Author Archives: Julie Gutierrez

U.S. Bishops’ Chairmen Respond to House Vote to Force Taxpayers to Fund Elective Abortions

Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities
News Release:  July 30, 2021

U.S. Bishops’ Chairmen Respond to House Vote to Force Taxpayers to Fund Elective Abortions

WASHINGTON - Today, the House voted 219 to 208 in favor of H.R. 4502, a package of appropriations bills that currently excludes the 46-year-old Hyde Amendment and other longstanding, bipartisan provisions like the Weldon Amendment. Eliminating these provisions would force taxpayers to pay for elective abortions and would have the effect of forcing health care providers and professionals to perform and refer for abortion against their deeply-held beliefs, as well as forcing employers and insurers to cover and pay for abortion.
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee for Religious Liberty, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, issued the following statement:
“The House has voted in a way that is completely out of step with the will of the American people who overwhelmingly oppose taxpayer-funded abortion. The Hyde Amendment has saved at least 2.4 million lives since its enactment. Without it, millions of poor women in desperate circumstances will make the irrevocable decision to take the government up on its offer to end the life of their child.
“To be certain, this bill includes provisions that help vulnerable people, including pregnant moms. As we have said before, ‘being “right” in such matters can never excuse a wrong choice regarding direct attacks on innocent human life.’ In truth, ‘the failure to protect and defend life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect any claims to the “rightness” of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful of the human community.’[i]
“The injustice in HR 4502 extends to removing conscience protections and exemptions for healthcare providers who believe abortion is wrong, or whose faith drives them to serve and heal lives, instead of taking them.
“Funding the destruction of innocent unborn human lives, and forcing people to kill in violation of their consciences, are grave abuses of human rights. We call on the Senate to redress this evil in H.R. 4502, and for Congress to ultimately pass appropriations bills that fully support and protect human dignity, and the most vulnerable among us.”

 

NYS Catholic Conference 2021 End of Session Round Up

NYS Catholic Conference 2021 End of Session Round Up

The New York Sate Catholic Conference and the Office of Life Issues thanks you for your support of the NYS Catholic Action Network. The 2021 Legislative Session in Albany has adjourned, although lawmakers may return at some point this summer if agreement is reached on certain legislation.

Follow the attached link for updates on legislation of Interest.

https://www.nyscatholic.org/2021-end-of-session-round-up/

Widespread Action by June: Stop Taxpayer-Funded Abortion

The USCCB is targeting the first week of June for widespread action. The primary goal is for millions of Catholics to sign the petition on NoTaxpayerAbortion.com. We need your help making that happen.

Raise awareness by sharing the tools below:

Because of the incredibly high stakes and urgency needed, the goal of public efforts is a massive quantity of signatures.

Thank you very much for your work in defense of life!

U.S. Bishops’ Pro Life Committee Chairman Denounces Reversal of Limits on Human Fetal Tissue Research

WASHINGTON – The National Institutes of Health announced last Friday that it is reversing limits on human fetal tissue research that were put in place by the Trump Administration. Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities issued the following statement in response:

“The bodies of children killed by abortion deserve the same respect as that of any other person. Our government has no right to treat innocent abortion victims as a commodity that can be scavenged for body parts to be used in research. It is unethical to promote and subsidize research that can lead to legitimizing the violence of abortion. Researchers have demonstrated that we can do effective scientific research and develop efficacious clinical treatments without harvesting tissue from aborted babies. It is also deeply offensive to millions of Americans for our tax dollars to be used for research that collaborates with an industry built on the taking of innocent lives. I call on the Biden Administration to instead fund research that does not rely upon body parts taken from innocent children killed through abortion.”

Action Needed to Stop Infanticide

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R. 619) has again been introduced in Congress to protect babies from infanticide.

But efforts to bring the bill to a vote in the House are being blocked. Your action is needed to urge your Representative to sign a discharge petition that would allow this vote to occur.

Some states have passed laws to expand abortion and to repeal laws providing specific protections for babies born alive after surviving an attempted abortion. The Born-Alive Act would provide these specific protections nationwide to help prevent newborns from being killed or left alone to die.

We must continue to push Congress to pass the Born-Alive Act, so babies born alive following an abortion attempt are treated the same as any other newborn baby.  PLEASE ACT TODAY!!!

Take Action Click here

Click here for more information.

Statement of the U.S. Bishops’ Pro Life Committee Chairman on Biden Administration’s proposed rule on the Title X program

WASHINGTON – On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a proposed rule to reverse “The Protect Life Rule,” a regulation issued by the Trump Administration in 2019 to clearly separate abortion from family planning in the federal Title X family planning program. Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, issued the following statement expressing profound disappointment over this action:

“This policy change will allow the Title X program to become an indirect funding avenue for abortion providers. In spite of explicit prohibitions in Federal law and clear congressional intent that abortion may not be a part of this program, it has repeatedly been coopted by abortion supporters as a funding stream for organizations, programs, and facilities that directly promote and provide abortions.

“While the USCCB has always had strong objections to government promotion and funding of contraceptives, we have also long supported clear financial and physical separation between Title X-funded projects and programs and facilities where abortion is a method of family planning. This proposed rule is terrible policy; it would reintegrate abortion into what is supposed to be a pre-pregnancy family planning program. I strongly urge the Biden Administration to suspend this proposed rule and leave the Title X program as it was intended and authorized to be – a program entirely separate from abortion.”

Statement