Catholic Bishop Daniel E. Thomas expressed outrage Wednesday at a plan by the Toledo City Council to use COVID-19 funds to support killing unborn babies in abortions.
In an opinion piece Wednesday at the Richland Source, Thomas said the money is supposed to be used to save lives, not destroy them.
“Using funds allocated for COVID recovery to enable the taking of innocent lives and the harming of mothers and their children is both unjust and immoral,” the bishop wrote. “Since abortion is not ‘health care,’ it is counterintuitive that recovery funds would support the killing of the most vulnerable members of our society.”
The proposed ordinance, sponsored by Councilmembers Nick Komives, Theresa Gadus and Michele Grim, would take $100,000 in tax dollars from COVID relief funds and give it to the Agnes Reynolds Jackson Fund, or Aggie Fund, a pro-abortion group based in Ohio.
Thomas said the sole purpose of the fund is “to pay for travel and other expenses to procure abortions.” The city council plans to vote on the ordinance Dec. 20.
He urged people to join him in telling the council to reject the taxpayer-funded abortion plan, and remind the city leaders that those tax dollars are supposed to help the community, not harm its most vulnerable members.
ACTION ALERT: To oppose this measure, please Contact Toledo City Council members.
Quoting Pope Saint John Paul II’s “Evangelium Vitae,” Thomas continued, “’Causing death’ can never be considered a form of medical treatment … it runs completely counter to the health-care profession, which is meant to be an impassioned and unflinching affirmation of life.”
The bishop said the Catholic Church and local pregnancy resource centers are ready to support families in need by providing free resources that help mothers, fathers and children to flourish.
Currently, unborn babies are being aborted for any reason up to 20 weeks in Ohio, but that could change soon. A Hamilton County judge blocked the state heartbeat law in September, claiming it violates the state constitution, but the state is appealing. If enforced, the law could save thousands of unborn babies from abortion every year.
From June to August while the law was in effect, abortions dropped 65 percent in Ohio, representing about 2,470 unborn babies’ lives, according to a study by the pro-abortion research group WeCount, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. While some pregnant mothers did travel to other states for abortions, the researchers found that others will have their babies instead.
As LifeNews reported, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with a 6-3 majority ruling in June through the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case. The justices decided that “the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion” and began allowing states to ban abortions and protect unborn babies again.
ACTION ALERT: To oppose this measure, please Contact Toledo City Council members.
