Family Watch Newswire

The Family Watch Newswire is a service of Family Watch International that highlights important news items and useful analysis on the family and family-related issues from around the world.

October 12, 2026

LIFE

DOCTOR SAYS POLITICS CONTINUE TO OVERSHADOW ABORTION DRUG SAFETY. Dr. Christina Francis, CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, has raised concerns about the Food and Drug Administration’s reliance on insurance claims data from its Sentinel System, a national electronic infrastructure that allows the agency to monitor the real-world safety of approved medical products using electronic health care data. Read more here.

COURTS BLOCK SOUTH DAKOTA BAN ON ABORTION PILL ADS. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to continue temporarily blocking a South Dakota law used to stop a New York-based business from advertising how to obtain abortion pills by mail order. Read more here.

79 IDAHO DOCTORS OPPOSE PROPOSITION 1, REJECT ABORTIONS UP TO BIRTH. Seventy-nine Idaho physicians have signed an open letter urging voters to reject Proposition 1, warning that the measure would legalize late-term abortions, eliminate parental consent for minors and allow non-physicians to abort babies. Read more here.

NUMBER OF AUSTRALIAN PHARMACIES STOCKING ABORTION PILL ROSE 48.6 PERCENT. A new study shows a nearly 50-percent increase in the number of Australian pharmacies stocking the abortion pill after the country’s Therapeutic Goods Administration loosened restrictions surrounding abortion pill distribution in 2023. Read more here.

GENDER

DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AXES CHAPTER THAT CHALLENGED TRANSGENDER MEMBERSHIP. The Daughters of the American Revolution voted to disband its Martha Laird Chapter in Texas that fought to bar transgender women from joining the historic organization, citing violations of its national bylaws. Read more here.

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY GROUPS HOST SCREENING OF FILM BACKING ‘SEX TRANSITION’ TREATMENT FOR MINORS. An Arizona State University website states that the screening of Heightened Scrutiny was organized by the university’s “ASU Rainbow Coalition and the EMpowerment Lab.” Read more here.

SWEDEN: TRANS-IDENTIFYING EGYPTIAN MURDERER ACCUSED OF SEXUALLY HARASSING FEMALE INMATES IN WOMEN’S PRISON. Paulus Said Foukaih Abdelshahed, an Egyptian national, was transferred to a women’s prison after changing his name to “Lily,” where he is serving a life sentence for the killings of his own children. Read more here.

MARRIAGE

VATICAN MEETING EXAMINES WHY YOUNG PEOPLE ARE RELUCTANT TO MARRY. Among the questions to be addressed at the international gathering on the family, Oct. 14 at the Vatican, will concern why fewer young people are choosing to marry in the Catholic Church and how contemporary society understands the relationship between sexuality, procreation and the sacrament of marriage. Read more here.

HUMAN SEXUALITY

DUE TO ‘FEDERAL ATTACKS,’ GEORGE WASHINGTON U. STUDENT GOVERNMENT CREATES ‘LGTBQ+ CAUCUS.’ Due to alleged “ongoing federal attacks” against the LGBTQ+ community, the Student Government Association at George Washington University recently passed a bill creating a caucus to “represent and protect GW’s queer community.” Read more here.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD

PLANNED PARENTHOOD LOCATION CLOSES AFTER FAILING TO HIRE NURSE PRACTITIONER. After 40 years of operation, Planned Parenthood Regina has closed its doors temporarily after struggling for three years to hire a full-time nurse practitioner. Read more here.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

NEW CALIFORNIA LAW REQUIRES CHURCHES TO IMPLEMENT PRO-LGBT ‘ANTI-HATE SPEECH’ TRAINING. A newly enacted law in California that requires virtually all employers to give employees “anti-hate speech” training is raising red flags, as experts warn the mandate could force churches to provide training that conflicts with sincerely held biblical beliefs regarding sexuality, gender, and marriage. Read more here.

