In an article first posted at Commonweal and republished on July 7 in La Croix International, Professor John Thiel of Fairfield University, while criticizing the U.S. bishops’ decision to prepare a teaching document on Eucharistic coherence and integrity in the Church, performed the not-inconsiderable feat of striking out four times (swinging).
The New York State Catholic Conference, which represents the bishops of New York in public policy matters, sent a letter to the state’s congressional delegation urging them “to reject taxpayer funding of abortion, and to oppose appropriations bills that do not include the long-standing, bipartisan Hyde Amendment and related pro-life policies.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and several other Republican leaders in the House asked their Democratic counterparts June 22 to take up a measure introduced by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., that would make the long-standing Hyde Amendment permanent.
Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, is leading a petition to protect Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding of abortion. The amendment faces growing opposition from members of Congress and the Biden Administration.
When the Supreme Court decided May 17 to take up a challenge to a Mississippi abortion law, it brought abortion back to the front burner months before the court will hear oral arguments about it this fall.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed into law legislation banning abortions after a baby’s heartbeat can be detected — at approximately the sixth week of pregnancy — making his state the largest in the nation to enact such a strict limit on abortion.
The U.S. Supreme Court said in a May 17 order that it will hear oral arguments during its next term on a 2018 Mississippi abortion law banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The Diocese of Albany, and 13 other petitioners, including Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens, have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case opposing New York’s abortion coverage mandate.
The Catholic electorate gives mixed reviews on President Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office. Issues of concern include his COVID-19 response, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and religious freedom.
The Hyde Amendment, born in 1976, has had a fairly long congressional history, but it could be marked for extinction.
