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Respect Life: Life Issues

Physician-Assisted Suicide

As you may know, the Delaware House of Representatives and Senate have both passed – by narrow margins – HB 140 that legalizes assisted-suicide in Delaware and was signed by Governor Myer on May 20, 2025.

Here are a few next-step suggestions:

  • Reach out to those family members, friends and neighbors who may be aged, isolated, sick or disabled. Tell them by words and actions that they are not alone, are not a burden and that God loves them.
  • Call, write or email your Delaware State Representative and Senator. If they opposed HB 140, thank them. If they supported it, kindly express your disappointment in their decision not to stand with the sick, elderly and those suffering from mental illness. Click here, then click on the Roll Call PDF to see how your legislators voted.
  • Pray for those in Delaware who are ill, elderly or who otherwise feel unwanted, unloved or a burden to their families or community.  Pray that our loving God will help them see their worth and alleviate their physical and mental suffering. 

Thank you for all that you do to promote a culture of life in Delaware.

There are many issues facing us on a national and statewide level. Social concerns such as health care and immigration, life issues such as abortion and euthanasia, Catholic schools, family issues, poverty and so much more.  You can make a big difference in just 5 minutes. That’s all it will take to join Catholics in the Diocese of Wilmington as members of the Catholic Advocacy Network. The actions of our government have an enormous impact on the lives of you and your family.  Join the Catholic Advocacy Network today, click here.

Resources

Adoption

I Lived on Parker Avenue: A Short Documentary Film About Adoption
Adopted at birth and raised in Louisiana, David Scotton is on a journey to Indiana to meet the birth parents he’s never known.  His tattooed birth mother, Melissa, and reserved birth father, Brian, anxiously wait for him, concerned David will reject them for decisions they made before he was born.   I Lived on Parker Avenue is a short documentary about a mother’s agony in choosing what’s best, the joy of a couple starting a family, and a young man’s search for where his life began.

Watch the Film

USCCB Resources

Death Penalty/ Capital Punishment

The dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform.

Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 1995
learn more

IVF/Reproductive Technology

Many married couples experience the pain of infertility, and while children are among the greatest blessings, not all methods of expanding one’s family are morally good. 

The following resources from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) are available to help Catholics understand the Church’s teaching on marriage and the procreation of children and to provide support and guidance for married couples who are experiencing difficulty having children.

Church Documents and Teachings 

Resources

News Releases and Statements

Testimony and Letters

Abortion

God loves each human life from the instant of his or her conception and entrusts this gift to the protection of a mother and father. Abortion ends the life of a child and offends God. It also deeply wounds the women and men involved.

The Truth About Abortion and Women’s Health (USCCB)

This one-page resource dispels the many myths which claim restrictions on abortion will limit women’s access to life-saving care. This resource can be printed in parish bulletins, included in newsletters, shared on social media, and more in order to help educate Catholics about these false claims.

Chemical Abortion

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it is eliminating important safety requirements for chemical abortion under its Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS). Several fact sheets provide background information on chemical abortion, safety protocols to protect the mother, and why the abortion lobby opposes the REMS and encourages in-home abortion, including by online mail-order.

Church Teaching