Both the [National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)] studies found that abortions overall are up in the U.S. It is difficult to know for sure what the primary cause of this is, but the New York Times suggests that “telehealth and a surge in financial assistance” help to explain what is going on here. Indeed, the “#WeCount” project from the Society of Family Planning reported that in mid-2022 only 4 percent of abortions were from telehealth; that number jumped to 19 percent by late 2023.
This trend, buoyed by pro-abortion state practices (like so-called “shield laws” in places like Massachusetts, California, and New York) encouraging their local physicians to prescribe the abortion pill to women and girls in other states with strong prenatal justice laws, is likely to continue and is—in a sense—part of the response to Dobbs. There are, however, good reasons to think that a backlash may be coming: This is very much a “wild west” situation in which informed consent and women’s health is being ignored.
In The Imprint, reporter Jeremy Loudenback highlighted California’s efforts to change mandatory reporting laws, a movement spurred by advocates who believe the current system unnecessarily pulls innocent families into the child welfare system. Loudenback featured the story of Roger De Leon Jr., who was investigated for suspected abuse only to be later found innocent, as one traumatic example.
As a foster parent, my family experienced one of these investigations firsthand. My young children were pulled out of school and questioned by social workers without my knowledge. It was terrifying, just as De Leon Jr., describes it.
But the perspective of those seeking to limit or even end mandated reporting overlooks a critical truth: While some families endure undue hardship due to unnecessary CPS involvement, children suffer — and even die — when abuse is missed or ignored. The shift from “mandated reporting” to “mandated supporting” is well-intended, but disregards the life-saving impact of mandatory reporting laws.
The United States first adopted mandatory reporting laws in the 1960s in response to growing awareness of child abuse. Before then, abuse was often hidden behind closed doors, with few legal mechanisms to protect children. The turning point came in 1962 when pediatrician C. Henry Kempe published a groundbreaking study on “battered child syndrome,” exposing widespread physical abuse and the medical community’s failure to intervene. . . .
The child protection system is broken in many ways. But instead of dismantling a system that has saved lives, we should strengthen it with 21st-century tools and improve due process against agency overreach.
If we err, and we will, let’s err on the side of saving lives. Because for one child, a mandated reporter might be the only one who makes that call.
From blocking drug screenings for newborns to limiting child-abuse investigations, the New York assemblyman’s policies would endanger at-risk kids.
New data from Oregon’s public health authority shows that the number of prescriptions for lethal drugs under the state’s assisted suicide law increased by roughly 8% last year, with assisted suicide deaths accounting for nearly 1% of all deaths in Oregon in 2024.
The data from the Oregon Health Authority, which analyzes the year 2024, shows the number of reported assisted suicide deaths decreased slightly — 376 in 2024 versus 386 in 2023. Since 1998, a total of 3,243 people have died under the state’s assisted suicide regime.
However, nearly a third of all patients who were prescribed lethal drugs last year in Oregon are unaccounted for, as their “ingestion status” is listed by the health authority as “unknown.”
7. UK bill ‘threatens’ confessional seal
“When I think about everything you’ve accomplished over the last 10 years and the fact that when I was thinking about becoming a father, I didn’t know whether you would live long enough to have a relationship with my kids. And now here they are, almost 8, 5, and 3, and you’re the best grandmother that these kids could ever ask for,” he said as both son and mother’s eyes welled.
“It is really an amazing thing to watch. It is one of the great blessings of becoming a father, is that I’ve been able to see these kids develop the love and the affection for you and to see it in return. And that’s just an incredible blessing,” Vance said.
…
“One of the things I love about Mom is that she just treats you the same. Whether you are the president of the United States, whether you’re a beloved family member, whether you’re an addict who is celebrating not 10 years but 10 hours of sobriety, you’re always a friend to Mom. You’re always a family member to Mom. And you’re always somebody that you know, she’s always somebody you can rely on,” he said.
Vance said one of the great things that recovery does is provide moments like this when you can bring family and friends together and celebrate the relationships you can regain.
“I meet a lot of people who think that there is no other side for those who suffer from addiction. Unfortunately, we know that for some, that’s true, but for many, there is another side. And you know, sometimes you get another opportunity with your friends and your family. Sometimes, you get an opportunity to be a great grandmother to your grandchildren. And sometimes, you end up celebrating your 10-year medallion ceremony a couple of months late here in the White House,” he said.
The room was filled with applause, tears, and hugs. There were several people there who weren’t members of her immediate family but who were people in recovery, who had hit rock bottom just as Aikins had, people she had guided through recovery in her role as a detox nurse.
Aikins regained her nursing license a couple of years ago and now works at a substance abuse treatment center as a nurse educator. “I teach the patients, and then I’m just there for them. That is my purpose — to help people,” Aikins said.
Susie Wilson still remembers when police showed up on her doorstep in the middle of an August night in 2022 to tell her something had happened to her granddaughter.
“Oh my god, they killed my baby,” she remembered saying.
