Catholic bishops across California criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom this week for planning to spend more tax dollars on abortion rather than on real needs like food and shelter for struggling families.
Angelus News reports the California Catholic Conference described the plan to expand abortions as “absurd,” saying violence against unborn babies does not help families.
“When families are struggling to put food on the table and pay rent, it is absurd for the state to focus on expanding abortion when the real needs of families for basic necessities remain unmet,” said Kathleen Buckley Domingo, executive director of the conference, in a statement. “California doesn’t need more abortion. It needs to support women and help them be the mothers they want to be.”
On Wednesday, the California Future of Abortion Council released a series of recommendations to expand abortions in anticipation that Roe v. Wade will be overturned soon.
Newsom, who created the council, said he wants California to be a “sanctuary” for women from other states who want abortions. If Roe goes, researchers predict as many as 26 states would protect unborn babies by banning abortions.
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The council’s recommendations, backed by Newsom and other state political leaders, include forcing taxpayers to pay for abortions and travel costs for low-income out-of-state women. California already forces taxpayers to pay for abortions for its low-income residents.
Responding Thursday, the bishops said the council did not include any recommendations to help mothers who choose life for their babies, according to the report.
“In a state as diverse as California, with a budget surplus of $31 billion, why aren’t we exploring options that genuinely empower women instead of encouraging the ‘quick fix’ of abortion, which does nothing to solve underlying concerns?” Domingo asked.
She said the bishops support “non-violent solutions to issues that women face,” including paid family leave and affordable health care. They also support the more than 150 pregnancy resource centers across California that help families every year, Domingo continued.
Among the council’s many troubling recommendations, Domingo said the bishops also are very concerned about conscience protections. She said the plan would force doctors-in-training to learn how to abort unborn babies in elective abortions and force Catholic hospitals to provide them.
Pro-abortion Democrats control the California legislature, so the recommendations have a chance of becoming law. State Sen. President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, even helped to write them, according to the AP.
The council also wants California to promote telemedicine abortions “including across state lines.” In other words, abortion activists want to sell abortion drugs through the mail or another venue to vulnerable women who may never see a doctor in person and may not have a doctor close by to turn to for help if they suffer abortion complications.
California already has very few limits on abortions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, it has more abortion facilities than any other state in the U.S., and Newsom recently signed a law that forces colleges and universities to provide abortions on campus. In 2015, California also began allowing nurse practitioners and midwives to do abortions, despite studies showing increased risks.
Amy Moy, of Essential Health Access, one of the groups on the council, said they want California to “go further and do more” to expand abortions.
Last week, the Supreme Court heard a major abortion case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, that directly challenges Roe v. Wade. Lawyers for the state of Mississippi urged the court to overturn its 1973 abortion ruling and allow states to protect unborn babies from abortion again.
A ruling is not likely until the spring or summer of 2022.
Since 1973, about 63 million unborn babies and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of mothers have died in legal abortions in the United States.
