The United States House of Representatives is set to take up HR 3755, the most aggressive pro-abortion bill ever considered by Congress, sometime in the next few days, potentially even today. Catholic bishops have called the legislation, “the most radical abortion bill of all time.” It was introduced in June by 214 members of the House–all of them Democrats–in response to the US Supreme Court granting review of a case out of Mississippi (Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization) that challenges previous rulings such as Roe v Wade finding that abortion is a constitutional right. The actions of the state of Texas to prohibit abortion after a fetal heartbeat has been detected is also a motivating factor for the bill.
Key provisions of HR 3755 include:
- Abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy would be imposed nationwide, even in states that don’t want it.
- Every pro-life law or regulation ever enacted at the state or local level will be eliminated. This includes laws on parental notification of abortion for minor girls, informed consent requirements, and provisions to ensure abortionists have hospital admitting provisions in order to protect women in case of emergencies.
- Abortions conducted for the sole reason of selecting the sex of the baby would be permitted, as would abortions based on a diagnosis of Down syndrome in the child.
- Health care professionals would be forced to perform, assist in and/or refer for abortion against their deeply-held beliefs.
- It is also possible that faith-based hospitals will be required to permit abortion procedures in violation of their religious beliefs.
- Employers and insurers would be forced to cover or pay for abortion.
The legislation is being pushed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi as part of her desire to fire up the Democrats’ liberal base to oppose potential action of the US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade, and to make abortion a dominant issue in the 2022 elections. I have written extensively about the Dobbs case for ifamnews.com. (See Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.)
Pelosi calls herself a “devout Catholic” but her role in HR 3755 has earned a strong and impassioned rebuke from her local Catholic bishop, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco. “It is especially shameful that any self-professed Catholic would be implicated in such an evil,” Cordileone said. “This proposed legislation is nothing short of child sacrifice… Indeed, HR 3755 is surely the type of legislation one would expect from a devout Satanist, not a devout Catholic.”
This is a developing story; stay tuned for updates.