Since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, members of Congress have focused on legislation that “places no value on the lives of children until their moment of birth, severs sex and marriage from their meaning, promotes using people as means to ends, and would strip rights of conscientious objection from those who oppose these hallmarks of the throwaway culture,” said four bishops who chair committees of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“Catholic social teaching shows the way to a better place—a society marked by justice, mutual support, civility, friendship, mercy, and love—than where Congress is now leading,” the prelates added, as they called for support for legislation that the bishops say would “help to build up a culture of life.”

Such legislation, in the conference’s assessment, includes “the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act; an expanded child tax credit, including for pregnant moms; the Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act; the PFAS Action Act; and a federal paid family leave policy.”