Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities and a dear friend of the Pro-Life Movement who has spoken at National Right to Life’s conventions.
So it came as no surprise that Archbishop Naumann criticized in no uncertain terms the decision by the Biden-Harris administration to reverse “The Protect Life Rule,” a regulation issued by the Trump Administration in February 2019. As NRL News Today readers recall, that rule reinstated the program’s original intent — to clearly separate abortion from family planning in the federal Title X family planning program.
“This policy change will allow the Title X program to become an indirect funding avenue for abortion providers,” Archbishop Naumann wrote.
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.
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He added,
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.
As NRL News Today has written, Planned Parenthood opted out rather than accept the limitations, which were upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on February 24, 2020.
“On Jan. 28, Biden announced he would rescind the Trump-era rule,” explained Julie Asher of Catholic News Service. “He stated this in his ‘Presidential Memorandum to Protect and Expand Access to Comprehensive Reproductive Health Care,’ which also included his actions to rescind the ‘Mexico City policy,’ which blocked U.S. funding for nongovernmental organizations that perform or actively promote abortion as a form of family planning in other nations.”
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared in at National Right to Life News Today —- an online column on pro-life issues.
