The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called out pro-abortion lawmakers this month for forcing Americans to fund the killing of unborn babies in elective abortions, saying a new rule allowing taxpayer funding for abortions for military veterans is “inhumane.”
The bishops responded after the U.S. Senate narrowly rejected a resolution Wednesday that would have overturned the Biden administration rule.
“We continue to urge Congress to prevent implementation of this harmful policy and to provide instead real support for our military veterans and their loved ones,” said Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the bishops’ conference, and Bishop Michael Burbidge, chair of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, in a statement Thursday.
The resolution introduced by U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, would have blocked the Department of Veterans Affairs from paying for abortions for retired service members and their families. One Democrat joined Republicans in supporting the resolution, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia; and two Republicans voted against it, U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Since 1992, the Department of Veterans Affairs has been statutorily prohibited from using taxpayer dollars for elective abortions. In September, however, the Biden administration ignored this longstanding prohibition and issued a new rule that funds abortion for undefined, broad “health” reasons.
The Catholic bishops said military heroes and their families deserve better than the “inhumane” new rule.
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“Our heroes and their dependents deserve quality health care services instead of policies to end the lives of their own children,” they said.
The Catholic News Agency reports more:
The bishops said it is “inhumane” to provide taxpayer-funded abortion as “a so-called solution to pregnancy” and not “resources needed to welcome a child and flourish as a family.” …
The bishops also noted that Congress has not authorized elective abortion in VA programs.
“But even if it had, such a practice would be poor public policy because it involves the intentional killing of unborn children and harm to women who undergo the abortion procedure,” [the bishops said in an earlier statement opposing the pro-abortion rule.]
Tuberville has been a strong voice against the Biden administration’s pro-abortion actions in the U.S. Senate.
Last week, he introduced the resolution under the Congressional Review Act, which gives Congress the authority to review major rules issued by federal agencies. In a news conference prior to the vote, he said the VA rule is an abuse of the law.
“Using our VA medical facilities to provide taxpayer-funded abortions is illegal and wrong,” Tuberville said. “The VA’s new policy is a blatant violation of federal law. It forces taxpayers to fund abortions at VA facilities. And it provides limited conscience protections for doctors and nurses with religious objections to performing abortions.”
Susan B. Anthony Pro Life-America, March for Life, National Right to Life, Catholic Vote, Heritage Action and Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee endorsed the legislation.
For the past few weeks, Tuberville also has been blocking Pentagon nominees until the Biden administration reverses another new pro-abortion policy.
The separate Department of Defense policy requires taxpayers to pay travel costs and paid time off for military service members and their families to abort their unborn babies in elective abortions. As a result, approximately 4,100 more unborn babies could be killed in abortions every year, Republican lawmakers said.
Pro-life Republican leaders said the policy clearly violates Title 10 Section 1093 of the U.S. Code, which states that “funds available to the Department of Defense may not be used to perform abortions except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or in a case in which the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.”
The Democratic Party supports killing unborn babies in abortions up to birth, paid for by taxpayers. They call killing unborn babies “reproductive health care” even though abortion is not health care and reproduction has already taken place.
