ACLU Demands Catholic
Bishops Provide Abortions for Illegal Minors
by Dr. Susan Berry10 Apr 2015
Religious groups such as the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) are the target of an imminent ACLU lawsuit that hopes to order the federal
government to release information about how the groups are awarded government
funding contracts to assist illegal unaccompanied minors, yet refuse to allow
the minors access to contraception and abortion.
According to a press release, the
ACLU states, “The U.S. government has committed to providing services to meet
the basic needs of these teens. Reports indicate that between 60 and 80 percent
of women and girls who cross the border are sexually active.”
“Some of these organizations impose their religious beliefs
on these teens by denying them access to contraception, emergency
contraception, and abortion,” the ACLU continues.
Equating abortion and contraception with “health care,”
Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom
Project, said, “Religious freedom does not include the right to take a
government contract that requires providing access to health care, and then
refuse to provide a teen who has been raped the health care she needs.”
The ACLU’s suit comes in the wake of recent proposed federal regulations
that require groups that receive federal contracting funds to assist with care
for illegal minors to ensure they are provided with access to contraception and
abortion. In response, however, the USCCB said such a requirement would violate
religious freedom since contraception and abortion are against the teachings of
the Catholic Church.
As the largest resettlement agency in the United States, the
U.S. Catholic Bishops’
Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) reported last year that
“upwards of 90,000” young illegal immigrants were projected to arrive between
October 1, 2013, and September 30, 2014. MRS showed a total budget of
approximately $71 million, of which nearly $66 million–or about 93 percent–has
come from federal grants and contracts.
The ACLU charges that “because of USCCB’s refusals, teens
are not getting the care they need,” and that, additionally, “some
organizations are using their religious beliefs to force teens to leave their
program, uprooting the teen from familiar surroundings and the lifeline of
their social worker, if they need reproductive care.”
In February, Catholic and evangelical agencies providing aid
to illegal minors–including Catholic Relief Services and World
Relief–submitted joint comments to
the Office of Refugee
Resettlement (ORR) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“We believe that, through practical discussions, we can find
a resolution that allows the government to fulfill its obligation to care for
unaccompanied children, while also respecting the religious and moral beliefs
of faith-based organizations that, to date, have provided such critical care
for this vulnerable population,” the comments state. “In cases where pregnancy
occurs, those of us participating in the program are willing to continue to
provide health care access, as we have for years, in a manner consistent with
our religious beliefs.”
The Catholic and evangelical groups requested that ORR
ensure their organizations are able to “remain free to act in accord with their
religious beliefs and moral convictions in the area of human sexuality” when
caring for illegal minors.
“Moral convictions in the area of human sexuality” were also
at issue last summer with the Obama administration.
As Breitbart News reported last July,
President Obama issued an executive order banning “all companies that receive a
contract from the federal government from discriminating against their LGBT
employees.”
The U.S. Catholic bishops, in response, said the order was
“unprecedented and extreme.”
The bishops’ conference stated that Obama’s executive order
barring federal contract recipients from any form of discrimination against
LGBT employees “needlessly prefers conflict and exclusion over coexistence and
cooperation” and “should be opposed.”
Phil Lawler, editor of Catholic World News (CWN) cautioned
the bishops about relying on federal contracts, stating, “Stop
taking federal contracts. President Obama doesn’t
want help from the Catholic Church. Say it’s a deal; don’t give
him any.”
“Imagine the chaos that would ensue if ‘the largest
resettlement agency in the United States’–the bishops’ MRS office–withdrew from
that effort,” Lawler wrote. “For
decades, some concerned Catholics have warned that by accepting (and, more
important, energetically lobbying for) government support, Catholic charities
have compromised their independence. President Obama has now illustrated that
point.”
Given that, from its annual report, the bishops’ MRS program
would shrink down to near extinction without federal grants, Lawler concluded, “What
would be left would be a recognizably Catholic charity, not a federal program
administered through the bishops’ conference.”
Catholic Church
Francis E. George
is a cardinal with the Roman Catholic
Church, a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and was the president for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Note: R. Eden Martin is
the president of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Newton
N. Minow is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Dora
Hughes is a senior policy adviser for Sidley
Austin LLP, and was Kathleen
Sebelius’s counselor at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Kathleen Sebelius’s
counselor at the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) was Dora
Hughes, and the secretary at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the Barack Obama administration.
Howard
K. Koh is the assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the Barack Obama administration, and Harold H. Koh’s brother.
Harold
H. Koh is Howard K. Koh’s brother,
was the State Department legal adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and a director at Human Rights First.
Mark
A. Angelson was a director at Human
Rights First, and a partner at Sidley
Austin LLP.
James
D. Zirin is a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and was a director at Human
Rights First.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Human Rights First, the Catholic
Relief Services, the Planned
Parenthood Federation of America, the Human
Rights Watch, the Atlantic Council
of the United States (think tank), and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a director emeritus for Refugees International, was the
chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a benefactor for the
Human Rights Watch, and a contributor
for MoveOn.org.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Human Rights First, Refugees
International, the Human Rights
Watch, Media Matters, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Cecile Richards
is the president for the Planned
Parenthood Federation of America, the president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and was the founder & president
of America Votes.
America Votes
is a national partner with the Planned
Parenthood Action Fund, the National
Education Association, and the National
Council of La Raza.
John
I. Wilson was an executive director at the National Education Association, and is a director at the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
John J. Studzinski
is a director at the Human Rights Watch,
a director at the Atlantic Council of
the United States (think tank), and a papal
knighthood knight.
papal knighthood
is an honor conferred by pope from the Roman
Catholic Church.
Francis E. George
is a cardinal with the Roman Catholic
Church, a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and was the president for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Ilyse
Hogue was a director of political advocacy for MoveOn.org, is a senior adviser for Media Matters, and the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Caroline
Fredrickson was the general counsel for the NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the Washington legislative director
for the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU).
Dawn E. Johnsen
was a counsel for the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU), and a director nominee, acting assistant attorney
general at the Office of Legal Counsel
for the Barack Obama administration.
Office of
Legal Counsel is a division of the U.S.
Department of Justice.
Virginia A. Seitz
is the assistant attorney general for the Office
of Legal Counsel, was the assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice, and a
partner at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Dora
Hughes is a senior policy adviser for Sidley
Austin LLP, and was Kathleen
Sebelius’s counselor at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Kathleen Sebelius’s
counselor at the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) was Dora
Hughes, and the secretary at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the Barack Obama administration.
R.
Eden Martin is counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Newton
N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Francis E. George
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, a cardinal with the Roman
Catholic Church, and was the president for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Commercial Club of
Chicago, Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
J.B.
Pritzker is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and the president of the Pritzker Family Foundation.
Pritzker
Family Foundation was a funder for the National
Council of La Raza.
America Votes
is a national partner with the National
Council of La Raza, and the Planned
Parenthood Action Fund.
Cecile Richards
was the founder & president for America
Votes, is the president of the Planned
Parenthood Action Fund, and the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
No comments:
Post a Comment