U.S. Congress

After the U.S. Senate failed May 11 to advance a “radical” abortion bill, the chairmen of two U.S. bishops’ committees urged Congress “to stop pushing abortion as the solution to needs of women and young girls” and “embrace” public policy initiatives that protect “both mother and child.”

Close to 12,200 people in the Archdiocese of San Francisco have joined the “Rose and Rosary for Nancy” campaign launched by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone to urge prayers for a “change of heart” for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on abortion.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco is asking “all Catholics and others of goodwill” to join a prayer and fasting campaign for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic Democrat who supports legal abortion.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and several other Republican leaders in the House asked their Democratic counterparts June 22 to take up a measure introduced by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., that would make the long-standing Hyde Amendment permanent.

Lifting a long-standing prohibition on the ability of scientists to culture human embryos in the lab past 14 days shows “an utter disregard” for the value of human life and is “an affront to the sanctity of human life,” said two Catholic members of Congress, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind.