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The U.S. Catholic bishops issued a
nationwide call to prayer and action July 27
over the rising abortion rate and the
increased availability of an abortion-inducing
drug.
“Every abortion involves the death of
a child and harm to the mother. Now with
easier access to abortion pills, the abortion
rate is tragically climbing, along with
increased health risks,” Archbishop Paul S.
Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.
S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop
Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, chairman of the
USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, wrote
in a joint announcement of the call to prayer
and action.
A federal policy permitting
distribution of mifepristone, sometimes called
the abortion pill, by mail that was first
issued by the Biden administration has thus
far been left in place by the second Trump
administration.
The Department of Justice, under the
current Trump administration, has sought to
block state challenges to the policy pending a
promised safety review by the Food and Drug
Administration. But the status and timeline of
the FDA review are unclear.
Archbishop Coakley and Bishop Thomas
wrote the FDA “has enabled a nationwide
mail-order abortion industry by allowing
abortion pills to be prescribed in telehealth
appointments and sold both at neighborhood
pharmacies and online, circumventing state
laws that protect life in the womb.”
“This leaves women vulnerable to
suffering an abortion alone at home, without
any medical supervision,” they said. “It also
sets up additional opportunities for
exploitation by violent partners or human
traffickers.”
The bishops said that now through the
end of October, when the Church in the U.S.
marks Respect Life Month, “the USCCB Committee
on Pro-Life Activities is inviting Catholics
to join a focused effort of prayer and action
to stop the spread of abortion pills.”
They urged Catholics to seek “the
intercession of St. Joseph, Defender of Life”
as well as to send messages to pharmacies and
pharmaceutical companies that are involved.The
Respect Life Prayer to St. Joseph can be found
here in English
and here in Spanish.
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