SW News: Applauding the US Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Pontifical Academy for Life has stated that the epoch-making decision 'challenges the world', citing the situation in Western society. Denouncing Western society's lack of passion for life, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, stated that the verdict is "a powerful invitation to reflect together on the serious and urgent issue of human generativity and the conditions that make it possible."

Decrying that every individual's responsibility towards the future is at risk, the Archbishop has urged the faithful worldwide to choose life. In its response to the reversal of the five-decade-old abortion legalization, the Pontifical Academy for Life indicated that it "joins the message of the Bishops of the United States, which encourages healing wounds and repairing social divisions after the Supreme Court ruling."

In the June 24 statement, the Vatican Academy also stated, "The protection and defense of human life is not an issue that can remain confined to the exercise of individual rights, but a matter of broad social significance. Therefore, after 50 years, it is important to reopen a non-ideological debate on the place that the protection of life has in civil society to ask ourselves what kind of coexistence and society we want to build."

The pontifical academy also sought changes in the social and political choices that would promote the defense of life in all stages. The statement read, "This also means ensuring adequate sexual education, guaranteeing health care accessible to all and preparing legislative measures to protect the family and motherhood, overcoming existing inequalities."

The prelate further urged for conditions that would support a mother, couples, and unborn children; encourage a mother if she finds it difficult to continue with the pregnancy; and entrust the baby to people who can ensure the child's growth.

The academy's statement was the first formal response to the court's ruling made public by a body associated with the Roman Curia. Pope Francis has strongly denounced abortion on numerous occasions calling it "murder," and has compared killing an unborn child to hiring a "hitman" to solve an issue.