Catholic bishops expressed grief Thursday after President Joe Biden signed an order to promote “the destruction of [unborn] human lives in developing nations” in one of his first acts as president.
Biden describes himself as a devout Catholic, but his positions on abortion and other issues contradict the teachings of his faith as well as the views of most Americans, religious or not.
On Thursday, he overturned the Mexico City Policy, a pro-life rule President Donald Trump put in place to defund the International Planned Parenthood Federation, which kills babies in abortions around the world and lobbies to legalize abortions in pro-life countries.
“It is grievous that one of President Biden’s first official acts actively promotes the destruction of human lives in developing nations,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops responded in a statement.
Vatican News reports Archbishop Joseph Naumann, of Kansas, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop David Malloy, of Illinois, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace, signed the statement.
“This Executive Order is antithetical to reason, violates human dignity, and is incompatible with Catholic teaching,” they said. “We urge the president to use his office for good, prioritizing the most vulnerable, including unborn children.”
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The bishops said the Catholic Church is the largest non-government healthcare provider in the world, and they would happily work with the Biden administration to expand women’s healthcare across the world. However, they emphasized that healthcare should be available to all human beings, including those not yet born.
“To serve our brothers and sisters with respect, it is imperative that care begin with ensuring that the unborn are free from violence, recognizing every person as a child of God,” the bishops continued, CNS reports. “We hope the new administration will work with us to meet these significant needs.”
Biden’s order restored millions of taxpayer dollars to the billion-dollar abortion industry. Planned Parenthood and MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes International) are two major recipients of that funding, and they abort millions of unborn babies across the world every year.
Under Trump, the Mexico City Policy defunded Planned Parenthood’s international arm of about $100 million and the British-based abortion chain MSI Reproductive Choices of about $73 million in U.S. tax dollars.
Most Americans agree with the bishops that tax dollars should not fund abortions in other countries. A new poll from Marist this week found that an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose Biden’s plan to force taxpayers to fund abortions. According to the poll, 77 percent oppose using tax dollars to support abortion in other countries. Significantly, this includes a majority of Democrats (55 percent) and pro-choice Americans (64 percent).
Most Americans (58 percent) also oppose using tax dollars to fund abortions in the U.S., according to the Marist poll. Similarly, a Politico/Harvard University poll found that just 36 percent of likely voters supported taxpayer funding for abortions, while 58 percent opposed it.
The abortion industry is not hurting for money. Planned Parenthood has been reaping in billion-dollar revenues for the past several years. According to its most recent annual report, it aborted more than 345,000 unborn babies last year while collecting more than $500 million in taxpayer dollars.
Globally, approximately 73.3 million unborn babies were aborted in 2020 – by far the leading cause of death.
