WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, slammed the Biden administration for finalizing a rule that allows military facilities to abort babies, even in states where it is illegal.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs has finalized an interim rule that permits abortion counseling and abortive procedures in VA Medical Centers through all nine months of pregnancy,” Archbishop Broglio, who is also the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), wrote in a media statement on Thursday.
“The notion that killing an unborn child can somehow be considered ‘medical or surgical care’ certainly violates the dignity of the human person and suggests that some lives are more important than others.”
The VA will continue to facilitate abortion when the mother’s life or health would allegedly be “endangered” or in cases of rape and incest, a VA spokesman told the media. Pro-lifers stress, however, that a baby’s inherent human dignity and right to life does not come from the circumstances of his or her conception. Medical experts have also confirmed that direct abortion is never medically necessary.
“I deplore this decision that once more removes the right to life for the defenseless and inflicts untold physical and psychological trauma on mothers,” Archbishop Broglio stated.
The rule has been in place as a temporary measure since 2022. It is part of President Joe Biden’s agenda to push for abortion in all 50 states, including by ignoring clear federal law.
For example, the Department of Defense wrote a memo that creates an abortion travel fund, despite clear federal language against the funding of military abortions. Biden’s Food and Drug Administration has also allowed for abortion drugs to be shipped throughout the country, despite a federal law that prohibits the mailing of abortifacients. The Biden administration is also attempting to use a law about requiring basic medical care in emergency situations to mandate the killing of preborn babies.
Archbishop Broglio noted that the VA has ignored clear law.
“In April 2023, this Archdiocese, along with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), raised multiple objections to the rule in its interim form,” he stated. “This Archdiocese and the USCCB particularly observed that the VA Secretary exceeded his authority in expanding the definition of ‘medical or surgical care’ to include abortion, especially because the section 106 of Veterans Health Care Act specifically limits abortion. In its comments with the final rule, the Department of Veterans Affairs agreed that the Secretary has absolutely no authority to allow for abortion within section 106 of Veterans Health Care Act, writing, the Act ‘barred the provision of abortion.’”
This did not stop the Biden administration from pursuing its full support for the killing of preborn babies.
“However, nonsensically, the Department claims that other statutes, which never mention abortion, create in their silence, a right to abortion, even though abortion is specifically prohibited within the larger statutory scheme for VA Health Care,” Archbishop Broglio stated.
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“The VA notes that including ‘abortion’ is a ‘general versus specific canon of statutory construction.’ This bald rhetoric ignores logic and basic tenets of statutory construction, and belies a relentless ideological pursuit of abortion even when it is plainly contrary to law,” he wrote.
“The VA’s decision is at odds with the notion that the military protects the innocent,” Archbishop Broglio continued. “Now, the Department which was established to care for Veterans of the United States Armed Forces through service-related disabilities and retirement, affirms its decision to join what Pope Francis called ‘hit men’ – those who choose ‘to do away with a human life to solve a problem.’”
The prelate called on the VA to “at least respect the conscience rights of medical personnel, staff, and other employees and permit them to abstain from any involvement in immoral procedures.”
Biden doubled down last night on his support for abortion in all 50 states, promising in his State of the Union address to “restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again.”