Three Catholic bishops who chair committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) praised the U.S. House of Representatives’ passage of two bills they said would expand support for pregnant women, student parents, and families.
Issued the same day as the March for Life, the Jan. 23 statement was signed by Archbishop Shelton Fabre, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, Bishop David O’Connell, CM, chairman of the Committee on Catholic Education, and Bishop Daniel Thomas, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
“We were grateful to see the U.S. House of Representatives pass the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act and the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act,” the bishops said.
The measures seek to counter academic, financial, and cultural pressures that can leave pregnant women believing they must choose between welcoming a child and continuing their education or other long-term plans.
“Building a culture of life requires helping mothers to be able to welcome their new children,” the bishops said. “Too often, however, expectant and vulnerable women are essentially told that they have to choose either their child or their future. No one should have to make this ultimately false choice.”
The Pregnant Students’ Rights Act would require colleges and universities to provide information about resources, services, rights, and accommodations available to pregnant and parenting students. The bishops called the act “needed legislation” that would “simply ensure” students are made aware of existing support, rather than being left without guidance during pregnancy or early parenthood.
The Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act would help ensure that public resources are available to pregnancy help centers, which “compassionately accompany women in need with baby supplies, childcare assistance, health and parenting information, career services, and more,” the bishops said.
“Amid great uncertainty and difficulty, such support can make a life-saving difference,” the statement pointed out.
Bishop O’Connell and Bishop Thomas also sent a separate letter Jan. 22 urging passage of the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act. Citing Pope St. John Paul II’s call for “radical solidarity” with vulnerable mothers and children, the bishops wrote that the nation must prioritize policies that provide “both material resources and personal accompaniment so that no woman ever feels forced to choose between her future and the life of her child.”
The bishops said colleges and universities can give the impression that having a child while enrolled is an “insurmountable detriment” to a woman’s future, a message they warned puts pressure on mothers to seek abortions.
“Many college and university students are unaware of the support available to them if they are pregnant or parenting,” they wrote, adding that such support “can make a difference.”
The bill, they said, would help ensure students know their rights, inform them of available accommodations, and make them aware of the option of filing a Title IX complaint if they face discrimination for choosing to carry a pregnancy to term.
“This modest but hopeful legislation will help students to know that they have support and real options available to them,” the bishops wrote.
The Senate is expected to vote on its own version of that legislation in the next week, according to the bishops’ statement.
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