WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) called on Congress to defund the abortion and “gender transition” industries.

A letter from the USCCB to Congress dated March 27 reaffirms the bishops’ opposition to taxpayer funding for the murder of preborn children and gender mutilation practices. It notes that Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion business in the country, is also “second largest” supplier of hormones for “gender transitions” in the U.S.

The letter adds that, while policies like the Hyde Amendment block direct federal funding for “elective” abortions, Planned Parenthood still receives nearly $700 million each year in taxpayer money, which is around one-third of its revenue.  

At the same time, Planned Parenthood continues to reduce its non-abortion “services” and has increased its “promotion of gender ideology to children” and provision of “gender transition” procedures, the bishops’ conference letter says. 

“The offlabel use of hormones and puberty blockers has proven to be a lucrative billion-dollar business in an ever-growing market,” the letter reads, adding that Planned Parenthood offers “transition” practices at nearly 450 locations across the country, more than the number of its facilities that offer abortion.

Most Planned Parenthood clients “can get a hormone prescription at the end of their first visit with us,” a regional handbook from the organization acknowledged. 

“As you consider how to best steward taxpayer resources in the weeks ahead, we call upon you to stop funding abortion and ‘gender transition’ industries that gravely violate human dignity,” the bishops’ letter concludes. “Instead, we urge you to prioritize the needs of struggling families so they can flourish.”

The letter was signed by Bishop Daniel Thomas, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop Robert Barron, chairman of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

Bishop Barron, who leads the Diocese of Winona, Minnesota, and founded the popular Word on Fire media organization, has on numerous occasions scandalized faithful Catholics. For example, he described Jesus as the “privileged route” – rather than the only way (Acts 4:12) – to salvation, praised a book by notorious LGBT activist Jesuit James Martin, suggested that hell may be empty, and told a homosexual commentator that he would not seek to reverse homosexual “marriage.”

“I don’t think I want to press it further,” he told Dave Rubin about sodomitic “marriage” in a 2017 interview. “I think it would probably cause much more problems and dissension and difficulty if we keep pressing it.”

“I wouldn’t want to get on a crusader’s tank and try to reverse that,” he added. Rubin is a “married” homosexual who has since procured children through in vitro fertilization and surrogacy.

Bishop Barron in 2023 also embraced Fiducia supplicans, Pope Francis’ document endorsing homosexual “blessings.”