President Trump has signed two executive orders prohibiting the use of federal public funding for abortion services and for so-called “sex-change” irreversible medical interventions, respectively.
The first order was issued on January 24 and will end the use of federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion by revoking two executive orders that were approved in 2022 to circumvent the Hyde Amendment.
In response to this measure, Bishop Daniel Thomas, chairman of the USCCB Committee for Pro-Life Activities, said the following: “A significant majority of Americans oppose being forced to support abortion through their tax dollars. I am grateful for the strengthening of policies that protect us from being compelled to participate in a culture of death, and that help us to restore a culture of life at home and abroad.”
The other executive order was issued on January 28 and will protect children from chemical and surgical mutilation. The document states that “it is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.”
Bishop Robert Barron, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, praised the measure for protecting children and young people: “I welcome the President’s Executive Order prohibiting the promotion and federal funding of procedures that, based on a false understanding of human nature, attempt to change a child’s sex. So many young people who have been victims of this ideological crusade have profound regrets over its life altering consequences, such as infertility and lifelong dependence on costly hormone therapies that have significant side effects. It is unacceptable that our children are encouraged to undergo destructive medical interventions instead of receiving access to authentic and bodily-unitive care.”
The full statements by Bishop Thomas and Bishop Barron are available on the USCCB website.