Catholic Bishop Slams Biden’s Attempt to Make Employers Fund Abortions, We Must “Protect Preborn Children”
National | Steven Ertelt | Aug 10, 2023 | 11:06AM | Washington, DC
Joe Biden’s newly-proposed mandate to force employers across America to fund abortions is not going over well with the nation’s Catholic bishops.
As LifeNews reported, proposed regulations the Biden administration announced Monday for implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act are coming under fire from pro-life advocates. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s proposed rule hijacks the bipartisan law, which does not address abortion, to impose an abortion mandate on virtually every employer in the country, including pro-life and Christian employers who oppose abortion.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires every employer in America to “reasonably accommodate” a worker’s “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.”
But Biden is now proposing that “related medical conditions” include “termination of pregnancy, including via . . . abortion.”
If the mandate is implemented, it would require employers with more than 15 employees to create “reasonable accommodations” for their workers’ abortions, even if doing so violates their pro-life or religious beliefs.
The proposed rule will be formally published Friday, kicking off a 60-day period for pro-life and religious Americans to submit public comments to the administration to oppose this radically pro-abortion rule.
Now, the nation’s catholic bishops have called out Biden over the pro-abortion proposal:
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) initially supported the bill for its new protections for pregnant women. Now, USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities chairman Bishop Michael Burbidge is accusing the EEOC of distorting the law.
“We supported the bipartisan Pregnant Workers Fairness Act because it enhanced the protection of pregnant mothers and their preborn children, which is something that we have encouraged Congress to prioritize,” Burbidge said in a statement. “The act is pro-worker, pro-family, and pro-life. It is a total distortion to use this law as a means for advancing abortion and the complete opposite of needed assistance for pregnant mothers.”
Burbidge argued that the proposed rules are contrary to the legislative intent.
“To include accommodations for obtaining an abortion is wrong and contrary to the text, legislative history, and purpose of the act, which is to help make it possible for working mothers to remain gainfully employed, if desired, while protecting their health and that of their preborn children,” Burbidge continued. “We are hopeful that the EEOC will be forced to abandon its untenable position when public comments submitted on this regulation demonstrate that its interpretation would be struck down in court.”
Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are speaking out against Biden’s plan.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the top Senate HELP Committee Republican, on Tuesday accused the EEOC of “going rogue” and exceeding its authority under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which passed late last year as part of the omnibus spending deal and took effect earlier this summer.
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“These regulations completely disregard legislative intent and attempt to rewrite the law by regulation,” Cassidy, who helped lead the fight for the legislation with Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), said in a statement. “The decision to disregard the legislative process to inject a political abortion agenda is illegal and deeply concerning.”
The regulations still need to be voted on and finalized by the EEOC following a public comment period, and the dustup over its proposed abortion language portends a heated lobbying battle to come.
Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Julie Marie Blake opposes the rule and urges Americans to contact Congress to oppose it.
“Congress sought to help pregnant workers, not force employers to facilitate abortions,” she said. “The Biden administration is hijacking a bipartisan law that doesn’t even mention abortion to forcibly require every employer in America to provide ‘reasonable accommodations’ for their workers’ elective abortions.”
Blake added: “The administration’s unlawful proposal violates state laws protecting the unborn and employers’ pro-life and religious beliefs. The administration doesn’t have the legal authority to smuggle an abortion mandate into a transformational pro-life, pro-woman law. Alliance Defending Freedom stands ready to continue defending unborn lives and to oppose this egregious federal overreach.”
