The refusal by the U.S. House to include the Hyde Amendment and other pro-life riders in appropriations bills before lawmakers passed the measures is an "injustice" that overshadows the provisions that help "vulnerable people," said the chairmen of two U.S. bishops' committees.
As he offered three amendments to the State Department appropriations bill before the House July 28, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., asked his House colleagues in remarks from the floor, "Where is the justice and empathy and compassion for unborn babies?"
No one can claim "to be a devout Catholic and condone the killing of innocent human life, let alone have the government pay for it," said Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco.
Taxpayer-funded abortion "represents a failure to recognize the sanctity of human life and promotes a culture in which human life in its most vulnerable moment is perceived as disposable," said Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark.
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, signed into law March 11 by President Joe Biden, will provide relief to Americans in need amid the pandemic, but it lacks "protections for the unborn," the U.S. bishops said.
If it passes and becomes law, the American Rescue Plan Congress is considering would pit the great need Americans have for economic relief in this pandemic against those who insist the bill must include abortion funding, said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the chairmen of seven USCCB committees.
Democratic members of the U.S. Senate were hopeful their version of a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package would be passed the second week of March, so they could send it to President Joe Biden for his signature before unemployment assistance expires March 14.
Among the top life issues for Catholics are abortion, capital punishment and assisted suicide, but only abortion is addressed by both Democrats and Republicans in this election.
With the Hyde Amendment that bans federal Medicaid funding of abortions celebrating its 40th anniversary Sept. 30, the March for Life celebrated the anniversary in part by warning of threats to dismantle the rider.
