Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan and Archbishop William E. Lori are calling for immediate action by the U.S. House of Representatives
to enact the Conscience Protection Act of 2016 and are appealing to faithful Catholics to contact their representatives in Washington and urge them to support this legislation, which will come up for a vote on Wednesday, July 13.
"We need to continue to raise our voices to urge our representatives to vote in favor of this common-sense legislation to protect pro-life health care providers," Cardinal Dolan and Archbishop Lori said.
They ask all Catholics to consider contacting their representative by sending an email through the
Human Life Action Center; calling the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121; or calling his or her representative's local office. Local phone numbers for Congressmen representing communities in the Diocese of Corpus Christi include Blake Farenthold, (361) 884-2222; Ruben Hinojosa, (956) 682-5545; and Filemon Vela, (361) 230-9776.
Cardinal Dolan and Archbishop Lori suggest the following message be used:
"I urge you to enact H.R. 4828/S. 2927, the Conscience Protection Act of 2016, to defend the conscience rights of those who wish not to be involved in supporting abortion. Enacting this law is even more urgent with the recent decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to allow the state of California to continue forcing health plans to cover elective abortions. This bill is needed now to stop further discrimination against all people who respect unborn human life. It is wrong for government to force Americans to violate their deeply held convictions on respect for human life."