The topic of anti-abortion is heating up across the nation as clashes have taken place at several Catholic sites.

Ahead of the national March for Life on Jan. 21, anti-abortion advocates gathered for Mass in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., according to CatholicVote. During the Mass, members of Catholics for Choice gathered outside and projected pro-abortion slogans onto the building, such as "1 in 4 abortion patients is Catholic."

In a separate incident on Jan. 22, pro-abortion rights supporters illuminated the exterior of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City with slogans including, “God loves abortion” and “Abortion forever,” Catholic News Agency reported. Approximately 100 demonstrators cursed at churchgoers attending a Prayer Vigil for Life to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The demonstrators made obscene gestures and chanted "Thank God for abortion" and "New York hates you."

CatholicVote Political Director Josh Mercer condemned the clashes as part of Democrat's anti-abortion agenda.

"At the beginning of the Biden administration, Democrats started out with the promise to heal our divisions and foster unity," Mercer said. "Instead, they’ve thrown more fuel on all the fires of 2020 and fomented new divisions to boot. And for what? Abortion, of all things. They’re fixated on it, and won’t let most Americans go a day without being shamed for being remotely pro-life. 

"That’s what these riotous and threatening actions are coming from: straight from the top of the Democratic Left. But Americans are becoming more pro-life. And I believe we’ll see voters rejecting Democrats’ radical rhetoric, policies, and divisiveness like never before."

According to The Atlantic, scientific advances have contributed to reshaping the debate around abortion and when life begins. When Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, it was widely believed that the viability point of a fetus was about 28 weeks. However, medical professionals are now considering the possibility that the viability point is closer to 22 weeks.

"The more I advanced in my field of neonatology, the more it just became the logical choice to recognize the developing fetus for what it is: a fetus, instead of some sort of sub-human form," Colleen Malloy, a neonatologist and faculty member at Northwestern University, told The Atlantic. "It just became so obvious that these were just developing humans."