The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act heading to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature will provide relief to Americans in need amid the pandemic, but it lacks “protections for the unborn,” the U.S. bishops said.

Statements by some U.S. bishops on the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine for Covid-19 are proving to be a cautionary tale about confusing Catholics on what is morally permissible.

Recent statements from the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the U.S. bishops’ conference say Catholics should not take the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine if other options are available. But some Catholic ethicists and theologians say such messages are unhelpful in the face of this ongoing crisis.

“As with every administration, there will be areas where we agree and work closely together and areas where we will have principled disagreement and strong opposition,” Archbishop Gomez said.

By requiring abortion to be funded by states and covered by insurers as “health care,” the Equality Act would only further incentivize employers to prefer abortion for their pregnant employees over far more costly accommodations for parenting.

Public disagreements among the U.S. bishop are rare but not unprecedented. A contentious debate about the church and AIDS in 1987 is perhaps the situation most similar to the divisions over how to welcome President Biden.