increased health risks,” he said.
The Trump administration has sought to pause multiple state lawsuits seeking to roll back Biden administration-era eased restrictions on mifepristone, a drug commonly used for first trimester abortion, but which is also used in some miscarriage care protocols.
Thus far the administration has left that regulation in effect while seeking to block those challenges, pending a promised FDA safety review, resulting in frustration from pro-life advocates.
“The Food and Drug Administration has enabled a nationwide mail-order abortion industry by allowing the abortion pill to be prescribed in telehealth appointments, sold both at neighborhood pharmacies and online, and often shipped in the mail, circumventing state laws that protect life in the womb,” Bishop Thomas said.
“This means that more women, many of whom have been misinformed about the nature and risks of the abortion pill, will have an abortion alone at home, without any medical supervision,” he continued. “It also sets up additional opportunities for exploitation by violent partners or human traffickers. These affronts to human dignity demand our response.”
Bishop Thomas’ statement echoed joint remarks he and Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, USCCB president, made in early August ahead of the Aug. 18 launch of a nationwide call to prayer and action to mobilize Catholics to address the rising abortion rate and the increased availability of an abortion-inducing drug.
“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 prelates said.
In his Sept. 29 statement, Bishop Thomas thanked “the many thousands of Catholics across the country who have embraced the nationwide invitation to prayer and action on abortion pills.”
He said he wanted to ask the faithful to “continue our prayers and advocacy throughout the month of October” and invited them to visit the Respect Life Prayer and Action website, https://www.respectlife.org/abortion-pills.

By Kate Scanlon
After Tennessee officials failed in their Sept. 30 attempt to execute death row inmate Christa Gail Pike for a 1995 murder, a number of faith leaders, including Tennessee’s Catholic bishops, have called for her sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.
The state’s Gov. Bill Lee also halted the one remaining execution for the rest of the year pending an investigation, he said.
Officials administered two doses of a lethal drug to Pike, but her attorneys told media outlets that she remained “alive and loudly snoring” after the attempted lethal injection and was later taken by ambulance from the prison to a hospital.
Pike, now 50, the first woman Tennessee planned to execute in 200 years, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 for beating, torturing and killing Colleen Slemmer, who was 19 at the time. Pike admitted to the murder, which she carried out with her then-boyfriend, who received a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

“Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective,” Lee said to The Associated Press.
But Richard Garnett, director of the Notre Dame Program on Church, State and Society, said in written comments, “The failed attempt to execute Christa Pike illustrates, yet again, the delusion that by making executions look more ‘medical,’ ‘technical’, or ‘scientific’ we are somehow changing what they are, namely, killings of helpless human beings – who have, to be sure, committed horrible crimes – by our governments, in our names.”
In a letter to Lee dated Oct. 1, Tennessee faith leaders, including the state’s Catholic bishops, urged him to commute Pike’s sentence to life imprisonment in the wake of the incident.
The letter said they “respectfully and urgently ask you to commute the death sentence of Christa Gail Pike and ensure that the State of Tennessee does not attempt to execute her again.”
They said, “Such an act does not deny justice. It declares that justice need not become vengeance and that the State of Tennessee can choose restraint, human dignity, and mercy.”
“We make this appeal mindful of the horrific murder of Colleen Slemmer and the immeasurable grief endured by her family and those who loved her,” the letter said. “Nothing in our request diminishes the gravity of that crime, the preciousness of Colleen’s life, or the legitimate responsibility of the state to hold those who commit violence accountable. Yet accountability need not require another death.”
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, said in a statement, “We are stunned and bewildered by this unprecedented news.”
“We pray for Ms. Pike’s current condition, and we pray for the victim Colleen Slemmer’s family as this situation must surely be retraumatizing,” she said.
“For Tennessee to have two botched executions in a matter of months is beyond alarming. It is the epitome of ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ under the Eighth Amendment.”
Noting Lee’s suspension of executions for the rest of the year pending an investigation, Vaillancourt Murphy said, “We pray this is the needed wake up call for Gov. Lee – in fact, for everyone – to recognize the barbarism of capital punishment.”
“The Church teaches that the death penalty is ‘inadmissible’ because every human life is sacred, no matter the harm one has caused or suffered, and because we have more effective ways to protect society than to take another life,” Vaillancourt Murphy said.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement that it “followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office.”
“The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening,” the statement said. “Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility.”
Shortly before the scheduled execution, Pike’s lawyers filed last-minute challenges, arguing the courts did not consider Pike’s history of trauma from sexual abuse in her sentencing; however, the Supreme Court allowed the execution to proceed.
But Valliancourt Murphy said, “It is sobering to know that were Ms. Pike sentenced today, she would not receive the death penalty because of how young she was when she murdered Ms. Slemmer.”
“Ms. Pike’s case had already attracted particular attention for being the first woman to face execution in Tennessee for 200 years, for the almost three decades she has spent in solitary confinement and today remains alive, surviving a botched execution at 50 years old,” she continued.
The Catholic Church’s official magisterium opposes the use of capital punishment as a violation of the inherent sanctity of human life, and advocates for the practice’s abolition worldwide.
The late Pope Francis revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018 to clarify the church’s teaching that capital punishment is morally “inadmissible” in the modern world “because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”
Earlier this year, Pope Leo XIV delivered a video message to Catholic death penalty abolitionists marking 15 years since the abolition of the death penalty in his home state of Illinois.
“The Catholic Church has consistently taught that each human life, from the moment of conception until natural death, is sacred and deserves to be protected,” Pope Leo said in his April message. “Indeed, the right to life is the very foundation of every other human right.”

(Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.)

By Katie Yoder

Nicole Kristensen still remembers facing difficult births and struggling postpartum as a mom. Today, she draws from her experience to help other women before, during and after giving birth.

“Even though I struggled, having a community was the biggest thing, and that is a huge part of what I’m trying to achieve these days as a doula,” said the Catholic doula and coach, who serves communities in New York and Connecticut.

Kristensen, owner of Holystic Maternity Care, and other postpartum experts and Catholic leaders spoke with OSV News about the Church’s role in postpartum support and walking with new mothers who are struggling.

Their comments come at a time when mothers are speaking out about the difficulty of the postpartum experience amid the high-profile Massachusetts trial of Lindsay Clancy, which ended in a mistrial Sept. 4. The case brought greater awareness to postpartum psychosis, a serious maternal mental health disorder.

These experts agreed that the Church and Catholics have a responsibility to be involved in postpartum support as a pro-life issue. The Church is already present there, they said, but Catholics can do more. Many of them emphasized the importance of parish involvement.

While these experts came from different backgrounds and ministries, they wanted new moms who are struggling to know they are not alone.

“The Church belongs in the area of postpartum support because Jesus commands us to care for the most vulnerable, and postpartum women and their babies fit that description,” said Kat Talalas, assistant director for pro-life communications at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities.

– The landscape of postpartum care –

Today, several national resources exist for women who are struggling postpartum. Women with maternal mental health concerns can contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline. Other nonprofits that advocate for mothers postpartum include Postpartum Support International and the Policy Center for Maternal Health.

Maternal mental health disorders, also known as perinatal mental health disorders, are common and affect up to 1 in 5 families in the United States each year, according to the policy center. The center calls anxiety and depression the most common childbirth complications. At the same time, these kinds of disorders are not universally screened for or sufficiently treated.

Symptoms of postpartum depression include sadness, difficulty concentrating, difficulty enjoying favorite activities and difficulty in baby bonding, according to the center. Symptoms of maternal anxiety include extreme fear, worry and nervousness.

– A pro-life issue –

Experts agreed the Church should accompany new mothers, especially those who are struggling.

“During the months following childbirth all women take months, sometimes even years, to fully heal,” said Caroline Hartley, a family nurse practitioner and founder of Fiat Integrative Health, a practice that provides medical care and mental health services in Franklin, Tennessee. “Hormones collapse, sleep is disrupted and isolation is common. About 1 in 7 women experience postpartum depression, and nearly half are never diagnosed.”

