CV NEWS FEED // The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a statement Jan. 26 expressing gratitude for recent pro-life actions taken by President Donald Trump, including an executive order and a memorandum aimed at ending taxpayer-funded abortion.
“We gratefully applaud the decision to end taxpayer-funded abortion,” said Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chairman of the USCCB Committee for Pro-Life Activities.
The executive order reversed prior administration initiatives that facilitated abortion funding with taxpayer dollars. The memorandum reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, which bars U.S. foreign aid from funding organizations that perform or promote abortion overseas.
“A significant majority of Americans oppose being forced to support abortion through their tax dollars,” Bishop Thomas said. “I am grateful for the strengthening of policies that protect us from being compelled to participate in a culture of death, and that help us to restore a culture of life at home and abroad.”
The bishops referenced a recent poll commissioned by the Knights of Columbus that revealed that 57% of American citizens oppose taxpayer funding of abortion and 73% oppose taxpayer funding of abortion abroad.
The bishops also noted the announcement that the United States is rejoining the Geneva Consensus Declaration, which they described as “an international statement to strengthen women’s health, the right to life for the preborn, and the role of the family.”
During his first term, Trump led the effort behind the Geneva Consensus Declaration, which more than 30 countries signed, but the Biden administration withdrew from the agreement, CatholicVote reported.
“It is important and encouraging to see the United States again taking leadership in affirming the right to life and fundamental place of the family on the global stage where many pressures can be arrayed against these values,” Bishop Thomas said.
The Bishop also noted Trump’s recent pardoning of peaceful pro-life advocates who were imprisoned under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) act.
“Pro-life Americans have a right to pray in public, to counsel women who are considering abortion, and to peacefully protest,” Bishop Thomas said. “We welcome support for men and women who are exercising these rights to witness to a culture of life, and, at the same time, we absolutely reject resorting to force or violence.”
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