The Respect Life Office affirms that human life is a gift from God to be protected from the moment of conception until natural death. The Respect Life Office, in keeping with the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) "Pastoral plan for pro-life activities: a reaffirmation" (Revised 2001), pursues this mission in the following areas: education; pastoral care and outreach; public information and public policy formulation and awareness.

Among the life issues addressed by the Catholic Church today are abortion, human sexuality, infertility procedures, cloning, stem cell research, euthanasia and the death penalty.