Congress should pass the Pence Amendment to defund organizations
which offer abortion services, Bishop Michael J. Sheridan of Colorado
Springs has said.
The amendment would “undoubtedly ‘protect life’ by putting an end to
the millions of taxpayer dollars being given to organizations whose
mission it is to offer family planning by means of ending the lives of
the unborn,” he wrote in his March 31 column for the Colorado Catholic
Herald, provided ahead of publication to CNA.
“The challenge before Congress in the coming week and ahead is to
work together to achieve consistency with U.S. policies when it comes to
the sanctity of life.”
Bishop Sheridan explained that the federal government is presently
being funded by a series of continuing resolutions. Over the next two
weeks congressmen will consider another resolution to keep the
government funded until Sept. 30.
While an amendment from Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) to bar abortion
provider funding from the full-year bill has passed the House with
bipartisan support, that bill faces opposition from the Senate and
President Obama.
The recent resolutions maintain the status quo and
Planned Parenthood funding has remained intact.
One of every four abortions in the U.S. is performed at a Planned
Parenthood clinic, the bishop said.
The organization performed 332,000
abortions in 2009 while making only 977 adoption referrals.
The organization’s latest report said it received more than $363
million in taxpayer funds and was the largest recipient under the Title X
program established in 1970.
“The Pence Amendment would place the same restrictions on domestic
appropriations that the Hyde Amendment has placed on foreign
appropriations since it was passed in 1976,” Bishop Sheridan wrote.
“In
short, no organization offering abortion services would be eligible to
receive federal tax dollars.”
The amendment would defund 102 other organizations in addition to Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood has portrayed itself as primarily concerned with
cervical cancer, breast cancer and related women’s health issues, Bishop
Sheridan said.
“We know that not to be true,” he said, noting that 2009 statistics
show that a woman entering a Planned Parenthood clinic is 42 times more
likely to have an abortion than to be referred for adoption or receive
prenatal care.
The Pence Amendment, he explained, does not cut any funding for women’s health services.
“It would simply block those funds already in the bill from subsidizing America's largest abortion provider,” the bishop wrote.
“Women’s health will in no way be put at risk if Planned Parenthood
loses its federal funding. On the contrary, a considerable danger to the
lives of the unborn will be removed, and American citizens, most of
whom oppose abortion, will no longer be subsidizing a profound moral
evil.”