President Trump will sign an executive order to protect babies born prematurely or after surviving an abortion, he announced Wednesday.
“Today, I am announcing that I will be signing the Born Alive Executive Order to ensure that all precious babies born alive, no matter their circumstances, receive the medical care that they deserve,” the commander-in-chief told attendees while delivering the keynote address at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.
“This is our sacrosanct moral duty,” he remarked at the virtual event.
The president went on to tout the importance of Catholic schools for offering underserved children a chance at a better education.
In his speech, Trump also announced an increase in federal funding for neonatal research “to ensure that every child has the best chance to thrive and to grow.”
The White House declined The Post’s request for more details on the order, including when they hoped it would be signed.
The order was meant to strengthen pro-life efforts, though what it would specifically do was not immediately explained.
A source familiar with the contents of the order told Bloomberg that it would highlight existing legislation that offers increased protections for premature or unborn babies.
Wednesday’s event also included Attorney General William Barr, who was honored with the 2020 Christifideles Laici Award.
Barr, a practicing Catholic, was honored “for fidelity to the church, exemplary selfless and steadfast service in the Lord’s vineyard.”
In his speech, the AG noted, “As [George] Washington and his fellow founders understood, religion is at the heart of the American experiment in self-government.”
Barr went on to decry “militant secularists,” arguing they were removing religion from society and with it, America’s morals.
“In American public discourse, perhaps no concept is more misunderstood than the notion of separation of church and state,” he began.
“Militant secularists have long seized on that slogan as a facile justification for attempting to drive religion from the public square, and to exclude religious people from bringing a religious perspective to bear from conversations about the common good.”
“Separation of church and state did not mean — and never did mean — separation of church and civics,” he explained.
Barr went on to argue that religion in American life was “under siege by secularists.”
“The consequences of this hollowing out of religion have been predictably dire. Over the past 50 years, we have seen striking increases in urban violence, drug abuse and broken families. Problems like these have fed the rise of an ever more powerful central government.”
Barr has been vocal in his support for religious liberty in the past. When the coronavirus pandemic forced Americans indoors, the Justice Department spoke out to protect the rights of those taking part in religious gatherings.
In a statement, the attorney general argued that federal, state and local governments did not have the right to “single out” religious institutions when placing restrictions on public gatherings.
“Even in times of emergency, when reasonable and temporary restrictions are placed on rights, the First Amendment and federal statutory law prohibit discrimination against religious institutions and religious believers. Thus, government may not impose special restrictions on religious activity that do not also apply to similar nonreligious activity,” Barr’s statement read.