Catholic Bishops Run Ads Backing Bush’s Mexico City Abortion Policy

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Nov 5, 2007   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Catholic Bishops Run Ads Backing Bush’s Mexico City Abortion Policy Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 5,
2007

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — As members of Congress debated the Mexico City Policy last week, the nation’s Catholic bishops ran advertisements in Capitol Hill media outlets backing the pro-life spending limits. President Bush reinstated the policy — which protects taxpayers from having their money go towards groups that promote or perform abortions overseas.

His actions, coming on the first day of his presidency, put back in place provisions President Clinton scrapped for eight years.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) ran ads in four Capitol Hill publications urging members of Congress to support "that sensible policy."

The USCCB’s full-page ad in Roll Call, The Hill, CQ Today, and Congress Daily AM featured the image of a woman from the developing world holding her child, paired with a quotation from Grace Olivarez, dissenting member of John D. Rockefeller III’s federal advisory commission on population: "The poor cry out for justice and equality and we respond with legalized abortion."

Deirdre McQuade, a top USCCB spokeswoman, told LifeNews.com that "Poor women around the world need help providing for their children, not eliminating them. They deserve authentic help, not the phony substitute of more abortions."

She said the ads were made possible by a grant from the Knights of Columbus and appeared in the Washington publications on October 30 and 31 to influence top lawmakers and other decision makers.

The ads may be found on the Pro-Life Secretariat’s website along with information on the Mexico City Policy at: https://www.usccb.org/prolife/MexicoCityPolicyAd.pdf.