The mother of seven added: “If Catholics disappear at that point, our pro-life witness is incomplete.”

Many of these experts and leaders identified postpartum support as a pro-life issue.

“It is absolutely imperative and I would say obligatory that the body of Christ be present to support postpartum mothers and families,” said Mary Haseltine, a Catholic doula and mother of seven.

Haseltine is also the founder of Made for This, which provides pregnancy, birth and postpartum resources, and the author of “Made for This: The Catholic Mom’s Guide to Birth.”

“Not only is this part of the general Gospel mandate to take care of those in need,” she said, “but if we as a Church are going to ask families to promise to be open to life as we do in our wedding vows and purport to be a people that value the dignity and beauty of every life and build a culture of life, it is essential.”

– A work in progress –

These experts recognized the Church’s involvement in postpartum support. They pointed to Catholic hospitals, pregnancy centers and doulas. They also named ministries such as Elizabeth Ministry International, a Catholic apostolate that supports women and families through the joys and challenges of the childbearing years, and Walking with Moms in Need, a parish-based initiative by the U.S. bishops that serves vulnerable pregnant and parenting women.

“While Walking with Moms is mostly geared towards low-income women, the resources in the inventory and the support offered by the parish could be offered to any mother who is struggling,” Talalas with the U.S. bishops said.

At least one-third of U.S. dioceses participate in Walking with Moms in Need and have parishes that participate, Talalas said, adding that the number is likely higher.

Parishes with Walking with Moms in Need ministries take active roles in supporting mothers postpartum. The ministry at Sts. Philip and James Parish in Exton, Pennsylvania, recently donated postpartum personal care supplies to The 4th Trimester Mommie, a maternal health nonprofit.

Wisconsin-based Elizabeth Ministry International currently has over 800 registered chapters. Members offer prayers, peer support, mentoring, educational materials, spiritual nourishment and inspirational resources.

Krys Crawley, executive director of Elizabeth Ministry International, said her organization hopes to have chapters established at every parish worldwide.

“Our Catholic understanding of human dignity tells us that both the mom and the child are infinitely valuable,” said Crawley, who is also the founder and executive director of Life’s Connection, a community health and education center that provides pregnancy and postpartum support.

Hartley said that Fiat and similar organizations embrace an integrated model where they care for both baby and mother. Catholic doulas such as Haseltine and Kristensen also support women before, during and after birth. Both provide free postpartum resources online.

Haseltine also offers a biblically-based plan for postpartum rest and a directory of Christian birthworkers to connect women with support. Kristensen provides an ebook to prepare for a peaceful postpartum and lists helpful postpartum supplies.

– A parish-centric solution –

These experts, however, said the Church can do more. Many encouraged parishes to take an active role. They recommended parishes start Walking with Moms in Need and Elizabeth Ministry chapters, or expand them if they already exist. Others suggested creating spaces where mothers can connect, build community and help one another.

Many advised creating meal trains and offering childcare for new mothers and growing families. They suggested regularly checking in on mothers and keeping a list of resources that could be useful to them.

“One of the biggest shifts the Church can make is to not treat postpartum struggle as a private problem, but proactively support moms,” Hartley said.

— ‘You are not failing the gift you have been given’ —

These experts also shared their advice for struggling mothers. They recommended mothers turn to their family, friends and parishes. Some advised praying. Many encouraged mothers to not be afraid or ashamed to reach out for help. They wanted mothers to know the Church and Catholic ministries want to accompany them.

“If you are a new mother and you are struggling, hear this: You are not a bad mother, and you are not failing the gift you have been given,” Hartley said.

“Loving your baby and feeling fog, dread, rage, emptiness or no bond can exist at the same time,” she added. “That does not mean you are ungrateful. It means your body and mind have been through something enormous, and they have not caught up.”

Hartley and others urged women who are struggling to tell their husbands, friends, priests, midwives, counselors and clinicians.

“You said yes to life and that yes still includes you and your needs,” she said. “You were never meant to carry this alone.”

(Katie Yoder is an OSV News correspondent. She writes from Maryland.)