The Big Ugly Bill
The current U.S. budget bill increases spending for war preparations – already astonishingly excessive. It increases spending for programs that are cruel to migrants.
Many on the political right are justly celebrating potential cuts to Planned Parenthood (see below), but some are also unjustly downplaying the harm cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP could cause to children, including the unborn, among many other vulnerable people. Many on the political left are justly decrying these potential harms, but some also unjustly ignore how their own overemphasis on promoting abortion at the expense of preserving protections for the vulnerable (born or unborn) failed to avoid this problem.
One Good Part of That Bill – Planned Parenthood Defunding
The U.S. Supreme Court just ruled that a state can keep Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood centers, and many states will do so if they haven’t already. Others won’t.
If the provision to cut this funding nationally (for one year) had been in a bill by itself, or perhaps paired with increased funding for Community Health Centers, we would have enthusiastically supported it.
But if PP were sincere in its worry that many women will lose non-abortion health care they can’t currently get elsewhere, they would concentrate on keeping open their 38 centers without a Community Health Center nearby. That doesn’t seem to be their pattern, however – recent closures tend to disproportionately impact those smaller centers.
See our project website:
Grassroots Defunding: Finding Alternatives to Planned Parenthood
And a related website:
Online Teach-In on Trinity Nuclear Test Anniversary
The first detonation of a nuclear weapon, the Trinity Test of July 16, 1945, marked the beginning of the present nuclear era, in which these weapons threaten humanity’s survival.
To mark the 80th anniversary of the Trinity Test, peace groups are sponsoring an online teach-in about the nuclear threat on July 16. Speakers will include a Hiroshima bombing survivor and people affected by nuclear testing in the United States. You can register for free online.
Registering Against the Draft
Our member group Pax Christi USA announced a registry for young Catholics who wish to be known as conscientious objectors to war. While reinstating the draft doesn’t appear to be happening soon, this project could be important for the future. The government has in the past required a high burden of evidence of conscientious objectors.
See our blog posts, Becoming a Catholic Conscientious Objector (though of course we also encourage those of all faiths and none to object) and Conscientious Objectors who object to participating in abortion.
The Latest on the Blog
Both posts by John Whitehead respond to the recent U.S. bombing of Iran:
Quote of the Week
Pope Leo XIV
June 22, 2025 (right after the U.S. bombing of Iran)
Today more than ever, humanity cries out and calls for peace. This is a cry that requires responsibility and reason, and it must not be drowned out by the din of weapons or the rhetoric that incites conflict. Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable chasm. There are no “distant” conflicts when human dignity is at stake.
War does not solve problems; on the contrary, it amplifies them and inflicts deep wounds on the history of peoples, which take generations to heal. No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, or stolen futures.