August 3, 2015: Cardinal O’Malley Urges Support for Senate Bill to Defund Planned Parenthood

WASHINGTON—Federal funds should be reallocated so women can obtain their health care from providers that do not promote abortion, Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, archbishop of Boston, said in an August 3 letter to the U.S. Senate. Cardinal O’Malley, who chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, urged support for S. 1881, which would withhold federal funds from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates.
 
The full text of his letter follows:
 
Dear Senator:
 
I am writing to ask your support for S. 1881, to withhold federal funds from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates.
 
It has long been troubling to many Americans that the nation’s largest abortion network, performing over a third of all abortions, receives over half a billion taxpayer dollars a year.  This concern has rightly grown in recent years. 
 
The most recent revelations about Planned Parenthood’s willingness to traffic in fetal tissue from abortions, and to alter abortion methods not for any reason related to women’s health but to obtain more “intact” organs, is the latest demonstration of a callousness toward women and their unborn children that is shocking to many Americans.
 
The Catholic Church comes to this issue from a perspective rooted in experience.  Catholic charitable agencies and pregnancy help centers have helped countless pregnant women find life-affirming alternatives to abortion.  Our hospitals and other health facilities are second to none in providing quality health care for women. 
 
We support the legislative proposal to reallocate federal funding, so that women can obtain their health care from providers that do not promote abortion. It is my sincere hope that you will be able to help advance this goal by supporting S. 1881.