Bishops praise, criticize federal actions affecting human life amid budget debate

WASHINGTON (OSV News) -- As congressional lawmakers consider a sweeping package for Trump's agenda, the U.S. Catholic bishops offered both praise and criticism of federal actions affecting human life, such involving gender transition, abortion funding, and pregnant migrants, in a pair of statements May 19.

President Donald Trump pushed Republican leadership to pass what he calls his "big, beautiful bill" -- which would enact key provisions of his legislative agenda on tax and immigration policy -- in a closed-door meeting with rank-and-file GOP lawmakers at the Capitol on May 20, seeking to sway various holdouts concerned about the way it would grow the deficit, or other issues.

Catholic leaders have alternately praised and criticized various provisions in early versions of that package, which has drawn fire from some critics over its cuts to Medicaid, while drawing praise from others for promises to eliminate funds to health providers who also perform abortions.

House Republicans are seeking to pass their version of the budget package before Memorial Day, but have struggled to persuade the remaining holdouts amid a razor-thin majority.

In a joint statement acknowledging ongoing debate over the budget reconciliation bill, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, chair of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, said, "Americans should not be forced to subsidize abortions and 'gender transition' services with their tax dollars."

"For decades, Planned Parenthood has received government money and offered low-income women one terrible option: to end the lives of their babies," the bishops said. "More recently, they have used the same taxpayer funds to expand their destructive offerings, by promoting gender ideology and providing puberty blockers and hormones to minors, turning them into lifelong patients in the process. Americans should not be forced to subsidize abortions and 'gender transition' services with their tax dollars, and we applaud measures that will finally help to defund Planned Parenthood."

The bishops added, "We encourage greater support for authentic, life-affirming health care providers that serve mothers and their children in need. We urge all members of Congress and the Administration to work in good faith to protect vulnerable women and children from mutilating 'gender transition' services and the scourge of abortion."

That statement also pointed to an April letter from Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, chair of the USCCB's Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, to lawmakers expressing their belief in the importance of preserving Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, expanding the child tax credit, and other programs for the vulnerable within the reconciliation legislation.

In a separate statement that did not directly address the reconciliation package, the bishops expressed concern about the Trump Administration's recent rescission of U.S. Customs and Border Protection guidance for addressing the needs of pregnant and postpartum women and their unborn or newborn children while in CBP custody.

The policy rescinded by the Trump administration previously required that noncitizen mothers and babies receive appropriate food, water, formula, other appropriate care and the least restrictive setting possible. The policy was among those the Trump administration called "obsolete or misaligned with current Agency guidance and immigration enforcement priorities."

Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration, and Bishop Thomas as the pro-life activities chair, said in a joint statement the bishops' conference has "spoken plainly and clearly about the proven harms that immigration detention is known to inflict on families and especially on young children, opposing its use for these populations unless absolutely necessary."

"It is deeply troubling and inexcusable that measures intended to ensure the basic safety of pregnant mothers and their young children while in government custody could be rescinded with such indifference toward the vulnerability of those involved," the bishops said. "As a result, instances of neglect and abuse, even if inadvertent, will be more likely to occur, putting the lives of pregnant mothers and their children at risk. This decision is all the more concerning as the Administration simultaneously ramps up family detention in place of safer, more cost-effective alternatives to detention."

"Let us be clear: protecting pregnant mothers and their children can never be considered 'obsolete,'" they added. "This principle irrefutably extends to noncitizens in immigration detention, each of whom possesses an inviolable, God-given dignity that must be respected. We urge the Administration to reissue guidance that adequately reflects and affirms the increased standard of care due to this vulnerable population while in government custody."

Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.