A Call to Action from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
In response to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has scheduled another House vote to try to enshrine abortion on demand in federal law through the so-called Women’s Health Protection Act, H.R. 8296. The vote will be held this week. The House passed this bill on September 24, 2021, but the Senate has failed twice this year to advance the bill.
This deceptively-named, extreme bill would impose abortion on demand nationwide at any stage of pregnancy through federal statute. Even worse, it would eliminate modest and widely supported pro-life laws at every level of government — the federal, state, and local level — including parental notification for minor girls, informed consent, and health or safety protections specific to abortion facilities. It would force all Americans to support abortions here and abroad with their tax dollars. It would also likely force health care providers and professionals to perform, assist in, and/or refer for abortion against their deeply-held beliefs, as well as force employers and insurers to cover or pay for abortion.
We need to send an unmistakable message to the House that this horrible bill must never be enacted. Join Archbishop Lori, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities and Cardinal Dolan, chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty in urging the House to oppose H.R. 8296.
Check out the chairmen’s letter and this fact sheet to learn more about this radical bill. Please also check out and amplify this statement, issued by Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, Chairman of the USCCB Committee for Pro-Life Activities, in response to the Supreme Court of the United States issuing its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
NOTE: The sample message provided in this alert is very short due to character limits that some senators place on emails they receive. If your senator allows longer emails, feel free to add the following text to your message.
Abortion is the opposite of women’s health care and is an extreme violation of human rights. It has no clear justification in terms of women’s health. Answering the needs of women by promoting taxpayer-funded elective abortion, as this bill would do, is a failure to love and serve women. Offering free or low-cost abortions, instead of the resources needed to care for her child, is not “choice” but coercion.
In treating abortion as the moral equivalent to the removal of an appendix, this proposal is radically out of step with the American public. I strongly urge you to reject this bill and to put the energy and resources of our federal government behind policies that recognize and support both mothers and their children.
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