CNA Staff, Aug 22, 2025 /
08:00 am
Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.
Late-term abortionist in DC faces complaint for ‘medical malpractice’
A pro-life group filed a formal complaint against late-term abortionist Cesar Santangelo this week, citing “a documented history” of medical malpractice and serious injury of patients.
Leaders of the Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust group allege that Santangelo has “a pattern of injuring patients, endangering people’s lives, and prematurely ending at least one” in the complaint, which was addressed to members of the Washington, D.C., Board of Medicine.
The 12-page complaint details alleged medical malpractice by Santangelo that has led to the death or serious injury of patients. The letter is signed by The Survivors’ Director Timothy Clement and The Survivors’ D.C. Organizer Kristin Turner.
Pro-life activists associated Santangelo’s clinic with the discovery of the remains of five late-term unborn children. Pro-life activists said they found the children’s remains at the Washington Surgi-Clinic, an abortion center in northwest D.C. that is operated by Santangelo.
According to the letter, Santangelo performs abortions up to 28 weeks, just at the end of the second trimester of pregnancy.
Texas attorney general demands halt to illegal abortion pill shipments
Following two cases of abortion drug poisoning, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued a cease-and-desist letter calling on abortion organizations to stop illegally shipping abortion drugs into the state.
According to the Aug. 20 press release, Paxton demanded an end to “unlawful advertising, sale, and shipment of abortion-inducing drugs into the state of Texas.”
The letter ties in with recent cases in which abortion groups “facilitated men illegally purchasing abortion-inducing drugs,” according to the press release. The men then allegedly poisoned the mothers of their children with the drug, killing their unborn children.
“Texas will not tolerate the murdering of innocent life through illegal drug trafficking,” Paxton said. “These abortion drug organizations and radical activists are not above the law, and I have ordered the immediate end of this unlawful conduct.”
“This is a flagrant violation of both state and federal laws, and we are going to do everything in our power to protect mothers and unborn babies,” he said.
Catholic pro-life activists face charges after presidential pardon
Pro-life activists, including two who were recently pardoned by President Donald Trump, are facing trespassing charges for their pro-life activism in Pennsylvania.
The six activists were participating in a Red Rose Rescue on July 31 in Upland, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia at the Delaware County Women’s Center in Crozer Chester Medical Center. Red Rose Rescue is a pro-life group that witnesses to life at abortion clinics and tries to stop abortions by offering roses to women.
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The group, which included five Catholics and one evangelical, were charged with biosecurity trespassing (entering a medical treatment without following biosecurity protocols) and disorderly trespassing — misdemeanors that could lead to up to one year in jail and fines.
Two of the activists — Joan Andrews Bell, 77, from New Jersey, and William Goodman, 55, originally from Wisconsin — had previously been pardoned by Trump after they were convicted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for blocking an abortion clinic entrance.
Several other activists were charged, including: ChristyAnne Collins, 70, from Texas; William Holmberg, 71, from Steubenville, Ohio; head of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society Monica Miller, 72, from Michigan; and Patrice Woodworth-Crandall, 61, from Minnesota.
Kate Quiñones is a staff writer for Catholic News Agency and a fellow of the College Fix. She has been published by the Wall Street Journal, the Denver Catholic Register, and CatholicVote, and she graduated from Hillsdale College. She lives in Colorado with her husband.
