WASHINGTON – “Abortion is not health care, and no child should experience such violence,” said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities said March 26, as the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine.
His full statement follows:
“With dangerous abortion drugs now making up the majority of abortions and increasing in use, we pray that the Supreme Court will restore the Food and Drug Administration’s safeguards for the health of women and protect more preborn children. The FDA’s diminishing safety standards in recent years means that a woman, for example, can now be led to order a chemical abortion pill online without seeing a doctor in person to make sure that she does not have a complicating condition and that she has not been pregnant for longer than the approved 10-week limit.
“Abortion is not health care, and no child should experience such violence. At the same time, a vulnerable mother who obtains an abortion must not be left alone without medical care afterwards. In addition, we ourselves are to make present to her God’s mercy and love, which are, as we see especially now in Holy Week, without end.
“Yesterday, on the eve of oral argument, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the USCCB, and I made an invitation to prayer for an end to abortion and for the protection of women and preborn children. We encourage you to join in this prayer until the Court’s decision, and to search for ways in your community to help support mothers in need and make abortion unthinkable.”
The USCCB submitted an amicus brief in this case in February. Archbishop Broglio’s and Bishop Burbidge’s invitation to prayer may be found at usccb.org/prolife/nationwide-invitation-prayer. For more information on chemical abortion drugs, go to usccb.org/chemical-abortion-fact-sheets.
