Leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have reacted to the Senate’s decisive defeat of the Democrat-sponsored Women’s Health Protection Act, calling the outcome a “tremendous relief.”
Baltimore Archbishop William Lori, chairman of Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan, chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty, issued a joint statement this week praising the rejection of the legislation (H.R. 3755).
“The failure to advance this extreme measure today is a tremendous relief,” the bishops declared. “We must respect and support mothers, their unborn children, and the consciences of all Americans.”
“Passing H.R. 3755 would have led to the loss of millions of unborn lives and left countless women to suffer from the physical and emotional trauma of abortion,” they stated. “Rather than providing comprehensive material and social support for a challenging pregnancy, H.R. 3755 fails women and young girls in need by instead offering a free abortion as the ‘solution’ to their difficulty.”
“Women deserve better than this,” the bishops asserted. “We implore Congress to promote policies that recognize the value and human dignity of both mother and child.”
In their statement, the bishops also observed that H.R. 3755 would have “imposed abortion on demand nationwide at any stage of pregnancy through federal statute and would have eliminated pro-life laws at every level of government — including parental notification for minor girls, informed consent, and health or safety protections specific to abortion facilities.”
It would also have “compelled all Americans to support abortions here and abroad with their tax dollars and would have also likely forced health care providers and professionals to perform, assist in, and/or refer for abortion against their deeply-held beliefs,” they added.
The Catholic News Agency (CNA) lamented Tuesday that despite the positive outcome of the Senate vote, 13 Catholic senators voted in favor of the legislation, which directly contradicts Catholic teaching on the sacredness of human life.
The article cited Joshua Mercer, the communications director for CatholicVote, who insisted that “Catholics are tired of seeing their faith used as a political football on the campaign trail, then thrown aside by Catholic political figures when they need to vote along the party line against the Church’s most fundamental moral teachings.”
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