Her 9-year-old granddaughter HardiQuinn Hill had been found dead, emaciated and beaten. Her daughter and her daughter’s girlfriend will spend the rest of their lives in prison as a result.
The 69-year-old woman was one of a handful of people who called the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services over her concerns for HardiQuinn’s safety, but she has still never gotten an explanation of the state’s behavior in the case.
It is more accurate to say partisanship has become, for many Americans, a fundamentalist pseudo-religious identity. It serves as a guiding identity with supreme moral importance ascribed to following partisan dogma and leaders. Required beliefs often encompass not only a political ideology and specific policy positions, but views about what defines a moral society, and even what the nature of humanity is.
When viewed as a religion, partisanship also directs other beliefs, actions, and identities. Social science research has shown that some peoples’ partisan identity is so powerful that it can not only determine or change their policy preferences, but also change their self-identified religion, class, or sexual orientation.
Most significantly, this identity is dualist, separating the world into good and evil. Partisans in the other group are treated not as compatriots and respectable political adversaries with whom to seek conciliation, but contemptible foes. This is accompanied by a constant search for and punishment of heretics within each party to keep it pure. For many of these partisans, hatred of the other side becomes the primary motivator of the faith.
The expression of this identity is not limited to the political arena, but infiltrates social settings including schools, sporting events, entertainment, and even lawns in front of homes. This means we are all bombarded with messages that directly or indirectly tell us that everyone must choose to join a team, Democrat or Republican. Then we must conform ourselves to be completely dedicated or risk banishment.
Trust me on the banishment. I learned the hard way.
In Massachusetts . . . military food stores can donate food before it spoils to charitable institutions—but not religious ones. In Illinois, townships can provide surplus funds to organizations that support senior-citizen services—but not if they’re religious. Kentucky makes funds available to nonpublic schools, but to be eligible, a school must be structurally and operationally separate from any religious organization. The Oklahoma Arts Council dispenses funds to various institutions supporting the arts—but not if they’re religious. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. In total, we found nearly 500 laws and regulations that follow this pattern.
Education isn’t simply about teaching my son to read. Or to do math. Education is about formation. Forming a certain type of person. We all need formation, as none of us is born ready for freedom. . . .
We need to have some conception of what the goal is, what type of human being we’re seeking to form.
Sarah’s life was in tatters. Her affair was over, and so, it seemed, was her marriage. She was living in a hotel in Chicago, alienated from her husband and three children. All attempts to fill the void—with drugs, alcohol, anything—had failed.
“My options were to sit in misery,” she said, “or just to try to pray.”
Sarah, 39, was raised Catholic, but growing up, the religion seemed to her like little more than a list of rules—what you “shouldn’t do or you’re going to hell.” But after she hit rock bottom, in the summer of 2022, she wondered if the God of her childhood could help. She prayed for guidance, and a day or so later, she saw something on Instagram that felt like a sign.
It was a video advertisement for a religious app called Hallow, featuring a familiar but unexpected face: Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg. He was inviting people to join him in praying the rosary, by listening to a recording on Hallow. (He owns part of the app.)
When Sarah saw this video, she felt seen. “It was just a complete, like, God-answered prayer,” she said.
She downloaded Hallow onto her phone and “went down this giant rabbit hole of consuming all that I could find within the app.” Hallow’s homepage offers a number of options you can listen to, from featured prayers to morning routines, plus courses and music. There’s also Magisterium AI, a chatbox which answers questions on the Church’s teachings.
Sarah began listening to rosaries in the morning and homilies (short sermons) by popular priests while on long walks in the afternoon; she’d end the day with a guided “examination of conscience,” then fall asleep to Hallow’s prayers.
After five months, Sarah—not her real name—moved back in with her family, and began going to therapy with her husband. She shared Hallow with him, and told me he experienced “a huge spiritual awakening with his own faith.”
Now, three years later, Sarah volunteers at her local parish as a cantor, and goes to confession at least once a month. She is convinced God used Hallow to save her soul, her marriage, her career—perhaps even her life.
Sarah is far from the only lost soul to arrive at Hallow. Since it was created in 2018, the app has been downloaded more than 23 million times, in 150 countries. (It’s available in eight languages.) At last count, Hallow has guided more than 800 million prayers. The app has had high-profile endorsements from celebrities across the political spectrum, from Liam Neeson to Tucker Carlson, and it’s successful enough to have bought a Super Bowl advertisement last year (which, at the national level, was valued at roughly $7 million).
And, right now, 1.75 million users are engaged in Hallow’s “Pray40” challenge.
At 94 years old — 75 of them spent in cloistered life — Sister Francesca Battiloro received what she calls the greatest surprise of her life: an encounter with Pope Francis. “I had asked God, just Him, to meet the Pope,” she said. “I thought it was impossible. But instead, He sent him right to me.”
The child protection system is broken in many ways. But instead of dismantling a system that has saved lives, we should strengthen it with 21st-century tools and improve due process against agency overreach.
If we err, and we will, let’s err on the side of saving lives. Because for one child, a mandated reporter might be the only one who makes that call.
