US bishops' pro-life chairman deplores passage of House bill imposing abortion on demand nationwide (USCCB)

On July 15, the US House of Representatives passed the Women’s Health Protection Act in a 219-210 vote. An earlier version of the bill failed in the Senate in February.

“The majority in the House of Representatives voted last Friday to pass the most unjust and extreme abortion on demand bill our nation has ever seen,” said Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, joined by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty.

“Answering the needs of women by promoting taxpayer-funded elective abortion, as this bill would do, is a grave evil and a failure to love and serve women,” they added. “We implore those who see abortion as a legitimate ‘solution’ to the needs of women to abandon this path of death and despair. Instead, we invite all to join us in pursuing a vision we presented in Standing with Moms in Need, a vision that upholds the truth that every human life is sacred and inviolable—a society in which the legal protection of human life is accompanied by profound care for mothers and their children.”