In a reminder to New York Catholics that abortion access will likely go unfettered in the state regardless of federal rulings, the state’s bishops are calling on the faithful to advocate with charity, sensitivity and clarity, and to reaffirm the Church’s commitment to walking with pregnant mothers.
Sherif Girgis said he felt “kind of a gut punch” after the draft of a Supreme Court majority decision was leaked late on May 2. The former law clerk at the nation’s high court couldn’t believe what he called an “astonishing and appalling” move by the leaker.
Although many pro-life groups immediately reacted positively to the news that the majority of Supreme Court justices seem set to overturn the court’s Roe v. Wade decision, some tempered their reaction with a continued call for more advocacy while others kept a wait-and-see approach until the court issues its opinion in the weeks ahead.
The Supreme Court appears set to overturn its Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion for nearly 50 years, according to a leaked initial draft of a court opinion obtained by Politico and published online late Monday, May 2.
Catholic leaders in Colorado and Oklahoma reacted with dismay and praise for their state legislatures earlier this week as the former enshrined the right to abortion into state law, and the latter passed a near-total abortion ban.
As the nation awaits the U.S. Supreme Court’s most significant abortion ruling in decades, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the chairmen of eight USCCB committees joined together “in prayer and expectant hope that states will again be able to protect women and children from the injustice of abortion.”
The Colorado Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state’s Catholic bishops, issued an action alert calling on pro-life supporters to make their objections known to a bill it said “could make Colorado the most radical abortion state in the country.”
Colombia became the latest country in Latin America to expand access to abortion Monday as the nation’s Constitutional Court voted to legalize the procedure until the 24th week of pregnancy.
In a 78-39 vote, Florida’s House of Representatives Feb. 17 approved a ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Europe’s bishops have criticized French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal earlier this month to include abortion in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, saying that doing so would not only be unethical but would oppose European values.
