Focused search for life issues

3+ hour, 34+ min ago (310+ words) TRENTON, N.J. " New Jersey has adopted what state officials say are the nation's first comprehensive regulations governing facilities that store and cryopreserve human eggs and embryos, establishing statewide licensing and safety standards for a rapidly growing area of reproductive medicine. The New Jersey Department of Health announced the adoption of the rules, which create oversight requirements for embryo storage facilities involved in assisted reproductive technology, including in-vitro fertilization clinics, reproductive laboratories, hospitals and other medical practices that store human eggs or embryos. State officials said the new rules are intended to address that gap by setting standards for equipment safety, facility operations, emergency preparedness and recordkeeping. Acting Health Commissioner Jeff Brown said the regulations are designed to give patients greater confidence in the care and security of their reproductive tissue. "The decision to pursue fertility treatment is deeply personal, and New…...

4+ hour, 56+ min ago (1135+ words) St. Catharines, Canada " December 15, 2025 / Sarah Hope Counselling / Modern motherhood often demands the impossible. Between back-to-back meetings, childcare, and societal pressure to "do it all," many women silently endure chronic exhaustion, guilt, and self-doubt. In Niagara and beyond, this silent burnout is eroding women's confidence, relationships, and sense of self'yet most continue pushing forward, believing fatigue is just part of success. Sarah Hope Counselling challenges that narrative. By combining trauma-informed therapy with an empowerment-based approach, Sarah helps women rediscover themselves beyond their roles and responsibilities. Her practice focuses on redefining balance'not as doing everything, but as doing what matters most'helping clients restore calm, clarity, and confidence in every area of life. Serving the Niagara Community and BeyondBased in St. Catharines, Ontario, Sarah serves clients throughout Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, and surrounding regions, both in-person and virtually'making accessible, judgment-free support available to…...

8+ hour, 51+ min ago (1212+ words) Lawyers for Little Sisters of the Poor prevail against Wisconsin's attempt to strip religious exemption from state unemployment program rather than comply with SCOTUS ruling for Catholic Charities. "What has been is what will be, and what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun," according to the Book of Ecclesiastes. A Catholic order of nuns that serves elderly indigents is hoping to break that cycle when it comes to a'CNN reporter-turned-judge who keeps stripping its religious exemption to the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive mandate, after repeated trips to the Supreme Court. Religious liberty law firm Becket filed its'opening brief on behalf of Little Sisters of the Poor with the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the summer ruling by U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone, nominated by Obamacare's namesake.' Paul Clement, who has argued 100-plus…...

11+ hour, 56+ min ago (728+ words) In his Dec. 15 address, the Holy Father alluded to its composition, mentioning the 28,000 colorful ribbons that symbolize lives saved thanks to the support provided by Catholic organizations to pregnant women in vulnerable situations. Pope Leo XIV on Monday thanked Costa Rican artist Paula S'enz Soto for donating a pro-life Nativity scene to the Vatican, named Gaudium (Joy), which features a pregnant Virgin Mary. I thank the Costa Rican artist who, along with the message of peace of Christmas, also wanted to make an appeal for protecting life from conception, the Pope said during the audience he granted Dec. 15 to the delegations that prepared this year's Christmas tree and Nativity scenes that will adorn the Vatican during the Christmas season. The artwork from the Central American country has been on display since Dec. 15 in the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall at…...

13+ hour, 8+ min ago (396+ words) Yet again, a higher court has rebuked'again unanimously'the attempt of Judge Indira Talwani of the Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts to scuttle a provision of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" that bars organizations that provide elective abortion from federal Medicaid funding for one year if they received more than $800,000 in federal funding in 2023. On Friday, a three-judge panel of 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, comprised of appointees of President Joseph R. Biden, voted unanimously to throw out a July ruling by Judge Talwani which held that it amounted to a "bill of attainder" whose intend was to punish Planned Parenthood for providing abortions. ["A bill of attainder is a legislative act prohibited by the Constitution that seeks to inflict punishment on a person or group without a trial," according to Nate Raymond of Reuters.] According to Zach Montague…...

14+ hour, 48+ min ago (715+ words) December 15, 2025 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print Vatican City, Dec 15, 2025 / 17:06 pm (CNA). Pope Leo XIV on Monday thanked Costa Rican artist Paula S'enz Soto for donating a pro-life Nativity scene to the Vatican, named "Gaudium" ("Joy"), which features a pregnant Virgin Mary. "I thank the Costa Rican artist who, along with the message of peace of Christmas, also wanted to make an appeal for protecting life from conception," the pope said during the audience he granted Dec. 15 to the delegations that prepared this year's Christmas tree and Nativity scenes that will adorn the Vatican during the Christmas season. The artwork from the Central American country has been on display since Dec. 15 in the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican, the large hall where the pope is now holding his Wednesday general audiences so pilgrims don't have to endure…...

15+ hour, 32+ min ago (34+ words) Texas Sen. John Cornyn sounded the alarm that a biotech startup firm that has raised some $30 million to study diseases in embryos is working on gene-editing techniques for humans at their earliest ......

15+ hour, 36+ min ago (642+ words) The Little Sisters of the Poor have again asked a federal appeals court late Friday to block a nationwide ruling that rejected their protection from the federal government's contraceptive mandate. Represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Clement Murphy, the Little Sisters have spent more than a decade in court fighting to defend their ministry from a federal mandate forcing them to either provide contraceptives in their healthcare plan or pay tens of millions of dollars in fines. They have already prevailed twice at the Supreme Court, including a 2020 ruling that upheld the federal conscience rule shielding... The Little Sisters of the Poor have again asked a federal appeals court late Friday to block a nationwide ruling that rejected their protection from the federal government's contraceptive mandate. Represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Clement Murphy,…...

16+ hour, 2+ min ago (1750+ words) Ruth Richardson, CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, speaks before a bill signing ceremony at the Minnesota Department of Revenue in 2023. Planned Parenthood's Mankato clinic on Nov. 3. Addie Evans once oversaw daily operations of it but resigned from her position with Planned Parenthood. Nearly every week for three years, as the morning light crept over the horizon, Addie Evans climbed into her Subaru Outback, iced coffee in hand. The Cranberries played through the speakers as she turned up the volume and set off on the familiar drive north, leaving behind the rolling hills of Mankato for the Twin Cities metro. The Subaru was more than just Evans" transportation. It also doubled as a mobile office, packed full of lists, a journal, her laptop, gloves, birth control pills, condoms and packages of misoprostol, a medication that can be used to…...

16+ hour, 43+ min ago (780+ words) FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL'Josh and Erin Hawley's new pro-family nonprofit is touting polling showing the majority of Americans believe society should provide pregnant women with better options than abortion. The polling, conducted by OnMessage Inc. on behalf of the Love Life Initiative, showed that 84% of Americans agree that "many pregnant mothers face difficult economic circumstances, but as a society we should focus on providing them with better options than abortion." Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley and his wife Erin, an attorney at Alliance Defending Freedom, are launching a new conservative nonprofit called the Love Life Initiative, which will run pro-family national ad campaigns. The Hawleys conducted polling through OnMessage Inc. showing strong majorities value pro-life, pro-family policies. Of those surveyed, 77% said they agree that "as a society, we should be working towards having as few abortions as possible." Another…...