HHS won’t renew trafficking-victim grant to US bishops’ agency
October 12, 2011
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement has declined to renew a grant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) to aid victims of human trafficking--likely because of the agency’s refusal to offer trafficking victims a “full range of reproductive services.” The agency has assisted 2,700 victims since 2006.
“HHS is also requiring that MRS provide the ‘full range of reproductive services’ to trafficking victims and unaccompanied minors in its cooperative agreements and government contracts —and we all know what that means,” Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York wrote in a recent letter to the bishops of the United States. “This is exactly the position urged by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in the ongoing lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of MRS’s contracts as, ironically, a violation of religious liberty.”
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Further information:
- Catholic Group Dropped From U.S. Aid Contract Linked to Abortion (Bloomberg)
- US bishops' agency denied federal grant to help trafficking victims (CNS)
- Citing Obama administration actions, US bishops establish religious liberty committee (CWN, 10/3)
- ACLU sues US government over grants to bishops to help human trafficking victims (CWN, 1/13/09)
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Posted by: -
Oct. 13, 2011 11:55 AM ET USA
Accuracy in reporting is much to be desired. Your headline should read [CINO] Ms. Sebelius continues her promotion of abortion by refusing grants... Such decisions are not corporate decisions. Corporations, agencies do not make decisions. People do.
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Posted by: -
Oct. 12, 2011 1:23 PM ET USA
So who gets the grant, now? Or, who will help the trafficking victims now? I'm guessing the MRS will continue its work without govt support, and some abortion/contraception provider will get the grant. Sure this will increase the victims' suffering, but this isn't about the victims, is it?
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Posted by: Don Vicente -
Oct. 12, 2011 1:07 PM ET USA
Maybe it's time for Catholic agencies to stop being contractors for the Government. Sure, the contracts are big money, but what's the REAL quid pro quo?