CHRISTIAN TEACHER DISMISSED FOR EXPRESSING PRO-LIFE BELIEFS IN RESPONSE TO STUDENT’S QUESTION. Anita Meston, whose legal action is supported by free-speech legal advocacy organization Alliance Defending Freedom, was dismissed by Biddick Academy, a state school in Washington after saying that she was pro-life in response to a question. Read more here.

SEX EDUCATION

ALABAMA’S NEW SEX EDUCATION LAW TAKES EFFECT IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. A new Alabama law changing how sex education is taught in public schools took effect Oct. 1, requiring lessons to emphasize abstinence and giving parents more control over their children’s education. Read more here.

GENERAL INTEREST

PRO-LGBT ADOPTION SERVICE ADVERTISES MALE ‘THROUPLE’ LOOKING FOR CHILD. LifeLong Adoptions posted an advertisement on Facebook for “Adam, Adam & Zev,” “three dads-to-be” in Washington state who “are ready to share that love with a child.” Read more here.

OPINION & ANALYSIS

POST-ABORTIVE WOMAN SHARES DANGERS OF ABORTION IN NEW DOCUMENTARY, by Lisa Bast. “Every day, women are being told that abortion is ‘safe,’ ‘quick,’ and ‘easy’ — often compared to something as simple as getting a tooth pulled. Babies are dehumanized, referred to as ‘tissue’ or ‘products of conception,’ and the profound physical, emotional, and spiritual consequences of abortion are disregarded. Denise Mountenay would know.” Read more here.

BLUE STATES ARE REDEFINING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM TO STOP CHRISTIANS FROM PRACTICING CHRISTIANITY, by Andrea Picciotti-Bayer. “A dangerous theory is taking hold that religious freedom applies only to the right to worship. Illinois’ assisted suicide law took effect in September. Cardinal Blase Cupich and Bishop Thomas Paprocki have both sued to keep the state from compelling Catholic hospitals and doctors to take part. A group of Muslim doctors similarly have sought protection from the state mandate.” Read more here.

ACTIVISTS CLAIM ABORTION ‘IS AN AFFORDABILITY ISSUE,’ by Joshua Arnold. “The ideas people can talk themselves into when trapped in an echo chamber truly boggle the mind. On a left-wing podcast published Tuesday, abortion activist Jessica Valenti claimed, with complete seriousness, that abortion ‘is an affordability issue,’ and therefore reluctant Democrats should feature it more prominently in their campaign messaging. Such a heartless priority on expedience would make Machiavelli proud.” Read more here.

STATS SHOW THAT LESBIANISM MAY BE A FAD… BUT WAS IT EVER REALLY ‘IN’?, by Quinn Delamater. “At the age of 14, every teenager experiences a rite of passage: the start of high school, The desire to conform infiltrates vulnerable minds, leading some to question their identity. For the last decade, ‘conformity’ in many high schools across looked like identifying or allying with the LGBT community. But now, experts aren’t so sure. In 2021, 30% of girls in their freshman year of high school identified as lesbian or bisexual. But in 2025, that number dropped to 17%, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.” Read more here.

IS THE RISE IN COHABITATION FUELING A MARRIAGE SLOWDOWN?, by Delano Squires. “Cohabitation has not always been the norm, but times have certainly changed. A recent study from the Pew Research Center found that 77% of American adults ages 38-43 have lived together with an unmarried romantic partner at some point in their lives. Modern family life is shaped by diverse set of factors, but this data makes one thing clear: premarital cohabitation is one reason the American marriage motto has moved from ‘early and often’ to ‘less and later.’” Read more here.

THE PROFOUND EVIL OF MEN HAVING BABIES, by Glenn T. Stanton. “Men having babies? Isn’t that a biological impossibility? Of course it is. But that isn’t stopping a national organization from calling itself precisely that. Men Having Babies (MHB) is a U.S.-based international organization serving gay-identified men who only value women for their eggs and wombs so they can selfishly procure babies from surrogates. They try to dress this up by calling it ‘fertility equality,’ just as gay advocates called marriage redefinition ‘marriage equality.’” Read more here.