Each October, the Church marks Respect Life Month as a time to proclaim the dignity of human life. Respecting life means recognizing all human life is sacred and worthy of protection, from the moment of conception to a person’s natural death, and at every point in between.
Consistent with the Church’s social teaching, protecting human life begins with a focus on those whose lives are most vulnerable. Innocent civilians across the world are victims of war, terrorism, and violence. The elderly, sick, and disabled are increasingly pressured to prematurely end their lives in places where assisted suicide is legal. Preborn children and mothers in need become victims of abortion in our throwaway culture.
In the effort to counter abortion, most may think of the peaceful prayer occurring outside a clinic as the theoretical frontline. That witness to life is very important.
The reality is, however, abortions can now happen anywhere and everywhere in this country due to the widespread availability of abortion-inducing pills (and, closer to home, Michigan’s unlimited, unregulated abortion laws).
As many as hundreds of thousands of women each year initiate abortions through the two-pill regimen. The first pill, mifepristone, destroys preborn human children by cutting them off from blood and oxygen. A second pill, misoprostol, pushes the babies’ remains out.
Until recently, mifepristone pills were required to be handed to patients directly in a doctor’s office or clinic and were often taken there following a medical exam and ultrasound. But the federal government is now allowing abortion prescriptions to be picked up at neighborhood pharmacies or delivered from online pharmacies, which means women can receive abortion pills without an in-person exam, screening, or follow-up appointment.
These loose restrictions have effectively created a more hidden and insidious dimension of the abortion industry in the United States, increasing not only the prevalence of abortion but also the risks to the women who take the pills without medical supervision or follow-up care.
Abortion pills have been found to cause four times as many complications as surgical abortions, and a 2025 study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center found that 10% of women who take abortion pills need urgent treatment for problems afterward, such as infections, hemorrhages, or remains of the baby not having come out.
In addition to the physical harms, there is also the psychological and spiritual toll on the mothers who most often take these drugs alone, only to then suffer long-term trauma following the delivery of their deceased child. It is at this point that the abortion industry no longer provides any support, healing, or compassion for the women who have suffered from such ‘services.’
What can Catholics do in the face of these circumstances? As always, in faith, we turn to prayer and then action. The U.S. bishops have called on Catholics nationwide during this year’s Respect Life Month to a focused commitment to prayer, specifically through the intercession of St. Joseph.
In addition, the bishops also invite Catholics to participate in a campaign urging pharmacies to stop selling abortion pills. Taking action is as simple as visiting a website and tapping a button to send a prewritten message directly to representatives of major pharmacies.
A mother who seeks out an abortion for her child – whether at a clinic or by obtaining a prescription for a pill – is still a summons to all the faithful to surround mothers and families in need with the resources and support they need to make a choice for life.
As we offer our prayers and voices to this effort focused on curbing the use of abortion pills, let us remember this Respect Life Month that our witness to the dignity of life is needed across the entire spectrum of human life – from conception to natural death, and for those most vulnerable at every point in between.
The Word from Lansing is a regular column for Catholic news outlets provided by Michigan Catholic Conference, the official public policy voice of the Catholic Church in this state.
